5 A.M

5am is early. If you don't often wake up at the crack of dawn, allow me to enlighten you... No one else is awake. Not your next door neighbor, nor the neighbor's dog. The birds are barely chirping and you can sure as hell believe the trash man hasn't made his rounds yet. However, in a small house in the north-central suburbs of St. Louis a young boy and his sleep deprived mother are out on their, what is now routinely, morning walk. OK I lied. There are other people up. About 3. That's how many other walkers I count daily when we pass through our 2 mile loop around the neighborhood. Note-they are all late/middle aged, probably menopausal, therefor female, and probably are only awake because their own bodies prefer it that way. I am by far the only one my age.with a kid.walking at that un-godly hour.

Why are we walking you ask? Well, R prefers getting his exercise in as the sun rises. He enjoys seeing it peak over the horizon and pop through the morning misty clouds. He enjoys watching the bunnies scurry away as they realize that morning is here and it's time to head back to the safety of their holes. He relishes in the quietness and peaceful aura of no cars, no street noises, no nothing. Just him and his stroller, breathing in the fresh undisturbed morning air.....

No really. We walk because for last 4 weeks he has been waking up at 5. He only is willing to sit in bed with me for 30 min. watching cartoons.  B and the hubs sleep till 7:30. Taking him on a walk is the only way to ensure quietness so that the other half of this family can get a decent nights sleep and is ready for their day. R takes his first nap at 9am (of course). I don't get one. So by 10am he's in great spirits and rested. I'm on my last leg. It's been a long 4 weeks...

(Dancing with my headphones at the end of our walk)

Photo Op

I mean who doesn't love an adorable 3 year old on a giant tortoise??

Music is In Our Bones

My family is musical. Anyone that knows us as family unit will tell you that. My dad began his influence with us early with singing, guitar playing, etc. My brothers both picked up and mastered the guitar while still in high school. They both are extremely talented and I wish I had their instrumental capabilities. They also both use their gifts on a regular basis through church, worship leading, performance venues, etc. I, on the other hand use my talent solely to entertain and put to sleep my cranky children.
Mondo, the older of the two recently raised  money to release his first, professionally recorded EP. I'm super proud of him as is anyone that knows of his love and passion for song writing and performing. The kids and I will often put "Bobo" on and jam out. (His music is not really classified as "jam" music, but when you're 3/1.5 it's all the same.)

Blenders and All Things Noisy

A few months ago I noticed R having a strange reaction to the noise of my blender. B eventually started copying him because she saw how funny I thought it was. But really, he does this to anything super noisy; the blender, blowdryer, food processor, etc. no joke.

A is for...

Animals Shmanimals

One not too hot Wednesday a few weeks back the kids and I took to the park with Nani to check out a festival. (I don't recall the name of the park or the name of the festival. It must have been during those weeks that R was waking up at 5 every.single.morning)

So here's my bits having no fear at the petting zoo. I'd write more about our afternoon, but as you can see from above, I'm lucky I remembered how to get home later that day.

Hail-Yea!

So about 2 months ago a giant storm rolled through the mid-west and brought with it baseball sized hail. Unfortunately our home and cars were in it's direct path and therefore recieved extensive damage. Carlos' car, a 2012 Hyundai Sonata, totally paid off, was not totaled but was damaged to the tune of close to 10grand. Insurance check was received quickly, and repairs took over three weeks. That sucked but the car looks as good as new now. My car, a 2007 Mazda 3, which I loved, was totaled. Boo. So we turned it into the insurance company took our check and purchased a new/used 2011 Hyundai Sonata.
"Wait, time out. Whats that? You own two Hyundai Sonata's? You're that couple? "
Yes and no. Mine's red. His is black. They're not identical. Phew, we're still cool.
To be honest it wasn't planned. It's not like we said, "hey now we can go buy a second Sonata and be matching!" We had to get something new, something that was bigger than my tiny Mazda, fuel efficient, and not a mini van. Like I said, I'm still cool. I'm not ready to be the mom in the mini van and hopefully won't ever be.
***Disclaimer: To all those women out there driving minivans - more power to you. You are lucky to be able to pull it off and enjoy the extra space, ability to separate your children to two whole different sections of the back seat, and not have the back of your seat kicked constantly while you're driving! Seriously, I envy you. I just can't join you. I'm sure you understand***

Anyways, I'm happy with our purchase, and red really is my color. Saying goodbye to my Mazda, the first brand new car I ever owned, was rough. I loved that little, speedy car and had a bittersweet farewell as I watched the tow truck drive off with it.

Here's to hoping somebody purchased it, removed the dents and is now enjoying it as much as I did.

P.S. If that person is you, I apologize for the cheerios, spilled milk stains, dog hair and lip gloss splotches covering the seats, floors and dash. Cleaning it out was not a requirement.

A day worth celebrating

My husband of almost 7 years hit a milestone birthday last week. His 30th was a good one, thanks to his lovely wife. He got to spend it with some great friends, play some Frisbee golf, eat good food and enjoy the late night sky line. It was all topped off with an overnight stay at the Crowne Plaza, thanks to wonderful parents that kept our rug-rats for the night. I threw him a surprise party by inviting his in town friends and a few of his college buddies from Cape into town for an afternoon of playing in the park. Then we all headed home to get cleaned up before meeting at a nice restaurant for dinner followed by drinks on the roof top bar. It really was a great night. We haven't just the two of us taken a vacation/trip for nearly 2 years, so the fact that we got to stay at a hotel without the kids was icing on the cake. It was so worth the splurge and i'm convinced that nights like those do wonders for any couples relationship. A chance for just one night, not to be a parent was just what this mama needed.
Carlos' sister and friend were in town for the party as well and she always brings the good times with her so we were guaranteed a night of fun.
I can't complain about any of it. The next morning we had his sister and friend, his mom and Bela meet us at our hotel for breakfast before they headed back to Chicago, where there live. We then took a dip with B in the pool before checking out and heading to my parents to pick up R. It was crazy busy, crazy fun and perfectly wonderful.

The bar has been set but he still has 2 years to plan my surprise 30th which is good because he's going to need it... Better get started, buddy.

Terrible 1's, 2's and 3's

Sometimes my kids push my buttons.
Like when it's raining outside and we have to stay inside all day, and one of them thinks it would be fun to scream. So the other one thinks "hey, that sounds good, I think I'll join in". So then they're both screaming for no reason, loudly, while the door is open and my neighbors think "what is she doing to those children?!" Yes, sometimes my kids push my buttons.
Or when my18 month old thinks it's the best ever to go and take the phone off the hook and push it's buttons, repeatedly and smiling while doing it because he knows he's not supposed to. He's thinking "i'm going to keep doing this until I'm old enough to really be punished, because for now all you can do is remove me and tell me 'no'." We're lucky the police or china has not been called yet.
Bela being her 3 year old self likes to try to get R to do what she's doing. This usually involves a lot of yelling, bossing, pushing, pulling and straight up body slamming him into submission. It's great, but really it's not. He starts crying, she gets in trouble, I get mad because she thinks that once her time out is over she should start the terrifying process again. Clearly my parenting and disciplining skills rock.
I mean whoever came up with the term "terrible two's" clearly had never been around a 3 year old before. Or maybe mine's just a late bloomer. Maybe we had so few issues with 2 because she's slow. I hope this isn't the case, but it makes me wonder.
And R, again, clearly the inventor of that saying didn't have a son like mine. One that pushes the limits every chance he can get. Who climbs on every surface with anything that has what is remotely close to a step or a rung. At this point, I can't wait for 2. I can only hope that with increased communication, attention span and listening capabilities, our lives will all be a little less psychotic.

Shhhh.... Don't make any sudden movements. This is the first time my house has been this still in 3 years.

Lessons and Growth

I'm feeling pensive this afternoon. I'm sure that none of the following with come out like I want it to. It never works out that way. From time to time I think back about people in my life who have impacted me. People that aren't family members, parents siblings, grandparents. I feel like those individuals are obvious. It's no surprise that from my mother I've learned patience and creativity. Or that from my father I've learned what unconditional love is and grown a passion for music. These are a given.

The unique examples are people that I've known through my life that are not related by blood. I'm sure everyone has people that fit this mold in their own journey's.

For example, my friend Katie introduced me to dance, not formal ballet, but just for the fun of it, windows rolled down dancing-in-the-car type of dance.

I remember once someone introducing me to mountains. It was long after I'd first visited them but for the first time I was really being shown their powerful presence. That was a good day.

These are the types of memories that I cherish

I remember reading a bedtime story to a little girl nearly 10 years ago. Giving her a light kiss on the forehead and thinking "this is perfection". She's grown now, but she taught me to find peace in a nightly routine. I remember yelling at a young boy for being disobedient, bringing myself nearly to tears because of my lack of patience for his shenanigans. This was a long time ago but that experience and the handful like them that followed taught me self control when dealing with a determined youthful resilience. And I remember watching a teenager that thought she was ready to be grown when in reality she still had so much growing to do. I remember leaving that day reminding myself how being young isn't a bad thing. In fact it's a blessing. It's a gift that we only get for a few short years, and then it's over. We become adults, responsible for other people, responsible for ourselves. We have to make decisions about things we know nothing about. We have to behave acceptably and say the right things. Yes, youth in a gift. One that should be encouraged to retain as long as possible.

These lessons and so many like them are ones that have molded me into the wife, mother, professional and woman that I am.

To all those that have shaped me, I hope you know who you are, and I thank you. Without your lessons, I would be a mess.