father's day 2011

father's day this year began with peyton and i giving daddy our cards. what a sweet morning it was. (if you look closely you can see her surprise "i love daddy" outfit. the bigger surprise was the subsequent blowout that was the cause for an outfit change...DURING CHURCH. yeah.)



then we went to church where we enjoyed pastor jp's talk about what it means to be a godly father. after church we headed over to josh's parents' house where we celebrated....

...DADDY!!

...GRANDPA JORGE!

...GRANDPA DON!

...and UNCLE MARK!

it was a great day, as is any day spent with family! HAPPY FIRST FATHER'S DAY TO MY JOSH!!

i'm going to be a HCTTFOHTBMOLWMNLWPIOWNSMFBGDAOHWH

for two and a half months, i've had the most wonderful pleasure of caring for my baby girl. i've had the opportunity to experience life as a SAHM. for those of you that don't follow mommy blogs and websites, that stands for Stay At Home Mommy. this new language is taking time to learn, but i'll get there, i'm sure.

i go back to work in two weeks. i go from being a SAHM to being a Head-Case Trying To Figure Out How To Balance My Old Life With My New Life While Pretending I'm Okay With Not Seeing My Favorite Baby Girl During All Of Her Waking Hours. or, as a blogger may put it, a HCTTFOHTBMOLWMNLWPIOWNSMFBGDAOHWH.

no, i'm not struggling with this one bit. why do you ask?

i will say, however, i am VERY fortunate to be going back to a job that i love, a boss that appreciates me, coworkers that make the day a joy, projects that intrigue and challenge me, and clients that...well, let's just say "keep things interesting".... many moms are not so fortunate when faced with the dreadful moment of returning to the work place. with all that great stuff, though, my only question is "why can't peyton come with me?!" she'd be great! i'd put her to work--answering phones, some light filing... maybe making a schedule or a budget for me when i'm in a bind. i think people would appreciate her presence in my meetings. i mean, the coo-ing and the "talking" is getting SO CUTE. i could watch her grow up and teach her plenty of things. she could nap under my desk. heck, i do--why should i not share the space?! i could make sure she goes outside a few times a day, let her scoot around the halls of the office... but mostly, i'd be able to be her main influence, and she'd have no doubt who her mommy is.

because that's what scares me most. what if little P forgets me? if i leave when she wakes up, and get home when she goes to sleep, all i become is the occasional nighttime feeder, and that awful lady that's always changing her clothes when she's half asleep in the morning or mostly asleep at night. everyday for the past 11 weeks i've gotten to stare into this little girls eyes whenever i want and whisper to her how much mommy loves her, and how great mommy thinks she is. and she stares back with a look that says, "yay!" and a little cracked smile. gosh, i love her.

but, i have to go back to work. we knew that before we began the journey that resulted in a wonderful little miracle we call peyton. so, i will. however, there are terms:

- nana and i will both be installing webcams so i can talk to my baby from work every now and then.

- nana has promised that she and peyt will visit me at work for lunch occasionally.

- i am reserving the right to wake my sleeping child at the most unfair times so i can remind her who loves her

- peyton and josh are my first priority, no matter what, so work just better darn fit into that.

- i'm will not work on the weekends. sorry, clients--weekends are for my family.

- i WILL be taking vacations this year. YAY!

- i am reserving the right to add to my terms list whenever i please.

okay, i'm off to publish these so someone else besides me believes they are valid...

i'll be blogging more about the "great going-back-to-work dilemma". more to follow at 11.

thursday night dinners

my mom loves all three of her kids, but any chance she gets to see her big-hearted son, she'll take. so much so, that for the last couple of years, she's offered to cook for rolland every thursday night just so he'll come over to flash those pearly whites her way, stuff his belly, rattle off some facts about his latest dj gig, deny that the last girl she saw him hanging out with was his girlfriend, share his itinerary for his next spontaneous trip across the country, and then leave with that sweet "thanks for dinner, mom--mmmmuahhh--love you--bye" salute a few hours later. she digs it.

well, recently, my older sister, kat, and i decided that thursday night dinner should not be exclusive to rolly. it's just not fair--mom's cooking is THAT good and should be shared. after crashing the party over and over, we now refer to this ritual as "thursday night dinners".

mom was out of town last week visiting her family in puerto rico, so, i decided i would host. rolly was out of town, too, so the taskdidn't seem overly daunting as it wasn't going to be a full house. i'm not great cook, but josh fired up the grill and we served a fairly satisfying meal. we topped it off with root-beer floats, OF COURSE, because what is a meal after 6pm without a root beer float to follow? (hint: something along the lines of "not a meal".)

it's been decided by the council (family) that we will now rotate family dinner nights around the different houses. because how else will we get my brother to swing by?!

kat played with peyton...

i drank some wine...

josh barbecued outside...

dad did a little jiggy... (???)

peyton eventually fell asleep...

and for some reason, everyone thought it was worthy of staring...

here's to more thursday night dinners!

a summer weekend

josh, peyton, june, and i spent saturday afternoon roaming the peninsula at balboa. i just treasure the time the four of us get to spend together.

on sunday, we went swimming at my sister's pool, and again, got to enjoy the amazing weather! we are really loving all these summer activities.

look who won't stop growing! - two months

little peyton is two months old! obviously, growing is her strong suit right now... (shhhh, don't tell her i chose the pic of her with the muffin top... it's just those rolls are TO DIE FOR!) my favorite, though, has the be the toes. she maneuvers those things like her momma does... extra hands that come in "handy" more often than you'd think :-) i'll be teaching her exactly how to master the use of her toes before too long.

peyton's having no trouble smiling these days!! she's quite the cheeser! she loves when you look at her and talk to her--we have conversations all the time. she really likes sitting up these days. if she's awake, she wants to be a part of it all and see what's going on. yikes, i wonder if she'll have the fear of missing out that i do!

this little girl is such a joy. i can't remember life before peyton--she's our world! yes, we are still having the occasional date night, and continue to work on our marriage everyday... sheesh, people...! she's just our most fun toy right now :-)

love you, sweet p! (p.s. hope your first cold goes away fast... it's brutal watching you struggle to breathe through your nose :-/)