How is it almost MARCH??

I haven't written in ages... not that I have been too busy, but really, not in the mood. I have to admit that I am more of a Facebook person these days, as it requires minimal effort! Here is an update on us:
* Upstairs is rocking right along.... painted, wood floors put back down. Now need to refinish floors, put tile in bathroom (a nice white hexagon, accompanied by white subway in the shower), install doors, and 7 new windows! Then, our darling Mason will have his very own bedroom. (He has been in our living room since May!)
* Mason is almost 2! Holy crap. March 17th will mark 2 years since the most joyous day of my life. It also marks 2 years in our house.
* Mike left for Guatemala today for 8 days. He is now a coffee buyer and gets to enjoy the occasional business trip..... Check back in 8 days to see if I am still sane.
* Headaches~ 3 days without one. My neurologist is 95% sure that birth control in general was causing them. We shall see..... and hopefully without a new bun in the oven in the process.
* We booked our tickets to Mexico~! We are going with Mike's family in October... hence the need to wait on baby #2 until after I consume many margaritas on our trip.
* Mason continues to amaze me with his knowledge. He currently loves balls of any sort, screwing lids on and off of things (I learned this the hard way with a bottle of lotion), and talking up a storm. Some understandable, some not. He is still such a sweet, good natured baby... with a hint of attitude :)
Hope all of my friends are well, and I apologize for ignoring all of you for so long!
Karri

So proud of my little booger!

All of my Momma friends can relate: Your child does something so wonderful that it not only puts a huge grin on your face, it also makes your heart speed up a bit, about to explode with pride.
Today was one such day. Mason and I joined a Wednesday morning play group recently, which he loves. The only thing that he did not enjoy was the blow up bouncy toy. Every time I'd put him near the entrance, he would give me a terrified look and run back to the slide.
But today, he overcame his fear and let me place him inside with the other kids! The next thing I know, he was running, jumping and climbing all over the place. He would catch my gaze from time to time and wave :) Oh, to be the proudest Mom is the best feeling! I am sure this is just the beginning........

Paint, glorious paint!

We have finally reached the part of the remodel that actually matters to me.... paint! I admit, during the "behind the scenes" phase, I couldn't begin to explain to you what was happening in this house, except that we had our contractor and an assortment of others coming in and out, disrupting daily life, and my husband's face had started to become a blurry memory! But, now that the drywall is done, life is fabulous. Now we finish painting so that the electrician can come back and finish all of the light switches and electrical outlets!
As I write this, Mike is putting the 2nd coat of Pistachio Lime Beans on our 2nd level bathroom wall. We will be tiling the 3x3 shower with white subway tile, and have white hexagon tile on the floor, I think the green will look fantastic amongst all of the white. I must say, painting in an area where the floors are not finished is wonderful. Not worrying about spilling or getting the roller too close to the floor made it a much more enjoyable experience! Mike did the 1st coat on the ceilings last night, and this week we will also start on Mason's bedroom, a beautiful shade of blue called Coast. Paint color can be quite difficult, but luckily Mike and I have similar taste, and agree on most colors. The green and blue are from the Devine Color Collection at Miller Paint.
The hallway and stairway will be a lovely shade called Jute. Thanks to our friends, the Baileys who remodeled their house a few years ago for introducing this beauty to us. It resembles putty, and it will represent our 1920's house well. I will post actual pictures once we make more progress!

The Good Stuff

I have a feeling that this post will be all over the place, as I am feeling so many different things as we enter this New Year of 2010.
I am not a huge country music fan, but I do love me some Kenny Chesney. When his song "The Good Stuff" comes on the radio, I can't help but get choked up, and I am not kidding you, I have heard it at least 5 times in the past week on random radio stations. Today, as I started to make banana bread "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" comes on while listening to Pandora, and I instantly shed some tears, thinking of my dear Aunt Mary, sweet Julie Brown and so many others. So many special people lost over the years, that can just never be replaced.
"The Good Stuff" strikes quite a cord in me, because honestly, I feel quite guilty about not enjoying enough of life sometimes. This past weekend I worked both days, and both days as I came home, was unable to just sit down and enjoy my family because of dishes, vacuuming, etc. I am simply not one who can ignore such things. This is my least favorite trait of mine (inherited by my sister and I from our Mother, thank you very much!) I am sure that my husband (who had already cleaned before I got home) thinks that I am the most OCD person he's ever met. What does one do to correct this? Try harder? Accept it and do what you can? This is one area of my life that I am unable to figure out.........
If you've never heard this Kenny Chesney song, I demand that you listen to it... every.single.word.
New Years Resolution, for about the 20th time: GOOD STUFF! Really, I mean it this year.

P.S. The picture is of my darling niece, Maddie in Cannon Beach. Such a great shot, so carefree, so young, and having so much fun.

Baby Einstein, for real.

Our child has become a bink addict. There is no way around it. We have binks strategically placed around the house, in the cars, etc. It is ridiculous. Well, I have decided that I've had enough of the stress of le bink. Always making sure one is handy, looking under furniture, finding them in the laundry, you name it, bink has been there.
Our plan was to phase him out of daytime bink use, and reserve it only for nap and bedtime. Day 1 was no good and I caved.
Today was day 2. Very interesting development. I explain to Mason after his nap that the bink is to stay in the crib. Out of the crib, no bink. I was happy with myself, and thought "hey, this may not be so bad!" Riiiigggghhhht. Awhile later, Mason goes to the normal bink spot and starts whining. I explain to him again that the bink is to stay in the crib. So, what does my little genius do?? He walks over to the crib and simply says "up". Yes, he wanted in the crib so that he could have his bink, even though he's just woke from a 3 HOUR NAP. So, I put him in the crib, not expecting it to last long. 30 minutes go by and he STILL does not want out of that crib! Oh hell, this is not working the way I'd expected. So, 4 hours later, and 3 trips to the crib, we did stick to our guns about no bink outside of the crib. I am still not considering this a victory, but we will see what happens tomorrow. Our children are much smarter than we know... and it scares me.

Mr. Social Butterfly himself

I had begun to worry that my sweet, happy go lucky boy had disappeared. It seemed as though I kept blaming his mood on something... molars, cold, etc. He just wasn't himself. I had started to accept that my child just wasn't going to be social! He wasn't having any part of Thanksgiving (well, not until the very end!), was being somewhat aggressive at story time, and becoming more and more impatient by the day (I am not sure who he would get that from!?!).
Then, all of a sudden *poof* my child came back. Sweet, smiley, huggey, kissey Mason. Also appearing was his bottom right molar. Those things must hurt more than I can imagine. Regardless of the reason, I am glad that he is back, and will remember for the next time this happens.... there is always a reason, and this too, shall pass. Welcome Back!

The Skinny

Sooooo, I joined Weight Watchers with my friend Lizzy back in September. You might be asking yourself why I haven't blogged about this until now. Simple: Fear of failure! I have been up and down with my weight since my late 20's... when happy hour caught up to my arse, in a big, big way. I never had to worry about this in high school, or in my early 20's, so it caught me by surprise. What do you mean I can't have beer and spinach dip every night after work and not stay thin?? I was never very athletic, as that takes discipline and coordination. I belonged to a gym, and I still didn't understand why going once, every other week, simply was not enough?
Well, when I met Mike in 2004, I had managed to get myself to a reasonable weight of 130. I had these Gap jeans... ooh, my favorite Gap jeans, that I wore on our 2nd date. Well, after one summer of dating, consisting of numerous beer and pizza dinners, pancake breakfasts, and several lattes.... Those jeans hadn't seen the light of day in quite some time.
When I got pregnant with Mason I was, very unhappily, at 148 lbs. Yeah, 148 at 5'1. And, I put on 35 pounds while pregnant. I seriously ate whatever I wanted, as I assumed that I would lose it all, and then some, while breastfeeding. I did lose what I gained, but chose to use those extra calories burned on things such as ice cream and thai food.
Long story short... I have really been wanting to feel good again, and not feel winded every time I chase after my little sweetpea.
So, I joined WW at 140 lbs (after losing 8 by going Gluten free). I am happy to report that I am now 129, and can fit back into my infamous Gap jeans, and numerous other articles of clothing that I simply couldn't bear to part with over the years! So, Gap jeans were my first goal... now for the 2nd: to weigh what my Driver's License says I do! Thanks to Lizzy for convincing me to join. Lizzy is a new Momma and is looking H-O-T!
I am also posting my New Year's Resolution now: Running in 5k's again, running a 10k and doing another sprint triathalon. I have done these all before... time to get into ass kicking shape.