Beach in January

Remember that one time I said Olive was ready for one nap? Major fail on that for sure. She successfully took two naps today at her normal times. I think she is just fucking with me now. No complaints for two naps but it makes it very difficult to plan anything ya know? I'm not exactly sure what happened this afternoon but after she woke up from her second nap she was PISSED at the world. For over an hour she clung to me and screamed bloody murder if I put her down. I let her water my flowers with the hose which is her favorite thing in the world and even that pissed her off. It was bizarre. We snuggled on a blanket on the grass for a bit and managed to eat a few snacks between tears but this little one was not happy. After about 30 min of holding her my arms were about to fall off so I put her in my ergo and she kept grabbing my neck and hugging me. Maybe something hurt, I dunno but she wasn't happy for at least an hour straight. Then all of a sudden she wanted out of the ergo and she was fine the rest of the night. Strange kid and a super exhausted mom.

The rest of the day was awesome. We met up with Lauren and her kids at the beach. You know cause January is the new July and it was at least 75 out. There was a huge swell so there were surfers on and off the beach all day. Totally felt like a summer day. I took Olive down to the water for a little while to put our feet in but I'm learning that just means Olive is going to go swimming and I'm going to end up wet as well. First off just because the weather is warm does not mean the water it. It was freezing to the point that it hurt when you stood in it long enough. I could hardly take it but Olive was ready to take a swim to Catalina. She screamed at me when I didn't let her run towards the wave and did not want to be picked up like when she was a baby. She was beyond excited when a wave knocked her footing and she fell on her butt. This summer is going to be hysterical trying to stop her from going in the water. At least it will be much warmer. We played on the beach for a few hours, chased the kids around, chatted, and snacked till it was nap time for the kiddos and we headed home. I hope there are more beach days in the near future cause it was so much fun! I am totally exhausted from the salty air. Isn't is weird how it does that?? I mean my day wasn't exactly stressful or exhausting by any means but the beach sure makes you feel tired.

"Break it down."

Seaweed!!!

2012 is all about visualizing what you want or printing it out and playing make believe.

No snack is safe from Olive.

Early morning walk.

She won't smile when I ask her but she will make a "silly face."

And this is what our afternoon looked like. It's not all sunshine and oceans......

Chachachachanges

The day I dreaded was when Olive started to take one nap. It's not that I don't want to spend all day with Olive but it just broke up the day kinda nicely. It's been about a week or so that Olive started refusing the second nap so I'm guessing that is my sign right? So now I'm not totally sure where to put the nap in the day. She gets pretty tired in the morning and can go to sleep by 9 since she wakes up at 6 but if that is her only nap she has way too much day and will be a total grump all afternoon. So my idea was to go for a nap at noon and eat lunch at 11:30. Sounded pretty good but on the way home from our morning nature hike Olive decided to pass out in the car. Total nap fail cause it was only 10am. I purposely left the house all morning to keep her really busy.  Trying to plan with a child is a total joke so I guess we will try out a few different times till we find out what works. Making changes is always hard cause we kinda had a pretty good schedule going but I guess it's time to change things up again. I've also completely cut her feeding out before bed. So far it's been fine and she doesn't seem to miss it. I am still doing a morning feeding but I will stop that this weekend. I think that will be the hardest one to stop as the morning she is pretty needy and wants nothing more than mama so it will be interesting. I am sad to stop but feel very accomplished that I went over 15 months!!

Since I'm still on my get shit done new years mode I left the house pretty early this morning and we went to Irvine Park to wander around. It was beautiful!! So much pretty light. Olive was happy for awhile then got a bit antsy but usually a few snacks will help with that. She isn't super into sitting in the stroller but we still managed to walk around for over an hour so I guess that is pretty good. I even ran a little and the bugaboo isn't that bad, totally fine for a flat street jog. We did some offroading through the park cause we were totally stalking some peacocks that were wandering around. I saw one and I thought it escaped from the zoo till we came across like 20 others so I'm thinking they just live there. We visited the horses and ducks and saw a bunch of crows that I'm pretty sure wanted to eat Olive. Creepy little fuckers. There were a few people with dogs wandering around but for the most part it was really quiet. I tried to get lost on all the paths but everything kinda loops around so I ended up just going in a couple circles but the place is massive. We stopped to play at one of the many playgrounds for a little while. I'm hoping to go there once or twice a week for walks just to get out. I always get antsy at home and Olive isn't the best at playing by herself either. She spends a little while being totally independent and then when I try to do anything that involves leaving the room she is pretty annoyed and then it just sets her off so the more we can leave the house the better.

She made a horse sound finally! She can do a ton of different animals but never a horse till today!

Just photos

Mom and Stella on the ride home from Mammoth.

Going to get crafty with these sticks.

Love!

The spread.

Yorkshire Pudding.

Olive and Sonia.

Sunset.

The playroom is expanding. We just bought more shelving to organize cause it's starting to stress me out. It's like a total barf of toys.

Drool.

Ashley and Olive.

Uncle Evan and Ashley.

Ashley taught her how to throw pennies in the fountain.

Oh hi hangover.

Blake took these two naked photos and they might be my favorite ever.

Stocking up on hinges.

Rock mover.

Happy 2012! The year of "get shit done."

Happy 2012! I'm still recovering from New Years eve. Let's just say I can't drink like I used to. The night was fantastic but the morning not so much. I usually don't like new years eve as it's always so hyped up and there are so many expectations to go huge and do something exciting that it always ends up being lame. Since I was in high school I've spent every new years in Mammoth for that reason. Low key and only a few places you can go which makes it simple. I've had some pretty amazing new years up there but the last few have been kinda whatever. I think getting older and the pressure to stay up late is kinda annoying. This year was different and actually one of the best times I've had. We came home from Mammoth early which worked out as our friends were in town from NY. They wanted to see Olive so we planned a nice little day and dinner on new years eve. They were supposed to go back to San Diego that night after dinner but we got kinda carried away and drank a wee bit too much so they ended up staying and we went out and celebrated new years together which was a very exciting unexpected treat. We ate at the same sushi place I had my birthday dinner and it did not disappoint. We ate ridiculous amounts of fresh sashimi and way too many bottles of sake. It was so much fun! As dinner was ending I got a text from Blake's brother to come to a bar down the street so of course we did. When I'm drunk EVERYTHING is a good idea. It ended up being super fun and pretty wild. Besides getting pretty sick from mixing way too many drinks it was the most amazing night with some good people.

The next day was absolutely beautiful and while I really wanted to spend all day in bed I got my ass up and we went down to the beach. I ended up seeing a friend and chatted for a bit in between chasing Olive. Then Olive decided she wanted to go in the freezing ocean. I swear she didn't care that is was cold, she would of swam if I let go of her. We lazied around Blake's parents for a bit then headed home. This January weather has been insane, it honestly feels like summer. Today we got the super motivation bug and ran a bunch of errands and started organizing the garage a bit. I'm pretty sure it will take all of 2012 to get everything organized but we will do it! I'm feeling super motivated to get shit done. I know this is always how the first of the year is but I'm going to take while I'm feeling it!

Ashley and Steve

I blame this margarita for everything.

Ross and Dana

Smooches