Disneyland

Mike and I have decided to celebrate our anniversary this year by taking a vacation and going to Disneyland. Call me cliche, but Disneyland is my absolute favorite place on earth. I really do think it's magical, and every time I go, or even think about it for that matter, I get as giddy as a five-year old girl doped up on funfetti cake opening birthday presents. Seriously, I am a die hard Disneyland fan. If we lived in LA, you bet we'd own annual passes. And you bet we'd be there every weekend. Every day. Every waking hour they were open. You get the picture.

Anyway, so we planned a little trip. Booked a flight, hotel room, bought 2-day Park Hopper passes, yada yada. We did this probably a month ago, and while I've thought about it nearly every day since then, I only just realized this afternoon that we will be leaving in less than two weeks. And while I am so extremely overly-excited for this trip, I am also so extremely overly-anxious even thinking about leaving Ava for three nights. Yes, I know that we are leaving her in the safest of all hands, but still, this will be the first time that we spend a night away from her. And it won't just be one night, it'll be three. Three! Three whole nights! Ninety-six consecutive hours we will be away from her. 

I am sure that I will suffer total mental breakdown on more than one occasion before then, and I know that kissing her goodbye and leaving her will be equivalent to having my heart ripped out of my chest, rolled around in the dirt, stepped on, and blown to pieces with a shotgun, but it is something I must do. Something I must learn to accept. As a mother. I must do it and accept it as a motherly duty. But six months is so soon to separate! Shouldn't she be eighteen, packing up for college, and driving into the sunset only to return for holidays and occasional weekends?

I understand that I am blowing this completely out of the water, but yes, I am nervous. And sad. And I don't want to leave my baby. Even if it does mean I get to visit the most Magical Place on Earth. 

But this is something that I owe to myself. And I owe to Mike. And we owe to each other. So yes, I must do this. And I can. And I will. Just as long as I can make 2192890183 phone calls to check-in and reassure my unnecessary anxiety. 

I mean, come on, how am I going to ever be able to leave this face?

Memorial Day Weekend

My, my it has been quite a while since I've shown the blog some lovin'. I hope that over the next several days I can make some time to update all of the (now old) news! Unfortunately, because I'm positive I still suffer from that rusty pregnant mind, let us start with the more recent and hope that I may successfully make my way back.

For starters, Ava is now 5 1/2 months old! Holy jesus, I had no idea time would fly this quickly. Every day is a new learning experience, for both her and I. I cannot tell you how much I love being a mother and watching my baby grow into a healthy little person, with a vibrant, sweet personality, and the most lovable smile I've ever laid eyes on. I am absolutely crazy about her every minute of every day. How did I ever live without this dearest wee one in my life? How did Mike and I make this intensely complicated, yet so very beautiful, tiny creature? A human! Gee golly, I've officially gone "mom". So, I guess now that that's done and over with (for now anyway), let's get back to the rest of the good stuff: family vacation!


Mike, Ava, and I made our first family overnight vacation to Page for Memorial Day weekend to hang out with Nana, Tots, and the good ol' Harris family. It was so great to leave the city - Mike and I were in desperate need of a getaway. The drive up wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, minus the last forty-five minutes of Ava screaming her little lungs out. We had to stop in Flagstaff to feed Ava, but we stopped at a Starbucks so I can't complain (I have to admit it was rather nice taking our time). When we finally arrived, we were greeted by three crazy kiddos and four just as equally crazy adults (I use this term loosely in the sense that these people are nothing but FUN). We couldn't wait to get unpacked and catch up! Of course the baby was instantly ripped from my arms and passed around - Mandi's family hadn't yet met her so they made their introductions, and the kids had a blast playing "boo!" with her.

I could go on and on and on about the details of the visit, but instead I'll just give it a quick sum-up. It rained. A lot. A whole lot. And when it rained I mean it POURED. For 23892838 straight hours Mother Nature unearthed her maternal wrath upon us and flooded the streets, peoples homes, and my poor mother's windows. Okay so it wasn't really 12898898 hours, but it was definitely a long time. All of Thursday evening/night and the majority of Friday.

After the rain died down a bit Friday we headed out to Lone Rock where Tots and Mackay set up camp. It was overcast and very chilly, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. Personally, I'm glad the sun took the day off - we have more than enough sunlight in Phoenix right now, and we will for months to come. I'll never curse an overcast day, even if it is supposed to be bright and sunny and beachy! We hung out at the lake for several hours and after dinner Mandi, Hallie, Momma, Mike, Ava and I turned in for the night and headed home to sleep. Here's a first: Nana shared her bed with Ava for the night! It only took me eight bouts of paranoia and separation anxiety to agree, but I'm glad I did in the end. 'Twas nice having an uninterrupted night to get some much needed sleep. Thanks, Nana!

It was a quick trip: we left early afternoon on Saturday. While I wish we could've stayed longer, I am so glad that we had the time we did to see family and have some fun. Hopefully sometime in July we'll be able to visit Rob & Mandi in Henderson (don't worry mom, we plan on going when you guys go).

San Diego!

Last week Mike and I spent Thursday through Sunday in San Diego. We were lucky enough to be invited on the vacation by his brother, Dan, and his wife, Sarah. They wanted to do Sea World and the beach. We originally had plans to stay in a hotel in La Jolla, but Sarah ended up scoring us a sweet deal on an absolutely gorgeous beach front condo on Mission Beach. It was beautiful! We arrived Thursday, had some dinner on the front patio, walked the boardwalk a bit, and Mike and I sat on the dark, cold beach talking for a while. Friday we woke up early, made breakfast, and walked along the beach looking for shells and watching the birds. Then we did Sea World. It was so fun - I loved the otters. They are so cute! Later that night we went to Seaport Village and celebrated my birthday. Saturday we rented bikes, had breakfast at Kono's, rode all along the bay, ate giant slices of pizza, funnel cake, and frozen bananas (yum!) and sat on the beach. Mike and Dan walked along the jetti looking for crabs and somehow Mike caught one and stuck it in his pocket to bring back to the beach with him. From there they passed it between them, letting it crawl all over their bodies. They convinced me to let it crawl on my belly, saying that Ava would love the picture later on...I was terrified, but still let them do it. They did manage to get a picture, but I'm not fond of it, so we'll see what happens. Later that night we had sushi on Garnet and stopped by the roller coaster so everyone (but me) could ride it. Sunday we hung out on the patio for a while before we started packing up. It was definitely a break we needed...we were so sad to come home so soon. Now we are looking forward to the next trip and all of the fun things we will get to show Ava!


Our view...

Babies'R'Us..AH!

I have to begin with a little conversation I had with my younger cousin Owen this afternoon. He's four. This is how it went:

Owen: "Is your baby still in your belly?"
Me: "Yep, she's right here."
*I put my hand on my belly...he follows and rubs my belly, too
Owen: "Is she growing up in there?"
Me: "Uh-huh"
Owen: "Is she going to be your daughter when she comes out?"
Me: "Yep, and you're going to be her big cousin!"

Then he smiles and hugs me. Cutest kid ever. He's always asking how my baby is doing.

On another note, Mike and I began our registry at Babies'R'Us today. Good lord, is that place overwhelming. What ever happened to one kind of bottle with one kind of nipple? What about a good old-fashioned high chair, or a regular plastic tub for the sink? It seems the only things you can purchase for a baby these days are overly-large contraptions that are completely unnecessary. Like, what baby needs a jacuzzi spa tub? Or a bassinet that's the size of a small car? Or a $200 bedding set? Sheesh, our bedding didn't even cost that much. Mike had the same line of thinking as far as unnecessary went, so it was rather easy scratching things off and finding alternatives. I'm still overwhelmed, though. We didn't get very far, and we would like to purchase a lot of things second hand or search for better deals online. Now it's just finding the time to actually go out and do that...

Anyway, Ava is healthy and growing. She seems to have found a comfy little spot under my right ribs that she has wedged herself into. She is also putting a hefty amount of pressure onto my bladder. Now rather than getting up 2 or 3 times a night to pee, I'm getting up at least 4 times. Each time my bladder is so full I can hardly walk to the restroom. I'm convinced I'm experiencing mild contractions at this time (my doctor said I probably am) and I often wonder if labor will be much more painful. I'm sure it will be. Oh well, I guess I appreciate the heads up.

When I find the time I'll update with pictures and talk of all the fun Mike and I had in San Diego last week...here's a little preview!

Labor Day

Mike and I spent the holiday weekend with my parents at the lake. We didn't actually camp at the lake overnight, instead we stayed at the house and headed to the lake early each morning, and returned home late in the evening to sleep. It was so nice, not having to deal with the heat and sand while pregnant! The camp was huge, with anywhere from 80-100 people in our site. Houseboats, boats, canoes, kayaks, sea doos, quads, tents, and gigantic trailers were in abundance. Horseshoes were played, beer was drank, sunburns were had, s'mores were eaten, and anything else that can happen while camping, did. Oh, and injuries, too. The first morning there I slipped climbing onto a pontoon boat and gashed my shin open. It bled grossly all day and hurt quite a bit, not to mention made me paranoid to swim in the "e.coli" infected water. Oh well, I got over it quickly and didn't let it ruin my fun. The trip itself was very relaxing - I'm so glad we got the chance to go. It was really nice seeing everyone and catching up, and it was fun "playing" on the lake (even though I didn't get to be outrageous on the quad, tube, or use the houseboat slide). We are definitely looking forward to next year. 

Before we left, Mike and I picked vegetables out of my mother's amazing garden to take home with us. Her garden is absolutely beautiful! We picked plum tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, regular (?) tomatoes, and jalapenos. 

We're sad vacation is over so soon. But, we're looking forward to San Diego in two weeks! Yay!