Playing Catch-Up

Even as I sit writing this blog I am aware that I will have to do this in stages. Summer is upon us and things are crazier than usual...which means that they are really insane. But I wanted to take a moment to catch up on the last few weeks.

When we returned from Mexico, Cienna had her first dance recital. It was cute beyond words and Cienna absolutely stole the show. Now I am not just saying that because she is my daughter and I am being one of those crazy stage moms. In the middle of the dance routine she stopped and waved like crazy followed by this little boogie down move and then she blew kisses to the audience. Well she was actually blowing kisses to AJ, but the audience didn't know that and every one erupted in laughter. It was adorable. Such a character!

Our Dancing Diva

A few days later my friend Lindsay flew in from CA for a Memorial Day weekend visit. We went up to the cabin for a little rest and relaxation and to see our good friends Beau and Heather get married. I have to give credit to the groom. It was the most creative entrance that I have ever seen. He arrived via a boat in the Rio Grande, fishing off the front!

www.BeauMeyer.com

It was a great wedding and we ran into our old friends Ian and Paige. Paige and I were bridesmaids in each others weddings but had lost contact over the last few years. I was glad to hear that she and her husband were doing fab and we had a lot of fun catching up over keg beer.

The rest of the weekend was spent doing yard work (blah) and indulging in buffalo steaks. I absolutely adore Lindsay, and we always have a ton of fun even when we don't do much. When we returned to ABQ on Monday night we saw a late showing of Sex and the City 2. A perfect ending to a perfect visit!

Lindsay and Cienna

Two days later we were off to Vegas! Firefighters Mike and Jackie White were generous enough to invite us to their timeshare just off the strip and we made quite the road trip out of it! There were a total of 7 of us, including their 2-year old daughter Adriana. We spent 3 days poolside, and discovered that the resort had a lazy river that was to die for! Even though it was 107 degrees, we managed to stay cool between the pool and the air conditioned rooms. We only ran into one problem...3 days just wasn't long enough!

Daddy and AJ on the Lazy River


Cienna - Posing As Always


AJ Enjoying The Sand Pool

Well that catches us up on the last few weeks. I heart summer!!!

Viva La Mexico!

It was oh so nice to have a beer in my hand with my feet in the sand last week in Playa del Carmen. While I won't bore you with all of the details of the trip, I will just say that if you have a Facebook page you may already know more than you ever wanted to know. Blame it on the tequila. And the beer. And the champagne. And I think there was also rum involved.


Anyway, enough about the alcohol consumption. Obviously a vacation minus the kids (and one that includes my best friend from high school) is going to be a crazy good time. Some of the highlights included:
-Being overcharged almost $400 for beer at the Mega our first day there. Yea. That is why you don't go grocery shopping drunk. Fortunately for us we figured it out the next morning and sent the guys down there to straighten it out while Jen and I consumed morning mimosas. Through an interpreter they were able to explain that there was no way to actually put 96 6-packs of beer into a shopping cart and we got our refund. Mission accomplished!

-Then there was the deep sea fishing excursion. I should have known that it was not going to be exactly smooth sailing when we woke up to black skies and torrential downpour. But when we called we were assured by our fishing guide "Walter" that it would be "no problem!" Uh huh. I should have listened to my internal fishing guide that said don't do it. Not one to be the party pooper, I popped my Dramamine and hopped my happy ass on the boat. Top five worst mistakes that I have ever made. Between the near capsizing of the boat, the freezing weather, and the smell of fuel fumes pumping in my face I finally succumbed to the nasty, plastic fishing vessel Gods of the Caribbean seas. No bueno.

Oh yea, and on top of it all we got a fish on the line and they give the freakin pole to the sicky just trying not to barf all over the boat. That was the topper. I finally gave up and handed Tony the pole, only to watch a 3ft fish jump out of the water and snap the line. Nice ending to the day.
-Tony being called "Rambo" by all the Mexican peddlers, and Jen and Justin being referred to as "Basketball Players." I am jealous! I wasn't given a nickname the entire week we were there. That is probably because no one could see me walking with all of the giants. I was the only one in our group under 6ft!
-Justin asked Jen to marry him! We were enjoying a beautiful walk on the beach when all of the sudden Justin drops to a knee and proposes in Spanish. Jen didn't have a clue what he was saying or why he was in the water, but after he slipped the ring on her finger she finally figured it out. Congrats you two little lovebirds!




So those were some of the highlights of the trip. Tony and I had a great time and only missed the kids a little bit. OK, a lot. But that is why we drank so much...to get them off our minds!








Thank you to Marilou and Gary for flying out to Albuquerque to watch the kids while we spent the week acting like kids. It was such a great time!

A Mother's Week

What a great Mother's Day week! I didn't think that it was going to be so great, with Cienna and I not seeing eye to eye on much at the beginning of the week. But Tony came through BIG TIME by taking her to Las Vegas with him and his business partner to pick up a dump trailer that they had purchased. A couple of days without her gave me the space that I needed to realize how much I love and miss the little nugget. T sent me little photos of their trip to keep me in the loop, showing me that she had an absolute blast. And I am sure that it helped that they stayed at Circus Circus....


Dad Carrying Their Overnight Bag


Riding The Rides


Did I Mention That These Were Taken At Like Midnight??

Tony said that Cienna actually told him that she was tired and wanted to go to bed. That just shows you how late it really was. But with McDonald's for lunch, In-n-Out for dinner and Krispy Kremes for breakfast, I am sure that it was a dream trip for her!

While they were gone, AJ and I got to bond. I think that he liked having the one on one time with his mama and I am looking forward to Cienna starting pre-school in August so that he and I can do Gymboree together. He is crawling everywhere and I even caught him pulling himself up on Cienna's baby gate. I immediately grabbed my phone, took a picture and sent it to Tony so that he could share in the momentus occasion. All I got was a reply that Tony had seen him do it the day before (and may I mention he did not feel the need to tell me about it!) I told him that his viewing didn't count and that the day that I saw it would be the day that went in the baby book. So there...




My first Mother's Day gift arrived on Thursday...a new dishwasher! Most people probably don't get excited over this type of stuff but I was overjoyed. Mostly because it has a cool "half load" or "top rack only" feature which allows me to wash just the baby bottles and cups that Cienna and AJ plow through on a daily basis. Moms will understand. My little brother probably won't get it.

My actual Mother's Day was fab. We started with breakfast at our usual Sunday spot, followed by an Isotopes baseball game in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day and the best part came when Cienna's face appeared on the jumbo-tron. It was so cute, and you can bet how thrilled she was to see herself on the big screen! We then came home for naps and Tony continued work on our bathroom, which I can finally say is almost complete! It has been one hell of a project. Then I was treated to dinner at Buca di Beppo and given my "real" gift.



It was such an adorable idea. One side has the kids names and the other has their birthdays (both sides have their birthstones.) And he followed it up with a classic Mother's Day card, complete with at least one misspelled word and totally from the heart!

One more week until Mexico without the kids. This week is gonna be sloooooooooooooow.
Hope that everyone had a great Mother's Day!

More Colorado Footage

OK, so I apologize for the double post about our last couple of weekends in CO, but I completely forgot that I took pictures! So here are a few of my favorite shots (and some new pics from this week too!) Boring week here in ABQ. It went something like this:

Monday - (Tony) Hauling Jobs (Me) Catering to my children's every desire
Tuesday - (Tony) Hauling Jobs (Me) Mani / Pedi in the morning. Then catering to my children's every desire
Wednesday - (Tony) Fire station (Me) Catering to my children's every desire
Thursday - (Tony) Fire station (Me) Catering to my children's every desire
Friday - (Tony) Hauling Jobs (Me) Catering to my children's every desire
Saturday - (Tony) Fire station (Me) Catering to my children's every desire

See what I mean? Boring week. Anyhoo, here are some pics.


AJ's 1st "Cabin" Beer


I Think He Liked It....


Cienna Expressing Herself Again


I Think She Gets It From Her Friend Skylar


I Don't Know What It Is About Tony, But He Can Get AJ To Fall Asleep Anywhere!
(Ok, I do know what it is. When I get AJ to fall asleep I am doing dishes, laundry, making beds, doing yard work, catering to Cienna's every desire, etc. When Tony gets him to fall asleep he sleeps too!)




Just Had To Throw In A Couple Of Pics Of AJ Without The Luller In His Mouth


And One Of Me Since I Am Rarely Not The Picture Taker. Notice Cienna's Pose. Even The Random Lady Who Took Our Picture Had A Good Laugh At That!

That's it. Back to catering to my children's every desire!

To Colorado...And Back Again

The last two weekends have been spent in Colorado at the cabin. Our intention was to go up there for a little relaxation...until we saw that high winds nearly ripped part of our metal roof off. So we spent the rest of the weekend compiling a list of things that we would need to fix the roof, clean the yard, wash the windows and other small projects. After a few quick nights back in ABQ, we headed back up to Colorado last weekend to get some things accomplished.
The highlight of our trip was Cienna's first outdoor potty experience. It is a 4 hour drive, and there are stretches of the trip that are nothing but land as far as the eye can see. Of course it was during one of these stretches that Cienna suddenly said that she had to go potty. We asked her if she could hold it. No dice. So we told her that we would pull over and she could go outside. This greatly confused her, as she could not comprehend "squatting" outside. To make a long story short, she peed like a pro....and then told us every 10 miles that she needed to use the potty outside again. We created a monster. (But I think it made Tony very proud!)


See...He Must Have Been Proud. He Took A Picture!


And Lots Of Pictures Of The Fabulous NM Scenery

We have had a great week in ABQ. Our shed and bathroom remodels are almost complete, the hauling business has picked up, and everyday we take time to thank God for all that we have. Tony has done an amazing job of balancing the fire department, his hauling and recycling responsibilities and family time. We even had a chance to take Cienna bowling for the first time!


The Family That Bowls Together, Stays Together

Today is AJ's 8 month b-day. In the last month he started sitting up on his own and CRAWLING! Now of course you can't stop the kid. He is crawling, sitting up, back to crawling, putting everything in his mouth and his newest "trick" is spitting his food out. Nice. The best part about it is that as your feeding him you don't know if the bite that you are giving him is going to go down the hatch or straight back out at your face. Keeps me on my toes. But I am happy to report that he is more adorable than ever.


Tony (AKA "The Baby Whisperer") with AJ = Man Bonding Time


Showing That He Has Mastered Sitting Up

Last but not least, I just had to share this picture of Cienna. She is now officially dressing herself and all I can say is that she must have gotten her sense of style from the Mazotti side of the family!


My Baby Runway Model

Hope that everyone has a great week!

Organ Donor

Well I am finally feeling like my old self. That is due in large part to the enormous amount of help that I received the last two weeks from my in-laws and my mom. Many, many thank yous to all three of you!
It was so nice to have "night nurses" to get up with AJ, change him and bring him to me. Ahhh...that was the life. I also had my night nurses feeding AJ breakfast, lunch and dinner, taking Cienna to the park and doing my laundry. I need to find another non-essential organ to have removed soon!
On another note, my spirited 3-year old continues to challenge me in new ways. My mom experienced this first hand, when she told me that she did not remember me being so opinionated and stubborn at only 3 years old. I immediately said "I TOLD YOU SO! I TOLD YOU SHE WAS MORE SPIRITED THAN MOST! (Ok, I didn't use the word spirited...) NO ONE BELIEVES ME! THEY JUST THINK THAT THIS IS NORMAL!" My mom agreed that she was quite a handful.

Argumentative? Check
Talks With Her Hands? Check
Uses The Word "Flippin" When Describing Things? Check

My mom thinks that she would make a perfect attorney. She has a way of re-phrasing the same question in multiple ways.
Cienna - "Mom, can I have some ice cream?"
Me- "No"
Cienna - "Mom, if I finish all of my dinner do you think that I could have a little dessert?"
Me - "We will see."
Cienna - "I want chocolate ice cream when I finish my dinner."
Me - "No one said that you were getting ice cream if you finished your dinner."
Cienna - "Well, I could have a different treat for dessert. How about chocolate Dippin Dots?"
Me - "Dippin Dots are ice cream!"
Cienna - "No they are not. They are little balls."

And so it goes. This is all day, every day, every conversation.


Notice Where The Stickers Are Missing From?

So now I sit and ask myself...do I need my spleen really? Does anyone happen to need a kidney next week? Because I could REALLY use the help!

Dr. 87104

I am officially gallbladder free! Wednesday morning the last thing that I remember was being told I was getting some "I Don't Care Medicine" and the next thing I knew I was being forced to wake up by a nurse that I wanted to punch in her face. Literally. I kept telling her that I was very angry and didn't want her to talk to me. I am sure that she loved me to pieces. There was only a minor complication during the surgery. Apparently one of the gallstones had already made it's way out of my gallbladder an into my intestine, partially blocking it. They flushed it out and hopefully my stomach issues will soon be solved. Tony arrived with Pops to pick me up. He brought me beautiful flowers. Awww.....



Wednesday night was not fun. I had horrible gas pain in my belly and chest and I no matter how much I walked around or how much water I drank I could not get any relief. I just tried to stay drugged so that I could sleep through the pain. Fortunately for me I had my in-laws and husband there to take care of me and the kids. Being forced to stay in bed was the best!

Thursday. No bueno.

Friday. No bueno.

Saturday. We celebrated Easter a day early because Tony had to leave for the fire station Sunday morning. The Easter bunny brought baskets and eggs for the yard.


The Baskets


Our Little Bunny Cienna


AJ Exhausted After Playing With His New Toys

The fam cooked a fabulous Easter dinner, which we all enjoyed. I enjoyed it until I didn't enjoy it the rest of the evening. It was about this time that I decided that I was never eating again.


Turkey Dinner

Did I mention how fab my in-laws are? My mother-in-law cooked, cleaned, took care of the kids, drove Cienna to her various activities, got up with AJ in the middle of the night and rubbed my feet every day. She is my BFF.


Mimi and AJ

And my father-in-law helped Tony build cabinets in our newly expanded "shed" in the backyard. Today, while Tony was at the firehouse, he finished putting doors on our fancy new storage area. It was a LOT of work. Thanks Pops!


Pops And His Masterpiece

Sadly tomorrow the in-laws leave...but my mom arrives to pick up my slack for the next week while I continue the recovery process. I am looking forward to another week of help with the kids, although I fear my foot rubs have definitely come to an end!