A cry for help

HELP HELP HELP

I need some help.  My MIL bought me a 16X20 canvas (YAY!!!!) so now I have to pick a photo and I'm seriously struggling.  So if you could do me a favor and vote for your favorite, I would seriously appreciate it.  You could even say you vote for a photo but I should change it to color.... haha

 Thanks so much!!

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Reality

I found this picture the other day and thought that it so PERFECTLY explained life right now that it really just made me laugh out loud.  

And then I decided this is probably life 99% of the time.  When I looked at it I thought look at all those obstacles! The rocks, the water, the hills, the rainstorm....

SO I showed it to Woody with the explanation of "don't you think this is totally us right now?"  He looked at the picture and said, "Hey! at least we have a boat!"

What an excellent example of Woods and my relationship.  He is always MR. Positive.

For me it is always so easy to focus on the rough parts of life, and forget all the tender mercies and the things that are going good. 

There is always something in life that isn't right, a job we don't love, waiting for a baby, waiting to get married, waiting to not have to work anymore and stay at home.... everyone has their THING that they are wanting. 

That last one is TOTALLY me. I want to stay home with this stud man: 

I mean who wouldn't want to hang out with this cutie all day?

If I focus on how much I am missing, the fact that I don't control his naps during the day,  don't get to see all of his discoveries, have to wake him up in the morning (and the list goes ON AND ON).. then life seems pretty awful.

You find yourself in the rut where that's all you can think about it,
and the more you think it, the worse you get!

But if I instead focus on the job that I LOVE, my students who I ADORE, and the time that I do have with J life seems pretty good!! 

Nobodys life is perfect, no matter how perfect they look in their pictures! I know by experience how hard these "bad thought" ruts can be, BUT there is always sunshine waiting around the corner.  Find your sunshine and make sure to face yourself towards it, instead of the storm. 

SO even though I am not living my fantasy life, I am finding that I
  absolutely love my reality.  

DISNEYLAAAAND

This one time in November we went to DISNEYLAND! It is the best place EEVVVEERRR!

For reals guys.. I'm pretty much obsessed with this place.  One day, when I'm not poor, I'm buying a yearly pass.. it's been my dream since... oh FOREVER

J was a champ, all the babes actually did awesome!  He would pass out when he was tired, and party hard right up until that point.

His favorite part was meeting the characters.  Seriously he loved them! And got the biggest smile and just waned to stare at them and touch them, it was probably my favorite Disney experience thus far

Seriously nothing is  better than kids at Disneyland

We stayed with Wood's family at a sweet awesome Disney house that was like mmmm... 5 minutes away? It had cute murals and Disney toys everywhere, it was fun!

CarsLand is definitely a new favorite!

We had a large group! the more the merrier right?

J's first ride!

Nap on the go!

We also had some beach days, went to Sea World and to the San Diego Zoo.  We partied hard all week long! It was a great vacation and we loved it!

Living the life

Oh man have I been living the life lately!! Never have I enjoyed my Christmas break so thoroughly!! 

I have loved every second. From spending time with family and having lots to do to spending my days at home with just me and my little man. 

I am just soaking up my days pretending to be a stay at home mom. Soaking them up like a shamu wash cloth. Ever seen one of those amazing things?? They are pretty absorbent!

As I have been soaking basking delighting in my days at home I have decided that I was born for this!!!! Seriously I rock it. 

My baby sleeps in!! Since he isn't getting woken up for daycare he sleeps in until 8:30 everyday! It's beautiful. I COOK DINNER. I'm still not cooking everyday but I am definitely cooking more often! I clean my house! I work out! I stay up and hang out with my husband! I do all these things and still have sufficient time to play with my baby! AND sometimes I even sneak some snuggle time during one of Js naps. 

I'm not saying that staying at home wouldn't get hard or mundane or stressful or that I shouldn't be able to do all these things while working...... but....... to me the grass is looking like a beautiful deep green on this side of things. 

I'm thinking of investing in some kind of robot. So I could teach through the robot while still staying at home. Sounds brilliant to me! 

Besides me, Woody and j have also had a great break

J had a stellar first Christmas and got spoiled by all of his wonderful grandparents and family. He thinks that life is pretty awesome these days with all his new toys. He goes from toy to toy to toy all day long. He got a little standing table and a walker and both have been helping him with his walking and standing (go figure). He is a champ at his push toy. He walks all around the house and gets the biggest smile. I love how he will go and find it himself and start walking around it's adorable. (Did I tell you how much I love hanging out with him yet?)

Woody is also enjoying having me stay at home. Because I cook I clean and I even will stay up at night and hang out with him! Seriously guys.... We're loving it. 

But alas come monday I will have to get up, I will have to wake my baby up, he will have to go to daycare and I will have to go to school. (I will do this because one of my co-workers recently threatened my life if I didn't return, and she's much stronger than I am so I have been sufficiently bullied into returning). 

But on the bright side J has a wonderful lady who I know loves him and I have a fantastic job that I have a love/hate relationship with. Mostly love. But hate too. 

I hope you have been enjoying your break as much as we have been enjoying ours! 

The life of my carpet

The story of my carpet lately has turned into a sad tale. Filled with towels and carpet cleaner and crunchy carpet that was accidentally missed..... (Well now you know)

We've had an unfortunate last couple of weeks. They have been occupied with things that should not be talked about in proper conversations. Since this is not that I'll tell you... Diarrhea throw up, pink stuff and of course water....and Gatorade. Blue Gatorade. 

The tale begins as many end.. The return home from a wonderful disneyland vacation (the fact that I haven't posted pictures is inexcusable..... I'll do that eventually). Sadly the combination of multiple babies and kids with a theme park did not bode well for the littles. 

J man and many of his cousins came home with a cold.

After many stressful nights I finally put my foot down and took the babe to the doctor. Turned out j had a double ear infection with his cold. Cue: pink stuff AKa antibiotics. 

The amount of wiggling, pursing of lips and spitting out caused a fair amount of pink stuff to end up on our extremely ugly and already dirty carpet. 

I'm not sure how long he was better for (like two days) before the diarrhea started. I'm sure you can all guess what (and how) got on the carpet this time. You got it. Pee. (You were thinking something else weren't you?) With all the diaper changes on a seriously wiggly baby it was only a matter of time before it took too long and the carpet paid the price.

Quickly following this the little man caught yet ANOTHER bug and the carpet was seriously destroyed.  I have never ever seen so much throw up. 

Not ever. 

I have nightmares about it

At this point in the game Woody and I were both sick and carpet cleaning was subpar. I am still finding crunchy pieces that I have to reclean..... Yeah I'll get to that later is usually my thought (jk ok maybe) 

Admist all the sickness and dirtying of carpet my little j still found joy in his journey and put the joy in mine as well. 

I hope on your thanksgiving break you were filling your stomachs instead of emptying them like us ;)