Besties.

These 2 babes are almost 5 months apart - but you'd never know judging by their size! Left is Miss Taya and right is Mr. Kyle (taken about a month ago, I think):

And the rest of the gang...Easton and Rhys - all destined to be best buds for life :-)

Smokin'

Last night felt so good. It was my first time away from the kids in two months. (because the hour away to grocery shop doesn't count).

When my pump stopped working and I decided that instead of investing more money on a new one or to replace parts, that Kyle would simply drink formula when I was away, my mom made a comment that 'I gave up fast' this time around. The stigma around formula vs. nursing drives me nuts. I chose breastfeeding because it's cheap and very gratifying (once I got over the tough part). And the other, most important reason I do it is because I can. Not every woman is that lucky. But the thing I really don't like about nursing is that it can easily become a prison sentence.

This way, I feel like Kyle, Rhys and myself are getting the best of both worlds. Feedings are no longer going to hold me back from celebrating a friend's birthday or getting my hair cut. And Kyle's Dad and Grandparents can get the joy of feeding him. And Rhys can have more of my time, instead of it being used to pump milk (that Kyle gets 99% of the time anyway).

So...back to how good last night felt. I drank 3 HUGE virgin strawberry/pomegranate margaritas. I got to chow down on delicious homemade appetizers. I laughed with some of my dearest friends, and talked about things other than sleep patterns and child rearing. All while learning how to make my eyes look dramatic and sexy! God, it was heaven. I know it was T's birthday, but it was also a wonderful gift to myself to be there (thanks Warren!).

Before:

After:








The Ladies!



Our eyes really pop, from far away!




And guess what? You can book your very own 'Smokey Eye' make-up party with Kara! Here is her website: Blink Make-up Artistry

Attack!

Last week, my friend Keri was another victim of The Snuggle Bug...

SHEESH!

Yesterday, I was totally razzed in the comments. My girlfriends were mocking my sideways video. I am, after all, a 'TV Expert', doncha-know. I know all about TV production and aspect ratios and render codecs and yada, yada, yada. So how could I do something so 'amateur' as turn my video camera sideways?

Well. Now I'm on the defensive thank-you-very-much.

Clearly, my girlfriends missed one key detail - that the video was shot using an iPod. Which naturally has a vertical screen. I didn't turn a 'video camera' sideways, I merely shot using the devices' natural handheld position. And, I admit, in the back of my mind I thought to myself 'Geez, I wonder how this will work?". But then I thought to myself "It's a MAC product! They totally know what they're doing! By even allowing me to record this way, there must be an easy work around! It's a MAC!"

Never ASSUME, because then you make and ASS out of U and ME.

But my girlfriends didn't stop there. They started to suggest things that OF COURSE I had thought of and tried. Which, for a brief moment, was insulting. BUT, this also made me go back and look at what I had tried, and I found a better way. I also regained my trust in Mac products. This was truly a 'human' error.

I still get You Tube errors, but I did successfully rotate the video :-)

So, Dear Grilfriends, I Thank-You.

My readers thank-you too. Behold...a rotated video!

Rhys Blows A Whistle:

Also, here is yesterdays' video, rotated, for good measure...

Rhys Daddy Shoes:

And lastly, for the Grandparents (because it's like - 4.5 minutes long)...

Rhys in the bath at 18.5 months (yesterday):

My Hero

Photo Booth, April 6th, 2010:

Notice the writing is NOT BACKWARDS. That's not an accident. That's some clever Internet research, performed by a dear friend. A friend who doesn't like backwards photos. Command+F worked!

Arrived!

I Heart Mac. Our Maui photo album (created & purchased using Mac's iPhoto) arrived yesterday, and it was ordered last Tuesday. I Heart Getting Parcels In The Mail. I noticed the Mac People used FedEx instead of UPS, which I attribute to the quick delivery. I Do Not Heart UPS.

Other notes from yesterday: I tackled Rhys' room, which was getting a bit over taken by outgrown clothes & gifts that he's not quite ready for. I got about half-way done. Two things prevented me from completing it. 1st, it was a slightly bigger job than expected. 2nd, I suddenly realized I could only work on his room while he was awake. Because he uses his room to, you know, sleep. So Rhys spent a lot of time playing on the floor beside his crib yesterday. Here are the before & afters of the part I did finish:

Bookshelf top shelves, before:

Bookshelf top shelves, after:

Bookshelf bottom shelves, before:

Bookshelf bottom shelves, after:

Top of dresser (changing station) before:

Top of dresser (change station has been moved to the floor, since Rhys is too 'mobile' to be changed on top of a dresser anymore) after:

Also, some VERY exciting news was announced yesterday. Some of you know my dear friend Tiffany, so I'm spreading her news here, too. Please visit Tiffytopia to congratulate a fabulous couple who have been waiting a while for this blessing. While you're there, you might as well add her to your blog reading list and follow along her journey into motherhood :-)

Today Rhys & I are feeling a lot better, so I am going to tackle some laundry and treat the entire family to some nice clean bed sheets. Oh ya. I also think carrot cake for breakfast sounds delightful.

The Forgotten One

When I'm stressed by packing for a big trip, someone always tries to console me by saying 'Don't worry, as long you have your passport, everything else you forget you can buy at your destination'. I used to believe that to be true, until I left CEDRIC at home. Oh, poor little Cedric. You'll be the first item I pack on our next trip, I promise.

Day 11 of our trip was a slightly more ambitious day. Before coming to Maui, Warren & I chose one thing that was really important to us to get the chance to do on this holiday. My 'thing' was that I wanted the opportunity to lay by the pool and suntan & relax (read: sans baby). I'm easy to please, I guess. Warren's 'thing' was that he really wanted to get up before dawn and drive up a volcano to watch the sunrise from ABOVE the clouds (hmm...slightly more difficult to please...). Obviously, this was something I would have loved to do too, but after much discussion we both decided it wouldn't be fair to Rhys to wake him at 4am, pack him into the car, drive up a windy, dangerous road to watch the sun rise from the freezing peak of a volcano. Not what we considered a child friendly activity.

So Thursday morning, Warren, Rob & Tiff woke up really early and headed off to the volcano, while I stayed at the condo with Rhys. Rhys slept in a little that morning (6:15am! Yes, in Maui, that was sleeping in...), and went back for a nap at 7am. That gave me the chance to blog a bit, and to enjoy our gorgeous view and the ocean breeze (which I miss very much):

As the morning hours ticked away I was beginning to feel sorry for myself. The gang was off having an adventure, and I was stuck at the condo. So I strapped Rhys into the Baby Hawk carrier and we went for a walk to find some Kona Coffee. Rhys got lots of 'Ohhs' and 'Ahhs' from passers by, which always warms my heart:

By the time we arrived back at the condo, Warren was home. The trip was totally worth it, he said, but he was glad we didn't bring Rhys. He said there was a family with a baby up on the volcano, and they were totally stressed out and had the baby wrapped and bundled in quilts from their hotel. Warren said it was cooooold up there. He also said the twisty road would have made me sick. But these photos tell me one thing is for sure...we will be taking Rhys back to Maui some day, so that he can watch the mighty sun rise up, while standing above the clouds:

After the gang had a quick nap, we jumped back into the van and headed south, to the sunny shores of Wailea. It was gorgeous there. We took lots of video, but the only photo we took in Wailea was Resolution Pic #11:

That night, we all cooked steaks on the ocean front BBQs, watched Survivor Heroes Vs Villains, and ate some All American Pie (half apple, half cherry!).

Our last full day in Maui was ambitious and full and lovely.

The Sea Was Angry That Day, My Friends

Our visit to Maui landed smack dab in the middle of the whale season, and we're told this is one of the best whale seasons in decades. Knowing this, a whale watching boat ride was at the top of our list of things we wanted to do while we were here. Originally we planned to go separately - my mom & I on one trip, and Warren, Rob & Tiff on another. But when we were booking it the guy told us that people bring kids on board all the time so we were extra excited knowing we'd all be going together.

We had it planned to a tee. Warren would carry Rhys on his back in the Baby Hawk carrier. I would be on video camera duty, and Warren would have the zoom lens, ready to capture the money shot of a breach whale. We made sure to have all our equipment charged up to the max the night before. We were set.

Once we finally got Rhys into the Baby Hawk (it's a bit of an art form to put that thing on, and we're not very practiced at it) he fell asleep:

As we boarded, a crew member snapped a souvenir photo of our little group. This photo captured our excitement for the adventure ahead:

Once the boat left shore, things began to sour. First, the captain announced over the loud speaker that anyone with children had to remain seated, holding the child. What?! We didn't know what the rules were for the baby carrier so Warren stood up to ask a crew member. As soon as he stood up and realised how unsteady he was walking, he knew the answer before he asked. It was totally unsafe to walk around the boat with a baby, even if he's attached securely to you. So our plan was to find a safe seat on the upper, open-air deck and take turns holding Rhys while the other stood up to look for whales and take photos. 45 seconds up there and I began to feel 'off'. So back down to the lower 'inside' deck we went. And there is where it hit me full force. SEA SICKNESS. And we'd only been on the water for 5 minutes. This was a 2 hour whale watching tour. Warren said the colour left my face and looked drunk. A crew member approached me and asked me if I was feeling alright. 'Not really' I replied. 'I didn't think so' she said. So she suggested I go to the back of the boat, stare at the land mass and she brought me some ginger ale:

My sickness got to the point where I could barely look up. I was sitting at a table with my face in my arms, focusing on breathing deeply. I couldn't have cared less about seeing a stupid whale, at that point. I just wanted to be back on land. So, Warren sat across from me, holding Rhys, watching me deteriorate and listening to the tour guide describe the beautiful mom and calve who where swimming around the bow of the boat, not being able to snap a single photo (or watch it at all for that matter).

We looked around and my mom was dry heaving out the window, and Rob was sitting with the his head between his knees. The only one enjoying the trip was Tiffany, who is very intelligent and took Gravol before we left!

SO, whale watching was a complete BUST. We laughed about it afterwards. Warren thought the entire situation was pure comedy and he kept saying 'this will be great for your blog!'. I suppose there is that.

Later on we found a secluded beach and went for a quick walk (that is where we took the family portrait).


And another Gramma Patsy outtake...Rhys spitting up and her looking a little grossed out at the whole thing:

We're all hoping today pans out a bit better!

Birthday Recap

I didn't do the best job getting appropriate pictures from my birthday celebrations, but I'll post what I do have.

First, dinner at my mother-in-laws, with my mom, Warren, Father-in-law and Rhys last Wednesday. A pic of me & Rhys with my Marble Slab 'Oreo' birthday cake:

Then (the well documented in photos) Ladies Night at Theresa's on Friday.

I was greeted with '30th Birthday Party in Progress' yellow tape covering the front door:

Turns out, I'm a total HAM (who knew?!)...

Wearing my 'Never Grow Up Gangsta' necklace:

30 candle with homemade cupcakes! :

What, I have to share these? :

I'm trying to remember what we were laughing about?! :

Oh, the masks. Don't ask :

Opening Prezzies:

Ya, little buddy. That's how a felt at the end of the night, too:

(Editor's note: CUDOS to Keri for coming to girl's night with her little 7 week old and staying past midnight!!! Seriously! You are a better friend that I!!!).

Then, on Saturday, we went our for dinner with some more great friends. HOWEVER, I completely forgot to have the waiter photograph us all at the table. So all I have from the night is a lame self portrait I took before we left:

If nothing else, I figure that pic will come in handy to analyze any new wrinkles/chins that may crop up over the years...

Lastly, brunch at my dad's house on Sunday. Didn't take the pics I should of, but here's my dad feeding a very grumpy grandson:

Thank-you Family & Friends for treating me to a such a special 30th birthday. You all rock.