Diesel

With my birthday quickly approaching JJ asked me what I wanted to do or get to celebrate my turning 35. At first I said I wanted to go to Disneyland but after thinking about it for about the same price I would have paid to get all three of us into the park for 2 days and hotel accommodations we would have shelled out $500.
After thinking about it, I decided that instead of a trip to see the mouse I wanted a dog. I figure for about the same price I can have a friend for the next 10 years.

Enter Diesel, 9 month old lab/pit mix that is the gentlest soul in the world. Big black ball of fur who enjoys long walks, sniffing everything and belly rubs.
Unlike Yoda, he likes to give kisses and loves to show everyone around him just how much he loves to be in his forever home.
All of our animals, save Liberty, have all been rescues. I think it is so important to give animals a second chance at life with people who love them rather than disposing of them!

Buzz, our cat came into our lives when we lived in Santa Monica. We never wanted a cat but when he came scratching at our window one Thanksgiving night, we knew we had to take care of him. He was a big fat white cat with beautiful green eyes that would plop on your feet when you came in the room and expect you to rub his belly. He did this for everyone without fail except for his previous owner to whom he would only hiss to. He would lay in your arms like you would hold a baby and let you rub his belly for hours on end. When we said good bye to him it was the hardest and saddest thing that JJ and I have ever done. Felix, when he was about 1, looked at this exact picture of Buzz, pointed at it and said "Mommy, that's me!" I was stunned. We had never talked about Buzz before but there he was saying that he was our old friend Buzz. I am not sure if I believe him but two years later those words still haunt me!

Yoda, I found across the street from where we lived in Culver City. I was coming home from work walking with my hands full of grocery bags and saw her walking all by herself. She looked lost and I felt bad for her so I crossed the street, dropped my bags and coaxed her into coming to me, which she did. I looked for a tag but found none. The collar that was around her neck looked like someone's old black belt, that had just been placed on her, it was ill fitting and it broke my heart! I brought her home and after a call to the pound and to my husband, she spent the night. In the midst of waiting for the people from the pound and the Christmas preparations, JJ and I fell in love with her. When the pound called me the next day I told them that I was keeping her. She was our loyal friend and companion for six years. She was by my side when I was up in the middle of the night when I was pregnant with Felix. When we were in the birthing pool she wasn't too far away, keeping a watchful eye on what was going on. Coming home from the hospital with Felix and introducing him to her was awesome. Later when he would cry and I didn't react quickly enough she would jump up on me and look at me with a look that said "why aren't you doing something to help him?". When Felix took his first steps she was sitting right there watching him. So when I found her last April, dead on the couch, it broke my heart. Gone was my constant companion who I shared so much with. Tho she left us far too quickly I am glad that she passed away peacefully in her sleep.

Diesel, we adopted from a rescue organization in Torrance. Unlike Buzz and Yoda we know his story. He was adopted by a man out of a shelter and when he realized how much work was involved he relinquished him to the rescue organization where he was fostered by a couple who had 7 dogs of their own. All things considered he hasn't had a bad life so far! I look forward to many a moment with him. In the mean time I have to go walk my big boy before he explodes!

How about you, how did you get your pet?

Valentine's Day Crayons

So with Valentine's Day quickly approaching. Yes I know it's less than a month away but hey there is NEVER a wrong time to craft baby! I decided to make some cute crayons as gifts for Felix's daycare friends because I don't want one more reason to tell my kid no to tons of candy. 

You are welcome parents that are getting this!

So you start off with a ton of crayons. I raided Felix's stash as well as got more from the 99c store. They sell a pack of 30 for you guessed it 99c! They might be off brand but heck a crayon is a crayon! Also I know this is nothing new to the world of Pinterest but it is new to me and for a first attempt I think they came out pretty damned snazzy!

I used a razor blade to remove the paper wrapper because I have other things to do than spend my day unwrapping crayons!

 

Once you are done you should have a nice pile like this:

Now grab your crayons and break them up! If you have had a stressful day this is a good way to let go of some of that tension. Break it baby break it! I tried to break each crayon into about 4 or 5 pieces.

Once that is done you can arrange the pieces into your mold. I got mine at the 99c store because that's how I roll but also because I doubt I will use this that many times and because it's silicone I can unmold these puppies really easily! I didn't take a picture of that part ooops sorry! When you have your mold filled up the way you want them. Turn your oven on to 275 degrees and put the mold with the crayons in the oven. I started with a cold oven because I forgot to turn it on but it also allowed me the clean up the mess I made while I was waiting for these suckers to melt and do their thing. Mine took about 10 to 15 minutes.

Now this is the hard part waiting for them to cool down. Felix was with me when I made the first batch and kept going over and putting his fingers in the melted wax. 100% do not recommend! So make sure to keep this out of your little ones reach! Before you ask he is fine, the wax wasn't hot just slightly warm to the touch.

See how pretty these turned out? I think they are pretty darned awesome! Felix had me make him one just for him so that he has his own. He loves it and enjoys coloring with a rainbow of colors!

I'm tired!

Let me start by saying that I LOVE my son. In my eyes he is the best thing that I have ever done, having JJ in my life and intertwining our lives forever was the second best.

Felix is now 2 years old, he runs and does everything at super speed. Gone are the days where we could sit in one spot and just nurse all day! I won't lie and tell you that the good old days were great and that I loved them because they came with their own brand of headaches but I do sometimes long for them...

I went to the park the other day with JJ and Felix in tow to try and connect with other Moms from the Sanctuary (the midwifery practice that we used when I was pregnant with Felix). The group at the park was the toddler group so I fully expected to find children Felix's age and was quite puzzled to find much younger children.

That is when I noticed that even with the few months difference between them, a two year old is way more demanding than a 14 month old. The little ones were only starting to walk and were still in the early stages of that crazy time of their short lives and here goes Felix whizzing by them at what must have seemed to the other Moms there like a million miles an hour!

Now I had expected a group where we could commiserate about the crazy things our kids had put us threw instead here I was hearing about what Junior likes to eat, clearly I was in the wrong place but I stayed and tried to chat with the other ladies but at the end of the day their reality and mine were a million miles apart.

So since I wasn't able to vent I am going to do it here.

Being a Mom SUCKS! I mean... it mostly rocks but some days I just want to lock myself in a room, any room (and yes the bathroom will do!) and just do something for me and only for me. Of late I find that my workout at the end of the day is my ONLY alone time. If I can be honest some days (and this is turning into most days of late) I just have no patience for bopping around and punching the air and pretending like I want to do my x seconds of plank or my HIIT class! I just want to take a nap! Yup! Hell I would settle for taking a poo uninterrupted!

My life right now consists of taking care of a child who constantly says "NO!!!" and "Mommy what's going on?" or "Mommy whatcha doing?", who thinks that doing the exact opposite of what is asked of him is his life's mission and who if left unchecked would spend most of his time out of time out and drawing all over the walls!

I love spending time with him but when napping becomes a daily battle and everything is challenged I just get really tired! (A kingdom for a nap!)

I don't drink coffee (or if I do it's decaf ) or liquor but at the rate things are going I think I am going to start on both!

Playground BS!

I need some parenting advice. Let me start by saying that I have a 25 month old little boy who is very full of energy and who gets very vocal when he is surrounded by other people.

Today we went to the McDonald's across the street from us and while we were there he played in the play area.

Felix had a blast when he was there and while he wasn't always visible because he laughs really loudly I knew he was ok.

Now this one child came along who had to be 3 or 4 years old who wouldn't let Felix get down from the slide, I had no idea that that was going on as this was all the way at the top of the thing. So when Felix started yelling "Stop it!" several times to no avail and then wailing "Mommy!" I knew I had to get up there and figure out what was wrong. That little boy wouldn't let Felix down and when asked to scoot over so that Felix could get down he refused until his parent coaxed him down. Only then was Felix able to go down the slide, this was all in the span of 10 minutes. Now when Felix got off the slide I figured this is the end of it so went back to my conversation with JJ's cousin who's in from out of town so I got out of there and back to our table.

A few minutes go by and Felix is now trying to get off the jungle gym altogether but this little boy is once again in his way and won't move. At this point Felix is starting to get frustrated and is trying to force his way past the kid who is pushing him back. So seeing Felix's distress I proceed to get back in this jungle gym and ask the kid nicely but firmly if he can move so that my son can get out and we can go home. The kid looked at me and said "No!", so I asked him again and after his guardian cajoled him in to moving then and only then was Felix able to get down. As he was passing by the little boy spit on Felix!

He literary spit on him!

Now this is where as an adult and as a Mom I put my big girl pants on and tried not to slap the shit out of that kid and just looked at him and told him that he wasn't nice and that he should apologize. Again the kid said something in the negative and I asked him if he would want someone to spit on him and his answer scared and shocked me! He said "Yes! I wouldn't mind!" and I just looked at him and asked him to say sorry to Felix and at this point he just stared blankly at me and said "Sorry!" at which point I asked him to apologize to my son and not to me which he did.

So I grabbed Felix got his shoes on and off we went but not before I overheard the lady who was the kid's guardian say to the kid's Dad that I had yelled at his son... She said that in Spanish because she assumed that because I am so white that I had no idea what she had said...

At this point I chose to walk away because I was liable to yell and possibly hit the lady. Now I ask you this what would you have done? How would you have handled this situation?

Traveling...

So in about a week my entire little family is going to go to Europe. It will be Felix's first plane ride ever! I am nervous about it not because people will make faces at us as we board the plane but because flying is just going to be something that Felix will have to do a lot of as he grows up. I am hoping that it goes without a hitch ... Then again I have a 9 month old who is a very active little boy so this might be an epic disaster... Only time will tell! That being said I am really looking forward to having Felix hang out with my cousins kids and interact with kids that he has never met before.I have spoken to him in French a lot as he's been growing but being surrounded with French 24/7 might be an adjustment for him but one I am excited to see. The plan is to get him to learn all the languages that JJ and I both know, so the kid is in for quite the crazy amount of languages ... but I can't wait!

rant....

So last weekend both of the boys and I went to a party at a friend's house to celebrate his 50th birthday. Once there most of the ladies there fawned over Felix and HAD to carry him... which ok fine... I know my kid is cute but come on... I mean I don't know you and there you go grabbing my son... JJ thought it was hilarious of course and decided that Felix got more action in the few hours we were there than anyone else there... which was true since Felix is such a ham! Here's where it got funny, the next day JJ tells me that we should put our son's powers of hamness to the test and that the two of them should go out trolling for ladies. So in JJ's mind Felix is his new wing man and several pickup scenarios were created... Yup... my husband hes already figured out what he's going to do should we not work out... gah... I love him but never in a million years would using our son to pickup ladies (or in my case men) would had crossed my mind... must be too old fashioned or something ...

Today is my anniversary!

Today marks my ninth year of marriage to JJ! Now I am constantly reminded of what an awesome feat that is on a daily basis especially living in LA where it seems that celebrities keep getting a divorce because they have "irreconcilable differences". I mean come on people marriage is HARD! It's not always easy but you aren't supposed to have it easy... easy means that something is amiss... I always make sure things don't get too "easy" between JJ and I. Easy means that something is falling threw the cracks and that's not good... So in honor of today I will go out and find something romantic for the two of is to do that can be crashed by Felix.