Hello there! Long time no update, like over a year! Well some things have changed some have stayed the same 

Kennedy just turned three years old! She wanted a Ninja Turtle birthday party and got great mix of "boy" toys and "girl" toys. She loves her Super Heroes, baby dolls, and tea party toys. 

My hair went short

It went purple

http://instagram.com/p/U4fTWZSuDM/

Now it is getting longer, finally! I am tempted to cut it all the time. And by longer, I mean the shortest bob possible. 

I turned 30 in January and I did accomplish some of the items on my to do list. These are the ones that actually were accomplished:

4. Get pregnant again.  Yes, also right around my 30th birthday, I got pregnant! I am due at the end of October. I have very excited to find out the sex in May sometime.

8. Finish cosmetology school

10. Cut down on sugar intake. Now that I am pregnant, I am definitely eating more sugar, but I did cut it out a lot for a while and lost some weight.

14. Stick to a budget, be realistic. We are doing a bit better at this. We haven't been using our credit cards as much, but they did not get payed off or anything.

16. Go on a vacation (or staycation). Last May for the Phoenix Comicon we stayed at the Hyatt across the street. It was awesome, and we got to see some celebrities who were also staying in the hotel. 

19. Lose at least four dress sizes. Wel this didn't happen, but I have lost 30 lbs. Which is what I attribute to helping me get pregnant! I did not change pant size at all! They are all lose and baggy in the butt and lower stomach area, but not falling off.

21. Try a class at the gym. I did a Zumba class!!!! It was hard and awesome.

25. Potty train Kennedy. She is totally potty trained, except we have to help her take off her pants and wipe her and everything. 

28. Grow something edible and keep it alive. This is in the process. I have a tomato plant, with lots of green tomatoes, waiting for a hint of red!

30. Finish my two year degree (I only need one class!). Done! I actually got two degrees, and AA and a AGEC.

Thanks for reading my update! Hopefully I won't go so long again with no update. 

What Girls Do On The Internet

Maybe NSFW (not safe for work). But this is a completely realistic view of what happens when I get on the internet. My husband, Brad, is always amazed at how many tabs I have open at one time. I am always on facebook, while on the bank website, while balancing our budget, oh and what about that new song I wanted to check out? I barely make time to clean my house, let alone update this blog.

Just wanted to check in, let everyone know how things are. I am now manager (!) at my salon after only six months there. It is pretty awesome. My daughter, Kennedy, is now 20 months old and getting more beautiful every day. We are just starting out trying to have another one so send some baby thoughts our way. I just signed up for this free 30 day challenge for Naturally Balancing my Hormones. If anything it will make me more aware of what I am eating because while at work, I don't eat so good. So hopefully this will give me some good tips for that.

I am also in the process of re-organizing my entire house and craft supplies, so hopefully going through all the unused supplies I have will inspire me to CREATE!

30 Before 30

I am 28 right now. Instead of 29 before 29, I am doing 30 before 30, so that gives me a year and a half to accomplish these goals


30 before 30

1. Get another tattoo
2. Go on a family bike ride (seems like a small thing, but we need another bike and a trailer in order for it to happen!)
3. Maintain a exercise routine
4. Get pregnant again!
5. Do a craft a month AT LEAST!
6. Pay off credit cards
7. Save $1000 emergency fund
8. Finish cosmetology school
9. Get a great job that I love
10. Cut down on sugar intake
11. Make enough things to actually sell at a craft fair.
12. Stop drinking regular soda
13. Take Kennedy on a nature adventure once a week (park, zoo…)
14. Stick to a budget, be realistic.
15. Make house cleaning schedule, stick to it.
16. Go on a vacation (or staycation).
17. Go north (Prescott/Flagstaff) one weekend (or once a month) this summer when it is really hot! 18. Have a date night at least once a month.
19. Lose at least four dress sizes.
20. Blog more, at least once a week.
21. Try a class at the gym
22. Go to a concert
23. Go to a play/musical
24. Go to a sporting event
25. Potty train Kennedy
26. List something on Etsy
27. Spray paint outdoor tables.
28. Grow something edible and keep it alive
29. Make and keep a new friend.
30. Finish my two year degree (I only need one class!).

The hard thing is, is that for most of these, I need money to accomplish them. Which is hard since we do not have a lot of income since Brad is still in school full time and I am just starting my career. But I will work hard to try to accomplish these goals!

Long awaited return

Hello there. Why yes it has been four months since my last post. Kennedy is 16 months old now and a full fledged toddler. She always has scratches and bruises because she is such an active explorer. She loves to dance and starts swaying and stomping her feet to any music that she hears.
She also has some sort of fauxhawk/mullet combo going on with her hair, I love it.

In April I FINALLY graduated cosmetology school and a month later I had my license and a month after that I got a job at Supercuts. I have been there now for two months. It is a great first job, it has really gotten my confidence level up with doing haircuts because on some days I do 12 haircuts in one day! I still need to work on getting through a haircut faster because I am such a perfectionist and I always check and recheck my blending. I would really like to find a job assisting or as a junior stylist somewhere, but I do not want to rent a station since I don't really have a clientele yet.

I am also trying to lose weight right now. I have lost ten pounds so far, within the last few weeks, so wish me luck on continued success.

I hope to post on here more, but we'll see! I am way better at reading blogs that writing on one it seems.

Kennedy's 1st Birthday

Wow, I can't believe Kennedy is one year old today! She is an amazingly sweet and smart little girl. Here are some pictures of her party yesterday.

I made a mix CD for everyone to take home from the party. Here is a playlist of most of the songs on the CD.

Closer

I am excited to go to this! I am so in need of more friends it is not even funny. It is so hard to make and KEEP friends as an adult. Sure you meet people you like, even feel a connection with but then what. It seems so akward to call someone you don't really know and ask to do something. It is like dating, and I have never been a good dater, with guys I was more like, "Oh hi, we just met and made out so now we are together! And now we will spend every moment together until we fizzle out and break up, ok thanks bye."

Even at school, I am about to graduate and I am just now making some closer friends who I hope to actually keep in touch with afterwards. You would think with so many girls I could find someone who I have a lot in common with, but no. I guess I am way weirder than I thought, but I read so many blogs of like minded people I know my interests are not way out there but I just need to find my niche.

A lot of people need time and planning to do something, I only have one friend (Hi Laura!) who if I call and say, "Hey, wanna hang out?" there is a more than 50% chance she will be able to. And usually it is the same when she calls me. Even since having Kennedy, I can still meet for impromptu meetups. Sure, I need a little extra time but I can still be out of my house in like half an hour.

Sorry, rant over.

I am graduating school in about two weeks or so. Finally! I can't believe I have made it. Now I need to decide where to work. I am leaning towards assisting at a mid-high level salon. Yes I could go straight to working at like AZ Hair Co. or Great Clips but I feel like I still have so much to learn and I was taught to work where the clients you want go and I feel I want to work somewhere in like downtown phoenix or something where artsy people go. Not sure. I am definitely excited to start working again and make some money!

Wow

Guess what I signed up for!?



I am very excited. I will be done with cosmetology school in about six weeks (finally!) and yes I want to pursue that as a career, but within the last few years I have really wanted to find a way to make money using my crafting, or at least learn to be a better blogger, which would also allow me to work from home. I think this will help me do that.

Sigur Rós - Staralfur

Another video for you. Not only was this song featured heavily in The Life Aquatic, which is what Brad and I watched on our first date, New Years Day 2005, but this is the song that I walked down the aisle to. Love it.

I just wanted to say Happy Valentine's Day to my fantastic husband Brad. I am so lucky to have him, he is my best friend ever, and I love being with him. We have always said we would both love to work from home so we could spend even more time together, somehow we just never get sick of each other! He is the best father I could ever ask for for Kennedy and I can't wait to someday add to our family (someday, not anytime soon). He is working so hard at school, and I can't wait to see that pay off someday with an awesome job that he loves (or at least doesn't hate, lol).

Brad, you and Kennedy are my sunshine. I love you!

The Drums - "Let's Go Surfing" - SXSW 2010 Showcasing Artist

This is my new favorite song of the moment. Enjoy!

Happy New Year

It has been six months since I posted last?!!!!?? That is just crazy. Well since I went back to school in July I just don't go on the internet as much, especially because now I get all my facebook updates, gmail, and blog reader on my phone I don't have much reason to get on the internet.

Quick update:

• I will be graduating school (finally!) in March. I'm not quite sure what path I want to go in, but I think I will get a job at like a Great Clips because we need insurance.
  
• Brad is in school full time for digital illustration. He still has three years to go. He will be awesome at it.
• We moved out of my Mom's house in October and love living on our own again, although my sister is going to be moving in with us in a month. The extra money we will be getting from her outweighs any cons, also it means we can get cable!
• Kennedy is nine months old!!!!!!
  

My 28th birthday is coming up on the 28th of this month! I am working on a list of 28 things to do before I turn 29 and will post it when completed. I don't really have any resolutions, but I did get a gym membership and a zoo membership for Christmas. I have been to the gym 4 times in the last week and a half so hopefully I can keep that up. Also I just got the book Eat Fat, Lose Fat and if it works at all, I will let you know and write all about it. My goal with working out is not to lose weight, although I'm positive I will, I want to increase my endurance, build my core muscles, and my strength.

Kennedy.....


On January 1st she took her first steps all by herself and I think within a few weeks she will be full on walking. She has six teeth, top middle four and bottom middle two. She says "Ca" for cat and says "Dada" all the time but we still don't know if she is actually saying it to mean Brad or just saying, "Dadadadada" She is amazing and sometimes I get so overwhelmed with love for her, I just want to eat her up. Now she leans into us for kisses and laughs anytime anyone else laughs. We are still cloth diapering at home and disposable on the go, we basically co-sleep full time now. For a long while she would fall asleep in our bed and then we would move her to the pack'n'play just a few feet away, but now if we do that she will wake up in a couple hours crying, so we just leave her in bed with us. I really like it, I think Brad likes it too, but I know he sometimes has trouble sleeping. What we really need is a king sized bed! At her nine month appointment last week she weighed 18 lbs and is 28 inches tall. She has only gained 1lb and 1 inch in the last three months. The doctor isn't concerned but wants us to feed her more, especially protein. She loves to eat most anything. We are getting free baby food from WIC, so she eats that, but we always add something homemade too; egg yolks, toast, yogurt, cheese. We just bought her a sippy cup and she really likes it.

2010 was a great year and I can't wait to see what 2011 brings.


I hope to update here more often.......

A picture of something I have peed on!

A year ago today I found out I was pregnant. I can't believe it has been a year. I wanted to tell Brad in some cool way, but I can't keep secrets at all, so I called him at work and told him. No fanfare or anything. I remember I could tell he was smiling over the phone and when he got home he was so in awe, we both were. I struggled with infertility and sometimes thought I would never get pregnant, now I can't wait to get pregnant again! Okay, I think we will wait a little while :)

So so happy

I have been yearning for a sewing machine lately and luckily my step-mom had one in the garage and let me have it!!!!! I finally finished some cloth napkins I started about four years ago. And I made my first purse from this tutorial.

It is pretty small, but I couldn't get the pattern to print at 200%. I will definitely make this again. I already want to start hand making all my Christmas presents!!!! You can look forward to many more crafts from me.

Here is a gratuitous Kennedy photo, I think this girl is going to have some red hair:

Bountiful Baskets

I have done a CSA before. I definitely liked it, but you have to pay upfront for like 12 weeks and it is expensive. Bountiful baskets is something we have here in Arizona (and some other south west states), where you order and pick up a basket of fruit and veggies. You can do it every week, or every other, or once and never do it again; what ever you choose. I did it for the very first time last week and it was amazing! Loved it. It is only $15 and I got so much stuff. This week I payed $25 for the organic basket, plus $7.50 for an italian pack. I just picked it up this morning and am excited to eat everything.

Here is a picture of the Italian pack, I thought it would just be herbs and such but it is that plus more! You can also order bread, and sometimes there are bulk orders of fruit or even cookies.

They try to get local whenever possible, but I think to them, that means California. That is one thing better about a CSA is that you are supporting a local, independent farm.

Recipes I am hopefully going to make this week are:

Rosemary Bread

Rosemary Chicken

Grilled Eggplant

Roasted Zucchini with thyme

Parsley Pesto

Green beans w/almonds and thyme

Spaghetti

Some sort of apple dessert

Some sort of nectarine dessert

Does anyone else have suggestions on how to use thyme, rosemary, and parsley?

Givaway on The Green Bird

I recently started reading The Crunchy Baby and now she has an etsy shop too, The Green Bird. There is a givaway going on over on that site. You could win a free lovey or a bib. Check it out

Pictures!

These are not very recent. They were probably taken around six weeks. I think she already looks different than this. I realized I have not posted a ton of pictures of her on here and I want to post more. I need to take more actually. I mostly take the same photo of her leaning back in the boppy pillow on the couch, because that is when I remember and the camera is always right there.

Photos were taken by a friend, photographer extraordinaire, Kelly Lawson

Three Months

Today Kennedy is 13 weeks old and tomorrow she will be three months old. The time has gone by so fast. Next week I go back to school at night. I will still be with her during the day but her daddy will now put her to bed every night, I will miss that!

We were having issues with breastfeeding this last week, I was scared that I would have to give it up. She just wasn't taking my breast. We are combination feeding and I think that she just likes that the bottle flows easier, without much effort on her part. I would offer the breast, she would start crying, so I would just give up and offer a bottle. But after looking into it I decided to not offer a bottle and just wait until she got even hungrier. It only took like five minutes of her crying and then she took my breast, just like that! Such a relief. We still struggle with it some, but I am determined to keep breastfeeding.

Kennedy is super strong. She loves to stand on my legs and prefers sitting up to lying down, assisted of course, if I let go she falls right over. We just got her a Baby Einstein Jumper which she is still a little small for so I add blankets to cushion it with and a book underneath for her feet to reach. She likes it ok, but I just know she will love it soon because she always wants to be upright.

I love the expressions that Kennedy makes, not only her smiles which melt me, but sometimes I see epressions of confusion and awe and they are just as cute. Her eyes hold such intelligence, like she understands already what is going on all around her.

I have heard many times that we are very lucky because Kennedy is a very easy baby. I can say that motherhood is pretty close to what I expected, even better because she is such a great sleeper.

They didn't have it all together

My sister was born when I was two and a half, when she about three weeks old, I broke my arm. I was sleeping with my parents in their waterbed and ended up falling off the bed and hitting my arm on the frame on the way down. My mom consoled me, made sure I could bend my elbow and wrist; I stopped crying and went back to sleep. In the morning my dad was about to go to work, my mom was caring for my sister and another baby she watched, when I walked out and said, "My arm still hurts." When my mom looked over, she could see my arm bone making my skin protrude. My dad said, "Okay, well I'm off to work!" and just left my mom to deal with it. She says he got a godsmack later that day when his pen exploded on his shirt.



I love this story.



I was talking to my mom last night and we were talking about other things that were going on at that time. My dad had been in a car accident when he was delivering papers for extra money and they were having trouble with the other guy's insurance company. My grandma, and both grandpas called the insurance company and gave them a piece of their minds. My parents ended up getting like $8,000 but had to use it to pay the hospital because when my sister was born they didn't have insurance. Also when my sister was born we were living in a house in Texas and my mom told me last night that my dad's mom helped them buy the house and paid half their house payment.



I think those times must have been really hard for them, but it makes me feel much better about where Brad and I are. I always thought of my parents as having it all together, but knowing that they were struggling financially when they first had us gives me hope about our situation now. Also knowing that their parents were still helping them fight their battles helps my pride. My car got towed about a month ago and my Mom went with me to fight the guy about it. I know now how my mom became the warrior she is today, for us. I see can see myself becoming more like that for Kennedy.



My parents are also the reason I will never be scared to change careers, they both went back to school in their fourties for their masters and my dad is even working on his doctorate right now. My dad completely changed his career (back) over ten years ago from accounting to ministry.



That is what makes me sad for many, many men out there. I think they feel that when they get married they must stop having fun and provide for their family even if it makes them completely unhappy. Yeah, some days I wish Brad made a lot of money, but I would rather he find what makes him completely fulfilled and happy and do that, and hopefully he makes money doing it too. I would rather be happy and poor than well off and unhappy. I always am aghast at the couple who adopts the baby in the movie Juno, but I think it is like that a lot, the wife pressures the husband to give up on his dreams because he is a "grown up" now. I would never ask Brad to stop playing music, or to move all of his "stuff" into one room because those things make him happy and he has just as much right to have his Godzilla toys on display as I have to keep my Twilight books out (we are dorks).

Summer

It is so hot here!!! It was 110 degrees the other day. I can't imagine what it will be like next summer when Kennedy is actually mobile and wanting to play outside and such. It is hard even now taking her places because she gets really hot and sweaty in her car seat and gets fussy.

Two things that I am really loving this summer and every summer:

1. Our pool. We have a diving pool in our backyard. I only started swimming in it a couple of weeks ago. It is like ten feet deep so it takes a long time for the water to get warm enough to tolerate. Swimming is my main form of exercise, okay, my only form. I am trying to do laps every couple of days.

2. My ice cream maker. This was in storage, but I made Brad get it out for me. I don't want to be making ice cream all the time, but I am making slushies. I just pour juice in it and turn it on and in like ten minutes I have a slushie, yummy! Mine is the fancy kind that doesn't need ice and salt, you just freeze the container. Right now I am doing an expiriment and making frozen hot chocolate.

Kennedy, she is awesome. She smiles all the time. She just had her two month appointment and weighs over 11 pounds now and is 21 1/2 inches. She got her first vaccinations, sob. It was so sad the face she made when the shots went in. Brad and I discussed vaccinations a lot. I read the Vaccine Book and was on the fence about them. I thought I wanted to do delayed selective, getting some of them, waiting to do some of them later. But we are just doing the regular schedule. Kennedy is a very healthy baby, we have no reason to think that the vaccines will effect her in any harmful way. I could change my mind later and when we have a second child I could feel differently then, who knows; but this is the right choice for us now.

I feel like I might be jinxing things by saying this, but Kennedy is a great sleeper. At least at night. Sometimes she doesn't take long naps during the day, which is frustrating for me; I get nothing done. But at night she sleeps at least 8 hours in a row then wakes up for diaper and some boob and then we sleep another couple of hours. I am very thankful, maybe deep down she knows that mama looooovvves to sleep!

Cloth diapers are going good. They are super easy, especially the urine only ones. Everyone should do them! We still use disposables too, probably two or three a day. My local Target just started carrying the Seventh Generation Chlorine Free diapers and I am happy! They are the same price and the others so why wouldn't you use them? For one second I fell for the, "Oh, these are plain brown and kinda ugly." but then I remember these are recepticles for my child shit and felt pretty stupid. Do I really need Pooh or Blue on my diaper's? NO!

Breastfeeding is going good too. We are still doing half from the boob, half formula. Pumping doesn't work for me really, I can't seem to let down. The one thing I am concerned about is going overnight without her eating or pumping, will that effect my supply? She breastfeeds about 5 or 6 times during the day, but none at all at night.

Here is a pic from today of Kennedy and my mom.

hurry before she wakes up....

Here is the latest picture of Kennedy, taken about an hour ago. Right before she got really mad at me for taking too long to feed her. Motherhood is pretty awesome. It is definitely easier because she is starting to give back. It is pretty frustrating to continually feed, diaper, and console a little being who doesn't even make eye contact with you, as it is in the first few weeks. But now that she is seven weeks old, she smiles, looks at me, and even caresses me a lot with her tiny hands. It makes you feel loved, and so the other stuff becomes even easier to do.

The major thing that is awesome, she sleeps 6-8 hours straight every night. I know I am very very lucky and I am probably jinxing myself by putting this out there. She eats a lot then falls asleep between 8-10 and then sleeps until 3-5. Then she wakes up, I feed her a little and then just me and her sleep for another couple of hours in bed together, because Brad leaves for work by then. She is sleeping in her co-sleeper at night now, but naps in the bed. She was sleeping in between us in bed for awhile, but it was just too uncomfortable for me. I was never afraid of rolling over on her, but I just didn't sleep very well and I missed having Brad right next to me. When she grows out of the cosleeper we will probably bring her in bed with us again, but we will push the bed against the wall and put her next to the wall, then me, then Brad.

The hardest part of all of this is being a stay at home mom and not having any other sahm friends. I go weeks without seeing anyone but my baby, husband and mom. I will go to the library and target just to get out of the house. I am super lonely. Logically I know I can't blame my friends, because I am not really calling them either, but I definitely feel like a leper that no one wants to hang out with. I am starting to make a real effort though.

Saturday night I took my baby to a bar.... well actually just the parking lot of a bar. Brad decided to go see a show where a few bands were playing. I drove him there and hung out for a bit in the parking lot, introducing Kennedy to some friends who haven't met her yet. I felt like I was exuding, "Talk to me, I need human interaction!!!!!" Then today we are having a bbq at our house, with my sister's friends. And I want to go to this group at the library; it meets every Friday morning and it is for babies 0-24 months. I also plan on starting to hula hoop, I wanted to go to the local group meeting on Sunday but Brad worked and my Mom is out of town, so I had to stay home with Kennedy. Then this weekend there is a party on Friday night, and a show on Saturday night that I plan on going to with Kennedy. And I will start actually calling (ok, texting) my friends and trying to make plans. Also I go back to school at the end of June so that will give me a daily fix of socializing then.

The gray area

Before having a baby I would say some things with complete certainty, "I am going to exclusively breastfeed! I am going to cloth diaper! I am going to have a natural labor!" And those are just things just about infancy, I have a whole other list of things that go with foods we are going to feed her, toys we want her to have, T.V., etc.
I am doing these things to a certain extent.
Labor: I had a mostly un-medicated labor, I took one dose of Staydol when I was dilated at 5cm. Labor was the hardest thing I have ever done and I understand completely why people get epidurals. At this point I still don't know whether at my next birth I will do un-medicated again. I probably will because I think the good outweighed the bad/pain, especially because second births are usually shorter than the first one.

Diapers: She doesn't yet fit in her fancy pocket one-size diapers yet. We do have some prefolds and I actually am starting to use them more, but mostly so far we have been using disposables. I fully intend on transitioning to cloth diapers, but I don't think we will give up disposables completely.

Breastfeeding: We are using some formula. You can read all the books you want before having a baby, the reality is very different. I know every situation and every baby is different and I hope that every mother will try her hardest to breastfeed. I do think that a lot of women give up too easily, but as other bloggers have wrote, that is mostly because our culture does not support breastfeeding; most women don't know where to turn when things get hard. It was kind of hard for us. I don't think she latches on perfectly and I have supply issues. I was having a lot of nipple pain; and no matter that the books say that is not normal, all the actual women I know who have breastfed say that pain is normal and that you just have to get used to it.
At this point I am feeding her from the boob, pumping, and giving a formula bottle once or twice a day. I broke down when she was three weeks (about a week ago). It was the middle of the night, she had been attached to me for probably an hour on both sides and yet was still crying because she was hungry. I cried and cried and went to Walmart and got some formula. I am happy with my choice actually. The breastfeeding part was not that hard, it is the time it takes and the lack of personal freedom that wore me down. She was eating every two hours or less. I remember looking at my sleeping husband and saying (in my head), "I hate you for not being able to do this." I was joking, mostly. She still eats a lot of her meals directly from me, but it made such a difference in me, psychologically, knowing that I didn't HAVE to be the one to feed her. I still will breastfeed until she weans herself or she is around two, whatever comes first.

Being a parent is awesome. Things are getting easier as they go along. I still don't get anything done around the house, but I'm sure I will learn how to do that at some point. But I have learned that it is very hard to keep a black and white thought process when it comes to parenting choices. I used to be one of those people who judged other Mothers for their choices and I still do about certain things, we all do, but now I see it from a different perspective and know that most things are located in a gray area.