Simon sleeping

Simon falls asleep in the strangest places. Seriously. Places like the bathroom sink, a kitchen chair (not sitting up), the stairs, inside a yoga mat, standing up leaning on the sofa. Strange places. In my quest to post pictures of him in all these places I looked through all the pictures from the past year and a half. My Simon-son is so cute! I ended up with a picture folder in my computer with 74 pictures of him asleep in various places. Granted, some are multiple angles of the same thing, but still, I managed to take 74 pictures of him, just sleeping, in the past year and a half! Here are a few of my favorites...
P.S.- I am very, very, very grateful for his ability to fall asleep in various places and positions and not having to sleep only in his bed at certain times. It has definitely made some of our trips a lot more easy and flexible, and given us some funny memories to look back on.

at Glacier National Park 08/16/2010

                          our sofa 08/05/2011            San Francisco after getting Ben and Jerry's 06/19/2011

 yoga mat on the stairs 08/26/2011

 bathroom sink 09/13/2011

standing up! 03/18/2011

Great Grandma's floor Christmas 2011

Baby brother's swing 02/17/2012

with dad's iPhone 12/18/2011

 kitchen chair 03/15/2012

 in the stroller 05/10/2012

 close-up, love those long lashes!

Like I said there were 74 to choose from, narrowing them down was hard, there were a few classic in the carseat after a long day ones, some other stroller ones, more at the kitchen table, on the sofa, on dad's lap, on the stairs, etc. One of these days I'll make a facebook album for those who really want to see them all.

We are still alive!

Wow, I haven't posted since the beginning of December. I would like to say we have been super busy, and we definitely were for the end of last year.

Somehow it seems like we are always busy when we really don't do a whole lot. I feel like I am always trying to get into the groove of things, and should probably accept the fact that things are always changing and so our family dynamics are always going to be changing. Every time we get into a nice routine something always happens and changes things. Our latest changes, Desi is rolling both ways now, and is all over the place. I don't know if he is having a growth spurt or what but I feel like he is always nursing and sleeping.
Other things our family (or mostly just me) is up to:
-Making "green" home cleaners. I now use vinegar and baking soda for everything. I have one cleaner that is vinegar, baking soda, borax, and water, and another one that is vinegar with orange peels in it so that it smells yummy and fresh.
(insert picture of our cleaners in spray bottles with borax, baking soda from Costco, and vinegar in background)
-Using cloth diapers. I have several different brands that we are using and I love it- more about that in my posts on my Karimom blog. My next step with that is to start using cloth wipes too. I have a bunch that I have cut out already (and 4 more burp rags I have ready to cut up) I just need to hem or serge around the edges so they will be ready and make a solution for them and buy the ingredients for the solution.

(insert picture of cute diapers)
(insert picture of some of my cut out wipes and the blankets I need to cut up)
-Being inspired by pinterest and having intentions of making some freezer meals (cook and prep ingredients beforehand so we all have to do on busy or hectic nights is heat and eat) and using my crockpot more, and making freezer crockpot meals. I just bought some great stuff grocery shopping this week to start on this but I sadly missed a great day of Wednesday only produce deals because I was just too tired to make it to the store with the boys.
-Staying up way way too late on Steve's days off playing video games. We are currently playing Lord of the Rings: War in the North and it is really, really fun. If you like LOTR it is really cool because you get to see another side of the story and see what other things were happening in Middle Earth besides the goings-on of the Fellowship, and we run into various members and get to meet all of them during the game. We have been renting it for two weeks and will probably just need to buy this one when the price for it used drops a little.
-Donating breastmilk. (If you haven't noticed I may be becoming just a little bit hippie/earthy/weird or whatever you want to call it) Desi doesn't really take a bottle on the days he goes to daycare (Vovo's house) when I work, so we were getting a lot of extra milk in the freezer that I knew we weren't ever going to use up so I looked into donating to a milk bank. There aren't any around but I found a group on facebook for Nevada called Human Milk for Human Babies, and they have pages for every state. I met up with a lady that lives somewhere in Northern Nevada and have been donating milk to her for her adopted baby that can't have formula because it makes her sick. I have been trying to pump every morning and sometimes in the evening as well as my breaks at work on days Desi goes to his Vovo's house to get a little extra milk to help out this family. When she came by last to pick up milk she left us this cute little Lovey for Desi. It's a little crocheted bunny, and is so adorable!
(insert picture of bunny lovey from Kat)
-Working at Graples. I am currently just working one day a week. Like I mentioned before Desi still isn't taking a bottle, so I am bringing him to work with me. On days that we get inventory I still send him to Vovo's house because it is kind of hard to open up boxes and do a lot of bending and moving things when you have an almost 20 lb baby in a front carrier. I am very lucky to have bosses who will let me bring my baby with me to work. Sadly I only get to set up the store, and don't actually get to work right now on the days we are open. I wish I could work Thursdays still but I just can't go to work and leave Desi with someone when he won't really eat. It is so frustrating too because he will eat rice cereal for me, but not for other people. He is very much a mama's boy and if he can see me, he wants me to be the one holding him.
-Working on not holding Desi so much. I am very much a believer in attachment parenting so this one is difficult for me. I love holding Desi and playing with him, but I also have another child who needs some undivided attention, a husband who needs my attention for the 20 minutes a day we have to spend together on the days he works, as well as a house to run. So logistically speaking, I can't hold him all the time. I would also like to be able to make it through one shower without him crying and maybe even him being happy with whatever he is doing while I am in the shower. We are slowly getting better at this. He is normally pretty happy in the Bumbo while I am cooking especially if I give him some form of food or a spoon to chew on, and he will sometimes last about 30 minutes playing on the floor which I normally spend playing with Simon.

-Getting organized. I have been watching a lot of hoarders and sometimes it frightens me, and I get scared that will be us one day. Really our main problem is laundry, I can just never keep up with it. Well, laundry and that fact that we are a family of four living in a tiny two-bedroom place. I can't wait til we can get a house (hopefully at the end of this year) and actually have space for us and all of our belongings. I currently don't really enjoy having people over just because it is so cramped in our tiny place and this is really sad because I love entertaining and having friends over for dinner, and whatnot, but we just don't have the space for it right now and I feel it is kind of uncomfortable for other people when they do come over. I don't want my house to be uncomfortable, I want to be nice and relaxing and enjoyable for people and them to want to just hang out and linger. Another getting organized project I have been gradually working on is going through my magazines, cutting out recipes and putting them into my recipe binder, not just sticking them on the shelf, and cutting out pictures and ideas from magazines that I like and making a binder of ideas for different things. 5 pages from a magazine is alot better than having stacks and stacks of magazines hanging around.
(insert picture of recipe binder, pages from magazines, magazines)
-Dreaming for the future and vacations (we want to get a truck and travel trailer maybe in a year or so, I also want a really nice DSLR camera). We also have a National Parks pass for the next year that we intend on using lots and lots this year. Places we have gone this year- Death Valley. Places we want to go- National Parks in Hawaii, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Redwoods. We are going to wait until after Desi turns one and then hopefully go on another trip with no boys to somewhere out of the country!
-Paying off student loans.
-Saving for a house downpayment.
Well I feel like that is a pretty good look at what we have going on right now. I currently can't figure out how to get my pictures off of my memory card and on to the computer. Normally the prompt comes up automatically when I put the card but it isn't doing it and I can't figure out how to do it without the automatic prompt. So hopefully I can figure that out soon and put up the pictures I want with this post. So check back again for the pictures that you already know the descriptions for!

Best Husband Ever

I have the best husband ever! It's true. A couple of weeks ago he turned 30. We had a party to celebrate. There was hot dogs, all the toppings, root beer, and homemade lemonade. It was pretty good. He got spoiled, but that's okay because he deserved it.

Then he came home to this wonderful sentiment from his sis and bro-in-law (they had to miss the party because their little one had been puking his guts out all day, no fun at all.)

The best part about his birthday might have been that it was his first day off of a much needed week and a half vacation. We decided to travel the world during his vacation and with me 36 weeks pregnant at the time! So we tried a few restaurants in town that we hadn't been to, or hadn't been to for a while. We had grand plans of going to several different countries but only made it to Ethiopia (Zagol) and Spain (Fuego). Fuego could possibly be my new favorite place to eat. My favs were the asparagus straws and their hot chocolate and churros. Spanish hot chocolate is amazing. We had to eat it with a spoon, it was basically melted chocolate in a cup. I want to go there every night for dessert nowadays. Steve loved it so much he took his mom there the next day for a special treat. It is seriously heaven.


The majority of the vacation was spent at home having lots of fun as a family. Simon got spoiled because he had a parent home with him who had energy to take him to do fun stuff. We got some of our house ready for the baby, but not all of it, our room still looks like our washing machine threw up all over the place, but at least its all clean!


We also went camping. Steve and I were at Winco grocery shopping and they had coconut covered marshmallows, I told Steve we could only buy them if he promised to take me camping. So in order to fulfill his promise, he took us up to Lassen Volcanic National Park. We spent two nights there, went on a little 3 mile hike, and just kind of bummed around and drove around the area. We didn't want to do anything too strenuous as Steve didn't want me to go into labor so we didn't hike as much as we would have liked, but it was still a fun little trip. My husband is awesome, and took good care of us while we were camping. He did all the cooking and the clean-up, played with Simon so I could take a nap, and even did all the driving even though he hates driving. Like I said, best husband ever! I love my husband and am so grateful to be married to such a fun, kind, amazing, hilarious man.




Steve and Simon on a self-guided trail about the devastation in the area from the most recent volcanic explosion.




Me, our campsite, and my one match fire




Simon and I at Bumpass Hell- this was our 3 mile hike, but it seemed longer than that to me.


me on a pile of rocks, and the mountains. Click on this one to see it bigger- Steve is such a good photographer!

Two more little brags, he got himself all sleep deprived to help his little sis move last weekend, and he also got sleep deprived to go with all his sisters and us to the water park the other day, it was a blast. I didn't go on a single slide, and didn't do much looking back on it, but I had a good time. Mel and Jared were talking about buying season passes next year, and if they do I think we will too. And last night at work he (thankfully) had a slow night and read an entire book about things to do as labor coach, he is going to be the best coach ever, and I am so grateful to have such a supportive partner in labor and in life who is willing to do tons of preparation and studying to try and have the kind of birth experience that we would like to have with this baby. (Which is especially impressive because he hates labor and delivery thanks to nursing school, and an experience he had during school when a woman and her baby almost died during childbirth.) So on that happy note, goodnight!

Child Photographer

Simon has had a huge interest in taking picture with our camera lately. I have been letting him because I think it is fun for him, and interesting for me to see what he finds through the lens that he feels is worthy of documenting. I mean come on, who doesn't want to know what a 2 yr old is fascinated with? One of his favorite things is his feet, and also the camera strap and lens because they tend to fall into view because of the way he holds the camera. Here are a few of my favorites he has taken the past couple of weeks.

P.S.- I have a facebook album of pictures he has taken.
Sad fact: When sorting through these I couldn't always tell which ones he took and which ones I took. Does that mean he is just really good or am I that bad with our camera?

These last 4 were all taken by Simon with his "new" camera this past weekend at Lassen Volcanic National Park. I think that is seriously the best picture I have ever seen of Steve, better than any I have ever tried to get.

Post

I realized today I am lame. I haven't updated in a really long time. When I do post there are too many words and not enough pictures. A lot of stuff has happened since May. May? Seriously, I haven't posted since May? (shakes head at my self) So sad.

This evening Steve and I went to Walmart. There was a nice summer storm, lightning, and wind, and lots of clouds, during sunset, and a rainbow. It was beautiful. I wish I'd had my camera with me and could have taken pictures. I love storms.

Since May Simon and I went home to Illinois for two weeks, then we came home for a week, and then we went to Utah for almost a week to see my friend Arielle. Steve didn't get go come with us on any of the trips because he couldn't get time off work. He gets 5 paid weeks off a year, but it's nearly impossible to get the time off because he is at the bottom of the ladder and has no seniority. Now we are home, and I don't want to go anywhere else for a long time. I just want to sit around the house and be a lazy bum. Lazy pregnant bum. Who decides to get pregnant in January anyways? Honestly last trimester during July, August, and September... not smart. Here, look at some pictures I like from the last couple months. It took me a long time to narrow these down. Enjoy!

P.S.- My favorite blog is by my Sis-in-law Mel. If you don't read her blog, you should. She writes incredibly well, has good pictures, and updates frequently, her blog is awesome and entertaining!

Simon and I went to So. IL for 2 weeks because my cousin got married. All of my sisters were there. I havent seen of them for 2 years so it was good to see my family. We did some sightseeing in St. Louis, went up in the arch and went to Grants farm where President Grant once lived.After being "home" for two weeks and hanging out and going to Garden of the Gods and Dixon Springs and my cousins wedding and spending time with family Simon and I went back home to Reno. We flew in on the 4th of July, Steve picked us up at the airport we ran home, dropped off stuff and picked up Zane and beach stuff and headed up to Lake Tahoe.After the lake we headed home, got the boys all cleaned up- you would not believe how much sand was in their hair!- and then headed to a park in Sparks to watch fireworks with Steve's sisters, and Endri and Dorina. His parents weren't there because they were on their way to Hawaii!

Mel bought glowstick swords and necklaces for everyone to play with. The boys loved it! (and Dorina too) We had a blast snacking, playing, and watching the fireworks!

Simon and I were back in Reno for about a week, just long enough to do laundry and repack our bags and then we took off to Salt Lake City to go see my friend Arielle for 5 days. We stopped in Elko on the way there and back to see our friends Zach and Kristin and their newest baby Oliver. We had lots of fun on this trip.

With Arielle we went to the zoo, aquarium, and aviary, ate Thai food twice, saw Harry Potter, experienced a real bomb threat at the movie theater, and had dinner with her family who feels like family to me. Also got introduced to my new favorite salad, Margarita Shrimp Salad from Allrecipes.com. If you happen to make it, do it the way Nikkie687 did in the comments, that's the way Arielle made it, and it was incredible! I even requested it for my bday dinner.

Getting bigger every day

So for some strange reason, I have been really putting off blogging or posting about this on facebook. Why? I'm not really sure, but for some reason I am just being really weird about announcing to people that I am pregnant. We went to the doctor today and got to hear the heartbeat. I had another appointment a month ago and they did an ultrasound and we got to see the little baby in there waving it's arms around, it was so cool. I think maybe it still hasn't sunk in for me. I mean its obvious, I am very much showing, I throw up every morning if I wake up before 10, I've seen an ultrasound and now heard the heartbeat, so why I have been so weird/scared to tell people?

Maybe it's because it was so easy for us. We decided we were going to start trying in Belize, and in Belize it happened! Maybe it's because I know a lot of people who have had miscarriages lately and so part of me thinks, it was so easy, it must be too good to be true, look at all these other people I know who are struggling to get pregnant, it's almost not fair. Maybe it's because I know like a billion other people who are pregnant right now and I feel like I am just another girl who got pregnant. Basically every girl at my old work is pregnant or had gotten pregnant this year. It seems like every day on facebook someone else I know is announcing that they are pregnant, and I don't want to steal anyone's thunder and be like oh me too, I'm pregnant too, "look at me, look at me." (Bonus if you know what movie that quote is from) I really am excited about this pregnancy, don't get me wrong, I am just being weird about it.

I really want a girl, we will find out in a month! My ultrasound is scheduled for May 4th, so stay posted then and hopefully we will be able to find out what the sex is at the ultrasound. I already have all kinds of cute ideas for little Lucy's room, or Lucia as Steve wants her to be, but I will call her Lucy. Man I really want a girl. Either way though, boy or girl, the room is going to involve cute owls and a tree on the wall. The girls room will be a little more shabby chic antique looking and the boys room will be bright colors, but both with owls, birds, foxes, deer, just kind of foresty, I am so excited. We are hoping we will have a house by then. Oh did I forget to mention, my due date is September 24th, or should I say the baby's due date, though I guess I am "due" to go into labor around then. With Simon I had to have an emergency c-section, with this one I am going to try to do a vaginal birth after Cesarean, or VBAC. So hooray for being super huge pregnant through all of the summer, I can't wait! (little sarcasm there) At least I am only working part-time so I plan on taking Simon to the lake a lot this summer and plopping my by then very pregnant self into the very cold waters of Lake Tahoe. So yeah, I'm pregnant!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! I know I am a little late on this, but New Year's Eve was spent sleeping in the San Francisco Airport. (We did get to see some fireworks though!)And as many of you know, the next two weeks were spent in Belize having an awesome time! (Pictures going on facebook as I type- but only the first batch so far.) So I must say I am looking forward to this year more than any year I have recently. I really feel like things are finally coming together for Steve and I as individuals and as a family. We have a lot of really big things going on this year and this month already! I am just so excited for all of these changes and looking forward to all that the year has in store.
Some of the main things I am excited for this year (in no particular order)
1. We finally went on a trip outside of the country!
2. Steve is a nurse and started at the VA (technically he still has to take the NCLEX)
3. I no longer work at Ashley Furniture.
4. I get to be a stay-at-home mom!
5. I am starting a part-time job at a new store called Graples Home Decor.
6. We are trying to expand the size of our family.
7. We have the potential to start looking for a house later this year.
8. Steve will be home every night for dinner and home from work in time to have breakfast with us!
9. We get to go "home" this summer for my cousins wedding and take Simon to the property.
10. I get to stay home with Simon. I know I said that already, but I am looking forwward to spending so much time with my super sweet Simon-son!
That's all for now, gotta go run some errands.

Life

Today while I was at work I stepped outside to make a couple of phone calls that I didn't feel comfortable making at work, some things you just don't want people to overhear, like trying to get a new job. So I stepped outside to call Steve to find about the two job offers he got today, and he accepted one of them! Yay! He interviewed at Renown today and they told him they would give him a call back within the next three weeks, he got two different calls about two hours later- two job offers the same day! He accepted the better one- an internship with a two year contract. I don't remember all of the details but the gist of it is that he works in almost every unit of the hospital for about 4 or 5 weeks and at the end goes back to the first one he worked at and stays there for the remainder of the year, and then for the second year he works in whichever one he wants. He will also get to be on some committees which means better positioning to get into better jobs. I might not have all of that correct- but it's how I understood it from Steve explaining it to me in his very disjointed don't give all the information at once kind of way. So yay! A JOB! Did I mention he graduated on Saturday? Yep- done with school and has a job, he starts on January 24th!
Oh, I am so relieved, we I was really starting to get worried about if he was going to get a job, most of his other classmates from nursing school already had jobs so I was getting kind of panicky because I've had big plans for the next year that all depend on him getting a job. You see, I have been the main breadwinner the whole time he has been in school, and frankly, I am so tired of it. It is so hard to be a mom and to be a working mom at that. The hardest part is probably the guilt- but that is a whole 'nother post on its own. So yeah, getting to spend about 3 1/2 to 4 hours a day with my son has been tough. I love him so much and he is just the most incredible little boy, of course I am a little biased (what mom isn't), but my son is just so cool and fun and exhausting. After working and driving all over town everyday, by the time I get home with him I am tired, and I still have to make dinner and play with him and it gets very stressful because once I am home with Simon he wants my undivided attention so sometimes we don't even eat dinner until 8 because I am doing things like spending time with him instead of making dinner for him. So back to my original point... I have been the breadwinner for all this time (4 years) and I am tired of doing it. I am ready to stay home and be a full-time mom, to play with my son all day long, to be able to teach him things, to want to pull my hair out because he is driving me crazy all day long instead of for just 4 hours a day, to be there for my family mentally and physically and emotionally, because lately I haven't been.
So if you caught the little comment up there about me trying to get a job, you might be wondering why I am talking about wanting to stay home and getting a new job in the same post. Well, that is because, frankly, I am a little scared of being a stay-at-home mom. So one of my co-workers told me about this home decor store that is opening soon in Reno and it's only open one day a week, Thursday, and the store gets set up every week on Wednesday. They are planning on opening in January, but it's looking more like it is going to be in February. Perfect! I love decorating, I love accessories, and I still want to work a little bit, and two set days a week would be awesome. Just for the sanity mostly, not for the money. I just want to feel like I am doing something else, that I am contributing to something, and I want to have time around other adults still (I am in nursery at church so I don't even get a lot of adult interaction at church). And it also gives me a break from the stresses of being a stay-at-home mom, it gives Cindy time to spend with her grandson every week still, and gives him a chance to play with other kids. So about a month ago I interviewed for a position at this store, and it went really well, and the guy called me back this morning about it. I am going to meet with him again this Saturday. Pretty sure I have a job, he just wants to make sure we both know what it is going to be like. I am so excited! This all works perfectly. It coincides so well with when Steve will be starting his job and be bringing a REAL paycheck! My anniversary with my work is Dec 15, so after that I get 2 weeks paid vacation to take sometime in the next year. I am planning on using it in early January so Steve and I can FINALLY go on a trip to somewhere cool. We have always planned on Malta, but we realized it is winter there- in the 60s, but if I am flying to the Mediterranean I want to swim in it, and you can't really go swimming there when it is cool outside. So we are thinking its going to be something different, but I don't want to talk to much about that because whenever we do it never happens, and I am sure our families are both thinking something along the lines of "Oh, that Steve and Kari, they keep talking about traveling the world, but who are they kidding? They make all these plans, they buy plane tickets, but they're never going to go anywhere." But this time we are, and it's going to be for two weeks, and it's going to be awesome!
So yeah, today has been the best day I have had in a while, I came back in from those two phone calls (with Steve and the new job guy) and I had the biggest smile on my face, a smile I never have on my face while I am at work, and one of my coworkers knew something was up and since he is the one that first told me about the new job opportunity I told him what was going on, and it just felt so good to be able to say that all these plans that Steve and I have been making for a while now are finally becoming a reality. I just can't wait! Less than three weeks to Christmas, and then about two weeks after that is our 4th anniversary, our vacation, and our plans to start trying for another baby while on said vacation. Life is good, and I can't wait!