James gets really serious sometimes and tells me that he needs to tell me something (meanwhile I'm bracing myself because I really never know what's going to come out of his mouth).
I say, "Yes James? What is it?"
He replies with something like this, "If you be careful of that light, then you'll get a great surprise."
"Oh wow, James, thank you! Good to know!"
I have no idea. I'm pretty sure it's his ultimate last try to keep me in his room for .5 more seconds. :)
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Static at the green park!
I guess this is what James gets for sliding down the slides at his favorite park (he calls it the "green park" because all of the slides are green... his favorite color)! It was so funny. His hair would be completely normal when starting down the slide, but by the end, this is what he looked like! ;)
Kona and Me: A Pet Retrospective.
This is a really long blog, don't read this blog if you haven't read Marley and Me or if you plan to see the movie!
I've been told by my sister-in-law, Beth, that I absolutely positively MUST read "Marley and Me" (I know it's supposed to be underlined, but I can't figure out how to do it-ha). So I bought it when I got to Orlando International, and started reading it on my flight out to Phoenix. Now, I've looked at this book at Borders before, and every time I put it back thinking, "Eh, I don't really need to read anyone else's story about a Yellow Lab, I have one! I know how they are!" BUT, now since Beth was insisting that I read it, I thought maybe it might be a good one.
Boy was I in for a surprise. This book is hysterical! The story is absolutely wonderful and I can pretty much relate with EVERYTHING in the book. Of course it's not all about Marley, it's a LOT about Marley, but it's also about the story of this family and how they get through issues and problems together. It's a very warm story, with hysterical antics and tidbits of dog-gone bad dog situations. But above all, I'm very grateful that I read this book, especially since now I can recall many situations with Kona that I've never blogged about. My kids obviously know Kona, but they are so young that when they grow up they won't remember him much. I'd love to write about Kona so my kids can look back at this and read what our dog was like.
When Nathan and I were in Santa Barbara, California, we decided that we wanted to get a dog. I had thought about it before he actually moved out to California, but decided to wait to learn more about the adoption process and to understand what I should know about adopting a dog.
I got cats first, adopted from Los Angeles Kitten Rescue. I adopted two 4 month old black (one one with white paws and belly) cats. Saki and Ali blessed my life! Ali ended up contracting Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) in his first year and passed on to kitty heaven before he turned 1. Very sad, very very sad. He was an awesome cat. He did all of the great things that cats do, like cackling at bugs and jumping really high trying to get the feathers glued to a stick. He also fetched. YES, fetched. I would crumble up a post-it note into a tight ball, and he would run up to me and wait for me to throw it. He found great pleasure in running across the house and batting the little yellow paper ball around on the hardwood floors. This was Ali's claim to fame, and bless his soul, I still miss him.
So after the cats got settled in, then one died, I thought, "Why not get a dog?" Ha. Actually, it was perfect! Nathan and I found a breeder located in San Luis Obispo (about a two hour drive north of Santa Barbara), and drove up there to see the puppies once they were born. We had first pick of any of the males (a whopping 3 of them), or we had third choice of females (all 5 of them). These puppies were the MOST adorable things I had ever seen. They were a bundle of yellow fluffy puppies, and I was instantly in love. We met his mother, but didn't meet the father since he didn't live with them. We picked Kona because we loved the way he looked and also the way he interacted with us. He was sooo young! It was hard to leave that day without him, but he still had some growing to do, so we drove back to Santa Barbara after putting our deposit down for the pup.
I assume after I got home that I went out and got all of the puppy stuff for my house, but I don't really remember this part. I do, however remember the kennel that I had bought for him in the beginning. It was HUGE, compared to him! He ended up growing out of the thing about a year later.
When the pup was weaned (only 6 weeks), we drove back up to SLO to get him. We still had the naming thing to do, so I did my research on names on the internet. I loved the name Kona, but Nathan wasn't really sold on it. The name is Hawiian, and it means "golden coast", which I liked since he's yellow, and we lived in Santa Barbara.
We got the pup and loaded him up in the car, but of course not before we argued like children about who got to HOLD the dog and who got to drive. Just like kids, we agreed that since we'd have stop and let the pup go potty at some point, then we'd switch. I had the pleasure of driving first, holding second.
We did indeed stop for the pup to run in the grass at a park about halfway home. He was so sweetly walking and frolicking in the grass! He even went potty, and we acted like our child had just won a gold medal! ;) I started calling him Kona just to try out the name, and to me it fit wonderfully. I also liked the names Marty and Montey, but neither of those seemed to fit (from what Nathan said-ha).
I got to hold him for the rest of the drive back to Santa Barbara, and Kona decided that I was the one he was going to puke on first. Awesome.
We got him home and scheduled his first trip to the vet for his shots, ID chip and flea medication... he was full of fleas! We started his potty training, which was awesome to live in a house with hardwood floors instead of carpet for this part of his training. He got a hold on the concept pretty quickly, if he had accidents they were minor, so I think we did a pretty good job!
During the night I put him in his kennel, and he did the typical whine that dogs do. It was so pathetic it made me laugh and cry at the same time. He'd start off really loooow, looow, looooow, and slowly make his pitch higher and higher and higher and louder and louder and louder! It really was hysterical. Do you know why they do this? It is a survival trait in puppies to alert their mother if they are lost and alone... they whine so their mom can find them and return them to their pack. Interesting huh? Well not at 3 AM when you're trying to sleep. I stuck to my guns though and put a clock down by his kennel with a loud ticking, and before I knew it, he was fine in his kennel. Whew.
Kona grew so fast, so incredibly fast. We had so much fun with him, taking him with us wherever we went, especially to the beach. Before he learned about depth perception, he walked off of the back porch that was about four feet up from the ground straight through the wrought-iron railing and tried to walk on top of a dense bush, thinking it was just a continuation of the ground. It was hysterical!
We introduced him to a dog park (Nathan, do you remember the name of the park?) that we ended up frequenting at least 3 times a week to let him run and play with other dogs. He started off with a puppy collar, in rasta colors, which I still have and will never get rid of... ever. We also learned that he was super sensitive with is front paws and the only people to touch them were us since he trusted us.
Kona never really was much trouble (besides the one time he chewed a stick, got a piece stuck between his teeth and had to go under general anesthesia to have it surgically removed), and still isn't. Since he was kennel trained early on, he would stay in his kennel while I was at school. He didn't chew up shoes or anything like that, but he did make teeth marks on some of my furniture. He has a love for socks... clean, dirty, adult size, baby size, whatever. He doesn't eat them, chew them or ruin them, he simply picks them up and transports them to another location in the house and puts them down. He also does this with sneakers... but only one of them. Usually it's when he needs a walk. Silly dog.
Only one time did Kona get sick in his kennel. It was disgusting, there was poop EVERYWHERE in the kennel, and it was runny... really really runny. I had to take the kennel outside and hose it down it was so bad. I think he had gotten sick from a bone I had given him. Poor thing, he hung his head in shame when I got home.
Kona did cause trouble in some respects. During the treacherous training at Brook Institute, sometimes I didn't get a chance to walk the dog when I was supposed to, or happened to leave him at home a little too long. Of course, me being a softy, couldn't just put my dog in a cold metal kennel without something soft to lay on, so I bought him dog pillows. On these days that I was gone too long, it snowed in Santa Barbara. Particularly in my family room. Kona would shred the pillows and get every ounce of white stuffing out of them. DOH! Another $30 down the drain. I'm pretty sure I finally learned and stopped putting pillows in the kennel. ;)
When Kona was old enough, I had an electric fence put in around my house. I lived on a busy two lane road in Santa Barbara, and I was so worried about Kona getting out and running into the street. I decided to go with the electric fence instead of putting up a wooden fence. Now my memory is failing me, because I can't remember if Nathan built the wooden fence first and then we put in the electric fence... I'm pretty sure it was the wooden fence first... whatever. The point of this story is that Kona got OUT of the back yard one day. I had trusted the chicken wire fence that bordered our neighbor enough to leave the dog outside in the gorgeous Santa Barbara weather while I was at school for never-ending film development time. As I was returning home, I had about three messages on my phone from my vet saying that they had Kona there for me to pick up. WHAT? WHAT? WHAAAAAT? I freaked out. The dog had been found ACROSS the busy street on our usual walking route. He had chewed through and snuck out through the back fence, gone around the house, crossed the street and was about 1/8 of a mile away from our house when he was found. Bless those people for taking him to his VET!
As Kona got a bit older in Santa Barbara, these were our favorite activities and fun things I remember:
-Going to puppy obedience school at night taught by Wency Lopez in the parking lot of a vet's office in Goleta. He did so well, and by the end could obey many commands including "shake". Wency also took the dogs across the street to McDonalds' and would get one big soft-serve vanilla ice cream cup and take turns letting the dogs nicely lick the ice cream off of the spoon. She was a big believer in teaching the dogs to "take it nicely" from our hands.
-How hard he would whine when he figured out we were driving to Summerland beach or the park, and how early he would start whining... usually when we first hopped onto the 101. When we ended up leaving Santa Barbara and moving to Iowa, he whined for three hours after we got onto the 101 thinking we were going to the beach.
-We'd go to Summerland beach with a chuck-it and tennis ball and Kona would fetch that ball until he no longer could walk. If Nathan or I had a tennis ball, it was just as good as a leash. He went NOWHERE. If we didn't have a tennis ball, he knew to go run and play with the other dogs, which was always a BLAST to watch.
-When fetching the ball at the beach, he'd run to get it and when bringing it back, would make a gigantic circle around us to the left before bringing it to us. He'd also dig in the sand and bury his ball, and also, more common than I wanted, he'd go poop in the water.
-Summerland beach sometimes had dead seals on it and Kona would go rub in them and stink so bad he had to have a bath. SICK! It was the hardest thing to get him away from those carcases! I'm just happy that he left the nude sunbathers alone (Yes, Summerland Beach was well know for it's nude sunbathing followers... double SICK).
-He'd fetch sticks at the park and get so dirty that he'd need a bath. He'd never let us get too far away before racing to catch up to us. We'd try to give him a bowl of water after the park, but he was a heck of a lot more content to drink from a water bottle squirting water at his face. (This park was absolutely amazing, it was up on a gigantic cliff above the coastline, and the view was amazing!)
As the year 2003 came to an end, Nathan and I had gotten engaged and moved back to Ames, IA. We never, ever, ever, thought about leaving Kona behind, he was officially our family member now, and we were excited to move our little family (including psycho kitty Saki) to our new home in Iowa.
Kona had the best of the best yard in Iowa, a huge space of grass to run and play and chase the tennis ball around the yard. The only problem? What the heck was that white stuff that it so COLD on his feet? Kona actually loved the snow after he got used to it a bit.
Things changed in Iowa since there was no beach to visit and most of the parks had leash laws. We broke those laws for a while, but then Kona seemed to lose his ability to listen well enough to be off leash (of course with the exception of when Nathan had a tennis ball). We did let him off leash when we'd take him to the back of our developing neighborhood so he could run and investigate and eat construction workers left-overs left in trash bags. SICK... again.
By this point of Kona's life, we were a family, he loved us, we loved him, and there weren't many new surprises about his personality... until James was born.
Kona got a lot of my attention before James was born since I was so big I stayed home a lot. I'd throw the ball to Kona on a daily basis in the back yard, and we had a pretty good routine going. Enter an infant.... After we brought James home, Kona wouldn't look at me in the eye for three weeks. He was so MAD at me. I don't really even think it was just because I brought a baby home, I think it was because I had taken my attention away from him and was giving it to this new being in the house. Eventually though, I learned that Kona still was a softy and if I just rubbed his ears once a day, he was agian my buddy.
The other part of Kona that came out with a baby in the house is his intense dislike of toys making music or talking. We figured this out with our phones, not toys, to begin with. Kona really disliked the ringing of our new cordless phones that we had bought for our home. We were trying to pick a ringtone one day and Kona was howling like he was trying to sing along. To this day, he howls when toys are singing, talking, playing music... EVEN over the monitors from upstairs. Poor dog. That must hurt!
Kona was fine when Kaitlyn came along, he wasn't so mad at me that time. Ever since he's been wonderful with the kids. He loves them too, although he hates their toys. He has significantly calmed down since his puppy years, but whenever someone comes over to our house he's still the barking, energetic, jumping (sigh) puppy that he was when he was 2. I was told at the vet last time that Kona will be 7 next June, qualifying him to be a senior. Yes, that's not for anther 5 months, but still, seeing Kona as a senior makes me sad. I know that there will be times ahead of us that will be tough, and obviously since dogs don't live as long as us, we'll have to deal with him dying someday. I just pray that I have the patience to enjoy Kona while he's still here with us, despite the poop in the yard, the enormous amounts of dog hair in my house, and his wretched breath. He sure loves to give kisses. ;)
Things I don't want to forget about Kona:
-Him finding James' socks in the bottom of the diaper bag and bringing them to me when James was only 1 or 2 months old.
-His seat belt that he had in Santa Barbara, and the seat cover we had in the 4-Runner.
-The time when he had to be rushed to the vet when we were out of town and another dog at the kennel had bitten his ear.
-How he goes into Uptown Dog "ready to party."
-His glazed eyes and his blissful sighs when I rub his ears.
-How he collapses and rolls over for me to pat his belly when I am even remotely interested in petting him.
-DROOL!
-Death by kisses and licking.
-How he barks in his sleep and runs while dreaming. He gets so loud it wakes me up!
-He won't give up the tennis ball, ever, unless I bribe him with a treat bone.
-When I have a rawhide bone to give him, he sits, lays down and rolls over without any prompting by me or Nathan. We usually have him wait and do things on our command before he gets the bone.
-How sharp his puppy teeth were! OUCH!
-How he helped himself to the food on the table when we weren't around and decorated the top of the table with scratches.
-His "smile".
-Playing "hut 1, hut 2, HIKE!" and watch him go nuts.
-How he was afraid of the waves in the ocean until Nathan got him to chase the ball out there and swim for it.
-Him swimming for a stick or tennis ball in the Skunk River in Ames until he was so tired he could've drowned.
-How much I love him. SAP!
I've been told by my sister-in-law, Beth, that I absolutely positively MUST read "Marley and Me" (I know it's supposed to be underlined, but I can't figure out how to do it-ha). So I bought it when I got to Orlando International, and started reading it on my flight out to Phoenix. Now, I've looked at this book at Borders before, and every time I put it back thinking, "Eh, I don't really need to read anyone else's story about a Yellow Lab, I have one! I know how they are!" BUT, now since Beth was insisting that I read it, I thought maybe it might be a good one.
Boy was I in for a surprise. This book is hysterical! The story is absolutely wonderful and I can pretty much relate with EVERYTHING in the book. Of course it's not all about Marley, it's a LOT about Marley, but it's also about the story of this family and how they get through issues and problems together. It's a very warm story, with hysterical antics and tidbits of dog-gone bad dog situations. But above all, I'm very grateful that I read this book, especially since now I can recall many situations with Kona that I've never blogged about. My kids obviously know Kona, but they are so young that when they grow up they won't remember him much. I'd love to write about Kona so my kids can look back at this and read what our dog was like.
When Nathan and I were in Santa Barbara, California, we decided that we wanted to get a dog. I had thought about it before he actually moved out to California, but decided to wait to learn more about the adoption process and to understand what I should know about adopting a dog.
I got cats first, adopted from Los Angeles Kitten Rescue. I adopted two 4 month old black (one one with white paws and belly) cats. Saki and Ali blessed my life! Ali ended up contracting Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) in his first year and passed on to kitty heaven before he turned 1. Very sad, very very sad. He was an awesome cat. He did all of the great things that cats do, like cackling at bugs and jumping really high trying to get the feathers glued to a stick. He also fetched. YES, fetched. I would crumble up a post-it note into a tight ball, and he would run up to me and wait for me to throw it. He found great pleasure in running across the house and batting the little yellow paper ball around on the hardwood floors. This was Ali's claim to fame, and bless his soul, I still miss him.
So after the cats got settled in, then one died, I thought, "Why not get a dog?" Ha. Actually, it was perfect! Nathan and I found a breeder located in San Luis Obispo (about a two hour drive north of Santa Barbara), and drove up there to see the puppies once they were born. We had first pick of any of the males (a whopping 3 of them), or we had third choice of females (all 5 of them). These puppies were the MOST adorable things I had ever seen. They were a bundle of yellow fluffy puppies, and I was instantly in love. We met his mother, but didn't meet the father since he didn't live with them. We picked Kona because we loved the way he looked and also the way he interacted with us. He was sooo young! It was hard to leave that day without him, but he still had some growing to do, so we drove back to Santa Barbara after putting our deposit down for the pup.
I assume after I got home that I went out and got all of the puppy stuff for my house, but I don't really remember this part. I do, however remember the kennel that I had bought for him in the beginning. It was HUGE, compared to him! He ended up growing out of the thing about a year later.
When the pup was weaned (only 6 weeks), we drove back up to SLO to get him. We still had the naming thing to do, so I did my research on names on the internet. I loved the name Kona, but Nathan wasn't really sold on it. The name is Hawiian, and it means "golden coast", which I liked since he's yellow, and we lived in Santa Barbara.
We got the pup and loaded him up in the car, but of course not before we argued like children about who got to HOLD the dog and who got to drive. Just like kids, we agreed that since we'd have stop and let the pup go potty at some point, then we'd switch. I had the pleasure of driving first, holding second.
We did indeed stop for the pup to run in the grass at a park about halfway home. He was so sweetly walking and frolicking in the grass! He even went potty, and we acted like our child had just won a gold medal! ;) I started calling him Kona just to try out the name, and to me it fit wonderfully. I also liked the names Marty and Montey, but neither of those seemed to fit (from what Nathan said-ha).
I got to hold him for the rest of the drive back to Santa Barbara, and Kona decided that I was the one he was going to puke on first. Awesome.
We got him home and scheduled his first trip to the vet for his shots, ID chip and flea medication... he was full of fleas! We started his potty training, which was awesome to live in a house with hardwood floors instead of carpet for this part of his training. He got a hold on the concept pretty quickly, if he had accidents they were minor, so I think we did a pretty good job!
During the night I put him in his kennel, and he did the typical whine that dogs do. It was so pathetic it made me laugh and cry at the same time. He'd start off really loooow, looow, looooow, and slowly make his pitch higher and higher and higher and louder and louder and louder! It really was hysterical. Do you know why they do this? It is a survival trait in puppies to alert their mother if they are lost and alone... they whine so their mom can find them and return them to their pack. Interesting huh? Well not at 3 AM when you're trying to sleep. I stuck to my guns though and put a clock down by his kennel with a loud ticking, and before I knew it, he was fine in his kennel. Whew.
Kona grew so fast, so incredibly fast. We had so much fun with him, taking him with us wherever we went, especially to the beach. Before he learned about depth perception, he walked off of the back porch that was about four feet up from the ground straight through the wrought-iron railing and tried to walk on top of a dense bush, thinking it was just a continuation of the ground. It was hysterical!
We introduced him to a dog park (Nathan, do you remember the name of the park?) that we ended up frequenting at least 3 times a week to let him run and play with other dogs. He started off with a puppy collar, in rasta colors, which I still have and will never get rid of... ever. We also learned that he was super sensitive with is front paws and the only people to touch them were us since he trusted us.
Kona never really was much trouble (besides the one time he chewed a stick, got a piece stuck between his teeth and had to go under general anesthesia to have it surgically removed), and still isn't. Since he was kennel trained early on, he would stay in his kennel while I was at school. He didn't chew up shoes or anything like that, but he did make teeth marks on some of my furniture. He has a love for socks... clean, dirty, adult size, baby size, whatever. He doesn't eat them, chew them or ruin them, he simply picks them up and transports them to another location in the house and puts them down. He also does this with sneakers... but only one of them. Usually it's when he needs a walk. Silly dog.
Only one time did Kona get sick in his kennel. It was disgusting, there was poop EVERYWHERE in the kennel, and it was runny... really really runny. I had to take the kennel outside and hose it down it was so bad. I think he had gotten sick from a bone I had given him. Poor thing, he hung his head in shame when I got home.
Kona did cause trouble in some respects. During the treacherous training at Brook Institute, sometimes I didn't get a chance to walk the dog when I was supposed to, or happened to leave him at home a little too long. Of course, me being a softy, couldn't just put my dog in a cold metal kennel without something soft to lay on, so I bought him dog pillows. On these days that I was gone too long, it snowed in Santa Barbara. Particularly in my family room. Kona would shred the pillows and get every ounce of white stuffing out of them. DOH! Another $30 down the drain. I'm pretty sure I finally learned and stopped putting pillows in the kennel. ;)
When Kona was old enough, I had an electric fence put in around my house. I lived on a busy two lane road in Santa Barbara, and I was so worried about Kona getting out and running into the street. I decided to go with the electric fence instead of putting up a wooden fence. Now my memory is failing me, because I can't remember if Nathan built the wooden fence first and then we put in the electric fence... I'm pretty sure it was the wooden fence first... whatever. The point of this story is that Kona got OUT of the back yard one day. I had trusted the chicken wire fence that bordered our neighbor enough to leave the dog outside in the gorgeous Santa Barbara weather while I was at school for never-ending film development time. As I was returning home, I had about three messages on my phone from my vet saying that they had Kona there for me to pick up. WHAT? WHAT? WHAAAAAT? I freaked out. The dog had been found ACROSS the busy street on our usual walking route. He had chewed through and snuck out through the back fence, gone around the house, crossed the street and was about 1/8 of a mile away from our house when he was found. Bless those people for taking him to his VET!
As Kona got a bit older in Santa Barbara, these were our favorite activities and fun things I remember:
-Going to puppy obedience school at night taught by Wency Lopez in the parking lot of a vet's office in Goleta. He did so well, and by the end could obey many commands including "shake". Wency also took the dogs across the street to McDonalds' and would get one big soft-serve vanilla ice cream cup and take turns letting the dogs nicely lick the ice cream off of the spoon. She was a big believer in teaching the dogs to "take it nicely" from our hands.
-How hard he would whine when he figured out we were driving to Summerland beach or the park, and how early he would start whining... usually when we first hopped onto the 101. When we ended up leaving Santa Barbara and moving to Iowa, he whined for three hours after we got onto the 101 thinking we were going to the beach.
-We'd go to Summerland beach with a chuck-it and tennis ball and Kona would fetch that ball until he no longer could walk. If Nathan or I had a tennis ball, it was just as good as a leash. He went NOWHERE. If we didn't have a tennis ball, he knew to go run and play with the other dogs, which was always a BLAST to watch.
-When fetching the ball at the beach, he'd run to get it and when bringing it back, would make a gigantic circle around us to the left before bringing it to us. He'd also dig in the sand and bury his ball, and also, more common than I wanted, he'd go poop in the water.
-Summerland beach sometimes had dead seals on it and Kona would go rub in them and stink so bad he had to have a bath. SICK! It was the hardest thing to get him away from those carcases! I'm just happy that he left the nude sunbathers alone (Yes, Summerland Beach was well know for it's nude sunbathing followers... double SICK).
-He'd fetch sticks at the park and get so dirty that he'd need a bath. He'd never let us get too far away before racing to catch up to us. We'd try to give him a bowl of water after the park, but he was a heck of a lot more content to drink from a water bottle squirting water at his face. (This park was absolutely amazing, it was up on a gigantic cliff above the coastline, and the view was amazing!)
As the year 2003 came to an end, Nathan and I had gotten engaged and moved back to Ames, IA. We never, ever, ever, thought about leaving Kona behind, he was officially our family member now, and we were excited to move our little family (including psycho kitty Saki) to our new home in Iowa.
Kona had the best of the best yard in Iowa, a huge space of grass to run and play and chase the tennis ball around the yard. The only problem? What the heck was that white stuff that it so COLD on his feet? Kona actually loved the snow after he got used to it a bit.
Things changed in Iowa since there was no beach to visit and most of the parks had leash laws. We broke those laws for a while, but then Kona seemed to lose his ability to listen well enough to be off leash (of course with the exception of when Nathan had a tennis ball). We did let him off leash when we'd take him to the back of our developing neighborhood so he could run and investigate and eat construction workers left-overs left in trash bags. SICK... again.
By this point of Kona's life, we were a family, he loved us, we loved him, and there weren't many new surprises about his personality... until James was born.
Kona got a lot of my attention before James was born since I was so big I stayed home a lot. I'd throw the ball to Kona on a daily basis in the back yard, and we had a pretty good routine going. Enter an infant.... After we brought James home, Kona wouldn't look at me in the eye for three weeks. He was so MAD at me. I don't really even think it was just because I brought a baby home, I think it was because I had taken my attention away from him and was giving it to this new being in the house. Eventually though, I learned that Kona still was a softy and if I just rubbed his ears once a day, he was agian my buddy.
The other part of Kona that came out with a baby in the house is his intense dislike of toys making music or talking. We figured this out with our phones, not toys, to begin with. Kona really disliked the ringing of our new cordless phones that we had bought for our home. We were trying to pick a ringtone one day and Kona was howling like he was trying to sing along. To this day, he howls when toys are singing, talking, playing music... EVEN over the monitors from upstairs. Poor dog. That must hurt!
Kona was fine when Kaitlyn came along, he wasn't so mad at me that time. Ever since he's been wonderful with the kids. He loves them too, although he hates their toys. He has significantly calmed down since his puppy years, but whenever someone comes over to our house he's still the barking, energetic, jumping (sigh) puppy that he was when he was 2. I was told at the vet last time that Kona will be 7 next June, qualifying him to be a senior. Yes, that's not for anther 5 months, but still, seeing Kona as a senior makes me sad. I know that there will be times ahead of us that will be tough, and obviously since dogs don't live as long as us, we'll have to deal with him dying someday. I just pray that I have the patience to enjoy Kona while he's still here with us, despite the poop in the yard, the enormous amounts of dog hair in my house, and his wretched breath. He sure loves to give kisses. ;)
Things I don't want to forget about Kona:
-Him finding James' socks in the bottom of the diaper bag and bringing them to me when James was only 1 or 2 months old.
-His seat belt that he had in Santa Barbara, and the seat cover we had in the 4-Runner.
-The time when he had to be rushed to the vet when we were out of town and another dog at the kennel had bitten his ear.
-How he goes into Uptown Dog "ready to party."
-His glazed eyes and his blissful sighs when I rub his ears.
-How he collapses and rolls over for me to pat his belly when I am even remotely interested in petting him.
-DROOL!
-Death by kisses and licking.
-How he barks in his sleep and runs while dreaming. He gets so loud it wakes me up!
-He won't give up the tennis ball, ever, unless I bribe him with a treat bone.
-When I have a rawhide bone to give him, he sits, lays down and rolls over without any prompting by me or Nathan. We usually have him wait and do things on our command before he gets the bone.
-How sharp his puppy teeth were! OUCH!
-How he helped himself to the food on the table when we weren't around and decorated the top of the table with scratches.
-His "smile".
-Playing "hut 1, hut 2, HIKE!" and watch him go nuts.
-How he was afraid of the waves in the ocean until Nathan got him to chase the ball out there and swim for it.
-Him swimming for a stick or tennis ball in the Skunk River in Ames until he was so tired he could've drowned.
-How much I love him. SAP!
Kona's litter, he's the one in the back facing the camera.
Those girls were feisty!
Nathan holding Kona.
Kona's mom (he looks just like her in the face now!
Me with a pup, not Kona.
Nathan and Kona got to model for me for some of my photo assignments. :)
Kona at Summerland Beach.
Kona at Summerland Beach.
Kona at Summerland Beach.
My boys modeling yet again.
Part of our engagement session, photo by Ana Schechter.
Kona's beautiful smile!
Kona at 6 years old.
Nathan holding Kona.
Kona's mom (he looks just like her in the face now!
Me with a pup, not Kona.
Nathan and Kona got to model for me for some of my photo assignments. :)
Kona at Summerland Beach.
Kona at Summerland Beach.
Kona at Summerland Beach.
My boys modeling yet again.
Part of our engagement session, photo by Ana Schechter.
Kona's beautiful smile!
Kona at 6 years old.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Lovies
My kids both have lovies. James' is a sock monkey that was a gift to me from Nathan when I was pregnant with James. It's from Gymboree so it's a mass-produced perfect looking sock monkey.
Kaitlyn has a "my banky" lovie (officially named Kami) that is a bear with a pink blanket separating his torso from his bottom. Must be uncomfortable for that little bear... to have a blanked in the middle of his tummy. :) Kaitlyn has always had her lovie, and calls her lovie... well "luh-ie" to be more exact. Every time we come upstairs she RUNS to her crib screaming "LUH-IE" to grab her and love on her. Tonight she was trying to pull her out of the crib and she was stuck. Kaitlyn started laughing so hard that she nearly fell over. It was great!
Lovie used to have a rattle in her head until finally I performed surgery to remove the unnecessary and utterly annoying rattle. Whoever thought that putting a rattle in a lovie doll that goes in a crib with a toddler is a moron, although, I must give them total props for coming up with the "my banky" in the first place. Ingenious!
"Monkey" didn't actually start out at James' lovie. However, by the time James had chewed the fur off of the nose of TWO "my banky" dogs, instead of dumping another $15 down the drain for another one, I introduced Monkey to James. He had a lot more durable fabric since he wasn't fuzzy. It wasn't long before James had chewed the two little black threaded nostrils off of Monkey (James had serious issues with teething, so much so that he chewed off the paint on the front rail of his crib... no lead, thank goodness-ha). The most disgusting part about Monkey's nose threads being chewed off is that one actually stayed in tact until I cut it off. For a while, James liked to play with the 4 inch stretch of thread that used to create the left nostril. I was so grossed out about him constantly putting it into his mouth that I cut it off.
James took to Monkey immediately and still is his best sleeping buddy. I will admit though, that he's not as attached to it as he once was. When he was two, if we left Monkey somewhere and didn't have him for nap time or bedtime, it was tough getting James to go to sleep. Kaitlyn is probably in that stage now, luckily we have never been in that situation with her... yet... knock on wood.
The best part about these lovies is that we instilled in them from the beginning that lovies were ONLY for bedtime and sometimes MAYBE for longer car trips or airplane rides. The kids really get the grasp on this idea! I'm so glad they are not dragging their blankies/lovies around with them everywhere they go!
I love that my kids have lovies. I still have my teddy bear and Nathan has his doggy with one of the ears safety pinned back to his head. One day in High School we were instructed by our Theology teacher to bring our childhood pals to school for a day. It was so fun and cute to see all these pubescent teenagers carrying around their blankets, doggies, teddy bears, etc. They were like gold when we were kids, and somehow that feeling never ends, even if they are stuffed in the back of our closets.
This is a funny video and it has great shots of Monkey and Lovie enjoying the ride. :)
Kaitlyn has a "my banky" lovie (officially named Kami) that is a bear with a pink blanket separating his torso from his bottom. Must be uncomfortable for that little bear... to have a blanked in the middle of his tummy. :) Kaitlyn has always had her lovie, and calls her lovie... well "luh-ie" to be more exact. Every time we come upstairs she RUNS to her crib screaming "LUH-IE" to grab her and love on her. Tonight she was trying to pull her out of the crib and she was stuck. Kaitlyn started laughing so hard that she nearly fell over. It was great!
Lovie used to have a rattle in her head until finally I performed surgery to remove the unnecessary and utterly annoying rattle. Whoever thought that putting a rattle in a lovie doll that goes in a crib with a toddler is a moron, although, I must give them total props for coming up with the "my banky" in the first place. Ingenious!
"Monkey" didn't actually start out at James' lovie. However, by the time James had chewed the fur off of the nose of TWO "my banky" dogs, instead of dumping another $15 down the drain for another one, I introduced Monkey to James. He had a lot more durable fabric since he wasn't fuzzy. It wasn't long before James had chewed the two little black threaded nostrils off of Monkey (James had serious issues with teething, so much so that he chewed off the paint on the front rail of his crib... no lead, thank goodness-ha). The most disgusting part about Monkey's nose threads being chewed off is that one actually stayed in tact until I cut it off. For a while, James liked to play with the 4 inch stretch of thread that used to create the left nostril. I was so grossed out about him constantly putting it into his mouth that I cut it off.
James took to Monkey immediately and still is his best sleeping buddy. I will admit though, that he's not as attached to it as he once was. When he was two, if we left Monkey somewhere and didn't have him for nap time or bedtime, it was tough getting James to go to sleep. Kaitlyn is probably in that stage now, luckily we have never been in that situation with her... yet... knock on wood.
The best part about these lovies is that we instilled in them from the beginning that lovies were ONLY for bedtime and sometimes MAYBE for longer car trips or airplane rides. The kids really get the grasp on this idea! I'm so glad they are not dragging their blankies/lovies around with them everywhere they go!
I love that my kids have lovies. I still have my teddy bear and Nathan has his doggy with one of the ears safety pinned back to his head. One day in High School we were instructed by our Theology teacher to bring our childhood pals to school for a day. It was so fun and cute to see all these pubescent teenagers carrying around their blankets, doggies, teddy bears, etc. They were like gold when we were kids, and somehow that feeling never ends, even if they are stuffed in the back of our closets.
This is a funny video and it has great shots of Monkey and Lovie enjoying the ride. :)
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Miss Manners says "No-huh"
Kaitlyn is quite the well-mannered 22 month old (two more months of referring to months for her age! Woohoo!). She literally says "thank you" after you give her anything. She doesn't just say it once either, if you don't recognize her saying "thank you" she will repeat it in your face until you say the appropriate response of "you're welcome." She is also this way with "sorry", which is equally as adorable.
For a long time we've been trying to convert her from saying "uh-huh" to "yes" but we're not really getting anywhere. She is also quick to answer to any question with "NO!", for instance, "Kaitlyn, do you want more milk?"
"NO!" she says.
But what happens when mid sentence, she realizes that maybe, indeed, she does want more milk? Well in that case we get, "No-huh!" She did this tonight at dinner and Nathan and I nearly fell out of our chairs.
I remember when James hit this stage too. He'd quickly answer, "NO!" and follow with "... but yeah." So funny! He still does this.
Lately James has been requesting music at bedtime. This makes me laugh, because the entire time he was an infant, EVERY time I fed him in his room, I'd play one certain CD that I got from Beth. Joanie Bartels' Lullaby Magic. What a fabulous CD. I literally would listen to the CD about 4 to 5 times a day. So naturally this was the CD that we started playing for him. He knows all of the words, and loves the CD so much. http://www.joaniebartels.com/
Kaitlyn also has a "fun" bedtime routine now thanks to Santa. He brought her, as well as Bennett, I believe, a starry-night turtle that projects stars onto her ceiling in green or blue. We always turn it on for her at bedtime when we leave the room. As SOON as we walk into the room, she says, "No, (pause) geen!" I'm not sure where the "no" part comes from, but by the time I'm ready to leave the room, she has changed her mind about four times. "No, bu-lue! No, geen!" So I put it on green, she says, "Thank you" and as soon as I walk out and close the door, she cries and says, "NO! Bu-lue! BLUE!" and it just continues until I let her cry it out for a minute and realize that Mommy isn't coming back in to change it on her every whim.
Poor, poor children. They are so spoiled. :)
For a long time we've been trying to convert her from saying "uh-huh" to "yes" but we're not really getting anywhere. She is also quick to answer to any question with "NO!", for instance, "Kaitlyn, do you want more milk?"
"NO!" she says.
But what happens when mid sentence, she realizes that maybe, indeed, she does want more milk? Well in that case we get, "No-huh!" She did this tonight at dinner and Nathan and I nearly fell out of our chairs.
I remember when James hit this stage too. He'd quickly answer, "NO!" and follow with "... but yeah." So funny! He still does this.
Lately James has been requesting music at bedtime. This makes me laugh, because the entire time he was an infant, EVERY time I fed him in his room, I'd play one certain CD that I got from Beth. Joanie Bartels' Lullaby Magic. What a fabulous CD. I literally would listen to the CD about 4 to 5 times a day. So naturally this was the CD that we started playing for him. He knows all of the words, and loves the CD so much. http://www.joaniebartels.com/
Kaitlyn also has a "fun" bedtime routine now thanks to Santa. He brought her, as well as Bennett, I believe, a starry-night turtle that projects stars onto her ceiling in green or blue. We always turn it on for her at bedtime when we leave the room. As SOON as we walk into the room, she says, "No, (pause) geen!" I'm not sure where the "no" part comes from, but by the time I'm ready to leave the room, she has changed her mind about four times. "No, bu-lue! No, geen!" So I put it on green, she says, "Thank you" and as soon as I walk out and close the door, she cries and says, "NO! Bu-lue! BLUE!" and it just continues until I let her cry it out for a minute and realize that Mommy isn't coming back in to change it on her every whim.
Poor, poor children. They are so spoiled. :)
Monday, January 19, 2009
Barnes and Noble means we're leaving!
The kids and I went to the mall tonight to meet up with Daddy. We didn't get there until about 5:30, which meant that we only had time for a few stores before dinner. James knows, also, that when we go to the mall, he gets to play on the playground (the germ infested sickening swamp of a playground). I told him we could go there if he ate a good dinner. Mistake #1.
We entered the mall through Barnes and Noble, a favorite of mine, but didn't stay to shop. Instead, we headed straight to Gap where Daddy was so get the ball rolling on shopping.
Kaitlyn got a few new pairs of pants: a cute little capri khaki pant, and some new jeans. Finding pants for her is difficult, the only ones that work are the kinds with the extra cinch waist (adjustable waist). Even still, her belly is so skinny, that they look like a balloon is covering her diaper from the extra fabric. She's so tall though, that we have to keep her in the right size for her length, or she looks silly. James was this way, but not as bad, I'm hoping Kaitlyn will put on a few sooner rather than later. It would make my life easier. She can't even wear the cute little yoga style pants they have everywhere since they are huge on her waist if they are long enough!
We headed to Banana Republic after the Gap for a few minutes, and then headed toward the food court. James insisted on a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner (which is what he ALWAYS wants for dinner when we're out), so we loaded up our tray full of yummy stuff from the only place in the mall that had a grilled cheese sandwich on the menu. James and Kaitlyn ate a great dinner, they shared the grilled cheese and split a bowl of fruit.
After dinner we noticed that it was already 7:00. YIKES! Nathan still wanted to go to Dillard's to check out their shirt selection, so we did. I told him that we could literally stay for 5 minutes if we wanted to get the kids to the playground. Even that was pushing it since they are usually in the bath tub by 7:15.
So we shopped for about 4 and a half minutes and then I decided that it was just not worth it to go to the playground. Mistake #2. James hasn't napped for two days in a row, today being the second day. If he's not going to nap, he needs to be in bed by 7:30 or 8 at the latest.
I piled the kids in the stroller (against their will) and told Daddy that we'd meet him at home. He looked at me and said, "You know he's going to..." and I just interrupted and said, "I know, I'll just have to deal with it."
We strolled back to Barnes and Noble, my mouth zippered shut not saying anything. Mistake #3. We entered Barnes and Noble, and James (being to dang smart for his age), said, "Not the book store! This means that we're leaving! I want to go to the playground!"
Awww. Stab in my heart. I sweetly and sadly told him that we had simply run out of time and that we needed to go home. Well, then, "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" came out of his mouth right in the middle of Barnes and Noble. Honestly though, I didn't care. Let people stare at me, it's not a big deal. At least my kid will be rested for school tomorrow.
I told him when we were exiting the store, "I promise that next time we come to the mall, we'll go to the playground FIRST buddy."
I still feel guilty.
On the ride home James was still upset, rightly so. Kaitlyn was trying out her usual banter with him by repeatedly saying his name, "Ame! Ame! Ame!" but he responded to her like this: "No Kaitlyn, don't talk to me, I'm sleeping. Talk to Mommy, she's awake." Ouch. Crank monster. Then Kaitlyn said, "Mommy? Mommy? Mommy?" She really has no necessary need for this, she just likes to talk. :)
We entered the mall through Barnes and Noble, a favorite of mine, but didn't stay to shop. Instead, we headed straight to Gap where Daddy was so get the ball rolling on shopping.
Kaitlyn got a few new pairs of pants: a cute little capri khaki pant, and some new jeans. Finding pants for her is difficult, the only ones that work are the kinds with the extra cinch waist (adjustable waist). Even still, her belly is so skinny, that they look like a balloon is covering her diaper from the extra fabric. She's so tall though, that we have to keep her in the right size for her length, or she looks silly. James was this way, but not as bad, I'm hoping Kaitlyn will put on a few sooner rather than later. It would make my life easier. She can't even wear the cute little yoga style pants they have everywhere since they are huge on her waist if they are long enough!
We headed to Banana Republic after the Gap for a few minutes, and then headed toward the food court. James insisted on a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner (which is what he ALWAYS wants for dinner when we're out), so we loaded up our tray full of yummy stuff from the only place in the mall that had a grilled cheese sandwich on the menu. James and Kaitlyn ate a great dinner, they shared the grilled cheese and split a bowl of fruit.
After dinner we noticed that it was already 7:00. YIKES! Nathan still wanted to go to Dillard's to check out their shirt selection, so we did. I told him that we could literally stay for 5 minutes if we wanted to get the kids to the playground. Even that was pushing it since they are usually in the bath tub by 7:15.
So we shopped for about 4 and a half minutes and then I decided that it was just not worth it to go to the playground. Mistake #2. James hasn't napped for two days in a row, today being the second day. If he's not going to nap, he needs to be in bed by 7:30 or 8 at the latest.
I piled the kids in the stroller (against their will) and told Daddy that we'd meet him at home. He looked at me and said, "You know he's going to..." and I just interrupted and said, "I know, I'll just have to deal with it."
We strolled back to Barnes and Noble, my mouth zippered shut not saying anything. Mistake #3. We entered Barnes and Noble, and James (being to dang smart for his age), said, "Not the book store! This means that we're leaving! I want to go to the playground!"
Awww. Stab in my heart. I sweetly and sadly told him that we had simply run out of time and that we needed to go home. Well, then, "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" came out of his mouth right in the middle of Barnes and Noble. Honestly though, I didn't care. Let people stare at me, it's not a big deal. At least my kid will be rested for school tomorrow.
I told him when we were exiting the store, "I promise that next time we come to the mall, we'll go to the playground FIRST buddy."
I still feel guilty.
On the ride home James was still upset, rightly so. Kaitlyn was trying out her usual banter with him by repeatedly saying his name, "Ame! Ame! Ame!" but he responded to her like this: "No Kaitlyn, don't talk to me, I'm sleeping. Talk to Mommy, she's awake." Ouch. Crank monster. Then Kaitlyn said, "Mommy? Mommy? Mommy?" She really has no necessary need for this, she just likes to talk. :)
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Home at last!
I got home on Wednesday night from the trade show, and both kids and my husband were all asleep. I got to kiss them all though, which was wonderful.
I have been told all of the new things that Kaitlyn has been doing, but it is really fun to see it in action. I took the kids over to a friend's house, actually, it's a classmate of James, named Nate. We took our plasma cars and all of the kids at this house decided to ride theirs too. Take my kids, Nate and his brother Jake, then some neighbor boys riding plasma cars in the driveway, and now we have a party. ;)
They were all going so fast around and around it was so funny. It was especially fun to watch Kaitlyn ride on hers, since she was only sitting on hers when I left. She has gotten really good at pushing herself a long on it now. It's very cute.
She sure couldn't keep up with all those boys though. For some reason, all 6 of them were trying to ride their cars in the brick walkway to the house instead of the driveway. Total traffic jam! There were a few tears shed by Kaitlyn when the boys would ram into her as if to say, "Get out of my way little baby!" Awwww. She was overwhelmed a few times. Once I talked them all into staying in the driveway instead of the brick walkway, things drastically improved. ;)
Yesterday, also, James threw in some new sayings that I find particularly funny. The predictable one that he says is "oh pickles" from the TV show Higglytown Heros. It's so funny though, and it's worth noting. The other one that cracks me up is this: "That's the SPIRIT!" What? Where on Earth did he learn that? I think I'll probably have to chalk that one up to the Methodist School. Ha.
Last night Nathan and I were trying to teach James the cheer, "We've got spirit, yes we do, we've got spirit, how about you?" but it didnt' work. He just looked at us as if we were nuts- which happens more than I'd like it to happen. Ha ha.
After we wrapped up dinner, Nathan was having a talk with James about why he couldn't have a snack. He was squatted down to talk to James in the eye, told him something and then asked James, "Did you hear what I said?"
James replied with his finger held up in the air, "Um, could you tell me one more time?"
So Daddy told him again, and then asked again if he heard what he said.
James said, "10 more minutes then it's time for bath." Nooooo, let's try this again... the third time was the charm! Too funny.
I guess every time I ask him to repeat what I said and it's about bath time, I need to make sure he's actually telling me the truth! ;)
I have been told all of the new things that Kaitlyn has been doing, but it is really fun to see it in action. I took the kids over to a friend's house, actually, it's a classmate of James, named Nate. We took our plasma cars and all of the kids at this house decided to ride theirs too. Take my kids, Nate and his brother Jake, then some neighbor boys riding plasma cars in the driveway, and now we have a party. ;)
They were all going so fast around and around it was so funny. It was especially fun to watch Kaitlyn ride on hers, since she was only sitting on hers when I left. She has gotten really good at pushing herself a long on it now. It's very cute.
She sure couldn't keep up with all those boys though. For some reason, all 6 of them were trying to ride their cars in the brick walkway to the house instead of the driveway. Total traffic jam! There were a few tears shed by Kaitlyn when the boys would ram into her as if to say, "Get out of my way little baby!" Awwww. She was overwhelmed a few times. Once I talked them all into staying in the driveway instead of the brick walkway, things drastically improved. ;)
Yesterday, also, James threw in some new sayings that I find particularly funny. The predictable one that he says is "oh pickles" from the TV show Higglytown Heros. It's so funny though, and it's worth noting. The other one that cracks me up is this: "That's the SPIRIT!" What? Where on Earth did he learn that? I think I'll probably have to chalk that one up to the Methodist School. Ha.
Last night Nathan and I were trying to teach James the cheer, "We've got spirit, yes we do, we've got spirit, how about you?" but it didnt' work. He just looked at us as if we were nuts- which happens more than I'd like it to happen. Ha ha.
After we wrapped up dinner, Nathan was having a talk with James about why he couldn't have a snack. He was squatted down to talk to James in the eye, told him something and then asked James, "Did you hear what I said?"
James replied with his finger held up in the air, "Um, could you tell me one more time?"
So Daddy told him again, and then asked again if he heard what he said.
James said, "10 more minutes then it's time for bath." Nooooo, let's try this again... the third time was the charm! Too funny.
I guess every time I ask him to repeat what I said and it's about bath time, I need to make sure he's actually telling me the truth! ;)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
It's over!
I am officially done with my conference! I haven't been the best at updating this because I've been absolutely zapped by the time I got back to the hotel. I have had the best experience, but it's not a vacation, that's for sure! I have been in class for the past week and I have learned so much about this industry that it almost makes my head spin. Marketing, business advice, branding, posing, lighting, computer skills, etc. I'm worn out!
It's difficult too, of course, because you want to buy everything that everyone has to offer so that, in the smallest way, it might make your life easier. I know I will be upgrading some software soon, but it's a matter of priority! Wow, things change so much so quickly!
I have been spending a lot of time with Katie, too, which has been so awesome. She's so much fun, so lively, so energetic, and so loving and caring. I really am not sure what I would've done without her here this week! I photographed her with Aiden this morning, and I know I got some cute stuff! It's really hard not to with such beautiful subjects.
Tonight I got to go out with Mike and Maureen to the restaurant where Connor is a bartender. I hadn't seen Connor yet since I've been here, so it was nice to get to see him. Fortunately, he wasn't working so we got to chat a bit about photography and what I'm doing here in Phoenix. I snapped a couple of photos tonight too, so I'm excited to get home and see all of the images that I have from this week.
I'm flat out exhausted. I'm very excited to be able to sleep in tomorrow and read my book in the morning. Maybe I'll even work out... NAH! ;)
It's difficult too, of course, because you want to buy everything that everyone has to offer so that, in the smallest way, it might make your life easier. I know I will be upgrading some software soon, but it's a matter of priority! Wow, things change so much so quickly!
I have been spending a lot of time with Katie, too, which has been so awesome. She's so much fun, so lively, so energetic, and so loving and caring. I really am not sure what I would've done without her here this week! I photographed her with Aiden this morning, and I know I got some cute stuff! It's really hard not to with such beautiful subjects.
Tonight I got to go out with Mike and Maureen to the restaurant where Connor is a bartender. I hadn't seen Connor yet since I've been here, so it was nice to get to see him. Fortunately, he wasn't working so we got to chat a bit about photography and what I'm doing here in Phoenix. I snapped a couple of photos tonight too, so I'm excited to get home and see all of the images that I have from this week.
I'm flat out exhausted. I'm very excited to be able to sleep in tomorrow and read my book in the morning. Maybe I'll even work out... NAH! ;)
Sunday, January 11, 2009
The ants go marching one by one, hoorah, hoorah!
Today was absolutely amazing. I've learned so much by attending these classes it's ridiculously awesome. Ana and I made it to all of the classes that we wanted to attend today, and without going into more detail, we had a blast.
I'm really tired today so I'm going to make this brief. We arrived at the convention center at 6:45 this morning, stood in line for coffee that was not yet finished brewing and then headed up to our first classes. We moved from class to class (three total before lunch), then had a nice 5 hour break to get lunch and visit the trade show. Every time classes were over, so many people were everywhere, being directed everywhere, following in lines, waiting in lines, the ants were marching one by one, hoorah, hoorah... the song. It was hilarious. I felt like a cow being herded at times too... having a belly full of coffee and chocolate chip cookies at 7 AM doens't help that feeling go away any faster. Ha.
We took our last class this evening at 5 and then headed to the "celebration dinner" which was pretty LAME. :) We stayed for a beer, ate mediocre tacos and stale taquitos. Not enough fun to keep me wanting to stay... bed sounded MUCH better.
Fun times!
Lots more tomorrow....
I'm really tired today so I'm going to make this brief. We arrived at the convention center at 6:45 this morning, stood in line for coffee that was not yet finished brewing and then headed up to our first classes. We moved from class to class (three total before lunch), then had a nice 5 hour break to get lunch and visit the trade show. Every time classes were over, so many people were everywhere, being directed everywhere, following in lines, waiting in lines, the ants were marching one by one, hoorah, hoorah... the song. It was hilarious. I felt like a cow being herded at times too... having a belly full of coffee and chocolate chip cookies at 7 AM doens't help that feeling go away any faster. Ha.
We took our last class this evening at 5 and then headed to the "celebration dinner" which was pretty LAME. :) We stayed for a beer, ate mediocre tacos and stale taquitos. Not enough fun to keep me wanting to stay... bed sounded MUCH better.
Fun times!
Lots more tomorrow....
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Saturday, January 10
Today is Rich's birthday: Happy Birthday Rich!
Last night Ana and I were joined by Ana's old roommate from Staten Island, Andrew. Andrew just recently moved to Phoenix, and really enjoys it here. We all went to dinner on Mill Ave. in Tempe to a restaurant called Z' Tejas, which I recognized from eating there in Austin, TX with Courtney long ago. The food was good, the margaritas were better. :) After that we went to a yuppie student pool bar and had some pretty good laughs at the ASU students. We were there for about a half an hour, and then had to leave before we lost IQ points.
This morning Ana and I got to sleep in a bit, waking up around 8:30. We had breakfast and then were picked up by Joe and Katie. We dropped Joe off at the country club to hit balls with JP and then Katie took us over to Mike and Maureen's house in Scottsdale. Mike was just leaving when we pulled up to the house, which really was a bummer to me since one of my goals of this trip was to photograph Mike and Maureen together in an artsy outdoor lifestyle scene. Oh well, maybe next time.
I did, however, get to photograph Aiden, who was a rockstar model debuting at the age of 7 weeks. This kid has talent I tell you! ;) I had a great time setting up a little area to shoot in the guest room, consisting of a draped white sheet and gold chenille blanket next to a large sliding door facing the back yard. Ahhh, natural light. My favorite.
I got some cute pictures of Aiden while he was awake, but my favorite shot of are him sleeping. Katie took the time to get him to fall asleep in front of the backdrop for me, and these shots are great!
A little while later Aided decided that he wanted to get some more camera time. He invited his Grandma Maureen to hold him and feed him for a while and to cuddle with him for a photo session. He sure loves his Grandma! I think the feeling MIGHT be mutual. Ha ha. Maureen is in love with this baby, and I know why!
So as for the photo sessions go, even though I didn't get to photograph Mike and Maureen together, I did get the pleasure of creating memories for the Casey Family. I have no way of getting these photos onto my computer to share with you yet, so you'll just have to wait.
After wrapping up the photo shoot, Katie and Joe drove us back to Phoenix. Once again we dropped off Joe, but this time to get his hair cut. Katie took us to the Dessert Botanical Gardens which we were told is a MUST SEE location of the Phoenix area. Aiden kept us entertained with what Katie calls his "3 stages of crying" the whole way to the gardens. Poor baby, he just wanted out of that car seat. Been there.
Ana and I had a great time at the Botanical Garden, seeing beautiful displays of cacti, trees, and blown glass exhibits. Uploading those will be another one of my "to do" items when I get home.
Ana and I took a cab back to the hotel, had a few glasses of wine in the concierge lounge, talked photography, went down for a bite to eat in the restaurant, and now we're heading to bed. Our classes start at 7 AM tomorrow, which means we need to leave the hotel no later than 6:15. Giddy up.
Good night!
Last night Ana and I were joined by Ana's old roommate from Staten Island, Andrew. Andrew just recently moved to Phoenix, and really enjoys it here. We all went to dinner on Mill Ave. in Tempe to a restaurant called Z' Tejas, which I recognized from eating there in Austin, TX with Courtney long ago. The food was good, the margaritas were better. :) After that we went to a yuppie student pool bar and had some pretty good laughs at the ASU students. We were there for about a half an hour, and then had to leave before we lost IQ points.
This morning Ana and I got to sleep in a bit, waking up around 8:30. We had breakfast and then were picked up by Joe and Katie. We dropped Joe off at the country club to hit balls with JP and then Katie took us over to Mike and Maureen's house in Scottsdale. Mike was just leaving when we pulled up to the house, which really was a bummer to me since one of my goals of this trip was to photograph Mike and Maureen together in an artsy outdoor lifestyle scene. Oh well, maybe next time.
I did, however, get to photograph Aiden, who was a rockstar model debuting at the age of 7 weeks. This kid has talent I tell you! ;) I had a great time setting up a little area to shoot in the guest room, consisting of a draped white sheet and gold chenille blanket next to a large sliding door facing the back yard. Ahhh, natural light. My favorite.
I got some cute pictures of Aiden while he was awake, but my favorite shot of are him sleeping. Katie took the time to get him to fall asleep in front of the backdrop for me, and these shots are great!
A little while later Aided decided that he wanted to get some more camera time. He invited his Grandma Maureen to hold him and feed him for a while and to cuddle with him for a photo session. He sure loves his Grandma! I think the feeling MIGHT be mutual. Ha ha. Maureen is in love with this baby, and I know why!
So as for the photo sessions go, even though I didn't get to photograph Mike and Maureen together, I did get the pleasure of creating memories for the Casey Family. I have no way of getting these photos onto my computer to share with you yet, so you'll just have to wait.
After wrapping up the photo shoot, Katie and Joe drove us back to Phoenix. Once again we dropped off Joe, but this time to get his hair cut. Katie took us to the Dessert Botanical Gardens which we were told is a MUST SEE location of the Phoenix area. Aiden kept us entertained with what Katie calls his "3 stages of crying" the whole way to the gardens. Poor baby, he just wanted out of that car seat. Been there.
Ana and I had a great time at the Botanical Garden, seeing beautiful displays of cacti, trees, and blown glass exhibits. Uploading those will be another one of my "to do" items when I get home.
Ana and I took a cab back to the hotel, had a few glasses of wine in the concierge lounge, talked photography, went down for a bite to eat in the restaurant, and now we're heading to bed. Our classes start at 7 AM tomorrow, which means we need to leave the hotel no later than 6:15. Giddy up.
Good night!
Friday, January 9, 2009
Friday: Business Day 2
Ana arrived last night into Phoenix, and since she didn't have any checked luggage, she got to the hotel rather quickly (despite the laziness of the shuttle driver and his slowness in picking her up). We chatted on the phone while she waited for the shuttle, and then when she got to the hotel we chatted up a storm as usual. The hardest part was knowing that we had to go to bed (since it was midnight in AZ, but really 2 AM to us), and trying to be quiet. :) We just had too much to catch up on.
I've been back at the Sheraton today again for the second part of the business class. It's rather boring today... ugh. Yesterday we had fun discussing all sorts of things since Carol was there, but since she can't be here today, Ann is going over numbers with us. She is great- she has trouble with numbers herself, so everything she has calculated is laid out for us nicely in a Power Point presentation.
Numbers are booooring though, no matter how you present it.
Right now I'm having lunch at Mi Amigo's Mexican Grill by myself. I don't really feel very social at the moment... have a headache and really would like to have a margarita... but I feel that it wouldn't be a very appropriate lunch beverage. Ha.
-------------
It's now evening and I just made it back to the hotel. I REALLY am having a hard time figuring out this city for some reason and the Light Rail is no help. Of course, on my first try I was at the wrong platform for the wrong bus. From now on I should just go to the other one that my instinct tells me to go to. :) I recognized a guy from the class that I was in today and knew he was a local, so I asked him which train was the one I was supposed to ride. He pointed me in teh right direction, to the other platform. Thankfully.
As I was sitting there waiting for the train, a lady was standing near me waiting as well. She looked nice and normal so I finally asked her how on Earth you're supposed to tell which train goes which direction. The Light Rail train tracks are NOT labeled with East/West, North/South directions. Instead they only have labels on them as to the future stops. So if you're not from Phoenix and don't know which way Tempe is or the airport is, it's a little bit tricky to navigate. The light rail is brand new, and I think they may need to re-assess this labeling bit they have going on. Ha. I'm going to send them a letter! Right.
So as this lady was explaining everything to me about how the South Mountains look like one big flat mountain, and to the North is Camelback, this way is California and that way is Tempe... things finally started to make some more sense. When things got quiet, I asked her if she was from California then (since she said it was "that way"), and she replied, "No, I'm from the mid-west." Of course I couldn't keep my mouth shut and asked where, and she told me Council Bluffs. What a small world. So for the rest of our wait and the rest of the ride, we talked about the midwest, the frigid weather, a bit about Omaha and other sorts of things. It was very nice to talk to her and made me feel more at ease about being on the train by myself.
Ana went to Sadona today and took my camera with her. I can't wait to see her photos. In the meantime, there is a cocktail with my name on it waiting for me in the consierge lounge... and yes, I'm a bit down that I'm not at Del Frisco's for Rich's birthday party. :( I'm hoping that Nathan talks my dad into ordering Heartland Stickleback that we liked so much. Just for fun... http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1036161
I've been back at the Sheraton today again for the second part of the business class. It's rather boring today... ugh. Yesterday we had fun discussing all sorts of things since Carol was there, but since she can't be here today, Ann is going over numbers with us. She is great- she has trouble with numbers herself, so everything she has calculated is laid out for us nicely in a Power Point presentation.
Numbers are booooring though, no matter how you present it.
Right now I'm having lunch at Mi Amigo's Mexican Grill by myself. I don't really feel very social at the moment... have a headache and really would like to have a margarita... but I feel that it wouldn't be a very appropriate lunch beverage. Ha.
-------------
It's now evening and I just made it back to the hotel. I REALLY am having a hard time figuring out this city for some reason and the Light Rail is no help. Of course, on my first try I was at the wrong platform for the wrong bus. From now on I should just go to the other one that my instinct tells me to go to. :) I recognized a guy from the class that I was in today and knew he was a local, so I asked him which train was the one I was supposed to ride. He pointed me in teh right direction, to the other platform. Thankfully.
As I was sitting there waiting for the train, a lady was standing near me waiting as well. She looked nice and normal so I finally asked her how on Earth you're supposed to tell which train goes which direction. The Light Rail train tracks are NOT labeled with East/West, North/South directions. Instead they only have labels on them as to the future stops. So if you're not from Phoenix and don't know which way Tempe is or the airport is, it's a little bit tricky to navigate. The light rail is brand new, and I think they may need to re-assess this labeling bit they have going on. Ha. I'm going to send them a letter! Right.
So as this lady was explaining everything to me about how the South Mountains look like one big flat mountain, and to the North is Camelback, this way is California and that way is Tempe... things finally started to make some more sense. When things got quiet, I asked her if she was from California then (since she said it was "that way"), and she replied, "No, I'm from the mid-west." Of course I couldn't keep my mouth shut and asked where, and she told me Council Bluffs. What a small world. So for the rest of our wait and the rest of the ride, we talked about the midwest, the frigid weather, a bit about Omaha and other sorts of things. It was very nice to talk to her and made me feel more at ease about being on the train by myself.
Ana went to Sadona today and took my camera with her. I can't wait to see her photos. In the meantime, there is a cocktail with my name on it waiting for me in the consierge lounge... and yes, I'm a bit down that I'm not at Del Frisco's for Rich's birthday party. :( I'm hoping that Nathan talks my dad into ordering Heartland Stickleback that we liked so much. Just for fun... http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1036161
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Thursday: Business Class day 1
My alarm woke me up this morning at 6 o'clock AM so I could work out. I immediately changed my alarm to 7 AM and slept solid for another beautiful, uninterrupted hour of sleep. :)
Yesterday, after checking in to the hotel and snoozing for a bit, I talked to Katie Casey. She and Aiden came and picked me up at the hotel and hit it off, talking continuously and laughing at each other's labor and delivery stories, and just having a good time getting to know each other. She brought me back to their apartment and we relaxed and chatted until Mike and Maureen came over to visit. It was so good to see them! I haven't seen them since my wedding, I think, so it's been a while. I had been informed about Maureen's cancer recurrence by my family, and got a little bit more information about it from Kaite while at their apartment. She is an incredible woman, that Maureen, still chugging along on the positive track towards recovery. Her spirit is amazing, she is strong, determined and "has things to do here". God bless Maureen Casey, she is a true believer and an inspiration to all of us.
We (Katie, Joe, Maureen, Mike and I) went to dinner at, Cibo, an old house turned pizzeria. They serve what I like to call "traditional Italian" pizza (laugh, Nathan, I know), with toppings like arugula and prociutto, whole leaf basil, and all kinds of fun things. We had a wonderful dinner, shared wine, salad, pizza and good conversation. I got a lot of suggestions of things to do around Phoenix, areas to avoid (apparently my hotel is really close to the prostitute row-ha), restaurants to try and events to see. Mike and Maureen treated us to dinner, thanks!
I got a full, wonderful, uninterrupted, quiet, 8 hours of sleep. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. I got up, had some breakfast in the special "consierge lounge" that I get to use since I'm a priority member (I am?). Comparing that to the $20.00 buffet in the lobby is a pretty good deal!
After I was ready to go, I put on my leather jacket, new scarf from Doug and Mary, and headed out for my first day of class: Business of Photogrpahy, Part 1. First I had to take the brand new Light Rail that just started about a month ago here in Phoenix. I'm glad I asked a native which way to go, because I would've gone the wrong way! :)
I got on the Light Rail and had to consult the map that came with all of my PPA papers and do my own navigation to get to the Sheraton downtown. I don't know what people did without iPhones... I love that thing! It saved me three times today from going the wrong way. I never thought I was directionally challenged, but I guess I am.
I got registered and headed to "class" and walked in with a few people about a minute late, just into the introduction to the two speakers for the day: Ann Montieth and Carol Andrews. Let me just say that these two women are not duds like I expected... and they are FUNNY, and spirited and just pain entertaining. THANK THE WONDERFUL LORD. This class is two days long, 9 to 5. I'm soooo happy that these women are the teachers, they turned boring topics into a day of entertaining education. I was exactly what I had hoped! I was in a room with 100 other people who speak my language... and I loved it! I hadn't been in that position since Brooks and I graduated from there in 2003!
At lunch break, I wandered to the closest plaza where there were restaurants (basically following the herd of people from the convention), and saw what I knew would be my lunch destiny: My Big Fat Greek Restaurant. Ha. I saw two women who were sitting in the row ahead of me in class seated outside of the restaurant, so I causally asked them if I could join them, and of course they were more than kind to let me sit with them. Angela and Kaylin were very fun to have lunch with and we had great conversations about lots of things such as Greece, photography (duh), and Celiac disease. Angela has Celiac disease, which means she is allergic to wheat gluten. The reason I know this is because the doctor that did my endoscopy casually mentioned to my father after my procedure last January, that he didn't see any cilia in my esophagus. Translation: I googled this when I got home and for one week, I was convinced I had this disease. I was depressed out of my mind... no cookies, no brownies, no pasta, no bread... ever again. Turns out I was completely fine, but thanks to this doctors casual mention to Dad, I was a mess for a week.
Angela told me all about her issues with the food allergy and how she lives her life around it. She has been gluten free for 3 years! She tells me that a lot of grocery stores carry gluten-free products and there are specialty stores that she frequents. Amazing.
We really hit it off and had a great lunch, talking non-stop about our common issues and photographic challenges. She also has a scientific degree in Neurobiology, so we have yet another thing in common, the science of our degrees.
Anyway, the rest of the class carried on until about 5:15. I had an absolute blast today in this seminar and I'm very excited about tomorrow.
After my class was over, I walked to Katie and Joe's apartment (only about 4 long blocks away) and got to meet their friends Amy and Jeff. We had so much fun laughing, drinking beer and wine and having dinner. The four of them are absolutely hilarious and I had an awesome time. I even got about 5 CDs of free music from them! ;)
Ana is due to arrive in Phoenix tonight at 11. She isn't taking the class that I'm involved in tomorrow since it's part 2, so she's going to rent a car and drive to Sedona. I think that's her plan anyway. :) Of course I'm very excited to see her and share my experience of this class with her.
I got to talk to Kaitlyn tonight on the phone while she was getting her diaper changed by Grandma. She is so cute, I want to squeeze her. She said, "Hi Mama! I luh you... stories... bye bye." Sniff sniff... wipe tear. I miss my babies. I kinda miss Nathan too. ;)
Yesterday, after checking in to the hotel and snoozing for a bit, I talked to Katie Casey. She and Aiden came and picked me up at the hotel and hit it off, talking continuously and laughing at each other's labor and delivery stories, and just having a good time getting to know each other. She brought me back to their apartment and we relaxed and chatted until Mike and Maureen came over to visit. It was so good to see them! I haven't seen them since my wedding, I think, so it's been a while. I had been informed about Maureen's cancer recurrence by my family, and got a little bit more information about it from Kaite while at their apartment. She is an incredible woman, that Maureen, still chugging along on the positive track towards recovery. Her spirit is amazing, she is strong, determined and "has things to do here". God bless Maureen Casey, she is a true believer and an inspiration to all of us.
We (Katie, Joe, Maureen, Mike and I) went to dinner at, Cibo, an old house turned pizzeria. They serve what I like to call "traditional Italian" pizza (laugh, Nathan, I know), with toppings like arugula and prociutto, whole leaf basil, and all kinds of fun things. We had a wonderful dinner, shared wine, salad, pizza and good conversation. I got a lot of suggestions of things to do around Phoenix, areas to avoid (apparently my hotel is really close to the prostitute row-ha), restaurants to try and events to see. Mike and Maureen treated us to dinner, thanks!
I got a full, wonderful, uninterrupted, quiet, 8 hours of sleep. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. I got up, had some breakfast in the special "consierge lounge" that I get to use since I'm a priority member (I am?). Comparing that to the $20.00 buffet in the lobby is a pretty good deal!
After I was ready to go, I put on my leather jacket, new scarf from Doug and Mary, and headed out for my first day of class: Business of Photogrpahy, Part 1. First I had to take the brand new Light Rail that just started about a month ago here in Phoenix. I'm glad I asked a native which way to go, because I would've gone the wrong way! :)
I got on the Light Rail and had to consult the map that came with all of my PPA papers and do my own navigation to get to the Sheraton downtown. I don't know what people did without iPhones... I love that thing! It saved me three times today from going the wrong way. I never thought I was directionally challenged, but I guess I am.
I got registered and headed to "class" and walked in with a few people about a minute late, just into the introduction to the two speakers for the day: Ann Montieth and Carol Andrews. Let me just say that these two women are not duds like I expected... and they are FUNNY, and spirited and just pain entertaining. THANK THE WONDERFUL LORD. This class is two days long, 9 to 5. I'm soooo happy that these women are the teachers, they turned boring topics into a day of entertaining education. I was exactly what I had hoped! I was in a room with 100 other people who speak my language... and I loved it! I hadn't been in that position since Brooks and I graduated from there in 2003!
At lunch break, I wandered to the closest plaza where there were restaurants (basically following the herd of people from the convention), and saw what I knew would be my lunch destiny: My Big Fat Greek Restaurant. Ha. I saw two women who were sitting in the row ahead of me in class seated outside of the restaurant, so I causally asked them if I could join them, and of course they were more than kind to let me sit with them. Angela and Kaylin were very fun to have lunch with and we had great conversations about lots of things such as Greece, photography (duh), and Celiac disease. Angela has Celiac disease, which means she is allergic to wheat gluten. The reason I know this is because the doctor that did my endoscopy casually mentioned to my father after my procedure last January, that he didn't see any cilia in my esophagus. Translation: I googled this when I got home and for one week, I was convinced I had this disease. I was depressed out of my mind... no cookies, no brownies, no pasta, no bread... ever again. Turns out I was completely fine, but thanks to this doctors casual mention to Dad, I was a mess for a week.
Angela told me all about her issues with the food allergy and how she lives her life around it. She has been gluten free for 3 years! She tells me that a lot of grocery stores carry gluten-free products and there are specialty stores that she frequents. Amazing.
We really hit it off and had a great lunch, talking non-stop about our common issues and photographic challenges. She also has a scientific degree in Neurobiology, so we have yet another thing in common, the science of our degrees.
Anyway, the rest of the class carried on until about 5:15. I had an absolute blast today in this seminar and I'm very excited about tomorrow.
After my class was over, I walked to Katie and Joe's apartment (only about 4 long blocks away) and got to meet their friends Amy and Jeff. We had so much fun laughing, drinking beer and wine and having dinner. The four of them are absolutely hilarious and I had an awesome time. I even got about 5 CDs of free music from them! ;)
Ana is due to arrive in Phoenix tonight at 11. She isn't taking the class that I'm involved in tomorrow since it's part 2, so she's going to rent a car and drive to Sedona. I think that's her plan anyway. :) Of course I'm very excited to see her and share my experience of this class with her.
I got to talk to Kaitlyn tonight on the phone while she was getting her diaper changed by Grandma. She is so cute, I want to squeeze her. She said, "Hi Mama! I luh you... stories... bye bye." Sniff sniff... wipe tear. I miss my babies. I kinda miss Nathan too. ;)
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Orlando to Atlanta to Phoenix
Right now I'm on the flight to Phoenix from Atlanta. My layover consisted of walking off one plane, standing in line for a Quiznos sub, and walking on to my next plane. I can't complain about that.
I can complain about one thing... WEIGHT LIMITS on baggage. Sigh. I'm usually very good about packing for a trip with maybe a little extra to wear, but not this time. I loaded that thing up. I'm not sure what to expect at this conference, not sure what people will be wearing, so I packed a little bit of everything. Well, imagine me, standing at the curbside check-in at MCO at 6 AM with my suitcase open and me, digging into that suitcase trying to find the most bulky items to maybe try to put in my carry-on. I immediately go to my toiletries case and the skycap says, "Remember not to bring any liquids." Oh geez. I forgot about that too. I took out my sweatshirt, a brush, some power cords, etc. I did pack some of my smaller makeup items that were less than 3 oz. into my carry on, took out the purse I had stowed in there (empty) and filled it up. I figured I'd just have to hide one of my 3 personal items that I would carry on to the plane. I zipped it up... devastated that I'd probably have to pay the $39.00 overweight baggage fee when he went to re-weigh my bag. His back to me, he put the case on the scale, and turned his head to me and gave me the half smile/half grimace nod. Good things. I gave him a nice tip, since I'm pretty sure he was giving me about a 3 lb. cushion. ;)
I got out of the house this morning without any tears. How? The taxi was RIGHT on time, of course, and I didn't even get to go upstairs and snuggle the kids. Nathan and I had gone upstairs earlier in the night to check on them together, so I figured that that would have to suffice. I gave Nathan a nice big hug and then flew out of the house in a tornado-like fashion.
Everything but the bag weight has gone without a hitch... so... knock on wood, it should be a good day!
I can complain about one thing... WEIGHT LIMITS on baggage. Sigh. I'm usually very good about packing for a trip with maybe a little extra to wear, but not this time. I loaded that thing up. I'm not sure what to expect at this conference, not sure what people will be wearing, so I packed a little bit of everything. Well, imagine me, standing at the curbside check-in at MCO at 6 AM with my suitcase open and me, digging into that suitcase trying to find the most bulky items to maybe try to put in my carry-on. I immediately go to my toiletries case and the skycap says, "Remember not to bring any liquids." Oh geez. I forgot about that too. I took out my sweatshirt, a brush, some power cords, etc. I did pack some of my smaller makeup items that were less than 3 oz. into my carry on, took out the purse I had stowed in there (empty) and filled it up. I figured I'd just have to hide one of my 3 personal items that I would carry on to the plane. I zipped it up... devastated that I'd probably have to pay the $39.00 overweight baggage fee when he went to re-weigh my bag. His back to me, he put the case on the scale, and turned his head to me and gave me the half smile/half grimace nod. Good things. I gave him a nice tip, since I'm pretty sure he was giving me about a 3 lb. cushion. ;)
I got out of the house this morning without any tears. How? The taxi was RIGHT on time, of course, and I didn't even get to go upstairs and snuggle the kids. Nathan and I had gone upstairs earlier in the night to check on them together, so I figured that that would have to suffice. I gave Nathan a nice big hug and then flew out of the house in a tornado-like fashion.
Everything but the bag weight has gone without a hitch... so... knock on wood, it should be a good day!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Mother Goose is fleeing the nest... but only for a week.
So I'm leaving tomorrow for my first real business trip... ever... and first real trip alone, away from both kids and my husband, ever. Professional Photographers of America is holding a conference in Phoenix, AZ this year, and I'M GOING! I am thoroughly excited, especially since Ana is meeting me there and I get so see some Casey relatives.
I can't wait to submerse myself in photography and business stuff for a week and not have to think about when the kids need to have their naps, baths or meals. For the first time in a while I'll be able to put myself first, not the kids, not my husband , ME. It'll be a reality check for me, to which I already know how I'll react... I'll miss my family terribly, and get a glimpse of what my life might have been like had we waited to have kids. In no way do I expect to leave tomorrow without tears in my eyes and a tugging feeling in my heart... but at least the kids will still be sleeping when I leave so they won't have to see Mommy go. Ugh, I'm already getting choked up.
I do plan to blog about my days at the conference while I'm gone. I got a fancy new laptop from my parents as a Christmas gift, so this baby is going with me everywhere. How fun. If you aren't interested in reading about my conference stories, tune in after January 14th. :)
I can't wait to submerse myself in photography and business stuff for a week and not have to think about when the kids need to have their naps, baths or meals. For the first time in a while I'll be able to put myself first, not the kids, not my husband , ME. It'll be a reality check for me, to which I already know how I'll react... I'll miss my family terribly, and get a glimpse of what my life might have been like had we waited to have kids. In no way do I expect to leave tomorrow without tears in my eyes and a tugging feeling in my heart... but at least the kids will still be sleeping when I leave so they won't have to see Mommy go. Ugh, I'm already getting choked up.
I do plan to blog about my days at the conference while I'm gone. I got a fancy new laptop from my parents as a Christmas gift, so this baby is going with me everywhere. How fun. If you aren't interested in reading about my conference stories, tune in after January 14th. :)
Monday, January 5, 2009
Good 'ol "Barn"
We were in the van today driving from the computer doctor to the dry cleaners and James says, "Mom, when the vacuum cleaner is done with your clothes, can we go home and watch Pooh?" I told him it was the DRY cleaners, not the vacuum cleaner. :)
He also has been experimenting with nick names lately. He's been calling Grandma "Gram" and Papa "Pops". He told me today that (also while in the car), "Sometimes I like to call Barney 'Barn'."
"Oh really?" I asked.
"Yeah, Barn." he replied.
The only thing Kaitlyn heard out of this whole conversation was the word BARNEY. Therefore, she excitedly pointed straight up to the DVD player in the car and screamed, "BARNEY! Open it! DO IT!" Ooooh, she was a bit disappointed when I told her we weren't going to watch Barney. Ha ha ha.
He also has been experimenting with nick names lately. He's been calling Grandma "Gram" and Papa "Pops". He told me today that (also while in the car), "Sometimes I like to call Barney 'Barn'."
"Oh really?" I asked.
"Yeah, Barn." he replied.
The only thing Kaitlyn heard out of this whole conversation was the word BARNEY. Therefore, she excitedly pointed straight up to the DVD player in the car and screamed, "BARNEY! Open it! DO IT!" Ooooh, she was a bit disappointed when I told her we weren't going to watch Barney. Ha ha ha.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Motor mouth and fit thrower
Kaitlyn is talking non-stop now. She's got a great memory too. Today she saw Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer on the counter top (put there because it's "nose is dimming" according to James or it's batteries are low) and said, "Rudolf!". She also loves her new light-up turtle that I got for her for Christmas. It's a night light basically, but it projects stars all over the ceiling in her dark room. She loves to say, "LIGHT!" or "green" or "blue" when she wants a certain color to shine.
She's also pretty good at knowing the names of the shows that the kids watch sometimes. Today there was a commercial on the TV when I first turned it on. She said, "BABBA GABBA!" for "Yo Gabba Gabba" on of the kids' most favorite shows (absolutely OBNOXIOUS!).
Kaitlyn went through a tantrum phase about 3 months ago (if I'm remembering correctly) and it went away. I wasn't paying a single bit of attention to her while she laid face-down on the ground and screamed for what she wanted. This time, it's more of an actual two-year-old tantrum where she'll scream, cry, walk away, look at me, and then take a toy and either a. throw it or b. slam it on the ground. I've been taught on SuperNanny (yes, I love that show) to just totally ignore her when she does this, don't even look at her, and when she doesn't get ANY attention (not even negative attention), the behavior will go away. We'll see.
The thing that set her off today was when I took away a Curious George book when we were getting ready to go downstairs. Such a tragedy to leave the book upstairs!!! She carried on for 5 minutes! Silly girl.
She's also pretty good at knowing the names of the shows that the kids watch sometimes. Today there was a commercial on the TV when I first turned it on. She said, "BABBA GABBA!" for "Yo Gabba Gabba" on of the kids' most favorite shows (absolutely OBNOXIOUS!).
Kaitlyn went through a tantrum phase about 3 months ago (if I'm remembering correctly) and it went away. I wasn't paying a single bit of attention to her while she laid face-down on the ground and screamed for what she wanted. This time, it's more of an actual two-year-old tantrum where she'll scream, cry, walk away, look at me, and then take a toy and either a. throw it or b. slam it on the ground. I've been taught on SuperNanny (yes, I love that show) to just totally ignore her when she does this, don't even look at her, and when she doesn't get ANY attention (not even negative attention), the behavior will go away. We'll see.
The thing that set her off today was when I took away a Curious George book when we were getting ready to go downstairs. Such a tragedy to leave the book upstairs!!! She carried on for 5 minutes! Silly girl.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
I'm goin' to BED!
When James gets hurt or does something to get in trouble and needs time by himself, he declares, "I'm goin' to BED!" and marches to the nearest bedroom. It's too funny.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year!
Last night we rang in 2009 with Trippi and Toby. They came over from Lakeland and spent the night. We had an awesome dinner at The Ravenous Pig (www.theravenouspig.com), played some darts at Spatz, then came home and continued to p-a-r-t-y until 3 AM. Trippi cried, of course, because she's a sap, when it turned midnight. We laughed at her. :) She says, "You know I'm a sap! My blog is all sappy!" ;)
Ravenous Pig was amazing, as always. It was a fixed four course menu, but you got to pick between two options for each course. For a starter, I had a Warm Goat Cheese Salad with beets, grapefruit, pistachios and whatever else. Amazing. The second course was "torched" prawns in an amazing white gravy with fried bread (mini fried croutons). My third course was Prime Filet, served medium rare, with a crazy good white/cream sauce. For dessert, I picked the warm chocolate (of course) banana filled cake. It was unbelievable, and served with homemade ice cream, probably vanilla, but I can't remember.
I've been telling Trippi that we need to go to James' restaruant (he's a high school classmate of ours) when she comes to town. We splurged last night, but Trippi insists that it's the best food she's ever had. That's a dang big compliment! We asked to see James, and after being told by our server that he was too busy, he suprised us with a "hello and nice to see you" chat for a minute or two. Trippi now insists that we go there every time she comes to town. :)
My parents babysat for us last night, and it was very nice of them considering Mom is sick with the same cold that I'm trying to kick. Dad thinks he's coming down with the cold now too, so that's a double whammy. The kids stayed here, and were awesome, staying asleep and not waking us up by throwing up or anything. They also gave me a bit of a present this morning, they slept in until 9. GOOD KIDS. Considering we didn't get to sleep until 3, I was thankful for the extra zzzzs.
We've had a pretty lazy day. I've been home all day with the kids, and Nathan drove to Tampa to see a friend of his. It's going to be a quiet night also, I'm not even sure I'll make it to see 9 PM!
Kona chews a New Year's treat.
Ravenous Pig was amazing, as always. It was a fixed four course menu, but you got to pick between two options for each course. For a starter, I had a Warm Goat Cheese Salad with beets, grapefruit, pistachios and whatever else. Amazing. The second course was "torched" prawns in an amazing white gravy with fried bread (mini fried croutons). My third course was Prime Filet, served medium rare, with a crazy good white/cream sauce. For dessert, I picked the warm chocolate (of course) banana filled cake. It was unbelievable, and served with homemade ice cream, probably vanilla, but I can't remember.
I've been telling Trippi that we need to go to James' restaruant (he's a high school classmate of ours) when she comes to town. We splurged last night, but Trippi insists that it's the best food she's ever had. That's a dang big compliment! We asked to see James, and after being told by our server that he was too busy, he suprised us with a "hello and nice to see you" chat for a minute or two. Trippi now insists that we go there every time she comes to town. :)
My parents babysat for us last night, and it was very nice of them considering Mom is sick with the same cold that I'm trying to kick. Dad thinks he's coming down with the cold now too, so that's a double whammy. The kids stayed here, and were awesome, staying asleep and not waking us up by throwing up or anything. They also gave me a bit of a present this morning, they slept in until 9. GOOD KIDS. Considering we didn't get to sleep until 3, I was thankful for the extra zzzzs.
We've had a pretty lazy day. I've been home all day with the kids, and Nathan drove to Tampa to see a friend of his. It's going to be a quiet night also, I'm not even sure I'll make it to see 9 PM!
Kona chews a New Year's treat.
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