Sunshine in the Storm

Last Friday Jaime and I had the welcome surprise of the fabulous YaYa making an appearance in Asheville on her way up to see Uncle Craig for the weekend. It is always such a treat to hang with Lil and show her a day in the life of her grandbabies. We went to Tiny Tykes and ChicFilA as part of our weekly Friday ritual and she was nice enough to keep the kids while I ran a 10K course in North Asheville that afternoon. The run was one of my coldest ever. My lips were almost bleeding from the wind but more importantly the sun was shining. I LOVE sunshine, even in the cold. I came home feeling very cold and a little strange but gave it up to the weather and the fact I ran all the way to the tippity top of Cherokee without stopping (Which I can do now, after a year of trying. Can I get a Whoot Whoot?). Anyway, since Yaya was in town Jaime and I had the option of going out on a Friday night without paying a hundred dollars for a sitter. Oddly enough though, I didn't feel like it at all. Still, I got dressed and went. Who knew when the opportunity would present itself again. So we went downtown and eventually ended up at our neighbors house watching a movie. A drank a few beers but was still home by eleven o-clock and asleep before mid-night. Enter, 3:30am. I opened my eyes, the room was spinning and I had goose bumps. First thought; Why am I so hungover? What is going on? I stood up and literally projectile vomited everywhere. I mean, everywhere. From then on and for the next 12 hours, I didn't stop throwing up. It was the sickest I think I have ever been. Around 3:30 the next day I eventually stopped puking but I couldn't move. My body ached to unfathomable proportions. I have no idea what I would have done if it hadn't been Saturday and if I would have had to watch the boys through all that. It was insane. Jaime was on fire as Florence Nightingale and totally took care of me and the kids. Sunday morning I was starting to come out of the funk but still needed a little more rest... So he took the kids to gymnastics.

11:15am- Phone rings. Josiah fell on the trampoline. Can't stand up, in pain, going to the hospital. What? Will they even let my sick ass in the hospital? I am like a walking vaccine. Regardless, I jumped up with more adrenaline and speed than I had in over 24 hours and raced to Mission. My poor little boy had broken his right tibia. It is the hardest thing ever to see your children in pain, especially Josiah. He isn't just a regular whimpy kid. He may be the toughest, fastest, most awesome kid of all time. He can't have a broken leg! But he did and we would have to figure out what the heck we were gonna do with him for the next 3 weeks. Here he is at the orthopedist, with his new green cast, and living out all of his fantasies of watching movies all day long.

Anyway, we have been overwhelmed by all of the love and support that we have received from friends, family, Josiah's preschool and the ladies at the YMCA. From daily visits, to care packages and lots of special treatment, I think even little Oliver has started looking for ways to break his leg too. Thank heavens that the fracture will heal so fast (well, 18 days is kind of an eternity to a mom with a 1 year old and the inability to sit down, but you know what I mean) and that Josiah still has the ability to win the Boston Marathon one day. Thank you so much to everyone who has helped us smile over the course of a really crappy weekend followed by a lovely week.

Shredding Powder Dude

This past weekend marked our seventh MLK day in the mountains and the seventh year in a row that my mom has come to visit. It is just the sunny burst of joy we need in the coldest, grayest month of the year and I look forward to it every time. It used to be a solo trip for Mama and we would go do girl stuff like shopping and pedicures but ever since birthing out their grandbabies it has been impossible to leave my dad at home so he has been tagging along for the last couple of years too. Which is great, but he has a schedule that we all need to work around and it usually means no pedicures.

So this year, a couple of days before their visit and a week into snowpocalypse 2011, I got an email from my Mom saying that she wanted to give Jaime and I the day off. She would keep the boys and treat us to a day of snowboarding on Sunday. Seriously? Like the whole day? I was so happy I could cry. She could have said she was keeping the kids and sending us to the library for the day and I would have still been ecstatic... but snowbording? How Fun!

They arrived on Saturday and we all had a nice dinner at Doc Chey's where I mentioned something about the following day and my Dad says, "What? Where are you going?" and my mom kinda nods and is like, "Their going snowboarding, we're keeping the kids." His face registered minor panic but he kept his cool and went along with it and the next day we were outta there with the sun.

I have really tried to share Jaime's love of snowboarding over the past few years and feel like I have put up a good effort ( Note: I would still rather be on a beach, book in hand, anyday). I am pretty good in the sense that I can go to the top of the mountain and make it all the way down without falling. I take it nice and easy with no tricks or anything outrageous, but I do ok. Jaime, on the other hand is crazy good, almost too good for any mountain around here. So good in fact that a man in a full hunting suit that was doubling as a ski suit called him a show-off this weekend ( but then laughed and was like, "har har, I wish I could do that...") I guess that's what happens when you delay college for a while and move to Colorado. Anyway, I like having him as my date, he makes me look good.With the exception of one seriously gnarly fall off the chair lift and a semi injured rotator cuff it was an awesome day. And I am even happier to report the the grandparents survived as well and the boys were extra charming and wonderful.

It is so nice to remember who Jaime and I are together when we aren't chasing, feeding or carrying a toddler. Granted, we talked about them most of the time (and even looked at a couple of pictures on the cell phone) but it was great to have that alone time and remember why we fell in love in the first place.

Thanks Mom and Dad, you're the best!

Wait A Sec, Is It 2008 again?

Josiah has always been persistent. He has a will made of steel and one day he will hopefully use this perseverance to win ultramarathon titles or graduate summa cum laude from medical school. We first noticed his reluctance to give up around 6 months old when he began to scream all night. And by all night I mean he went to bed at 7:30pm, was up by 10pm and screamed until 5am when he finally got up for the day. Also, he didn't take naps. And I know this seems unbelievable, really I do, because even my pediatrician told me he had never heard of such a thing. "So, he just doesn't sleep? No cat napping in the car?" he would ask incredulously. "Never." I would reply. "Ok, I'll get him sleeping," he tells me to "go buy Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Richard Ferber. Read the whole thing, then do exactly as he says." He says that it takes most kids around 3 days to sleep through the night, some a week. Ok, so what he was saying is that my kid will be sleeping in 3 days or at worst a week? For real? I wondered into Barnes~n~ Nobel in a zombie state and immediately bought the book. Thus began Josiah's first will and testament to persistence... he screamed all night, every night, for a month. He banged his head on the side of his crib and 100% FREAKED out. I know to a Sears mama this may sound like the cruelest, craziest thing you have ever heard but we were desperate and delirious. Did I mention I was pregnant? It was hands down one of the hardest times of my life. Things just don't make sense when you aren't sleeping. And then magically, one day, he stopped crying. It was a miracle and an even bigger miracle when baby number two began sleeping through the night on his own accord at just 3 months old. No crying it out required. We payed our dues as parents and finally were able to enjoy putting both kids to bed and having 12 uninterrupted hours to ourselves . Ah, normalcy.

Enter 3 months ago. Josiah no longer sleeps through the night and has been settling with a one hour nap that usually requires some sort of bribe to get him to even lay down. "If you take a nap I'll give you a cookie when you get up." I tell him. You can see the his two year old brain pondering such a request. "What kind of cookie?" He asks. "Whatever you want, we'll take you out for a cookie. Just please, please take a nap." I beg. "Ok, fine. Night, night". 1 hour later from Josiah's room: "I NEEEEED Cooookie!" And having been on the side of no naps I will deal with this one hour nap and try not to complain too much but seriously this nighttime madness has me wanting to yell out a great big WTF??? I thought we were done with this! I need help. I despise not sleeping. I honestly don't know what to do. He is too old to cry it out and is seriously scared so I can't just ignore him. However, his 3am requests border on annoying. Josiah: "Mommy I see something." Me: "What?" Josiah: "Take something out of here." Me: "What?" Josiah: "I don't know just something." I grab a book and walk out. He is quite. 3 hours later, Josiah: "MOMMMMMY!" Me: 'What is it" Josiah: "I need some ki ki (ice)" Me: "Ok, but this is it, ok?" Josiah "Ok." I get him the Ki Ki. And so on and so on... and then I can never fall back asleep and lay there thinking about how I am never having a baby again and never dealing this no sleeping nonsense again and praying that Oliver doesn't suddenly start not sleeping and then just as I fall asleep, "MommmmmY! Yeah, you get it.

When does it end? At least this way he is denying me sleep as a sweet, scared little boy. 15 years from now he will be keeping me awake with worry. I guess as a parent you have to give a lot and take a lot. Because it is all worth it, right? Right? (Deep yoga breath, ommmmm).

Cheers to a New Year

Every January as we say say goodbye to another year most of us resolve to usher in the new one with a new found zest, or for some, restraint for life. Commercials overtake the television for weight loss products and shape up shoes. Research shows that while almost 50 percent of Americans make a New Years Resolution only 46% are still maintaining such resolution after 6 months. So 64% percent give up... I wonder why? Or I suppose more importantly, what is the successful group doing differently? With all of the case study experience that comes along with the prestigious degree of a bachelors in psychology I can only theorize on what is happening here. I guess what can be concluded is that for a certain group of people making resolutions IS useful. So how do I know that I will be part of that group and not the other one? Um, I don't. No one knows what is going to happen at the starting line but the important thing is to join the race... because statistics also show that people who make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don't. SO here goes; a list of 5 things I would like to see happen in 2011. Let's check back in a year and see if I win.

-Enjoy life more. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy it plenty... What I mean is that I want to enjoy every part of it. Even the parts where I feel like I am gonna rip all of my hair out. I'd like to become one of those relaxed namaste weirdos. But I want to gain such clarity withOUT doing yoga or reading Siddhartha. Because my goodness, how short is this life, really? Way too short to sweat the small stuff.

- Read more "grown-up books". Even the hard to understand ones... maybe even some old school classics. I am going to keep this goal attainable to 6 books n 2011. One every other month. And on the off months I will keep up with US Weekly and other various gossip magazines.

- Think about how what I am doing affects others. I mean this on the grand scale of recycling and taking care of the planet or eating chickens at CFA. And on a much smaller scale of writing thank you notes, calling my grandmother more and remembering that even though I'm busy I still have to make time for those who I love. Also, to stop being so bitchy sometimes. It is unacceptable even if things are crazy!

-Spend time with Jaime doing things besides; (A.) cuddling on the couch, watching TV or (B.) sleeping or (C.) chasing a kid. The boys are getting older and easier to manage so we should vow to get the romance back in 2011. More dates and more "us" time. I love him so much.

- And what list of mine would be complete without a workout resolution. What to do this year? Really the only to do that I haven't already done is run a full marathon and I am sure as heck not resolving to do that. So I guess that I will say, swim more and run just as much.

So that's it, my fab 5 resolutions. You may have noticed that I didn't resolve to do anything with the kids? Well, that is one area of my life that I feel is already perfect. Not that I am perfect (Um, no way!) but I get to wake up to them every morning, spend all day hanging out with them and put them to bed every night. How amazing is that? I have been witness to their first words and steps and other various milestones. I haven't missed a single thing due to work or any other obligation. My children are my whole life and I wouldn't have it any other way. This time is so priceless. Come to think of it, maybe I should make a 6th and final resolution:

- Continue NOT working.

Happy New Year Y'all!

Magical Moments (Pt. 2)

Now that we have officially been home for 10 days I need to wrap up this Disney Blog. Since our return to Asheville so much has happened; Christmas, a blizzard and the end of a decade and the beginning of 2011. Being a blogger is a challenge when things never stop! Alas, with all of the fun stuff about my most dreaded season being over, I can only imagine that I will have the next three months to be more blog worthy. So that being said, back to Florida and our third day at Disney.

On Monday the 2oth we had a Character Breakfast scheduled in Africa of Disney's Animal Kingdom. Yes... Donald, Mickey, Minnie and Goofy would all be there dressed in safari gear. We were a little apprehensive about a fifty dollar breakfast but it was our one splurge on the trip and Josiah was adorable holding his autograph book tightly to his chest just waiting for a character to come over to his table. Oliver was totally terrified and screamed if one got too close but he did enjoy the Mickey Mouse shaped waffles and the limitless "jungle juice".
When we woke up that morning, Jaime looked outside at all the sunshine and said, " Its already 55 degrees probably, warming up super fast too...supposed to be 70 today" or something along those lines. So I grabbed my shorts, flip flops and a T-Shirt ready for a spring like day. Ha! It was freezing! I was almost in tears as we were walking to the gate. "I wanna go home." I said through chattering teeth and Jaime says, "Find somewhere that sells pants and I will buy them for you." Now, I know you are probably thinking, "What the heck kind of pants can you buy at The Animal Kingdom?" Well, in Africa you could purchase a leopard print pair of MC Hammer pants for the bargin price of $44.95 or in Asia you could buy hot pink sweat pants (with elastic in the ankles) and DISNEY WORLD written in large print across the butt. As tempted as I was to ring up a $50 bill on Jaime's card for telling me it was 70 degrees, I couldn't bring myself to wear either of these monstrosities. So I froze in the name of fashion.


We even stayed the whole day and made it to the parade. Whoever was in charge of scheduling the Disney parades each day clearly wasn't thinking of toddlers or nap times. It was impossible to stay until lunch, go home and nap and be back in a good parade location by 3pm... but on this Monday we just toughed it out, skipped nap time and caught Donald and Daisy in all their 15 minutes of glory.
Then we passed out. Literally.
The next day was Jaime's birthday and what 32 year old man doesn't want to spend it at The Magic Kingdom with 6 billion other people? He even got a button announcing his special day AND we got a private bus ride into the park in honor of this happy occasion. So cool!

On day two at the Kingdom, we hit up AdventureLand and FrontierLand and had a picnic on Tom Sawyers Island. After a quick nap we returned to TomorrowLand and danced in the street with Disney's beloved characters yet again. And no, it never gets old. We went home to the unit and had a fun birthday party with pizza, cookie cake, balloons and even taught the kids how to jump a fence when the hot tub was closed. Jaime said it was his best birthday yet and ya know what? I don't think he was just saying that.

One our 5th and last day at the parks we attended Epcot. I remembered Epcot being the most boring park from my younger years so I didn't have high hopes. But as it turns out, it is way more fun as a grown up! Looking back, I can see why I didn't like it so much as a kid. There is a science center and not very many rides. Mostly, it is set up so that you can tour the world with one trip around a lake visiting Mexico, China, Morraco, Paris, Germany and Canada. It was a very relaxing end to our trip as we pushed the boys in the stroller and finally enjoyed the 70 degree weather. And it wasn't totally dull for the kiddos...we did get to take a spaceship into the future and ride on Nemo's clam shell.
After eating dinner on Disney's boardwalk we took a little boat back into Epcot for our final show of a Christmas choir singing songs with host Brad Garret reading the Christmas story. It was a truly magical and a great end to a great vacation.

So now we are home and all experiencing the Disney crash and dreaming of summer. I am so grateful to have shared such a wonderful week with my family. It is weeks like that, that will remain embedded in my memory forever and when I think back to some the happiest moments of my life, this trip will always come to mind. The boys will never be 1 and 2 again and I will always remember the joy and magic in their eyes as such fun loving, innocent little toddlers. I am SO lucky to share my life with such a great husband and kids. Yay!

Magical Moments (Part 1)

So much has happened since my last blog, 2 weeks ago. Currently we are enduring blizzard conditions that decided to strike Asheville on Christmas day...but that is a whole other blog. This blog will focus on a much happier subject, namely the best week of my life thus far.

On Friday December 17th at 4:45am, we loaded two toddlers, half of our house and a ton of snacks into the Vdub van and set our GPS for Lake Buena Vista, Florida- the home of the most magical place on earth, Disney World. After making only ONE stop for gas at the Florida Welcome Center we pulled into our condo 10 hours, 15 minutes and 6 Disney movies later. The trip, all things considered, really wasn't too bad. Ah, the luxuries of two DVD players, a minivan and my own private row in the back where no one can see me. The Volkswagon Routan makes certain that parents and kids get to travel in complete comfort, even for 10 hours and 15 minutes.

We made the decision after much research to stay off site at Disney. We could afford a whole week at a private condo or 4 days at a Disney Resort. The condo being only 1 mile from the Magic Kingdom seemed to be the obvious choice and all in all it worked out rather well. But let me just say this, the place was STRANGE. It looked really nice, hence the photos on the internet, fairly new and had a garage, a fun kids room, new furniture, etc... But it was totally deserted, making it feel really weird. As for the people who were there, just picture miniature JLo's and Marc Anthony's yelling in New York/Puerto Rican accents. Total divas. The kitchen was another major reason we opted for off site, aside from the cost. As I have stated before, Jaime doesn't eat meat, seafood, salad or any type of sauce or marinade and the only restaurants we can agree on are usually pizza or Mexican... and since I wasn't planning on eating pizza every day then I wanted a kitchen so I could continue making healthy meals for us and the kids. Well, after spending a ton on groceries at the local, overpriced Disney market, we realized there were no pots or pans. Dun Dun Dun Dunnnnn. But we were in luck, Giorodono's was right across the street and we could get pizzas whenever we wanted! Fantastic.

Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, as I said before, it was the best week of my life. But since this blog is mainly for memories we can't forget the hilarity of some situations. Here is a picture of what Jaime and I affectionately referred to as, "The Unit".Thankfully, with the happiest place on earth less than a mile away we didn't spend much time at the unit. On Saturday morning after awaking to torrential downpours and headed for the Magic Kingdom. We were NOT going to let a little weather rain on our parade and boy did we have fun. After purchasing Mickey Mouse ponchos we fit right in and were ever so grateful that it was warm. I was so excited about the 75 degree weather it could have been a hurricane and that would have been ok. Not to mention that the Magic Kingdom is, well, totally flippin magical. Even as a 27 year old mom of two, when I saw Cinderella's castle my heart literally jumped. And when I looked at Josiah looking at the castle, I almost cried. We spent the rest of the day riding all of the classic's; It's a Small World After All, Pirates of the Carribean, Snow Whites Scary Adventures, Cinderella's carousal and Josiah just barely hit the height requirement to get on his first real roller coaster. He is lucky that he is so tall, because I think he may have been the only two year old to ever go on this thing...it had the cluga cluga assent where all you can think about it the plunge you are about to take. When we got to the very top I looked over at Josiah and said, "Are you scared?" and he said, "No, I'm not scared." Then we dropped, so fast and whipped through a tunnel of darkness at the speed of light. It only lasted about 45 seconds but the whole time I was thinking, WHY did I bring my poor baby on this? When we pulled into the station and stopped he was as white as a ghost. Our bars lifted and when the worker came to help Josiah out of his car my little boy looked at him and said, "NO! I ride again." I guess it is only a matter of time until he joins his Daddy surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding and jumping off mountains. What a little dare devil.

That afternoon the sun came out and we went to a block party where there is a DJ and you literally party in the street with all of Disney's beloved characters. We danced with Woody, Jesse, and Mickey. My face hurt from smiling so much.After the block party Cinderella and her Fairy Godmother came out to light her castle for Christmas. With a "A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes" playing and some Bippity Boppity Boo action the castle went from looking like thisto like this,

with a simple wave of her wand. It was so much cooler live than I could ever explain. It was hypnotizing. I can't remember a day being so much fun. Ever. Even the unit looked good when we got home for the night. I LOVE Disney World.

The next day we hit up Hollywood Studios which is where all of the Toy Story Characters "live". We danced with Woody the night before but we had yet to be formally introduced and after waiting only an hour and a half we got to hang with the REAL Woody and Buzz. They were so great. The nice thing about waiting an hour and a half is that each kid gets to spend ample amount of time with the characters. We got autographs, pictures and hugs and all of this took place in Andy's room. Josiah and Oliver were in heaven. In addition to meeting their idols we also took in a prefomance of Beauty and the Beast live on Broadway, met Mater and Lightening McQueen and had dinner at the official Pizza Planet. Another great day.

All of our adventures in Disney were simply too much for one blog, so please stay tuned for the remaining days of our trip. The best is yet to come!

7 Down, 70 to Go.

Seven years ago today, I was 20 years old and living on Saint Rosea Drive. I worked full-time stopping crackheads with bats from breaking into hotel rooms ( well, I never actually stopped them, I just called the police when it inevitably happened). I lived with my fiance who I only saw after midnight when we met up on the couch to watch the Cosby Show and discuss our day. He was a full-time graduate student, part-time cook and part-time accounting lab instructor. I had completed just one year of college before I decided to drop out and run away with Jaime who I would rather starve with, in a beach house with 6 foot ceilings (NO this is not and exaggeration, Jaime was 2 inches taller than our ceilings) pretty much more anything else in the world. When we met up for those couch dates in spite of the weirdness that my life had become (college to crackhead hotel bouncer) everything was right in my world. My heart stopped every time I looked at him. I couldn't believe he wanted to marry me. Everyday I would worry that he would come to his senses and bolt out the door but he never did and seven years ago today, I was getting dressed for our rehearsal dinner. We were blessed to celebrate our partnership with a grand celebration of family and friends at the Bellamy Mansion in Wilmington, NC.

Even though tomorrow may mark our 7 year anniversary it still feels like just yesterday. Whenever I need to be reminded of just how long seven years is I try to think about all that we have done since our wedding day. We backpacked through Europe for a month, Jaime received his Masters in Accounting, I got accepted to UNC-Asheville, we spent the summer in Costa Rica and moved across the state. I spent 3 years at UNCA changing majors twice. Watching Jaime review for the CPA exam for a year and passing on the first try. Working for The NC State Auditors Office and driving around in a van all over WNC for two years. Living in BFE Barnardsville, the Meadows, the projects of Deaverview and finally building our new home. Graduating from UNCA and working for the Y. Losing loved ones, going through struggles and growing more in love each day. Out of all of these memories of significance and smiles the most astounding has been the creation of our two beautiful boys, Josiah and Oliver. Yes, a lot can happen in seven years and it still can feel like just yesterday.

So where do I see us on our 14th anniversary? Some place warm, happy and together with 3 kids. I want to run a marathon and be president of the PTA. I want to spend every weekend together soaking in just how happy we are. I couldn't ask for anymore in the next 7 years than I have gotten out of the first round. Thank you so much for making all of my dreams come true. Much love to you MJCIII.