Perfect Day at the Beach

Yesterday (Friday) Kaitelyn and I ventured to the beach by ourselves. We decided at the last minute to ditch the ideas of going to Seaworld or to a park to play. The marine layer was pretty thick yesterday morning and I knew it would take a while for it to burn off. We were able to spend a few hours playing and relaxing while the sun was hidden.

So we packed our bags, towels and ourselves and headed out to the beach. It was awesome, it wasn't crowded so we were able to get a prime spot in the sand and a parking spot. I was afraid it would be busy with party goers setting up tents and such for this weekend's partying but they didn't show up until after the sun came out and when we were about to leave.

Big Shoes to Fill

Baby Bump - 17 weeks

I really don't like this picture. Please excuse the wet spot on the shirt,
I was doing kitchen chores.

Okay... I finally let Luke take a quick shot of the bump, it's not one of my best poses that's for sure. But, I know lots of you are curious.

We have an appointment this Wednesday and we will be finding out really soon what we will be having (hopefully). My inkling is a Boy.

So far, the pregnancy is going well. I'm not sick all the time anymore and my energy level is almost normal. I still have days where I just want to hover over a toilet in hopes that it'll make me feel better. But that's only a couple of times a week. I do feel the baby moving quite frequently now. It's not movement you can see with your eyes, it's just the flutters inside. I forgot how exciting it is to feel your baby moving and I'm always looking forward to the next round of flutters. My ribs are starting to hurt every now and then, definitely not looking forward to that constant discomfort. Sleeping is becoming a hassle already. I haven't had a good night's sleep for about a month now. I've just started sleeping with a third pillow, but I really think I should bump that up to a fourth now. I sleep best on my stomach so sleeping on my sides just doesn't do it for me. Oh well...it's only temporary and the situation could be much much worse. At least I have a comfortable bed with lots of pillows, I'm very fortunate.

Fiesta Island

Cha, Cha, Cha, Cha, Chaaa...Cha

We decided to hit the beach today and spend some time at Fiesta Island today. It's a small little island located inside Mission Bay. Since Kaitelyn doesn't like the big open water but likes the sand, we thought this would be a good place to go. One of the biggest benefits of Fiesta Island is, you can park your vehicle onto the beach and pitch your umbrella. We visited this place a few times last year and had fun. One of the biggest drawbacks is it is a dog friendly beach.

We found a nice little area and got settled, we were only there maybe a 1/2 hour when several vehicles with dogs showed up. It was kind of a downer for us because some of the owners just let there big dogs (mostly big poodles) run freely and the owners were not in sight. One of the big poodles decided to drop a load just feet from where we were. Needless to say, we only stayed about an hour then came home and enjoyed the nice clean pool.

Ewww....Gross!

Okay, so yesterday evening we took a stroll along Mission Bay. We were done with our walk and Kaitelyn wanted to play in the grass. After we were done playing "Ring around the Rosies", Luke said to Kaitelyn, "Let's Roll". She totally took him literally and she started rolling along the ground. Luke taught her to roll down a hill, what kid doesn't enjoy that.

Well... as a parent, what is one of your biggest fears when your child is rolling along the ground at a park?? If you guessed POO, then that has been my biggest fear. Kaitelyn rolled right into a little turd. I have to say, it was really funny. She was barely on top of it when we tried warning her of the poo, but we only made the matter worse. When she tried to get up to see what we were talking about, her left hand landed right on top of it. It was stuck!! It took her a couple of attempts to wipe it off.

I have to say, thank goodness for baby wipes and sanitizing gel. As gross as the situation was, I'm still giggling over it. Poor Kaitelyn :-(

PS, she took a bath as soon as we got home.

It Just Breaks My Heart...

Today, Kaitelyn and I ventured to the grocery store to pick up a few items. Granted, it was a little close to her naptime and she had already woken up on the wrong side of the bed. But, Kaitelyn loves to go Bye Bye.

As we were walking up to the store, Kaitelyn decided she wanted to ride on a cart as we walked through the parking lot. It was all down hill from there, she only wanted to ride on the very front of the cart and I just wouldn't have it. I just think it's too dangerous as you roam through a parking lot. When I told her no and tried to reason with her, she would not have it. So as we were walking, she decided to throw herself down onto the dirty oily pavement. What a scene we had, there were so many people around just staring and I couldn't get a word in with her without it sounding like I was yelling at her. We finally made it to the doors of the store, but she didn't want to ride in any of the other carts right there, she wanted one at the end of the sidewalk. I didn't feel like walking back for a stupid cart when there were a plethora of them right in front of us.

By this time, my child is screeeaaaming at the very tip top of her lungs and I was losing my patience. I decided this was not worth and I decided that we would go back home. But...it wasn't that easy, Kaitelyn continued to sob, gag and scream at the very tip top of her lungs all the way home. It took forever to get out of the parking lot because of traffic and when we finally made it to the main road, every stoplight on the way home turned red. We finally made it home and she went right to bed, but not before she cried out one last time to go "Bye, Bye". That really tore my heart apart. I wanted to cry with her :-(

So Nice

Today, I went in to have some blood work drawn for "little peanut". While Kaitelyn and I were waiting to be called, there was this really nice lady and her little 3yr old boy named "Sam". She was waiting for her glucose results to come back so she had a long wait.

Anyway...Kaitelyn and Sam hit it off right off the bat. He shared his cars, markers and pencils with Kaitelyn. Sam's mom made Kaitelyn a pair of fun glasses out of piping. Then when we came back out from having the blood drawn , Sam handed Kaitelyn and little red rose made out of the piping too. It was so nice of Sam's mom to do that for us. It really made my day and I've been smiling ever since :-)

NAPTIME

When it's naptime... I will tuck Kaitelyn in her bed, tell her to have a good nap and that I will miss her until she wakes up. But not until after I lie there with her for a few moments while she sucks her thumb and nestles with an ear.

She will stay awake for about 20 minutes or so before she finally settles down to fall asleep. Today, she did that and I spoke stearnly at her once to get back into bed and take a nap while I was updating the blog. She fussed a moment but did as I said. Shortly after I knew for sure she had zonked out, I checked on her.

Here is what I saw....



I was a bit worried at first, but I could hear her usual breathing from the doorway. She's such a sill milly :-)

OUT - KIDE

When Kaitelyn asks, "Out-kide momma or Out-kide-daddy", she wants to play outside on the balcony. The other day, she wanted to play outside. Before I knew it, she had some of her toys, kitty treats and herself lined up on the balcony watching the traffic. I thought it was super cute.

PEOPLE ARE SO RUDE!!!

Lately, I've just been so frustrated with people who don't know me, never have seen me before or are just so rude for no reason what so ever.

For starters, on the second day visiting Disneyland, Monica and I were hopping over to the CA Adventure Park shortly after they opened. I was carrying Kaitelyn in my arms, pushing the stroller and handing my park pass to the attendant when she asked me, "How old is she"? I replied, "2", the attendant then asked in a rude way, "Then what is her Birthday"? By then, I was getting upset with the lame questions, I had a fierce headache and Kaitelyn was getting heavy. I replied, that her birthday was "June 19th" rudely back to her. She then had the audacity to MOCK me, Yes, she mocked me!! I was steaming from the ears. I wanted to ask for a manager, I wanted to tell the old crotchety woman off, but I refrained and walked away. That really bothered me that a representative of Disneyland treated me so rudely. Monica and I thought it was supposed to be a Happy Place to be.

Second, yesterday Kaitelyn and I went to Balboa Park for a couple of hours. We walked around for a bit, then went to play at the playground. Everything was going great, Kaitelyn was giggling and we were taking turns on a slipper slide. I had just helped Kaitelyn go across a balance beam when a little girl about 4 years old asked me to help her too. So, being the nice ass person I am helped her. All I did was hold her hand across the beam and let go as soon as she jumped off. I was quickly back with Kaitelyn when her trashy mom comes over and starts yelling, "What did I tell you about talking to strangers, do you remember that man at the beach that kidnapped you". She then turned to a couple of other moms and said, "I'm sure you wouldn't do anything but I never know". Then, she marched over to me and said to me, "I'm sure you wouldn't do anything to harm my child, but she needs to learn not to talk to strangers". All I could do was stare at the woman in disbelief. I quickly turned the other way and went to another part of the playground. The woman had a few words with her child then took her trashy ass back to a park bench that was a ways from the playground. If she would have taken the time to play with her child, maybe her child wouldn't feel like she had to ask for help from others. I was embarrassed over the situation, never again will I help someones child at a playground or anywhere. After that, the girl came over by Kaitelyn and I a couple more times, but each time we moved away.

Lastly, today I made a quick trip to Costco for a few items. I had just pulled my cart up to the belt for checkout when an older woman who only had one loaf of bread showed up at the same time. Again, being the nice ass person I am, I let her crotchety ass go first. Well, the cashier guy asked her if the bread was all she had and then jokingly asked her if the child was hers too (referring to my child that I left inside the cart). She said "No" then under her breath, she made the nasty comment, "especially not that one"! I was floored, why would she say something so nasty about my child when I let her sorry ass go before me. I just stared at her and bit my tongue. I wanted to ask her why she felt compelled to make such a nasty comment when I was nice to her. I was furious and it's been eating away at me. I keep telling myself to just let it go, let it go, but I'm hurt.

Why are there so many rude ass people out there? Luke tells me to speak up more, but I don't like to make scenes in public. Also, these days you have to be careful. You just don't know what people are capable of, you don't know if someone is going to pull out a gun. You don't know if someone is going to follow you home. You just don't know.

I don't do or say anything mostly because I had a very scary encounter with some psycho guy last fall on my way to pick Kaitelyn up from school. I had left work a little late, it was dark and raining outside when I decided to cut through a Walgreens parking lot to avoid the long wait at this stoplight. I was pulling out of the parking lot onto the road when this jackass coming the opposite way almost hit me. He had pulled out of the opposite parking lot without stopping that's why he almost hit me. I honked my horn and slammed on my brakes. The way we both stopped, there was no way to get his license plate. He just stayed right there in the middle of the road so I went around him. He thought it was my fault that we almost collided so he followed my car to the school with his brights on and blocked me in the parking stall. I became afraid when he got out of his car and started waling toward my driver door. I quickly got out of my car and made a mad dash into the school building. By the time I came back out he was gone, but not before he keyed the hell out of my car. He left a key mark up and down the entire driver side of my car. Since that incident, I refrain from honking or saying anything to others who are clearly in the wrong.

Ugh....I'm just so frustrated!

A Whole Week of Fun:

My longtime BFF Monica from Kansas came to visit with her three children for a week. We had lots of fun, there were a few stressful moments when the kids weren't getting along or it seemed nothing would please them. There were a few headaches too, but we pushed on and had lots of fun and made everlasting memories that we will cherish. I am so grateful to have such a fun and loving friend as Monica. When I'm around her I realize how much I miss having her near. She's so silly and she's not afraid of what other's think, I wish I had more of that in me. Monica is the talker in our friendship and I'm the quiet one, it's kinda like that with most of my friendships.

Here are some of the things we did during their visit.

Seaworld - we had breakfast with the Sesame Street Characters, watched some shows such as Shamu Rocks, Shamu's Believe, Cirque de la Mur, and visited the Bay of Play many times. All of the kids really loved being at SeaWorld. Kaitelyn's favorite thing now is to ride Elmo's Flying Fish and Oscar's Rocking Eel. She can't get enough of these rides. Monica was a real trooper, she rode the rides even when she didn't want to and she took Kaitelyn along. I really wish I could have ridden the rides with everyone :-(

Kaitelyn showing Taylor the ropes

Alyssa is such a sweetheart and so responsible for her age.

Elmo and friends entertaining us during breakfast.

Kaitelyn with Elmo, it is so hard to get her to pose with any character.
She's afraid of them.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We went to the Beach a couple of times. Kaitelyn doesn't like playing in the water but Monica's little ones couldn't get enough. There were lots of big rolling waves to play in, it was fun.

Collin and Kaitelyn filling in a hole or something.

Cheesy Cheese - Kaitelyn had just eating a handful of Doritos.

Kaitelyn was ready for "Night Night", she used my "gagas" to shield the sun.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Disneyland/California Adventure Theme Park - We spent Sunday and Monday visiting these two parks. I definitely want to go back again. There is so much to see and do and of course we didn't come close to seeing everything. The parades were so cool, my favorite was the electrical parade we saw Saturday night at the CA Adventure Park. We took the little girls to see Disney's Playhouse, lunch with the Disney Princesses and Alyssa is really into the High School Musicals so we were able to see that too. During the HSM2 performance, Taylor and Kaitelyn were picked from the audience to join in the little parade with the performance. They enjoyed it, especially little Taylor. That little girl is a party animal. You tell her to shake it and she will. It's super cute.

Kaitelyn posing at the entrance of the CA Adventure Park.

Kaitelyn with Daddy riding Dumbo.

Alyssa and Collin

Mickey Mouse Playhouse Show @ CA Adventure Park.

Look closely, it's Kaitelyn and Taylor walking inside the
High School Musical 2 parade.
I was a little embarrassed, Kaitelyn had just soiled her diaper (stinky pants)
and she was eating a sucker so her hands were sticky.

Kaitelyn passing time while we were waiting to watch
the electrical parade at the CA Adventure Park.

The four little munchkins. We were on our way to have lunch with the Disney princesses.
Taylor and Kaitelyn were super cute in their matching dresses.

Pre-lunch photo.

A snapshot of the kiddos with Ariel before we were seated.

Kaitelyn with Cinderella - that wasn't an easy shot to get.
The princesses were so beautiful and their gowns were impeccable.
It was a really neat lunch, I'm so glad Monica thought of it.

I was especially happy to be at Disneyland, there were lots of rides that expecting mothers can ride with their little ones. Kaitelyn really enjoyed riding so many rides and on most, she asked for more.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coronado Island - I took Monica and the kids to this diner on Orange Ave on their last day here. It was an absolutely horrible experience. We should have turned around and walked away the moment we got there. When we stood in line to be seated, the hostesses gave us attitude from the beginning, the they sat us at dirty tables. When we asked to have them cleaned up, they acted like it we had no right. Then when we ordered an appetizer of just chips and salsa, we waited and waited and waited. The chips and salsa did not show up until 2 minutes before our meals. After our we finished, we waited for 15 minutes for the waitress to come back to our table to pay for our meals. Ugh...it was a very bad experience and I'll never go back to that establishment.

Seaport Village - After our bad experience on Coronado Island, I took everyone to Seaport Village. We had fun looking through some of the shops. Their favorite was this Wooden Toy Store, you can purchase fun toys or accessories then have them personalized. It's pretty cool.

Wii...

Well...we finally broke down and purchased a Wii game system. Who could pass up Santee's Costco Wii bundle deal. A couple of weeks ago, we did our usual grocery shopping at Santee's Costco and noticed they had a pallet of Wii's sitting out. We elected to pass up their awesome bundle deal, but when we went back this Friday, they still had a pallet of them so we caved and purchased one. It's been fun playing the games and introducing Kaitelyn to the fun gaming world. I think her favorite is the duck hunt type game and watching us fish. Luke is getting into the Super SmashBros Brawl game, I'm not good at those. I can beat Luke in the fishing game anytime.

We are currently waiting our turn to purchase Mario Cart and Wii fit - if anyone has any ideas on how we can purchase one of these without a long wait, please let us know. In the meantime, we are looking to purchase a couple of family fun games that Kaitelyn will like.

Oh My Goodness...
There Is A Monster In Our Apartment

Lately, one of Kaitelyn's favorite things to do is to sound like a ROARING monster. She will ROOOAAARRRR at us until she gets the hiccups. Of course we play into it by pretending we are scared and tell her she's sooo scary. It's so fun!

Another fun thing she does is point out the "Poo Poo Bags". Yep any time we pass by a doggie bag station within the apartment complex or if she sees a plastic grocery bag, she will point out and say, "Momma, poo poo bag", or "Daddy, poo poo bag". It's cute.

Oh yeah, she's gotten a bit bossy too. She will pull out a chair or something and will grab my hand and say, "Momma sit, Mamma sit". Or she will say, "No mamma, no" when she doesn't want to do something. However... she never wins, I will have the last word.