A New Job

Derek started his new job today. He had a really good day and is hopeful that it will work out. Doesn't he look handsome in his new shirt and tie? He has to dress up for this job unlike his previous job which is nice for me because I get to look at him all sexified everyday.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Beauty Treatment

We decided that our skin needed some love so we did a clay mask. Isn't Derek awesome! How many guys are comfortable enough with their masculinity to not only participate in the girlieness that is a face mask but also to allow me to photograph him while wearing it! I love him.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Booshie Pillow

Because everyone loves a nice, warm, furry Booshie in the morning to rest their head upon.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Magic!

Ok, so this picture isn't anything special. Yeah, she's adorable and all but we've got much cuter pictures. It's easy to think that until you know that when she was placed on the floor her feet were where her head is. I looked away for about 4 minutes and when I looker again she had managed to rotate herself 180 degrees! Crazy baby!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Om nom nom

So, I went to the gym and had a great workout. Go me! But then I went to Taco Bell and had this. Which is 540 calories, 190 from fat. So, yeah.... it was ever so tasty though. 

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Success!

For about a year I have been in search of a deoderant, not antiperspirant, that actually works. I am allergic to witch-hazel which has made the search difficult. I also didn't want a bunch of crazy sounding chemicals. The problem was that most of them only worked for a few hours and then I would start to smell like a barn animal or a pizza. (I know weird right? Sometimes my b.o. smells like pizza. Pretty gross.) Anyway, this deoderant may have one or two chemicals but overall it is pretty chemical free and IT WORKS! Who'd have thought Degree, found at my local Wal-Mart, would do what none of the specially ordered online deoderants could achieve. Crazy! Oh, and did I mention I now smell like honeysuckle and not cheap pepperoni pizza? :)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Yeah....

Sooooo sleepy. I got into bed and was half asleep when I realized I forgot to take a photo. If you can't tell it is a picture of our bedroom door with light coming through. I didn't use a flash because I didn't want to wake up Lilly who was sleeping in her hammock at the end of the bed. I took this picture without sitting up and while basically blind because I didn't even put my glasses on. I then immediately fell asleep.I actually think it's kind of an interesting photo.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

New Kicks

I bought new tennis shoes yesterday. They are the first pair if Nike's I've ever bought and they are fantastic. They are super squishy and don't rub my toes like my current tennis shoes. I wore them to the gym tonight and I love them. There's almost nothing more exciting than brand new tennis shoes. You feel so fresh and free and special. Does that make me sound like a loser?

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Bouncy, Bouncy, Oh Such a Good Time!

I bought Lilly this doorway bouncer today. She loves it. Later, we moved it to he kitchen while I was cooking and when I looked at her she had turned herself to face the dark dining room. When I got down on her level to see what she was looking at I saw Oliver, our cat, staring at her from under the dining table like "What is she doing here?". It was very comical because she also had a confused look on her face.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Big Girl Bath

Saturday is Lilly's bath day and today she took her first bath without the aid of the infant hammock. So, she is big enough now that she fits in the tub without drowning! It was much easier to bathe her because she was actually in the water instead of floating on top of it. Yay Lilly!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

A Visit From Grandma and Aunt Alyssa

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Best Buds

Emma our neighbor and Lilly already love each other! I know I already posted a photo for today but this was too cute. Plus it makes up for my missed photo yesterday.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

More Snow!

Today we had another snow day! However, I had already woken up and showered before they cancelled school. And, I forgot to take a photo yesterday. :(

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Ugh.

I had the worst migraine all day today. Hence the Tylenol which is all I can take since I'm still breastfeeding. I'm so glad this day is over. It takes so much energy to just to function with a migraine.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Reading Time

Derek was reading Lilly this book and it looked like she was actually reading along because she was holding it! BTW, I realize that the last few photos have been very Lillified. I can't help it. I love her so! Plus, if I forget to take a picture I almost always snap at least one of her doing something cute every day so that's what gets posted. I will try to start taking more interesting photos.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Cuteness

We did our normal Sunday routine and went to tacos. Lilly loves this little stuffed toy that her Anahneh Guniz gave her. She holds onto and chews it. It's so cute.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Uh Oh!

 I had already been in bed for almost an hour when I took this photo. I realized that I hadn't taken a picture and so I took this one. As a note, this was a Friday night. Derek and I did go out to dinner and the plan was to see a movie but we were both so tired that we went home and went to bed instead. I'm getting so old!
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Play Time!

 Lilly loves to lay on her activity mat. Earlier this week she learned how to roll over from her back to her front and today she was able to roll from her front to her back! Normally babies can't do both until about 6 months and she's not even 4 months!
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Birthday!

Derek and Alex share a birthday and today is it! Derek is the big 27 and Alex is 23. Happy Birthday!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

That's a wrap!

The last three nights have been plagued with the seemingly unending crying of one Lillian Johnson. For that reason we have temporarily reinstated the swaddle. Here is Lilly at 9:30 after being put to sleep in her hammock. We'll see how long it lasts. Mommy and Daddy need sleep!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

So Cold

Funny story, I arrived at the gym and was pleased to find a parking spot pretty close to the door. It's cold out and I'm wearing a tank top and spandex pants. Anyway, I park the car, turn it off pull my left leg put of the car, stand up and SPLAT! I find myself on my back staring at the still open car door.

I had conveniently parked on a huge sheet of ice and the moment I put my weight on the foot sitting on I did a running in place cartoon move and ended up with a sore bottom and elbow. Of course the first thing I did was spew a series of expletives and then I quickly looked around to see if anyone saw my very ungraceful fall. I then dutifully attended my Kickboxing class with a slightly damp and sore left buttcheek.

BTW, I didn't have my phone to take a picture of the offending ice patch hence the ice cubes.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Snow Lilly

Today Lilly experienced her first snow day! We got her all layered up and stepped into our front yard for a few pictures. She didn't get to touch the snow and didn't walk in it, because she can't but, she got to look really pretty and she was interested in looking at all the bright white. Even though she probably didn't think this day was anything special we thought it was pretty fantastic for a couple of reasons. First of all, I am a teacher and school was canceled today so I got to stay home. Second, Lilly didn't sleep for more than two hours in a row all night and I was very excited that I didn't have to get up at 6am. Third, it was a momentous occasion in Lillian's life even if she won't remember and lastly, I was able to spend some nice time with Derek. I made him bacon, eggs, toast and coffee for breakfast and we sat together in the dining room cooing and talking to Lilly while admiring the beauty that is a quiet, snow-covered day.

I know you can't see any snow in this picture but it's there. Out of all the pictures we took this one is the best because she looks so happy. In the ones where you can see the snow she's not as cute.

Sink Cat

So, I walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth and found this. I guess the counter was too cluttered with stuff for re-grouting so he decided the sink would do. Silly Booshie.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Inconvenient

So...we've known for a while that our shower needed to be re-grouted but instead Derek did a temporary fix with silicone caulk. Well, mold started growing under the caulk so Derek ripped it all out when he cleaned the shower. Then, it starts to leak again. So now he is actually going to re-grout it. That means we have to hike upstairs to take showers for the next 3-5 days. Our house is only 3 years old. Very inconvenient. But kudos to Derek for being so handy. :)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

I survived!

I made it through my first week back at work after having Lillian. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought would be. However, I realized that after taking care of Lilly, going to the gym, preparing for my next day and eating dinner I only end up with about an hour of free time at the end of the day. I'm glad it's Friday! And, the weather is calling for possible snow on Sunday so maybe I'll get a long weekend! BTW, the above photo is not me at my prettiest. I was getting inti bed and realizedi had forgotten to take the picture for today. So...yeah. I look a little poopy.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Puzzle

 

Today in my Spanish I classes we played one of mine and the students favorite games, puzzle. I came up with the idea for this game and it is super effective at helping students learn new vocabulary or grammar conjugations. This is a picture of one of the completed puzzles. It is comprised of squares of paper with either Spanish or English words on it's sides. The squares that touch one another have the match for its equivalent in either English or Spanish. We play the game like a race and the first team to correctly put the puzzle together receives bonus points that can be turned in with quizzes or homework. It was a fun day for both me and my students. 

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Special Underthings

If you're wondering what that is it is a "executive pumping bra" which allows you to express milk while still having the use of both hands. This was used multiple times today at school and is so silly looking that I had to take a picture. While it did its thing, I read a book at my desk in my empty and locked classroom. It was interesting. Let me just say how surreal it is to be half naked in my classroom where only moments before there were about 25 students...very weird and slightly stressful because even though I knew that my door was locked, any time I heard someone walk by my room in the hall I would tense up and look at the crack on the bottom of the door for a shadow. Luckily, no one needed anything or interrupted.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Just that kind of day

January 4th, my second day back at work went much better than. I went to bed at 8:30 the night before and was consequently able to sleep for almost 10 hours straight! Lilly didn't wake up until I did so my day started off amazingly. I got ready and managed to leave and arrive at work on-time. My first 3 classes went much more smoothly with their new assigned seats and it seemed like no time at all had passed before Dad arrived with Lilly.

He needed to run some errands so he left Lilly with me at about 10:45am. At 11:00am he called me to say that he thinks he ran out of gas and was still sitting in the school parking lot. He decided to go to the high school office and ask for someone to drive him to get gas for the car. I texted Derek so he would know and he then called dad to inform him that it might be the battery and not that the car needed gas. (We had an issue with it a few weeks ago.) However, Derek couldn't get a hold of dad until he had already found someone to get gas with him and had returned to the school where he decided that yes, it was the battery. So, Derek helped Dad figure out how to jump the car over the phone (it's a Prius and therefore has to be jumped differently than regular cars) and Dad got it started. Dad then came in to get Lilly just before my class started. However, when Dad got back out to the car it wouldn't start again! Now, the teacher who had helped him before was no longer available and Dad didn't want to bother anyone else so Derek had to come to the school to jump the car for the second time. Derek managed to get it started and Dad went home with Lilly.

When 3:00 rolled around I called Dad to see if he was still planning on coming to pick me up from work. He said yes as long as the car started. Ten minutes later he called and said that it wouldn't start. So, Derek had to go to the house to pick up Lilly so I could feed her without too much time passing (I'm trying to keep my milk supply up and want to use as few bottle as possible.) But, Derek didn't call Dad to tell him he was coming to get them and Dad warmed up a bottle for Lilly before Derek arrived. So, there was then no point in bringing Lilly to me and Derek switched out the Alero for the Prius and came to pick me up. He picked me up and then we took the car to the shop to see what was wrong. They checked the battery and said that it was fine. So, we went home and I guess we'll see if the car works tomorrow!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Blur

Today, January 3rd, was my first day back to work after 3 months of staying at home with my new baby. I am a high school Spanish teacher and after 3 months of my students being taught by someone else there was a lot of adjusting to be done. Being the planning type, I chose my outfit the night before and gathered everything I would need for the day and decided to go to bed early because I planned on getting up at 5:30 just to make sure I wouldn't need to rush. Well, if you didn't already know, babies don't always do what you want them to do and by 11pm I had finally managed to put my daughter to bed along with myself.

At 3:30am Derek and I were awoken by our screaming child and by 4am were finally able to go back to sleep. At 4:45 we were again awoken by an upset baby and were then able to sleep a teeny bit more until our alarms went off at 5:30am which we promptly snoozed until 6am.

Now that we are thoroughly sleep deprived we now have to get up and get ready for our day. Lilly, my daughter, required more of my morning time for her 4th meal in as many hours and by the time I was done with her I had just enough time to scarf down the oatmeal my father made me, jump in the shower and toss my butt in the car. When I arrived at school I was excited but slightly worried about what kind of classes I would be greeted with. Would they have horrible behavior problems after my 3 month absence? Luckily, my students remembered my slightly strict classroom style and were not horribly behaved. They did however have plenty to say about my substitute. They told me all sorts of stories about what he did and didn't do and I started to get slightly worked up. But, I kept in mind that kids like to exaggerate and didn't let their opinions and stories affect me too much.

I did however have a problem remembering their names and because they weren't in assigned seats anymore it made it that much more difficult. Each class came and went with very little time to breathe in between. Then my dad, who is living with us and helping take care of Lilly while we are at work, brought her up to the school during my prep and lunch. With feeding her and myself as well as expressing any milk leftover into a bottle for her later my lunch and prep flew by. I then had 3 more classes which are the worst ones because they are 9th graders and very large in number. Then dad brought Lilly up for me to feed and visit with again at the end of the day before I had to go and sign a ton of papers to close our mortgage refinance.

By 4:45 I finally arrived home with only 45 minutes before I planned on going to the gym to work off leftover baby weight. Did I mention I developed a migraine around 1:30? So, now it is 6pm and I am finally home. I then manage to shower, eat something, pick out my outfit for the next day and feed my daughter. By 8:30pm I am exhausted and we all go to bed. So, my day was a blur of students, baby, gym and sleep deprivation but, now it's over and I'm ready for tomorrow.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

The Sunday Ritual

Almost every Sunday we meet our friends at one of our favorite dive restaurants, Tacos Don Richard (affectionately referred to as Tacos) for lunch and conversation. There are usually at least 4 or 5 of us and sometimes there are as many as 10. Today only a few showed up. I guess people are still recovering from their New Year's Day festivities.
This photo was taken right after eating copious amounts of delicious Mexican food and right before our departure for the second half of our Sunday ritual, coffee and book browsing at Barnes & Noble. In this picture are (from right to left) Lillian, Derek (my husband), Shelly, Peter and my dad Doug.

It Begins

I know that a picture of my cat might seem slightly mundane but, this picture is a good representation of a portion of this day. On New Year's Eve, Oliver managed to escape the confines of the house and ventured into the unknown outside world. We didn't notice he was gone until it was too late to look for him and he wasn't anywhere near the house. I of course was very worried because it was raining, cold and he is normally terrified of the outside.

On New Year's Day, we were preparing to go to Derek's parents house for our usual lunchtime meal of black-eyed peas, hog jowls, boiled cabbage, fried potatoes and cornbread, and I decided to take another quick look outside and to call for him. He did not come. So, I sadly got into the car and we began to pull out of the garage. Then, I suddenly saw a blur of movement at the front of the garage and I realized he had returned.

After several minutes of cooing and calming talking the cat down from his fear high I was able to pick him up and re-introduce him to the warmth and safety that is the inside. The minute his paw pads touched the bedspread he looked at me with gratitude, sat down and curled up next to his brother Booshie. Being in a rush to get to lunch I neglected to take a photo of that exact moment but, I feel that this photo also accurately depicts his relief and exhaustion.