27!

27 it is, 27 it is! Holy heck, being closer to 30 is an actual feeling now - like I'm actually experiencing a sensation of "time sure is marching on." Instead of feeling how I thought I would feel edging towards the end of the glorious 20's (decrepit), I actual feel somewhat curated! Like life is getting sweeter, more meaningful and just FULL in general as Chad and I have moved from (drunken) late teenagers into the early twenties, parenthood, mid-twenties and into these exciting years of raising actual kids instead of babies and toddlers. Almost like we're editing our lives down from "give us all your hand-me-down furniture and while you're at it, your life experience" to "let's take life slow and really let go. God's got this!" It's a bevvy of new sensations, I tell you! This year's birthday feels heavier than all the past ones, but in a good way. I don't know if that makes any sense, but hey! 

Anyhoo, per the usual birthday obligations, I'm sitting here with a nice little Starbucks and enjoying quiet time. Carter, being the big humongous 5 year old that he is, is playing video games. VIDEO GAMES! I remember turning 22 and him being an exact 1 month old on this day. I remember being very excited for a date night out with Chad later that night, but semi agitated because the first time we left Carter (1 week earlier), had resulted in anxiety all through dinner and the longest movie of all time (Avatar!). That night was a blast, celebrating the ole' 22. How young we were! What a blast we were having! Geeze louise, God works some serious miracles - the grace he handed down to us during those years are not lost on me now that I have had some significant time in between. Ahh, the gift of hindsight!

I woke up today squished between Kota and Carter, the three of us pretty much pushing Chad off the bed - the best type of wake-up. I couldn't believe it was my birthday! I felt a weird sort of freaked-outness because it's my first bday far away from my family and good friends - maybe that's why today felt a tad bit heavier than usual? Anyway, after realizing (happily) that we were out of coffee therefore we HAD to go to Starbucks and doughnuts, driving around town lifted my semi-funky spirits. 75% of me was in this great mood because it's my birthday, but then 25% of me felt funny. After cruising around the sunny town, I felt better. Way blessed to get to be here with my favorite little peeps while we talked about Daddy getting home so Carter can "SHOW YOU YOUR BIRTHDAY SURPRISE, MOMMY!"

Okay, I feel like this has got to be my most depressing birthday post of all time! I'm not trying to be a downer, I guess I'm just feeling "deeper" this year, which is a good thing, right? It IS a good thing, I've decided. I'm stoked about it! But after rereading above paragraphs I kind of want to go crack myself open a beer or something to get the party started in my own mind! That's not going to happen (until children are in bed), but it's like I want a "deep thinking" breakout! 

So in honor of birthday awesomeness, here are a few of my favorite things from 26!

- Buying the house

- Leaving cramped living

- Chilling out about baby #3.... Realizing partying it up with 2 babies is a gosh darn fun time! Why worry about another one at the moment?

- The homemade tamales we had on New Years Eve. LIFE CHANGING. They needed a shoutout.

- Chad becoming a serious health officianado!

- Becoming obsessed with wine

- Meeting neighbors who I don't feel are transient beings! Benefits to home ownership!

- Celebrating 5 years of wedded bliss with Chadly

- Gifting our parents an awesome Vatican tour with my sister and brother! When they opened it on Christmas they almost cried and so did all of us! It was one of the best things of all time!

- Really digging our old car. That thing is a beast! I mean, there's nothing like a new set of wheels, but when you are emotionally wrapped up into how well your car functions (is this thing going to get me all the way to Mission Viejo?), you really appreciate it! Hahahaha

- Last summer. I'm a tad bit sad because nothing beats Ladera Ranch in terms of summer, and clearly that won't be how our next season will be, but I'm thankful to have had that amazing time last year. We hit the pools from April - September! It was amazing and so stress free - thank you splash pads and 2' pools!

- Getting on the same page with Chad decor wise! I know this sounds so lame, but this was actually a very stressful part of our lives together (hahaha - we are ridiculous). He actually cares a whole lot about how the house feels and everything surrounding that thought (is it clean? Is there enough light in this room? Is this functional? Do I like how this looks?). It used to drive me nuts because I, honest to goodness, always thought he wanted our marital habitats to be "fraternity house 2.0." I had ZERO faith in him, but also considered my own decor sub par. I've chilled out in the last few weeks and hey! I actually like the way the guy thinks! PALM SLAP TO THE FOREHEAD.

Okay, that felt great!!!! Now I'm going to go play 15 minutes of video games with Carter (he looks forward to this time together every day! It used to bug me... "I'm not going to sit here and play video games," is always what I thought in my head, but begrudgingly would still do it because he would get so down about it. But now I think it's a cute way for him to communicate with Chad and I). Anyway, cheers to 27!!!!!

 

Who are we?

Dagnabbit, we are completely different human beings nowadays! What's been going on up in here? Extreme contentment, adventures in grass-growing and weed pulling, "can we play in the street, mom?," Chad being okay with switching a ton of furniture around without the "really? We're really switching things around again?" questions?! WHO ARE WE? It's been freakin' awesome. Here's what we've been up to with these two babes and life in the IE:

1. We now have real green grass in the backyard and the court yard. Greenery has yet to be seen outside of the front yard's little fenced in area, but hey! 2 out of 3 green spots is fine by me!

2. We pulled our beautiful, HUMONGO dining room table from it's first home: the room we originally wanted to change from a living room into a dining room. It was just too BIG! If you were one of the people eating closest to the wall, you were trapped. There was noooo getting out for you. Also, I wanted to have a separate space to hang with friends when they came over. A place other than the family room where our two wild animals run rampant, and I wanted to use that square footage more effectively than we had been. Lastly, I actually wanted to USE the table we had built, not just stare at it and think of how we needed to add chairs to her massiveness.

3. I did said changing around while Chad was at work! I was actually so nervous for him to come home. Here's what I did: got rid of the black round kitchen table, dragged the dining room table to it's spot, leaving the original "dining room" empty. Then I rolled up the massive rug that sat underneath the family room and pushed it into the now empty dining room where I unfolded it. It's now a big shaggy rugged room. This left the family room with just the pushed over couch (the massive dining room table takes up a big chunk of space) and the ottoman. It looks pretty bare in there without a rug but hey! That will come next week I think. I felt so bad making the dining room decision without Chad! I apologized a ton of times and he was like, "Babe freakin' chill. Holy crap it's just furniture." Okaaaaaaaay there, man who has a very strong opinion on house decor!

Now we're going to pick up new couches for the family room this Saturday and move the original sectional into the new living room. That way we'll be utilizing every inch of square footage possible and we'll have an area to hang in while having friends over! I guess we ARE living room people!

4. I hate to be negative about my Kota Koo, but gosh dangit that child has had more accidents over the past week than I think both of them have had in the past 5 years combined. It started off when she was very sick - I don't think she even knew what she was doing. But it's now unfolded into AT LEAST one every night with a possibility of one during nap time. And that is nothing compared to the height of the accidents. Last Friday (her worst sick day), there was literally 6 clean ups. By the end of the day I was almost crying. Poor babe and poor us! Now she sleeps in our bed from about midnight on because her bed "smells bad." It's Kota in the middle, me right next to her then Chad, all squished. The entire right side of the bed is free and clear! It's insane!

5. Carter is a completely new person now, too. Right after he turned 5, I realized that his "good boy" foundation was pretty strong. Chad and I now kind of let him do whatever he wants because "what he wants" is so positive and obedient, there's no reason not to! I want him to feel confident doing what he wants to do, not just hoping we don't get mad at him for voicing his opinion. In an attempt to "train" him, I got scared we were negatively forming a personality that was not his true, authentic self. So that's been cool! Hip hip hooray for my big dude!

Wooohooooo for life! Goooooooo IE!

**Pictures are from our Oak Glen trip in 2013! Hey-o dark hair that I absolutely hated! Funny now, not funny then. Hahahaha