A compromise

So it's no secret that my culinary skills are outrageously out-shined by....umm...well, everyone. I'm like the opposite of Giada, who unfairly so, is the epitome of intuition in the kitchen. Anyway, I have learned to accept this unfortunate fact, and have been serving myself well from Chad's dishes-o-amazingness nightly. Well, since the Little Lady has made her appearance, I literally can count on one hand the amount of times I've actually cooked something. It's all about waiting for Chad to come home and figuring out exactly what he's craving, so that way I can just handle the kids while he slaves away over a hot stove, after he has just slaved away all day long at work. The good news is, the man likes cooking. It's a release for him, something which compliments my stress-ball ways when it comes to the heart of the home.

On a completely different note, about a month-and-a-half ago, I realized that I will never be without the kids, if even for forty-five minutes, unless they're sleeping. It's one of those things that just hits you once #2 comes along, where with #1, the hubster can relieve you every once in awhile and all is well. Of course Chadly can always take both kids while I sleep in or what have you, but it's just not the same. There's no such thing as a stressless "me" moment, at least while they're this age.

But anyway, I'm completely, 100%, totally fine with that. It's my job, and exactly what I signed up for. I truly am making a conscious point to savor it. Something I always used to read out there in blog-land was "to savor the little moments because they won't be tiny forever," and with the coming of Kota, I see how important that is. 

That being said though, it can get mighty tiring. Every single day, without fail, 5:00 pm will roll around and I'll feel so spent it's outrageous. Like I just ran 5 marathons in a row, which again, is completely fine, but just tough from time to time.

Anyway, Chad and I were discussing this fact, when he said, "You know what would be awesome and easier on everyone? If I just came home from work everyday, we ate right then and there, then I can handle the kids' bedtime routine. That way I can spend more time with the babes, not have to cook as much, and you can relax. What do you think?"

Um, yes please. 

Why had that never occurred to me before?

The only thing I would have to do is start cooking about an hour before he gets home, something which scared me because of the wild task of balancing both kids, but hey! I had never even tried it before, so how was I so positive that it would be a disaster?

There I was, forcing my man to cook like a maniac after a long day, while I just sort of barraged him with all the weird points of the last eight hours because, remember, that's when I would hit my tired phase.

So a deal was struck, and it has been ever so enjoyable.

Now I'm spitting out crazy meals like chicken and vegetable pasta and stuffed portobello mushrooms with eggplant parmesan. What the heck?! Who knew I had it in me!

Anyway, quite the exciting little week we've had over here in the land of the C's, and I daresay my kitchen skills are improving! 

Woohooo!

Anniversary

I don't even know where to start, it has all been so amazing. Seriously, how the heck did I get paired with the exact person on earth I'm supposed to be with? It sort of blows my mind. It's just so unbelievable that that dude I married three years ago compliments me in every way, in every situation. Anyway, as far as the other night goes, I shall just start from the beginning.

Back in the day we decided that I will always be responsible for planning the odd anniversaries and he will get the evens, that way I get the "smaller" of the "bigs," like 5, 15 and 25, and he will get the "bigger" of the "bigs," 10, 20, 30, etc. etc. Anyway, being that this year we celebrated our third year of wedded bliss, it was all me, baby. 

One thing about us, we are major surprise people. Chad has a hard time telling me what we're going to be having for dinner because he wants it to be a surprise. I can't stand telling him that I may or may not have purchased shrimp at the grocery store so that he can surprise me with whatever the heck he does with it. Bottom line, we basically live and die for the moment of surprise, be it large or small. 

But here's the thing: Chad is a master.

Yes I try, but somehow he always blows me out of the water, but NOT THIS YEAR!

It was like an olympic sport for me: making phone calls here, going to check out menus there, researching yelp high, scourging food blogs low. It was nuts. NUTS, I tell you!

But what I settled on was just beyond awesome:

Dinner reservations at the Blue Bayou inside of Pirates of the Caribbean at good ole' Disneyland, where we have always wanted to serenely sit and admire the fire flies, followed by a lovely bout of wine tasting over in California Adventure.

OH YEAH, GIVE IT UP, MAN, GIVE IT UP! DRINKS ON YOU FOR NICOLE'S AWESOME IDEA!

Anyway, I felt super sly because I kept this bad boy plan under wraps BIG TIME. When I made the reservation I asked if she could email me a confirmation, and she told me that wasn't an option because Disney doesn't do that. Hmm... So after feeling slightly annoyed, I realized that this simply meant that there was no paper trail, JUST IN CASE the man wanted to go rummaging through my inbox... Which is a completely insane thought... But seriously, just in case. Proof that we are psychos over here. Anyway, after realizing that goin'-a-rummagin' would produce nothing, I felt even more awesome.

Finally, the big day came to celebrate. I kept telling him that we were going horse back riding behind the Hollywood sign {something which I would think would be so ridiculously amazing, but Chadly would hate. SOMEONE gets all hay-feverish around those beasts. Boo.}, to which he would always laugh awkwardly and then say, "No but seriously, is that what we're doing?"

EVIL EVIL EVIL EVIL EVIL laugh, I had totally done it. Kept him in the dark. 

Finally, when we were pulling out of the driveway, I checked his wallet to make sure we had our passes, and then told him what was up {but not the wine tasting part, because I couldn't reveal too much too quickly!}.

After a round of high-fives and excited yelps, we were off and running! We arrived about 45 minutes early, so we got ourselves drinks at the ESPN zone where we watched the first few minutes of the Angels game. You know, there's just something about drinking a beer with your man when the kids are more than taken care of and you're wearing fabulous wedges with an awesome beyond awesome short little dress. I know, totally weird, but it's the truth! It was so darn fun and crazy of us!

So after jamming through my brewskie, we took off for the ole' Bayou. Really quick though, I felt completely freakish rockin' heels through Disneyland, so much so that we were just laughing. There I was, all made up amongst the jean-donning, Nike-wearing herds. Hilarious. But anyway, we sat down for dinner, and holy guacamole, it was so darn good. Amazing, actually. 

Of course, once we sat down we went through our nightly ritual of asking the other what the peak and pit was of their day was, but this time we did the peak and pit of our entire marriage.
Ahh, how romantic to hear the peaks, but when it came to the pits, man we couldn't take each other seriously. It was just too pleasant of a moment to sit and stew on how I suck at housecleaning! "Oh, well" to that my friend!

Anyway, after dinner we headed on over to California Adventure to commence some good ole' fashion drinking, albeit classily so. Well, guess what? Apparently the pictures online completely lie to you when they show that you'll be underneath a twinkle-lit sky swirling your glass to and froe! It was like a straight up bar with a few bottles of wine behind it, all of which would be tasted from plastic cups, which we were "free to walk around the park with," but unfortunately was closed for the night. Hmm... Not what  was expecting, so we decided to heave-ho over to the Jazz Kitchen, which is where Chad took me on my 20th birthday back in the dating days.

As soon as we took a seat right next to a far-too-mellow newly 21-year-old, we ordered some cocktails. My hurricane was outrageously amazing, but Chad's mint julep was straight up alcohol with a pinch of leaves. Disgusting, I say! So we left there and went back to the ESPN zone, where we discussed how Chad's future man cave will flaunt the 100+ inch screen, watched the rest of the Angels game and laughed like crazy at the sports Jeers of the Year.

 

Bottom line was this: in 60 years when we're sitting there like two old cronies, he will still make me laugh like a hyena and I will still make fun of him for watching infomercials late at night, all while shaking my cane at him from our bedroom, yelling into his man cave with the 100+ inch screen.
It will be a wonderful future for the two of us, a wonderful future.

{Ugh, the photo quality and lack-o-editing is driving me nuts, but hey, what can ya do? When a lady has two sleeping bambinos up there, time is of the essence!}

The "why's" gone out of control

Cart's has been in the "why" phase for quite a few months now, something which always cracks me up because it's just so simple and precious. Anyway, while making the thirty minute drive to my parents house the other day, it got a little bit out of control. Here is how it went:

Carts: Trash truck?

Me: I don't think we'll see the trash truck today.

Carts: No trash truck? Why?

Well, it's Saturday, I don't think the trash truck comes on Saturday.

Why?

Because the trash men need a day off too.

Why?

Because everyone needs a day off.

Why?

Because they work all week long.

Why?

Because that's what their bosses want.

Why?

Because that's how they make money.

Why?

Because that's how business works.

Why?

Because people work everyday all around the world to generate money.

Why?

Because it's a global market.

Why?

Because people in Asia wake up before people in the Middle East, who wake up before people in the Europe, who wake up before people in the United States. 

Why?

Because the world turns round and round and the sun comes up at different times, so they all start work at different times.

Why?

Because it's on an axis, so that's why all their markets depend upon one another. 

Why?

Because it's a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week type of thing.

Why?

I'm not sure, that's just the way God wants it to be.

Why?

I have no idea.

Why?

Because that's just the way it is, little man, that's just the way it is.

Alright, so maybe I got a little carried away there with the whole trying to explain to my two-year-old why we won't see the trash truck today, but hey, after that crazy conversation I couldn't help but just sit there and laugh. It's all just so funny and sweet, and always ends in,

"I'm not sure, Carts, that's just the way God wants it to be."

It sort of makes you think about the most basic things in life, and how truly, that's just the way God wants it, even though explaining global markets is far from the simple things in life.

Anyway, hilarious I tell you, hilarious.

:)

In which critiques are made

Alright, so I'm usually not one to sit here and spew pop culture knowledge since I'm more often than not behind the curve, but man, these two topics must be touched upon:

{1}

The Great Gatsby is coming out soon!

Oh my gosh, I'm so excited.

See here's the deal: I didn't even know about the making of it until I read it on someone else's blog, but now I'm creepily obsessed. The dude who is directing it is the same guy who did Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge, both of which I hated at first but now have permanently saved on my DVR and rewatch frequently. Anyway, most importantly, LEO is playing Gatsby. LEO is playing GATSBY. Oh, man. Thinking of Mr. Titanic in his dapper suits and being all introverted kind of makes me freak out a little bit. Just a little bit. Talk about GNO type of movie. Well, Chad loves that book, but something tells me he won't share in my enthusiasm when it comes to Leo's cigar smoking wealthiness. We shall see, though.

{2}

Robert Pattinson as a possible Finnick in Catching Fire.

Y'all, no.

I don't want this. Today I got one of those annoying email alerts from Fandango telling me to purchase MORE movie tickets {why do they tell me that everyday? How many movies are out there, anyway?}, but this one was different. In the subject line it read, "Robert Pattinson casted in Catching Fire?" My heart dropped immediately because the only role which I'm actively trying to research is the one of Finnick, who is supposed to be this sexy champion beast from a few Games ago. Anyway, in my head it's totally Zac Efron circa Hairspray because he's buff, athletic AND has bright BLUE EYES! Finnick has blue eyes in the book, and I don't think I can take another non-blatantly-blue-eyed actor being casted in a blue eyed part, even though I know Rob has blueys, they're just not potent enough {see: Peeta!}. I just don't want Edward's self-loathing air around Finnick! It must not be! Anyway, we shall see, we shall see.

{Edward: yes. Finnick: no.}

{Finnick: heck to the yes!}

So there I was as a crazed 14-year-old.

That will be it for awhile on this matter.

Brown and blue: did this really happen?

Y'all, I think we did it. IT. Created the impossible. The snazziest. The coolest. The rarest.

I think we got ourselves a brown haired, BLUE eyed baby girl!

Seriously, beyond awesome. 

Okay, so here's some background:

Chad has always talked about how brown hair, blue eyed mixes are his favorite of all time. The combination of the two just blows his mind! So much so that there were a few times there where I would give him a little whack and say something along the lines of, "Alright man, we all know how much you just LOVE the whole brown hair, blue eye action! We got it, I say!" 

But when it comes to the whole gene pool thing, the odds are slightly against us. Well, the bro-in-law has blue eyes, and I have two uncles who were blessed in the orb department, but with my hazels and Chadly's whole half Mexicano thing, we just didn't see that happening.

Anyway, day 1 of Kota's life, Chad was holding her in the hospital when he looked at me with crazy intensity and said, "OH MY GOSH, BABE, did we just have a brown hair, blue eyed baby?!" 

To which I just laughed and said, "Oh, mi amore, all babies have blue-ish eyes, remember Carter?"

"Oh yeah, that's right." 

But listen here: even though you really can't tell in that there picture, we only have a mere 30-ish days until she hits the six month mark and that's when it will be set in stone! Baby girl's eyes are still blue, with a super thick, light ring around her pupils! I can't believe it! Anyway, by writing this out I'm probably jinxing the whole thing, but holy moly! It must be documented.

Anyway, we shall see, but I will tell you this much: I'm pretty positive there's no humanly way Chad will be able to do anything but give in to every whim of a precious beyond precious brown hair, blue eyed little missy!

:)

Adventures in bathing suit shopping

Well, in our stupid move I packed away my fabulous bathing suit. What the hell, NICOLE? Last summer I had done the impossible: found a cute-but-not-too-crazy-revealing-bikini-because-moms-have-no-business-wearing-near-thongs-out-on-the-pool-deck, and now it is gone. GONE, amongst our couch and other doo-dads in the ole' pod. 

So to Target I went yesterday to repair my error in judgement because Chadly had gotten the jacuzzi working, and I couldn't just sit out for that good time.

Anyway, here is how it went:

First stop, Target, of course! I've shopped for bathing suits from here for a good 10 years, and guess what?! This year there's NOTHING. Nada. Zip. Maybe I'm too late for all the cute cuts? Oh man. Think about this: hideous parachute bottoms with decent tops. What the heck? That's not cool, Target! Don't tease us with tops and force us into boxer shorts on the bottom! Anyway, in the middle of my frustration I texted my sister to ask her where the heck else one would shop for a good suit.

"Tilly's? I have no idea."

{She's also a mum...I'm gathering that bathing suit shopping isn't exactly us mothers' collective favorite thing to shop for. See: baby girl clothes.}

Okay, well it's probably been a good 12 years since I've stepped foot into that place, but hey! There was one right across the parking lot, so why not? I decided to give it a whirl.

Holy moly. Can we say, "SPRING BREAK 2012" while waving our rock-on hands up in the air while we just don't care? I had clearly stepped into the land of the young, the home of the tequila shot. I'm about two kids too late on that trend.

So, onward and upward it was, I thought.

After making a straight bee-line for the door, leaving the raucous music and midriff baring teenagers behind, I took a good look around and saw my favorite: TJ Maxx.

Woohoo!

So off I went and found myself a precious beyond precious bathing suit, which is both flattering and not too over-the-top. Just my style.

Here's the moral of the story: matronly cut bottoms from Target and ridiculous fringe-baring Jenna Jameson style tops from Tilly's just ain't the thangs second time mama's want to be experimenting with, particularly with bad overhead lighting. Doesn't do a gal any favors, you see? So do your due diligence before stepping out of the house with every intent to purchase a good ole' fashioned suit, to avoid such situations and to come out on top in the world of postpartum bikini buying!

{I'm still in the process of figuring out this whole awesome Mac thing, so not pictures as of right now! Boo!}

My left arm and it's buddy

So my babe is attached my hip in the most literal sense. 

I have completely mastered the art of right-hand-only typing, loading and unloading the dishwasher with the perfect tilt and getting Carter's shirts on and off sans lefty.

And you know what? I totally love it. I know that it's not exactly the healthiest thing on earth for that whole independent child thing, but hey. What can I say? I'm self-indulgent these days.

One thing's for sure: this totally stems back to the hospital days. First of all, our hospital got rid of the nursery, so she was in our room the entire time, and I'm telling you, girlfriend knew when I was not around {they had to try three times to do her hearing test because she would immediately burst into tears as they wheeled her away}. Once we came home, it obvious that she could sense when alone, so in order for her to fall asleep {and stay that way}, there I was, always a few feet away. 

Anyway, I used to roll my eyes at women like this, but alas, I have become one. It's just more thing I can tack up to the look-how-different-my-two-babies-are-from-one-another board. Carter was always relaxed just lying there on his back as I did the laundry, Kota is not. Carter would cry himself to sleep within a matter of minutes, Kota makes me feel guilty for a great deal more minutes. Maybe because Carter is a boy and subconsciously I see him as being more independent? Therefore I felt less like I needed to protect him from crying, even though I don't like the thought that I may have a double standard? I don't even know if that makes sense, since I keep envisioning Kota as this total BA doctor or lawyer someday {Hi, I'm one of those parents}.

But anyway, since the bambinos are asleep and I'm feeling list-like, here are the pros and cons to holding your baby all the time:

Pro: you get to hold a happy baby all the time.

Con: you are holding a happy baby all the time.

Pro: you're the only one who can meet baby's needs.

Con: you're the only one who can meet baby's needs.

Pro: you feel like you have a secret language with your baby.

Con: your husband is apparently left out of secret language {hello, Mother's Day guilt fest sleeping in session}.

Pro: you feel ultra bonded to baby.

Con: babysitting baby I would imagine would not be enjoyable.

Sigh. Anyway, I'm just glad that the source of her frustration was not from breast feeding after all, since after a recent post, I got an email from an awesome beyond all awesome lactation consultant! Wasn't that so sweet! She put my mind at ease, and I couldn't be more appreciative!

Woohooo!