"beefs" and "quirls"

thatcher doing a happy dance in his underoos (he refers to as "beefs" trying to pronounce briefs) after doing his business in the toilet for the first time. no m&ms required! yes!

We are on yet another trip, this time to visit "momo and papa" in Clarkston, WA. We arrived on Friday night after a long day of flying (there is not a direct from PDX-sigh). The plane however is old hat to mister man and he did really fantastic on the flight...aside from the pdx-boise portion when he spilled an entire plastic tumbler of complimentary red wine on mama's lap and boots. Oops. The flight attendant was kind enough to bring me a new cup which I slammed in fear of a repeat spillage then spent the next 45 minutes having to pee.

We're having a great time here and enjoying some killer weather. I've taken Thatch to great gramma and grandpa's every day and he is really having fun with their cat. In fact, when we drop momo off at work every morning (so I can use her car) the only way to get him to stop crying and calling for my mother is to bribe him with a cat visit to my gramma's house. This is rather interesting to me considering I'm scared to death of cats. Which leads me to the squirrels. He is completely fascinated. Mom taught him the word on his first day here so now he peers out the window in a trance saying "quirls, tree". Those dang squirrels are gross and scare me too, but he seems to think they're pretty great. For some reason I just envision them pouncing out of the tree or scurrying on the ground and latching onto my legs with their nasty little claws and teeth. I'm a paranoid freak, I know (and a complete weenie in addition to that).

I've been able to go running most of our mornings here and I just love that. It's nice and warm and I like to run the bridges loop along the river on the bike path. It's peaceful and has a couple good hills and feels fantastic to get it done first thing in the day without driving in the car somewhere, parking, getting the stroller or taking Thatch to the gym and being on a machine for an hour. Fresh air does a body good.

My friend had her new baby girl this week so I've been able to go over and hold her a couple times. She is such a sweet little baby and I adore her already. I love holding babies. It's just the most wonderful thing to me...awake, asleep, even if they are crying or poopy, I'll take it all and love every second. I have babies on the brain in a major way and am SO hopeful that Brandon and I are blessed again with another child.

Thatcher will be two years old in just over a month from now. This year has passed me by more quickly than any year of my life. He is such a big kid now and can say more words every day. Today he did two things that were really exciting for old mama. He doodied on the toilet for the first time and finally said "I love you"...not weirdly simultaneously like saying he loved his doodie though so don't worry. We called daddy (who is coming over here to meet up with us in a couple days) and left him a message with Thatch saying i love you. SO DANG CUTE.

I'm off to eat lunch. I've been hungry since 10:30 so it's time!

xoxo

tisk tisk

mother's day at sesame street show
big deal to an almost 2 year old. high five from grover himself

the fam at sesame street show

hiking in palm springs - hot hot hot (the weather, not so me)

me and little at the pool in psp NOT getting a burn. woo hoo!

I'm such a rebel. It's now Tuesday and a full week since my last entry. Woops. Our trip to PSP was great and I am proud to say I didn't even fry myself like I usually do. I guess all that SPF business really works. I'm usally so mentally skewed about my ridiculous Portland-eque level of PALE (and unwilling to admit my glowing white skin) that I slather on a thin layer of spf8 and call it a day-and no, I don't reapply irregardless of the thousand submergons in the pool. Thus the typical vacation burn. Maybe I'm growing wiser in my old age! Yes!

We got home on Saturday night and Sunday enjoyed an action-packed Mother's Day. Funny, one of the first things I thought of when I woke up that day was 'what in the hell did I do last year?' and couldn't remember for ages. Then moved onto, 'Dang I have a lot of junk to unpack'. And finished up with 'Because it's mother's day, I am going to eat all the yummy crap I normally resist...so lets head out nice and early to Tin Shed and beat the breakfast rush'. Best decision I made for myself in quite some time. Breakfast (aka my favorite meal of the day hands down) was incredible. Sat outside under heat lamps with a good view of all the other famililes waiting for a coveted table. The 'how latin' egg white scramble with fresh salsa, chorizo, black beans, avocado and cojito did not disappoint, nor did the potato cakes (crispy and delcious) and half of biscuit with homemade rasberry jam. Oh man! I can still salivate just thinking about it. So dang full after that, but damn it was good.

Sesame Street Live came to town so naturally we needed to take Thatcher to see the crew up close and personal. I got a picture of him (ok, so maybe I took like 30 pictures, but it was epic for him so don't judge me)...his expression when Bert and Ernie first came on stage was priceless. The afternoon show ended with a bang-Thatcher discovered his appreciation (and love) for the Count and got a high-five from several of the gang. What a day.

As if I didn't consume enough calories to last an entire week at Breakfast, we wrapped the night up with a couple mojitos then took it down to Sally's condo for some AMAZING PASTA from the authentic Italian joint near her place in the Pearl. I don't call myself much of a pasta lover, but this stuff was pretty gosh darn fantastic. In fact, I was so inspired by my two incredible meals it moved me to actually cook for once last night. We grilled chicken and asparagus with salad and homemade giant yummy croutons.

It's rainy here and not so much warm. I'm over it. Leaving again on Friday for a week to Clarkston to visit the folks. Should be nice weather and a fun time. By the time I get back I'm praying for sun here at home!

Got to get monkey to bed and gear up for the little obscure show called American Idol. I watch it like a twelve year old and love every second (not sure who I'm rooting for now that Matt and Allison are gone though. Boo).

Happy Tuesday, MamaO

Palm Springs Voyage-Day One

Thatcher and I took it solo yesterday with a trip down to visit his Grammie (or as he calls her, Mammie). I spent the whole day prior loading down the diaper bag with every possible in flight distraction, and about an hour into it I was so dang happy with myself for being prepared I practically said so out loud.

First of all, I was awarded the coveted open seat next to me. When you are flying alone with a large almost 2 year old, it feels like a blessing from the divine one himself. The little dvd player I brought was acting up and took about 15 long minutes to load. Meanwhile Thatcher was chanting "George" and "Show" over and over until the movie came on. That distraction was a solid hour of bliss....followed by him ripping the headphones off and shouting "TREAT" and "up please!!!!!!". Oh no, one more hour to go.

Two coloring books, five minature sesame street books and about eight pounds of raisins, fruit leather, dried apples and teddy grahams later was the brief melt down on descent. It was about 10 minutes prior to landing that mister boss man decided he no longer wanted to sit in my lap (the only time he was required to by the way) and also vigorously refused to wear the seatbelt if sitting in his own chair. A little crying and throwing his body was successfully bribed into being an angel with yet more snacks. Magic.

Once we got here-you can imagine, thatcher in the ergo on my back and me with all the bags, junk falling off all around me-we made it and it is warm and windy but awesome. I put him down for a nappy, got my bikini on and immediately headed outside for a 75 page read-a-thon of Tori Spellings book (I know it sounds brainless, but the book is very entertaining!) then got too hot and had to take it over to the pool. In heaven. Dinner was fun at the club. We sat outside, had a couple glasses of wine and Thatcher entertained all mammie's friends endlessly.

I'm sure Day Two will not disappoint. I'm heading out for a run soon then presumably hitting up the pool. Aaaaaaaaaaaah.