Potty Training Adventures! (Disclaimer: Kind of gross and about poop...)

A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO...
Let's talk about poop... and call me nuts but I think this is a BIG deal...
Yesterday ari and I are sitting downstairs and she looks at me and says, poopoo. I was like, bummed out, saying, oh, did you go poopoo? And she goes no... Ari poopoo toilet. I said you need to go poopoo? On Ari's potty? And she goes, poopoo baby toilet. !!!! So we haul balls upstairs and I strip her down and plop her on her little potty in 2.2 and she hahaha lets out a huge toot (laughs hysterically and screams ARI TOOTED) then she gets quiet and a little red faced then declairs I did it! Hops up, and well, there's a huge poop in there!! I freaked out... got her wiped and dressed and gave her candy (just a little... she only gets it when she poos). Then we went out together and bought some Dora and disney princess "big girl draws."
I've never been so excited for poop in my life, haha! I even bought her a new little pony.
THE NEXT DAY...
Ha ha another poop story about Ari...
Last night she was running around in nothing but her "princess big girl diaper" (pull ups with disney princesses on it). I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready (baked chicken, steamed green beans and baby red potatoes) and I hear "poopoo!" I yell out "do you need to go poopoo?" And she goes "poopoo!" I decide to investigate... I walk into the living room and ther she is: butt naked peering into her pull up which is now on her little recliner with one gnarly huge turd in it. I couldn't help but laugh then took her to the potty and tried to explain that when she needs to poo we go in the potty and we don't take the big girl diaper off in the living room... too funny...

I spoke too damn soon...

While I still absolutely LOVE the new additions to the Durango, I can not enjoy them anymore. Why? Because the damn Durango decided that it doesn't want to work anymore. We were in the parking lot at Fred Meyer's on Abbott and Dustin was waiting in the car with Ari who was asleep... it sputtered... shut off... and wouldn't start again. :( We had to transfer everything (including sleeping baby) into the other truck and have KORUPT towed. I'm seriously way more upset than I really need to be... but it's just such a bummer. I love that damn car. And why is it that JUST when things are looking up... when life seems to be getting a teeny bit better... you get that curveball that brings you right back down?! SIGH. Why us. Why me.

Bumpin Thumpin and Lovin!

Throw up your rock fist, if you're feelin it when I DROP THIS!
My darling darling husband... he is the greatest husband... and he's alllll mine. On Saturday he took my car allllllll day and told me he was going to change the oil. I was suspicious, but hey, you never know. So he was gone FOREVER and I got pretty skeptical. He shows up home around 11:30 p.m... WITH MY PIMPED OUT CAR! Babylove installed a 15.4inch drop-down LCD screen for Ari to watch movies... swanky! He put in a THUMPIN new sound system with a 12 inch woofer and a wicked cool deck that I still haven't figured out. I think he might like me a little bit... :) I love how he uses his passion for cars and tailors it to what I would like and what Ari would like. He put a lot of thought into this one, folks, and you'll never know how much I love him. Boom boom chika chika boom boom!
Rock on.

Hello, my name is Mama.

I love being a mother. It's the most challenging, trying job I've ever had... but it's been worth every tear, every hardship, every owie, booboo, and wail. This thing... this new kind of love... I swear you don't know what REAL love is until you become a parent. It envelopes you. It opens so many avenues to so many roads. I was watching Ari tonight... she didn't know I was watching. She was concentrating so hard on playing dress up... trying to get the glossy satin pink gloves to cover each individual finger. Trying to get the clip on earrings just right. She was such a little... girl. A beautiful little girl. Later on we were playing with a flashlight on the floor of the living room in the dark... we were shining it up on the ceiling and making shapes and laughing... she was laying her little head on my chest and we just smiled at eachother. Every now and then I have these little revelations of motherhood... this was one of them. There are times in life where we feel like we are going to lose ourselves in the chaos that surrounds us. All I have to do is look into her big, brown, innocent eyes and I'm grounded again. She brings me back to earth and sends me into the hemisphere at the same time.
Hello, my name is Mama.

One fell swoosh

I cut all my hair off for locks of love. It was about eleven inches. I was a little nervous about it and went alone... but I followed through and I don't regret it at all. I've had the same haircut pretty much since I was seven and I didn't realize how liberating it is to make such a big change... and in the name of cherity for that matter. You should grow your hair out and donate it... it will make you feel so good... it's the right thing to do. Happy Holidays. xoxo

30 minutes feels like binging...

A half hour lunch is hard on the ol gut. I feel so... American. Cram it in! Quick! Must... get... every... last... crumb...
What the heck are we teaching our children?! I vow to never force my daughter to join the "clean plate club." I solemnly swear...

Sweet Child O' Mine

How can something so small and so goofy be the center of my universe? This child... my gorgeous daughter... One day I will attempt to share with the world what she means to me.

Today is not the day. Just know that nothing in my universe is more important than this sweet child o' mine. She'll navigate in and out of your heart and leave an impression you will never be able to forget. She's practially magic.

Lend me your hair...

My mom used to be bald. Way bald. The sick kind. Mom had cancer.

What a bizarre and surreal experience... seeing your own mother, so tiny and frail... bald but slightly fuzzy at the same time. I remember sitting in the waiting room at the hospital during her "emergency" surgery. I remember there being some kind of complications about her not coming out of the anesthesia as quickly as the wanted her to. It flashed through my mind some maybe fairly recent complication of her saying that she had a great aunt who died that way. It was at that moment that the acidic bile of my own mortality burned in the back of my throat. For a fraction of a second I almost believed that maybe she wasn't going to make it. And that one thought completely destroyed my soul. MY mother... my... mom.

Mom came through. Only to look forward to months and months of chemo and hair loss and infection and sadness of not being able to hold her brand new grandbabies. But did she wallow in her own self pity? No... she got married. In a wig and a dress with tubes snaking from her chest and abdomen. She looked absolutely amazing.

She has recovered and is now working on her second year of remission.

If you ever see a bald headed mama, you should probably give her a hug because you can be sure she's putting up one hell of a fight.

Home Sweet Home

Hail Holy Queen.. Alaska! She is big. She is beautiful. She is home. I've seen most of my days here in Alaska and I couldn't imagine a better place to grow. The shit that I have seen and the crazy things I have been a part of have shaped me to who I am... at 27... a mother... a wife... a friend, daughter, worker...

This picture is my husband's grandpa back in the day with a SERIOUS rack on his back.

Can I get a round of Amen's?!?

Hallelujah, boys and girls, welcome to my blog.