Land of orphan couches

Every year around this time San Luis becomes the home to thousands of orphans...Lost, displaced, and lonely. Couches and recliners left broken-hearted on the corners of this great city. You might ask yourself, "How is this happening in my town?" But there is no easy answer.

People who suck: don't stop for pedestrians

It is now common for me to approach cross-walks with apprehension, why? Because people suck. They think solely of themselves...not the family with a newborn trying to cross the road who's legal right it is to cross, that right which trumps the rights of the driver who clearly can't see said family or refuses to look in our direction as they very nearly plow through my brood...well wife and child. So I Herby declare that the next oblivious driver shall receive a b.o.b. stroller imprint on their passenger side door and hopefully a pant leg full of hidy-ho...of course Sarah will have to be holding Hayvn for this to work....on second thought I think I'll clap loudly and yell "Hey! Nice job! good one!" Whilst Higuera st. shoppers look on at me, hopefully shaking their heads at the crappy driver and not the chubby guy making an ass of himself by yelling at passing cars. The best part? If you don't look in our direction while you nearly drive though us, WE MUST NOT BE THERE! Can anyone help me think of a creative way to teach these drivers their lesson? For reals...I need real fun suggestions....

When It Don't Come Easy

Yesterday little bug and I were driving to the bakery to deliver Jeremy some lunch. It was Sunday and he had a wedding cake to get out. As we were coming through Shell Beach the trusted ipod put on shuffle played Patty Griffin's "When it Don't Come Easy" from her album Impossible Dream. Now, I've never thought it was just coincidence that this album was released the exact month we got married. I remember its release because, since Patty is one of my favorites, we picked up her new CD on its release date while on our honeymoon in Ashfield, North Carolina. I remember liking the new album a lot, but not really loving it for the probably the first year I listened to it. Then, as Jeremy and I were nearing our 1st anniversary, I suddenly LOVED the album, especially the song "When it Don't Come Easy". I knew without a doubt, that the song was OUR song.

As I listened to the song closely yesterday while little bug dreamed away in the backstreet, the lyrics hit me once again. In the past 4 years I've listened to that song during all different seasons of our marriage--some good and some trying--and there are always different parts of the song that speak to me in different ways to match the season. This is the power of music for me and why I'll always be a lover of lyrics. Anyway, what struck me yesterday where these lines:

"I don't know nothing except change will come
Year after year what we do is undone
Time keeps moving from a crawl to a run
I wonder if we're gonna ever get home

You're out there walking down a highway
And all of the signs got blown away
Sometimes you wonder if you're walking in the wrong direction

But if you break down
I'll drive out and find you
If you forget my love
I'll try to remind you
And stay by you when it don't come easy"

Patty's words make some powerful statements to me when I think about my marriage, especially in our current season of trying to take care of an infant, learn how to be parents and face an uncertain future. Yesterday, while tearing up over this beautiful song and all it represents for me, it hit me like a ton of bricks how lucky I am to have someone willing to find me and save me. And Jeremy does these acts everyday in ways he doesn't even realize. He finds me when he looks at me and sees how tired I am from getting up with our little love all night and he saves me when he takes our wiggling worm of a son and tells me to go lay down to rest for a bit.

Jeremy and I are entering the "All the signs got blown away" season again...and while I'm not gonna sit here and paint a picture of our perfect marriage (there is no such thing), I am going to say that while things are hard and we don't always like each other like we should, I find a tremendous amount of solace and comfort when I look across the sofa and see my sweet husband's sleepy face staring back at me. Maybe it's the fact that I know he's tired too...or that he's the only person who really knows what I feel when Hayvn smiles at me because he feels it too. I know we've only got 4 years of this marriage thing under our belt, and that's really nothing. But in these 4 years we've faced some challenges that have pushed our marriage and our selves in some very difficult ways. But looking back now, I'm thankful for every challenge. I love our shared history. And I love knowing that no matter what, we've got a shared future too.

But in all honesty, I wish he'd shave the beard.

Family Fun Fair Day

We took little bug for his first trip to the Mid-State Fair. As most know who attend this ruckus yearly romp, the Mid-State Fair is not for the faint of heart. It's a lotta people (who are colorful to say the least), a lotta food (most of which is deep fried....deep fried nutter butter anyone?), a lotta lights, a lotta noise, and a lotta livestock. While we're not annual attenders, we have been known to partake in our fair share of fried delights and take a few strolls through the sheep pins. This year we decided to tag along with our friends the Broyles and the Browns to attend Kids' Day. It was a lot of fun. Little bug had a great time...well as good a time as any two monther could. He enjoyed most of the fair from the comfortable views of his car seat. While he didn't say much, you could tell he was soaking in all the cultural delights of the fair as the kid barely blinked all day. Sleep finally overtook him as we made our way through the nosiest part of the fair--the rides. As roller coasters whizzed overhead and children screamed from all directions, little bug fell into a peaceful little slumber. go figure.

Anyway, our big day at the Mid-State Fair resulted in the funnest family photo ever...and let's be honest, this ain't no Sears family portrait..these are Mid-State Fair faces for sure.

Apparently, My Son is Not Advanced

On Monday Hayvn turns 2 months old, so this past week we had our 2 month appointment with good ol' Dr Bravo. We love Dr Bravo. All in all the appointment went really well. Our little bug is up to 9lbs, 4 oz (that's almost 4 pounds in 8 weeks!). Dr. Bravo thinks he's doing perfect, but even more important, Dr. Bravo thinks he's the cutest little guy ever (at least this is what he says and I believe him). We got some shots, which, while they were hard for bug were also pretty hard on mamma. Probably not good for us both to cry, but I didn't want the little one to cry alone.

Anyway, once again another doctor appointment finds us being scored. Only 2 months old and Hayvn's already being judged against his peers. Well, little bug, while gaining perfect weight (over an ounce a day!), was told that he falls in the 10th percentile for weight. This bascially means that 90% of other 2 monthers are bigger than him. humph. he also falls in the 5th percentile for the size of his head and 25th percentile for his height. These are not impressvie numbers apparently.

Lucky for me, my son was born a preemie. Normally, being the woman that I am, I would be worried over figures such as these. I would be wondering what I'm doing wrong that's making my son so small. But, since having him early in a "need to get him out now" kind of experience, I've really had to let go of expectations. He's a unique one, my son. And he does stuff on his own terms. As I said before, my son is not advanced. BUT he is healthy, happy and, to quote Dr Bravo, the cutest thing ever. As he starts to smile more and more, i fall more in love with my little perfect man. He's teaching me to put down the baby book with all its 'milestone' garbage and let my Hayvn be Hayvn--sans the pressure to be some amazing baby who does everything early. He'll let me know when he's ready to giggle, hold his head up and sleep longer than 2 hours at a time. And I'm alright with this.

oh, but if one more stranger tells me how tiny my baby is, I'm going to punch them in the throat.





Our son falling in the love with the outdoors

I heart Chef Jeremy

My uber talented husband never really takes the time to boast about himself, which, i know, is a good thing. but sometimes I like to boast for him, cause I think he's really talented--certainly more so than he gets credit for. and I think he's talented in a way that most people don't truly understand. he can do things with fondant, royal icing, butter cream and gum paste that really amazes me. and these are not artistic mediums that most people are familiar with...certainly not anyone else i know. and while it's certainly easy to see and admire beauty in many artistic forms, i, sadly, don't think that people truly understand the work that goes into creating art out of food. basically, I don't think that my husband gets enough credit for creating the things that he creates. so, I'm gonna take the opportunity, while he's hard at work at the bakery creating yet another girl's dream-come-true wedding cake, to brag about him a little and show off some of his creations that I find really, really cool. after all, I fell in love with him not even knowing that this little gem of a talent even existed! I thought he was just a sweet boy with a great ear for music who could do a mean impersonation of Chris Farley. who knew he'd come with all that AND a pretty sweet piping hand?


This spider/skull he drew out of chocolate! can you draw with chocolate???


This is a princess pillow cake...doesn't it look real?


These are my favorite. They are individual cakes made to look like baby building blocks. aren't they the cutest?


again, the man can do cool stuff with chocolate!


This cake is just cool. it's a to-go coffee cup with fondant sugar cubes. amazing.

There are a lot more cakes that I could pull out--these aren't even the ones my husband would call his best--but I wanted to pull out a few unique ones that I feel demonstrate how awesome I think he is...but I may be biased...

father of invention

so, do you think there's a market out there for wine bottle cork pacifiers? if so, we may have to take out a patent on the idea... have to give credit to little bug, though. if he didn't have such a hard time keeping the ol' paci in jeremy never would have come up with the idea of giving him a better handle via the cork!