Life of Late

So life got a little crazy... no blogging for quite some time.

We found out just after Thanksgiving that we are expecting baby number two, and we couldn't be more excited! Well, maybe I could be more excited if I wasn't quite so sick all the time. I've been battling nausea even worse than I had with Emma. My new doctor (long story!) put me on Zofran and Compazine for the nausea, but they both have their own side effects that make them less than appealing.

We recently made another addition to our family by adopting a puppy! She is a 4 month old boxer-mix...named Gertrude, Gertie for short. She's a pretty good girl, so far. She is still in need of training, as any 4 month old puppy would be...but she is using her new dog door well.

We also celebrated Emma's second birthday earlier this month! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by... but my little girl is getting so big, and so smart! She amazes me everyday with her growing vocabulary and knowledge. Currently her favorite thing to do is memorize songs. She will listen to or sing the same song over and over until she has it down!

The last week or so we've had my sister in town, and her beautiful new daughter Baby Bella! Emma is delighted to have a real live baby around to play with! We will see how happy she is to have a baby come live with her full-time. But it has been so nice to have my sister around. She and her husband are looking to move back to Las Vegas in the late spring or early summer. We look forward to it!

My last major update is that I am back on the day shift! I couldn't be happier about it! Yesterday was my first day back at work during the day. It was hard to wake up so early on a Sunday morning...but so nice to be home with my family for Sunday dinner! Today was an easier morning...and I am so happy to know I will be home with my family again tonight. I can actually start cooking again (as soon as I feel well enough to do anything).

Patient Little Kittens

We now have two kittens. The original kitten is Gracie. Her sister that came to live with us a while after is Beetlejuice (due to her smaller than proportionate head and of course Jake). Emma love her kitties. She calls to them, reads to them, hugs and kisses them. Luckily we got them as very young kittens, so they don't know any different than having a toddler love all over them. Emma loves to carry them around as well... which I did not think would be very popular with the kitties...but so far they don't seem to mind. They never try to wriggle free, and they don't even seem to mind getting "caught." Every once in a while it's clear that they are not interested in playing with a one year old...so they take refuge behind the washer and dryer where they have a nice warm place to lay down.

Cruise to Mexico

Cabo was very beautiful! Heather and I did some snorkeling while my mom, Jen and Aunt Kathy did a canopy zip-line tour. Emma had a great time hanging out with Great Aunt Maryanne, second cousin Juls and Great-Grandma Hillery (Eema).

We had a a great time on our all ladies cruise. I was so happy for Emma to be able to spend some quality time with all of these lady relatives. It was a great opportunity to be with Grandma, but it was too bad she was kind of under the weather.

Emma had the most fun when she was eating (which was a lot). Her second favorite thing was the childrens pool. We didn't go as often as we should have, but when we did Emma had a blast. She laughed and laughed.

Grandma like to hang out near the pool too. I think it was nice for her to be around a young baby again and hearing her laugh and play.

Ladies Lunch

Every other Friday everyone at my office is allowed an hour and a half for lunch. Since I am off Fridays I invited three of my closest work friends over for a little luncheon (a free lunch made by me has to be as good as going to Ruby Tuesday's right?). Sylvia wasn't able to make it... but Dawn, Misty, Emma and I enjoyed ourselves. On the menu: a salad of arugula and watercress, prosciutto, fried goat cheese, honey and a fig balsamic vinaigrette; orange balsamic glazed open faced chicken sandwiches with caramelized onions; and chocolate molten lava cakes with chili-chocolate whipped cream, all washed down with iced tea and frozen lemonade (sort of an Arnold Palmer slushie). It was nice to see those ladies I don't get to see for very long because of my crazy work schedule, and a good chance for me to do some cooking! Jake was a little disappointed that I didn't cook for him (like he would eat goat cheese anything!) so the next day I made him pineapple upside down pumpkin gingerbread.

A Day at the Museum

We had a trip to the Las Vegas Natural History Museum today, with cousin Joanne and her two kids Kaity and Ryan. Emma is too young to understand a lot of the information they had to offer but she did enjoy seeing the animals and making all of the corresponding sounds.



Emma was especially fond of the live fish. She got so excited to see all of them and make the "bloop bloop bloop" sound. In the same area was a sand table where the kids could look for "fossils."



But I think Emma had the most fun in the submarine. It looked out over a mural of exotic fish that she pointed to.

The museum itself is kind of sad. It becomes very clear that Las Vegas does not put a high enough priority on things like natural history, or even history in general. There are no dinosaur fossils at all, only a few "scenes" from nature. Hopefully one day this city will make culture a bigger priority for its citizens and not only the tourists. But for now I am so glad that Emma is so easy going and takes complete joy in the little things.

Back to School

As a kid I *loved* school. I couldn't wait to buy new school supplies. The beginning of the school year was a clean slate, a fresh start, another opportunity to strive for perfection. I organized and re-organized my binders and back-packs a million ways.

I was an excellent student. I achieved good grades with little to no effort. My teachers all generally liked me, and school was just natural for me.

After graduating the relatively selective magnet "academy" where I attended high school I was offered several academic scholarships to a few prestigious universities. Being young I decided to stay home for college. I told my parents it was because I thought the local university was as good as any I was accepted to (please!). The truth was that my boyfriend was here, and I wasn't going to leave (I do deserve a little credit here, we did get married and are still very much in love).

The first few semesters of college were much the same as high school. I put in no effort and walked away will all A's. Then I accepted an internship in the U.S. Senate. I moved to D.C. for several months. Jake and I took some time apart (which I think was necessary for the success of our relationship). But by the end of my internship we were back together and engaged.

When I came back to Las Vegas everything seemed different. I had a taste of the great big world, I was engaged to be married, I had my first real job and taking classes at a local university just didn't seem as important. Working and earning real money became more and more of a priority. After all, I had a wedding to plan and we wanted to buy a house, start a family. Life just kind of happened. Three months after we got married I was pregnant, and school just didn't seem like an option at the time.

Fast forward to now. My wonderful employer has offered tuition assistance so long as your degree is in your work field. I decided I had to take advantage of this opportunity. Sure, it meant abandoning a degree I had almost finished for one in Public Administration, but it's paid for. Public Administration, through my work at the court, has become a field that I am passionate about and it would still allow me to go to law school.

So here I am again, at the beginning of a new school year. My books are ordered, schedule is made. But this time things are different. I'm not eager with anticipation. It doesn't feel like a fresh clean start. I'm scared. This time I'm going to need to put in effort. This time if I fail, it's not because something happened, it's not because I got my first real job, not because I was planning my wedding or discovering motherhood. If I fail this time, it's because I didn't work hard enough, study hard enough, prioritize correctly. I'm scared because I know I can no longer get by on general knowledge without doing the reading or studying for tests, or even on my good people skills. I'm scared to find out that I might not be as good of a student, as smart, as dedicated as I always thought I was, as I always liked people to believe I was.

So wish me luck. At the end of August my re-entrance into the world of higher education will begin. I will work hard, actually read and study like I never have before (literally).

Three days off, a kitten and a baby shower

Finally Thursday came, and I had a day off!

Jake took Thursday and Friday off so I got to actually see my husband!

Mom, friend Darlene and I spent all day Friday cooking in my kitchen preparing for the baby shower we were throwing my sister on Saturday. How wonderful it was to have two sous chefs... My kitchen didn't even look like a bomb went off after we were done.

Our Menu:
Zucchini tarts
Mini crab quiches
Mini green chili quiches
Pear, onion and Parmesan cheese strudel
fruit platter
crudites with hummus, white bean balsamic dip
pita chips and guacamole
Chicken salad and turkey with cranberry sauce tea sandwiches
Hazelnut panna cotta w/ raspberry sauce
and more coconut brownies (I'm on a kick)

Everything came out beautifully.

Also, on Friday my mom brought me a cute little black kitten. Anyone that knows me knows that I am NOT a cat person... but she is too cute. It was a rescue, of course. Emma was thrilled to death to have a kitten. She follows it around saying "Meow" or patting her knees saying "comeer" (come here). So far so good.

So today it's back to work.

We start potty training next weekend!