portland - part 1

we're back! our trip out to oregon was wonderful. traveling is for sure very different with a little one in tow, but we survived and got to spend lots of time with my sis, brother-in-law, nephew and mom. 

nuggie had her friday photo taken on her first plane ride! she did so wonderfully on the way out. all that worrying for nothing, sorta. the return flight, well that's a whole other story. 

nuggie and g met for the second time. we all got together at christmas when the babes were still so small. they really seemed to enjoy being together this time around. 

on saturday we had a breakfast a fun little place called cup and saucer. then bub made his regular trip to the massive REI downtown. this trek found him purchasing shoes for his spartan races (i'll blog more about that little adventure later!). after breakfast we headed out to the lovely oregon wine country. the state is so totally chill that babies are more than welcome to join us on wine tastings. this little pic is my brother-in-law and sweet little gman. is he not the cutest little man in the world???

 this is my amazing, beautiful sister... nugg and she got along splendidly.

here are the boys with the babes. nuggie is grabbing at g's little nose. the two did this to each other alot this week :-) 

 nuggie also happened to turn 7 months old on this trip! how is my sweet little lady growing up so fast? i had to take her 7 month pic with the fam. 

 g needed to check out nuggie's bow.

 sunday night we had some really awesome amazing GOOD seafood. it's a little tricky to get fresh stuff in nashville - so we asked sisterkins to take us some place yummy in portland. she did NOT disappoint. i had the most amazing jumbo lump crab/mushroom/artichoke dish and bub got a massive bowl with seafood all in the shell. he had a small stack of tools he had to use to crack it all free. nuggie tried salmon for the first time and LOVED it! she also had her first piece of crusty bread to gnaw on, she thought that was pretty amazing too :-)

you can't go more than a mile or two without running into a park it seems, so we took advantage! you can also walk just about anywhere in the portland area, which i love. it's so different then down here in the south where you're lucky to even find a safe sidewalk to stroll down. sweet nuggie went on the swings with her papa and loved being pushed around in her stroller everywhere.

that's all i've got for now... i'll write more about our trip soon. now it's back to reality - hot, humid weather, and crazy cicadas welcomed us home - ick! school starts back up this week and bub heads back to work. it was so nice to have a little escape from it all. i miss my sweet family so much.

it's an invasion!

gross, gross, GROSS! these ugly looking boogers are here! we were warned of their coming invasion and they finally made their appearance this week. these my lovelies are what they're calling the 13 year cicada. i don't know what they do for 13 years - do they live underground that whole time? do they just lay dormant? i didn't even know a bug could live for 13 years - ick! but now they're outside buzzing that awful cicada buzz that shouldn't be heard till late summer and they're flying around everywhere and the dog eats them and their little molted casings are all.over.everything. it's just gross.

on a less buggy note - i've got all our essentials for our upcoming trip purchased and i've started packing nuggie's plane bag already. here's what i've got so far or plan to pack shortly (thank you to kaila for the tips!) all items are packed in their own little ziplocks or are grouped together in ziplocks as the internet moms suggested - one little bag with 1 diaper, a few wipes and a burp cloth for emergency d changes while on the plane, infant tylenol, infant motrin, nuggie's meds and teething tabs, a small canister of formula, 4 bottles, 10 d's, wipes, receiving blanket, squishy blankie so she can play on the floor while we have our layovers, burp cloths, 2 small packages of baby food, spoon, bib and washcloth, 2 changes of clothing, a clean shirt for me, snacks for bub and i, her ipod, new toys she hasn't seen, purell, wet ones, chapstick, advil and other necessities for momma, water bottle - empty - to fill up when we get into the airport and 2 copies of her birth certificate... whew - i'm worn out just thinking about all this - but it all fits nicely into one bag so it really isn't too much and you can NEVER be too prepared with our drama queen screamy banshee child.

i've been having nightmares about plane crashes and everyone on the plan hating us b/c nuggie is gonna scream - ugh, i'm a nervous wreck about this ordeal. but it will be worth it when we get to see my momma and sister and nephew and brother-in-law!

attention all mommas

help! i need some momma advice.

we're taking nuggie on her first plane ride coming up here pretty soon and i need some advice on flying with a little one. i've already googled all things baby/airplane and i've talked to our pediatrician - his grand advice, and i'm not even kidding - take some cash so you can buy the people around a drink. i wish we could afford this, but sadly it's not in the cards... so, what else should i know? there's debate about preboarding - should we do it? should we not and hold out to get on the plane till the very last minute? where should we sit on the plane? front, back? is it really, really awful to change a wet diaper at our seat? i would never change a dirty one there, but i really want to avoid that gross potty on the plane if we can. i'm not doing bendryl, so i need some other ideas girls. i've got a bag of little toys she's never seen waiting to dole out when we get airborn. any advice is welcome!

it's here, it's here!

we picked up our first CSA box on sunday! i'm like 90% super, really excited and 10% like, what on earth have we committed to???

first, we misunderstood some of the portioning, so rather than 4 portions of meat, we get 2. we do get the dozen eggs and then a 1/2 bushel of produce. but now the really great deal we thought we were getting, is still good, but not quite as great. second, i knew we'd have to deal with planning a menu around whatever it was we got for that week, i didn't realize that it really takes some creative thinking. for instance, this week we got: 2 heads of lettuce, spinach, 2 big bags of kale, broccoli, green onions, mint, these freaky looking things called kohlrabi, radishes and 2 big baskets of strawberries. all super great stuff - but how do i plan a menu around this? and then, after paying for this - can i get all the rest of our groceries for about $50? this week that was a no. i went WAY over budget. this is for sure a process.

all the challenges aside, i'm SO excited about joining our CSA. we get local, organic food that was grown/raised in earth friendly ways.

so here's a kohlrabi

it's essentially a german turnip (according to wikipedia) and can be eaten raw OR boiled and mashed... we'll see how it goes when i've got to cook these bad boys up.

tonight we're having hamburgers on the grill from our farm fresh beef and sauteed kale.

and on a quick side note - i've not forgotten my weighn' in monday's. it's just there really isn't much to report. losing this baby weight is tough. i'm still chugging away and i'll keep you all updated of any changes. i did make it to the Y today. nuggie had a huge meltdown in the nursery :-( my poor little babes. 

in the details

this week has been NUTS. finals, teething nuggie, sleepless nights, yelping pup, zooming all over the world trying to get errands and such done. it's just been crazy. today i'm breathing one huge, GIANT sigh of relief! finals are DONE - woot, woot! i have the next three weeks off till microbiology starts. i'm in the nursing program, just in case anyone didn't hear me shout that from the rooftops last week! and bub's guam trip has been canceled.woah, hold on - i'm not being super awful mean wifey for being happy about this... i'm only ok with this b/c he's been put on another project and it's going to be awesome for him, so he's ok with it and even really excited. so from my purely selfish perspective - i don't have to live without my hubby for 2 weeks and travel back from oregon with the nugg all by my lonesome. he is my very best friend and we make a wonder team... i can't imagine trying to do life for 2 weeks without him. he'll still have some travels coming up this summer most likely, but they should all be domestic trips and just for a few days at a time.

hope everyone has a fabulous friday! hug a momma you know this weekend :-)

our day in pictures

nuggie is a happy girl in her stroller

izzy says, "i'm not chewing on anything. nope, not me!"

my hostas are HUGE this spring!

herbs!

me and the nugster relaxing after our big afternoon outside

hope you all are doing wonderfully!! i've got SO much studying to do tonight. why i'm blogging i do not know!

i'm in!

well, they waited till the very last possible minute to mail it, but my letter finally came from the nursing department at school and i'm in! i'm officially a part of the nursing class of 2013 at aquinas! woot! i've got a list as long as my arm of things i have to do now, but it's all so exciting i don't even care! i've got to get two background checks, all sorts of shots/titers/tb test, get cpr certified, buy a stethoscope, a math book and some other goodies... oh, but i'm in, i'm in, i'm in! this is amazing! i know the next two years are gonna be nuts - hectic and hard. but this means so much to our little family - financially and emotionally and it means SO much to me personally. i'm doing this just as much for them as for myself. what a sense of accomplishment when it two years i'll be able to tack on an RN to my name... i'll have a title! say what?!?!