Amy's Farm

My TMOM's group went on a field trip to Amy's Farm. I had known about this for weeks, I mentally prepared myself for what was to be expected. I AM NOT an outdoorsy kinda person in the least. I have severe allergies, I don't like being outside, I don't like the sun, I don't like plants, I certainly don't like bugs, animals are not on my list of favorite things, so why the heck am I going to a farm??? Because I don't want my daughter and son to be like me, so I am trying to get over all of my hang ups and do things that are outside of my comfort zone.


Man, oh man were my anxiety levels high... When we got there, it was everything I expected and prepared myself for. I strapped Trent into his Baby Bjorn and I held Taelyn's hand and the tour started. After about 5 minutes, Taelyn was over it. She wasn't really feeling the dirt we were walking on and wanted to be held, so I carried her until another mom, (Tracy) who was there with her 5 year old son took pity on me and offered to hold Taelyn the rest of the way. We learned about plants, we were able to pet animals at the petting zoo, we were even able to milk a cow. Taelyn was not interested in any of it, and to be completely honest, neither was I. I was hoping she would be like all of the other kids and really dive into petting the animals and involved in what was going on around her, but she was perfectly content with just observing her surroundings. Totally fine by me! I tried, that is all I can do. Secretly, I was overjoyed at the fact she wasn't interested, I just don't want to pass my issues on to her.

Taelyn in the petting zoo. I tired to get her to touch a sheep, she extended her index finger and tapped it and didn't want to do it again (That's my girl!)

Taelyn watching a HUGE cow

My Little Man was content the whole time despite the heat

Tracy was actually able to get Taelyn to pet a horse, she immediately wiped her hand on her shirt

Shanoan's WIne Tasting Birthday

I have so many things I want to blog about, but I just seem to have so little time, so when I do have free time, I am playing catch up. Last weekend, I went to LA for a friend's birthday. Unfortunately, I had to take my Little Man along so that I could actually stay longer and enjoy my time with the girls. Trent is still nursing and doesn't take a bottle very well, so I left Taelyn with Todd, for a "Father/Daughter Day" and I took Trent wine tasting.... How awful does that sound??? Oh well, don't judge, I had one taste and it was only one ounce of wine, not even enough to detect on a Breathalyzer Test. Todd took Taelyn to John's Incredible Pizza, from what he tells me, they had a blast! He is really enjoying her at this stage of life, she is really so much fun now for him. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of their date, but here are pictures of mine and Trent's outing:

Our wine tasting crew

I'm wine tasting with a baby strapped to me, such a bad mommy!

I've got amazing breast feeding skills and I was able to nurse my man WHILE on the wine tour!

My Sweet Shanoan being silly

After our wine tour and testing, we went to Hollywood where we had dinner on the Rooftop at the Wiltshire Hotel. It was really beautiful and the food was great.

I'm so glad I was able get together with these girls. The only person I knew was the birthday girl, but what can I say, I have the type of personality where I can go anywhere and make friends for life.... I mean, the way I know Shanoan is pretty interesting and we laugh about it often, she lives in LA and we manage to keep in touch quite often.

Why The Competition?

Disclaimer: I am really and truly irritated with someone and I am NOT going to name any names and if you have to ask if this is about you or someone like you.... IT PROBABLY IS!

I have this "friend" and I put friend in quotes because this particular person is so nice to me in my face and has nothing but sweet things to say to me, almost condescending. Also, everyone who is their friend and meets me for the 1st time, seem stand offish towards me, like they have a bad taste in their mouth and don't like me off the get go, then, when they do get to know me, they tell me, I am not at all how they thought I would be. Did someone paint me in a negative light? Misrepresented? I'm sure! This has happened on a few occasions.

So this particular "friend" seems to always be in some sort of non-existent competition with me. Things that don't even matter, or should not matter.
I love my husband--Nothing compares to the love I have for my husband.
My pregnancy was pretty awful--Really? Mine was a breeze.
I have to get a new car--Well, guess what, I'm getting a new car.
My baby stopped nursing on her own at 13 months (I was devastated, btw)-- I did it for 15 months.
My baby is so cute--My baby is cuter.
I'm a stay at home mom--Yeah, well, try working AND being a full time mom
I just bought my baby a new toy-- I bought the same toy, but I didn't pay as much as you did, you were ripped off!
My baby just counted to 10--Well, my baby can count to 20 AND can say their ABC's while upside down swinging on a tightrope... Not exactly, but do you see how ridiculous that is?
I seriously could go on and on. Why the competition?

The bottom line is, I DON'T live my life in comparison to anyone else's life. (How exhausting would that be?) I don't brag or boast about what I am doing or what I have. If I do mention things about my life or my kids, it is because I am proud of the life I have, its not to hurt anyone's feelings. It is MY life and I am just like everyone else and I'm trying to live it in the best way possible. All I want, is to be a good person and I want to be surrounded by good and genuine people, if you aren't genuine... see those rocks? Kick em'! I don't want to make anyone feel badly about themselves. Why would anyone willingly put themselves through that kind of torture? There has got to be an underlying form a jealousy. That is the only explanation I can come up with. All I know is, if you are a good person, good things and good people gravitate towards you.

I have continuously prayed about this situation and it really just seems to get worse and worse, so I figure, I have to change my prayer so that instead of praying for people like this to change, what I am now praying for is, for it to not bother me. This way, I know that I am at peace and this person (or people like this) can live in their own misery without taking me down with them.

While I was in Alabama, Kathryn, Chaz and Jess said this all week and I find it to be so appropriate for this blog post: "HATERS GONNA HATE!"

Mother's Day 2012

My Mother's Day this year was better than my Mother's Day last Year. My day started out the same as any other Sunday. I woke up with the kids, Trent was up at 6:30 and Taelyn was up at 7. I got them dressed for Church and fed them breakfast. Then Todd woke up and got ready. When I came down stairs, Todd gave me some chocolate bears from The Chocolate Factory and a card. He didn't get me a card from my kids, so I asked him to make me one. After the kids gave me my card, we went to church.

After church, we went to Russell and Gigi's house. We had a nice relaxing day. The kids swam the day away while all the mama's went to get a massage. All in all, it was a great day. Here are the pictures from the day.

Our Family pictures

The DiMillo's

Me and My Man

All of the Mama's

My Mama and Me

3 generations, all 30 years apart

Gigi got us a cake

Allan and Trent

Taelyn being silly

Dada putting sunblock on the kids

The kids swimming

Allan taking Trent in for the 1st time

Taelyn testing out the water

Russell giving Trent his 1st taste of the water

Dada the Shark

Apu and Taelyn

I absolutely LOVE Taelyn's sweet little face in these pictures

Rahhhhhrrrrr!!!!

My sweet man fell asleep

Taelyn didn't want to step in the grass, I just thought it was cute how she jumped from stone to stone

Taelyn, the Swimsuit Model

Such a happy guy when he wakes up

Hanging out with Apu

Apu and Grandpa with Trent

Grandpa is so interesting

This Mother's Day was so much better than last year, so hopefully next year will be even better!

Bad Mommy Day

The day after we got back from Alabama, I was overcome with exhaustion and irritation. We got home just after 1am. I didn't get to sleep until after 2am and Trent was awake at 7am. I didn't get much time to recover. I had to take Trent to a doctor appointment at 9am at Loma Linda. I didn't want to reschedule since we waited nearly 2 months to get this appointment, so I soldiered up and got us dressed and out the door. Taelyn stayed home with Todd while we were gone. We got home at about 10:30am and Taelyn was dressed, but her hair was a mess. Todd was dressed for work and as soon as I walked in the door, he set off to leave. I asked him to stay because I felt like I just couldn't handle the kids all by my self for another day. Of course he couldn't, so I had to suck it up and deal with my own issues as well as take care of the kids. The house was clean and put together, thank God, because if it wasn't, that would be another thing that I would have had to deal with and I just don't think that in the state of mind that I was in, I could handle it. Trent was being extra clingy and getting on Taelyn's nerves, they picked today, to be the day that they would start fighting. Trent is crawling now and he is able to get to her toys and she is NOT having it! All day I heard, "No, Baby." "Don't touch, baby." "MINE, baby" Which was followed by Trent crying. She was getting into things, things that would not have usually bothered me, but all of this just accumulated and got under my skin, I began to yell more than I usually do, implement time out, which I don't usually have to do and spank, again something I don't usually have to do. I lost my patience way more than I care to admit and was over the whole day. There was a moment in the day where Taelyn made Trent cry by taking something from him, then hitting him with it, so I took it from her and hit her with it. She didn't like it at all and so I yelled at her and told her that is how brother feels when you do that to him, then she started crying, I truly scared her, she looked at me with fear in her eyes and ran away from me. Then I started crying. I NEVER want my daughter to look at me with those frightened eyes again. It was the worst feeling ever. This is bad parenting at its finest, people. I felt just so tired and overwhelmed and then guilty for my behavior. I spanked and yelled out of anger. I had to put myself on time out to gain some perspective. By this time it was nap time and I put Taelyn and Trent to bed. I walked into my bathroom and saw this:

I nearly had a heart attack! I had not gotten around to unpacking, but when I left in the morning, I know the suitcase did NOT look like this, I don't know if it was Todd, Taelyn or even Trent that got into the suitcase and did this, but this was the last straw! I lost it, I started crying uncontrollably while I threw the clothes into closet, sorting out mine, Taelyn and Trent's clothes, what was clean and what was dirty and putting everything in their place. There is no way I could have even try and function with that looking like that. After that minor breakdown and the unpacking was done, I turned off all of the phones and crawled into bed. The kids slept for about 2 1/2 hours while I got about an hour and a half of sleep. That was so needed. Although, it seemed like it was all in vain. The moment the kids woke up, it started all over again. The bickering, the taking of the toys and the crying and whining. I had about enough, I took the kids over to Adam and Alisia's house so that I could get a break and completely unload on someone. Thank God for Alisia, she was just the listening ear I needed. I felt so much better that the kids were occupied and not fighting with each other and I was occupied and I had a chance to get out of my own head. Todd even came home early with my favorite food from Rosa Maria's. I am totally not proud of my behavior and the way I treated my precious babies, but I certainly take it as a lesson. I can't do everything by myself and when I do get too overwhelmed, I have to ask for help. It was a rough day, and I am glad I am able to put it in the past and look back on it and take the lesson from it. Everyone has days like that and I'm sure I will again, I just know to be better the next time.

Flight Home From Alabama

The trip to Alabama was so smooth and easy, we thought the trip home would be the same.... SOOOOO NOT THE CASE. Our flight wasn't until 5:40 pm out of Atlanta, so counting the time difference, we left Eufaula early to make the 2 hour drive to Atlanta. The kids slept the whole ride. Taelyn didn't really eat much for breakfast, so I figured she would be hungry for lunch. We got to the airport 2 hours and 45 minutes before our flight, so we had lunch at Quiznos. This is not something my finicky eater was interested in, so she didn't eat again. We just hung out and talked and tried to keep the kids entertained. We walked laps with Taelyn in attempts to tire her out. Chaz, Jess and Trent before we boarded the plane

When we finally boarded the plane, Taelyn didn't want to sit. She was fussy and crying/whining. She whined pretty much the entire flight. I had snacks for her and that is all this poor girl ate all day. When we finally made it to Phoenix, there was a huge thunder storm and we weren't cleared for landing. We circled the airport for about 45 minutes before they decided that they were going to reroute us to Las Vegas. This whole time, we were battling turbulence and cranky kids, this was the worst combination. I opened the window and literally saw a flash of lightening go past my window! O_O Talk about scary! It was 45 minutes to Vegas and when we got there, they didn't let anyone deplane. We sat there clueless while they refueled the plane. There were 7 passengers whose final destination was Vegas, so they read of their names and they were able to deplane while the rest of us sat for nearly TWO HOURS since there was an over abundance of planes that were redirected there and refueled. Taelyn was NOT happy! It was another 45 minutes to go back to Phoenix. FINALLY both kids fell asleep. It was so late by this time, it was past their normal bed time. Fortunately, the plane we were on was the same plane we were taking to Ontario, so we didn't have to deplane in Phoenix. When they were done cleaning and boarding, it was 45 minutes to Ontario. Our flight was scheduled to land at 9pm we didn't land until midnight. It was a mess and I was besides myself with exhaustion, not to mention, I was STARVING! Todd stopped at Bakers before he picked us up. We were more than happy to see him. Taelyn was SO happy to see her daddy! All in all, this was the worst flying experience I have ever had. It was rough for me, but throwing the kids into the mix, whew! I'm just so glad that it is over and we made it home safely. Thank God for Chaz and Jess. There is absolutely no way I could have made this trip without them. They are truly a Godsend and my kids sure do love them. When Taelyn woke up in the morning, she was walking around the house looking for Tita Jess. It was sweet! I miss my Bama family, but I am SO thankful we are home.

A Family Plays Together, Stays Together

Pretty much every night that we were in Alabama, we played games. We played Pictionary, Things, and Loaded Questions. Boy of boy, did we have fun. One night we even stayed up until 2am!!! That is huge for me since I rarely stay up past 9pm. We are a family who loves playing these types of games. The answers and we come up with and the pictures we draw are something that is memorable forever. There is an ongoing joke about a "BUTT PIPE" The drawing was a picture of a person with a big butt and a pipe... the word was "TAIL PIPE" I still laugh to myself every time I even think about that. Here are a few pictures of us while we were getting our game on :) Kathryn's drawing of "rabid"

This was my drawing of Boost! I'm not a drawer, but they got it!

Since Trent won't sleep without me, we played pass the baby...

Until he passed out

We wore the kids out!

These are my partners in crime. We are totally "smackin"

Kathryn's Graduation and Party

The whole reason we went out to Alabama was to attend and celebrate Kathryn's graduation. This girl is on fire and we couldn't be more proud of her. She has spent the last few months in New York working as an Intern on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and if you know us, you know, WE LOVE JIMMY! And if you know Todd, you know he LOVES AUBURN, which happens to be where she graduated from.

Trent and Cousin Kat

The graduation was short and sweet. I have to say other than seeing Kat walk across the stage and receive her diploma (which of course is just a prop) I LOVED seeing the AKA's show thier support for their graduating Sorors. I also enjoyed watching the Kappa's dance when their Frat received his diploma. It kinda brought me back to my college days. Oh how I love being an AKA!! Took everything in me to not "Skee Wee" when I heard my Sorors. Taelyn and Trent on our way to the Nautical Graduation Party

After the graduation, Kat had her party at a Marina and it was a cute Nautical themed party. It was not like any party I am used to, I thought that everyone would dress for the them and come in some sort of "Nautical" attire, but that was not the case, the "Californians" (an on going joke with the family) were dressed in our best Nautical attire. It was fun, nonetheless. Taelyn and Tita Jess having fun with the Captain hats

Get Nautical!