What Goes Around Comes Around

A few weeks back I read a blog post written by one of my favorite people, Diana. I'd publish a link with her name but her awesome blog is privatized. Since you are unable to blog-stalk her (as I totally would) I'll give you a brief description. Diana and I met through our blogs while living in Provo. Our husbands were both offered jobs at the same office in California. We went on a double blind date to meet each other (and our husbands), and our friendship was born. Since meeting in Utah and hanging out in California, our paths have split and we find ourselves in different states. I place the blame on Diana, since she moved first. But, she had a good reason. Her daughter was a little over one when Diana learned that she was pregnant with twins. She would be having three babies under the age of two. She and her husband gave it some serious thought and decided they needed to be near family. They are now living a crazy, albeit totally awesome, life juggling three girls under three, a house, and a new job. Her blog is fascinating.

Now that you're familiar with Diana, onto the story. She posted about an incident that occurred with her 2 year old daughter. She walked in after nap time to find the room covered in, for lack of a better word, number two. She chronicled her horror and the cleaning process, and how ultimately it got her daughter to stop using a pacifier. As I read, I scrunched my nose and whispered under my breath "oh. my. gosh." and perhaps a few times I mentally dry heaved. I thought, "Poor Diana." and thanked my lucky stars that Grace hadn't done that.

Grace has recently entered the pants/diaper removal phase. A couple of days ago she removed her diaper  after she woke up and peed all over her bed and blanket. No big deal, thats what the washer is for, right? So the next day before her nap, I thought I would outsmart my Houdini child and put her in a onesie with snaps on the bottom. I mentally patted myself on the back because "there is no way she could get out of this." She chit chatted at the beginning of her nap, as per usual, and gradually fell silent. I assumed my little angel child was sleeping and went about my normal nap-time business. I heard more chit chat about half way through her nap. Never a good sign.

When I opened the door the smell hit me first, and then I saw it. Diaper on one side, child with open onesie on the other, and more brown than I had ever seen out in the open. I stopped dead in my tracks, my mouth gaped open and I stood there with my hands on my cheeks and my eyes darting everywhere trying to make sense of what I saw. I have no idea how long I stood there. It could have been 10 minutes, or an hour. When I came to, I walked out of the room and grabbed my phone. I dialed Aaron's number and when I heard his voice I said. "Aaron, it's everywhere. It's all over. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. I don't know whether to laugh or cry." his response, "Then you should laugh." I plucked my number two covered child and put her in the bathtub. While I basically scrubbed the first layer of her skin off, I talked to her about how being curious and trying new things is fun and interesting, but that there are boundaries to what should be explored and what should be left well enough alone. I distinctly remember saying the phrase "Poop belongs in your diaper or the potty, it does not belong anywhere else."

I'll spare you the gory pictures and share with you just one. The same type of picture Diana shared when this happened to her. Thankfully my camera battery was dead and the phone camera picture quality isn't the best so you can't really see too much detail. I found her pacifier after moving her crib away from the wall, and threw it away shortly thereafter.

 I dried Grace off, got her a snack, plopped her high chair in front of a movie and cleaned my little heart out. Laundry was first.

And then scrubbing, wiping, bagging, spraying, magic eraser-ing, sanitizing, and everything just short of burning it in a bonfire.

I thought to myself, what comes around really does go around. And today out of sheer necessity I actually taped my child's diaper so the only way to get her out of it was to use scissors. I could not handle another poop filled day. Although potty training is filled with all sorts of this cleaning, I'm getting pretty close to kissing diapers goodbye.

Musings

Heat

As we met people after moving to Texas one of their initial questions was "When did you move here." We spouted off our answer, which was mid-October, and almost immediately they would respond, "Oh, so you haven't experienced a summer here, huh?" I asked around to see what I could expect during the summer. Some responses caught me off guard. "You just don't go outside." or "It's like winter where its too cold to leave your house, but instead of too cold, it's too hot."

Phrases like that struck serious fear in my heart. I tried to talk myself down, like maybe it wouldn't be that bad. I survived being 9 months pregnant during the hottest month of the year in California with no air conditioning. I could get through this too, right?

Boy, was I wrong. A while back I missed running a few errands in the morning and told myself that I would run them in the afternoon. I made calls, set up appointments, and Grace and I were out the door by 4:00pm. As per usual, I started to sweat the minute I opened my front door. When I got down to my car the sun hit me with serious force, and I swear my body temperature doubled. As I opened my car door a gust of heat and humidity smacked me in the face. The increase in temperature was obvious. Grace gripped my shoulder tightly while she said "Mommy, hot hot." I forced my extremely reluctant toddler into her seat urging her to comply so I could quickly, and safely, start the car and get the A/C going. I eased myself into my seat and once I shut the door I felt like I was suffocating, as if the pressure of the heat was forcing the air out of my lungs and replacing it with sticky humid oxygen-less air. We sweated profusely on the ride to each destination. I almost cried getting out of the car each time knowing that we would have to get back in and repeat the process over. I vowed that I would never, ever, do that again.

Now I grocery shop at 8:30am, making sure to get home by 11:30am. I don't leave the house, unless I absolutely have to, in the afternoon. My sweat glands just can't handle it.

My friend Jamie and I had the brilliant idea to take our girls to the fountains at 10:30 in the morning. On my way there I saw a sign stating that it was already 102 degrees outside. After being at the beach for a week, the last thing I wanted was to be cooped up at home. I gritted my teeth and vowed to make the best of it. Our girls ran and splashed and loved every moment. Jamie and I huddled in the shade of a small whimpy tree and I mulled over in my mind of how strange it would be if I stripped naked and ran through the fountains all crazy like. Heat makes my pride take a back seat. After an hour, and after our clothes had officially melted into our skin, we called it a day. I consider myself officially humbled. You really don't mess with this Texas heat (pun semi intended).

Smiles

After almost two years of crazy, eyes shut tight, forced smiles my girl finally finally smiled for reals in front of the camera. A smile so cute and genuine that I had to wipe my heart off of the floor because it melted right there on the spot. Had the camera been pointed at me you would have seen a look of shock, awe, pride, and its-about-friggin'-time. I just love her.

 I blame her lack of smiling ability on her father.

 Okay maybe I won't blame him, he is actually extremely handsome.

Reading

I'm currently in a reading mood. I cycle between reading, watching shows on netflix, and dinking around on my computer. As I said before, I'm currently stuck in the reading section. This has been fueled by My mom and I making a Kindle Swap, where we read the books the other has bought for their Kindle. This past week I've read "Heaven is for Real" by Todd Burpo and "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels" by Ree Drummond (the Pioneer Woman). Both were very good but I am slightly (read: completely) obsessed with Ree Drummond's book, which is a true story of how she met and married her husband. I highly recommended it. Had life not gotten all in the way and such, I would have blown through that sucker in less than a day.

Piggies

As evidenced here and here, I am quite fond of putting Grace's hair into pig-tails. Now she has enough hair that we have taken the piggies north.

A severe amount of mousse was used, and they fell out later in the day causing a pig-tail induced mullet, but before that happened they were wonderful and I couldn't stop staring at how cute sister friend looked with them in.

Isn't It About Time?

It's been almost twelve months exactly since I've changed my blog header. I figured the blog was way overdue. In case you forgot what it looked like, here she is (minus the writing... I can't find the copy my sister sent me).

We stood there as residents of California. Our baby was 10 months old, bald in the front and very brown haired in the back.

Now we are residents of Texas. Our baby is no longer a baby, but is so close to two it brings tears to my eyes and her hair is blond and wavy.

Image and text courtesy of Ashby Hatch Photography

These past twelve months have been a whirlwind. Lots of change, and change of plans. We've hit bumps in the road, said goodbye to ones we've loved, and welcomed new members into the family. It's been good, and even though I sometimes don't want to admit it, the change has been good too. It has forced me to grow and stretch and get over my-bad-self. And standing in the same sand one year later was refreshing, because we're growing up, and making it work. So, folks, cheers to a great 12 months, bring on 12 more.

The Ocean is my Only Medication

Do you look forward to the Beach Trip Recap Post as much as I look forward to the actual vacation? No? Well, you should.

We boarded our flight on Friday morning, with the appropriate reading materials.

 Then packed and piled into cars for the drive down.

I soaked up every tree, every blade of grass, and every speck of green along the way to fuel my inner Virginian who misses these trees so very much.

 We made the necessary pit stops along the way. Honey Cinnamon Almonds? I can't even begin to describe how delicious they were. Two cans were purchased both are now gone.

 We made it to our destination and the vacation officially began. Grace is a huge fan of Uncle RyRy.

 Our view was obstructed by new beach house decor.

 We chatted

 I played around with my camera

 We frolicked in the sand before family pictures.

 We got rained out during family pictures

 We saw the most incredible rainbow

 And I finally got a picture of a sunset (take that Day 12)

 Ashby getting her crazy rainbow picture

 We lounged by the pool

 We read our little hearts out

 Kindles in full force

 The babies were happy and contained. I love my Lily.

 Beach umbrellas were rocked

 Good times were had

 Poppy was given a rapper name: P. Pops Anonymous, 

 Coozies (no I don't really know how to spell that) were purchased and loved

 Cousins were reunited

 And requested a funny face picture

 Lulu modeled

 Sand made its way everywhere

 We splashed in the pool

and walked through the sand

 And before we knew it, the week was over and we were driving north again.

Mr. Nutter was also there. Sister friend has a serious Mr. Nutter addiction.

 After a short nights rest we found ourselves at the airport

 With a ridiculous amount of carry on luggage

 and traveling essentials

 And we flew, on the wings of love, back to the lonestar state.

My mind on a permanent vacation

The ocean is my only medication

Wishing my condition ain't ever gonna go away

--Zac Brown Band "Knee Deep"

Currently

One of the life lessons that I feel like I'm always learning and relearning is to live in the moment. Soak up the tiny particles of the here and now because when they are over they are gone.

I remember a few days after Grace was born I wanted to hold her. She curled perfectly on my chest and I thought "Remember everything about this moment, because she'll get big before you know it." I still remember it. The way she rested so perfectly on my chest. Her slow and steady breathing, how my arms wrapped around her and held her, and how my lungs breathed in her new baby scent.

Now I am sitting in my living room. The TV screen is blue and a No Signal! sign is bouncing around declaring that I paused my movie and my energy saver DVD player turned off. I was watching "Letters to Juliet" my current favorite cheesy love story. My apartment smells like yeast and baking bread, Grace is quietly sleeping in her room, and the tumbler which held my DDP is now sitting empty on the coffee table. Something about this moment is so good. So calm. Sure I need to make my bed, do the dishes and call the maintenance guy to come and fix our slow-refilling toilet. But there will always be things like that on my To Do list. However, in this moment, I'm right here and right now and life is very very good.

Yes, those are bug bites on my foot, I got eaten alive in Virginia. Dang mosquitos.