Been doing some reading...

I got this book about a month ago. I am finally getting around to doing some reading and I picked it up last night and read the first chapter.

I am really having a hard time balancing work and home. It is really getting the best of me right now. I know what my problem is...I'm not putting God first. My bible is on my nightstand collecting dust. My ipod that is loaded with the bible has no juice and I haven't charged it in a while. I have not been in the Word for over 2 months now. We finally got to church this morning. We had not been since April 18th. We will plan to go to church on Saturday evenings, but Lil'D will wake up too late or in a bad mood and we just don't make it. We will then plan to go on Sunday morning. We then will oversleep because we don't expect Lil'D to get up late. We got up at 8am this morning and got to church at 9:10. Lil'D thought about getting upset, but once he looked over the toys he decided he would be ok. The sermon was great and I took 3 pages of notes!!

After church we had a really lovely Sunday afternoon! We played monster trucks on the Wii. (Lil'D is all about monster trucks right now) We watched train videos on YouTube. Which led to trolley videos, and I have no idea how that led to teletubbies. Then more monster trucks.

Lil'D only had one accident this weekend. I think we are really making potty training progress!!

Pray for a smooth work week!

What...where...WHEN?

Where in the world did the month of May go to? There is just not enough time in the day. Time is just slipping through my fingers. I've got to stop and smell the roses. Life is just passing me by and I'm missing so much of it. We've just been going non-stop. Unfortunately, the majority of my time is spent at work...and I have to work. Maybe I'll get back into blogging regularly soon.

Until then I miss visiting all of you.

My trip to Cabo San Lucas...

About 8 weeks ago today my boss called me and asked if I could make a trip to Cabo for two days to measure. Uh, yeah! My boss also asked my office mate, PJ, to go. We left on a 10am flight on Wednesday, March 11th. By the time we landed in Cabo, our boss was convinced that we should stay through the weekend. PJ and I were really excited. As we were exiting the airport our boss signed us up for a timeshare presentation on Saturday. We were promised a free taxi ride to and from, free breakfast, $90 in cash, $100 gift certificate to the spa and 1 free hour on two jet skis in the Sea of Cortez. Sounded way too good to be true, but our boss paid the $40 to reserve two spots for us.

We drove to our clients current house and this was the breathtaking view from the balcony...

I felt like I was in a dream. Could this be real. Is this where I was going to spend the next couple of days?
Looking back I can't believe I was actually there. Our client, let's call him Mr. G, has 3 additional homes in Cabo that he is building. 1 Casita (condo) and 2 Haciendas. We had lots of measuring to do. We started at the Casita... Here I am hard at work...

This is my boss measuring where a column will soon be.

And here is PJ, my office mate.

We drove around the neighborhoods looking at the different grouts for stone.

These two homes are not complete yet and have been bought by celebrities. Not sure which is which, but one is for George and the other is for Cindy. I'm not going to put their last names, I don't want to give away any secret hideaways or anything. Very exclusive place. The clubhouse is incredibly beautiful. We got to tour it only because we were with the in house architect. Otherwise, the only way to get in is if you are with the member. Mr. G was not with us.

This is the Hacienda. It was really neat to see how they build houses. Everything is concrete block. The top floor is where the kitchen will be. The roof had not been poured yet.

Here is the pool and jacuzzi. It is huge. There will also be a custom concrete slide on the far end.

Our boss took us out for a nice dinner on Wednesday night...

And a nice lunch on Thursday before he left...

We also stopped at a stone company. They had incredible amounts of tile, granite slabs, marble slabs...

This piece of slab (which is shown back lit) is $16,000.

They also had some funky stuff like these colorful rocks...

...and this custom dyed piece of granite. This was my favorite. Can you imagine having this for your kitchen countertops?

Once we got everything measured, our boss got on a plane back to the states on Thursday night, PJ and I started our 4 day mini-vacation...

This was the client's house where we stayed.

This was the view outside my balcony door. Breathtaking!!

We watched the whales everyday!

They put on quite a show for us!!

It was a beautiful walk to the beach...

The sand was very course and it was deep. My feet were sore after walking on this sand.

Speaking of feet...I brought one pair of shoes because I thought we were only going to be here for 2 days. I brought black flats. Comfy and practical in all situations. I wish I had worn tennis shoes.

I bought a pair of black flip flops for 15 pesos, which is about $1.50. I wore these shoes everywhere!!I've been wearing these on the weekends now and they have lasted longer than I ever thought they would for $1.50!!

Here are a couple of shots of me...

Here are my favorite shots of PJ...

This is PJ breaking into the gates to the Hacienda on Sunday. Some serious security huh?

We are in!!

The best part of the trip was after the timeshare presentation!! Thank goodness that we had a vehicle because we could not get a taxi to take us with the voucher we had been given. Once we got there we had a nice breakfast, then we walked the property.
This is the view from the model.

This is where we jet skied for an hour!!! We were right next to this arch!!

It was really amazing and really fun!!

I did not pack a swimsuit for this trip. Luckily I had a pair of bike shorts and my boss left me two of his t-shirts. It was really embarrassing going back to the spa soaked, but who cares, nobody knew who I was and I had the time of my life on that jet ski!!

At the spa we took showers then had a 30 minute massage! It was so nice. After the massage I relaxed in the relaxation room and had tea and read a magazine. PJ went into the jacuzzi and the steam room. The spa was awesome!

After the spa we had dinner by the docks and headed back to the house...oh, the casita.

The trip was originally only supposed to be two days...Wednesday and Thursday. We stayed five and a half days...Wednesday thru Monday. We got back at 9:30pm on Monday, March 16. I really missed Lil'D and Jeremy after the first couple of days. I had only been away from Lil'D two days at the longest since he was born. By the time Monday came around I was really ready to go home. It was a much needed time away and I felt really refreshed and renewed when I got home. What a blessing!

Hope you enjoyed the photos!

L-O-V-E Photoshop...

I have been taking the time to learn how to use photoshop a little. Here is my favorite right now:

After Photoshop:

Before Photoshop:

Those are the real color of his blue eyes in that black and white. Who would have know that this shot could be so dramatic. I love taking pictures it is so much fun!!

What's been going on...

So, we have a lot to catch up on. Here is a list of things I want to tell you all about:

1. Potty training update.

2. My 6 day trip to Cabo San Lucas

3. What I'm working on at work

4. What Lil'D has been up to

5. My new favorite thing

So, I will go into the progress of Lil'D's potty training. Lil'D will be 3 in June. There is very little progress. We have been potty training now for 14 weeks. He is still in training pants. He won't tell us when he has to go pee, he definitely won't tell us when he has to go poop. He does not like to go potty. He is really good about staying dry all day if I keep him going to the potty every hour or so. When we go somewhere like the zoo or Disneyland, he is great about going potty and staying dry. He just doesn't ask to go. He hides to go poop. He doesn't care about rewards or praising. We have done it all. He knows what he is doing because once he goes he asks for clean pants. He has even gone as far as going and getting the clean pants and bringing them to me. He is very much one to want to be in total control. I am at his mercy to decide that he wants to go poop in the potty and to decide to ask to go potty at all. I am trying to be patient and am very open to any advise.

Here are a few things about Lil'D's potty adventures:

• Here are the training pants that I am using required by Pam at daycare:

I found them at Baby Best Buys online for $1.25 each.

• Here is the potty seat I use at public restrooms. I love this thing. It keeps bottoms and hands off of those public toilets!!

I think we bought ours from Right Start.

I just found it at Great Baby Products for $9.88 plus shipping.

• When we go to Disneyland or the zoo these are the pull ups I use. He is really good about keeping these dry, but when he decides to poop, it's easy clean up on the go.

I still have to use diapers for naps and nighttime. Every now and then he is super great about staying dry during a nap and overnight. But he still has to wear them.

Jesus is stuck in the 80s...

Conversation between Elliemae and Lil'D:

Elliemae: "Can you tell Daddy something for me?"

Lil'D: "Yes."

Elliemae: "Tell Daddy he is stuck in the 80s."

Lil'D to Daddy: "Daddy you are stuck in the 80s!!"

Later on tonight...as Lil'D and Daddy are playing baseball on the Wii, Jesus was up to bat.

Lil'D: "Jesus is stuck in the 80s."


I know it's been a while, but I think I'm ready to come back. I have gone through a lot in the past two, almost three months. I went through some big personal stuff that I would rather not discuss on this blog. It is over and done with and things are ok. I fell back into depression and got back on medication and I am doing awesome!!! I feel great! I am very happy with the results of the medication this time! I have been watching my calorie intake and working out almost 3 times a week. I have lost 5 pounds in three weeks. I am determined this time to get the baby weight off for good. I really miss blogging about my life. Everytime Lil'D does something funny I think about how I should blog about it. Well, here I am. Glad to be back.

Letters to Lil'D...

My sweetest Lil'D,

We are now into week 6, I think, of potty training. You are still standing your ground and are constantly showing me that you are in control. I know there are so many distractions around you that are so much more fun than going potty, but trying to make you understand that is so difficult sometimes. I am really trying not to make going potty such a negative experience in your life. You are doing great when we are out and about. You are always reminding us that you are staying dry and we are reminding you as well. But, you haven't gotten to the point of telling us if you have to go yet.

Going night night is always been routine for you. The steady things have been putting your pajamas on and reading. We've recently started giving you showers at night instead of baths. We bought new hooded towels for you in December. A dinosaur and a lion towel. When we started using the dinosaur towel. You loved running through the house naked with the hood part on your head and the rest of the towel flying behind you. You would also roar like a dinosaur. You just stopped one night. We changed to the lion towel and you haven't had much interest in the towels anymore. This kind of made me sad. Right now you love jumping on mommy and daddy's cal-king bed. You live for this. My only problem with this is I keep chapstick on my nightstand and you just love chapstick. To the point of where you have started eating it. I have teeth marks in my chapstick. Just last night you lost your jumping privileges because you got into my chapstick again. Hopefully, it won't happen again.

We have just recently started praying with you at night. You have completely memorized your prayer and it is the most heart warming moment to hear you recite it by yourself. Here is your current prayer:

"Dear Jesus,

Thank you for today.

Please be with mommy.

Please be with daddy.

Please be with Lizzie.

In Jesus name,

Amen."

I am so incredibly blessed to have you. And am so thankful for everything you are.

I love you,

Momma