I know, I know

I've been slacking. See, this was my fear about starting a blog -- that I'd never get around to updating it. So this entry is going to be a mish-mosh of the past several weeks. But hopefully it'll come together a little bit and you'll still enjoy it...

April 28, 2009 -- Just a few days into his first year.

This was just a random day, hanging out. I was in another room while Emerson was playing. When all of the sudden I realize that he's been quiet for a couple of minutes. Anyone who has kids knows that quiet = trouble. And sure enough, what I found was a little mouse helping himself to some cuties. I am amazed -- no, not amazed -- THANKFUL that Emerson loves fruits and vegetables. There has yet to be a fruit or veggie that this kid won't eat. Last weekend, at the beach, he ate a whole pint of blueberries by himself. And not that he hasn't had a taste of the sweet stuff. The sneaky little munchkin sucked down about a third of my chocolate milkshake today while I wasn't looking.

May 7, 2009

The Wagon. I briefly mentioned The Wagon in my last entry, but it's time you fully understood its true meaning. The Wagon might very well be Emerson's Red Rider BB Gun. Not in the sense that he pined and campaigned for it. But in that it became a bit of an obsession. He was first introduced to The Wagon at a friend's birthday party. The look of utter joy that illuminated his face upon first laying hands on it and tearing around their backyard all afternoon... absolutely priceless. I knew at that moment that he needed one of his own. He loves cruising around with it, picking up the occasional piece of laundry from the floor and putting it in. Ramming closed doors is another fun pastime. However, beware separating the two. Sometimes I think I even hear The Wagon give a tiny, protesting whimper.

May 10, 2009 -- Mother's Day
I'm starting to feel a little bit like a veteran now, but still sometimes like, "Oh yeah, I forgot... I'M A MOM..." This day I got to sleep in a bit and then we decided, hey let's go have a picnic on the beach. It's a beautiful day out, it'll be great. So I put on a beach dress and was ready to go. Usually we just hop over to nearby Santa Monica, but JD suggested maybe we should go somewhere we could bring Gidget. "But Santa Monica is so close, we'll be there in a few minutes," I say. "No, come on, let's bring her. It'll be fun," JD persuades. Hmph. Well, the only dog-friendly beach is up waaay past Malibu so that means braving the Pacific Coast Highway on a Sunday. But fine, let's do it. Oh wait, but first we need to get food for the picnic. So JD heads out to the store to grab some yummies. Finally, sometime around 2:00, we're ready to head out. Just to set the scene a little more, I haven't eaten yet or had any coffee since we were supposed to go as soon as I got up. For anyone who knows me well, you know this is a perfect storm. We're in the car and we finally hit the PCH. As suspected, it's completely packed, full of people just like us looking to take their moms out for a special day. Then, to add insult to injury, Emerson finally reaches his limit of being in the car seat/being hungry/tired from missing his nap. So here we are c-r-a-w-l-i-n-g down a two-lane highway with a ravenous and caffeine deprived mom and crying baby. Yay, fun. At last, we reach our destination -- somewhere around Leo Carillo beach, I don't really remember. We get out of the car and it's seriously blustery and freezing! Hence the winter gear in the pictures (good thing I came prepared, but not exactly the sunny picnic I was hoping for). We set up a little area and prepare to finally eat our picnic lunch.....at 4:00. Fighting the crazy wind kicking up everything, we unpack the cooler and I'm just really excited to get into the wine at this point. Except that we forgot to bring a bottle opener. Curses! I start shaking my fist at the sky. Luckily, there were RV campers nearby and JD ran over and was able to borrow one from them. Whew! I know it sounds like I had a horrible day, but even though it had a bumpy start, once there it did turn out to be an awesome day. Beautiful family, living a good life, what more could I ask for. Though next time, Gidget stays home.

The familia braving the elements at Leo Carillo Beach.


Here's Gidget, always trying to get some face time.


Here I am enjoying some seriously good cuddles. Ahhh.

May 17, 2009 -- Strawberry Festival, Oxnard CA

Emerson helping himself to some strawberries. "Don't mind if I do..."


He ate so many strawberries that day I was a little worried about how it would end up in the end, if you know what I mean. Luckily, it all came out ok. Literally.


So good!


Here we are with our fellow strawberry lovers, the Parkers.


More strawberry face-stuffing.

So on this day we ventured up to Oxnard for their annual Strawberry Festival. You wouldn't think a celebration of this fruit would draw a huge crowd, but boy would you be wrong mister. We knew we were close once traffic came to a stop and we had to sit in a long line of cars full of people dying to get their strawberry on. Once inside, I was amazed at how good the strawberries there were. I know what you're thinking, "Well, what did you expect?" True, but these strawberries transcended and surpassed any strawberry eating experience I'd had before. Oh man, so good. Anyway, they of course had every kind of strawberry product and food imaginable. Strawberry funnel cakes, make-your-own strawberry shortcake where the people coming out of the tent had mountains of berries, cake and whipped cream piled several feet high, jams, strawberry nachos, strawberry beer, strawberry t-shirts, strawberry-scented pencil erasers. They even had "celeb-chef" Fabio from the most recent season of Top Chef (one of my faves!) give a demo on how to make a few different strawberry desserts. I'm telling you, it was no joke. That's right JD and Jeff, we're going again next year.

May 18, 2009 -- 13 months and genius in the making

Even if I tell you that this picture is NOT posed, I'm sure you won't believe me. But I swear, it's for real. It's pretty clear that the day will come very soon when I won't be able to entertain Emerson with the ol' peekaboo trick anymore. I'm telling you, this kid is smart. Now before I go on, I should tell you that he isn't actually playing the game here. But he did sit himself down in front of the TV, turn on the PlayStation by himself and toggle around the menu until he managed to turn on the game Jeopardy. He's the same with JD's iPhone. It took him just a few minutes to figure out how to scroll through the pictures by sweeping his finger across the screen. He loves all things electronic. I have to constantly hide my cell phone because if he sees it, he's like a moth to a flame. I've caught him crank calling our friend Adam a few times. Lots of button smashing coupled with Adam's being the first name in my phone book leads to, "Hey, Emerson what are you doing? Hey, why is the phone ringing... Are you calling someone??" (sorry Adam!) JD is convinced he's going to grow up to be the world's youngest hacker. Personally, while I want to encourage and nuture the budding Einstein within, I'd prefer he stay on the legal side of things. In the meantime... PEEKABOO!

Whew, ok, I didn't realize how much I had to catch up on. There's still so much more, but I have to take a break here. Tune in soon for more.