Mommy & Daddy's Second First Date!

Jordan and I decided to take advantage of my parents being in town and [hesitantly] let them babysit H for a night while we went out on our second first date! 

As you can see, Harrison is not a happy camper and Mama is very sad to have to leave him. 

I remember when Jordan picked me up for our first date... I had just gotten home from a first day of work [at a biker bar in Lake Elsinore...yeah, that job lasted all of three days] and was not even dressed when he came to the door. Luckily for him, I am a pretty low maintenance girl so I was ready in a matter of minutes! Okay, I may have become a little more high maintenance over the years. ...just a little though, right babe? He took me out for Indian food and told me all about serving a mission in India and then to the play, "Guys and Dolls." It was great, I had never had such a thought out date. I was used to dinner and a movie, you know how the guy asks you where you wanna go and you have no idea his budget or food interests so you both sit in the car hemming and hawing until he finally says, "Does Fridays sound good?" or even worse, Applebee's! Jordan was different though, he had the night planned all planned out for me. And I still make fun of him for how it ended... after the play he took me straight home, no stopping in the park to talk [and kiss], no taking the long way home to talk [...and kiss!] Jordan drove me straight home, pulled up to the curb and said he'd had a good time and 'goodnight.' He didn't walk me up to the door or even get out of his car! Man, for as wonderful as the date itself was, he's lucky he ever got a second date with the way he ended the night! 

Our first date as parents was much like our first first date, in that we had exotic fare for dinner. Okay, well sushi is still exotic to some people. And we saw a movie instead of a play. Jordan did walk me to the door this time and there was lots of kissing! 

It was nice to have some quiet time to ourselves, but you can bet I was loving and kissing on my baby when we got home! 

You're smelly and your Grandma dresses you funny!

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit Harrison, but he's not used to new people so it takes a day or two for him to adjust. Poor baby boy wasn't quite sure what to think of them just yet!  

Grandma & Abuelito staring at their first baby grandson. 

Kisses from Grandma

xoxoxo

My dad does not know how to vacation. He has to be doing something or he gets stir crazy. When he visited us last summer while we were still living in apartments, we suggested he go ask to mow the neighbors lawn or fix their fence. Well luckily for him this time around-- we hadn't had a chance to landscape the backyard since we moved in and there was a jungle of weeds growing out there for him to weed and mow. Took him half the morning to get it done, but imagine Jordans surprise when he came home from work! 

All that hard work really tuckered them out... 

Wait, what exactly did Harrison do all day that was so exhausting? 

Lazy Bums! 

While Grandpa looked around the house for more things to fix, [it's a brand new house old man, not gonna be too much work for you around here!] Grandma played and napped a lot with Harrison. 

He just loves looking at himself. 

[He must get that from Mommy! Ooh, burn! ...on myself, ha.]  

Caught 'em snuggling again! 

Mama wishes she could get as much sleep as this little baby does. 

Grandma loved spending the days with her baby boy, but I am beginning to wonder if she wanted another little girl... especially when she dressed him like this!  

Apparently she found the tiniest clothes in the top of his closet to dress him up in. Looks like he is wearing leggings and a crop top - belly bearing t-shirt. As you can see, Mama is about as happy as Harrison is with his outfit. I heard my poor little guy crying and came down to see Grandma had squeezed him into a newborn 5-8 lbs. outfit she'd bought for him, but he'd never had the chance to wear because he's a little porker! 

Look at that belly! 

"Um, Grandma, why didn't you find me a new outfit when you saw this one didn't fit past my chunky little thighs?" 

If he has a fear of cross-dressers when he grows up, we'll know why. We can show him this very picture and he'll understand the exact moment he was traumatized. 

Mama swooped in and saved him from any further future trauma, but Grandma #2 is coming next week! Uh, oh. Guess that means more embarrassing photos so come...  

We bought a zoo [ticket]!

Grandma and Papa are visiting for Fathers Day weekend and while poor Daddy stuck at work yesterday, we decided to take Baby to the zoo! Living in Utah, I've always heard people making fun of the Hoggle Zoo, but my first experience was great! The tickets were quite inexpensive [Grandmas treat, thanks!]; we three adults and free baby got in for less than one admission ticket to the San Diego Zoo. Even the membership for both Jordan and I would only be sixty seven bucks together! We will definitely be getting a membership when Harrison gets older! As for yesterday-- well, he enjoyed the zoo as much as a seven week old baby can enjoy the zoo. 

Can you see the excitement all over his face!? 

At least his little carrier cover has some zebra-like print. 

I have never been to a zoo in the states where the animals habitats are so open. We were able to get really close to most of the animals. I also have never seen such lively animals, out and about for viewing. Every time you go to the zoo you sort of expect to pay fifty bucks to see a thumbnails sized polar bear in the distance under his canopy sleeping, but not here-- zoo keepers must be slipping some meth or heroin into those feed bags! [Sorry, I can't say I'm much of a drug connoisseur, so I'm not sure if meth and heroin are uppers or downers, but insert upper's street name here ________. That's what these animals been chowin' on. Oh, that kind gets injected, well damn. You get the idea, right?] 

This hanging food sack was so cool! We got to watch the elephants stretch their trunks and reach for food. I've never seen elephants display their trunks so beautifully! 

Mommy and Baby Elephant

Baby just got done with a little romp in the pond. 

Harrison being a rhino with Grandma... 

Harrison being a baby eaglet with Mama. 

[I think I just made that word up for 'baby eagle'... Nope, I just looked it up. It means what I said it would. Man, I should be in charge of creating new words because I'm really good if I think I'm making up a word that actually happens to already be a word.   "...or your an idiot for not knowing it was a real word in the first place," so would say Jordan!] 

Harrison being an otter with Abuelito. 

The giraffes had a special treat in these buckets with little holes for them to stick their tongue and lick. It would rotate on the circle to show off his long neck and muscles. Really so cool! Whoever designed these exhibits really thought about the animals playing to their strengths as well as the visitor experience. I usually get a little sad at the zoo because the animals are just stuck in small cages without much to do but wander from wall to wall, but here they all had inside as well as outside areas to enjoy. 

"What'ch'you doin'?" 

 The baby giraffe is a little more interested in Harrison than Harrison is in him. 

Uh-oh, someone taught my dad about 'selfies.' 

If old people are doing it, I'm going to have to stop!

"Penguins & Harrison, these are a few of Aunt Nikki's favourite things!"  

...to the tune of  My Favorite Things -- The Sound of Music

Harrison is not really feeling his new hat, but he's gotta be protected from the sun.

...and he's practicing his 'bro look for his first visit to Lake Elsinore! 

We stopped and fed Harrison to get that grimace off his face and then ventured over to the primates. They are just so human like, it really is a crazy resemblance. 

We were watching the orangatangs, just lounging and being lazy, when my mom moved over to the gorilla to check out the silverback... 

                                  ...and THIS HAPPENED! 

He was laying down when she walked over there and she took a picture of him lying there and well... apparently he does not like his picture taken because he sat up and just stared at her for like 2 minutes before these little kids ran over and he walked off. Which was total bummer because I was trying as fast as I could to get Harrison out of his stroller to just hold him up in front of this angry, bad A' gorilla  and snap another pic. Which in hindsight might have really triggered him and sent him into a crazy Planet of the Apes rage! Buuuuuut, how cool would it have been to show little H in like 5 or 6 years a picture of him just sleeping next to a 'roid ragin' silverback?! 

...next time. 

Until then, this picture will work til Grandma can come back and tick him off again. 

Thanks for taking me on my first zoo adventure, Grandma and Grandpa! -H. 

"Hey girl, hey!!"

I love being home with my boys, but I do miss my friends at work... 

Haha. Love you Kels! 

[Hope Chef isn't into blogging!] 

Six Weeks. [Love]

I cannot believe it has been six and a half weeks since my baby came into our lives. I have spent most of this time just staring at him... he is beautiful and perfect in every way imaginable. We are so blessed to call this little boy our son. 

My beautiful family. 

Life does not get better than this. 

Good Cop / Good Cop

I got pulled over by a cop yesterday!

I was on one of those main residential roads, which I thought was a 40, as it turns out it is a 45 mph zone-- well regardless, I was going about 60! [Accidentally, I swear!]  I saw the police car headed in the other direction and as soon as he passed me he put on a blinker to cross into my direction of traffic and I knew I was going to be pulled over. Ugh. I thought about just pulling over right then and there to do him the favor of not having to light me up, but I waited to see the red and blue on the off chance that he would just follow me for a bit to see if I continued over the speed... no luck. 

He pulled me over and sent in my plate number before coming to my window and as he got to my window and said, "Hello," I burst into tears! No joke. And I was not playing to get out of the ticket. He was right to pull me over and I deserved a ticket. I was having a really rough day though [and it was only noon!] and I just broke down and cried/vented and tried to explain to him... 

See, I was only out and about because I was headed out to work to shoot a news interview to promote our new restaurant. Yes, I was doing a favor for my boss, who had called me only the day before asking for my help-- while I am on Maternity Leave-- which he is not even paying me for, mind you-- yet is calling in favors... which I all too quickly oblige. 

So that is problem number one in my rant.
Number two is that obviously getting up early to be able to get hair and makeup done and get dressed, camera-ready before 11 and my newborn is just not having it! H napped long enough for me to curl half my hair, but then was a screaming tyrant even though he had been fed and changed and didn't even want to be held-- apparently he just wanted to scream.

The officer asked how old he was and I rolled down the back window, like a proud mama, to show him his [now sleeping and angelic] little face as I told him he's 6 weeks and has definitely been a handful! He told me he is a father of 3 and knows what I mean. 

Sympathy points-- score! 

I then continued crying and ranting in a non-sequitur fashion about how I had only recently bought the car; so it's new to me and I simply didn't notice I was going 60 [truth] because the ride is so much smoother than my old car [major truth!] As soon as I saw him in the other lane I checked my speed and realized I was going way too fast and slowed, but he was already pulling me over at that point.

I just kept apologizing because I knew I had broken the law, regardless of intent and I admitted I was speeding and told him I fully understood that he had to ticket me. I even said, "I'm not trying to be that person. That girl who cries to get out of a ticket... it's just been a really hectic and frantic morning and it was a honest to goodness mistake." 

When he took my license to run it I really could not guess whether he was going to ticket me or not. He came back he said, "I am not going to write you a citation today because if I went home tonight  and told my wife what happened today, she'd probably leave me!" 

I cried more and thanked him! I was truly thankful and honestly could not have controlled my emotions when he pulled me over. I really was not acting to get out of it and I am so thankful for his empathetic understanding of my situation. 

...so today I am going to bake him cookies and bring them down to the police station.
Don't worry-- if any of the other cops ask why, I wont get him in trouble by saying he let me out of a ticket, I'll just say he helped me on the side of the road yesterday!