Ride Along This Beautiful Journey We Call Love

It's been a long week since my Texas trip... probably because I haven't come down from my BBQ high (OMG, I LOVE!)  It was filled with my favorite F's: fun, friends (and I wish they were going to be my family!), and food!  I'm in love with Texas, and my old roomie/the bride would love to hear that.  I've never felt more welcomed by such a large group of people.  Let's face it, I'm awkward and people pick up on it quick... everyone except Texans!

So does anyone understand Mountain Time?  I felt like I was in a time warp.  My BFF Britt and I were both on Mountain Time, but the times were different.  Does that even make sense?  I guess the better question is, how many time zones are in America? And what are their names?  I obviously have no idea, and I was confused.  Here was the actual BBM convo we had:
-"What is the time difference for Mountain Time?"
-"I'm not sure."
- "What time is it in Phoenix for you?"
-"Umm 1:46"
-"It's 2:52 here...this makes zero sense... where are we in this country?"
-"I told you it's weird... hahaha"
- "Mountain Time is the Twilight zone!"

The conversation goes on to things that don't make sense or match up with this conversation (distractions) but apparently we had a misunderstand and BFF Britt didn't tell me the time at that very moment that I asked her, instead she asked an old man who might have been senile, and she might have waited awhile to tell me the actual time, but whatevs.  I never want to live in that time zone.

The one thing I cannot stand about Texas, right now, are the highway systems.  They keep building more and re-routing old ones, and it's just so darn confusing.  For awhile, the GPS said we were in a river...what?  hahaha.  There are about a half million ways to get to one place (access roads, highway, back roads, Ryan's beloved phone GPS, our GPS, Kalina's way, the back-back roads, short cuts, the river...) geez louise, I had no idea where we were ever.  Good thing my BFF Britt was driving, I would have just given up.

The day we got there, I called Elisa to let her know we were on our way to her house.

-"YO!" says a man's voice. 

       Um, I knew it was Ryan, but I was uncomfortable.  We don't know each other... 

-*long PAUSE* "Um, hiii.  This is Vi.  We're um, on our way" 

-"OK great! Do you need directions"

-"No, we have a GPS"

-"Do you know where you are?"

-"No, we have a GPS"

-"Alright, we'll see you when you get here"

-"Yeah, we'll get there at about 6" **BFF Britt's GPS is set at California time.... it was already 7 o'clock. Time Warp once more!

As much as I'd love to go into every detail, because I would... Here are the highlights of the praise I received that weekend:

"You're fun"
"I like the way they talk to each other" -I was eavesdropping
"It was really nice to meet you!" - I hardly talked to this lady
"If the DJ fails, Vi, you have to get up and beat box" -My fave, Kevin
"You're job is to be here and have fun. No worries this weekend!"- Ryan's step dad loving us!
"I really enjoyed watching you guys dance" (In a non-creepy way)

It was a beautiful day, the whole wedding was beautiful! I will say, if I'm back in Texas this year, I'm taking line dancing classes.  There are a lot of them, and I would like to know at least two.  I missed my little bug and I'm glad he survived the weekend.  He was so happy to see me! I LOVED it!

Pics of the day:

Texas Old Town, Rosebud Hall

Beautiful sunset that night that I forgot to take a pic of

Bride and her maids

Favor Magnets

Getting artsy with the jewelry

Little Ellie: We bonded over my Dora knowledge

Me and my BFF Britt

Us and Kalina

Us and Elisa

Party!

My Little Animal!

Usually, I don't think of titles for my blogs until after I write them, but from the sound of it, everyone is super interested in what is going on with my little coconut, rather than my adventures in landscaping!  And, on top of everything else, he is currently snugged up close to me like a little puppy in my bed.  My heart is literally swollen with love, it's absolutely crazy!  I am so blessed to have such a cutie for a son, who is healthy, happy, and so incredibly smart!  I hate to brag, but I will (actually, I love it, but that's the saying, right?)  I don't know how I deserved such a fantastic child!

A little side note:  As I started thinking about this blog, I realized I don't really touch on anything unexpected that I've encountered as a mommy.  Honestly, besides the fact that Sammy has no teeth, can't really talk, and poops his pants on the reg, I mostly treat him like I treat everyone else (except with a lot more loving; he can't help that he doesn't know how to use the toilet yet, or can't really eat solids.)  I don't know if there's something wrong with me, but he pretty much does with me what I do with my BFF Britt: Hang out, watch our favorite programs, play with some cool toys, and listen to music.  I think I will start doing a little more with sharing the products I like to use, websites to check out, and that sort of thing, but as far as parental advice? Um, ask Mother Dearest.  I have none for you, except, I do what I want. nbd.

I uploaded about a bizillion  new photos of Sam, so I'll sift through a few albums to share on here.  It really is a big thing for me to share photos of Sammy.  Before Sam was born, and for those few months after that I went crazy, I decided I wouldn't put any pictures of Sam online, ever.  I was even very cautious of putting them on Walmart's website to get printed!  But after a lot of people started asking (after my famous, "brb, going to have a baby" facebook status) me, "what does your kid look like?"  Um, I never answered those questions. But just like Suri Cruise, Sammy photos began to appear on facebook a few months after he was born.   Do I wish I got paid for that? Yes.  Am I willing to exploit my child for fame and the dollas? Yes.  hahah.  JK JK that was a joke.  Lil' Sammy is just for the loved ones, other relatives and friends.

Lets talk a little Sam-a-lam!  My child has turned into an animal.  He's crawling/ on the verge of standing on his own right now.  He chases balls around the house, can get in and out of all the nooks and crannies of my parent's house, and always wants to go outside (must have picked this up from the Palmer side).  He's a bit of a spoiled brat, but that's just one of the consequences of me staying at my parents house right now.  Just as my dad says, "You for discipline, I'm for spoil him ROTTEN!"  I can't stop them, obvi (you can't stop my parents from doing anything) but I'm trying to explain to them that it's not a lifestyle.  My mom understands, hence Sam's dying love for my dad and continual yelling battles with my mom.  I love it! hahha.  Sam has understood the different relationships he has with different people, and usually is only a brat with my dad (although he is still a baby, so it comes out once in awhile with others) He's such a cutie

Gpa being PA to Sam's busy computer time

My dad had never fed a baby before Sam, and thinks he does it best.... like this? Seriously?  He has my dad wrapped around his little finger to a point where when my dad goes to kiss him, Sam sticks out his hand for my dad to kiss.  I SWEAR this happens!  He loves everyone and hardly complains... this lasts until you put shoes on his feet.  Apparently he loves shoes on other people's feet, but for him... they should go in his mouth.  He's weird.  I bought some hi tops for him and he pulls them off on the reg.  He seems to enjoy his nikes.  Maybe because they have more bounce or something.  He laughs when he stands up on them.  

The other day, I caught Sam in his cage standing and trying to let go of the side.  Sooo happy!  My adventurous babe is one step closer to walking!  At 8 months, he is a perfectionist.  He practices everything in his crib until he gets it JUST right, then will do it in front of the crowd.  How crazy!  The other morning, he woke up before I did, and was in his crib (for once) saying "pa pa pa pa"  I hardly ever hear him saying consonant sounds.  I started trying a lot, because I have a hard time explaining to people that I taught him to growl and hoot so obvi he will learn to talk.  People don't understand.  Anyway, he's really into his ba ba's, pa pa's, and la la's.  That's good enough... but no teeth yet!

My smarty pants has also out smarted me.  My mom suggested I buy more Mr. Cows incase the original gets lost, so I bought 3 on Amazon.  No one can fool Sammy Palmer!  He took one look at an impostor and threw it in my face.  He would have none of it, and I wasted 12 dollars.  Kill me.

As I remember my Sammy stories, I'll be writing more! But here are some photos of the lil tike!

Lil Chubster loves me!

Play time with mommy!

Trying to make friends!

Everyone at Findley Market LOVED this!

Time at Auntie Thanh's!

Tickles get him every time!

Sleeping with Cow and Auntie Nga

Sorry Social Life, I Can't See You Tonight. I've Gotta Be a Mom

Let me clue you in on my pitiful life (jk jk, but seriously...)

It's Friday night, 10:52 PM.  I'm sitting here in front of the television watching Yo Gabba Gabba on silent, constantly refreshing the stats on Jarod's game (because I'm too cheap to purchase the video feed tonight, plus it sucks big ones to see it cut out every five minutes) with my empty cup of wine, contemplating whether or not I smell bad enough to shower.

P.S. Jarod scores on the one night I don't buy the damn game. Kill me.

Yes. My life has change just a bit.

There was a time when pitiful meant something completely different.  My BFF Brittni and I would scrap together our dollars (usually around 7 or 8) contemplate whether or not eating a real dinner was worth the extra money and go out to join some pub crawls, meet some nerds, hula hoop...whatever our hearts desired... starting at 4 pm lasting until who knows when (maybe with a trip to the library to pick up Jarod haha).  That sort of pitiful was, at least, fun. and we usually made a few dollars throughout the night.
Fun nights were posted on facebook within the month, and I shaved my legs on the reg.

Now, I get separation anxiety from Sam.  I seriously love the little bugger to death. If I don't have to leave him, I won't.  I feel like I really have no reason to, because I don't have anything friends anyway.  He's much more fun anyway.  We make animal noises, we play on the compy, and we love all the same shows (except I secretly suspect he likes watching Olivia, which I despise for her selfish ways). I love it! But then again, who would want to leave this cute little face? :)

Having said all of that, I think I'm ready for a little nap before Jarod calls me post-game. Let's hope for a win (or a loss. I'm not sure which one I want more yet)  Go Aeros!

Did you know: There are no words in the English dictionary that rhyme with the word "Month"?

Spring Break, It's gonna be a crazy week!

Here's a shout out to my BFF Britt and Dad Beck on their marathon in Napa Valley today!!

We finally made it to Texas and I'm FINALLY getting a break from the chaos of school!  Actually, I just threw myself into a different type of craziness such is Jarod Palmer's life (last night, I took Christmas decorations down), but that's OK with me.  We had a semi-relaxing trip to Texas... Sammy semi-behaved himself.

We were the first to board, so we got to watch everyone else get on the plane, and I see tons of guys in suits.  One of them sits next to me, and I ask "Are you all going to a convention or something?"   Of course they aren't.  haha.  Turns out, they were the Syracuse Crunch, the team that Jarod was going to be playing that Friday.  Lucky us.  The trip turned out to be super awk.

Not only did Sammy continually rub the poor man's leg with his foot, he was watching a movie on his iPad, and Sam wanted to watch too.  He spent two hours leaned over trying to watch the movie with him (successfully) and tried to talk to him.  Of course the jerk continued to ignore the poor 5 month old.  What does Sam do? Get louder...and louder...and louder. He got so upset, he started to cry.  The only toy I brought on the plane was his butterfly, so I kept flapping it around, and Sam loved it, until it was his turn.  The poor butterfly went for quite a ride.  Sam sure did let him fly...right into the guy next to us.  That's what he gets for ignoring my baby!

Along this trip, Sam of course takes the opportunity to take biggest dump of his life.  Not one of the quiet ones either, he had a bit of a struggle and let everyone know what he was doing.  And of course he waited until 25 minutes til landing, meaning, we couldn't get out of our seats.  I honestly don't even know where you can change a baby on a plane.  Is that possible? He thankfully made it OK, and he was soo excited to see his Dad.

I'm so happy be here and I've decided this is quite a nice family I have.  Sam is a pretty good baby, although he has his kinks.  Jarod is the best ever.  Only he could understand when I say "I'm going to drink this glass of wine and pass out.  You have to put Sam to sleep" and just say "Wow, that's a big cup...but you deserve it."

It's been a sweet trip so far, Sam lights up every time he sees his dad.  I take this as a good sign.  Only a few more years until Jarod starts embarrassing Sam on the reg!

Did you know?  The name "marathon" comes from the Greek city Marathon where war messenger ran (without stopping) 26.2 miles to deliver a message saying the Persians had been defeated... then collapsed and died.

The Best Kiss Ever

Today, I was given my first real kisses from my lil baby boy.  My heart melted as he clenched his hands around my face and slobbered all over my cheeks.  I can't believe how much I love him.

The other day, I was talking with my BFF Brittni and we were joking around.  For some reason, I blurted out, "The worst day of my life was finding out I was pregnant."  

  *Gasp* 

 Ok, before you take this too seriously, I'll set the stage for you.  Britt has psychic abilities.  Two weeks before I found out I was pregnant, she told me I was pregnant...and having a boy (weird).  Part of this "worst day of my life" thing was the fact that I had been in denial for two weeks and dismissed any reasoning that would put Brittni in the right.  Secondly, I was in college, come on.

Jarod took the news ten times better than I did, and honestly, was a little excited about it in some ways.  I think it was the part of him that just wanted to pack me up in his suitcase and take me whenever he went.  Now, he had a family in the works.  That excited him in the best way possible.

I was in a depression.  I was feeling sick, I could already hear the disappointment in my parent's faces and on top of that, I was going to be fat.  I picture pregnant women in two ways: 1. Happily glowing with a bump in the front and 2. a hot sweaty mess.  I was certain I'd be the later.  For weeks, I convinced myself I was huge, when in reality, I had lost about 10 pounds before I gained anything.  I was for sure trying to hide any signs of being pregnant from my family, friends, and classmates.  I didn't want to disappoint anyone with more of a mess than I had already made my life at this point and I didn't want to be stared at.  For about four months, I was in silent agony, wishing I could just let everyone know I was pregnant, and just be on bed rest.

I had gone to the doctor once to find out for sure I was pregnant.  The heartbeat touched Jarod's heart, I could definitely tell that at that moment, Jarod realized that this was real.  I didn't go back to the doctor for another 2 months.  This was mostly due to the fact that we couldn't figure out how we were going to pay for all of this... none of the health insurance plans I had covered pre-natal care for me.  Another small part of this was because I didn't want this all to be true.  Although I lost out in some pre-natal care, the bright side of this was pretending not to be pregnant for 5 months makes the last 4 a lot easier to deal with. I didn't have any anxiety about having the baby finally pop out of me.  And although he never said it, I believe my doctor thought I was going to be the worst mom in the world.  Not only did I wait until the fourth or fifth month to really go to the doctor, I had no real interest in what was growing inside of me.  My questions were very focused on just making sure I was doing the bare minimum requirements to have a healthy baby.  I'm sure he thought I was going to give birth to a low weight disabled child.

Even to the day that Sam was born, everything was so mechanical.  I was just going through the motions without having any emotions.  I didn't feel excited to be a mother.  Every time I thought about my new family, I kind of panicked.  I still get this feeling when I think about it sometimes.  This isn't playing house anymore and it definitely isn't college.  Having a kid and getting married isn't a game.  This is real life.  These feelings really shocked me.  If you ask anyone who knows me in the slightest way, my entire goal for my life was to become a mom and to have a family.  The duties of a wife and mother have always excited me, but now, it's happening, and every day, the reality of it all sets in a little more, and I panic.  While I can say that this is mainly due to the way it all happened, that's a lie.  Yes, Sam was unexpected and yes, Jarod and I only had known each other for a little over a year.  But Jarod is a great guy who has taken on this responsibility of lovingly caring for his surprise family with the greatest strides.  It was like he had planned this all along.

I thought I didn't deserve this type of life.  For all of the mess ups, break ups, and fudge ups, I didn't think that I wanted was something that I would be able to attain so easily.  Here I have this great guy who has never done anything but try and make me happy deciding, on the fly, that we are going to have a family.  What the heck.  On top of that, we made the cutest little boy I have ever seen, who is smart (what?) and steals hearts on a daily basis.  What could I ask more for?

I am not the eternal optimist.  I'm actually a pretty big Negative Nancy.  But today, dreaming about my imperfect life with my happy husband and lil bebe puts the biggest internal smile on my face.  The worst day of my life doesn't seem so bad anymore after kisses like that.

Gosh am I lucky.

The Lie that Created the Conscience.

Before I start putting together my presentation on the Ukrainian Revolution, I should probably address the lie that was originally a funny thought on my Facebook.

My birthday is July 15th.

I happen to be reminiscing with my BFF Brittni about birthdays on FB.  Every year, I get Happy Birthdays from people I haven't talked to, people I don't know and of course (the minority) people that are my real (by real I mean, people I actually know) on Facebook.  While I do get a good amount of birthday comments, compared to the amount of people I "know" it's actually quite a small amount.  I decided that this week, I would change my birthday to every day of the week.  Just to see how many people would catch on aaand to see if anyone knows when my birthday is.  As Brittni giggled, I changed my birthday.  ha ha.  Whatever.  This morning, I, of course, got the notifications.  Instant shame.

The people that said happy birthday?  People who just just met not more than 3 months ago and don't actually know when my birthday is.  (Except Kaley, who should know better.  I'll blame your scrambled med student mind)  Great.  I make fantastic impressions.  I'm sorry, I'm a jerk.   I texted (game dayyy) Jarod about this.... his response? You are a bitch. Mmmm tttthaaanks husband.  hahaha.  Anyway, as one of the people that knows me best, and as my active human conscience, he pointed out that not everyone keeps an address book with birth dates in it and has memorized birthdays of friends since middle school (actually pre-school... Sara Bailer (prounounced Sawa Baiwer) : January 19th cha ching!) As Jarod would point out, I'm a bitch and a weirdo.  I should really start checking with him before I do things.  Maybe it's Jarod, maybe it's the mother in me, but seriously, lying isn't as fun as it can be at the bar.

I wanted to write a different funny post this week, but I really felt bad even though it's Facebook.  (Honestly, its not like I changed my birth certificate)  Jarod made me feel really bad.

I'll write again after I make the best powerpoint ever.

Maybe.

Did you know? Here's a Valentine's Day fact for you:  Contrary to the belief of many, Valentine's Day is a really holiday that commemorates St. Valentine.  The guy was a martyr.  In Roman times, it was illegal to be Christian, let alone be married in the Christian church.  Guess who did it?  That's right, St. Valentine himself.  There's a massacre, a feast in recognition of it, eventual miracles... the details of this are fuzzy because I learned this in 3rd grade.  Anyway, it is a holiday about love and an actual guy named Valentine.  Truth or not, celebrate with your lovey tomorrow and don't worry about the details and have a great Fun day Sunday!

By the way, Sweetest Day is fake.

New Addition!

By popular request (Brittni's Dad and Jarod)  I've decided to add a "Did You Know?/Guess What I Learned" to all of my posts.  I think I'll probably end each post with something from my Fun Fact Memory Bank.  Here's one inspired by my trip to the Alamo, but something I learned in the 8th grade:

There are two legends to how Davey Crockett spent his last moments alive:

1. Most people like to say he died fighting, battling off the Mexicans and was a true hero.
2. Others say the Mexican soldiers found him cowering in a room and begged for his life.

Either way, the Mexis killed him and "Remember the Alamo" helped the anger the United States into acquiring the area of Mexico now known as Texas.