Me at Thirty. (Three)

Its kind of hard to believe!  I don't know dudes.  I don't know about 33...

I notice more changes.  Mostly on my face.  My wrinkles have set in deeper.  And new little ones appear every day, it seems.  I have more days where I feel older, and my body aches when I get out of bed in the morning. I feel like I'll never catch up on sleep.  But I guess all that is just part of getting older.  Its just weird that it's actually happening to ME.  Like, I'm not supposed to get old... ?  And I'm not even OLD yet!  It feels that way sometimes though.

I need to have the same attitude as my mom.  She has said once or twice, "I earned each and every one of these wrinkles!"  That's how I should look at it.  The journal that my body has kept is like a badge of honor... A reminder of all things life.

The laugh lines are from the many joys that I've experienced.  I smile with my eyes and boy, does it show.  Tyra Banks calls it smizing, so I guess I'm kind of hip.

The sun spots are from lazy days on the beach.  Some of my best days were spent on the beach or just playing outside.  Happy, happy memories.

The rough spots on my feet are from the countless miles I have walked and all the places my feet have touched.  They have walked cities and countries and have taken me on the greatest adventures.

The chin wrinkles are probably from ugly crying.  Whether from heartbreak or being a dramatic teenager.  The ugly cry happens and my chin quivers and shakes and wrinkles up.

My least favorite right now are the forehead wrinkles.  They are a reminder of tougher times.  Or maybe from watching too many intense TV shows where I furrow my brow.  But those ones have really set in deep this year.  No amount of anti-wrinkle cream can tackle them.  At least they can be covered by bangs!

The stretch marks... oh, the stretch marks.  From my sweet boy.

My weak knees are from long jogs on cold mornings.  Which, surprisingly, I learned to love.

My backaches - well that must be from carrying around all this love.  {Not to mention a 24 pound baby.}  Can't really complain about that.

And of course my hands.  They display my wedding ring.  They take a million photos.  And although they are constantly chipped, my nails are polished & colorful.

Do you know how hard it was not to edit the crap outta these pics??

I have a full life.  I love many things about it.  There are things I wish were different, but not many.  If the next 33 years are anything like the first, I'll be in good shape.  And really, they will probably be better because I'm a wiser person now and I think I value the things that are truly important in life.  And I will continue to be grateful every single day for those truly important things.  And all the fun little filler things too.

Cheers to THIRTY! (Three)

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13 Months

I wasn't going to do a 13 Month update and just wait for 18 Months, but so much has happened just since he turned 1!  He learned to sit himself up about a week after his birthday.  It was so cute and he literally mastered it overnight, like it was the easiest thing in the world.  We sometimes laugh when we find him sitting up in his crib refusing to take a nap.  He looks right into the video monitor as if he knows we are watching - but he eventually loses that battle every time.  He has 9 teeth now, including his 1-year molar.  That one was a bitch coming in though, I tell you what!  Huge black and blue blister for over a month.  Oh, it looked awful.  I touched it once and it gave me the willies.  He understands when we ask him "What does the kitty say?" in English and Armenian.  He doesn't know how to say "MEOW", but he makes this high pitched squeak every time we ask.  We are working on dog (shoonig) and cow (gov) and monkey (gabig) too.  He's showing a lot more interest in toys.  They don't keep him occupied for very long, but at least he's grabbing things and showing signs of curiosity now.  He will go out of his way to reach the iPhone or remote control though.  He learned to wave "hi" and it's just about the cutest thing on the planet.  And the biggest news came just about a week ago when he finally crawled!  I'm not gonna lie, I teared up as he made his way across the living room.  I was so proud of him! He's been working so hard at it for months and months and months, and then it just happened.  A relief for sure, but now I know I'm in for it with him being able to get around!  Look at this little guy go!

Cute wave!

Exciting times, my friends!  I didn't know my voice could go that high.

25 Ways To Know You're Such a Mom

Someone shared this link with me pointing out that I'm totally #20 & #3.  What they didn't realize is I relate to a lot more of these than they thought!  I'm sure most moms can.  So I wanted to share the ones I totally get,  plus add a couple of my own...

1. When you're kid throws up, you hold out your hands to catch it. Gross.
2. You pick someone else's boogers and it's no big deal.  Also gross.  {And not only is it no big deal to me, but I see it as a huge accomplishment.  As if I performed surgery or something.  Very satisfying to clear out booger town.)
3. "What kind of poop was it?" counts as stimulating conversation.
4. Your pets that you love so much all of a sudden drive you crazy.
5. You clench your nether regions before you sneeze, so you don't pee.
6. You eat rogue food from the floor and don't even bother to see if anyone's looking.
7. The last thing you do on vacation is relax.
8. When you check on the baby, you crawl into the room army style so they don't see you and want to be picked up.
9. You literally cry over spilled breast milk.
10. If you happen to cry over said milk, you dry your tears with the nearest dirty burp cloth.  Ew.
11. You will drive around the neighborhood for an hour, just so you don't have to wake the baby up.
12. You find poop under your fingernail (or yogurt in your hair) and wonder how long it's been there.
13. Sometimes just getting ready for the day feels like a huge accomplishment.
14. When you hear a baby crying three aisles down at the store, you start swaying as if you're rocking them.
15. You catch yourself singing Sesame Street songs even when the kid isn't around.
16. When you squeeze your boobs in public to see how full they are.
17. When you tell others they should feel your boobs too because it's unbelievable how huge they are!
18. You'll be kissing your husband and have to finish it with a silly noise or raspberry.
19. The fact that you forgot to bring the binky to the grocery store with you sends you into a horrible panic.
20. When you make up the most ridiculous songs for every occasion.  Bathtime, diaper change, eating, etc.
21. You are desperate for the baby to take a nap, and when he finally does, you get bored and want him to get up soon. (This has only happened to me once or twice.  I love naptime.  But it has happened.)
22. Surprisingly, you can pick up a lot of things with your feet!
23. You sniff the baby's butt to see if the diaper is dirty.
24. Your car is no longer your car.  It has been taken over by toys, extra clothes & diapers, food, etc.
25. You can update your blog or edit a few photos, navigating the mouse and keyboard with only your left hand so you can hold the munchkin.

I'm not saying all of these are good qualities, or that I'm excited about doing all these things - but sometimes you do what you gotta do.  And these are just things I've done in the first year.  So I'm guessing this list is a work in progress...

Bedroom Spice Rack

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I'm basically a genius.

I didn't get this idea from a blog or from Pinterest, I came up with it all by myself, much to my own surprise.  Although I'm sure it could be out there somewhere.  And I blame Pinterest for fueling my need to share it with the world.

So let me tell you about The Bedroom Spice Rack!

For my friend's bridal shower, I bought a 12 bottle spice rack at Bed, Bath & Beyond, dumped all the spices out, and stuffed the jars with Victoria's Secret undies!  Then I found a sexy silhouette from Google Images and whipped up this label for the box:

And voila!  The Bedroom Spice Rack.  It was totally the hit of the shower.  If I had thought of it earlier and had more time, I would've made labels for each jar.  But this was totally last minute, so I did what I could.  I would also try and spend less money.  It wasn't a cheap gift.  Thank goodness Victoria's Secret was in the midst of their Semi-Annual Sale. That at least saved me a couple bucks.

Let's pin this, shall we?

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Fake Snow Day

The Armenian Relief Society (which my husband's mother was active in for many, many years) held a fundraiser carnival today.  We heard there was going to be snow, so I thought we should check it out.  At least we could get a couple cute pictures.  It was probably more trouble than it was worth, but we did it anyway.

My Instagr.am followers will see I kept the black fur boots!

Oh these glasses!

Everything in the mouth.  EVERYTHING.

Proud Papa

There was a patch of snow about 15 feet wide, and there were about 50 maniacal kids running around, and we waited in line for a long time.  So we weren't really having as much fun as it looks, but we are good at having fake fun in the fake snow!  Woo hoo!