Happiness Is.... Delicious Ambiguity.

So, how is it being a SAHM {Stay-at-Home-Mom}?

Different than I expected.
Just like motherhood: the good stuff is so much better than I could have imagined, and the laundry never ends.

...no really, the laundry.never.f*cking.ends.
You're never caught up.
{Yeah, so you know---if you were thinking about quitting your job to catch up on laundry---don't bother. Just burn all of the clothes.}

So far the laundry part is really my only complaint.
In fact----I just LOVE sending Hubby texts throughout the day "Happiness is..." and then I text a picture and little statment about whatever I'm doing then & there...

And it's been so fun. It's been so good for my family. I am just so happy and thankful that this is possible, and that I was finally ready to take this step...to trust that he (Hubby) & He (God) would provide for me and our family and that it would just even work out. {Does that rambly statement even make sense??}
My point is: this has been WONDERFUL for us. I still work PRN for two area hospital organizations, but it gives me the opportunity to keep up my skills and continue to practice in my profession, and off-set the cost of providing health insurance for Gage and myself. {Hubby's is taken care of 100% by his employer. So nice!} It's great because I have the flexibility to work 4-5 shifts per month total, and then I'm done. If I want to do more I can, or if I want to do less I can. It's perfect for us right now.

So now---I'm going to share with you our "Happiness is..." moments!

Happiness is...

...planting new flowers by the front door.



...an organized garage-fridge.


...seeing the pantry floor.


...having a reason to wear my little black apron!


...beer-in-the-rear chicken!


...Well, it damn sure isn't stirring! I STILL HATE stirring!


...taking my son to the malt shop after practice.


...toast and jelly in the morning before school.


...a snack & a drink in the car at pick-up time.


...walking into my bedroom and seeing this.


...taking him for a walk in the middle of the day.


...putting notes in my son's lunch.



...a really clean kitchen.


Oh, the joys never end.
This stay-at-home-thing: I got this, yo.

I love it.

Spring Break 2012... Part Two.

Spring Break 2012 brought us some movies!
Now, I can't even remember what all we watched, but yes, Gage and I were some moving watching fools!

Gage...watching a movie and lounging on the upper-bunk...



{Yes, I still can't believe we painted his room camo....but whatever...he loves it. That's what matters, right?}

We went to see The Lorax, which I just LOVED!




We ate ourselves silly on popcorn and candy and soda!
Wooohoooo for Spring Break!

Spring Break 2012... Part One.

Spring Break 2012...
...well, Hubby and I had just returned from California before Spring Break started. And my last day to work full time was Friday, the 9th.

So, the first few days of Spring Break were eaten up with fertility treatments/appointments. Luckily, Hubby took the first few days of the week off, and was able to stay home with me & Gage, and so we all had flexibility in our schedule for what was required of us.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you (Kickin' My Shouts Out) to Lindsey for watching Gage on such short notice! {Lindsey is a school teacher, and mother of 3. When ovulation happens at the Casa de Lainey-Paney, I'd love to say that our world stops spinning, but it doesn't. Everything gets kicked up a notch, and things were CRAZY that day. Memaw wasn't available to watch Gage, and Lindsey did. LINDSEY, YOU ROCK!}

During the actual week of Spring Break, Gage and I went to see The Lorax, and I took Gage & his buddy/fellow kindergartener/neighbor "H" to the Dallas Zoo.
{Oh, and I bought a zoo membership because in my mind, the math TOTALLY made sense! Ladies----let me know if you are with me: I could spend $45 to get us 3 in for one day, or I could spend $90 to get our family of 3 and a friend with each visit in for a full year. If you ask me---it's a no-brainer. So I bought the membership. It will be soooo worth it...provided I go at least one more time this year, and that $90 INVESTMENT (yes, I referenced it as an INVESTMENT---as in an INVESTMENT in FUN....and INVESTMENT in ADVENTURE)...anyhow---that $90 INVESTMENT includes the parking for each visit. Yeah, that math adds up.}

....Can you tell that there was a 'discussion' about this at the Casa de Lainey-Paney? Nobody said that I couldn't or shouldn't do it---it's just that perhaps it was seen as not-completely-necessary.
Whatev....
{I should go to the zoo about once a week....just because I can.}

Moving On....
Pics from our zoo trip:




Gage was very interested in being in charge of the camera. HE wanted to carry it and take the pictures. He wants his own camera. And why not? Clearly he needs to take a bajillion photos of a monkey's ass, just like I need to take a bajillion photos of flowers!




But how could you expect anything less from a 6 year old little boy!?

(And with that sweet but mischevious little grin, how can you not just love him!?)


We saw the new koala exhibit.
How was it? Not awesome. The koalas at the San Diego Zoo are better to look at. Or rather, the animals are similar. The experience of looking at a koala bear is better at the San Diego Zoo (Rose, can I get an 'Amen'?)


Now, if you look reeeeeeeeeeally close, you'll see a koala. Or, you'll hit your head on your computer screen. In real life, if you're there, you'll hit your face on the glass. Why? The koalas at the Dallas Zoo are behind glass....or the zoo patrons are behind glass....hmmmm.... I'm just saying: the koala exhibit is fine but the hype was bigger than the experience, and this bird at the entrance to the koala exhibit was a LOT more entertaining and close to the patrons than either of the koalas were.

{But, by God, I've got a zoo membership now, and I'm gonna go back and see my friend, the bird, and look at those koalas again! Why? Because I can!!!!}

What else about our zoo trip? The guys had fun in the children's area...






They also rode the carousel, but I didn't get good pics of that this go-around... {hey, but don't worry---I've got a membership now, so it's like having a free pass for a do-over.}


So, that was all for the Dallas Zoo...

Before heading home, Gage beeeeegggggged to go to Burger King.
Burger King.

So, we stopped at Burger King.
How was MY BK experience? NOT Awesome. I didn't get a damn thing my way right away. In fact, I didn't get ANYTHING right away, and then when I finally GOT my food, it wasn't my way, and the kiddie-meal boxes didn't have any chicken in them. So, when I brought this to the attention of the BK employee, I was accused of lying, or being so stupid that I couldn't properly identify chicken.
Clearly, I'm going off on a tangent here, and this is such a post for another time.

So, instead, I will share with you one of Gage's pictures, as he took many-many-many photographs while I waited {and waited} for our food. I have yet to come up with a snazzy title for the artwork (because he's clearly a genius AND environmentalist, trying to point out how wasteful (though sanitary) it is to individually wrap straws}...


I think he really only likes BK because of the crown... He certainly acts (and gets treated) like royalty...


Okay, so maybe he also likes BK for the indoor play place as well...





Ahhhh....two sweaty-headed little boys.
Then, it was time to go home!

:)

Missed Me, Missed Me, Now You've Gotta Kiss Me!

Ok, not really, but surely someone in the great blog-o-spere missed me!

I have a stolen moment to upload crazy amounts of photos taken over the past few weeks, and have some major blogging to catch up on!

So, in all fairness, announcements first: not pregnant.

Tested at 9dpo, 11dpo, and 13dpo.




Had blood test at 14dpo. All negative.
(dpo = days past ovulation, but for us it was days past IUI)
Stopped meds at 14dpo when negative result was reported.



What's worse than being hopped up on hormones?
Coming DOWN from hormones!
The only perk to taking the meds were the breast enhancing features! That part's gone. And the coming down acne? I should have bought stock in Clearasil.

I'm just sayin'....

Thank you to Courtney, who brought me the sweetest card after my last diving-off-a-cliff-rant about TTC. It was sooo nice and unexpected and thoughtful. So---THANK YOU! It's propped up on my jewelry box to remind me of some other 4-letter-words: HOPE & HUGS.
:)

I still have so much to blog about...
...my new adventures as a stay at home mom...
...Spring break...
...recent trip to the Dallas Zoo...
...t-ball...
...school spirit night...
...flowers at the Casa de Lainey-Paney...
...organizing at the Casa de Lainey-Paney...

So, stay tuned!
:)

CA Trip 2012 Part Six: Tulipmania & other events!

After Alcatraz, we went down to Fisherman's Wharf and to several of the piers.
Guess what was going on. Did you guess "Tulipmania"? If you did, you are sooooo right. It was beautiful! Tulips everywhere! Have I mentioned how much I love flowers???
So, I took lots of flower pictures. Not all of them were tulips, but here they are because they make me happy. They are bright, and springy, and cheerful.











We ate at a place called Nick's Lighthouse. Everything I ate was delicious! Sadly, for Hubby, he liked his lobster bisque, but not his main dish. Ah, such is life.

The interior of this place: CRAZY. Ugly. Shady looking.
Check out the ceiling:

{Hi, Hubby.}


What else?
Oh! I saw this bike that I wish my mom & her sisters had when they were all younger. I suppose it's never too late for the sisters to give it a try, right??? {My mom is #7 out of 7 girls.}

I can't imagine having to get that many people to work together to go someplace. No thank you!

Of course we had to visit Pier 39...






We did a bit of walking about & looking at all sorts of things there around the piers....




We went into the San Francisco Music Box Co. store.
In there, we LOVED the Halloween displays! So much so, that I took photos!
{Where am I going to be able to get a manequin come October? I definitely need to recreate the green manequin scene!}




We also went to China-town. I had some guava-flavored-wrapped-in-rice-paper-candy that AMAZING. Lucky for me, I just found it at my local grocery store, so I'm excited about that!
:)
Pics from China-town...





{When or if I am ever blessed with a baby girl, I am going BACK to China-town, and I'm going to buy one of EVERY.SINGLE.STYLE of these little shoes.}


After China-town, we went to some other shopping area. I forget the name of it. Went into the Louis Vuitton store there. I found the bag I want. I want one from their new monogram collection. {Hint, hint, Hubby. My birthday's in June. But, before that---there's always Easter. Remember how I told you that it's a gift-giving-holiday? Yeah, instead of an Easter basket, you can get me one of those bags. I'm just sayin'....Oh, or there's Mother's Day! All KINDS of opportunities.... but I'm way off task here...}

Other random pics during our San Francisco trip...



At the end of that big day, we were exhausted! I had a headache in the early evening that was just awful. Hubby laid down for a rest while I just sat in the shower & let the water run on my head. Finally the latte & Excedrin kicked in, and I was feeling better. We went downstairs at the hotel and had a lovely dinner there, and had a great and entertaining waiter.

The next morning was Sunday, and it was our day to head back home & get back to Gage. We ended up landing at DFW, getting in the car, running through the drive through at JITB, and surprising him at his t-ball practice. It was sooooo hard to see him on the other side of that chain link fence & not hug him!

So, ladies & gents, that marks the END of the California 2012 trip.
:)