My 31st Birthday!

I wanted to write a quick birthday post about myself before we move on to the Main Event (Lucas's second birthday) next week. Since 31 isn't a particularly momentous birthday, we didn't plan anything as elaborate as last year. All I really wanted was a fun outing with Brandon and Lucas, especially since this birthday fell on a Saturday. Brandon suggested heading out to Coronado Island, which is about my favorite place in all of San Diego, so I thought it was a perfect idea!

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't quite as perfect as usual and there was a lot of wind. So much wind that Lucas wouldn't really stay on the beach for more than about ten minutes; and all he would do is whine and ask for Brandon to hold him. Guess he got his hatred of wind from me -- I'm not a big fan either. We snapped a few photos and moved on to a nice Coronado playground for some family playtime before lunch. For lunch we grabbed some pizza and then headed home for nap. Lucas was so wiped out from the new experience that he was asleep before we hit the freeway.

In the afternoon we relaxed as a family and watched Cars 2, which I wasn't impressed with at all but Lucas seemed to like. Brandon made me a delicious yellow birthday cake with homemade chocolate frosting and we had homemade cheeseburgers for dinner. After Lucas was in bed we rented a movie and had some cake and that was it! Welcome to 31. I also got some really nice and thoughtful presents from family and friends that were much appreciated.

Here are a few photos from our day! Most have been on Facebook already but now they can all be in one place.

Having fun for a minute before realizing how windy it was.

This guy LOVES his dada.

Family selfie!

Too windy for me!

Delicious cake courtesy of Brandon.

Easter Photos

I was just about to write a quick blog about my birthday but realized I never put all of our Easter photos in one place so I wanted to do so now.

We had a nice holiday this year and were even able to do a few of the fun kid-centric Easter activities. The day before Easter, after a highly successful attempt with my moms' club, we did a little Easter egg dying at home with the hardboiled eggs slated to be deviled for the following day's dinner at our friends' house. He took it all very seriously and kept transferring each egg from one dye color to the other, so many of them turned out to be a sort of greenish-brown color.

Easter morning was actually quite hectic for me and Brandon, as we had to fill in for missing church volunteers and so both of us worked for two services instead of attending any. I was a little bummed to miss out on Easter church but tried to have a good attitude that I was allowing other parents that opportunity. I worked in my usual location, the infant room, for first service with my friend's son, a super-chill one-year-old.

Second service I worked in the toddler room for the first time, with the idea being that I would be with Lucas so he would hopefully get through the whole service without a meltdown - the usual result whenever we try to stay for a second service. That part actually worked out well, despite my having to carry him on my hip for the last 45 minutes. The part I wasn't prepared for was wrangling seven 1-2 year olds with only one other mom to help me! We barely survived, and there was no thought of organized snack and craft time -- I have no idea how the usual teachers manage it! The rest of the day and into Monday, I felt like I'd finished running a half-marathon. Remind me not work in a daycare any time soon.

At church in our Easter best!

After church and some rest/naps for everyone, we attempted an Easter egg hunt in the backyard and Lucas got a small Easter basket with a few toys in it. I had a lot of fun and Lucas did too, especially after he figured out that the eggs were filled with fruit snacks, graham bunnies, and Reese's Pieces! 

In the afternoon/evening, we hung out with our friends at their house and were so grateful to join their delicious Easter dinner of ham, potatoes, and all the fixings. It was a wonderful holiday as a family!

Playing in the sand with his bestie!

One more book to end a long day!

Books for March and April

Never fear, I have still been reading away these past two months. I admit that I skipped March's update semi-deliberately because I was embarrassed that I only read two books that month. BUT I got back on track and read four books in April so now I am ready to post more reviews. It's a couple days early but there's no way I'm going to finish the current behemoth I'm in the middle of before Thursday so I'm posting while I have the chance!

7. Red Rising by Pierce Brown: This book was great! It's a pretty new release, I think it was published in January, but it's definitely going to be a big hit in the future. It's YA sci-fi dystopia, but written by a man and with a more male-friendly protagonist and storyline. Not that I don't love some angsty teen love triangles, but it was refreshing to read a more action-centered sci-fi since this isn't my usual type of book. The world was detailed and well-built, and the storyline was action-packed and thrilling, if a tad more graphically violent than I prefer. The main character is interesting and likable without being too perfect, and I'm really looking forward to the next installment. Highly recommended. Also, the author is a fellow Pepperdine alumnus so he has that going for him too!

8. Runner by Patrick Lee: My dad passed this one on, and though it's definitely outside my usual genre as a general adult action thriller, I found it very easy to read and enjoyable. It's a page-turner, perfect for reading on vacation or on an airplane, and it went by very quickly. The characters are fairly shallow, but I don't need a lot of depth for this kind of book. The action was fun and unpredictable and the plot has some fun twists and a satisfying ending. Perfect for what it is trying to be.

8.5. Letter 44, issues 1-5: I don't think these count as a full book, but I'm throwing them in here because they do count as reading material! I rarely read comic books; not because I don't find them enjoyable, but because they cost around $4 an issue but only take me between 5-10 minutes to read. I'm a girl on a budget, so I can't really make that kind of financial commitment. But my parents passed these on and have both been reading them (as has my sister) so I gave them a try. Like I said, I know next to nothing about comics, but I'm liking the storyline! Even if I only get it in drips and drabs. If you like comics and sci-fi, I recommend them for sure.

9. Walking in circles before lying down by Merrill Markoe: This is your basic chick lit like I used to devour all the time in college. This one's "hook" is that the girl can hear what dogs say; this was funny but was basically the only worthwhile part of the book. The main character is grating and does that stupid chick lit girl thing where she refuses to see what a giant douche monkey her boyfriend is until the very end when she finally ends up with a nice guy instead. I don't think I would recommend this one, but it was harmless enough.

10. A Crown of Embers by Rae Carson: This is the second book of the trilogy I started in February, and I loved it even more than the first one! Elise, the main character, has really grown a backbone since the first book, which made her more interesting and likable. The romance here was sweeter and more believable, and the male romantic interest was well written and interesting in his own right. It ends on a cliffhanger but since I had the other book already in my possession, I didn't mind too much. Otherwise, you might be annoyed that this book does not stand on its own -- you definitely need the first and the third for it to make sense.

11. The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson: The third and final book in the trilogy. I found the very end to be a tiny bit of a letdown, but not aggravatingly so. The first two-thirds are good and exciting in wrapping up the storyline from the second book, even if it felt a bit like we were just moving from one exciting action scene to the next. Overall, I really enjoyed this trilogy and appreciated that the third book was not total horseshit, as seems to be the norm with YA sci-fi/fantasy trilogies.

12. Legend by Marie Lu: Technically, this was a re-read. I read this book a couple years ago and was not that impressed so I never bothered to read the rest. But recently, and on my sister's recommendation, I decided I wanted to read the full trilogy so I checked this out from the library as a reminder of the story before I move on to the next two. I still found the story to be pretty predictable and the romance to be completely uninspiring, but in general the world it takes place in is an interesting one. We'll see if the next two impress me more, as I'm not totally sold yet.

That's it for April! Hopefully I finish this giant book before the end of May or next month's update will be MIA as well.

A Weekend in San Jose

We just got back from a wonderful weekend to visit my parents in San Jose. The last time we went to them, Lucas was only five months old. That trip had its moments too, but Lucas and I slept about 3-4 hours per night on average while we were there, so I mostly remembered feeling so exhausted and stressed out. This trip went, for the most part, much more smoothly!

As long as you discount the airplane trips, of course. Lucas is not what you'd call a happy traveler. He thrives on routine and familiarity; airports provide none of those things. So he's very on edge the entire time we're in the airport and on the plane, which means for him that he's liable to tantrum at any moment. On the way there, we attempted to have him ride in his car seat. That didn't work at all; about five minutes after takeoff he started violently kicking the (occupied) seat in front of him. He spent the rest of the flight on Brandon's lap as we desperately tried to find something to entertain him. I swear I brought a ton of options, but when he's already in a bad mood, nothing would please him. My poor dad met us at the airport with an exhausted shrieking toddler and two extremely cranky adults. The trip was all uphill from here!

My mom was brilliant and rented a full-size crib for us to use instead of a cramped Pack'n'Play, so Lucas slept through the night all three nights we were there and took about an hour long nap each day. So much better! He didn't eat that well, but the dogs and grandparents provided too much distraction to focus on unimportant things like food. Luckily, the Tank can afford to skip a couple meals. But Brandon and I didn't have to! My parents made delicious meals for us to eat all weekend, which was wonderful!

A lot of the trip we spent just chilling in my parents beautiful, toddler-safe backyard. My mom found a Radio Flyer wagon on Craigslist that was probably Lucas's favorite thing ever, so we pulled him around the yard in that about a thousand times. There were also plenty of new trucks to investigate, plus the all-consuming excitement of splashing his hands into their bird bath. He was a little indifferent to their two Basset Hounds, Kaylee and Charlie, at first and never really liked being licked in the face. He did love getting Kaylee to chase him back and forth across the yard, which was really cute, as was his lifting up his shirt and giggling when the dogs sniffed and licked his tummy. The best part of the backyard was the comfy lounges for Brandon and I to lie on while Lucas ran his grandparents ragged, and also playing with Lucas under the fan sprinkler. Don't tell him, but I just bought him one for his birthday for us to use in the backyard this summer. He had so much fun running through it! It was really cute.

We did a couple very Lucas-friendly outings as well. Our first full day there, we went to visit Lucas's great-grandma, Grandma T., at her house. Then we all walked down to the nearby park for a little playtime -- well, some of us walked, some of us rode in a wheelchair, and some were carried by their dad and grandpa. The park was really nice and Lucas had a lot of fun, although his favorite part was when Grandma T sat on a bench so Grandpa could push him around in her wheelchair while he ate Goldfish crackers out of the cupholder.

Showing off his cuteness to Grandma T.

The second fun outing was to a ritzy park in the rich neighborhood nearby. This park featured a working miniature steam train and a carousel! We got to ride both, and it made my heart burst with happiness to see how much fun Lucas had on the train and carousel. It was a little rough getting off the carousel because he wanted "More? More?" and didn't understand why we couldn't go again. It's such a joy to see your kid experience things you love for the first time. Taking him to Disneyworld this summer may well kill me.

The trip home was a hundred times better than the trip out. This time we gate-checked the car seat and just had him on our laps; the extra space seemed to keep everyone a lot calmer and happier. Although the good feelings were mostly ruined by the epic meltdown he threw in the car while we were waiting for Brandon to reinstall the carseat, we all came home feeling like we'd had a great, relaxing weekend.

Happy boy on the train

Selfie on the train! I swear I don't look this pregnant yet.

The ritzy park had a real fire engine to play in.

Fun at the park!

Carousel Excitement!

Toddler Storytime and Shrimp Tacos

Recently, I've decided to put Lucas and I on a loose weekly routine. I'm finding it difficult, and a little boring, to try and come up with new activities on the fly every weekday morning. We don't have any regular plans with other moms due to everyone's varying schedule restrictions, although I try to get together with my mom's group as much as I can. So we were starting to get into a rut of simply visiting the park down the street or playing in the backyard. Not very mentally stimulating for either Lucas or me, plus we end up watching more television than I'd prefer just to pass the time.

Mondays are generally reserved for the large grocery trip of the week, laundry, and various errands both inside and outside the house. I've decided to set aside Tuesday mornings for the zoo, and this week we tried out toddler storytime on Wednesday morning at our local library for the first time. It's at a perfect time for us, 10am, and I figured if Lucas had a total meltdown we could just leave. There was a pretty great turnout for our small little library, about ten toddlers or so. The librarian alternated between sitting and reading a book, then standing to do a short song and dance. She did three books and four songs, then we ended with some coloring.

As I suspected, Lucas was the worst toddler there in terms of his ability to sit quietly and listen to the stories being read. It's just not something he is able to keep an interest in. He loves to read books at home, but we only do so right before nap time and bedtime, because this is the only time of day he is mellow enough to want to sit still and look at books. So when Miss Librarian busted out her books, Lucas was up and moving. I was mostly able to keep him contained to the lifesaving puzzle table during the story area, but the extremely tempting rolling library cart located directly behind the librarian was a real problem. Anytime he started to squeal or whine because I was keeping him from the cart, I reminded him that if he couldn't stay quiet, we would have go home. Shockingly, that actually worked for the most part!

The main reason I stuck it out is because when the songs and dancing started, he was enraptured. We stomped like dinosaurs, and he actually stomped! He was pretty shy about joining in, but sat still in my lap or stood still next to me and smiled through all the songs and giggled when I helped move his hands for the dancing. I love that tiny shy toddler smile when they are experiencing something new that they enjoy. Being the parent with the out of control energetic toddler was worth it for his happiness during the music time. He even liked the coloring at the end pretty well too, particularly when Miss Librarian gave him a car stamp on his hand. He held his little hand out to show me and said "A car???" I'm definitely going to try a few more times and see if familiarity might improve his behavior.

As for activities for Thursday and Friday, I'm still working on it. This summer, we'll have a membership for the local YMCA, so at least two mornings or afternoons will be set aside for swimming. But until then, I'll probably pick a special park that he really enjoys and do that one day, then brainstorm another idea for the remaining day.

Lastly, I made some delicious shrimp tacos last night and wanted to share the recipe since I made it up as I went along. It was very gratifying to have it turn out so deliciously. This recipe grew from the fact that I had a can of crushed pineapple in juice I wanted to use up.

Marinated Shrimp Tacos with Pineapple Salsa

Ingredients

1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 can crushed pineapple in 100% juice (chunks would work too)
1/2 cup oil (I used olive, but any kind would be fine), divided
2-3 tablespoons tequila
1 lime, divided in half
2-4 cloves of garlic, minced and divided in half
1 tomato, chopped and de-seeded
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced (if you like spice, use the whole pepper)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
10 corn tortillas
1 can beans, heated (your choice, we used refried but black would be good here also)
1 avocado, diced
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional - we just really like cheese around here)
salt and cayenne pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Strain the pineapple to divide the juice from the fruit. Separate into two bowls.
2. Add 1/4 cup oil to the bowl containing the pineapple juice. Add the zest and juice of half the lime, tequila, two cloves of minced garlic, and some salt and cayenne pepper. Whisk together the ingredients and add to a ziploc bag along with the shrimp. Place in refrigerator for 1-4 hours.
3. To the bowl with the pineapple, add tomato,  red onion, jalapeño, cilantro, the remaining garlic, and the juice of the remaining half lime. Mix together with salt to taste and set aside. I made this the day before and it tasted great after sitting together for a day or so.
4. Heat a medium nonstick skillet to medium heat. Add the remaining 1/4 cup oil. Once the oil is hot, add one tortilla at a time to the oil. Let cook about 15-20 seconds per side, then remove. Continue until all tortillas have been lightly fried. Set aside with a cloth over them to keep them warm.
5. Heat a large nonstick skillet to medium. Add the shrimp to the pan and cook about 3 minutes per side. Once they are pink, remove from the pan.

Now your shrimp tacos are ready to construct and eat. We put in a good spoonful of beans, followed by cheese, shrimp, avocado, with a big dollop of pineapple salsa on top. The combination of the marinated shrimp, pineapple salsa, and lightly fried corn tortillas was just delicious! Brandon and I definitely enjoyed this meal. If you wanted to save some time, you can buy already prepped fresh pico de gallo at the store and just mix that with the pineapple. I would have done this myself but my store was out of pico de gallo that day.

That's all for now! I'll update in a few weeks about how my weekly routine has shaped up once I have it all settled.

Books for February

I thought I was going to beat my number from January, but I ended up bailing on not one but two books halfway through so I've only got three more again. Still, I was pretty pleased with the ones I did finish.

4. The Diviners by Libba Bray: I've read several other books by this author. Generally, I enjoy them but don't find them to be anything particularly special or memorable. That was true of this book as well. It was sort of a supernatural plot that was pretty generic, and most of it seemed to be setting up the next two books in the trilogy. The main villain/demon was also a bit too violent for my sensitive soul. What I loved about this book was the Roaring 20s setting and that the main character was a very stereotypical flapper teenager. The slang, fashion, and settings really gave this book a fun atmosphere, and I enjoyed that part of it. I kind of wish I had just read a Roaring 20s book without any demons in it, though. I doubt I'll make any effort to read the remainder of the series.

5. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore: The final book in my beloved Graceling trilogy, I wish I could say that I enjoyed this book more than I did. That is not to say that I didn't enjoy parts of it. I very much like the character of Bitterblue and liked following her journey from child queen to ruling sovereign. But I'm afraid I disliked more parts than I liked. The main problem is frankly that Cashore created too intense of a villain for me in Leck. His creepiness was evident but tolerable in the first two books, but learning the extent of his perversion and evil in this book overwhelmed my ability to enjoy the rest of the plot. There needs to be some kind of tool I can use to let me know which books I should avoid. Does this book contain child rape? If yes, I will pass. I was also very unimpressed by the love interest and found another character to be a far better fit as a partner for Bitterblue. So of course I've rewritten the ending in my head to be more satisfying. In all, kind of a disappointing end to the series. What is good about this is that the trilogy is only loosely connected, so my lack of enjoyment in this one does not affect in the least my love for the first two books.

6. The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson: This one has been on my to-read list for quite a while and I really liked it! I'm excited to read the rest of the trilogy. The quasi-Catholic religious aspects were interesting and well-done, and I liked that the lead is not the typical kick-ass female that you get in a lot of books of this genre. She really grew into herself throughout the book, and I'm looking forward to seeing that continue in the next two. There were a few very shocking moments, as well, which I always appreciate, and I liked the detailed portrayal of the different cultures in the book. I like any book that gives me good details about the food everyone is eating! I definitely recommend this one to fans of YA fantasy.

Books I started this month and abandoned:

Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed and Wild by Cheryl Strayed: The first is a collection of advice columns written by the author. I had read a few of her pieces online and enjoyed them, so I thought I'd give this a try since I tend to enjoy advice columns in general. Sadly for her and for me, the very first column in the book gave a detailed description of the sexual abuse the author had suffered at the hands of a relative as a 3-4 year old. I'm afraid this completely turned me off and I was unable to read any further. I have so little leisure time in which to read, and I'm not interested in spending that time reading about the most horrible things and people that the world has to offer. The second book is a memoir by the same author about her time hiking the Pacific Coast Trail. I was a little turned off by how unlikable she seems to be, or was at the point in her life when this book takes place. I made it about halfway through but couldn't stop rolling my eyes at her so I eventually gave up. Don't get me wrong, Strayed is a good writer but apparently she's just not up my alley.

I'm reading an amazing book right now that I'm sad I didn't finish in time for this month's reviews, but I'll be back next month to rave about it!

Recent Funnies from Lucas

My little boy is getting to be quite a funny little creature! Not that he wasn't always, but the addition of words is certainly a good one in his case. Where do toddlers learn these things?

One of his favorite words is "Help" (Hawp). Recently, he's started getting his foot fake stuck in things, like the crevice between couch cushions or a toy bucket. Then he'll look over at me and say "Hawp Hawp Hawp" until I go "rescue" him by freeing his foot.

This past weekend, he started playing a game I like to call Stunt Man. He'll flap his hands at his sides and say "Whoa-oh-oh!" like he's losing his balance, then fall on his butt and start cracking up. I have a fun video of this. Sometimes he'll pitch straight forward and face plant onto the carpet instead. Maybe it's time to turn that college fund into a clown college fund, huh?

Another game involves taking all the shoes out of my side of the closet and pushing them behind Brandon's dresser inside his closet. That one took a few minutes to figure out the first time when I couldn't find my running shoes!

We had a recent bubble themed park playdate with my mom's group, and Lucas got a huge kick out of it. His favorite is to chase after the bubbles and try to eat them. He even learned to say "Bubble" that day and now he asks for them all the time when we're in the backyard.

We've started trying to do time outs as he's getting closer to two, but they rarely work in terms of him knowing why it's happening. He gives me this big wide-eyed stare, then starts smiling and tries to hug me. It does work in terms of distracting him from hitting me or throwing toys, though, so I'm calling it a win!