Pullin an "Erin Brockovich"

Yep, we've been in our new apartment for all of 7 weeks and we're moving out. Unbelievable. We moved into this place knowing the company, Orange Country Property Management, had some bad reviews, but because there was only a few bad ones, and because I loved the location and patio and high ceilings, we moved in hoping for the best. That didn't happen. Last Tuesday(like a week and a half ago), when we got that big day of rain, part of our living room flooded and all of Raya's closet, her bathroom and half of her room flooded. WHAT A MESS. So between the horrific management service, the lame repairs they made in the past, and their lack of customer service and ability to have a heart, I was able to find a way out of our lease. The counselors for the Fair Housing Council of Orange County are very helpful. With their advice and my nightly researching (between Keeping up with the Kardashians and Dancing with the Stars) I've become super knowledgeable when it comes to Tenant's Rights. Soooo, if you ever find yourself in an ugly situation with your landlord, holla at cha girl ;) lol, but seriously. So now I'm driving around during Raya's naptimes and searching craigslist every other hour to find a place we can move into this week. And really, I'm not that annoyed. Yah, we have to pack and move and un-pack again, but I don't have to live in a unit managed by this company and that is relieving. The part of all this that makes me the most mad is that these guys can FLAT OUT LIE to me and feel they don't owe us a thing. I'm mad because all these fumes are in our apartment. I mean they gutted walls, pulled up floors, have to paint, oh and did I mention we woke up to a huge termite and ant infestation in the bathroom that flooded? Yah all this and they claim its totally fine for a 1year old child and 7month pregnant occupant to live in the unit while work is being done. Uhhhhh. So, we'll see what happens in the next few days. I've been spending some days at my mom's and the other days out and about or at the park. One of my favorite things about this whole ordeal is that I used good 'ol facebook to find the previous tenant who just so happen to move 2 doors down from our old place! Crazy, huh. Gentry's good friend lives right next door to him. So you better believe I asked him if they had any of these issues. He told me everything. They had the exact same problems and the property company didn't fix anything. When I asked the management company if they'd had these problems before they told me flat out No. Can you believe it???!!!! I pretty much wanna call them every four letter word I can think of. Actually, I have called them every four letter word I can think of, lets be honest :) As of today, I still haven't found a place. I'm starting to get a little stressed, lol, so wish us luck! I will be sure to keep ya'll updated. Oh and more importantly, if you live in the So Cal area warn everyone and anyone to stay away from Orange County Property Management. Better yet give them my email and I will gladly talk them outta it!

Watching cartoons comfortably ;)

Snack time

Searching Craigslist for a place to live

18 Months-Raya Recently

I have a 1 and 1/2 year old!

Little Ms. Raya...you've become quite the sweetheart. You've always been a cuddle bug, but now you make sure to kiss Dad before you go to bed at night and even if you're just leaving the room you kiss me and say "Bye." Not gonna lie, I already have flash-forwards of you doing this when you leave me to go to college. At the rate this 1.5 years have gone that's going to be here any second, I'm sure. If case you're wondering you can live at home with me for however long you want :) Do you want me to homeschool you, cause I totally will?!

Your new words this past month are Ball, "This" which refers to your pacifier, Jack, Dax, Nice, and my favorite, Cheese! I know there's some more I'll think of later...You know just about all your body parts and can point to them when I ask where they are. You're working on saying Mouth, Eye, and Nose. When I say Cat you Meow, when I say Cow you Mooo, when I say Dog you try to bark and sometimes growl and when I say Pig you scrunch up your nose and try to snort.

You get funnier and funnier everyday. I love that you know how to be funny. You sometimes "fall" and make "uh" sounds and then get up and fake fall again over and over just to get us to laugh or, like you did yesterday, to get the older kids at the playground to laugh. You like to jump on the couch and pretend like you're going to fall off. The other night you did a back roll off the bed and thought it was your funniest trick yet. OOOooo, and we have shelves in our room that go all the way up to the ceiling and in a matter of 5 seconds you were gone and by the time we found you you had gotten to the TOP. And you got me in trouble by Dad because I tired to grab the camera before grabbing you :)

You sleep 10-11 hours a night. You still prefer 2 naps a day, but we're working on getting you down to one longer nap in the afternoon. Right now you'll take an early nap for about an hour and then a 2+ hour nap around 4. I always have to wake you up from that nap. Then you go to bed at like 10! So that's why I'm trying to get you to take a 2 hour nap around 1 in the afternoon...we'll see how that goes.

When I vacuum you get your lawnmower out and vacuum right along side of me. When the dogs bark you either hold your finger to your mouth and say Shhh or you shake your finger and say No. The other night when we were out to dinner a baby started crying and you told her Shhh. That was hilarious! You've also started playing with my hair. Especially when you're tired or getting ready to take a nap. If you're restless I can put your hand on my hair and you immediately start playing with it and calm down. It's sweet. Right now you're sitting next to me on the arm of the chair watching cartoons and playing with my hair.

 And my favorite thing this month is your "Cheese" face. When I get ready to take a picture you say "Cheese!" and do this face:

I'm not sure what your "Stats" are, but I'll find out at your doctor's appt next week.

You are so so so much fun! I could (and do) hang out with you 24/7. I feel so lucky to have such an amazing daughter. I always tell your Dad "If I could've picked out everything I wanted in a daughter, Raya would totally blow that little girl outta the water." I had no idea what was in store for us and I can't believe that we got You! 

I love you! Xoxo, Mom

Jeggings!

So for those that don't know what Jeggings are, also known as Leans, they are Jean Leggings. I got a pair after I had Raya so I could fit my "not so ready to be in my pre-pregnancy jeans" body into something other than leggings. And by "something other than leggings" I mean something that was leggings but didn't look like it ;) They are super comfortable and cute. THEN, my friend Olivia found them in baby sizes!!! What a great surprise when I got the package in the mail, and there they were: Size 18month Jeggings. Immediately the outfits I could make with these flooded my mind :) The pair Raya has are from Children's Place. I've also seen them at Target, but the ones at Target didn't have pockets. Of course I had to pair them with her Fuggs (Fake Uggs.) Enjoy!

27 Weeks

Only 91 days to go! According to my weekly BabyCenter emails He's over 2lbs and about 15 inches long. I feel like He's 8lbs and ready to show his face by the end of the month. Wishful thinking? Maybe. Probably. I just can't believe I have 3 more months of growing. And its the 3 months when the baby does most of the growing! I just feel like this baby is so much bigger at 6 months than Raya felt when I was 6 months preggers with her. He's very active. Matter of fact I had a small freak out because I didn't feel Him move for what I thought was 2 days (it might have been 12 hours or so) Either way, it wasn't like Him to not move for that long of a period. I especially got freaked out because I could usually push Him around and He'd kick back and He wasn't doing that, so I called to see if I could come in to get a heartbeat check. Of course the first place my doctor put the heartbeat thing there He was. Super strong beats and super easy to find. WELL, since then He's been crazy. And He's strong. I'll take it though! Right now his favorite place to let out His big kicks is my right side right under my ribs. Right now it just catches me off guard. As long as He stays under the ribs I'm good. Feeling Him move is probably one of my most favorite things about being pregnant. Actually, it might be the only thing I really like about it right now :) Haha. I think I'm over being pregnant. The 2nd time around is so different than the first. The article attached to my 27 week Babycenter email was about this exact topic. Its definitely harder on my body. I don't have nearly the energy I did when pregnant the first time. And the aches are worse this time too. I know a good part of that is because I'm chasing a 17month old around. And I don't get to sleep in and nap all day long like I did with the first....so, needless to say, I'll be ready when he's ready. And if he's ready early that's fine with me! With that said I can still do what I need to do on a daily basis. I'm just exhausted by the end of the day. Its getting harder to roll over and stand up without any help. I know its only a matter of days before I join the "I need help putting my shoes on" Club. I'm healthy and He's healthy, so I can't ask for much more!

This is my (almost) 27 week picture. I took it this weekend and I wasn't technically 27 weeks until today :) Close enough. We went on a bike ride because the weather was perfect and it was still early, so I had energy. Such a nice Sunday bike ride!

Happy Pappy and Baby

Funny story: So last time we went on a bike ride I was HURTING the following days from the bike seat. With the extra weight I must have been sitting weird because my tail bone and bum we're in pain. I thought this time I'd tape a folded towel to my seat for a little extra cushion. Gentry sees me folding the towel and goes inside. I'm thinking he's going to get the tape. Oh no. He comes back out with a pillow. Like one of our full size bed pillows. I was dying :) And he was so serious. I was like "I'm not taping that to my seat. That's so embarrassing." He's like "Why?! You're pregnant. You're allowed to ride on a pillow." I couldn't stop laughing and he couldn't understand why I wouldn't follow his brilliant plan. Brilliant? Yes. Tempting? Very. I just couldn't get over the picture in my head of me riding my beach cruiser with a huge pillow taped to the seat. Ahhhh, I love this man! I ended up riding without any additional padding and to my surprise it was just fine. 

Super HOTT

Last week was SUPER hot. Usually the beach high is 75 and it was easily in the high 90s. We were melting. We went over to my Mom's a couple of the afternoons because it was unbearable without air conditioning and she has AC. Raya spent most of the afternoons in the water, so she was a happy camper. Here's some of her in the water

Pool time with Nana and Kennedy at my Aunt Lois'

 Hanging out at Nana's in the backyard

 Love the ruffle butt on this suit :)

Playing in Nana's pond

 This is at our house. Haven't brought her pool from Nana's back home, so she got creative. 

Yep, I did It...

I locked my daughter in the car :( UH! Oh and I'm pregnant remember? So blame it on that. Cause I did and I feel better already.

So my "getting outta the car" routine goes as followed: Open my door, Hit the unlock button, Get out of the car, Put the diaper bag on the driver's seat, Throw my keys and phone in the diaper bag, Open the back door, Get Raya out and put her shoes on, Shut the back door, Get the diaper bag, Shut the front door.

For some reason today I did what I do everyday, except I clearly hit the LOCK button instead of unlock AND I shut my door before I opened the back door. So in a split second my car was locked up with everything but Me inside. Of course that included my phone. And of course the first woman to walk by me didn't have a cell phone. Lady, its 2010! And people lock their kids in the car. So you might want to think about getting one ;) Next Gal to walk by had one and was so kind to let me use it so that I could "Call 911 because I locked my daughter in the car."

While waiting for the police to come, Raya was all smiles. She thought I was just playing around and popping up in different windows because I'm the funniest girl she knows. Then the first police man came. He offered to break the window and get her out right away but since A. She seemed to be fine and B. It wasn't hot, we could wait for the Fire Department to come and pop the lock. Awesome, because the thought of breaking a window just heightened my anxiety.

Then police man #2 comes. He's just there to check it out. And hang out. And bring me a bottle of water.

Then the Fire Truck comes. Did you know like 10 guys can fit in that truck? I was so amazed watching all of them get out. (And it might not have been 10, but it was alot) So they get to work trying to pop the lock just as the tow truck guy gets there. The tow truck guy starts working on the other door to see who can pop it first. Thing is, if Tow truck guy gets if first I have to pay him $70. If Fireman gets it first I pay nothing...so I was rooting for the Fireman. But like my Hogs, the Fireman lost. It was probably right about then when my car alarm started going off that really freaked Raya out. She was good for the whole 10 minutes, but the last minute was just too much. And I don't blame her.

So in the end, Raya was freed, and she was totally fine! I was super annoyed that I had to pay $70 to get my car unlocked (doesn't that seem like alot?) And even more annoyed that I didn't have ANYTHING to take pictures with! Pictures of this event would have made this wayyyy more dramatic ;) And of course much better when I tell Raya.

So yah, that was our afternoon of entertainment. If it happens to you, just call 911 ASAP. Its not a huge deal :) Everyone was super nice. I was sure they were going to question my parenting skills, but they spared me. Raya said Bye and blew kisses to them all. Then we were off to Albertsons!

Not from today...but this post needed a picture :)

Halloween is Here!!

I love this time of year! Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, oh yes! Last year the day after Christmas, which is also my birthday, I went to Target and bought as many of the Christmas decorations as I could. I love to decorate, and now that I have a kid that dresses up, Halloween is even better!!! The Pumpkin Patch here opened Oct. 1st so I couldn't wait for the weekend to come so I could take Raya. Last week she got a package in the mail with a costume from her G-Daddy, so I was even more excited to take her to the pumpkin patch in full costume :)

First, the costume story: I went to Target last week to see what her options were. Last year I started looking for a costume in August...and I may or may not have done the same this year ;) I just want to see what's out there because there's so many cute ones and last year's was so perfect, so I gotta keep the bar high. The thing about this year that was going to be the biggest costume issue is that Raya doesn't like to wear things on her head, so if the "head" part of the costume was going to make it or break it, it wasn't going to work. I had to plan for the "worst" and by "worst" I mean Raya refusing to wear the "head" part of her costume. Soooo, whatever it was going to be had to be cute with or without the "head piece." Ok, back to the story, so I'm in Target looking at their selection, which is pretty good. I was thinking about the bumble bee costume, but it really wasn't as cute as I hoped. The Lady Bug Princess dress was super cute, but I always see tons of ladybugs. Then there was a Pumpkin Princess that was just adorable! With little black boots and shiny leggings. It was definitely one that would work. So we finish our Target run. I didn't get a costume because I wasn't yet ready to commit to one. When we get home there's a package at the door for Raya from her Grandpa. GUESS WHATS INSIDE???? The Pumpkin Princess costume! It was fate. Seriously, that really truly happened. The Halloween God was totally doing work that day ;)

 So Sunday, aka Pumpkin Patch Day, came and I got Raya dressed in her costume. It was even more adorable on. She made it to Nana's in it, but the inside of the top gave her a little bit of a rash. She was tugging at it so I knew it wasn't going to make it to the Patch. I changed her outfit and figured I'd get a little black shirt to go underneath it and make another trip to the Patch in costume. However, we were still going that day too! She loved being there. There were about 5 rides and a petting zoo. She LOVED the carousel. We bought 10 tickets and I'm pretty sure she used 8 of them on the carousel. She also really liked the petting zoo. She feed the goats. Tried to pet a few. She was most impressed by the little chicks. They were in a cage, but she could get close and watch them run between their little house and their front yard. It was a great Sunday afternoon. The weather was nice and sunny! She picked out a little pumpkin and just loved being able to carry it around. I'm sure we'll try carving pumpkins one night soon. And I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as I get some of her in costume! Here's some from our most recent trip.

FAVORITE part of the day! 

Daddy rode it with her every time

Mom did the train ride

If you want to see all of the pictures from our trip visit my Facebook album: Halloween is Here!