Best friends & Updates

"A woman should always know where to go when she needs to relax and be at peace, weather it be a private cabin in the woods or her best friend's kitchen"

I'm totally with the whole best friend's kitchen part..and I did just that tonight with my best friend, but only in my kitchen. Although she was just heading over for an hour or two after Abby was in bed to help me make some food & drinks for a concert we're going to tomorrow..we both knew she'd be here for all hours of the night. She stuck around and watched The Jersey Shore marathon with me and Jake, she went on my late night walmart trip with me, and once we finally started cookin after Jake went to bed around 11, it was a 3 hour long process..filled with more laughter, gossiping, old country songs, and me squatting on the kitchen floor because I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to pee myself..than there was cooking. & Sometimes..that's all you really need. I don't see any of my close friends too often since I'm always so busy with work and school, and I'd rather spend most of my time with Abby..so its really nice on nights like tonight, where we just sit and laugh and catch up while my precious baby sleeps in the next room. That's the good stuff.

Tomorrow Jake is having a baby/daddy night & I'm going to the Jason Aldean concert with a couple of my girlfriends. The ticket was free, so I guess it will be fun. But I do have to say, after leaving Abby last Saturday night, and then again tomorrow night...I'll be done spending time away from home for quite awhile. I usually never do things like this, and while I know it's healthy and good to get away sometimes, twice in one week is just a bit much for me :/ I miss her.

Anyways, and update of today & yesterday are as follows:

-I found out the hard way that I could spend thousands at Michaels (a HUGE craft store) & their new fall and halloween display are making me so super excited for the autumn season (but i'm still enjoying summer for now! :p)

-I found out about a store right next to Michaels, has really cute..but cheap expensive name brand clothing, and I'm really excited I found it! They have the $30 shampoo I love there for $16. Woo Hoo, you gotta love a good bargain!

- I was also reminded once again how simply amazing a Starbucks White Mocha on ice is & even though I juggle Abby on one hip, a cell phone nudged between my ear & shoulder, and trying to some how push the stroller with the other..all while ordering & picking up the heavenly drink..it doesn't even matter. It's so worth it.

-I also last minute planned Abby's baptism, a week from Sunday..yikes! The pastor who I really want to do it (he married my mom & stepdad, married Jake's sister & her husband, and is great friends with my Grandparents) lives out of state at the current time..but he got in touch with me & said that he'd be home the weekend of the 8th and would love to do Abby girl's Baptism if I was able to do it. Needless to say, yesterday was spent calling family members & trying to scramble together some sort of an after party at my mom's..but we have tons of willing participants to help, so I'm hoping it will go as smoothly as possible!

- I stayed up super late last night, and had to work this morning. & Had to leave Abby with daycare :( We only leave her with the daycare lady (who is my best friend's aunt) when none of my close family who watches her when I work can do it. It's always hard to leave her there, I feel like she'll be said being in a place where she doesn't really know anyone. But Jake always says when he picks her up shes in a great mood..so I guess she adjusted okay. Needless to say..I was tired, unshowerd, running late, and tired..overly tired because my dumb self decided to take a sleeping pill at 1am to help me fall asleep which totally knocked me out, and made me drained all day long. Oh AND it rained all day. It wasn't the greatest work day of my life.

- I hate working 12 hour shifts because it's always almost 8pm by the time I get home and Abby is soo sleepy, so I only get to spend like an hour tops with her and I hate it :( A LOT.

Well, that's my hodgepodge of updates for now. I need my bed, and more time to spend with my baby girl. & My boyfriend. Ugh...I need some family time! Wah.

Home again, Home again

The worst part about vacation is always coming home. Although the ride back always seems to go much quicker - your left with a weeks worth of cleaning to do & mounds of laundry to do and things to unpack. We've been lazy since we got home..so none of this has even been questioned until today when I woke up & decided I didn't have a choice but to start scrubbin' & sweepin'

I can't believe I'm about to do this..but have a look at our just-back-from-vacation & not-feeling-like-doing-a-damn-thing apartment.





...Yikes!

I got things moving & although I had a little girl who insisted on making more mess or doing this:




...I was able to get the majority of the house work done before noon. Afterwards:




I hate cleaning. But Jake is right. When it comes 1oclock & Abby goes down for her afternoon nap, I do feel so much more refreshed & rejuivinzed sipping my tea or coffee on freshly fluffed couch pillows & freshly vaccumed carpet, and watching my shows on a freshly dusted TV ;)

After Abby's nap I noticed a weird rash on her ankles and feet. I examined her more & noticed that it was also on her belly..arms, and head. I immediately checked her temp & it was a low grade 100.1..hmm. I called her ped who wanted to see her to rule out Chicken Pox. Well, it turns out she's apparently in the clear. I'm not completely convinced yet..but she apparently thinks that since the rash started on her lower extremities & went upward..it's probably not the pox, and since the bumps aren't pussing or itchy yet then their probably not chicken pox. She thinks she must of either got some bug bites or had a virus & the virus broke out in a rash. But, I don't know how she could of gotten 20 bug bites today, since we were just hanging around the house & she hasn't even been sick. So I'm kind of stumped, but her ped thinks its nothing to worry about. My mommy instincts are telling me something else is going on, but we'll see how she feels in a couple days. I could just be over reacting & being a worry wart first time mama..but like I said, we'll see!



Doesn't seem to be bothering her much though, eh?

A New Path

I'm very heavily considering changing my major from Nursing to...Photography. Yes, I know, it's a very dramatic change. But let me explain.


Pictures have always been a major part of my life. I love the stories that pictures tell, I enjoy capturing life on a strip of film. I love editing pictures and making them all funky, or just pretty. My camera is with me at all times, and even when it's not..I find myself thinking in my head that would be a great picture or I really wish I had my camera for this. Even from the time I was about 7, my special surprises from my mom were always a little disposable camera, one in which I clicked away all the memory off of in just a few short days. Then, when I was sixteen and received my first real digital camera..it was one of the greatest presents of my life. I took photos non-stop. I've gone through many cameras since then & buying a new one has always been some sort of a high for me. I don't have any great camera, it's just a little sony cyber shot digital..and I'm not great at taking pictures or editing them, but I want to learn more.

I never actually considered a career in photography until 3 days ago. We were on vacation, and I was snapping away with my camera, like always..and my aunt said you take really interesting pictures, you should see if you could make some money off it. I laughed it off, but it really got me to thinking. I am pretty naturally good at taking nice pictures, with no training what so ever. Digital pictures & editing is almost fascinating to me..and I love doing it and think that I would love learning about it even more.

Its almost intimidating. I've been "so sure" that nursing is what I wanted to do since I was a young teenager. But now I'm slowly starting to realize that my real passion may be elsewhere.

So..starting this fall, I plan to start taking digital photography classes at a community college in the city. They offer everything from photoshop classes to printing & landscapes. I'm not sure if they offer a degree in it, but they have at least 20 photography classes. So if I can't choose actual photography as my major, maybe business management? Since my real dream would be to just work for myself, not with some other photography firm.

This is scary. But its real. And exciting :)

Snap back to reality

Back to reality today. & Let me just tell you, after a long & crazy week and last nights festivities..I'm not complaining that things are starting to get back to normal.

Vacation was a blast, but no one was joking when they said going out of town with an infant isn't easy! I'm definitely exhausted and waking up with a throbbing headache didn't help matters. However, with a bit of coke & crackers I felt back to normal & headed to go pick up my little angel.

I don't even have the energy to post. I didn't have the energy to clean, and I didn't have the energy to unpack. You should see the mounds of laundry & things from the trip.. that are just waiting for me to help them find their home spot. I didn't have the energy to make dinner..so Jake and I had a mixture of turkey sandwiches, diet mountain dew, and apple sauce. Abby had a combination of butter noodles & yogurt.

All I've felt like doing all day is relaxing with my girl. I don't think we've ever spent so much time rolling around & crawling on the floor together as we did today. She actually enjoyed all the new piles of mess to explore.

After a nice, warm bubble bath, some bedtime lotion & bed time stories my little one could hardly keep her eyes open. Must feel so good for baby girl to relax and sleep in her own bed.

As for me? My life revolves around the discovery health channel & baked Doritos at the present time. I'm drained, completely drained. Sorry this post sucks, but I must go lay back down. Later :)

Day #7: Peace out OC and Hello Sam's 21st Birthday

We headed out around 10am this morning. My mom was sad & begged me to stay one more night, and I considered it, but then remembered my dear friend Sam and how it was her huge 21st birthday party tonight & all that shes done for Jake and I..and how much I should (and want!) to be there for her. So, off we went.

The 3 hour ride home went surprisingly quick considering Jake and I spoke on the phone to each other more than half the way there. Abby slept the whole time & we only stopped once for a pee break & for me to grab some combos & iced coffee.

We came home, hardly unpacked..I snuggled Abby & played with her for about an hour, then we headed into Pasadena. We dropped off my sweet baby girl with Jake's mom and headed over to the party. The plan was to have some food and cake, sing happy birthday, have a couple beers..then head home & have a relaxing night just the two of us. Well, that plan back fired. There was wine. Very, very, very yummy wine & my 120lb-hasn't-drank-in-over-a-year self got a bit carried away. What can I say? There were so many great friends I hadn't seen in decades it seems like & some one kept pouring me drinks. Needless to say, I had a good night. A night filled with swimming with your clothes on, hot tub gossiping, extra hard belly laughs over nothing, singing much too loudly, eating way too much food, a-boy-passed-out-on-the-patio type night. Can't lie & say it wasn't a good time, but I can honestly say that, that was enough to last me a good couple years lol. Sometimes I forget I'm only 19. With all the responsibility of being a mother, work, school, Jake..and every thing else I forgot that this is how a normal 19 year old would behave. Well, this just gives me another reason to add to the "why god blessed me with a child early" list. No party will ever compare to my life with Jake and Abigail. I am so incredibly lucky to have them both & I honestly wouldn't trade my life for the world.

But..regardless, I love my friends. I even remember one person saying "Jake and Brittany are here! How often is that we get to party with Jake and Brittany these days? Its going to be a great night!" (we used to be quite the party animals before I got pregnant :p) Their great & it's not very often that I get to see them without responsibilities so here's some pictures of a fun night spent with some of the greatest people in the world.

Day #6: Crab Bag & Peaceful Nights

*Sigh* our last full day. Our last day at the beach. Our last night out on the town. Oh thank goodness it was a perfect end to a fantastic vacation.

My aunt's family came over from the cute beach town to spend the day with us, which was an awesome surprise! I missed them a lot quite frankly & their company added to the wonderful people who were already here just made the day that much sweeter :)
We spent the day at the beach again, soaking up the sun & enjoying life together. My step dad even came & he hates the beach (who the heck hates the beach!?) we dug for sand crabs, dived in and out of waves. I love the ocean. I really freaking love the ocean, I'd rather swim in the ocean than my own blue back yard pool (if I had one) I love feeling the sand beneath my feet, I love the waves..gosh I love the waves..I even like getting wiped out & how hard it makes every one laugh. I love the freeness of being in the open water. I love it all and I'll say it again: I wish I could do this every single day of my life.








Dinner tonight was at the Crab Bag. Worst.choice.ever. Kind of. Our waiter was nice, but sucked & hit me in the head with a full size beach umbrella! Our food took well over two hours, my little brother was over tired & starving, Abby was sick of the high chair & the only thing keeping her happy was her cup of water which I'm pretty sure would of make her sick if she had anymore...but it was a good time, I guess you could say. We all laughed & joked about how crazy the whole situation was. It was an outdoor place, picnic tables in the sand type place which I usually love but the tables were so crammed together it was just ridiculous. We were constantly bumping into other customers..but at least we could all laugh about it. They didn't have a kids menu, so the only thing that was suitable for Abby was a giant $12 plate of macaroni & cheese, but hey..she loved it. Our food finally came & it was delicious. I got snow crab legs which were just mouth watering, and the waiter I guess felt bad and brought us a whole platter of grilled corn on the cob which was just to die for, he didn't charge Jake for his clams casino, either. Abby was done & luckily the place we were at was only a couple blocks from our house..so her & I headed back home before every one else. Turns out after I left the bus-boys threw away Jake's not even touched half of chicken which he was waiting for a box for. He was pretty mad, to say the least.





We all went down to boardwalk afterwards & let me just tell you...the time spent there made up for the crazy dinner. I knew Abigail was tired and worn out from earlier..so I kept my fingers crossed that she'd make out okay. She did wonderfully. Since I knew she was so sleepy, I clicked her infant carseat in her full size stroller, like we did when she was a newborn..and she was so comfy looking I wanted to crawl in with her. With her big pacie mouth & warm bottle, a nice warm-but-cool-enough-for-summer blanket, and huge heavily blinking eyes..just trying to stay up so she could take it all in. She held out for a good 45 minutes, and I was half way tempted to take her out to ride some mini rides, but its a good thing I didn't because the next thing I knew I looked down & she was sound asleep..such a sweet, sweet girl. She slept soundly and comfortably the rest of the outing, it was so peaceful.

Later my cousin some how convinced me to get on the Slingshot ride with him. It's a little ball that gets shot 225ft into the air over the beach and ocean. I've done it twice before, once with my friend Jessica when I was 15 & once at senior week when I was 17..but for some reason this time around I was so much more nervous. But, I did it. & It was fun. I'm glad I still have a little bit of a wild streak in me ;)
We got home & I knew Abby needed a diaper change & I really wanted to put some more comfortable clothes on her, so i awoke my sleepy girl and let me just tell you..I've never sen her so sleepy. She didn't even want me to put her down. She laid back to get changed and went to sleep mid diaper change. I think this whole week has finally taken it's sleepy toll on her, as it has us all.

Goodnight sweet baby girl. Mommy loves you so incredibly much.

Day #5: Beach days & Boardwalk nights

We spent all day long at the beach today, and it was perfect.

This morning around 10am I sneaked out, all by myself. I walked over to the ocean, beach chair and the new cosmo and star magazine in hand...and got a whole two hours of tanning and toes in the water all to myself while Abby played with her Daddy & Grandma. I sat my chair right at the coast line & let the waves roll up on my legs..it was beyond relaxing and I wish we lived some where were I could do this every single day. Ahh, the dreams of moving to Florida.

I headed back for lunch around afternoon time & Abby had just laid down for a nap. Jake and I got iced coffees & had a nice lunch (m&m cookies and white cheddar popcorn, that is :p) and pretty much vegged out in front of the tv for an hour or two. While in past vacations I would of done anything outside before I chilled out indoors...but let me tell you, vacation is just not what it used to be. I'm not complaining..I've had a great time. Its just hard work when you have a 10 month old with you. So I was more than happy to have a relaxing morning and afternoon :)

Once Abby woke up around 3 we went back to the beach with my mom and little brother, and we stayed until late evening. It was so much fun. Jake and I swam and dove in the waves while my little mini me watched from the sand in her baby pool with Grandma. She splashed and dug her little hands into the wet sand. We had a blast. & Like I said before..I wish we could do this every day.

We had dinner at BJ's on the bay tonight..which is by far, Jake and I's favorite restaurant in the city. Its a cute little place that always has a band, its right on the water..and we always sit outside. Jake always gets the clams casino, and I always get a BLT or a crab cake. It's always just as good. We always take tons of pictures, and my parents are friends with the owners & we always get a free round of drinks. It's always a great time there & we look forward to it every summer. Abby had spaghetti (again) and I think its probably her new favorite meal. Spaghetti and water out of a straw. What a big baby!









After dinner my mom offered to take Abby home & put her to bed so Jake and I could head down to the boardwalk with my step dad and brother for a couple hours. We ate caramel popcorn, Jake played in the arcade, we went to candy kitchen & got chocolate covered pretzels and swedish fish. There was music blasting in the background, kids laughing from the carnival rides, the salty air was breezing through our hair, men were playing guitar & reading fortunes just hoping to score 5 bucks. Its so summery, I love it.



I love this. I wish we didn't have to go back home..back to reality.

Day #4: Repacking, Ocean City, & Fussy Babies at the Boardwalk

This morning around 10am we packed our cars back up (thank god mine wasn't as packed this time, we had Jake's truck for extra storage) kissed my family goodbye & hit the road towards Ocean City. Bye cute little beach town, I will be seeing you again..I do promise you that.





It was about an hour long drive to get here, down lots of quite country roads which made for a long boring trip with just myself and a sleeping baby in the car. But we made it here, and while I do absolutely love the country scene of my Aunt's place..I must say, its pretty exciting to be in the vacation resort city.




We got settled in, and then headed down to The Marina Deck for dinner, a place I've gone to with my mom and step dad for as long as I can remember. We walked the docks and ooh'd and ahh'd over the million dollar yhats, we sipped wine and green tea, we tried to catch lobsters out of a live lobster claw machine, I ate steamed shrimp & Jake had hot wings & cheese fries (so typical) and little Abby had her first real 'out to dinner' meal. & By that I mean we actually ordered her a dinner off the kids menu, and she ate it. She's getting so big. She very much enjoyed her kids spaghetti and applesauce on the side. Oh, and she knows how to drink out of a straw! No idea how she learned it, but she was just sipping away my ice water right out of the sraw like a big girl! She was so funny while we were there, even the other tables close by were cracking up when she was playing "where's abby?" with her dress. Such a classy girl.

After dinner we headed down to beloved boardwalk.




I've been excited to go there since this whole vacation got started, but my little one had other plans. We spent about 20 minutes in the arcade before she decided it was about the right time to have a melt down. I should of expected it, really. It was late, and it's been a long few days. Jake won her a ball out of the claw machine, which kept her entertained for a little bit, but not long enough. & On top of her sleepiness, we forgot her stroller so we had to buy a little tiny one in one of the shops & she was not feeling it. Neither were we, no place to put our bags or lay her back & give her a bottle while we pushed her around..honestly, our night probably would of been much better if we had our normal stroller. We had just enough time to stop at Dumpsters Dairy Land & get Jake a chocolate dipped ice cream cone & a mint chocolate chip milkshake for me before Abby literally was basically hanging off her stroller screaming bloody murder. Jake was frustrated, I was frustrated..we had a million bags to carry & not enough hands and poor Abby just wanted her bed.

Needless to say we got home an hour ago & little missy hasn't even left her car seat yet because she's in such a deep comfy sleep I just can't stand to wake her. When she's uncomfy or wants to stretch out, she'll wake up..right? In the mean time I'm enjoying sitting on the deck with a glass of sweet tea people watching off Coastal Highway. Jake's in bed..and I believe it's about time for me to join him. Night y'all :)