The One Where I Was Honked At

Two men honked their horn at me today.  I was at a stop light, they were at another one and as they passed they honked their horn a few times.  Here's the sad part.  Its been a while since this has happened so when I got to where I was going I got out of my car and walked around it multiple times looking at it intensely trying to find out what was wrong with it.  I thought maybe I had a flat tire, left something on the top of my car, maybe shut something in the door so it was dragging.  After deciding nothing was wrong I thought "well what the heck was wrong with them? I was scared half to death!" It then hit me that they maybe thought I was cute ( I was without kids after all :)) Am I really that out of touch with flirting these days that if a man honks his horn at me my first reaction is "Oh crap whats wrong!?" I will admit it did give me a little skip in my step all the way threw target.  At least I didn't embarrass myself like I did once in college by assuming someone was flirting.  I was checking out a movie at blockbuster and the guy checking me out asked for my phone number I then looked at him..poor poor boy...and said "Oh im so sorry im just not giving my phone number out right now" to which he said "um its not for me its for our system" whoops.....

The One Where My Costco Membership Expired

I love Costco.  So much so that when I die an idea for my tombstone might be something like

Here lies Alexa Jo Wallis

Mother

Wife

Friend

Consumer at Costco

I think it all started when I was little. Santa Barbara got its first Costco and it was a BIG deal.  I remember going with my mom making sure to be really close by her side as we walked in because I felt still feel like they wouldn't let me in if I wasn't clearly with a cardholder.  It felt so VIP. Then there were the samples... like h'ordeuvres at an exclusive party.  I had no shame as a kid trying all the samples that didn't contain meat.  Now I at least try and pretend I'm interested in the product.  "How many grams of fiber did you say?" "So these seaweed chips are located just over there? (just out of your sight so you think I'm going to pick them up when really I'm not) Great!" Fast forward to college.  I got my very own card.  It may or may not have been more exciting then my drivers license. I was the coolest roommate. Big confidence builder. Later when we found out we were moving to Toledo I probably waited all but a good minute to google "Costco, Toledo, Please" Thank goodness they had one.  Its a good one too.  Sometimes Zoë and I go and two hours later walk out with just bananas. I would buy more but I probably went a day or two before.  Fast forward even farther to last Monday. Which I now refer to as black Monday.  Just a typical Monday at Costco, had a grocery cart filled with bulky goodness about to check out when we scan our card and it says membership expired. My heart sank. My face felt slapped.

This was actually a picture I sent to Brad when Quinn
was getting her shots, but it looked similar to this

  I thought we had more time....You see, Milwaukee....doesn't have a Costco. I thought there was one for a second.  I asked our realtor if they had a Costco to which she replied "yes we do!" me = relief  "its about  45 minutes away" me = your fired.  And before you tell me to see if they have a Sams Club.  I refuse.  I'm sure its great and no offense if you go there.  Its a loyalty thing.  Like Backstreet Boys vs. N*sync (obviously N*sync rules) So we knew we would just ride our current membership out and then let it expire.  But I wasn't ready.  If I had known the last time would be the last time.  I would have done another lap, I would have savored every sample, I would have pumped my tank a little fuller and bought 2 of everything. I maybe even would have let the old ladies touch my girls chubby cheeks.  Whats the point of this post?  Love your Costco. Hold it a little tighter.  Because you never know when the last time will be the last time.*

Some pictures in Costco I found on my phone
(que "i will remember you" sarah mclachlan)

Its not much but the fact that I have any pictures at all is pretty telling

* Just so you dont feel too sorry for me, there is a brand new huge Trader Joes in our neighborhood.  This is on the same level as Costco in my heart. So I'll live.

The One Where I Had Quinn

Hello Blog World (aka family and probably only mom)
It has been a long time since I have blogged so to update you...Zoë is not potty-trained...not even a little and oh yeah I had another little baby named Quinn Betty.  The birth story is a pretty normal one.  I decided to be induced a few days early which I felt a little weird about at first because I really wasn't induced for any reason other then plain old convenience.  I wanted my Dr. whom I am slightly in love with, I wanted to plan for my mom to come and help, I wanted a plan for Zoë, and I wanted Brad to deliver her which he totally did like a rockstar and we needed to be with my Dr. for that to happen.  My Dr. felt like I would be totally good and it really was only a few days early so we decided to go ahead and schedule it. It felt weird to schedule it. "I'll meet you for lunch at 12, go to the store at 2 and then have a baby at 4." like its no big deal to schedule having a human come into this world forever.  Long story short, I was in labor for 8 hours..watched a lot of property brothers, ate a lot of popsicles (so basically a typical tuesday) I did have a crazy nurse though... she was a little older and kind of backwoodsy (thank you Toledo) just to give you an idea of what I was working with here, she told us all about her sex life after having kids..Barf.. and she pinched my naked bum.  Yes you read that right.  And the worst part of it was I was so helpless. I was deep into my epidural at this point and was being moved from side to side to help the baby move down.  One of the times she was moving me my gown opened in the back exposing my bum and she said "oh look at you no stretch marks..so not fair I'm going to pinch you!" and she did. And I could not move or do anything to stop it.  It was weird.  And violating.  And I wanted to say "um please don't pinch me" but I have this thing about being nice.  Once I was getting ready to push Brad suited up and we waited for them to check me...when she came to check to see if I was ready to push Quinn was already coming; Diva waits for no one. So 3 minutes later we had our little Quinny and we were instantly in love and obsessed. The recovery was much better the second time around and I wasn't afraid of bothering the nurses with basically anything.  When I had Zoë I would have rather bled out then push the call button.. I'm not even sure why I guess I felt like they would be annoyed because they were in the middle of something.  But this time, Oops my charger fell and I cant reach it, nurse...Oh no! Im all out of ice, nurse...I am 5 minutes away from my next allowed dose of pain meds and I want to make sure 2 seconds dont go by without them in my system, nurse.  They probably hated me but I always complimented their hair and shoes and that has to count for something right?  I also thought of making those thank you bags you see all over pinterest for the nurses but then I was 9 months pregnant and thought "who the h-e-double hockey stick are these women?"  They were great though, the hospital was great, Brad was great and Quinn is amazing!
 Here are a few snapshots of the day

Leaving for the hospital

 Zoë at our friends house while it all went down 

 "I put baby in..now I take baby out"

 "not funny"

 Welcome Quinny!

 The pit crew

 My gosh.

 meeting sister.

We are a happy family.

100th POST!

100th post! which probably would be impressive if it wasn't over a 5 year span.  Oh well I feel good about it! It has been a fun couple of days lately...i have been attempting to potty train Z.  I put her on the potty almost every morning (on and off) while we read books since she was like 11 months old and she would usually go no problem... The main reason I did this was to not really train her but just make the potty a normal part of life for when we did want to train.  Of course as of late going on the normal potty is scary so we got a little froggy one that she loves to sit on...day one was yesterday and basically we didn't have a lot going on this week and it was super crummy out so i decided we would at least give it a full throttle go...she had thee accidents....and just when i was about to give up she said "Potty" and went over to her potty, sat down and actually went! So we're continuing...although im not sure whats going on b/c its almost noon and nothing....and she's been bare bummed so trust me i would know if she had gone....anyway I know this is  a very exciting 100th post.  Hopefully you'll see a post from me saying YAY! We are diaper free!! (at least for a few more weeks) but its ok if we dont do it...it was a little ambitious of me to try and get my 25 month old potty trained while a few days shy of 9 months in pregnancy.

 Heres a video of Zoë singing "potty potty potty" which she was doing all day

Already multi-tasking

January Update

SO obviously its been a long time and no I'm not going to say its a new years resolution to blog more because it isn't...looking at my e-mail more is my resolution (baby steps) But I feel like it is good to have a little journal going to remember all the things going on in my life.  Also I feel like sine I am so far away from my family and most of my friends excluding the ones I have made here it probably would be nice for them to keep updated on our crazy wild and super exciting life (maybe I'm exaggerating) As to what we have been up to lately..just a whole lot of organizing and taking it easy due to my body shutting down (I feel like im 98 years old these days) I am so excited for this baby to come so I can feel simi human again...and so i can start loving this child. We are also anxiously awaiting march for the baby and also because of match day!! It is so crazy how the next five years will just be sitting in a little envelop for Brad to open on March 15.  Wish us luck! Here are a few pictures of life lately

How Zoë colors...kills me 

 Dance class starts!

 Some hair I did for a friend

And this would be Z's first hair cut! (Cue tears)

Before:

 

 After:

 And she loves to fit into small boxes

C'est La Vie

Such is life.

Three Things

One:

We got rid of cable. It was my idea. We needed to cut back on a few expenses, but lets be honest I wasted way to much time on that boob tube. When in social gatherings, it was borderline embarrassing how much I knew about every show, and every celebrity (thank you E news) Also I watched way to much teen mom. I hate that show. And yet, I would watch it. And I would feel angry at Brad after watching it for some reason. ( teen mom is only one of the stupid shows out there, i just choose to use it as my example) Anyways I cancelled cable. Now we have more money, I waste less time, and Brad no longer gets called my baby daddy. I should add we have netflix and hulu plus streamable threw our T.V so if your thinking I must be an advid reader by now your wrong. I have been on chapter two of Graceling for over a month.

Two:

I cut my hands three times in two days, and not by doing hair. Once was on the stove while scrubbing it, another was on a freshly opened can lid, and the other was from a knife in the dishwasher. All three require band-aids so my hands look like something out of a Tim Burton movie. Whoever said homemaking is an easy gig is on something. I have scars to prove it. Mostly burns and cuts from cooking but its no walk in the park. The third time I cut my hand I left the sponge on the stove and just walked away. Im currently looking for a new job that isnt so dangerous. Maybe a Navy Seal.

Three:

I am off of sugar. Its going well. Notice the word well. Not good, not great, not terrible, but well. I have a sweet tooth that (sorry honey) definitely grew after meeting my husband. Also nursing didn't help. I decided to cut sugar and all other artificial sweeteners out of my diet for 28 days and hopefully after that I will just enjoy it on special occasions, not for things like "I am planning on working out today so I can have a cookie for breakfast" A friend of mine introduced me to a website called chocoloatecoveredkatie.com and that has been a life saver. It is all natural sugar free desserts. I made the German chocolate date balls and they were good! Anyways Brad is at the the hospital until tomorrow morning so I am alone for the night (dont tell the murders and the sex traffickers) and these things were on my mind...random but C'est La Vie

TMB Announcement!!!

Cant wait to watch this season...also isn't my sister a total babe?