Prince Valium

I gave Anika one of my famously hideous haircuts today. This one was so bad, I had to take her immediately to the salon for a 911 fix. The last time we attempted the salon, it ended in tears but even she knew she needed help this time and sat perfectly still. I don't think she even breathed. The girl had to take it extra short to fix my chop-job.

All I can think when I look at her is Prince Valium, my goodness, it's Prince Valium. I even taught her the big yawn with tapping hand.

Just trying to prepare you for the next time you see her. She's still as cute as a button, though. Phew, at least now I know she is willing to go to the salon. I am so sick of repeating my signature mistake... the Lloyd Christmas bangs. Cut when dry. Cut when dry.

Pregnant Tin Man

I wish I had some good photos to share. Anika and I went to California last week but didn't take the camera because Brandon was going to Boulder Mountain and he thinks the fish photos are more exciting than photos of his firstborn playing in her first tide pools. It turned out we returned in time to see him for one night before he left for his big trip.

We went to Newport to Cara's first and had a grand ol' time. Cara has floor to ceiling and wall to wall windows in both rooms of her house, with a view of the bay. Gorgeous. We went shopping for Anika and myself (maternity clothes). Anika rode her first escalator and realizing that made me feel like we were visiting from Amish country. She also saw her first motorized carriage... I think they call them automobiles. We visited Jake at his work, the Apple store. That place is insane, they have about forty employees on the floor at the same time. Me, apparently Amish, hadn't seen such a thing. The whole experience made me realize how little I get out these days.

After a few days we headed to Lake Arrowhead to Andrea's house. What can I say? It was heavenly. Cold mornings, crisp fall weather. I even had a candy apple by the lake in the village with the wind in my hair. And what of this extended dose of 100+ in St. George? F word! I need four seasons, people.

What else?

Anika is loving preschool. And loving ballet class even more. She says, "no more preschool, just ballet class." She went to school without looking back, didn't act scared at all. The second day a boy cried and that made her cry. Then she was terrified to go back and came up with all sorts of creative ways to solve her crying boy problem. For instance:

Mom, can you change the crying boy into a ball with Daddy's tools and I will bounce him?

Mom, I will drive you to preschool and I will say, "bye, have a nice day!"

Mom, can you change all the boys and girls into animals so they don't cry?

Mom, can you bring the vacuum and suck up my preschool? (One day I was walking her in to preschool and she was yelling, "suck it up! suck it up!" A few Moms shot me disapproving glances when it dawned on me they must have assumed I had told her to 'suck it up' and go to school. Nope, just my child's active imagination thinking I could vacuum up her entire school. She really believes these things are possible. Should I be worried?)

Can you blow it with your fire extinguisher? (She even went as far as getting the extinguisher out of the closet.)

Her morning prayers went like this... "...and bwess the boy that he turns into a ball. And bwess he doesn't come out..."

I could go on and on with the things she was imagining to do. When I took her back, she barged in and announced through hot tears and at the top of her lungs, "Hey kids! Are you going to be happy today?" As long as everyone is happy, so is she. The crying boy dropped out so now everything is peachy again.

And what else?

I'm a big girl. Apparently on our trip I gained five pounds. (gasp!) I can't do this again. Sure with Anika I gained a respectable fifty but I started out in shape! I can't possibly put fifty on with this one because I started out the biggest of my life. I will be a linebacker before this is through if I don't really start watching it. I had to buy a new sports bra for the gym...unfortunately, my boobs don't get huge like Nicole's. They fail to impress but what doesn't fail to impress is my expansion of back fat, thus the new bra.

Which brings me to my next highly interesting topic. You know how there's always certain couples that make you gag if you accidentally visualize them having sex? (Yes, I'm going to talk about this.) I recently realized that couple is me and B. Quick, hurry, wince, whatever you do don't accidentally visualize it. But you know you just did. I'm sorry. We're that couple where the woman is a linebacker, dwarfing the man and you can't help but think oh that poor, sweet waif of a man, he's gonna get crushed. Precious does Rain Man, anyone?

I'm so looking forward to and planning on getting my body back. It's not so much the skinny thing as it is the feeling thing. I miss feeling strong and flexible and arabesqueing my way around house chores. I feel stiff and large and brittle like the hull of an old pirate ship, agile as its peg-leg captain. I feel like a pregnant tin man and whilst vacuuming the stairs the other day paused to exclaim, "What is this strange beating sensation?!" Your heart, big laaaady!!! It was almost exercise.



Ultrasound on Thursday. I'm terrified. Please be healthy and perfect.

I think it's a girl.

I'm out.

Were you a nanny?

A friend of a friend of mine wants to be a nanny back East and needs help finding a family. Do you have any tips? Agency ideas? I can't remember the agency I went through so I'm no help to her. Leave a comment if you have some ideas. Thx.

Motivation

Shoveling maneuver sounds like a dream. Q and I were educated about strategic foreclosures yesturday. Hmmmm. Ug, but hmmmmm none-the-less. So this is what I look like. I actually spent five minutes looking at this picture trying to figure how to photoshop a large portion of me out of it. Can't. When is this nursing thing going to kick in? Shysters I don't recognize my body! ...but, I'm not depressed anymore. I had a momentary lapse is all. Feeling hopeful. Had a good hair day. That helps. Great drawings Ci. Makes me want to so something creative. Alana: Know what you're having yet? Those gap nighties are a dream. Is it so so terrible that I've had my thank you cards written for two months but haven't mailed them yet? That's all.

Williams - Painting Class

This is what I have been up to the last few weeks. My friend Melissa wanted me to post some of my work. I just finished a painting class for school. 4 more classes to go and I graduate on December 18th. I don't claim to be an expert painter or artist but I had fun nonetheless. It was hard work though.

Floral Study - completed at Kelli's house while visiting.

Interior drawing - completed at Kelli's while visiting.

Egg

Still Life

Monochromatic Still Life

Another Still Life - I got tired of doing these. I ran out of things to paint because I have no knick knacks.

Duplicating another artists landscape.

Yet another Still Life. This was my favorite one that I painted. We had to paint with only two complementary colors and mix them to create other colors. It was fun.

Attempting a portrait of Sage. This was a fun one too. I couldn't get the eye's right though. Sage told me it looked just like her except she said the eyes were all wrong.

Duplicating Claude Monet's "Sunrise" painting. I love Impressionism. It is much harder to duplicate than I ever imagined.

Too much FAT, too little MONEY

Today I had my first depressing day in 10 months. It's not post-partum or anything to do with Annie- for some reason when I'm prego and after, I get the giggles all the time and feel like I'm on happy gas.

Nope. Today I was depressed over two things: Fat and money. I have too much of one and too little of the other. Can you guess which is which?

I really had to calm myself down several times. "It's fine Nicole. You're fine Nicole."

But then I kept going back to how upside down we are in our mortgage and the 70,000$ we would have had to buy a new home if...

...if
...if
...if.

So I got depressed.

I have a small car. I have to pull the seat all the way forward to fit Annie.
There is no AC in the back.
Plus- I have to park it in a HOT parking lot which makes it way hard to go out with Annie.
It sucks.

so then I got depressed again.

And I wondered: what would it be like to park my car in a garage.
I could almost survive my small Honda if I could park it in a garage.

So then I got depressed again.

I kept telling myself not to swear inside my head but then I kept thinking about how tired I am of telling myself not to swear in my head. I hate it.

Then I made things way worse: I tried on pre-prego pants with zippers.

It was bad.

Real Bad.

...and Q. Oh Q.

...........................................................So today I was depressed.




But Annie is a dream. Loads of smiles. Took her to Swiss Days and drowned my sorrows in a mulita from Irmitas and two cookies. It didn't help much.

Wish I could drown all my sorrows in a big fat SOLD sign.

Someone make me feel better. I may cry.

This is funny.

Williams - Nora Photo Shoot

We spent the last 10 days at Kelli's house in Denver. Callie is two weeks old and they are moving so we went to help them pack and keep her kids busy. We had a fabulous time. While we were there, Kelli took some photos of Nora and the kids. Click on the link below to see some of the photos. Nora is now 8 months old. Where did the time go?

http://eudisfamnews.blogspot.com/2010/09/my-big-sister.html

Just when I was getting used to the pajama-like track suits.

For Your Viewing Pleasure...

...I bring you... Plig Alana.

Didn't you always think it was polyg?
Well, not according to Grandma Jenny's book and I consider her The Expert. So plig it is.

This two-year-old photo crossed my path today and cheered me up.

Andrea's friend was going on a pioneer trek and I had instructions to find some plig wear from our D.I. Pickins were slim and this teal number was all I came up with. I shipped it off to California but not without first posing complete with infant and hair.

In a world of alternative lifestyles, polygamy is starting to look less and less weird to me. Really. It's not the world's worst idea.

Don't you wish your third wife was hot like me?
Don't you wish your third wife was a freak like me?

Williams - The Entertainers

We finally had company this last week. Erin and Kyle came to visit us and we had so much fun with them. I was sad to see them leave. We went boating, shooting, played games, visited Tillamook Cheese Factory and Oceanside Beach at the coast, and went to the zoo. I am exhausted. Here are some pics of our fun:

Don't Erin and Kyle look good with three kiddos! What does the future hold????

Sage - Trying out the double ski's

Herb and Sage. Her ski's fell off right after this and she ends up placing her feet on Herb's ski's and riding his from that point on.

Kyle - the flagger

Sweet Nora, driving the boat!

Erin and Sage

Kyle and Herbie

Nora's napping corner

Nora, what big hands you have!

Erin and Kyle, Thanks for all your help with mom and the kids. We love you!

Prima Ballerina Haggis Joe

^releve

^saute

^pirouette

^passe

^shake your biscuits

Anika starts ballet class next Wednesday with Miss Sheila. She is so excited and has been practicing all her moves.

Yes, Haggis Joe is one of her nick names in my family. Long story.

I'm really surprised with the new Anika these days. She toured her preschool and met her teacher and is very eager to start. She's equally eager about ballet class and I can't figure out where my shy little girl has gone.

I took her to see Cats and Dogs in 3D today. Man! I hate, loathe 3D! But Anika was entertainment enough. She gets the kiddie pack of popcorn and proceeds to lick each piece and discard it to the drink space in the cardboard, occasionally sipping her root beer or leaning over to give me kisses.

Her 3D glasses kept sliding down but hearing "Oh gweat, my gwasses are swipping!" made me smile.

Tostadas Get Toasted

On Tuesday I almost burnt the house down. I had put oil on the stove to heat up and then sat down at the computer. Anika was playing hide and seek so Brandon went downstairs to get her. When he came back up he yelled, "Alana!"

I would give anything to have a still shot of what he saw... my poor posture dumbly bent over the computer while the kitchen is on fire just out of my sight. Duh.

He said, "What do we do?" and my mind went blank. I knew water was a no-go. I knew I could smother it with flour but in such a panic failed to remember where the flour was (right by the stove!). Duh. Luckily we own a fire extinguisher, two of them, one on each level of the house. So Brandino pulled the pin and blasted it. Initially, the force of the extinguisher just blew the hot oil everywhere which continued to burn but one more blow and it was out.

I keep thinking about it, wondering if I should have tried smothering it with a lid first bur Brandon and I agree, neither of us would have dared reach in the fire to put a lid on it so I suppose we did the right thing but what a mess! The entire house was coated with oil and black smoke and worst of all the dry chemical from the extinguisher. It found every nook and cranny. I dared Brandon to use the toaster for the first time... Who will eat the first mono ammonium phosphate toast?

After about five hours and six magic erasers the worst was cleaned up. We have to order some new stove parts that melted but it could have been much worse.

I'm going to blame this one on pregnant brain.

San Clemente

Thanks to my rich sugar daddy, Cara, we got to stay a week at the beach again this year. She rented the same beach house and it felt like home when we got there. I uploaded all these photos in random order.

My Mom would kill me if she knew I posted a photo of her in her swim suit but I couldn't resist showing her off. Can you even believe this woman is 70 years old?!?! I, myself, do not believe it. Especially when she gets a tan... wow, she is one hot senior citizen! Still no gray hair... just the few on her crown she makes me pluck, ewww.

Here is our awesome house. I could not get used to the fact we could go outside any time of day. A constant 70 degrees is welcome after a July holed up in my desert cave.

Ocean view, glass deck, all white. The house is all white from top to bottom. How do these people dare rent their house all summer?

I grew up watching the Amtrak cruise past the beach all day, waving to the passengers. But it never occurred to me we could ride it. I took Anika for a 20 minute train ride down to Oceanside and she absolutely loved it. She still has her ticket stub and looks at it all the time.

The entire week was paradise. It's just not the beach unless it's the family plot. I felt Gaga (my Grandma) smiling down on us.

I came upon Cara and Anika in my room listening to Cara's ipod. It looked so much like a Pink Victoria's Secret photo shoot that I couldn't resist a photo. Cara and Anika had matching anklets and relaxed while talking about Cara's boyfriend. They are both such teenagers.

And last but not least, the mini van! Where has this thing been all my life? We were able to fit three adults in the third row when we had to go somewhere together. I can't tell you how easy traveling was in that thing and can safely say I will be a mini van driver for life. It's like a plane and I kept thinking someone was about to serve gingerale.

It's mildly good to be home. Difficult, though, to be back to the frying heat and nothing to do. I need to seriously consider somewhere with four seasons. In Lake Arrowhead we had a great winter with snow, long falls and springs, summer with a high of 85 and the lake. We were also
1 1/2 hours from the beach. Janna and Mike are planning on moving to the beach next summer. Cara's in Newport, Jake at UCI, Andrea and Ian in Lake Arrowhead. Help! Will my Mom leave me too? What would I do? I really don't want to move to California. I like it here and the summer would be bearable if I had a yard with grass and trees, shade. I still want to move to the boonies. Escalante?

Brandon, Anika and I are going back to California in a month or so to Cara's house. She's 5 minutes from the beach in Newport but we're still going to drive the 40 minutes to San Clemente each day because like I said, it's jut not the beach unless it's our beach.

Annie and Nicole here

We are alive and beginning to surface. No matter how much I love staying holed up in the annex with Annie, I have to go back to work on Monday (less than 2 weeks after my C-section) so I need to get a jump on things.
Speaking of "things"- things are great! super great! Annie is a dream, nursing is a breeze (no seriously-I'm so lucky), and I didn't have to deal with an opesiotamy (spelling?) !! The hospital was like a spa only better because they keep you hopped up on drugs. Now that we are home, I am having a blast trying to believe little HQ is really a girl! We are head over heels in love with her. She never cries, has tons of black hair, and is so alert.
Pictures to come. Thank you cards to come (someday)... but for now, I am going to finish reading Behind the Iron Curtain, an illustrated Stallin history children's book to Annie.

To Nicole:

Not like you are going to have time to check a blog... it makes me laugh that I'm even posting this for you. I hope you are doing well postpartum. I caught Anika's cold and didn't want to give it to you this week. Plus, I know how I didn't want too many visitors so soon. I'm going to California for a week tomorrow but when I get back, could I come see you and cute Annie? No pressure, take your time. If you don't want visitors for a while longer, I'm cool. She is so adorable. Have a good week, y'all.

Williams - More Reunion Pics

Don't judge my form. I obviously need to work on that a bit. Herb is constantly telling me to lean forward. As long as I look hot while shooting, it doesn't matter right? At least, Ashley thinks so.

Herbie is a character. A personality all his own. We sure love this guy!

Ciara - Tricks - Kneeboarding

Ciara - Tricks - Wakeboarding

Chillin' on the beach!