3 Year Anniversary/ Bell Canyon

We stepped out of the car and the first thing we noticed was how refreshing the clean air was, and, gratefully it was less chilly then we were expecting. Though there was ice and snow and mud to navigate through, and at one point some freezing rain we had a wonderful time exploring this canyon that had a frozen over reservoir and sleeted streams. We'd never been to this canyon before so it was a new adventure; something we try and do on our anniversaries is go somewhere we've never been, and eat someplace we've never dined at. This canyon was gorgeous and we'll definitely be coming back in the summer to do some catch and release fishing, and hike some of the other side trails with Violet. It was so nice to get out of the valley and have some one on one time to talk about the last 3 years of our marriage and how much we've learned about each other and all the ups and downs we've gone through, AND what we're looking forward to in the future.

Every day I'm with Cristian I'm more grateful he came in to my life and chose me to marry. He's the perfect balance for me mentally and emotionally, and he's suuuuuuuuuper hott. :) I'm a lucky woman and Violet is the luckiest kid in the world as far as I'm concerned. He's a wonderful daddy and I could just go on and on about how wonderful I think this man is. The view from the top of this trail was breathtaking and I just know this year is going to be better then the last.

One last Happy Anniversary to you sweetheart! I love you!

An Exchange Of Words

This morning Violet and I snuggled up on the couch which lays right in the rays of sunlight spilling through our big front window in the late morning. We got a blanket and sat across from each other and told each other made up stories. My favorite one from her went as follows:

"One morning mama woke up. She opened up the oven and made bacon. The end!"

Then today while playing dress up she told me she was getting ready for work. She had chosen to put on a beautiful yellow Princess Belle dress, a pink sunhat, and a sparkly purse full of toy cars, legos, and a baby doll. I asked her where she worked at. She said "Lee's". Her grandma works at Lee's so we thought that was pretty cute.

In other news I came home from the gym tonight and Cristian had recorded a video of himself egging on Violet to pick her nose, which she proceeded to do and found some treasure. TMI? Probably. This is my real life.

A Photo Update

Cristian bought me some nail supplies for Christmas. Some dotting tools and different brushes, also some fun embellishments. Violet and I have been practicing with them.

I finally picked out and purchased a wedding band for my husband. It's having some adjustments done on it, but this is how we rang in the New Year.

While my Cristian and I helped my dad build two sheds for storage out at their house Violet had a fun time trying to push this wheelbarrow around. 

We also built our first snowman of the season :D

Fresh fruit tart with a granola and mixed nut base. This has been a great go to for quick breakfasts around here. And you guys, strawberries are on a killer sale right now at Lee's. Naturally, we've been stocking up and can't get enough of them.

Raspberry, strawberry and avocado smoothies.

Homemade fries made by Cristian. That is love right there.

Making pictures on the cold windows with the condensation.

We keep finding Violet's baby all over the house in different positioning. She's a good little mommy to her baby dolls.

Birds, birds, birds. A favorite a.m. activity for Violet and myself.

More tender, love, and care from Violet to her baby child.

Woohoo! Boxes from the sheds we help build. She could and does play in these things for hours.

 

 

2015.There's a lot in store for us this year. Lots of big things are on the horizon we're all excited for but we've been taking January slowly. We've slowed down on the photos, the blog posts and entries are just enjoying this little pause together before things pick up shortly. So a short and sweet update:

 

 We finally set an eye appointment for Violet. We've wondered for a while about her eyes and if she can see properly just due to some behaviors she's exhibited over the last few months. Our doctor told us after 4 sets of eye drops and some tests that Violet is mildly near sighted. This could be because it's her eyes haven't developed all the way or because the dilation test didn't have the right time to set because she has black eyes. We go back in 9 months to see if there's been any regression or progression and it will be much more accurate. I wouldn't be surprised if one day she needs glasses/contacts mainly because my eyes are terrible, and Cristian also are no the best. We'll see in 9 months.

 

I told you it would be short lol.

Hope your 2015  has been amazing thus far! Cheers!



An Exchange Of Words

An exchange of words between Violet and I:

Me: "Violet, would you like to have some spaghetti for lunch?"
Violet: "No Mom! I don't want spa........" She runs from our bedroom, down the hallway, past the bathroom into her room, stops, and finished "GHETTI!"


Silly girl.
And yes, we ended up having spaghetti regardless :D


Another exchange this morning while reading books all snuggled up in bed.

Me: "Violet is that the letter 'oh'?"
Violet: "Yes mama! It's the letter 'ooooooooh'."
Me: "And what is this?" - pointing to a word with 2 letter 'o's.
Violet: "Mama, you can never have to many ooooooo's!"- pronounced "ewwwwwww's".

Kidney and Cactus

Christmas was a dream, the following days after Christmas were a little....adventurous... to say the least.

 Violet started complaining to me about how she had "a bee in my bum mama". I don't know where she came up with the phrase but basically it means her butt stings. After checking things out I concluded she may have had too much of my lemon water the day before and it was affecting her urine and giving her a rash. This happened one time before when she was younger when I gave her some orange juice for breakfast one morning. The acid from citrus fruit just doesn't agree well with her little body, and she had a slight fever. I chalked it up to a minor infection, put some cream on her butt and called it a day. I can hear all of you judging me but it seemed reasonable as the next day she was completely back to her old self, happy, full of energy, and no fever, and also the time before with the orange juice had not escalated into anything serious.

Flash forward to the following day when I am driving Cristian back into work and we stopped at Hastings so he could grab a coffee. While sitting in the parking lot Violet starts squirming around in her seat, and suddenly, completely out of nowhere starts screaming. Literally screaming and tears just start waterfalling down her face. I have no idea what is going on and get in the backseat to try and figure out the problem. She says she has a bee in her bum again, and her back hurts, and she starts convulsing in the seat.

Now I really started to freak out.
I called Cristian from the car and as soon as he heard her screaming over the phone he ran out (without his paid-for coffee) and started driving us to the hospital. On the way we called her doctor and the best thing he said for us to do was take her to InstaCare. Oh gosh, my history with InstaCare. I won't get into that here, but we did follow his advice.

We arrived. A 2 hour wait list. And the lady made me feel like an idiot which is a pretty normal experience for me with InstaCare. When Violet started peeing blood then, of course, our situation was taken a little more seriously. In the end we received a prescription to treat Violet for a kidney infection.

And yes, in case any of you were wondering I felt like a terrible mother.

So fast forward again. She's been on her medication for maybe one or two days and we decided to head out to my parents house for a change of scenery. I'm sitting in the living room talking with my mom when I hear a 'clunk' from out in the kitchen. I don't think anything of it, as 'clunks' are a pretty natural sound to hear around the McMahon house. Next I hear Violet wimpering and see her slowly making her way out to the living room. I wasn't sure what happened but noticed some "fluff" in the corners of both her eyes and brushed them away thinking maybe that was the reason she was wimpering. She didn't cry or anything until I started brushing more "fluff" off her hands and she freaked out.

You guys. I was not prepared for the discovery I made next. I picked her up and carried her out to the kitchen to try and figure out the cause of her odd behavior. My mom noticed some dirt on the floor and there above it on the window ledge is a fluffy looking.....CACTUS. Are you freaking kidding me? I put Violet on the counter and disbelieving looked more closely at her face..... spines you guys. CACTUS spines stuck into all areas of her face. Her forehead. Her nose. Her cheeks. Her chin. Her hands.. Her arms. I couldn't believe it.

I mean this is something you read about, I mean, you guys are reading about this but....seriously.
Oh my dear, sweet, brave baby girl. She did such an amazing job sitting still while this baffled mama used tweezers to get out as many of those spines as possible.

Her poor little face.
Kidney and cactus you guys...kidney and cactus

Holy moly, what a couple days that was. And for those of you who have asked and were wondering she is totally fine now. Her mama may be a little bit traumatized still but she no longer has a kidney infection, and no more cactus in her face. AND...THANKFULLY none of those little spines made it into her eyes. A miracle? No doubt.


Cheers!

Christmas 2014

I mean the older I get the more excited I am about the spirit of the holidays. It gets harder and harder when in my family we pick names and shop for one person and I'm asked what I would like. I have everything I need and the things I may want are not material objects. Things like more time with my husband and daughter. I guess I did wish for was a white Christmas and lucky for me that happened and it was wonderful!

A couple nights before Christmas we went out to my parents to decorate gingerbread houses. While sitting there covered in frosting and graham cracker Violet very loudly announced to the table that she " would like a beer please". I speak her language so I knew she meant gummy bear but everyone's reactions were hilarious. And later on when she declared "I dropped my beer" Talisa yelled "PARTY FOUL!" and we all busted up laughing. It was a good night, and the gingerbread houses were fabulous as usual, AND Violet had more sugar then she's probably had in her entire 2 1/2 years of living.

We also did Carols by Candlelight on Christmas Eve (another tradition my family has), where we read the story of Christ's birth, sing some Christmas music and put together  a Nativity scene. Hhhh... I love traditions.

Afterwards I was dropped off at home to get Violet ready and into bed while Cristian went out to his mom's house to get us some garnaches. If you don't know what they are, just know they are heaven and maybe look up a recipe pronto. So Santa and Mrs. Clause had authentic Guatemalan instead of milk and cookies and it was YUMMY! I could seriously get used to THAT tradition. My mother-in-law can COOK.

Christmas morning was spent sitting in piles of wrapping paper, tape, ribbons, and bows. We followed up Christmas presents with 3D dinosaur cookie decorating and watching Beauty and the Beast-Violet's request, and then , after showering and getting ready, headed out to see family and friends. Best time of the year! Merry Christmas from my family to yours!