One year old

My sweetest little boy turned a year old today. We're planning on celebrating his birthday tomorrow, so I've done a pretty good job of ignoring (read: denying) that today is his birthday. It's been so awesome to spend the past year getting to know this little guy. It's hard to even recall what life was like without him at this point (although, I have a feeling it involved more sleep).

Online shopping

I'm apparently a rather crappy blogger. My lack of posts stem, at least in part, from Cameron's boo boo. That is, he erased the memory card on the camera, wiping out all of my blogging fodder. So this will be an update post with no pictures. Laura will quit reading right about now.

We closed on our house a couple of weeks ago and since I'm on spring break this week, I've been on a shopping spree to try and warm up our linoleum wonderland. I've made umpteen trips to home depot and lowes and keep buying things online.

I'm a huge fan of online shopping for housewares. There are some pretty good deals out there. I've bought a rug and a kitchen faucet on overstock. I also got some kitchen lighting on Bellacor. I highly recommend either site if you're looking for good deals on stuff for the house. I'm also a big fan of the rejuvenation website, and of course, restoration hardware--not that we can afford much from either place. But they're good for inspiration purposes.

This post is mostly for my mom's benefit so she'll "know what's going on in [my] life." We'll post some pictures once we move from the gathering stage to the installation stage on the house.

Also, happy b-day to Johnny B! He's 24 this year, which makes me . . . older.

Twiners

It was probably only a matter of time until it happened. Laura is my usual shopping buddy. This includes shopping for our husbands. We have similar taste in clothes and sometimes buy them the same things -- of course, never thinking they'd actually end up wearing the same thing at the same time. Well, yesterday the stars aligned and Cam and Brent were apparently both feeling the gingham shirt with khaki pants when they were getting ready for work. The results were hilarious.

B.Y.O.G.? W.T.H.!

Okay, I am not pregnant, nor have I been for almost a year now. But while I was pregnant I may have gotten addicted to Celebrity Baby Blog. Don't judge me. Moving along, I may still frequent said website. And while I was there, I may have noticed one of the most ridiculous products I've ever seen in my life.

The picture here is of a B.Y.O.G. (bring your own gown), which is a $95.00 maternity hospital gown (so you don't have to wear one of those "drab, used" gowns that common folk wear). The gown makers suggest buying two (how convenient for them), since apparently they tend to get soiled during delivery.

In theory, I'm all for the idea of bringing cute p.j.s to the hospital so you can pretend like you don't feel like death for pictures. But do they seriously think you're going to spend $95 on a maternity gown to deliver your baby? Anyway, all you pregnant ladies, run out and get your B.Y.O.G. Don't forget you'll be needing two.

Back by popular demand

I admit, the only person actually demanding is my mother, but after taking a little break from my blogging efforts, I'm back.

Today Cameron and I went on our "walk through" before we close on our house next week. At this point, things are pretty much done, so we have a few pictures to share. We were selective about what we upgraded, so much of the house is boring at this point.


I love our kitchen cabinets, and this is where we spent our money. However, now we have basic lighting, and a cheap sink, and Formica counters (that actually don't look half bad), but we can change all that stuff later.


We also decided that while we want hardwood flooring downstairs, we didn't want to spend the $10K to have the builder install it. Rather, Cam and I plan on going back in after-the-fact and putting in the hardwoods ourselves. A lofty goal indeed. However, the fact that our entire downstairs is currently linoleum should serve to inspire us to follow through on that. Behold, the vast expanse of linoleum. Classy.


And more linoleum. Notice all the blue tape marks where we need touch ups. The whole house was pocked with blue tape by the time we were done.


Anyway, that's just a little taste. The walls are white. The fixtures are builder grade. But we figure we can change all that as we have time and money. Still our house is cute and it's a very functional space. We're excited to move forward with it.

Tagged . . . again

Laura tagged me while ago and I've been unresponsive, so she has started to chastize me for my unwillingness to play along. For the record, I'm officially tagged out.

10 years ago. . . Um it was 1998 so I guess I was a freshman in college still. Wow. The U was still on the quarter system I believe. I think I was taking biology which totally kicked my trash (which is why I’m in law school and not med school). Generally my life was not terribly exciting, so let’s move on.

5 things on my to-do list today. . . . Even though it’s rollin’ up on 5:00 several things on my list remain undone (see #1 of my bad habits).

1) Get up and get showered and dressed and get Ben up and bathed and dressed (Yes I know this sounds basic, but it doesn’t always happen)
2) Meet Eryn and Lou for lunch (Café Med was delicious and I got to see Eryn and cute Leah)
3) I need to go to Target (love Target)
4) Laundry (always laundry)
5) Get ready for class tomorrow.

Snacks I enjoy . . . I love salty snacks – green olives are a fav. I also love triscuit crakers and laughing cow cheese (together please). I’ve also been seriously into eating ice ever since I was pregnant. I’m one of those annoying people who chews on ice and I love a tall glass of ice water.

What I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire . . . Pay off student loans. Never have a mortgage. Get new cars. Go shopping and totally deck Ben out.

5 bad habits . . . .

(1) I’m a procrastinator. I generally get things done, I just take my time in doing them.
(2) My car is always cluttered.
(3) I also spread my crap out over the bathroom counter and don’t put it away, which drives Cam crazy. I think that’s enough bad habits for now.

5 jobs that I have had. . .

(1) Various jobs for my dad – from receptionist to legal assistant.
(2) Legal assistant all during my undergrad.
(3) Elections specialist at the State.
(4) I did “temp” work for the Utah Education Savings Plan the summer before starting law school (Which reminds me, I need to set up a 529 for Ben. Again, see #1 on my list of bad habits).
(5) Most recently I was a summer law clerk for the A.G.

5 things that people don't know about me. . .

(1) I hate making decisions. Cam gets mad because I can’t even decide what I want to eat for dinner. But when it comes to major life decisions (mission, marriage, law school. . .), I have relied totally on my gut instinct and once my gut has spoken, I’m totally immovable.
(2) A lot of people (particularly guys) say my name Lezlie with a “z” sound instead of Leslie with an “s.” This isn’t a really big deal, but I always knew I could never marry a guy who said my name with a “z.” This was the true test with any guy – if he called me Lezlie, I knew not to even bother being interested. Cam obviously passed this test (although he didn’t ever know he was being tested).
(3) Even though Ben is almost a year old and there is no real chance of SIDS, I still sneak in his room and put my hand on his chest while he’s sleeping so I can make sure he’s breathing.
(4) I don’t miss living in Las Vegas at all even though I grew up there.
(5) I have almost completely quit reading for pleasure since starting law school. I used to love reading and was always in the middle of a book. Sad, I know. Anybody got suggestions?

Um -- Katie, if you read this, consider yourself tagged.

This day is bananas . . . B-A-N-A-N-A-S

I promise I have given birth to the pickiest eater alive. This is getting concerning since he'll be a year old next month and he's going to have to start eating more big boy foods soon. Right now there are seriously like 5 things Ben willingly eats. First and foremost is bananas (yo baby yogurt is way up there too). Yesterday he ate bananas in some form for pretty much every meal (banana oatmeal, strawberry bananas . . . ). Yes, I am aware that bananas will back up a baby like nothin' else. He also had a preemptive dose of Mira Lax.

At dinner I was determined to force a well-balanced meal upon Ben - like it or not. So pasta primavera it was (in its nasty, processed baby food form - thank you Gerber). Things went the way they usually do when Ben is being fed something other than bananas (or yogurt).

First bite went down okay. He thought for a minute.


Then he decided this was not bananas (or yogurt); therefore, this was not an acceptable form of nourishment.


Then we played dodge the spoon.

There was also some forcing the spoon through clenched jaws, some tears, and and a lot of spitting that was not captured by the camera. Ultimately, I admitted my defeat. I was bested by an (almost) 11 month old. So we had some more bananas.