Best Buds

It was a whirlwind 2 1/2 weeks with my brother & Luci here from Colorado...I hadn't seen her since she was two, and she's four now. I was worried how her & Reese would get along, if they would at all. To my surprise, they were attached at the hip just seconds after she arrived. From sun up, to sun down, those two were doing everything together; Playing, running, eating, watching movies, bathroom breaks, baths....you name it, they had to do it together.

Robbie and Luci left this morning about 3am and I'm hoping Reese doesn't feel too down. He's had a live-in playmate for the last couple weeks. He woke up this morning and said "Mama where Woosy?" (As my heart breaks in half for him.)

It was definitely an eye-opener as far as having more kids. There were times where I found myself thinking HELL FREAKING NO...NO MORE FOR ME! But there were also times where I thought HMM...MAYBE REESE NEEDS SOMEONE TO PLAY WITH SOMEDAY....

This Christmas was one of the best.....and worst. Most of you know that my dad has throat cancer. Christmas just made that all the more suckier. He cant taste anything, cant eat, can hardly drink, and sleeps close to half the day. My family is known for their cooking and parties and fun, and my dad couldn't really take part in any of that...and it just really freaking sucked to watch.

Other than the cancer thing, this was an amazing Christmas. The kids got everything they wanted an more...WAY more. I didnt tell Justin I wanted anything and for the first time in the history of us, he picked presents out for me all by himself, and did a pretty great job if I do say so myself :)

I used some of my Christmas bonus and bought us two Disneyland Annual Passes which I FULLY intend on using numerous times throughout this next year.

I'm now ready to kick the new year into gear and get off my ass and start exercising. I really need to lose about 40-50 lbs, and I'm hoping to lose at least 30 by my wedding in June. I refuse to look like a heffer in my dress.

So there you have it: Our Christmas in a nutshell. I hope everyone had as good a time as we did, and I hope you guys all have an even better new year.

And with that, I leave you this:

Merry Christmas!

From the whole family!

Joyful!

I am extremely excited for two reasons....okay maybe three or more. But the first, is because my ONLY niece, Miss Luci, will be here on Saturday. In three days. I. Cant. Wait. I haven't spent Christmas with her since she was one, and she just turned four in October...This Christmas will be amazing to say the least.

Second, is because my brother will also be here not only for Christmas, but for Reese's birthday too. We're 10 years apart, so when I was growing up, he was gone for most of my birthdays because he was in the Air Force traveling to God knows where, so this actually means alot to me.

Third, this is the first year that Reese and Luci will spend Christmas together. I already have SO many things planned, its ridiculous. Lights at CALM, holiday pictures, Haggin Oaks lights, going to see Santa at the mall...and the list goes on.
I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!




Here's a peek of the last Christmas I spent with Lu:

Disneyland!

This past weekend, we headed to the Happiest Place on Earth! DISNEYLAND! Justin and I drove my car down with Reese, and my parents followed in their truck. I can't explain how happy I was watching my son's face as he saw all his favorite characters and ride rides. The first ride of the day was the Dumbo ride with daddy...he was super excited! He got to meet Pluto and Goofy, and got to see Jack Skellinton (one of his favorites). His eyes lit up when he saw Buzz Lightyear in the Christmas Parade....he was so happy. It was definitely a weekend full of memories, and we can't wait to go back next year! (Which will be on a WEEKDAY by the way!)

Christmas wishes

I love this time of year. When I was a teenager, I loved it because it meant getting new CD's, clothes, and purses. When I was a kid it meant getting new Barbies, dollhouses, and bikes. I love it now, because I get to see the look on my son's face when he wakes up to a room filled with new things....its amazing. On Christmas Eve, we put everything together, slap on the stickers, and stick in the batteries. I bitch and complain about how tired I am, but its all worth it in the morning. I get to see the happiest little boy on the planet.

Its going to be even better this year, because Reese is going to be 2 and my 4 year old niece Luci will be here, which is double the fun.

Reese likes Tonka cars/trucks, Toy Story everything, Mickey Mouse & Friends, and anything that makes noise. Luci is into Zhu Zhu Pets, Coraline, Disney Princesses, and dress up kits. Needless to say, we've got all bases covered, and these kids are going to have a great Christmas!

'Tis the season!

So, my dad has made it through week one of chemo & radiation, hooray! He hasn't felt sick or nauseous yet, which is great. We're headed to Disneyland two days after Thanksgiving, so we're all hoping he still feels pretty good by then.

This weekend we're breaking out the Christmas decorations, becuase I just absolutely cannot stand to wait one more week to decorate. I feel very Christmasy this year, mostly because my brother, sister-in-law & niece will be here for the first time in 3 years. I absolutely adore her, and cant wait to spend some much needed time with her!

I'm not sure if we'll be doing our annual Black Friday shopping this year...my super crazy-pro-black-friday aunt has moved out of state, so it wont be the same. We always head out around 4am, grab some Starbucks, and get in line. She usually ends up getting in a fight with someone, which is awesome. And I'm not being sarcastic, it really IS awesome, not to mention pretty funny. Last year, we were at the Valley Plaza trying to find a handicapped parking space, because she had her new handicapped sign for her car. We FINALLY found one, right in the front, and this van full of Mexicans pulled right in JUST before we could. She actually rolled down her window and asked them if they were really handicapped. Oh shit. One of the girls got all ghetto-fabulous on her, and started cussing her out and whatnot....We finally convinced my aunt to just find another spot as opposed to calling the handicapped police on them. GOOD TIMES!

So, without that crazy handicapped mexican yelling-at'er aunt, what fun is Black Friday shopping? That, and I'm almost finished with all my shopping anyway.

This commercial TOTALLY reminds me of YOU Aunt Nita! :) Love you!

Planning.

I feel like my head is spinning....We're about to get into the Holidays, Reese's 2nd birthday, and my fiancee's birthday. Once its all over, its usually time to relax, but not this holiday season- Because once we wrap up on all the holidays its time to kick this wedding thing into overdrive. January means we have six months for planning, fittings, buying and planning....Not to mention losing a few pounds (hopefully).

I think I've been driving my bridesmaids crazy trying to find the perfect dresses for them. Their bodies are ALL different. Seriously. I have a super-tall slim, super-short with huge boobs, short and skinny, and everything in between. I want my girls to look super sexy too, so its only natural that I put alot of effort into their dress as well. After months of looking and searching, I stumbled upon this:

http://www.henkaa.com/convertible-dresses/sakura/#



These. dresses. are. AMAZING.

There is seriously about 40 different ways to wear it, so when I tell my girls "You can totally wear this again!" I'm NOT lying, like every other bride.

Here's a pic of just a few examples of the many ways to wear this super-versatile dress!

Halloween.

Happy Halloween from our Little Nemo!

wedding

This past Saturday Justin & I took the long trip up to Chico for one of my very best friend's weddings. I've known April since we were just one year old. We were always inseperable..playing barbies, dolls, house...you name it. Her parents decided to move when we were in 5th grade, so it was really hard losing your best friend..but I always go visit her...not as much as I used to, but I still do. We both have kids now, and jobs, and all that adult crap we have to do... :) The next time we hang out will be for MY wedding :) I'm SO excited because she's going to be one of my bridesmaids!

Here's a little flashback:

Saturday:

24 years ago....
Hangin' out on my front porch

Party

So, this past weekend we had a Halloween Party. Justin was supposed to be there...but he's working over on the East Coast & being all responsible & whatnot. I made the most AWESOME costume I've ever made in my entire life for this party. It took weeks of scouring the internet for *just the right* things to piece together for this stellar ensemble. Two pairs of Spanx and one spandex unitard later, we have this:

that's right...MY LITTLE PONY. Since I probably weigh like, 8 pounds less than Aretha Franklin does, I'm not really all into the "skank" look for Halloween these days....Spandex is even pushing it...but, in the end, it all worked out, and for one night I got to look like my favorite childhood toys.

Pumpkin

We took a little trip to the Pumpkin Patch on Sunday afternoon. This year, we decided to go to the Taladega Frights Patch. It was pretty cool...they have a giant corn maze, bounce houses and slides, and lots and LOTS of pumpkins. Reese was so amazed by all the piles of pumpkins that he could hardly contain himself. He found "the one" and kept picking it up and dropping it...He'd leave it somewhere, run off, then come back, pick it up...drop it. It was pretty funny :)

Magical

This weekend was beyond busy, but we squeezed in a little Disney. Saturday we took Reese to Disney on Ice, and it was a-maz-ing! I almost cried just watching him jump and squeal with joy. Totally worth the money...not to mention we had REALLY good seats...THREE rows from the ice! He could almost reach out & touch Mickey. I thought he was going to go into overload when Mickey came to our side and waved at him--I've never seen a kid so happy!

Today.

Today, as in five minutes, as in 1:45 PM, my dad will go in for his biopsy to test the tumor in his throat for cancer.

Do you ever feel like you ask too much of God? Like, a lot of times I hear myself saying, God, if you get me out of this, if you see me through this, I swear, things will change...but does it ever really? I mean, things go back to normal, everything works out, and you're still doing the same things you were before, until the next crisis.

I've been thinking about this a lot, especially this morning, now that the biopsy is upon us. I just keep going, Okay, this is it. This is the make it or break it day.

And once again, here I am, asking God to help. Help my dad, help my family, help me restrain from having a nervous breakdown.

Trees.

I've been having SUCH a problem with creating some centerpieces for our wedding in June. I keep saying I want to get as much done as possible BEFORE the new year...and here it is already October!

Anyway, I've been doing some research on the web...trying to find the cutest centerpieces for the least amount of money. I have $1000 budgeted for decor, but I'd like to stay as far away from that number as possible....so this is what I've come up with: Manzanita Tree centerpieces :)

They're pretty inexpensive, but OH-SO-PRETTY when they're finished & all decorated. These aren't the exact colors & whatnot, but here's an idea:

We already have the dangling crystals, which hang from the tree as well...they will look really nice in the hall, and since the ceilings are super high, they will add some height between the chandeliers & tables.

I'll post pics as soon as a get a couple made!

waiting.

The last time my dad had cancer, I was in 3rd grade. I don't remember much, other than my parents going to a place called UCLA every other week for check-ups, laser treatments, and other appointments. (which I thought was weird, because as far as I knew, UCLA was a football team, or a school. So I imagined him taking trips to the football field a lot) The one part I do remember, is being in class, around 3:30, and my teacher nudging me telling me I had a visitor and pointing to the window. I looked over and saw my dad peeking through the window of our classroom making a funny face. I was so excited because him & my mom were there to pick me up....early! He had actually just got back from his last visit to UCLA to remove the tumor from his bladder....I know that now, but back then, I was just excited to get out of school early and hang out with my dad because that meant we would go to 7-11 and get a Slurpee.

After he was in the clear, he would go back every other month for check ups, to make sure there weren't any new tumors. Soon it was 6 months, then 9, then 12, then 24, and he's never had to go back since, so its now become a distant memory.

So as I sit here trying to grasp what has just happened to our family, is it fair to ask "why"? He's already beaten this once, why does he get it again? Why us? Why not someone else this time?

This time, its in his throat at the base of his tongue. After a week of coughing up blood because something scratched his throat, they found it. A little, white, lump thing the size of a pencil eraser, that holds the fate of the rest of his life.

So for now, we wait. Wait for more tests, wait for results, and wait for answers.

Hot Dog!

Reese has been getting totally into Disney these days...Mickey and his pals, Nemo, Toy Story, & Monsters Inc to name a few. And I'm not complaining because I love EVERYTHING Disney!


This is why I'm SO excited to take him to Disneyland this year. I'm hoping to make it an annual family thing. We're going with Daddy, Gamma & Pop Pop, and hopefully Auntie Bree & Uncle Lonnie.

We'll be going right after Thanksgiving sometime, so we'll be just in time for all the Disney Christmas Festivities (Which I've never even witnessed before)! I haven't been to Disneyland since I was in 8th grade, which was roughly 10 years ago...And my parents--well they haven't been since the last time they took ME--which was when i was about 6. EEEK!

I can wait to update with lots of pictures!

: welcome back :

I've been MIA for awhile.....We've recently relocated :) Justin, my parents and I have moved just around the corner from the Bear Creek house to a newer, bigger home. Im still in school, and will be for awhile, so it just makes things easier to have alot of help, and Justin feels the same way.

This house is just over 2500 sq feet, and its beautiful! Reese now has his own playroom and his own tv to watch his DVDs on, and he absolutely loves it. He's really big into Disney right now, so Ive decorated it with a disney theme. Granny has some Disney Cells shes going to give us (Its what they USED to use for making animated movies...really cool!). I already have an Alice in Wonderland cell up on the wall, but she's giving me a few more.

The kitchen is huge and perfect. We now have dual ovens...one has a convection so it cooks anything in HALF the time! Me & my mom were just joking on how we FINALLY have the perfect kitchen for Thanksgiving, which we usually host every year, except this year we're spending the holiday in Anaheim at Disneyland :)

Just wanted to catch everyone up on all that's been happening in the Naten/Furg household....new pics to come!

Sun, Sand, & Lots of pictures!

We've finally found a photographer for our wedding and she is AMAZING to say the least. Last Saturday we took a trip to the central coast for our engagement shoot. She met us at Shell Beach by Pismo and took our pictures next to the cliffs and in the water. I am chomping at the bit to see these pictures and I still have a couple days to go before she posts them...So just to give you an idea, I found a picture of the beach :) Until next time......

Tuesday Review

If you haven't tried this AMAZING 10-in-1 hair product, you seriously need to. I admit that the first time it was recommended to me, I was a little skeptical about shelling out $20 for such a small bottle of "hair crap" (As I liked to call it back then). But seriously, once I tried it, I will never buy anything else for tangles, dryness, or anything else stated on the bottle for that matter.

This bottle doesn't lie. It seriously does work miracles. I could tell a difference the first time I used it in my hair, and after a week, it was like I had completely new locks! Oh, and don't you worry about the $20 price tag... www.folica.com has it for $15.99 or you can opt for the larger size for $32.99 which is a steal! Did I mention this crap lasts FOREVER?!?! Seriously, the small bottle lasted for about 5 months and when it got to the very bottom, I added a little water, and stretched it out for another 3 weeks with the same results.

I love telling people about this stuff which is why I wanted to put it on my blog. I'm telling you--if it can help my super long (used-to-be-bleach-blonde) split end-prone hair, it can definitely help yours!

I almost forgot!

I have a great group of friends and they all came out to help celebrate my birthday a few weeks ago...thanks girls! XOXOX

Happy Fathers Day!

This is Justin's second fathers day, and since we didnt do much last year, I wanted to do something really cute for him this year. As most of you know, Justin has ALOT of tattoos. Reese is a little mini-Justin, so I thought it would be super cute to put temporary tattoos on his arms, just like daddy, and get some pictures taken :) Trying to get a toddler to sit still so you can put tattoos on is super hard, but the outcome was adorable!

It's Official! Summer is here....

Time to break out the bikinis (well maybe not for me), board shorts, and pool toys....Jump in the pool folks, cause the heat is creepin' up here in Bakersfield. ( it was 100* yesterday! GAH!)

Little Big Man

Its absolutely crazy how fast Reese has grown....People really aren't lying when they say kids grow too fast. I just took this picture today, and found another picture around this time last year. Crazy!

Le Sigh....

I remember how excited I got when he could do this.....And now I have a toddler climbing on furniture just to see if he can fly off.....

More Bars In More Places

Happy Birthday Addie!

We got to go to Addison's Yo Gabba Gabba birthday bash this weekend....to say it was fun would be the least :)

More Fun In The Sun!

The weather in Bakersfield could not be any more perfect....which is why we have been spending ALL our free time outside! We've been taking Little Man to the park every weekend, and playing outside everyday after work/daycare. Here are some highlights of Riverwalk this past weekend :)

BEAN

I miss my Luci Bean :(

Sunday Funday!

One of "those" kids

We had our first Big Boy haircut yesterday......he just kept looking at me like "mommy WHY!" He wasn't having it....AT ALL!

I'm a Believer!

If you haven't tried Boogie Wipes....go out RIGHT NOW and buy some. These things are awesome at getting those crusty boog's off your kids nose. (Yes, they work better than baby wipes) They have Saline in them, so it breaks up the dried snot & boogers...gross! Not to mention, they smell awesome!

(Fingers Crossed)

Last night marked night TWO of Reese sleeping through the night again! No coughing, no puking, and no teething pain. HOORAY! I'm crossing my fingers in hopes that his cough is deciding to take a break...better yet, take a hike!

Just Because.........

ZzZzzzZzzzzz.........

Last night was ROUGH. I had a test at school at 5, then had to go to the library for a filing quiz (LAME!). I got home right at 8PM. Reese had already been put to bed....apparently he was super cranky. I ate dinner, and hung out with the fam for awhile. It was about 9:30 and I was getting ready to head to bed. Reese is screaming crying...

I go in there to see whats wrong and hes just sobbing. I bring him out in the living room. (If he cries too much, he gets over stimulated and it makes him cough, even more than he already does...which is exactly what happend.) So before I could get him over to the sink, because I already know whats about to happen, he starts projectile vomiting all over me, and all over the floor. This has become a weekly occurrence for our house, and I dont like it. Not because I cant stand the puke, but because I can see how much this cough is hurting him.

Im hoping that this will be gone by the end of this weekend, but I'm not holding my breath.

Just Because....

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Diners Drive Ins & Dives on Food Network. Needless to say, I was pretty excited when we ran into Guy Fieri in Vegas at Toby Keith's Bar & Grill :)

**AHEM**

The dreaded cough is back. Actually, it has been for a couple weeks now. Mad props to Reese, because he puts up with it so well. If that was me, coughing day in and day out, I would go crazy.

After searching the whole first year of his life for a doctor that would diagnose him, we found Dr Deeths. She is AMAZING. (thanks Katrina!)

She diagnosed him with Tracheomalacia. This is when the cartilage in the windpipe (trachea) has not developed properly. Instead of being rigid, the walls of the trachea are floppy. Because the windpipe is the main airway, breathing difficulties begin soon after birth...hence, the weird cough that just WOULDNT go away.

He also has Asthma and chronic inflamed lungs on top of the Tracheomalacia, which makes breathing even more difficult for him, especially when his lungs get inflamed from allergies or over stimulation. Although it worries me that he has to go through all this, I'm happy that we have FINALLY gotten a proper diagnosis.

So for now, we continue with our breathing treatment regimen: Once in the morning with a steroid, twice during the day with saline, and once before bed. All in all, he's pretty good with the treatments. I think he just deals with them because he knows it will make him feel better. I was told that he could possibly grow out of it by age two, so thats what we're rooting for...

Just Because...

I've decided to give Reese a "Half-Birthday Party" this year. (A very Merry Un-birthday, if you will). His real birthday is two days after Christmas which is a whole bunch of un-fun. Not to mention, its hard to make it really feel like his day, when there's still Christmas decorations up. So, I'm thinking of having his birthday party in August or September, then just having a small dinner get together on his real birthday. Sounds like a plan to me!

Oh, How Time Flies....

It took me a really long time to post this. Maybe because I didnt want to accept it....or maybe because I just couldn't believe it.

My little baby is one year old. One. whole. year.


I cant even begin to describe all the ways he's saved my life. I feel like a have a purpose now...Because he needs me more than anything or anyone. This whole year has been the greatest year of my life and he makes me excited for the future and all that it has in store for us.