My PB + J

Groovin’ to Gaga

Last Wednesday we were all home together including my Mother who was staying with us. We had just finished eating an actual home cooked meal in my own kitchen of: grilled chicken, artichokes and gnocchi. It wasn’t anything amazing but the fact that we all dined at our dining room table in the middle of valances on the floor and ribbon scattered along the remaining quarter of the table we still managed to enjoy eachother’s company, laughing about the past few weeks and watched as Payton inhaled her veggies. After our meal we sat down on the couch after bath time watching Pay as she scattered her toys across our living room floor, my Mom on her computer and we revisited Lady Gaga’s HBO special. Jim was amazed by her talent, some may beg to differ but seeing her before she exploded, acapella, three people away from her was amazing and I will always be a fan from that night at the Hard Rock. Mid conversation we look down at the floor and saw Payton tapping her feet and wiggling on the floor. I’d say we have a Gaga fan on our hands. She danced through a few other songs as well, this kid I tell you, she is a crack up and loves making us laugh. Make sure to watch around a minute and fifteen seconds where she slows down to thrust her hips and wiggle what her mama gave her. 😀

My kid. I swear.


groovin’ to gaga from melissa on Vimeo.

wondering where I’ve been?

probably not. But, I wanted to let y’all know I still have a beating heart just not a hand that has felt the desire to tap, tap, tap away on the keyboard. We were officially out of our house for four weeks and six days, we moved back in the Friday before Mother’s Day only to find out after five short days that we would be moving right back out. Yep, you read that correctly. My gorgeous new flooring was soaked, the plumber was called and we were checking into Chateau a la Schack once more. I was devastated, crushed and had never wanted my house to suddenly burn down to the ground as much as I did that Thursday morning. The original leak was fixed but this time there is a slow leak coming from the pipe going into our water heater and in my closet which leads to our washer. Our insurance adjuster feels so badly that he as somehow coerced Farmer’s into allowing him to approve a complete partial redirect of our pipes, sweet right? The work will begin tomorrow, the contractor was out this morning to assess the reroute which will go over in our ceiling and will be capped off in Payton’s room which means the dry wall in her room is coming off, luckily, I always buy too much paint so I have plenty for that re-do. Jim has finally seen my point on why I wanted to move so badly (besides the obvious of which is our shitty, white trash neighbors) so we have finally considered as a couple that once all the repairs are 100% fixed we will look into renting and/or selling. Please let the sun shine down on the Atkinson’s abode for once in two months, this mama would sure appreciate it.

So for now, and the next two to three weeks we are residing in a two-bedroom suite a few miles up the road while a portion of my new hardwood flooring is ripped up, acoustic ceiling is cut into (and hopefully scrapped off), pipes are cut and re-directed all of which will one day bring us to normalcy again. I just have to thank my lucky stars that this little boy is not here yet because I don’t know how either us would be coping with the biggest challenge our relationship has even endured.

So, there you have it. I am alive, whiny and bitchy as ever. Positive posts to come. . . 🙂

On a sidenote, I have felt the first flutters of my little Brayden. Ahhh. . .the best feeling.

it’s a . . .

This past Monday I had my appointment for the first trimester screening. The tech was absolutely amazing and since I headed to the hospital for the screening very skeptical based on the last time I was there when we welcomed Payton into this world it was so great having a warm heart. It was nice to see that they are re-doing the OBGYN medical offices at the hospital, the improvements were so much better and the L&D ward is also being reconstructed which gives me hope that this time around it will be much better! Plus, I already know what to expect! Anyway, the appointment was very routine to check on the neck fold, fluids, etc. It’s always nice to get to peek at your ‘lil bean as it growing to make sure everything is going to plan, which ours is. I felt much better hearing this because like I mentioned in the first post, this time around I just don’t feel pregnant. No nausea, pain, etc. I ain’t complaining though! While scoping out the baby the tech asked me if she could see what the baby was if I wanted to know, I totally exclaimed yes, but then had a moment telling me that I should wait since I was all alone, but heck!  All who know me know I am one impatient woman, so of course I said YES! She began asking me what I thought it was and I told her I was 100% convinced it was a boy and she simply said, “well, you were right!” I was very emotional, it was different than with Payton, plus being alone all I could do was  lay there with gel on my tummy staring at my son. . . my son! We are very blessed to get one of each, it is going to be an exciting ride and I truly now feel as though my family is complete. It is going by faster this time too, especially since I am running after Payton everyday! The tech also said she had me measuring at 13.5 weeks which is where I thought I was, so I am changing my EDD to what I (and the tech) said as November 6th. I just have my eye on November 1st as the due date so the closer I can get the better!  

his little profile looks just like his sister’s did at this point. 



Easter Weekend Recap

Our Easter weekend began by me taking Payton to our church on Saturday morning for their first ever Easter family service. It was a lot of fun and very interactive for all of the young children in attendance. After church we headed down to Point Loma for the 3rd annual Spring Fling event. We met Auntie Jinger and we cruised the festivities but soon grew bored of the lack of things for Payton to do. Since Uncle Geoff headed up to help Jim with our hardwood flooring install we took a trip up the 5 freeway to purchase some gorgeous ranunculus from the Carlsbad flower fields. With a quick trip to Costco and to In & Out we were soon back to our catastrophe of a house where we dined on cheeseburgers in our backyard. Classy. The late afternoon was spent playing with Payton and listening to the guys try and perfect each and every cut. We called it a night around 8 PM and headed back to our temporary residence where we dyed eggs and shortly after Payton was conked out and mama was all alone baking pies and prepping monkey bread.

On Easter we spent about fifteen minutes together as a family which consisted of us getting Payton dressed, packed and drove three miles down Pomerado back to our house where I dropped off Jim for the day. He and my old boss and friend, Robert, laid almost all of the flooring in our living room. We’re getting there! Payton and I spent the morning at my sister’s house where we had an amazing brunch, smashed confetti eggs and Payton got to participate in her first egg hunt. She loved looking for the eggs, even if my sister did make it easy for her. She especially loved shaking them until candy exploded from the plastic hinges. I don’t even want to think about how many M&M’s, jelly beans and peeps my girl consumed. Lucky thing for me she headed off to Grandma and Papa’s for a few days so they got to deal with the hyper toddler (love ya mama!) I left my baby girl once again to head to work. ugh. It is getting   more and more difficult doing this, but with Jim in Kentucky for a few days I have no other option. 
Easter may not have been what we had envisioned but I got to spend most of the day with my family and kept my hubby in my thoughts as he busted his booty to get further along in our house. Our goal was to be back by Easter but now we have given ourselves a more realistic one of Mother’s Day. It just a disaster zone, like when we first moved in but nothing is in boxes just shuffled between rooms. aghh. I just dream of sleeping in my bed again one day. As of today we are on three weeks and four days without a routine. We are super thankful to have the Schack’s in our lives and their open door. I don’t know how we would have managed in a hotel. Whew! What a recap. 
Here’s a few (too many) pictures of the weekend: 

she loves doggies. she made a new friend with this one at the event. 

Not wanting to take a picture with me, gotta get used to that!


She found some cones, which ended up being the only thing for her to do at the event. She reorganized them and lined them up. 

Jim and Geoff making precise cuts. 

Playing in our backyard, which is the only place safe for her right now.

Looking from Payton’s room into ours. 

Dyeing eggs. She followed my steps, besides dropping one egg it went okay. 

The strawberry cream cheese pie I made. YUM!

P’s basket filled with: 2 movies, a book, some fruit snacks, cinnamon maple puffs, bubbles, chocolate and a few other goodies!

Noming on the first egg she found. 

All three of her cousins bonked her with confetti eggs. 
And finally, going through her basket and taste / licking everything for her seal of approval. 

Hope y’all had a great Easter weekend!!


payton has a message for you. . .

We couldn’t be happier to announce that Payton is going to be a BIG sister come this Fall. Our little family of three is growing into four and it is the best feeling in the world knowing we will be complete. Parenthood is one of the best feelings and accomplishments life has to offer. Watching Payton grow each day has been the light of my life so bringing another little peanut is filling my heart with so much joy that it is spilling over. I had an easy pregnancy with P and this one has been even easier, thus far. No morning sickness and so far I still do not even feel pregnant. I have days where I am super hungry and have that “need” to eat but there are others where I feel just like me. I am convinced I am carrying a boy but we will see on June 23rd when we find out if I get another princess or if I get my basketball player!

Baby “A” due 11.10.11

We hope everyone has a very blessed Easter. I will post Easter pictures later on this evening.