Aye carumba!

I've got wonderful news to share. Yesterday, as I was picking up the stroller to put in the back of the CRV, I think I twisted funny when I suddenly felt a snap in my lower back. I hurried and put the stroller in the car and then tried to pick up the car seat, which ended up sending me into major pain. Thank goodness I was at the house when this all happened (we had just gotten back from a walk), since I had to call for Kristi's help to get Inara in the house. I have never felt such pain in my back like this and was in instant tears it hurt so bad. This has been more painful than anything I felt after my C-section and that's a major surgery. I ended up getting in to see a chiropractor yesterday who said I injured a disc in my lower back and it's now inflamed. I have to ice it for 20 minutes every two hours and cannot do anything pretty much the rest of the week. The worst part is I cannot even lift Inara for the next few days. This is the pits! Thank goodness I live in the house with everyone right now, so that I can get some extra help with her. But as many of you know, I hate asking for help. I'm just gonna have to suck it up and do it though so my back can heal quickly. Unfortunately, Shawn even called in sick today so he could help out. I swear when does the good luck start?

It's Sunday already?

Time for an update. First off, Shawn has a bunch of pics and videos to post, but he's been busy and hasn't had time to upload them to our site. He has to do them at night so it's not tying up the internet for everyone else in the house. He said he'd get them up tonight. I've posted a few below with some stories behind them.

Our weekend started off great with a super fun stroller walk with the mom's group on Friday. There were 9 moms with their little ones. I got to meet a few new moms, which was fun since two of them are British, and had a great conversation with the two Laura's I've met. They are both so sweet. They made me feel really good about my leaning toward buying a house in Highlands Ranch. One of the Laura's has lived in this area for quite some time now and can't imagine living any place else. That's the way I've been feeling. I'm excited because I'm having lunch with Jen on Wed. She's the real estate agent I met through the mom's group. I have lots of questions for her, which she said was awesome. More on house hunting in a sec.

Yesterday was a wonderful day because I got a whole afternoon to myself. Shawn watched baby girl and I had a mommy day. I got my eyebrows waxed, a pedicure, had lunch at the mall and got to read (a grown-up book!) while I relaxed by myself, and went shopping. Penney's was having a great sale, so I picked up a dress for an upcoming wedding we are attending for only $5. Yes, a super cute dress for 5 bucks! Then Shawn and I went for date night dinner by ourselves. We tried this new restaurant called C.B. & Potts. It was phenomenal! I can't wait to take everyone there. The food was killer! I had grilled salmon with asparagus and crab meat topping. Scrumptious! Shawn had a burger that was perfect! This place is super fun and even hosts movie nights on Tues where they start a movie at 10pm, serve popcorn, and all draft beers are 50% off. I told Shawn we should totally do that one night since Inara is usually in bed by 7:30 anyways. We could have Barb listen up for her while we go relax and watch a film. Sounds like fun! Lets just hope he can stay awake. Ha ha. It was nice to get away just the two of us. We got to talking a lot about house hunting. We are both really liking HR for various reasons. I pointed out to him that there is no graffiti in this area, nor are there any kids running crazy in the street causing chaos. These are things we got so used to in our apt. in HB that it's odd to not see it here. One reason the kids aren't playing in the street is because this city has so much to offer, from the 4 rec centers to the plethora of parks and biking/hiking/walking trails. This is such a bonus for us as we want there to be activities for our kids to partake in when they get older. Also, the Laura's raved about the HR schools, which again is a major deciding factor for us. Since this is such a newer area, the schools are all top of the line with the newest computers, technology, equipment, etc. I also love that in their school mission statement, they require students to be tech savvy and to do community service. And of course, since this area has so much to offer, I think the resale of a home should be pretty good. Something we are thinking about for later down the road when we might need to upgrade to a bigger house when we have a second kid. Like I've said before, there's just so much to consider when buying a house, but I'm totally looking forward to picking Jen's brain on Wed and getting some info to make me a more informed house hunter.

On to the pics...


This is one of my new faves of Inara. First off, I love this Future Rock Star t-shirt. It's a 3-6 months, but it's still too big on her. But more importantly, as you can see in this pic, Inara is doing very well with sitting up. She's just so darn cute!

Many of you will remember the quilt squares people made for us at our baby shower. Nina finally got to finish putting the quilt together and I was so surprised when the packaged arrived on Friday. I totally cried. This gift is the coolest we could have ever asked for. Everyone put so much time into their squares and they really represent everyone's personalities. We're also so impressed with the time and effort Nina put into putting it all together. Check out the picture below to see all the details. She stitched all the material cut-outs to the squares and then embroidered people's names and whatever text they wrote. It's truly a piece of art. Kristi and Barb gave me the idea of hanging this in Inara's room once we get our house. I don't want her to mess it up, so I'm totally going to hang it up and that way everyone can see this wonderful gift. I know Inara will treasure it always!

This is another of my favorite pics. I took this on Inara's first trip to the pool last weekend. She's such a little fish and instantly took to the pool. I can't wait for her to play in Pop's pool this July. He'll have a blast playing with her, guaranteed. I think she looks so much like Shawn in this picture.

Lastly, this is a picture of Ed's cousin Cari who performs kids songs. We went and saw her last weekend in Denver. Cari's the one on the right. In this pic they are performing a song about hippos, and they even wear hippo butts, which was pretty darn funny.

What a way to wake up

Inara was still asleep when I got up, so I decided to check my email first thing. I was sooooo excited to get an email from my cousins Kelli and Rob and Alex with some great news: they've booked their flights to come see us in June. Yay!!! I can't wait!!! Family is coming to see us. This totally made my day, probably my week!

July can't come soon enough

I MISS HOME!!! Yes, there it is. I said it. For those that may think that I've found my groove here and haven't thought twice about home, you are wrong! I miss home so much. Of course, I miss my parents and my brother the most. There is no way I could ever replace them. They are the core of my existence to be quite honest. The person I am today is because of them, so I could never ever ever forget them. I wish there was some way possible I could convince them to move here, or afford a house back in SoCal, but we all know niether one of these are gonna happen any time soon. So I must try to make the best of situation and count down the days til I can come home. I'm actually super excited that in 13 days my mom will be here. Wish my pop was coming to visit too, but he's gotta work. I'll see him in 76 days thought. I told ya I was counting down the days to my trip back home. It's going to be a busy two weeks too. My cousin Kim is having her baby, it's my dad's 60th bday and my parents 35th anniversary, the OC Fair will be going on, as well as the San Diego ComiCon. Thank goodness I'm coming for 2 weeks. I want to do some stuff and obviously visit with friends and family. This trip gives me something to look forward to every day. I miss you all and can't wait to see you soon.

I talk how much?

Shawn told me today that I went way over my minutes on my cell last month (not surprisingly). Thank goodness for rollover minutes. But we don't have too many extras, so from now on I'll be making my calls during nights and weekends and ask that if you are going to call me, please do so on nights and weekends or you can always call me on the home line. If you don't have it, email or call me and I'll give it to you. Sorry for the trouble.

I've got a social calendar again

I've been meaning to write about social activities we've been involved in. Sorry for taking so long. Well going back to Easter weekend, I was really sad and missed home. It just so happened that I found an exercise class at one of the rec centers called Fit Moms. I went that Tues and am soooo very grateful I did. This young woman came up, introduced herself and started chatting with me. I could tell from the very start that she was super nice and someone I could see me clicking with. What a small world, Laura graduated from Cal State Long Beach. Too funny. At the end of the class, she told me she runs a moms group called The Tot Spot. That afternoon I went online and learned more about this group. It sounded like fun, so I went ahead and joined. Now I have to back up for a sec and say Shawn had initially talked to me about joining a moms group and I was really hesitant about it for various reasons. But after a few weeks of being here, I realized I was never going to meet people if I didn't join a group or something. It would be easier to meet people if Inara was older and in school, but with a toddler, I was going to have to bite the bullet and join a moms group. It honestly is the BEST thing I could have done. Some of the moms in the group attend Fit Moms, so I've met a couple people that way. I also attended my first Moms Night In, which was a scrapbooking night. There were 7 other moms there, and I had a blast. It was great talking about all kinds of topics, and we even did some scrapbooking. Plus, the hostess's house is amazing, so I'm glad I went so I know what this particular neighborhood looks like. Way out of our price range, but it was still fun to see. And one of the moms is a real estate agent. Bingo! Yesterday I went for a walk around the mall with two of the moms, and then we had lunch together. They were both very friendly and their daughters are super cute. Also, I started chatting with a couple of the moms online and am even going to the mall with one of them on Monday. She and I are both big Gilmore Girls fans, so I know she has great taste. Ha ha. I've signed up to attend a couple other events in the coming weeks: a Cinco de Mayo potluck, a Mom's Day photo shoot, and a lunch at Chedd's which is famous for their grilled cheese sandwiches. Can't wait to try that place out, so when Elizabeth and Nina come to visit, I can take them there. I've even started thinking about events I can host for the moms group. I figure I could redirect the networking skills I developed through Chamber of Commerce and start organizing events for the group. I'm hoping to get a group together to visit a local bookstore called Tattered Cover (great name for a bookstore). I figure we could get a coffee, chat and hang out in the children's department. Another event I'm thinking about is doing a family picnic on the weekend. I feel bad that since Shawn works all week, he doesn't have the same opportunities I do to meet people, so if we do a family picnic event, the dads could meet each other. Maybe Shawn will be able to find someone to go golfing with or hiking with once his ankle is better. Third, I could REALLY use a movie night, so I'm going to see if any of the moms want to go see a chick flick in a couple weeks. First, I have to find out what's in the theaters. I'm so out of it. And lastly, I was chosen as Mommy of the Week. I feel so honored since I've only been a member for a couple weeks. I got to answer a questionnaire about myself so the group could learn more about it. It might be small, but it totally made me feel great! It really made me feel special, and I could use a little tlc right about now. Things are definitely looking up for me here. I'm so lucky I met Laura and have joined the perfect moms group.

Inara Turns 7 Months Old!!!

I can-not be-lieve it!!! (If you watch Disney's The Little Einstein's, then you know Quincy's favorite saying.) I'm officially a mom now that I am quoting Disney cartoons. Ha ha!

Inara turned 7 months old today. She's growing up sooo darn fast. She measures 26 inches long and is about 17 pounds. WOW! She's grown an inch a month practically.

Inara's had quite a few milestones this past month. The biggest one is she's eating baby foods now. We started her on rice cereal 4 weeks ago. She took to that like a champ. We started giving it to her twice a day, but the poor thing got a bit backed up (rice cereal is low in fiber), so we went back to just once a day. Then this Sunday we introduced her to her first veggie: squash. Inara really is a great eater. She even makes a good messy face. You gotta love when babies start eating food. Well, except for the fact that her poopy diapers are now super poozy. Oh the joys. On Monday, I let her suck on a piece of cantalope. It was hot and we were picnicing in the backyard, so I figured what the heck, why not. She loved it and got juice all over her face and hands! Another big milestone is she is getting better at sitting up. I think putting her in the Bumbo when she eats has helped. And every night, Shawn sits her up on the guest bed and helps her practice sitting up. It's so cute because as soon as he starts counting, she knows exactly what's coming, and when she topples over, he calls timber, and she gets a big smile. Inara is definitely going to be a daddy's girl. Also, Shawn really wanted to get her a walker, so we got one a few weeks ago and she loves it. She can even push herself backwards. Today, she tried oh so hard to reach the bar with toys so she could chew on them. Too bad she's just not big enough yet to reach them. Along with the sitting up, she's starting to get the hang of rolling over. Of course, she's gotta be different and can only roll over from her tummy to her back, but that's alright by me because I know once she can roll over from her back to her tummy, things will forever be changed. Before I know it, she'll be crawling and all hell will be breaking lose. Another big change I've noticed in her this past month is she's getting more interested in playing with toys. She's fascinated with a few in particular: her star shaped teething blanket, a blue octopus doll with a teether crab, a blue elephant with several toys attached that she can chew on...sense a pattern. She's teething pretty good, so she loves anything with teething toys attached. She also loves her taggie blanket. Don't all babies love tags? And lastly, one sad milestone this past month is she's pretty content putting herself to sleep. Most nights and naptimes, she does not want to be rocked or held. She stretches her back as if to squirm out of our arms, so we lay her in her crib and she puts herself to sleep. Shawn says it's as if we are obsolete now. I know what he means. It's sad that she doesn't want us to hold her. Lets hope she grows out of that because I love to rock her to sleep. She's getting to be so independent already. My baby girl is growing up way too fast! Shawn posted new pics on http://www.shawnandmarisa.com/. If you haven't done so already, you need to get approval to see the albums now. Sorry for the inconvenience. Happy 7 month birthday baby girl!!! I love you!!!

For Butch Walker Fans

Thanks, Jason for the info. In case you haven't heard, Butch has two new albums out right now and both are for purchase online. The first is a Butch Walker album, the second is from his other band 1969. Visit www.butchwalker.com for links to purchase these albums. I just bought the BW one for $5.99. Going to listen to it now!

Crayola 64 Box Turns 50

The Crayola 64 Box turns 50 this year and in honor of this special bday, they have repackaged the box and introduced some new colors with cool new names. Here's a YouTube video of the bday celebration in Times Square.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNl8ZawtMKc

Snow day pictures

Check http://www.shawnandmarisa.com/ for new Snow Day pictures in our Photo Gallery. We took some funny ones of Inara on the boogie board in the snow. Yes, we are trying to go for strangest parents award. Also, if you haven't done so already, from now on you will need to sign up for a Phanfare account in order to view our pictures. Phanfare changed their site to add more security type features, so people have to be Phanfare users in order to see pictures. Just an FYI.

Top 80s Movie Quotes and Happy Songs

Here are two fun lists of Top 80 quotes from 80s movies

http://blogs.tampabay.com/80s/2007/11/most-quotable-m.html

and Top 80 Happiest Songs of the 80s

http://blogs.tampabay.com/80s/2008/04/80-happiest-son.html.

I'm curious what others think of the top 10 on these lists. I totally disagree with a lot of the "happiest" songs, but it's probably because I listened to KROQ music more so than Top 40 popular music. I would totally have to move up Duran Duran, INXS, Billy Idol, Flesh for Lulu (I Go Crazy from Some Kind of Wonderful soundtrack), Stray Cats, and Prince, especially Prince. I cannot listen to a classic Prince song without tapping my foot or want to jump up and dance. I love 80s Prince! So pipe in and share which ones you would move up.

As for the Top 80 movie quotes of the 80s, I was kind of bummed by #1 because I think it's one of the most over-quoted lines from a movie of all times as well. As for the rest of the list, the movies I tend to quote the most from the 80s are a lot of the Hughes flicks, Star Wars, Princess Bride, Back to the Future, and, of course, Top Gun. However, I do love the Wolverines! yell from Red Dawn. I loved that cheesy piece of crap when I was younger. One film missing from the list though is Pee Wee's Big Adventure. There are a couple lines I always love from that film. Yes, I was a P.W. fan when I was younger. So which movie quotes do you rank higher?

First real snow fall

My daughter's quirky habit

For some reason, Inara has developed one quirky habit that shocks me every time I see her do it, which is every day. She loves to go to bed with a blanket of some sort so that she can pull it over her head. This seems to be her favorite way to go to sleep. It worried me at first because I didn't want her to suffocate herself. But since she's been doing this for weeks now, it doesn't concern me as much. However, I do think it's one crazy habit.

My little cousin is preggers

Aunt Jeri sent me this picture today and I had to share it. Look at Kim's baby bump. She looks so darn cute! Baby is due to arrive in July. I can't wait to meet him/her. Perfect timing since I'll be back in Cali around that time anyways. Hooray!!!

The headache of house hunting

Quite a few people have inquired about our house hunting adventures, so I figured I better do a blog about it. First off, I want to preface with house hunting is challenging because there are so many variables to consider. Unfortunately, Shawn hasn't had much time to go driving around looking with his bum foot, work, and then the flu/cold last weekend. I, however, have more free time obviously, so I've gone driving around Highlands Ranch area quite a few times looking. Here is where the variables come in. We have to decide if we want to stay in HR or look around other cities. I've ventured out to Lone Tree because that's where the Super Target and the Park Meadows Mall are and I like that area as well. I haven't gone too much into Littleton or Centennial, but I've driven past them and honestly they are all have pretty good qualities. Originally, Shawn wanted to check out Golden because that's where he grew up and has a special connection to it, but those neighborhoods tend to be a bit older. This is a good thing and a bad thing. Since they are older, the lot sizes are bigger, which means more of a backyard and space in between houses. Bad thing is older homes mean potentially more upgrades/remodeling needed. One of the reasons I wanted to buy a home in CO and not CA is I feel the homes in CA are built too close together and I love the idea of having a bit more land with my home. I want my kids to have a big backyard to play in as well. But I also hate the idea of having to do a lot of work on a home, especially because we'd have to pay someone to do it because with Shawn's work schedule, he's not going to spend his few hours every night and every weekend doing the work himself. Plus, neither of us know how to do the work ourselves anyways. So that brings us to buying a new home. Also, one of the bonuses of buying in HR is that the city has 4 recreation centers that residents have full access to. These centers have full gyms, plus pools, tennis courts, climbing walls, playgrounds, etc. etc. I love the idea of having access to these facilities. They also offer tons of classes that you have to pay extra for, but they aren't a ton of money, so when Inara gets older we can enroll her in swim lessons, dance classes, or any other things that interest her. I have already started going to an exercise class Tue/Thu mornings at 8am called Fit Moms, which is perfect because the class is stroller friendly, so Inara goes with me and hangs out in the stoller for the 50 minutes while I work out. It's been a great transition back into working out, plus I've met a few moms already and am hoping to make some friends this way. (More on this later. Back to the househunting.) Since HR has the rec centers, it's a little less of a negative that the houses don't have big backyards because we could always take the kids there for outdoor fun. And this area has a TON of parks. I think every neighborhood has one within walking distance. Oh, and there are a lot of walking/biking paths as well. The other variable to consider obviously is price, which HR makes this difficult as well because I've found 3+ bedroom houses for $299K as well as 6+ houses for $900K and everything in between. So if we really wanted to, we could pretty much find a house in our price range in this area, no problem. I've actually found a neighbor that I adore and it's within walking distance to the newest rec center. We found a 4 bedroom available and it's totally in our price range. The bummer about this neighborhood though is there aren't a lot available, so I wonder if that means they are popular and will be difficult to get into in a few months. The last variable to consider is when to buy. Shawn and I are already planning on looking more seriously this month and getting a real estate agent and pre-approved for the loan in the next few weeks. So do we buy before summer when a lot of homes go on the market but lots of buyers are out as well, or do we wait until the end of summer when home prices may go down but there may be few houses on the market? And of course, we obviously have to watch the overall market because we don't want to buy a house if the prices are going to go down again by the end of the year. Ugh! Like I said, house hunting can be such a headache because there are too many darn variables to consider!

Top 43 BSG Moments

Spoilers for those that haven't finished season 3. (I warned you Shawn, so wait until this weekend).

http://ack-attack.livejournal.com/484963.html?loc=interstitialskip