Cabo

I love vacations.


I finally got my pictures uploaded on our laptop today so it's time to post a few!


We stayed really close to downtown where all the shopping, restaurants and fun is. It was really a beautiful place, not the city itself so much but the view of the ocean and "lands end" rocks was fantastic.


So, what does vacationing without your toddler mean?


1. Everyone thinks we are "honey-mooners"


2. Sleeping in (all the way until 8:30!) One morning it was actually closer to 10. Awesome.


3. No diaper bag. No diapers. No wipes. No baby snacks, drinks, hats, toys....


4. Watching T.V. and movies as loud as we wanted


5. Eating my food before it gets cold... or warm


6. Talking to Zach during meals


7. Not saying the word "poopy" all week!


8. Not sharing all the really good food


9. Looooooong dinners


10. Staying out late


All that is wonderful but I missed my little bug. We didn't get any Naomi "loves" and wet little kisses, no "mama?" or "dada!!!" no little bouncing dance whenever there was music. I saw a lot of people with young children and it made me miss Nominomi for a moment.


Really though, it was so fun and relaxing to have so much "time off." Naomi had a fantastic time with her grandmas and grandpas. She was a little attached when we showed up. She didn't think it odd at all that Zach was gone and now back again. After all, he does that all the time! But with me she was confused and would only let Zach hold her. After about 10 minutes she all of the sudden snapped back into mama-mode and was glued to my legs. Naomi got to know her grandparents really well which makes me so happy:) She stayed half the time with each set of grandparents.


We are already planning our next vacation as a couple!

Here's some fun pictures from the trip. Dinner at Romeo & Julietta's

Holding a baby LION! He is 3 months old. Only in Mexico.

On a boat tour out to see the arch and rocks and sealions and pellicans:)

Pelican Colony

This rock is said to look like the Baja upside down. I can see it.

Utah

Well, we're here. Again. It seems like we never left. Funny how that works. We've had a super busy weekend with family and I'm just feeling a little drained. It's wonderful to see my family, and Zach's but so much in so few days makes me feel just plain tired. But that could also be attributed to the fact that I've been staying up a little late...
Anyway. I'm about to drive to Salt Lake for the afternoon with my mom and Natalie, oh, and of course Naomi:) Zach is at the courthouse already plugging away at his intern work. UNpaid internship. sigh. No, it's fine:) He likes the work and it's a good experience for his legal career so to speak.
Ok, I'm off for another day of elevated stress- I just need a few very uneventful days to get me juiced up again. We'll start tomorrow, along with my new summer workout program... hah!
Oh, and I will post some fantastic shots from our Cabo trip. I got to hold a baby lion! more on that later.

Moving & Mexico

Well, we did it. We are in Utah. First we missed our flight (long story), and after being re-routed to Atlanta, yes we went East then West, we made it to Salt Lake by about 10 p.m. on Monday. My awesome parents picked us up and drove us home to their place. Poor Naomi had start and stop sleep until about midnight when we finally got her in bed for good.

She's recovered by now.... but speaking of, she's currently asleep at my in-laws. We are leaving early tomorrow morning for Cabo San Lucas. Naomi is staying this weekend with Jeff and Linda and then the first half of next week at my parents. Honestly, I'm going to miss her so much! I'm very excited for this trip, just the two of us but I'm leaving my baby! I told Linda not to be surprised if I called....

So. That brings us to now, I'm all packed and ready to hit the sack and then jet on out of here!

I'm now in possession of a very nice camera of my father-in-laws. I hope to be taking some great shots in Mexico.

Growth Percentiles...

Naomi had her 15 month old well child check up today, (as opposed to "sick" child visits:) She's been to the doctor so many times since she was born, it's crazy, and she's up to date on immunizations now until her 2 year "well" child check up. Shots were sad today but she sucked it up and was smiling as we walked out of the doctors office. I hate shots. I almost cry when she does.
So, anyway, on to the exciting part about the visit: I don't know what it is about finding out your child's growth percentiles. It's strangely satisfying. I'm always excited to see how "long" Naomi is and how much she weighs, I'm even into her head circumference! (The doctor re-measured Naomi's head, it seems the nurses measurement showed her head shrunk:) Dr. Korte is Naomi's totally awesome pediatrician, and I had to inform her today that we are leaving and won't be coming back. sniff. It's all right, I'm positive there are tons of fantastic pediatricians in D.C. Hopefully.

So enough ado, here are Naomi's brand spankin' new 15-month old growth percentile statistics!!!
Age: 15 months
Length: 31.75 inches
Weight: 22lb 4.02 oz
Head: 45.25 centimeters (why they don't do this one in inches like the length escapes me)

Sooooo, that's would be
82nd % for height
34th % for weight
and about 38th % for head circumference.

How many of me? Just 1

There is onle ONE Trisha Champlin in the U.S.A. Interesting huh?

Naomi Champlin - 2

Zachary Champlin - 3

My mom had about 900 people named her maiden name:) Stephanie Phillips

I think it's not really totally accurate, I think it plays off statistics/how common a name is. Anyway, check it out, it's kinda fun.

HowManyOfMe.com

There is 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Rain Dance

It's been raining all day and I decided we had better take advantage of these awesome puddles, no wait, I mean LAKES outside our place! My feet were soaked within about 2 minutes and I suspect Naomi's were as well. Her cute boots are hand-me-downs from her cousin Leia. They're about 3 sizes too big:)
She ended up only sitting down in a puddle twice, pretty good stats I'd say. I stripped her down to her diaper before we made it back inside.

What I'm Watching

I watched DreamGirls Last night and I loved it. It's a whole lot of fun if you like musicals, (which I do). The soundtrack is killer, I'm going to have to download a few select songs from iTunes.

The only downside for me was that Zach couldn't watch it with me, he's too busy studying. But Nominomi and I watched it off and on all afternoon yesterday, Naomi loved it almost as much as I did!

Here's a list of some of my favorite musicals:

Evita

West Side Story

The Sound of Music

Bye Bye Birdie

The Phantom of The Opera

Grease

Fiddler on the Roof

My Fair Lady

Singing in the Rain

Funny Face

Back in the Day

I found some old pictures while I was packing.....

Dani & Trisha, little college freshman on their adventurous Spring Break! 2001

Angela Matthew (Ottley), Sarah Gish (Sadler)and Me
High school Graduation Day, May 2000

Me and Natalie. This is Prom night my senior year, right before my date arrived.
Natalie did my hair for me:)

4th of July Parade, 1998
Amber, Skye, Me, Holly, Joy, Jenny and D.J.


Victorious Homecoming Game!!!
Kellie, Angela, Jenni, Sarah, Me, Dawn, Marjolaine and of course, Doug.
Who knows why we got pictures with him?? He was my date for the dance the next day, but still...

So that's it for my back in the day reminiscing... I especially love the first picture, it brings back fun memories from a kind of crazy trip!

Naomi Food

As I've bragged about before, Naomi is a good eater. But I just have to state it again because I took this cool picture of her food. I put it on a play plate from her litte kitchen. She thought that was awesome.

Farmers Market

I just got home from wandering the Carbondale Farmers Market. I love farmers markets! If we weren't moving so soon I would have bought some flowers, there was a lot of variety and I kind of have a soft spot for potted flowers. Right now though my pretty ceramic pots are sitting empty and neglected. Sigh. next year I will do flowers.
There is a guy at the market who sells wooden puzzles, letters and names- he makes them. I ordered a name puzzle for Naomi last week and he had it finished today! I was super excited, Naomi and I played with it for about 20 minutes before she tired of it. It surprises me when I fall for a personalized item but this is too cute.
There is also a wide selection of fabulous looking fresh produce at the farmers market. Next weekend I'm going to try to go early enough to buy some asparagus, it goes so fast, it was totally gone by 10 a.m.
There's just something about the atmosphere at a Farmers Market. It's like we can go back in time for just a few hours each weekend, to when you could just take their word for it, everyone wasn't in such a hurry, life slows down just a bit.
In the shade under some huge trees at one end of the market there's usually a box or two of puppies or kittens for sale or for free. Groups of children huddle around the cages and giggle and a few lucky kids are holding a soft fluffy thing but the luckiest ones are walking away with a little lump of fur. It's so sweet, Naomi just plopped down next to the kitten cage today and let them lick her fingers.
I'm looking forward to a long summer of Farmers Markets.

I love my Naomi!

Even as I'm adding these pictures I can't help but wish they were better, better focus, lighting, arrangement, etc. I just think I need a new camera:) OR I could practice some more...

This first one is Naomi signing "thank-you"

A little blurry but cute expression anyway
Naomi LOVES the playground, she was getting daring here on the slide
Playing Peek-a-boo! Naomi was hiding behind the shower curtain and popping out and flashing me BIG grins:)

GEORGETOWN!

Ok, so it's been forever since I posted. I would like to blame my lack of writing on being busy or other things but lets just face it, I'm LAZY. Now I've confessed:)

So, at the post title indicates, we have BIG news! Zach is transferring to Georgetown! Yup, in Washington, D.C.
So very crazy.
I've been combing through bajillions of apartment sites to find us a decent place to live out there, it's going to cost about triple what we are paying now for rent.
It makes me almost physically ill.
But cost aside (which you can't really say because it's such a difference from S. Illinois, living expenses and tuition) but, cost aside- we are SOOOOO excited!!!!
I've never been a city girl but I'm about to take a crash course. But before our big adventure begins we are moving to Logan for the summer:) (yay) and living in some seriously LOW cost apartments on a summer only deal, it's going to cost us less for the entire summer in Logan than ONE MONTH in D.C. See what I mean about ILL.
We are flying to SLC on the 14th of May, the day after Mother's Day and then flying to Cabo San Lucas on the 18th! (the later trip is SANS toddler).
This summer is really going to be so fun, we're going to Lake Powell, as is the Low family custom, in July and we will also be making an appearance at the annual Champlin Family Reunion- it's a big deal:)
So now my tasks here in Southern Illinois are to pack up all our stuff for the summer and decide what we can stuff in suitcases for the trip home!
It's getting so humid here, lotion is a thing of the past. However, I did use some yesterday when I gave myself a home pedicure, it was much needed.
I need some good luck to get everything done in time...

One Wish

I came across this story today, so I'm just helping spread the word:) I have a few thank you and b-day cards to make and I'm going to include one for this little boy:

Shane Bernier is a courageous seven-year-old boy from Lancaster, Ontario who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when he was only five. On June 6th, 2006 Shane and his family received some unfortunate news: Shane experienced a relapse after completing 108 of 130 weeks of treatment.
However, despite the bad news, Shane has managed to keep a positive outlook on his situation and has made a heart-warming wish... He hasn’t asked for money or toys or anything of the sort. Instead, his birthday is on May 30th and he would like to break the world record for the most birthday cards ever received. His goal is 350 million cards. With every card, Shane’s courage grows. Something as simple as sending a birthday card could be enough to help Shane find peace and joy in his current circumstances.
Please take the time to send a card to Shane and make his dream become a reality. Share his story with your friends, family and co-workers. If at all possible, get your youth groups, church congregations, employees, neighbours or communities to set aside a few minutes to write a thoughtful note to Shane.
With every card, Shane’s smile grows...

If you’d like to send a card to Shane, please send it to:

Shane Bernier
PO Box 484
Lancaster, Ontario
K0C 1N0
Canada

Photo-a-holic

Ok, just a FEW more.

I took some really cute pics today and I just had to share!

EGGS

Naomi was so excited about coloring eggs! she was really good at cracking them too...:)
Making things "FIT" is a favorite game of Naomi's

Naomi and Mommy (I've seen better days!)
Trying to put the egg in her pocket.

Happy Easter!

We colored eggs today and went shopping for Easter dinner food, and best of all, Zach was home all morning! Naomi has been a trooper, she's been feeling a little sick all week. She's just seeming to be getting over her cold and now her temperature is shooting up. I suspect (another) ear infection. Sigh... I breastfed that baby forever and less ear infections is supposed to be a benefit!!! ah well.

She's sleeping now (thank goodness). Naomi's been tired all day and unable to get to sleep. She ended up with a 25 min. nap earlier this afternoon. Poor baby.

If she's feeling yucky still tomorrow I'm going to take her to the E-room and get her ears checked out, it's not worth waiting another whole day for antibiotics if that's the case. I'm just praying she'll sleep well tonight.

Anyway, back to Easter. Last night Zach and I watched the Testaments DVD my Mom & Dad sent us for Easter. It's so amazing, I wish Naomi was able to understand but I think she already does in her own way.

I'm posting some cute pictures from today and a few from the park a few days ago. It's still freezing here since that cold front stormed in, literally. I have a sweet little green Easter dress for Naomi to wear tomorrow if she's feeing up to church. The dress and little white sweater were b-day gifts for Naomi from my mom. I have the cutest dresses for her to wear this summer!! I'll probably post pics of them all. ha ha.

TORNADO WATCH!!!

This is why I am not going to live in the Mid West just as soon as I can get myself out of here.

Tornadoes

Up until today, I have never truly been scared of the weather. Growing up in Utah it just never warranted something to be frightened of. Sure you got an occasional super loud thunderstorm, but that was awesome to watch! And the snow was never something to be afraid of, just annoying when you needed to get somewhere.

Right now I'm in the middle of a Tornado Watch, meaning that Severe Thunderstorms are creating weather conditions favorable for the formation of severe hail, rain, wind gusts and TORNADOES. About 20 minutes ago I was close to tears, no I was crying. It's still raining pretty hard and thunder and lightning are ripping through the sky but I think the worst has passed. It was hailing so hard I thought for sure a window was going to break.

Now that I'm feeling sane again, I have decided once and for all, we are going to live in the WEST.

SUMMERTIME (In April?)

It's officially summer here. Today it was 80 degrees and we had a pool party! Too bad the pool was too small to fit me too. Naomi had a blast, this cute little pool is a Wal*Mart special, $6.97.

I'm looking forward to a loooong hot summer with LOTS of swimming. We'll be at the Logan Aquatic Center come May! I'm so excited to take Naomi swimming! She loves the water allready.

Toddler Food

Just fair warning here: This is going to be a boring post. I just needed to get some stuff written down:)

Naomi is a good eater. Really, she eats nearly everything we give her.
On a side note, we are going to Los Cabos in May and leaving Naomi in the loving care of Grandparents, 1/2 at my parents and 1/2 at Zach's. I'm not too worried but Zach is, he's a little overprotective!
So, I've been thinking about the things I wanted to write down for them, i.e. nap and bedtime routines, nap schedule, when she usually eats and WHAT she eats.
So that landed me here. I'm going to make a list of what little Nomi-Nomi likes to eat! I'll add/subtract if needed as I get closer to takeoff.

*all things in baby size bites* (she's a chipmunk if I let her)

Grains:
cinnamon toast
spaghettio's
ravioli
ALL pasta
(with tomato, cheese, or cream sauces)
rice
rice-a-roni
tortillas (dipped in a sour cream and salsa mixture) or plain
grilled cheese sandwiches
mini nilla wafers
cheese crackers
all cereals (rice chex, cheerios, product 19 and cinnamon toast crunch are current favs)
ritz crackers
graham crackers
pancakes (sometimes)
waffles (sometimes)
french toast

Fruit:
Peaches
grapes
oranges (mandarin or fresh)
apples (TINY bits/shredded)
applesauce
blueberries (LOVES)
mangoes
bananas
plums
pears
strawberries
raisins

Vegetables:
avocados
tomatoes
squash & summer squash
beans
peas
carrots (sometimes)
orange/red/yellow bell peppers
olives
mashed potatoes
red potatoes
pickles (is that a veggie?!)
MILD banana peppers
corn

Dairy:
Milk
Cheese
sour cream
cottage cheese
yogurt

Protein:
sandwich meats
chicken
turkey
beef
ham
scrambled eggs
bacon
pork
refried beans
(I'm going to try tofu again, she hated it:)

Other:
Water:)
M&M's
Juice
lollipops
cookies

But just a little note: (I'm ultra strict with this one:)

NO NUTS!!!!!!!!!!! I check cereal boxes and snacks- it's always posted bold if it's an ingredient. No pieces of cereal or snack that has nuts in it at all, it's the oil that can cause such a reaction. I also make sure we wash off spoons/plates/knifes really well that had peanut butter on them- since we hand wash all our dishes :(
I still haven't gotten a referral from Naomi's ped. to see an allergist but we are playing it safe since her major allergic reaction over Christmas, and she seems to get mild bouts of hives still- can't exactly trace what from though.

snakes and snails and puppy dog tails....

THAT'S what little BOYS are made of!

I traded some babysitting with my friend today, we both had dentist appts. Funny coincidence. She brought her two cute little rowdy boys; Trey and Tenny, here to play this morning at about 10 a.m.

Naomi was in heaven! She loves other "little people." I got into the swing of things and thought, "hey 3 kids, this isn't so crazy."

But then it was lunch time.

Let's just say we made it through with everyone relatively well fed.... some was eaten from the floor, but it was FRESH! Two one-year-olds are a handful, lot and lots of thrown peas!

I was exhausted by the time it was my turn to leave and it was only 1 p.m.

Today I was glad Naomi was born without a twin. I've always wanted twins but I regularly get wake up calls like today that slap some sense into me! Really though, the kids were pretty good and had a great time playing. The boy factor just upped the intensity level a bit:)

Trey was my Awesome Ant Smasher.

He would hunt those guys down and grab them, roll and toss in the trash.

AWESOME.

He even informed me that "you can't kill it with a broom, here, let me get it."

And he did.

Cinnamon Stix and Cards

So here I am, killing time. Naomi's asleep for the night (long ago) and Zach's typing away on some brief for school. It's due Friday so he's been s.t.r.e.s.s.i.n.g! jk, just a bit though.
We just took a snack break together, me from my mindless onlining and he from his paper, to devour a super yummy Cinnamon-stick thing. I got it at Aldi's (cool discount grocery store, must post about it later) for just a few bucks, it's pre-baked, you add the included cinn/sugar mix and then icing after you warm in over for about 4 min. IT WAS AWESOME:) ok, that's sad. But really, it was better than anything I could have baked from scratch! Not that I do that anymore, too lazy:) I like say it's because I'm too busy but really I'm lazy about it. I shifted to other time-consuming interests.
Speaking of other interests. I have a renewed surge for card making. I was just not feeling it for a while there, my cards were lacking some umph:) And there wasn't a decent scrapbook store within 100 miles of this city. But I discovered a little joint called Hobby Lobby and came home with under $20 of really great stuff, most on sale. Needless to say, I was feeling like a hero! I got some seriously cute paper and ribbon.
Trisha's super-cards, coming to a mailbox near you!

SUSHI!

I did it, I made California Rolls! And they are good:)
I first made them with the nori on the outside, they're easier to make that way.
The second time I made them "inside-out" like a bona fide Sushi chef made California roll.
They didn't turn out quite as well that 2nd round.
I made them too fat, I'm going to attempt again tomorrow.
I did a little more research online and found a helpful video about how to make a California roll on about.com. I just need a bamboo mat so I can make them even better!
I'm going to make them for the family when we are home this summer, I'm excited.
Here's a funny thing- I bought a little ginger root because we wanted to have ginger with the rolls too. Well Zach peeled one side of it and then sliced of a little and then popped a chunk in his mouth. Never mind that it was yellow, not orange-pink like at restaurants. Anyway, he made a funny gaging sound and spit it out in the sink.
Silly me, I opened my mouth when he said, "here, try this, just a little tiny piece."
WOW! It was sooooo spicy! Like nothing I've had before or want to have again. It was hot and tangy and sharp. Sort of like a radish but much stronger.
Well, it turns out that the ginger we were looking for is pickled ginger. Like with vinegar, etc. Zach googled it and found that you can pickle it at home or buy pickled. So we're going to get us a jar:)
The wasabi paste I got was smoother and softer than what Zach had eaten before but tasted just fine- HOT I'm sure.
These are pictures of my culinary masterpiece!

California Rolls

I have been toying with the idea that I can make my own sushi at home. California rolls are what I crave. I can buy them, take out, at a local Japanese restaurant but I want the satisfaction of making them myself.
I did some preliminary research online today and discovered there are many variations in recipes. I debated about buying a sushi recipe book but then opted out, I can find it all online, it's just a little less convenient than the hard copy. Anyway. I bookmarked 4 different pages with recipes I liked. Some had good pictures, others had good ingredients and others had helpful instructions. I'm hoping to perfect the roll to my specific taste. I'm so excited!!!
I made a list of things I need to make Sushi that I don't already have:

Nori (dried seaweed) one sheet per roll.
Imitation crab (must remember to squeeze out excess water:)
Sesame seeds (roasted ones were recommended on one site, another said get b&w for flair)
Bamboo sushi mat, rolling mat or Makisi. (googled this, about $3.00)
Sushi vinegar (or I can get the ingredients and make this, but hopefully I can find it made)
Flying Fish Roe. This took some research, turns out it's caviar, that's right- FISH EGGS:) I will probably opt out on this one, it's expensive.
Wasabi
Ginger (need to find out if the kind in the restaurant is marinated or something?)
Chop Sticks

Other things I need are: cucumber, avocado, short grain rice.

OK

There is a little International Grocery store close to where we live and I'm hoping they have all the exotic items I need, particularly the nori. The little lady who runs the store is sooo sweet!
I just got a bottle of Tahini (sesame butter) so we could make humus. Zach's in heaven. It's a little garlicky this first try but I'm sure he'll have it fine-tuned in no time. Now we just need some really good bread to eat it with, all of ours is too soft.

So here's a few sites with pictures of what my finished product is going to look like.
Tokyo Food Page nice pictures on this page
About.com great tips
Foodnetwork makes it sound easy...
Sushi Links picky recipes

Wish me luck!

I'm FAMOUS!

I thought this day would never come but here I am, FAMOUS!!!

Well, maybe "well-renowned"

Or, how about "notable"

or just "heard-of"

Actually, I'm PUBLISHED!That's right, In the March 2007 issue of American Baby I am quoted in the "Mom to Mom" section.

The topic is "How did you wean your child off her pacifier?"I submitted an entry 5 months ago and here it is, PUBLISHED! woohoo!

Funny thing is, when I started to read it, I read: "When my daughter, Naomi, was 6 months old..." I though "WHAT??? someone else named their daughter Naomi and they are in this magazine? cool!" and then it hit me, it WAS me! Silly Trisha.

So be sure to check out the latest edition and read my ditty about going cold turkey with the binky:)

Daylight Savings

This picture is Naomi at the park, with two of her favorite souviners, the prickly ball thingys:)

Today is the first day of daylight savings and it's three weeks earlier than usual. That's fine with me, I like the sun sticking around later in the day. It's just been a little strange with Naomi's schedule. She went to bed at her normal time last night and slept 11 1/2 hours, but that put us an hour late this morning. She's been a little behind all day. I put her to bed at the new 8 p.m. and she's still not asleep. She's having a rough time of it tonight. Part of that might be because Zach isn't here, he went to a Stake Preisthood meeting in Cape Girardeau and he's still not back. Not sure why.
Sounds like Naomi might be just about there now, lets hope for her. I went in a few minutes ago and she promptly fell asleep in my arms only to wake back up as I laid her down :(

I may need to go in again, we'll see. I've been rocking and singing to her at bedtime after Zach reads her books. She's been silly and not getting sleepy just yet. We'll work into this new routine. We recently dropped our last nursing session, bedtime. So wil the molars halfway in, time changes, daddy not here and no nursing, she's having a little bit of a tough night.

What a hottie huh!

GREAT NEW PICTURES!

These are a few of my favorite new pictures of Naomi. The one at the park she is showing me a handful of bark! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the one at the top, where she's wearing the pink pants. Her smile is hard to catch on camera.