Memorial Day BBQ

Another fun afternoon spent on the patio playing games and enjoying the sunshine. Had a great time with John, Jason, Meegan, Josh, and Mary. Will definitely return to Tip Top Meats in Carlsbad for some ore of their hot German sausage. Delicious!

Maren shared some giggles with Aunt Mary.

Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?

Absentee Sandman

It's well past Maren's bed time. She's exhausted and refusing to go to sleep. This is how she keeps herself awake.

Mother's Day Weekend

Last weekend was Mother's Day, my first, and I was lucky to have my mom here to celebrate together. Three generations of girls represented: Mehelich, Mack, and Gill.

On Sunday I woke up feeling ambitious and decided to tackle organizing the garage. I know, who cleans the garage on Mother's Day, right? It's a task that's been on my to do list for months and it nags at me every time I get in my car or take out the garbage. It was time to purge. And I knew I could enlist the help of the men around the house and they couldn't say no...it was my day after all. Half way through, standing in a heap of junk, I doubted my sanity but when I was finished the sense of accomplishment was worth it. I love looking at the garage now. If it was any other room in the house that had undergone the purge I would kick back in a chair to take in the view of everything in it's rightful place and savor the feeling. But it's the garage, so I'll settle for the brief moments of gratification and sense of order when I take the garbage out.

Thankfully cleaning the garage wasn't the highlight of the weekend. I can't believe how much fun we packed into 3 days: strolling through La Jolla, an ocean view lunch at George's, Maren's first trip to the beach, setting up new patio furniture, browsing through linens for the wedding, enjoying fresh from the oven homemade pizza (Brent makes the best crust ever!), evenings on the patio playing all of my favorite games (Malarky, Sequence, Apples to Apples), sneaking away to the hot tub with Brent and a bottle of wine, and snuggling up with Maren. What could be better?

Leader of the Pack

When we decided to have a baby we knew there would be changes in our lifestyle. Our focus would shift from the locating the newest pubs around North Park to finding the best daycare in Scripps Ranch; from sleeping in till noon and greeting the day with a mimosa to waking up at 5am and greeting the day with a bottle...of milk. We were ready to face these changes and embrace them. Oliver on the other hand, being a dog, didn't have the capacity to recognize a change was coming. One day he went from being the baby in the family, the center of attention, to being second fiddle to what he probably thinks is an immobile blob, a rag doll. It's been a tough adjustment for him. And I don't think we're through it yet. He still thinks he's human.

If only we could sit down and have a conversation, talk through the changes. He could tell us his frustrations; we could tell him our challenges. We could say we're sorry; he could say I told you so. But our communication is limited. We default to the lowest common denominator and do our best to interpret the meaning. He's quite good at expressing himself. Some common canine expressions around here:

• Poop. All over the upstairs = I warned you.
• Sitting down in the middle of the road and refusing to move = I'm in control here. I'll take you for a walk in a minute.
• Taking all of Maren's toys out of the basket, one by one, and setting them in a heap next to the basket (stopping short of chewing or dismembering the toy in any way) = Who? Me? I'm just helping you organize. Wink, Wink.
• Licking Maren's toes when she get's home from daycare = I guess, she can stay.

All joking aside, I don't blame Oliver. In fact, I think it's a problem with the humans. But we're finding our balance again. Working on giving Oliver the attention he needs. And also finding a trainer to teach us how to better work with him through this adjustment. I'm looking forward to reading this post 5 years from now, 2 years from now. It's going to get so much more interesting...this is only the beginning. Hang in there Oliver...she'll be your BFF before you know it! Then Brent and I will feel left out.