Thursday, September 30, 2010

the forgotten photo shoot

I know I've said this before, but my sister takes all of my pictures of Liv for me. I haven't paid a dime in professional pictures ever. not once. I'm very lucky in that area. She has just launched her website and its sooo beautiful. Liv and I both make a few appearances on it. Here is the link for Dani's website, tuttebelle photography. I really can't say enough about Dani's talent. I know she's my sister, but seriously, her talent speaks for itself. I'm very proud of her.

While looking through her website, I noticed a few pictures that I had never seen before. I told Dani that I wanted to know why I didn't have them in my possession yet and to send send. She complied because she's efficient like that. I have more than this, but here's a little bit to hold you over :).


 loving her mama. she likes me, she really likes me.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

somebody's somebody

Prologue: Pat has a beautiful cousin. We will call her Giselle (I don't know if she would like me using her real name, so psuedo it is), because, she's not just any other beautiful face, she's a model. Another important point to make is her husband's best friend is Vince Vaughn. Yes...I know, Vince Vaughn!  Pat claims he shook his hand at her wedding and I told him I'd never forgive him because I wasn't there.

I had the pleasure to meet Giselle and her mother the other night. Pat's Aunt Donna planned for all of us to meet for dinner, with Liv of course. We met at Chianti, which is a nice little Italian restaurant. After dinner Pat and I were chatting online via skype. I like to tease Pat, but don't feel bad for him because he teases me. He's much better at teasing me than I am at teasing him. That doesn't deter me though...I jumped at the chance to tell him that Giselle got all the looks in his generation and thank god Liv took after her :).

Pat likes to remind me that Giselle's husband knows Vince Vaughn every time Giselle's name is mentioned. He asked me how dinner was....this is where our conversation went:

Patrick Bateman: do you feel like an almost celebrity

Desaree Bateman: hahaha no

Patrick Bateman: that you know someone who knows someone?

Desaree Bateman: not one bit

Desaree Bateman: i feel like an extra nobody

Patrick Bateman: hahahahaa

Patrick Bateman: well thats about right

Desaree Bateman: hahaha

Desaree Bateman: i'm your somebody

Patrick Bateman: yes love
 
Fate set in and I was watching sex and the city re-runs. You know the one when the girls are in LA, Carrie talks to a producer about making her column into a movie, and they trick Charlotte into getting a brazillian bikini wax? Yes, that one. Well, Vince plays Carrie's LA fling and I don't think god could have planned for this episode to be played at a more perfect time. Of course Pat and my conversation continued after I had an OMG moment about the perfect timing.:

Desaree Bateman: i'm watching my friend vince

Patrick Bateman: ok

Patrick Bateman: well ive met him

Desaree Bateman: yes yes i know

Patrick Bateman: haha

Desaree Bateman: you probably played it super cool too

Patrick Bateman: hey vinny

Patrick Bateman: haha
 
In summary you may have notice that...
a. Pat and I are huge dorks
b. we over-use instant messaging laughter i.e. "haha", forgive us, we are joyful people
c. I let Pat think he's cooler than he actually is (he would argue this point)
d.I am clearly the cooler person in our relationship, no news to me though :)

Now, a picture of the coolest person I know

Saturday, September 25, 2010

a little off

Liv has just been "off" lately. She just isn't herself. I know she's not feeling well. She has a runny nose but no ear pulling and she doesn't seem to be bothered by anything else. So I have been holding off on the medicine until the last two days because I just don't know how to make her feel better. I always end up bringing Liv to a walk-in center and nothing is wrong. Seriously, just took her in at home bc I thought she had an ear infection, waited 2 hours and oh she's perfectly fine. With that said, I'm a little hesitant to bring her in because I tend to over-analyze my child's illnesses.

She hasn't been eating a lot...and if you know my child that is the biggest red flag, because she loves food. A LOT. Also, the girl has been sleeping through the night for months and if the random night came that she woke up, I would just give her a bottle and it was easy peasy. Now is a whole other story. She wakes up and screams bloody murder if I even want to think about walking out of her room ::sigh:: needless to say, I'm exhausted, she's exhausted, and its just not so pretty. Zombie mommy has entered the building.

I'm gonna go off on a little tangent now. Whenever I put Liv in bed with me it usually ends with her back in her crib crying herself to sleep. Because the girl doesn't get that its bedtime, she usually ends up talking or dancing or doing something equally inappropriate at bedtime. The other night she was lying there, took out her sucky, blew a few kisses at the ceiling and then put her sucky back in. This happened multiple times. The next night I made the decision that I needed to just give her a bottle and that was it...enough was enough. Well I heard her cry, got up and headed to her bedroom. As I opened my door I can hear Liv's "train" (its a riding toy that has lights and sings songs when you push buttons). Ummmm the thing was going off constantly...its not supposed to do that. So immediately I was freaked. I gathered liv, seahorse, sucky, and blankey and hid out in my room. I could still hear that damn train so I kept restarting Liv's seahorse. Then I thought about calling Ryan (Pat's brother) to make him go turn the haunted train off, but decided against it. I toughened up, turned all the lights on in the house and went to turn it off myself. I put liv back to bed and she fell asleep until 7:30. I'm just really looking forward to when she feels like herself. I have a pictures to demonstrate Liv not acting like herself.

All of a sudden we realized we didn't hear Liv in the room...looked over and saw her lying on her belly reading a book. This may seem like a normal activity for 1 year olds, but not for Liv...not ever.


Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The World is Her Stage

I took these awhile ago, when we were still in the Sault. This was one of Liv's fav pastimes...standing and dancing on this mini chair. Her UGG slippers (courtesy of auntie lauren) were a prerequisite obviously. She is such a ham and would stand on this chair and dance and sing/talk for 20 minutes at a time. She was very entertaining.

Hold on guys...it takes me a few to get up here



dancey dance time!




Tuesday, September 21, 2010

so this is what boredom feels like...

So, my grandmother left today. Not that we were super busy, but we planned things for most days while she was here. I also had unpacking to do, so I felt somewhat busy. After dropping her off at the airport the afternoon dragged on and on and on. Seriously?? What am I going to do with my life for the next couple of months when I can't work. I am going to have to discover a slew of extracurricular activities to keep Liv and myself entertained.

To add to our boredom, it has rained every day since we have got here, but its supposed to warm up for the next couple of days so we will need to get outside before it stays cold. Also, Pat is in Northern Alberta until a time that is yet to be determined. There are 8 wells that need to be drilled at this particular location and they are still only on well number 2. The problems just keep coming and so we don't know when we will get to see Pat. He is a busy guy right now and working nights (12hr shifts). My job is to stay positive about the whole situation, which it is, because Pat has a job and in this economy and thats a great thing.

We might travel up north 3 hours to Edmonton. Pat would meet us there, and it just so happens that one of my very best friends (Ashley) just moved up there with her boyfriend. Weird that we both met our bf's in college and they happened to play hockey and be canadian. I would really like to see her so I'm looking forward to this.

Other than that...Liv is sleeping like crap. She seems to think that 5am is a good time to wake up. I would usually remedy this situation with a nice warm bubba, however, Liv screams bloody murder if I place her back in her crib. So...she's been drinking the bubba in bed with me and then I transport her back to bed because she thinks standing and dancing on my bed is what we do...its not for sleeping because whenever she's in there she never gets to see her mom sleeping :/.

This will be the end of my complaining, promise. I do have some good news to share...My grandma bought me a sewing machine when I was here so I will have something to keep me busy while Liv is sleeping. But maybe if I'm sewing her things she'll be ok with me crafting while she's awake!

Here's a pic of my angel child on our trip to canada. Personal dvd players = personal bliss for mama :). Notice how closely Lily's kennel is to Liv's carseat...the explorer was packed, packed to the max. We would randomly hear lily growl/freak out if she thought Liv was getting a little too close to comfort.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

calgary

I know i've been MIA lately. We are here obviously, but I just haven't found the time to blog about it yet. I'll start off with how our trip went:

Liv was an angel. She was so well behaved that I questioned a few times whether it was my child hanging out in the backseat. The device that saved us was the dvd player my grandma brought, which straps to the back of the passenger seat. Liv watched elmo and yo gabba gabba for 3 days straight. I may be a bad mom for letting her, but hey...she was very content. It did end up taking us 3 days. I will not be complaining though, because Liv was amazing and I couldn't have asked for a better baby on the trip.

My grandma is in town until Tuesday. We are heading to Banff tomorrow to be tourists. I will hopefully get into the grove of things this week. I feel a little weird about everything right now. We haven't been able to see Pat yet either. He's in Northern Alberta working on a rig. He is still training and has to get all the work he can. We are hoping that he can get home for a few days this weekend. But nothing is a for sure.

Liv is adjusting nicely. She's been waking up randomly and not wanting to go back into her crib. The little gremlin won't sleep in bed with me though. I tried two nights in a row. The first night my tv was on and the credits were rolling and Liv stood up, arms straight in the air and started dancing. That ended quickly. The next time ended basically the same, with a crying Liv in her crib angry that her mom wanted her to sleep.

I have my camera back now...however, I would be lying if I told you I've taken pictures. I will take a lot tomorrow in banff. I'll leave you with a few that Dani took our last weekend in the Soo.







Sunday, September 12, 2010

positive vibes

We are leaving tomorrow at 10am. My goal for us is to get to North Dakota tomorrow. What I need from you, is positive vibes our way...for a safe drive and a good baby. If I'm honest, I'm really sad about leaving my family. It will be the first time I leave and not know when I'll be coming back to the Soo. It may be a small, nothing town, but its where my family and friends are and that makes it home. Don't get me wrong though, I'm looking forward to building a home in Calgary with Pat...I just wish there was a way for us all to live in the same place ha! I am also having a really hard time when I think about taking Liv away from my family. I feel like a bad person, because they love her so much. My family will miss her a lot. They'll miss me, but not as much as Liv...I've accepted I'm second best now :). I'll leave you with a few pics from the weekend. Dani came up to spend our last weekend in town with us and we really did make the most of it.

I feel the need to explain this picture. Liv does this thing where she puts her hands out like that and gets really tense/holds her breath/her face gets red. Well, Dani finds this absolutely hilarious and has prompted liv into doing it ::sigh::
picking tomatoes in the garden with papa (she lovessss to eat cherry tomatoes)

one for you, two for liv

gramma and liv

we may have had a few too many snack this weekend....

Thursday, September 9, 2010

oh the life of a chihua

On top of my to-do list today was bringing Lily to the vet. She was due for her yearly visit and a vaccine. I hate bringing lily to the vet. She is antisocial and doesn't have a friend in the world. She growls/barks at other dogs and cats and they usually have to take her out of the room to give her a shot of clip her toenails.

This was a new vet though, because we are no longer living in Marquette. So, we walk in and Lily barks a little bit because she's in her kennel. Easy fix, I take her out and hold her. There are maybe 4 random cats perched around this place, which was only slightly annoying because I thought lily would act like a beast but also because this place smelled. I couldn't help but look around and see how dirty it was and think "god, maybe you people sitting behind the desk could use a vacuum, some bleach spray and I dunno, some febreeze". It didnt' smell sanitary and after seeing the hair everywhere I knew it wasn't. Tangent, but I'm back on track now.

Like I said, I usually don't leave the vet office unscathed. There is always a point of embarassment. To my suprise Lily is behaving quite nicely. We go back to the room and she lets the 2 girls weigh her and when the doctor and her assistant come in they tell her what a doll she is and they let her check her ears, teeth, and mouth. This is where I start thinking "who do you belong to??? because you are not my dog". Then they give her the shot....not a wimper, sound, peep, nothing!

I then mention that she needed her nails clipped. I don't know what it is about her nails, but she is very attached to them. I can't go near them...I try to even pet them to see if I can warm her up to the idea and its a no-go. The sounds that came out of her little snout while they were clipping all four paws were nothing short of pathetic. High pitched, whiney, hysterical....I'm sure everyone in the waiting room thought we were beating her.

"Take some baby steps, baby steps, little tiny babyyy steps" (does anybody watch yo gabba gabba? no, well nevermind then). Compared to all the others, it was probably the best vet appointment we've ever had.



ohhh lily...you are going to love canada, but I'm not sure its going to love you back haha.


Tuesday, September 7, 2010

let the countdown begin...again

we have 6 days until we head to calgary! The exclamation point is deceiving because even though I'm excited to get back, I am not even close to excited for my drive back. My grandma, Liv, and I will be making the drive, which will be 27 hours. We are doing this in 2 days and I'm planning on leaving early afternoon and driving about 13-14 hours the first day and finishing it up the second....yeah. The point of leaving in the early afternoon is that we will be driving a good chunk of our day with liv asleep. Because, seriously, who can drive that long of a time with their baby awake. Poor liv would be peeved.

So, those pictures Dani and I were supposed to take last weekend? They didn't happen. The weather was terrible. BUT, she is coming back up on Thursday and we are going to do a photoshoot with Liv. She has also requested my modeling skills...which are barely existent, but I'm going to fake it the best I can.

So, yeah...a lot to do this week to get ready. Wish me luck and I'll post soon.

Friday, September 3, 2010

13 months

I'm still keeping track by the month...until liv is 24 months. I have the right to take that back if I change my mind though. Liv turned 13 months yesterday. It was like any other day in livi's world. Her world is very busy.

Liv's philosophy on life is as follows:

-wake up and run around, trying to ignore mama as long as she can because she hates getting her dipe changed.
-finally give in because that full diaper gets heavy and its holding her back.
-play play play, while mama gets her some water/juice in her sippy so she can throw it back as fast as she can
-breakfast time, which is easily one of her most favorite times of the day. Her favorite lately includes blueberry pancakes, yogurt, fresh blackberries, nectarines, prunes, etc...
-she likes to thoroughly tire herself out, until she starts following me around and crying, wanting to be picked up...so mama gets her a bottle and puts her down for a nap. Liv doesn't object, but happily grabs her blankie and rubs her little face while drinking her bubba.
-2 hours later (thats the duration of this maniacs nap lately), liv is ready to play again, oh and eat lunch. Her new favorite food, which I find absolutely mind boggling, is fresh cherry tomatoes from the garden. Of course, thats just an appetizer, bc this girl likes to eat.
-The early afternoon is full of playtime, until nap time rolls around again and another 1.5-2hr nap ensues.
-The day wraps up with some evening play time, dinner, and mayyyybe some snuggles.

Liv has a huge personality. She's very strong willed and knows exactly what she wants, when she wants it, and if you don't get it for you she will make sure you know she's not happy about it. She is still babbling a lot. I can tell she is trying to say some things, but doens't do so on command consistently. The words I've heard her say are: mama, papa, dada, gak gak (quack quack), oooh oooh (woof woof)...and that might be it.

She definitley needs some more socializing in her life. She isn't very patient with other children. I know eventually she will be in daycare and be around children her age, but I can't help but worry a little bit. But, my 2 hours of freedom are up and Liv just woke up from her morning nap! Dani is coming up this weekend and we will take pictures I'm sure...so those will be on their way.

Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

wedding weekend

I had a blast last weekend. It was so weird to be "liv free" for three days, but it was much needed and refreshing all at the same time. I'll re-cap my weekend quickly, because really, I don't want to give a detailed account of my shenanigans. Thursday night was the bachelorette party. It was so much fun to see and hang out with a lot of girls that I haven't been around in over a year. I think everyone enjoyed themselves, and we gave Krysta her "final" night of fun. Friday was pretty calm, because I'm a mom, and there is no partying three nights in a row...I would die. Dani and I went to the beach for a few hours, made nachos for dinner and then my friends, Angela and Kira stopped by. Angela is a mom too and it was nice for her to get away for an evening so we could visit. Kira is a good friend of mine that I haven't seen since last January. She is also getting married and asked me to be in her wedding next October! wooo woo.

Saturday was the big event. The ceremony was held outside and it was a beautiful and hot day. It was simple but perfect and seeing water in the backgroud was the best part for me. So, anyways we went to the ceremony and then between that and the reception, a group of us headed to the vierling for some locally brewed peach and blueberry beer (mmmm). Finally, the reception....we ate, we danced, we had some beer and wine....and that was that :).


Dani and I at the wedding...oh yeah, I got a hair cut!

Kira and I...out on the balcony. It was a beautiful day and night.


I really missed Liv by Sunday. But, would you like to see what she was doing all weekend? I'm not sure she missed me as much as I missed her.



hanging with grandma (my mom) on the water. I dunno, but I think she looks beautiful in this picture. Maybe its because she's mine.