I should own stock in the major hair product companies.

I just thought I'd share the joys (please say "joys" with a hint of sarcasm) of ensuring Noelle's hair is publicly presentable. Enjoy her before & after.

BEFORE



AFTER

My Year in Review

I am not a picture person, so there are limited photos. But, I thought you all would like to know about our 2009!

January - Miss Noelle started at a new school! I was so happy that she got out of her other elementary and into a GREAT one. I love her school. I also got to catch my first glimpse of Nikolai!


February - I finally told my work about the little guy! Absent the part where I didn't have STD, mat leave was good to go! PLUS my niece was born!!

March - Found out we were having a boy! We were going to name him Xavier...but you all know how that ended up.

April - I started having LOTS of pregnancy aches and pains. I tried everything from the chiropractor to staying in bed...nothing worked. Thanks Nik.

May - Noelle started soccer! She loved to play and had a blast.

June - My poor Noelley. She broke her arm on June 4...one day before her birthday! She spent her entire birthday getting her arm casted and had to cancel her pool party. Bummer.


















At the end of June I was laid off from my job :(



July - Noelle's soccer tourney! She did such a great job!



August - My due date, the 10th, came and went. We decided on an induction for the stubborn guy on August 18th. And then here he was - only three days before our one year anniversary!


We also acknowledged the one year anniversary of my grandpa's passing. We all went out to dinner to remember him!


September - Noelle's first day of 2nd Grade!


October - Their first halloween together!
















November - Happy Tday!















December - Our first Christmas as a family of four.

Let's talk about coffee for a minute...

I love coffee. In fact, I think I can go a bit further and say that I am obsessed with and addicted to coffee. Even on a day where I clearly do not need the caffeine (think three year old who just went crazy in a candy store) I still NEED my cup of coffee. To add to my problem, I seem to prefer the pricey stuff...Starbucks. I blame five years of inhaling that great aroma while slinging lattes for the general public. At Starbucks I got free coffee during every shift, which was almost every day of the week. So I could experiment with the additions to the perfect shot and also increase my tolerance for the good stuff. While I am glad to not smell like a stale coffee bean on the weekends, my departure from Starbucks and my desire for a good cup of joe has led to a few problems. First, money. Starbucks is crazy expensive! I could never afford to buy my drink of choice on a daily basis - that would cost me $4 a day! That is $120 per month and $1,460 a year. So I settle. I try to only indulge myself occassionally (try, I said try) while getting drip coffee the remainder of the time. The other problem? I am a TOTAL coffee snob. I perfected the coffee making experience and provided myself with the fruits of my labor. So when I see some snot nosed kid trying to make my coffee it freaks me out! Then when I try to give them my very specific instructions, they are not followed or I am looked at like I came from another planet. Yes, I did say water to the bottom of the logo - if you go any higher it gets too runny! Yes, I did say only 150 degrees, otherwise you'll burn the soy. Aaargh!

Solution? Either go back to Starbucks...or ask for an espresso machine for Christmas 2010, haha!

I have too much thinking time on my hands.

You know what 6+ months of unemployment will do? It will make you start to think about what else you could do with your life. I start to think: I could go back to school...nope, that wont work. I doubt anybody would lend me a dime thanks to my friends at Access and Direct Loans who already gave me enough money to purchase a small house. So then I think: I could change careers and go do something else I'm good at - I'm a planner, so I could plan things! That's it, I could go be one of the Disney wedding planners! Until I realize that I like planning things that don't involve some bridezilla harping on me 24/7. Then I think, well, being a stay-at-home-mom might be okay...then I slap myself because I recall that although I love my children, I am NOT meant to stay at home. I think I died a little when the person at the bank wrote "homemaker" on my account application. Ahhhh, then reality sets in. I love being a lawyer. I get to be my type A self, pushy, demanding, all while being a total law nerd. LOVE it. Now if only I could get some person hiring to get all of that out of my resume. Did you hear that firms/judges/corps - you should hire me!

Love, Anne :)

The food, it never ends.

So you know the whole "I'm going to start my diet on Monday" routine? I've been saying that for a while. I start out eating healty, but end up eating crap throughout the day. I started working out, but just stopped. I apparently ignored the title "The 30 Day Shred" and instead made it into the "Three Day Shred"...not much shredding occurred during those three days. I feel as though I need some accountability beyond what my four month old son does and does not see during the day. So I am following the lead of other bloggers and blogging about my efforts. Starting Monday (haha, I know) I will re-start the 30 Day Shred and will go back to following Weight Watchers (I knew I kept those books for a reason). If I get off track - you guys had better call me on it!

Tis all for now.

You know what I hate?

Spelling and grammar errors. I'm not talking about the occassional typo, I'm talking about all of the people out there who don't know the difference between "there" and "they're" or "too" and "to". I'm also talking about the people who intentionally spell words incorrectly because they think it is cute or funny. Come on people. Did you go to high school? Did you graduate? Then for god's sake spell your words correctly.

The developed and educated society thanks you.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Here are some Christmas pictures - thanks to all for the great gifts for the kids :)

And another makes four

After almost a year of marriage - along came Nikolai. He was born August 18, 2009 at 4:08 p.m. Eight days late. He weighed 7lbs 10oz, and just like his big sis had a head full of hair. He is, to put it nicely, a PITA. He is always awake when you want him to sleep, cries about nothing and eats random amounts at random times. We'll keep him though. He has the cutest smile and fun personality. Noelle is also an awesome big sister and such a great helper to have around.

I told him I'd never date him for this long.

I lied. After four years of dating we finally decided to tie the knot. We picked Disneyland so that my grandparents could come...it was BEAUTIFUL! Noelle was our flower girl and stole the show with her awesome pictures. It was certainly a great day.

Starbucks as a dating service.

Yes, I met my future husband at Starbucks. I worked at Starbucks during college and Anwar was a customer who came in frequently to study. He was studying Chiropracty and we always joked that I would someday be his malpractice attorney. Well, one day I was writing on the big chalk board that has the coffee of the day on it, I heard a noise and turned to find Anwar standing there. He asked for my number and I think I turned about 12 shades of red. He did call (obviously) and we went out for ice cream because Anwar said he felt as though I wouldn't want to spend our first date at Starbucks - haha!

The date went great, but there almost wasn't a second one. Anwar was a little afraid of the whole girl with a kid thing, but since I am a go getter, I got him ;)

We officially became "boyfriend & girlfriend" on September 19, 2004. Starbucks deserves a big thank you...and gets it through my daily patronage!

It all started with...

Me and Noelle. Noelle was born June 5, 2002 at 10:34 p.m. She weighed 8lbs 6oz and had a head full of hair. Noelle and I were - and still are - partners in crime. Together we made it through an undergraduate and law degree, bouts with pink eye, lice, ring worm, ear infections galore, hand foot and mouth disease, stitches and spit up...lots and lots of spit up. Through all of the tough times were the good times. Noelle is a super smart kid who loves soccer, hanging out with her cousin, Juan, being around me (yay) and going to Cali and Disneyland whenever possible. She is amazing!

Some pics of my kids!

My kids! Here we have Noelle and Nikolai, me and Noelle and Noelle with her grandma and grandpa.

We have a blog!

Welcome everyone! I hope to have some content in the next few days...come back and check us out :)