A few things learned

First of all, excuse the mass of toys in the background- we still havent organized his birthday toys.

I dont know if the video uploader works, but I tried to get a video off my phone of us trying to get Sawyer to walk to us.  He actually went a few steps today haha- I think the video has a couple. He is getting braver.  Today he started really letting go of things to bounce up and down.

He can officially clap though now :) YAY! It is cute because he has to try so hard to do it.

Seattle Pride Parade 2011

Today was the Seattle Pride parade!  I know, we just had a tournament yesterday in Portland and we were exhausted, but we made it!  If anyone doesn't know, Pride parades are around the country and pretty much just celebrate people being who they really are.  It is mostly LGBT, but features all sorts of "different" types of people.  Rugby teams are known for being accepting of everyone so there are usually a lot of LGBT people that play, so teams are able to join the parade.

I had never been to Pride before, but my boss told me it was crazy and there are a lot of naked people.  I was a little nervous taking Sawyer, but figured since we were actually in the parade we wouldn't have any issues with a crowd or anything.

We arrived at 9am at our "staging" area, and I was relieved to find a lot of families.  I was a little nervous it would be a lot of drunk crazies or protesters.  We were put right behind a gothic bus that blasted crazy music, to the right of some drag-queen chamorros (or however you spell the Guam people), and in front of these crazy unicorn people that were like drag queens with painted faces and horns.  We waited for 2 hours in the sun, Sawyer got restless until Andy found some Filipino drummers to amuse him, and we were on our way!

Luckily we werent stuck behind the loud gothic bus in the parade, but behind a quiet church.  It was so exciting!  The parade was about 1-2 hours long (hard to keep track of time) and it was PACKED on the sidewalks as we walked through downtown Seattle full of cheering families of all kinds.  We had 2 of our girls dress as actual sirens which completely stole the show since they were dressed very scantily lol.  We also had people running the ball around and throwing line-outs (where you lift someone) and a few of us had signs that I made (Down To Ruck?, Give Blood...Play Rugby!, A woman's place is in the maul, and my sign you will see below).  We handed out beads with our practice info on them, and tattoos of our logo. Andy pushed a sleeping Beany through the parade as well in our stroller we put streamers on.

It was such a cool experience.  Most people can't really be themselves in public without dirty looks or what not, but here it is encouraged.  We would see signs with old people saying "40 years, same partner, 3 kids, 15 grandkids" and you know they weren't able to be themselves that long ago as much as today.  It was a good sign that people can be more accepting.  My favorite shirts said "Str8 against H8".  The best part was that I saw zero protesters during the route, though apparently the infamous Westborough Baptist Church made an appearance at the Picnic last weekend or something but they are kind of a joke (those are the guys that protest soldiers' funerals).

Here is the mass of pictures I took on my phone.  I didn't want to be lame and take them while on the route, so they are all from right before.

Before I forget, I would like to point out that I wore my shorty-shorts...in a public light...meaning my legs have shrunk to an acceptable size again and all my pants are too big! Woot!

Creepy Gothic people in front of us

Ariel and a crazy drag queen Unicorn from the group behind us

Goldie with her beads, and "Marge" in her siren costume (she's painted yellow)

Kim doing a dance

That giant dress was made of plastic bottles! The rainbow shirt on the right side  made me laugh "SnoHomos" lol the Snohomish club

Leslie's awesome streamer job on Sawyer's stroller

Our barrel full of beads

If you are unaware,  "hooker" is the position I play for most games. When the ball gets rolled into the scrum, they are the ones that "hook" the ball with their leg and kick it backwards to their team's side

Buttons and her friend with our sign

Portland Tourney

We got a little too much sun today.  Sawyer got his first sunburn which is impressive since he stayed in his covered stroller and wore a hat whenever he came out which wasnt very much

I managed to get a cleat straight to the cleat scar/still hurting/bump that i already had...in the exact same same spot!

Now that Sawyer is one, he can use a forward seat legally.  We prefer his old one since it goes up to 35 lbs and it is safter and easier to carry around, but in the case today we needed the seat back enough in the car and tried it out.  Soooo nice not having my knees against the dashboard.  I think Sawyer liked it and felt all grown up.  In this pic he is not so happy, but his face is hilarious when he is yelling that I wanted to post it. Look how round his mouth is lol.

He did well during the tournament.  We got to the Portland pitch at 9:30 and left at like 4.  Lucky for all of us he managed to get a nap for a couple hours in his stroller- which is usually hard for him to fall asleep when stuff is going on around him.

All in all- good tournament.  I played well- didnt do anything extremely awesome worth posting, but still played well. Our team did pretty well also.  It was nice having numbers (we had about 14 show up) so we were all fresh legs and had a lot of people to talk to. 

 

Afterwards we went to the outlets and bought some stuff at Carters with my coupon (and tax free) and got sawyer some pajamas to last awhile.  I got a few cheap shirts at aeropostale tax-free. We then went to KFC, which either decided to bring back popcorn chicken, or just has it at that location because every one up here stopped it which meant they didnt have famous bowls which meant no Amy at KFC. It was goood lol.

Now I am just making signs for the parade tomorrow where we will all probably get too much sun once again!

Happy Birthday Sawyer!

Sawyer is ONE today!!!

We couldn't be more proud!  He is such a good kid and I love that he is acting more like a person every day!

Happy Father's Day!

Sawyer and I cannot ever compete with Andy's father's day present last year (he was born on father's day if you've forgotten), but I think we had a good day.

Sawyer slept in pretty well (9:30ish) for a good present...he had a big day yesterday haha.

We then decided to hit up Meeker Days. If you don't know what that is because you are from out of town, it is a street fair once a year named after Ezra Meeker that traveled the Oregon trail by ox and was the founder of Puyallup...and the reason that 2nd graders in our fair city know what "hops" are.  We had the best philly cheesesteaks, and some mango lemonade.

Sawyer's new Ernie came along

Then, we came home to a rocking chair courtesy of Andy's mom that we can read stories to Sawyer in, and rock any future babies.

We hung around the house and Andy's mom came for a little bit and she read to Sawyer and gave him a bath.

Then, we went to meet up with my parents and destiny and erik and her parents and Kaylene and her bf (Destiny's sister) and we decided to go to Famous Daves happy hour for a good ending to the day!

Andy got a crock pot for father's day.  I let him pick it out a few days ago and he has already made a few delicious meals in it.  I realize both Bean and I are benefiting from the present, but Andy likes to eat and cook and he really wanted it so I think it is good :)

Happy Father's day to all the dads and future dads out there!

Circus first birthday party

We had Sawyer's first birthday party today- it was circus themed!  Unfortunately it rained, so we were all stuck inside.  We kind of invited the bare minimum of people- closest family and friends, but with our big families it was kind of packed.  It was fun though :)  People liked my cake pops and lemonade so I considered it a success, even though Sawyer was so incredibly tired that he cried when he put him in his highchair for cake...but we couldn't exactly say "Hey everyone, come back in 2 hours after he has a nap!"  He cheered up when Everett helped him eat it and he realized he liked it.  This post will probably be picture overload, but it is kind of a family journal so I don't want to skip it!

Costco run brings Boris Bear

Today at work I walked out from the back room into a conversation about sandwiches.  Apparently one of our (still intoxicated) coworkers convinced Natalie to get sandwich makings at Costco.  We decided what we wanted and I went with her for a "15 minute break".  We got the most delicious turkey sandwiches, kettle chips, the most perfect grapes, and root beer floats.  What a good way to make a day that was off to a bad start, turn into an awesome one!

Anyway, I didn't mention the best part.  As I was walking in, I saw Boris.  Well, he would soon be named Boris.  He is a giant bear and the second I saw him, I knew I wanted to get him for Sawyer's birthday.  I threw him in our cart and he took up the whole thing :)

I had Andy come bring me something to work, and had him pick up Boris as a surprise (he had no idea what I got Sawyer).  It was so funny because I had him buckled into the front seat.  Andy took him home and Sawyer loved him!  I don't know where he will be stored, but I'm glad we got him!

Pay Stub

I looked at my pay stub for the first time in awhile (I get direct deposit so I normally just check the final result and can tell if there is an issue based on my hours and final pay).  I didn't realize so much went to taxes, union dues, medical, 401k, charity, etc.  The total out of my last check was $450! Ouch. I'm hoping that some of those things only come out of one check each month, but I have a feeling it is only my union dues and medical that won't which is only about $85 of that. I'm all for paying taxes (really, I am pro-tax), but it still hits hard when you see what you SHOULD have taken home and what you actually do, haha!

Budd Bay Tournament

Yesterday we woke up bright and early to head down to the Evergreen State College for the Budd Bay Rugby tournament.  We had about 10 of us, and only two or three had played "sevens" before.  Sevens is rugby played on a regular sized field, but only 7 vs. 7 for 7 minute halves. Normally it is 15 vs 15 for 40 minute halves.  The game moves a lot faster because it is a wide open field, and more people get the ball than in 15s.

Our first game was against a really good team and we didn't score, but they sure did. It was good to get used to the game though.  I realized that I think I like sevens better because there is more to do.

The second game was the most interesting.  This girl on their team had a breakaway and apparently I closed 10 yards chasing her down but had nothing to grab onto her with because her shirt was so tight. When I grabbed at something right before the try line, she smacked me in the mouth (remember I have braces?) which isn't allowed anyway but she scored because I couldn't recover after that. I was so tired after all of that (it is a ton of running). Soon after though, I scored my first try! Here's the story:

One of our girls was tackled so I ran over quick enough and yelled for her to pop it to me.  I saw 2 girls from Portland ahead of me, but I decided for a quick burst of speed to try and get as much yardage as possible by going between them.  Apparently it worked, because I shrugged off their tackles, and apparently just took off. Andy said I had a fire trail behind me lol. I just ran (it was over half the field left). I had no idea if anyone was behind me or what.  I was running as hard as I could, hoping nobody was going to grab me from the back and yank me backwards for a painful fall.  I could hear our people and the men's team yelling.  About halfway there, my leg muscle that had been bothering me this week felt like it completely gave way. I felt like I was about to fall, and literally had to think "left, right, left, right" to keep running...it was so hard- especially after that long sprint after that girl earlier in addition to all the running involved with the game. I kept running and saw that a girl had run from the side and was almost at me. I was almost there though!  She got me about 6 inches from the try line, and I took the ball and scooted my body that extra 6 inches. SCORE!!! It was so exciting! We didnt win, but we scored twice that game so we felt a lot better :)

The third game didn't go so well.  I had been dropped on my knee sometime in the last game and went in warning our captain that I might not be able to play the whole thing.  Pretty much the first play, I was trying to lead one of their girls over so it would leave more space for our girl that was on the edge of the field.  Apparently she didnt know what I was doing and when I went to pass it to her, she had followed me in!  The girl tackled me super hard and right on my knee and head.  I was crawling around the field trying to get my bearings and stood up the second the ball came flying in the air at me. I put my hands up and just started walking off.  The captain was like "you should chase that" and I was like "I hit my head, I'm leaving".  And limped off the field. It was kind of funny, but not because I hurt.  I noticed a limb was growing out of my knee and freaked out, but a guy said it was just water because it could move around.  I watched the rest of the game from the side.

All in all, it was very fun and worth it.  I am pretty sore today, but it will get better!  In between the 2nd and 3rd game some hippies that looked like homeless train hoppers gave one of us some "rings" so we hula hooped for awhile.  I didn't realize that Evergreen State College was really as hippie-ish as they say it was. We saw some homeless looking train hoppers, some guys on a slack line, and a girl in a flowy skirt walking around with a guitar...and that was the representation of the students I saw. So funny.

One for One

I first heard of TOMS a few years ago before I worked for at&t, but I saw a commercial for them.  It was actually one of those "more bars in more places" campaigns they used to do where objects make cell phone bars.  I remember this one was tires or something....ANYWAY.... it was the owner of the company (TOMS, not at&t) saying how he used his blackberry all over the world when he was delivering shoes.

When I started at at&t it was fairly soon after and they had the commercial somewhere on one of the websites.  I looked up toms.com and was pretty impressed.  Basically, for those that don't know the story, the owner (Blake) was in a poor country and noticed a lot of kids didn't have shoes.  He came back and started the company TOMS, where if you buy a pair, they will give a pair to a child in need.  I wanted to be a part of it so I ordered my first pair.

When they arrived and I tried them on, I realized they were the comfiest shoes I had ever worn.  I know a thing or two about comfortable shoes, I rarely wear anything apart from flip flops, I only work out in Shox even though they are super pricey, and I break my work dress code every day and wear Vans. These TOMS were like walking on a cloud!  They are kind of funny looking, but I liked making a statement and having people ask about them.  A few people knew what they were, but not a lot of people had them then so I think I probably just got more goofy looks than anything.

Luckily, now, they are becoming trendy and TOMS has delivered over a million pairs to kids in need!  You can read their stories about how some can finally go to school since school requires shoes and others had shoes with holes in the bottom so they were pointless.  It is good to know that kids are being helped all over the world.

Now, they also started an eyewear one-for-one.  If you buy a pair of sunglasses, they will give someone in a poor country medical treatment, prescription eyewear, or surgery.  Win-win!

Anyway, the reason I posted about this company in the first place apart from spreading the word about the movement, is my gray ones came in today!

They are awesome and actually fit me well unlike black sparkly that I ordered too small.  I am so excited.  I wish I wore them for our wedding, they have special wedding ones (sparkly white) that you can see people wearing if you go through the pictures on the website.

Welcome to the family, gray TOMS!

Cabbage Patch

I had a cabbage patch doll as a kid.  You could curl her hair because it had wires in the yarn.  My brother had one too.  In ninth grade we had to carry around babies for two days.  We had to bring in a doll and include eight pounds of weight as well.  My baby was drawn to be a "boy" with no birth issues (luckily that meant no extra report to do) and I brought in my brother's boy doll.  I didn't realize how soon it would be until I got my very own cabbage patch doll...he's just missing the dimples and the signature on the bum!

Snip Snip Snip

We finally cut Sawyer's hair. It was super difficult because he is squirmy and the scissors are sharp and couldn't have him grabbing them.  I love his little curls, but he was starting to look like a girl if he takes a bath (or the day after)....and we can't have a kid that only looks cute when he's dirty lol :) I pretty much just snipped off the curly parts and around his ears and the back.  We might have to do a little more when he is all clean and not in a bad mood, but I am not too stressed with getting it perfect...baby hair never is perfect haha.  We put his little curls in an envelope to put in his baby book.  His hair is so thin that we don't want to make him look bald so it isn't short or anything.

Attached

I was hoping that having a lot of different babysitters would help Sawyer pass the stage, but he is becoming attached.

Every morning we get to the babysitter and he gets pulled out.  His hands grip super hard and his legs squeeze  enough that I could completely let go and he would probably stay on my hip!  As soon as he gets set down, he cries.  It is seriously the saddest thing I have ever seen.  He just stares at me with his little eyes and it is so hard to leave :(  Luckily, they say he doesn't last long and behaves the rest of the day.

The funniest thing happened yesterday at one of my co-worker's house.  She was helping me with a decoration for Sawyer's birthday and her girls were supposed to watch and play with Sawyer (age 5 and 7). We pulled him out and he did "the grip."  I put him on his walker to have him show off how well he can go now, and he takes 3 steps and just bursts into tears!  I pull him off and hug him.  He would NOT let go of me no matter how much I tried to sit him down. I think he thought I was leaving. Luckily he warmed up, and by the end, he was crawling around the house like it was his own.  He was even sticking his arm in Farley the dog's cage to get licks.

It is so sad to see him upset, but it kind of makes me feel good.  He knows I'm his "mama" and when he cries when I leave it is like he is saying he loves me........but I hope he gets over it quick!