A girls night away...

Last weekend I went out with the ladies for my birthday (now I am stretching them into two months). We were going to go to a hotel, but that proved to be too expensive, my only goal was to drink without a early wake up call. Since having Darrian I have not really had much to drink, because really it is not as fun when you have an early wake up call the next morning (6am -9am). So Sofia was nice enough to offer up her place in SF.
It was a lot of fun, drinking and then headed back to her place to play some board games. It was a great evening, and was suppose to be my night away for the first time. Although, I left the house right before D went to bed, and I was home before he woke up. 8 am wake up is no fun when you go to bed at 5 am, and sort of lost the point of sleeping in. Next time I will make sure and sleep in a little later :)




Some blurry pics from the night..

How you flag a taxi, stand in the street?

Someone left their Sombreros behind, and we did not let them go to waste.

A Lovely Weekend, Just what we needed.

This weekend was a lowkey one, I was really thankful the weather was nice. K painted and I kept Darrian busy. We played in the little pool he has, and when that got old we played in the sink for a while. I know that some kids are into animals, and stuff.. mine is into water. Lots of water. We sang itsy bitsy spider a million times, and Mom came over for lunch on Sunday and Darrian traded off having us sing it. It is these moments, the little moments I love the most. To get to know what is inside his mind, and what makes him happy.

I am looking forward to the nice weather and hope to be taking many trips to the zoo and aquarium. Getting out and enjoying it.

Here are some pics of D playing with water in the sink.

D and his buddy ...

Friday night we went to dinner with friends, and then back over to their house to play. They have a wonderful backyard, and a doggie which of course Darrian LOVED. It is cute to watch him play with others. G is a year older than Darrian, but they inneract pretty well.







I also had a girls night away this weekend, but I will update about that later. :)

D on drums and G dancing ..

Aww. A hug. So cute.

these pictures were taken by Kelly , G's mom.

No fun getting behind...

I have been behind on uploading pics, and updating the blog. It is hard to carve out the time to do it. I am hoping to get better at it. We have been doing some fun stuff over the past few weeks. We have been getting together with some of D's friends, We all went to the St. Patty's day parade in Dublin with my Mom, Chris, Julie, the girls, and Lynda and then to go eat and let the kids play.


I feel like I am falling behind in updating on Darrian.

He loves these books where you point at the picture.

He is picking up new words all the time, some new one's this week hey you, boots, kitty, spider, star, Owl, and toes to name a few.


He likes Fragglerock and Seasame St., and Elmo who he calls "MoMo".


He loves macaroni and cheese, and cheese in general.


He still loves to dance. It is funny, his song he likes came on the radio the other day and and he threw his keys to the side so he could break it down with both hands. haha.

He LOVES keys, and the car, and the steering wheel in the car. He could sit there for hours.

He still loves wa-wa. I am going to get him a water table this summer for hours of fun :0) Here are some pictures of him over the past couple weeks.

D checking out the costco boxes

Found the waffle box, but where are the waffles.

Checking out the waffle box, reading all about them :)

hanging out back

This how we comb our hair and brush our teeth. He won't sit still to comb his hair otherwise. He plays with wa-wa. He starts on the counter, but usually ends up IN the sink.

keep me. protect me. share me.

Saw this on a photographer's website. I love it. It explains why I love pictures so much.



If you can't see this go to www.dnmthornton.blogspot.com

Monday Blues.

I've got a case of them. K went to LA this weekend, and I envisioned a fun weekend of lots of mommy and son time with Darrian... and some time with friends. Well the weekend did not exactly turn out the way I wanted. Friday I had the day off, and we had a fun playdate with some friends. After that we went home D took a nap, and then we played outside with bubbles for a long time. Darrian LOVES being outside, I get a major fit when I try to take him inside. Although having no gates around our place.. D has found his escape paths and finds them over and over again. It is tiring, but he has fun.

My friend Kelly and her son Greyson came over and we went to dinner. Then D went to bed and I watched a movie. Saturday we were out running around getting some things for Auntie Niki's visit that night, when I hear a noise coming from the back seat to find D throwing up everywhere. UGHHHH. I thought it was something he ate, wishful thinking I guess. I realized in that moment parenting is so much easier than the support of another. Trying to get D out of the car, the carseat out to clean.. where to put a 17 month old so he doesn't take off running. Put him inside while I try to dismantle the carseat. He continued to throw up every 10 minutes or so. It was so sad to watch, and when he just laid down to cause he was too tired to try and stand up and get sick, I called the advice nurse. They then asked me to bring him in to ER. Great. Carseat is apart and wet.. D got to ER got sick again in the waiting room. They got him in pretty fast. Gave him some meds to calm his tummy.. He was super cute in his gown though and saying hi to all the nurses who passed. Grandma dropped in to check on us, and after he kept some liquid down they let us go. Sunday we relaxed, played it low key. Missed the brunch we had with Auntie Dev, and anything fun. K got bumped from his flight, and by the time he got home I was so tired.

So not the fun mommy and son weekend we wanted. Hopefully D will feel better fast, and I won't catch it.. Here's hoping !

Love is a Movement: The Cora Project

Before having Darrian the story of a child's death was so sad to me. Now it rocks me to the core, leaves me thankful for what I have, and so sad for those who have lost. I know that the love Darrian has given me, us, filled our life with.. is something I NEVER want to go without it. Ever. I stumbled on this from one of my favorite sites Etsy.com. Such a sad story of a lovely 10 month old who was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, and then passed away 3 weeks after.

They are trying to build a playground in her name, also some stores on ETSY giving funds to the project. Anything small I can do, and maybe you too.

The story : http://tinyurl.com/coraproject
The families personal blog where you can show support : http://tinyurl.com/ct2rmw

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend..

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend..

I try not to live for the weekends, I would miss so much time in between. Although that said it is really hard not to because they are so much more fun than any weekday I know. This weekend we did not do anything too exciting. Darrian and I played at the park for a couple hours on Saturday, then I cleaned and ran some errands. We tried to make the most of our time outside before the rain started. Sunday nothing exciting. Niki came by and we went to a few places and hung out, that was really nice.. I love catching up. We went by the fabric store to look for some ideas for Darrian's birthday party. Yes I know it is in Sept., but the planning is in full swing. What I love about Niki is I told her this, and she barely blinks an eye... she knows me all too well. She even just jumps right in giving ideas and thoughts. ;)

I have a few pictures, I need to upload them... but when I get home sitting in front of the computer is too hard to do. I will get to them though, soon I hope.

I spent a lot of time this weekend thinking of my friends who are being laid off from work, this economy is so hard. I know how hard it is to worry, I have been there but I think both times it ended up better than before. I think you have to remain focused and positive, and hopeful. I am thinking of you all, and keeping you in my thoughts and prayers.

Since I have not done one in a while.. a quote. Happy fat Tuesday everyone!!

Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.

Confucius

Um Happy Valentine's Day..

Um Happy Valentine's Day..

I took these pictures FOREVER ago (well not really about a month now) and I was waiting to post them right before Vday, and then... I forgot. I had a 4 day weekend last week, we had Monday off at my job and I took friday to stretch it out a bit. We had a wonderful weekend for the most part. Friday we had a playdate with friends, then some running around to do. Saturday I cooked dinner for us at home a romantic one at home. Sunday Darrian got sick. Monday he was better and Tuesday I got sick. It was a tummy bug going around. No fun. But we did not let it spoil our weekend. I leave you with some cute Picutres for a belated Happy Valentine's Day.

Baby D's got some hops..

if you can't see this go to http://www.dnmthornton.blogspot.com/

Baby D and his HYPE man. :)

Baby D and his HYPE man. :)



if you can't see the video go to http://www.dnmthornton.blogspot.com/

Birthday parties and sleep over's ..

Birthday parties and sleep over's ..

This weekend had lots of celebrations, and fun. Friday night Niki took me out for my birthday. It was nice to chat and talk, I have missed chatting with her like that and it was fun. Saturday morning we went to a bday party for one of D's friends at Superfranks. It was a lot of fun, and D loved it. They had a bounce house too and he loved that, his first time in one. After the party we went home to get ready to vist Julie, Ivy and Lily. We were all suppose to stay the night, but then Chris ended up being out of town so just Darrian and I went over to stay. It was lots of fun. I FINALLLLYYYY got Lily to like me. Geesh, just 8 months later! Darrian did good, he loves how un-babyproofed everything is. Ivy and him played really well together which was really fun and cute. Sunday we went to a cute children's museum, that had a mini- grocery store, police cars, firetruck, and lots of hands on things. It was fun, I think that D was a bit tired since it was nap time but still enjoyed it. Then back home to grocery shop and get ready for another week :)

Birthday Girl. :)

Where was D most of the party .. in the car of course!

weee oh weee oh .. sirens and all.

Isn't she the cutest!!

I am back, a year older.

I am back, a year older.

Last week I celebrated my 29th birthday. Pretty low-key. I went to work and Mom made my day by coming to have lunch with me and bringing D along for the ride. It was so nice to have that during the workday. Got home and K made dinner for me, per my request I did not want to go out. He got me a cake, a very sweet card. It was very nice. Both him and my Mom are chipping in on some classes for me to take in Spring for Photography. I am looking forward to that. No birthday candle to blow out this year, but lots of wishing. We are in a place where I really need things to fall into place so everything can go smoothly.... lots of prayers and wishes for just that. Everything to fall into place. Last year was so very stressful every step of the way, this year I am really trying to put my faith in things, pray a lot, relax a bit. My mission is to enjoy my last year in my 20's. Not sure how just yet... stay tuned I suppose.

Couple Concert videos.

here are a couple video's from last night's concert. The first is James Morrison who is very good and opened for Adele. The second is Adele. I LOVE this song.. she has this great voice and the cutest thick English accent. She is also a BIG Obama fan so how could I NOT love her :) .

Happy Friday..

Happy Friday..

I am tired since I went to go see Adele in Concert last night at the Warfield in SF. Just not the same getting home super late, and having to get up early the next morning. I was very thankful I went though, GREAT show and Adele was wonderful. I think she is the best live performance I have seen, and I have seen several. She sounded EXACTLY like her CD, and is such a fun person. I went with Devyn, Laura, and Laura's husband. It was fun.

This weekend we have lots going on bday party for D's friend, Date night with Keith, and then superbowl.. with running around in between.

Here is a video of D dancing and saying bye. This was taken about 3 weeks ago. K was getting out of the car and I was taking D to meet some friends for dinner. He was dancing to the music, and saying bye. If you listen you will see that he has started to say "Bye Keith" from time to time. Keith is not too happy about that, which makes Darrian laugh.

Here you go. If you can't see this go to http://www.dnmthornton.blogspot.com/ ..

A friend's success..

A friend's success..

I wanted to share this video and a little story. Some of you remember Jana, a client of mine who became a friend. She lost her Fiancee Matt one week before they were suppose to marry. It was sudden, tragic, and shook me to the core. Jana and I have kept in touch over the last few years, and check in from time to time. She moved back to LA from NYC, and started life over. She landed a great job at a marketing firm and joined a band, playing lead guitar. The band the Monthlies have toured, and I went to go see them when pregnant with Darrian in SF with Niki and Nicole. A fan entered them in the "Airwalk Unsigned Hero Contest", not only did they make in the top 20.. they won the whole THING. They get to play at Spin's Magazine showcase in Austin, Music video, and lots of great publicity. The band's name is The Monthlies. She sent me a email of the behind the scene's of the recording of the video, the video itself "Hip girl" will be ready in three weeks and I will post it here. They play in and around LA every week, if your in the area check them out.. and tell Jana I send my best wishes.

The Monthlies - "Behind the Scenes: The Making of the Hip Girl Music Video" from Jeremy Jackson on Vimeo.

A Day to Remember Forever...

A Day to Remember Forever...

It has been almost a week since our President took office. It has taken me this long to try and put together the feelings I have about it, I still am not sure I can. I think you all know how I feel about President Obama, how deeply I hoped and cared in this election. I watched the convention in 2004 and googled his name right after to see who this guy was. I then read his books, I watched him on Oprah. I was then taken in by his bi-racial upbringing, how he handled it, his grace. I have always been amazed at how his speeches move me. To see nearly 2 million people gathered, and even more at home to see this moment showed me how much he moves so many. I find it to be his greatest gift. I remember when Palin belittled his community organizer work in her nomination speech, how upset I was. I was thinking perhaps she was watching and seeing how that work has spilled over to moving a whole country. So many people interviewed said what I feel, he makes you want to do better, he inspires. I know he has a huge amount of task in front of him, but I really think if anyone can do this.. he can. He will. I think he will be one of our best President yet. He is the hope every generation needs. When I think of all that, I think of how lucky I am to see this, to live it. I took Tuesday off to soak it ALL in, to watch my son play as I hoped for our future. Thinking about telling him someday, that he too clapped when others did, and he too stopped to sway to Yo Yo Ma play. That even though he does not know how big this moment is, or the doors and dreams it will open for him.. that he was apart of it. That he too in some small way was moved by the events.

I was moved to tears so many times during that day, but really overcome with joy too and as I said before hope. I thought a lot about Black Americans, some of friends and family, and what this moment must mean to them. That no matter how far they have come in their life, there was always a place they could not go.. and now they are there. I thought of the slaves who built the White House, and I wonder if they ever stopped to dream that someone like them might be the people in charge of that home, of this country. I thought of all those who fought during the civil rights era, all races, who stood up against what they knew was wrong. We have come so far. It goes to show you we can change, and what many said was never not possible just happened... YES WE DID.