The joys of motherhood

There are times as a mother that I am just blown away by my kids. Moments (sometimes few) that erase all the crying and screaming and tears and sheer defiance I am faced with on a daily basis. We had one of those moments yesterday. A moment that still overflows my heart with joy. Let me share the back story before you witness the moment.

Gabe was sitting on the couch playing his guitar (a common occurrence in the Searles household). London was sitting on the couch next to him. He quickly got down off the couch, went over to his toy box, grabbed something and came back to the couch and resumed his position next to Gabe. What he picked up was his harmonica (which he loves to play). As Gabe was playing London joined in on his harmonica. A total freestyle jam session! I quickly grabbed the video camera (I am so thankful that thought occurred to me) and began recording. The session lasted probably about 10 minutes. It's almost indescribable the emotion that ran through me watching my little boy playing the harmonica. It instantly aged him. I was no longer looking at my 2 year old. I was looking at my 13 year old. It was by far one of the best moments of my life. I know even more so for Gabe; sharing something he so deeply loves with his son.

So we want to share it with anyone who cares to partake. Check out the video at homepage.mac.com/searlesbunch. Enjoy.

Sixteen candles

I wish. Sixteen was a good age. Sophmore in high school. Got my first car, a blue '77 Toyota Corona wagon, which never made it on the street (legally). I shortly thereafter got my second car (a family hand me down), an '84 Datsun. I loved that car. I had great friends. And I had not a care in the world (except how my hair looked and if that certain boy actually knew I existed). I lived with my parents. I spent my money on gas, car insurance, clothes and eating at Duchess. Oh sweet Duchess how I miss you.

Tomorrow I turn 29. 29. That's one, two, three, four, TWENTY-NINE. One year away from the big one. And my cares are now too many to count. I now spend my money on the house, the kids, the cars. But I have awesome friends. I now live next door to my parents. And the best thing(s) of all.. The worth in my life.. My husband and my children. They keep me going. They make me smile. They make me feel loved. And that's the best feeling of all.

I am one blessed almost 29 year old.

Bittersweet at its best

So, it's official. Britney's new baby is named Sean Preston. I must say I am vainly tickled silly that they didn't go with London. BUT now I will feel like a sheep if we had another girl and named her Sean. I guess we'll burn that bridge when we cross over into white trash land and live amongst Britney and Kevin's people.

I am now just asking myself WHO CARES? Why should I let the famous of this world dictate what I do or don't name my child? Plus, I can rest easy knowing I have cuter kids than most of them. Not that it's a contest.. But if it were, we'd clearly be the winners.

Waiting patiently

Britney Spears (I hate to even devote blog space to her, but this must be said) has infiltrated our lives. I haven't quite figured out how she's doing it, but I know she MUST be watching us, listening to our conversations, digging through our trash. Saturday night a good friend broke the news to me. If Britney's child is a boy, they're naming him London. If it's a girl, Addison, and they'll call her Addie. WHAT? Dost my ears deceiveth me? I had always heard she wanted the name Preston (for a boy). Now, Gabe and I have chosen our children's names very carefully. My goal was for our children to have unique but beautiful names (you will not find a Pilot Inspektor or Audio Science on our list of possible names, though I have to admit I think Apple is a cute name). But, the point is UNIQUE. Not an every day name. While I was pregnant with our first, we narrowed down our names. London for a boy and Adelaide for a girl (we didn't find out the sex while I was pregnant). It was a boy, and we bestowed upon him the name London. But we adored the name Adelaide and knew if we had a girl, that would be her name. Some time after our son was born we learned that Slash (yes Slash, the guitarist from Guns N Roses) had a son, not much older than ours, named London. Stink. So then, fast forward a year. I am pregnant with a girl. No discussion needed. We will call her Adelaide. 3 months after Adelaide was born, an actress (one Rachel Griffiths) has a girl. My Aunt breaks the news to me. "Some actress just had a girl and named her Adelaide." WHAT? You have GOT TO BE kidding me.

And here we are to present day. I am waiting not very patiently to discover the name of Britney & Kevin's son. The funny (not funny ha-ha funny, but funny they seriously are listening in on us scary funny) thing is, the latest I read was the names they picked out if it was a boy were Sean Preston or London Preston. Here's that funny thing.... Gabe and I had just decided we really liked Sean for our next girl (that happens to be my brother's name and I have just always liked that name for a girl). Now tell me CONVINCINGLY that the famous of this world don't listen in on us commoners' daily lives. They are everywhere and they are watching us. Just waiting to steal our children's names and take them as their own. Curse you celebrities. Curse you all.

Where happiness abounds

Friday night we returned from a 4 day trip to Disneyland. Disneyland.. The happiest place on earth despite the screaming kids. There is an awful lot of crying at the happiest place on earth. I think someone's lying.

We spent 2 days driving and 2 days at the park. It was our first family vacation ever. And Gabe and I haven't been on a trip since before London was born. This was well overdue. We know London most likely won't remember this trip and Adelaide definitely won't remember this trip, but we needed a FAMILY friendly vacation. Disneyland is what we came up with. It was great. Gabe and I haven't been to Disneyland since before we were married (over 5 years ago!). A lot has changed. They have since added California Adventure, Downtown Disney, and some new rides in Disneyland. London LOVED Disneyland. A few days before we left we started talking to him about Disneyland and all the magical wonder that he was going to experience. When we arrived at the hotel, I went inside to check in. I came back to the car and London yelled "WE'RE HERE!!!!". That ignited the Disneyland excitement.

We went to the park the next morning. Standing in line to get inside the gate I got goose bumps. There IS something magical about Disneyland. I seriously felt like I was 5 years old on Christmas morning, knowing I was about to unwrap the greatest present ever to exist. I almost couldn't contain the excitement. We got through the gates, to the first photo-op place.. And that's when the crying ensued. Well, after we got London out of the stroller to take his picture; when we tried to put him back in the stroller. That was the first of MANY crying fits.. I don't think he got the memo about Disneyland being the happiest place on earth. He has much to learn.

But seriously folks, we had a great time. London got to see his first fireworks display. He absolutely loved it. He watched Fantasmic on Dadda's shoulders. A couple parts scared him, but overall he was enthralled. A few rides scared him: Pinnochio, and because of that, Small World (the first half of the ride he spent looking down. Halfway through he finally allowed himself to look up and highly enjoyed the rest of the ride), Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland.. A few rides he liked the most: Autopia, the merry-go-round, Dumbo. At California Adventure we visited Bug's Land, got to see some BIG Tonka trucks (which he loves). He got to meet JoJo, Stanley, Goofy, Flick and Flick's chick (I can't remember her name). He got to see some princesses (all the rage with the girls, but London has no clue who they are) and Mickey walk by. We were in a store, Mickey walked through, I yelled (very, very excitedly) "LONDON, THERE'S MICKEY!!!" As he whipped his head around to see, so did the rest of the store.. I was a little louder than I had intended to be. And apparently crazy by the looks on people's faces. The highlight of the trip for London (right up there with the fireworks) was the Playhouse Disney show. He got to see IN PERSON characters that had up till then only existed in his TV. That was the most thrilling 20 minutes of his life. I have never seen him enjoy anything else as much. That was awesome.

It was amazing to introduce our son to the awe that is Disneyland. We can't wait for next year!

(I'll post pictures by this weekend. And if you're wondering where Adelaide was this whole time, wonder no more. She was in her stroller pretty much the whole trip. She was one of the few kids not crying. She gets the whole "happiest place" thing.)