Soap Box

I never wanted to have any children.
I always envisioned myself as a wife but never as a mom.
And then I met Reagan.
He would be an awesome dad, I always knew.
And so I realized I couldn't be so selfish and deny him his wants.
Reagan and I had a great courtship. We got to be selfish in where lived and what we did (even without concern for one another).
One day, we decided that after all of our selfish adventures, maybe we should start thinking about the future.
But I never wanted to be a mom, only a wife.
We moved to a safe community with a stable work environment and a positive outlook.
Reagan had his dream job and I made do and actually fell in love with making do.
And then I got pregnant.
And still made do.
Melita is nice and witty and terrible and a thorn in my independent side.
And I still make do.
Sacrifices are made.
But I, the reluctant mom, am still the one raising my daughter while living a life and having a career and husband.
I make the beds, do the laundry, make the dinner, call the clients, schedule hearings, make the coffee (times 2), answer the phones, keep 4 adults and myself and a child on schedule, pay the bills, buy the groceries, remember the birthdays, remember to be gracious, remember to be the mom and the wife and the employee.
And never ever asking anyone else to step in.
I never wanted to be a mom.
I can't imagine a life without her.

Attack of the 3 Foot Tall Froggy Monster

Halloween 2010

Because we are bad parents, we did not take Melita trick-or-treating this year. She really showed no interest and in fact didn't even ask about it. My motto is don't ask, don't tell. She had a Halloween party at school the Friday before Halloween, but they were not allowed to wear costumes and I think it was actually called a "Fall Festival". However, when I picked her up from school that day she did have a goody bag and she announced to me that she went trick-or-treating even though there was no candy in the bag. Perhaps it was suspiciously empty? At any rate, not another word was said about it for the rest of the weekend and Sunday came and went like all the others. (ed note: we in fact did not have a single trick-or-treater in our neighborhood.) And as I mentioned before, I am milking her oblivion to certain things for as long as possible. Reagan did make a Jack-o-latern though. It was kind of impressive albeit not exactly safe.

Comal County Fair

Back in September, we took Melita to the annual Comal County Fair. It is one of the biggest county fairs in Texas. In fact, there is even a holiday for it: Comal County Fair Day! Despite it being held in late September, it was still a million degrees outside which made it a tad miserable to walk around. There is a petting zoo as well as a kiddie amusement park and then, of course, a ton of grown up things to do. We took Melita to the petting zoo. We skipped the amusement park because Reagan was working and I couldn't fathom standing around in the heat watching her go around in circles. Plus, I am queen of milking the last few months we have left of her oblivion to certain things. The kiddie amusement park being one of them. She was interested in the rides but when I told her we were only looking and not touching, she seemed OK with that. I think next year I won't be so lucky.

When It Began

Apparently Reagan and I were in the same 1st Grade class. And I thought his stalking started in the 8th grade! I love you Flo! Also, there have been a lot of changes going on at the Chunn house: I finally got a new car, I started a new job, and I got a better attitude. Seriously, I never knew how much negative people could bring you down. Needless to say the whole family is in a much better place.

And here's the star of our blog wearing her brand new hat. More updates coming soon :)

Princess Melita

Nite-Nite with Bungy

It was Melita's idea to get blankets for she and Bungy so they could take an impromptu nap.

Labor Day at the Beach

Further proof that I gave birth to a mermaid, we spent Labor Day weekend in Corpus Christi and Melita did not get out of the water once while we were at the beach. She did play in the sand for .5 seconds but ended up back in the water chasing waves. Bungy also loved the beach and a good time was had by all.

San Antonio Zoo

Panties and Hello Kitty Socks

For the last 2 weeks Melita has been diaper free. I hadn't mentioned anything sooner because I didn't want to jinx it or get prematurely happy if it was just a hoax. But it's real. Melita is potty trained. (editor's note: she still sleeps in a diaper only because she can't hold it through the night yet and I am not about to wake her up to go and ruin the precious solitude I get of her sleeping for 10 hours straight.) She wears panties and she loves them. I also got her some new socks just in case panties alone didn't make her feel praised enough. But it turns out panties were enough and the socks were just an added bonus.
It all started around Christmas when I bought a training potty. The idea was to just let her sit on it when she wanted, no pressure to actually do anything in it. Some Saturdays she would spend all morning sitting on it while watching cartoons. Sometimes she would be naked. Sometimes she would have a diaper on. Sometimes she even sat on it backward. I was just excited because was interested in interacting with the potty. Then around her birthday, I decided to follow Bethany's lead and buy panties to put on over her diaper. It worked for Violet so why not Melita? The truth is that potty training was the one single thing I was scared shitless about undertaking. I had no idea on how to approach it and definitely no idea on how to follow through with it. To be honest, I would keep changing diapers for as long as I needed. I just hated paying for them! When Melita moved to the 2 year old class in June, I started to feel the pressure from her teachers. Melita's classroom had its on bathroom and I could feel free to start getting her ready for the potty any time I wanted. And that's how it all began. The real star of this whole story is Melita. She basically potty trained herself. At any rate, I love her so much and even more so for making the transition from diaper to potty a breeze!

Feminism in 2010

Poor Bungy

For the last couple of months, Bungy has been a itchy, scratchy fool. Every second of every day has been filled with the sounds of him scratching. In fact he scratched and shook so hard, he actually got an aural hemotoma which is basically when the blood vessels in the ear explode and the ear (between the cartilage and the skin) fills up with blood. While, it is not painful it can result in permanent disfiguring of the ear if not treated. For dogs with ears that normal point upwards, it look a little unsettling.We like to call this his Tupac look. Of course we were concerned because his ear was starting to look like a sopapilla. I made an appointment at the vet and he was scheduled to have surgery the following week. I was told they would lance the ear, drain the blood, and then press his ear between two pieces of foam and sew threw the entire sandwich to keep the ear from refilling with blood.
This we like to call Gimpy Dawg. Thankfully he is healing well and he gets the foam ear off on Friday. This little incident also made us treat the yard and the entire house for fleas (finally!) and start Bungy on new flea medicine because obviously New Braunfels hosts a new strain of fleas immune to Frontline. I don't know what the new flea treatment is called, but it rocks the house! It is in tablet form like heart worm meds and within 4 hours of ingesting it all fleas are dead! I am happy to report that there has not been a single itch or scratch for the past two weeks. Take that, mutant fleas!

Reagan and Katee Have a Ball

Reagan's dad and step mom treated Reagan and I to a belated birthday gift at the Texas Ski Ranch yesterday. I highly recommend it if you're OK with being hot and sweaty and slightly claustrophobic with another person suspended above you. But seriously, I am hoping that we do it again. Thanks Ann and Lonnie!

Farmer's Market

Happy 2nd Birthday Melita!

June 2, 2008

June 2, 2009

June 2, 2010

Still Best Friends with Bungy Dawg

San Antonio Botanical Garden

A couple of weekends ago, we went to a wedding at the San Antonio Botanical Garden. It was beautiful and magical in so many ways.

We reconnected with friends from Germany that we hadn't seen since we were there in 2007 for Andre and Crystal's wedding. The awesome thing was that we all picked up right where we left off. No one would have ever guessed that it had been 3 years since we had seen each other. I look forward to our next reunion which will hopefully be this fall when Reagan and I return for a much needed vacation.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Newlyweds and new parents

Recently engaged

Garner State Park

The first weekend of May, we had a family camping trip with Chupps and the Kims in Garner State Park. Unlike last year, when the same people went excluding Bungy and myself, this time it was not 100+ degrees with little to no water flowing in the Frio River. This time it was actually overcast which made it too cold to swim. What? Didn't you know the word 'frio' means cold?

Despite not having too much to do, we all managed to have quality family time together sleeping under the stars in our tents on super rocky terrain with an actual bathroom 100 yards away and a shed with a roof and doors where we kept our food and which also had running water and electricity so that we could hook up our electronic dart board to pass the time at night and if we discovered we had forgotten anything there was a park store a short walk away which came in handy when I discovered I forgot diapers. Who said camping had to be rough?

In preparation for the trip, I bought stuff I thought my niece, nephew and Melita would enjoy playing with. Little did I know that the $2 hot pink float would be the hit of the weekend.