Tattoos & Drool

Moved!

2009-08-31T10:50:00.003-04:00

Tattoos and Drool has a spiffy new blog at its very own domain! Check it out and update your bookmarks and feed readers. See you all over there!

TattoosandDrool.com

Over the hump

2009-08-21T12:21:00.005-04:00

So, did anyone notice anything special about the picture I posted? Anyone? Bueller?

Look a little closer and you'll see that my baby girl's scrumptious cheeks are RASH FREE! Thank you, Aveeno baby wash and Hydrocortisone cream. No more angry red hives or crusty ears. Now I can move on to worrying about other things, like that annoying flat spot she's developing from having a right side preference, or that her poop may possibly not be the right shade of honey Dijon yellow. Lets hope I learn to stop obsessing over everything by the time she's twelve.

My emotional state has improved tenfold in the past week or so. Thanks, in part, to a massive blow out in which I aired all my thoughts and fears to DH and he thankfully didn't declare me loony toons and run for the hills. And also thanks to a baby who sleeps amazingly well so I haven't had to deal with any sleep deprivation thus far.

I used to think that a newborn being a good sleeper was a myth and anyone who said they had one was lying through their teeth (although I still secretly hated them and wanted to land a swift punch right in their well-rested eye). A quick read through my archives will have you understanding the sleep hell I dealt with when Beckett was a baby. But Avonlea is different. I now know that easy babies DO exist. I also know I had every reason to hate those bitches because it is A-FLIPPING-MAZING. You're free to hate me, too. But I was about due for an easy one this time around, if you ask me. DH is loving it too, because it means he doesn't have to walk a stroller around the block at three in the morning every. single. day. Thanks for that, Beckett. Yes, the man is a saint.

I should probably stop talking about it now, because my superstitious subconscious won't stop whispering that it's going to come back and bite me in the ass in a couple months. That'd be my luck.

We have a busy weekend ahead, filled with cleaning and packing and my first Tupperware party tomorrow. (Which, by the way, if you're just dying to get your hands on some air-tight-sealed goodness, jump over to my website!) Avonlea has an appointment with our chiropractor tomorrow afternoon to deal with this pesky side preference. Sunday will be devoted to packing, making lists, checking off those lists and then checking again to make sure I haven't forgotten anything, as well as cat-proofing the house so they can't destroy anything while we're gone. And then we're leaving bright and early Monday morning for the 8-hour trip to the land of cheese curds and no cell phone service, aka Wisconsin.

Eight hours.

With three kids.

I have a feeling the DVD player in the Pilot will become my new best friend, so much so that I may want to name my next child after it, much like babies end up being named Bob or Gary thanks to a good anesthesiologist. Samsung Melban has a nice ring to it.

Wordless Wednesday - Time Is Fleeting

2009-08-19T14:11:00.001-04:00

And just like that, a month has passed.

Surviving

2009-08-12T08:26:00.003-04:00

We are surviving. And doing a pretty good job of it, if you ask me. I might even say we are thriving. After I kind of dropped off the face of the earth with my last post about being so incredibly scared of life with three children, it probably gave a bad impression. But really, I'm doing okay.

That first week alone went HEAPS better than I could have ever expected or imagined. Avonlea is a dream baby. Seriously. I have never met such a laid back, easy going, happy newborn. I think she must have known that mama needed a little help because I don't know if I could have survived having another high needs infant. I am so grateful.

The week after that, my mom and sister came down and stayed for a week, which was heavenly. One of my biggest issues is feeling completely alone, and for a whole week I was surrounded by the people I love and didn't have to be lonely. Not having them close by is so hard. SO incredibly hard. Those of you have have family nearby, no matter how crazy they make you sometimes, CHERISH IT. You don't know how lucky you are.

The past few days, we've been thrown another curve ball that has sent my anxiety through the roof. Avonlea developed a rash on her face. It started out as a couple little red pimples and just multiplied from there. I figured we were just getting plagued with baby acne again and would have to ride it out. But it kept getting worse, and by Monday her whole face, ears and scalp were covered with a raised, crusty rash. I called the pediatrician, which I rarely do, and took her in. "Oh, yes, that just looks like baby acne. There's nothing you can do but wait." Really? This is baby acne?

I wish the picture was able to capture how red and inflamed this rash looks, because it's bad. It is absolutely killing me to see my precious baby this way. So needless to say, I was not content with the pediatrician's "diagnosis." *insert gigantic eyeroll here* So yesterday, we saw our wonderful midwives, who took one look at the rash and said, "It's yeast." I cried. Both because I was glad to have an answer and because I was terrified. I'm sure every mom has heard the horror stories about how resistant yeast can be. What if I can't get rid of this? What if it gets worse, and turns into thrush on top of this incredibly ugly rash that already makes people stare and question?

I'm trying not to get ahead of myself and just take it one day at a time, but that's just what my mind does. It latches onto the worst possible scenario and runs like lightning with it. I keep thinking "everything will be so much easier when this is gone!" I hate it. I want my perfect little baby back. I don't want her to have to deal with this.

So for now we're doing two things. Applying apple cider vinegar topically to change the pH of her skin, and - this part really sucks - I have to remove all sugars and simple carbohydrates from my diet for at least two weeks. Awesome, no? I'm only on day two and I'm already struggling. I am just not a meat and veggies girl, and well, that's about all I can eat. So it sucks. But I'll do it because I really don't want to deal with this for even one more day. Avie is such a sweetheart and any time I'd take her out before the rash, I'd get tons of ooooohs and how cutes and so preciouses. Now, no one says anything. I'll see their eyes light up as I walk by with the carseat, and then they get a glimpse of her and quickly walk away. It breaks my heart. Maybe that's vain? I don't know. But it sucks.

So that's where we are right now. My kids are awesome but I'm struggling emotionally because of something I can't control, so hopefully what we're doing works. I feel like it consumes me right now and I want to be done with it so I can just enjoy her again.

Day Five

2009-07-24T21:19:00.001-04:00

So. We are five days into being a family of five. Five! Five days seems ridiculously small when you're talking about something that will be around for the rest of your life, but also incredibly long when you remember being in a moment of feeling that the pain would never end and OMG THIS BABY IS NEVER COMING OUT. So yeah, wow, it's already been five days since I experienced that and conquered it. Tomorrow is Saturday, and then it's Sunday, and then Monday morning will dawn, Shelby will go back to work and I'll be thrust into dealing with three children by myself. Which is, in a word, terrifying.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Lots of people have been asking how the baby is, and how the boys are doing and if they are in love with their sister. The answers are wonderful, pretty good considering, and most of the time.

Avonlea is fabulous and beautiful and perfect. She's a great nurser, is letting us get a fair amount of sleep and seems to be in perfect working order as far as five-day-old babies go. She's a pretty chilled out baby, which I'm scared to get excited about since Beckett was such a hellbeast, but I'm hoping our luck continues in that area. Her umbilical stump fell off today and I totally cried because she's changing so much already and um, wasn't it just a few days ago that she was still INSIDE ME? Sheesh.

The boys are really doing fantastic, considering their world has just been dramatically interrupted by this tiny pink yelling creature. Sawyer doesn't seem to be phased much at all. He goes about his day as he normally would, occasionally walking over to ask if he can hold "his baby." He likes to tell me about the things he's going to do with her when she's bigger, his favorites being play tag and drive with his cars. Beckett has been acting out a small bit, but doesn't seem to be jealous. I've been making it a point to give him lots of cuddles and remind him that he's still my baby too. He's incredibly sweet and loves to kiss her head, and when she yells he asks, "What did she say?" Too stinkin' cute.

And Shelby is, of course, amazing. He is the perfect husband and perfect daddy and there are several moments throughout each day that I look at him and am just overcome with emotion at how I got so lucky. That sounds ridiculously cheesy, but guys, this man is seriously the kind you just don't find very often. He makes me dinner, gets me Dunkin' Donuts whenever I want and watches the baby in the evenings so I can get a few hours of sleep. Avonlea has him wrapped about a dozen times tightly around her finger and it is absolutely adorable to watch.

And then there's me. Ha. I'm doing.. okay. Mostly okay. But sometimes not okay at all. Physically, I'm healing rapidly. Thanks to a fabulous waterbirth I have no tears to worry about, which is awesome. I'm not too fatigued and the afterpains are finally gone (HATE those suckers). My belly is shrinking and I'm counting down the weeks until I can start exercising and get my body back. Oh, how I can't wait to have my body back. I feel so unattractive right now. I know that will come with time though.

Mentally? Emotionally? Well, that's a different story. The first couple days were great. I felt on top of the world, completely overjoyed with my baby girl and had a constant smile on my face. I was inviting visitors to come see us the day after she was born. My midwife visited on Tuesday and warned that some moms experience a flood of emotions on the third day and I admit it - I fully expected to skip that whole bit.

And then the third day came. With it came the tears. Oh my goodness, the tears. Out of absolutely nowhere and for absolutely no reason. I'd be standing at the counter eating a bite of chicken and just start bawling. I began to feel panicked, anxious, overwhelmed and sad. The What Ifs started flowing in. What if I can't handle this at all when Shelby goes back to work? What if she's a high-needs baby like Beckett was? What if I just lose it in the middle of the day and I have no one to call, no one to rescue me?

There is also extreme sorrow over not having my family here, my mom in particular. When Sawyer was born, she had a flexible job and we could go visit her at work every single day. She lived two blocks away and could swoop in any time I needed her, for any reason. Then came Beckett, and although she was working a different job, she was still available almost all the time and if it weren't for that, I'd have gone insane. So to not have her here at ALL? With a brand new baby? It is killing me. I miss her so much. Nothing could have prepared me for how crippling it is to need someone near you and they just can't be there in person. Phone is wonderful - she has already saved me more than once just with calming words. But it's not the same.

Then there is the worry that the mental and emotional havoc I dealt with just a couple months before I got pregnant will return, in the form of horrible post-partum depression. I am scared. I still have my medication and I could easily start taking it again, but the thought of going back down that road of dependency is a double-edged sword. I have a gorgeous, healthy new daughter and a wonderfully supportive family. I should be bursting with happiness and it angers me that I let irrational worries cloud that positivity.

For now, I'm trying to just take it a day at time. Enjoy the moment and not worry about what will come tomorrow, because when it comes, I'll handle it - do I really have any other option?

Last night was a rough one but today has been good. I have to keep my focus on the good. And right this moment there is a daddy cooing at a tiny little baby as she kicks her feet and gazes at him with her big blue eyes - sounds like something pretty good I don't want to miss. Goodnight for now.

Avonlea's Birth Story

2009-07-21T12:54:00.009-04:00

Avonlea Dawn
born at home on July 19th, 2009
8lbs. 3oz., 21.5 inches
born in the water and caught by Daddy!
View the birth in pictures

----------------

Avonlea's Birth from Alicia Melban on Vimeo.

July 18th, 2009 - the day I had guessed my baby would make her grand entrance, and by 5pm I was showing no signs of labor whatsoever and feeling pretty discouraged. I was only six days overdue, as I had fully expected, but my parents had to travel back to Wisconsin the next morning, and I was extremely sad that they would be missing the birth of their granddaughter. I spent the day feeling sorry for myself and thinking about my next appointment with the midwife on July 23rd, and how I'd probably be able to make it no problem.

My mom and I talked about my feelings and came up with a plan that she would go back the next morning, but I could call her as soon as I was in labor and she would come right back. She might still miss the birth but would be here immediately after and that comforted me. For the first time the whole week, I felt at peace with everything and not anxious, as I had been.

Around 6pm I decided to go upstairs to de-stress and have some alone time. While upstairs, I started having some piddly little contractions, and thought, "Here we go again, more Braxton Hicks just to tease me!" I mostly ignored them, played some Bejeweled and laid in bed and watched TV. Shelby came upstairs around 7 and I let him know that I was having some small contractions but they were probably nothing. I was timing them just for fun and they were about 3 minutes apart and lasting 30-45 seconds. VERY mild though.

I decided to go back downstairs and watch TV with the family, and see if they would go away. The contractions continued on at a steady rate for the next hour or so, though not increasing any in intensity. I texted Cara at 8:30 and told her to keep her phone near her tonight, just in case. We talked for a few minutes about what was happening and I decided I would take a bath to see if the contractions would stop. Reading back through the texts now is amusing - I had said "These are pretty annoying!" and she said, "Yeah, labor is pretty annoying!" LOL!

So around 8:45 I went back upstairs and took a bath, adding in some clary sage oil to help relax me. I figured if this was the real thing, the bath would help me relax so things could progress, and if it wasn't then it would put a stop to things so I could have some relief.

I went back downstairs again after my bath, and everyone looked at me oddly and my mom said, "Are you in labor and not telling us??" I laughed and said of course not. I still thought it was nothing, even though the bath had not slowed the contractions at all. I couldn't stay downstairs long though and headed back up around 10pm. I texted Cara again that things were still happening and that Shelby would call her if it was indeed the real thing. I laid in bed again and watched some more TV, and my mom came up to check on me and I finally admitted that I was having some contractions but didn't want to get everyone's hopes up. She said they would head to bed and to wake her if I needed anything.

I spent the next couple hours alternating between the bed and the birth ball. Contractions were still steady, every 2ish minutes and a minute or so long. But again, still not intense and I barely had to concentrate through them. Shelby called the midwife around midnight to tell her what was going on, but I made sure he told her it would be awhile and we'd keep her posted. I was worried about having her come too soon again like with Beckett's birth, and was still also in denial that I was really in labor at all. She made him promise to call if the contractions got longer or more intense because she didn't want to miss the birth, and that made me laugh. Like I would be lucky enough to have such a quick labor, right?

My last text to Cara was at 12:59am and said, "The ctx are def getting stronger but still no bloody show.. WTF?" I was having to breathe a little through them at this point, but was waiting for the bloody show I had had with Beckett and it wasn't coming. I was really getting annoyed with that every time I'd go to the bathroom, and also annoyed because I just wanted to go to sleep and couldn't. The contractions were just strong enough that when I would doze off, one would start and wake me back up.

Around 2:30am, I still hadn't been able to sleep and was annoyed with Shelby because he was snoring next to me and not helping much. I snapped at him to please go get my mom, and when she came in I cried a little and told her I was just sick of these contractions that were going nowhere and just wanted to sleep. She suggested I try laying on the couch and see if that was more comfortable. So we moved downstairs, but I only lasted about ten minutes on the couch before things really started picking up. I think Shelby called the midwife again at that point, and I kept telling him to make sure he mentioned that I hadn't had any bloody show. She said she would be on her way, and I whined to him, "What if this is still nothing??" Very humorous in retrospect. :)

I was not comfortable on the couch at all, and got up to go to the bathroom which is where I had the first really intense contraction. I yelled for Shelby and leaned on him through it, and when I wiped, there was blood. Finally! I also started shaking and thought, transition? Already? No way! I told him to call Cara and that I wanted to go back upstairs. We got up there, and I sat on the toilet some more and was having to brace my arms against the wall to help with the contractions. I barked at Shelby that I needed in the water NOW and he got to work setting up the tub. We hadn't even pulled the hose and pump out yet. Cara arrived during all this and I remember saying "No pictures of me on the toilet!" Haha.

I think I was vocalizing a little at this point, and Shelby kept coming in to comfort me and I would shoo him back out to work on the tub. I think I yelled, "What is taking so long??" They were trying to use the pump to fill it and something was holding them up. He came in and tried to fill a bucket with water from the bath tub only to find that it was cracked on the bottom and the water was spilling out. I HAD to have relief in the water at that point so I started filling the bath tub and got in. It helped some, but the hot water ran out when it was only half full and I was extremely annoyed. They kept working on getting some water into the birth tub and I labored in the bath for a bit.

Finally there was enough water in the birth tub for me to move to it, and it was heaven. SO much better than laying on the bed or sitting in the hard bath tub. I was already feeling pressure with the contractions and wanted to push so badly, but I thought that was still a long way off. I remember saying "I want to push, but it's too soon!" I think the midwife (M) arrived shortly after - she said it was around 3:50am. I was working really hard through the contractions now, which had gotten very intense and without much of a break in between. M listened to the baby and she sounded great.

It wasn't much time later that I started pushing with the contractions. I was hoping it would be a relief like it was with Beckett, but it really wasn't. It was a lot more painful than I remembered and I just wanted her out. I think it was then that I said I was scared - and in my head I was wondering how in the world I was going to do this. It hurt so badly! My mom was awesome and kept reassuring me that I was doing great and she would be here soon.

I finally decided that the only way to make it end was to push as hard as I could, so that's what I did. I felt like I was getting nowhere though and when I tried to feel for a head, I didn't feel anything. M did a check while I was leaned forward against the tub and said her head was right there, and told me where to feel. I was able to feel her that time, and that was the motivation I needed to keep going. With a couple more good pushes I had her crowning and I said "She's coming out!"

Shelby moved over to catch her, I felt my water break and suddenly her head was out. I cannot describe how excited I was at that moment to almost be done. M was telling me to breathe as she checked for a cord but I only waited a few seconds and then pushed her shoulders and the rest of her out. As soon as I felt her body slide out, I said "Oh thank GOD!" The feeling of relief was monumental. Official birth time was 4:21am - half an hour after the midwife arrived!

Shelby passed her up to me and I lifted her out of the water, and there she was! The first thing I noticed was that her head was perfectly round - not a hint of a conehead. She had come FAST! She let out a couple good cries, and I was crying right along with her. My mom went to get my dad at that point - poor guy had been downstairs all by himself listening to the whole thing, LOL. Needless to say, he was excited to come up and see that everything was okay.

Shelby brought Sawyer in to help cut the cord, and the poor kid was still half asleep, but very much in awe. I delivered the placenta and the boys got to work cutting the cord. Sawyer did great, and was so sweet - he saw the drops of blood come out and was worried he had hurt her. Aww.

We nursed a but in the tub because she had a bit of gunk in her lungs, and it broke up pretty easily. Soon it was time to get out and do the herb bath and newborn check. Shelby and I put in our guesses for weight - I guessed 8lbs. 5oz. and he guessed 7lbs. 5oz. I couldn't believe how close I got - she weighed in at 8lbs 3oz! Smaller than her brother, but much longer at 21 1/2 inches. She had a fairly small head as well - 13 1/2 inches. We then had our time in the herb bath, where she was of course perfectly content and alert. M noticed that she had a dimple in one cheek, which made me so excited. Beckett has one in the same cheek, but his didn't appear until just recently.

After our herb bath we moved to the bed for more nursing and I was checked for tears. Only a tiny scratch that didn't even bother me - yay! M and Cara left a short time later and we were left to snuggle with our new girl.

I have now had two beautiful homebirths and would not change a thing about either one. Avonlea's birth was so much different than Beckett's - much faster and more intense. Totally not what I was expecting! Both were perfect though and I feel so incredibly blessed.

Sawyer is in Wisconsin

2009-06-14T19:44:00.003-04:00

Well, he left with my mom and sister today a little before noon and they are officially in Wisconsin, about 2 hours from home. I've been texting with my sister and she says he's doing great, no accidents in the car (this is his first long car trip since being potty trained). He called me earlier and said he was having fun in Grandma's car. :) They're going to get on the webcam when they get there so I can see him and tell him goodnight. I'm so glad he's doing well so far and I haven't cried yet, so that's good, haha.

Beckett has asked about him a couple times but seems to be enjoying having Daddy and me to himself. The house is SO quiet though, it's weird. Usually we hear two screeching and bickering and bellowing boys from sunrise til bedtime. I forgot how easy it is with just one.

I'm hoping for an easy bedtime for him tonight with no crying to come home, because that would break my heart. I'm betting he'll do fine though and this whole trip will be much harder for me than it is for him. That's how it always is, right?

My baby boy's first time away from home. SOB. How is he growing up so fast?

Nursery Pics!

2009-06-13T08:33:00.003-04:00

I finally got everything finished in her room, diapers washed and in the drawer, now I just need a baby!

I'm pretty proud, I made almost everything in the room. Bedding, curtains, quilts, name letters, bow holders and bows were all me. The dresser was a flea market salvage and was pretty beaten up before I made it pretty. And the mirror was from Goodwill, and was originally a gaudy gold. Yay for cheap decorating!

You can see the full size pics at my Flickr.

I'm alive!

2009-05-16T23:46:00.000-04:00

Another week gone by with no blog posts! What is wrong with me? I haven't really been keeping up with Bloglines either and have dozens of unread blogs to pick through. But you know, it's actually kind of nice to not be chained to the internet so much lately. I've been sewing a lot, crafting a lot, learning to knit, and most of all enjoying my boys before they are no longer just "the boys." The Boys plus a girl. Eep!

Anyway, just wanted to make sure everyone knows I'm still alive.

Two of my three adorable men:

The third one getting in some big brother practice with my friend's adorable baby girl:

And some of Sawyer's artistic handiwork. The person on the left with the pink hair is me. Second from the right is Darth Vader, according to him. And above us are the sun, moon and rain clouds all at once. Genius.

Because I never seem to have anything else to post..

2009-05-09T23:48:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures.

We did these the weekend before Easter. Don't mind my bloatiness. It seems to be a lovely side effect of pregnancy for me. Bleh. Aren't we adorable though?

Recent Projects

2009-05-04T19:13:00.002-04:00

I've been working on some things for Baby Avonlea over the past week or so - it hit me that HEY, I only have 8-12 weeks left before my world is rocked by a newborn! I need receiving blankets and diaper covers and all that other essential newborn stuff! Her nursery is still not finished but should be soon. Our neighborhood is having its bi-annual community garage sale next weekend and I'm hoping to find a dresser that I can paint and spiff up with some fabric decoupage and maybe a nice rocking chair. Other than that I need to paint her name letters, make her crib mobile, and hang some stuff on the walls. I better get cracking.

Receiving blankets:

Squishy soft minkee and thermal cupcake blankie:

And the first of many fleece soakers - I have plans for more to match some shirts she has, complete with embroidery on the bums.

Potty Progress!

2009-05-03T21:26:00.003-04:00

I just have to brag on Sawyer real quick.

After a long, long, loooooooong road of resistance and messes and tears and triumphs, he is FULLY POTTY TRAINED.

I can hardly believe it myself - this has definitely been the biggest parenting challenge to date. He was not an easy kid to train. All of you who just slap some underwear on your 18-month-old and have them mastering the toilet in a weekend can kiss my pregnant white butt. Because I'm here to tell ya, it's not always like that. Oh man, is it not.

We started the process back when he was two and a half, so about a year ago. Yes, a YEAR. We went through lots of resistance in which case we would stop for a few weeks and then start again. He'd go back and forth between no accidents and pooping on his floor and painting the walls with it when he was supposed to be sleeping. NOT. FUN.

Finally, one day something clicked and he stopped having accidents and being obsessed with his own droppings. He's been mostly accident-free at home for a few months now. Which left us to work on outings and bedtime. He was highly resistant to using any toilet but the one in our house so out in public was a challenge. But a few days ago, he did a 180 and started agreeing to go pee while we were out and about. He's successfully gone on four or five outings now with no accidents so I'm calling that mastered!

As for nights - he has always been a heavy night-wetter. Would wake up soaked most of the time. We've been cutting back his liquids in the evening though and he was waking up dryer. Couple that with him thinking he was being slick by taking a crap in his diaper as soon as we put him to bed just so he could come back downstairs, and I was DONE with diapers. Last night was the final straw and I put him in some underwear and told him no more diapers, ever. I expected to be woken in the middle of the night to clean soaked sheets, but surprisingly, he went the whole night dry!! I was so proud.

So tonight is his second night in underwear. I made him some special fleece ones so in case he does wet the bed, it'll be contained a little better. He's already come down twice to potty though and peed both times, so I'm thinking he's probably good for the night.

If you're thinking of asking me for tips - don't! I don't know any. As if that isn't obvious by the year it took to train my kid, haha. But seriously, I feel like I'm still clueless, and we get to start this whole process again with Beckett soon. But hey - at least now I won't have three in diapers!

Wordless Wednesday - Womb Space

2009-04-29T22:52:00.000-04:00

Photo Recipe: Beefy Italian Ring and Veggies

2009-04-25T19:40:00.003-04:00

I threw this together on the fly for lunch today, which is rare for me because I almost always use a recipe. Now, I'm no Pioneer Woman, but this was pretty tasty so I thought I'd do my first photo recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 3/4 cups ricotta cheese
3/4 cup grated parmesan
1 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce
2 tubes refrigerated crescent rolls
1 can mushrooms (or fresh if you choose)
1 tsp Italian seasoning
2 cloves fresh garlic
2 eggs
1-2 fresh zucchini
Approx. 10-15 stalks fresh asparagus

1. Brown the ground beef in a skillet on medium-high heat.

2. Add the Italian seasoning, mushrooms, spaghetti sauce and garlic. Mix together and allow to simmer.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the ricotta, eggs, and parmesan cheese.

It should look like this:

4. Stir in the meat mixture and mix well. You'll have something like this.

5. Add in the mozzarella and mix it in as well.

6. For this part, I use a round baking stone from Pampered Chef. A round pizza pan would also work. Unroll the crescent rolls and arrange them on the stone in a ring like this.

7. Drop spoonfuls of the meat and cheese mixture onto the crescents, until the ring is full. Side note: you will have lots of filling leftover. Save it to make another ring or spoon it onto a bun for an Italian sloppy joe!

8. Fold the ends of the crescents over and tuck them in so the filling is enclosed. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

When it comes out, it will look like this. Yum!

9. To make the veggies, dice everything up into bite size pieces.

10. Toss in a skillet with 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat.

11. Sprinkle in some Italian seasoning and garlic to taste. Saute until the veggies are crisp and cooked through.

12. Remove from heat and stir in some shredded mozzarella and sprinkle grated parmesan on top.

And enjoy!

Operation WIP

2009-04-23T12:47:00.003-04:00

Also known as Works In Progress. I have several I need to finish and I'm trying (keyword there is trying!) to finish them all before I start anything new. Which is very difficult because there are so many tempting NEW projects I could start. I hate having half-finished pieces cluttering up my piles though.

I finished the easiest project first - a quilted pillow. Now I have three quilts I need to tackle that all need sewn together before I can do anything else.

The little weenie dogs are actually cut from one of Beckett's old stained onesies.

I also received my promo material for Avie Adorned. How cool is this stuff? Business cards and "packaging" for my bows! I punch a hole in the cards and then clip the bows on for shipping.

Speaking of bows, I added several new ones to the shop last night. Check it out!

Twin Craftiness

2009-04-20T10:09:00.004-04:00

I had the honor of making these little gift sets for twin boys born on the 17th. My awesome friend Cara was a surrogate and carried the boys for a couple from Iceland. They were a little early at 33 weeks but they're doing great and are just the cutest tiny things ever. I got to meet the proud mama and daddy and even got to visit the twins in the NICU yesterday. The hats fit them perfectly!

Wordless Wednesday: Hello In There

2009-04-15T14:07:00.002-04:00

Sawyer giving Avie a poke. Yes, my belly is lopsided - all three of my kids favored the right side and have stretched it out!

Bunny Day Activities!

2009-04-13T11:08:00.001-04:00

Happy Easter from Sawyer and Beckett from Alicia Melban on Vimeo.

Egg Hunt

2009-04-13T08:30:00.002-04:00

Easter Morning

2009-04-13T08:27:00.002-04:00

What do you get when you wait until 11pm on Easter Eve to go shopping for goodies? Sand buckets as Easter baskets. Hey, they're cheaper and more durable anyway. I'm glad I bought the peeps a couple weeks ago because the shelves were barren on Saturday. All that was left were loads of that edible grass - apparently not the best invention ever.

Coloring Eggs

2009-04-13T08:22:00.002-04:00

The next few posts will be pictures only, because I'm lazy and my kids are cute. :D

They did pretty good, no?

Introducing...

2009-04-11T15:00:00.007-04:00

The reason I haven't blogged in a week..

My brand spanking new Etsy shop!!

Avie Adorned - Custom Boutique Bows

I've been working all week to get this up and running and I'm so excited. I'll be adding lots more over the coming days and weeks. If you love Gymboree, definitely check it out because I'll be doing lots of made to match stuff.

Warning: This Post Contains Blood and Gore

2009-04-05T09:19:00.004-04:00

Okay, so it's not really that bad. But I thought I would warn you squeamish folks up front.

As of last night, I have officially completed one of the Milestones of Motherhood: the first trip to the Emergency Room for stitches. Surprisingly, we haven't had to do this yet with Sawyer, but with Beckett being my more monkey-like and fearless one, he had to get it out of the way early.

We had some friends over for dinner last night, and while the lasagna was in the oven we went outside so my friend could take some family pictures of us. The boys looked adorable in their Easter outfits and the shoot went pretty well, considering we have two children who like to run in opposite directions like repelling magnets.

After the pictures, we came back to the house and were headed inside to have dinner. Sawyer and Beckett were, of course, running to see who could get through the front door first. Beckett's pants were a little big and his shoes a little too clunky I guess, because he tripped on the front step and dove head-first into the edge of the bricks by the front door.

I was too far back to see the point of impact and thought he had just hit the front door or not hit anything. Was expecting a couple tears and then another mad dash into the house. But the look on DH's face said otherwise and when he grabbed him up and spun around, I saw the blood a-gushing. Yep, onto his Easter outfit that he'd had on for all of 30 minutes (luckily Daddy actually accumulated most of the blood so I think I may be able to save the outfit).

I instantly flipped into Mommy Mode and ran into the house to grab a rag. Sat him up on the counter to survey the damage and instantly said, "Yep, that'll need stitches." I was so thankful that our friends were there, because we were able to leave Sawyer with them and take their van so that DH could ride beside Beckett and hold the rag on his head. He was such a doll baby and had stopped crying before we ever made it off our street, because I told him we were going to see a doctor to make it better.

We got to the ER and saw a triage nurse, and were thankfully able to get the bleeding stopped and a band-aid applied for the wait in the waiting room. I am knocking on all the wood available and hoping we don't catch the stomach bug from the little girl who was puking next to us. *shudder*

Once we got back into the room to see the doctor, a nurse came in to check out the damage and apply some numbing medicine. Beckett was so sweet and sat still for everything. He even did fabulously through his tetanus shot, which we unfortunately had to get sooner than I was hoping (since we delay vaccinations, he hadn't had it yet). He would wave to the nurse and say thanks every time she left the room. Total heartbreaker.

And a side note, I was amused by but did not appreciate the doctor who felt the need to come in and tell us that "tetanus is something you die from" and then leaving. Thank you, all-knowing ER doctor with stellar bedside manner. /sarcasm

Anyway. The nurse came back in then and applied some numbing medicine, which was really fabulous because it prevented him from having to get ANY shots of local anesthetic. I was so thankful for that. He had me cracking up because as soon as she applied it, he said "Ice cream!" because it felt cold.

We left that on for about half an hour and then the doctor came in to stitch him up. This was by far the worst part and I was loving her for being so quick about it. We had to wrap him up in a sheet like a burrito so he couldn't thrash, and just being held down like that really terrified him. He cried for me the whole time and it broke my heart into a million pieces. BUT, he didn't feel a single stitch go in, and that made it so much easier for me since I knew he was only crying because he didn't want to be held down. It only took about five minutes and she had three stitches applied and we were done.

He is, of course, back to his ever rambunctious self this morning, giving me mini heart attacks every time he dives onto the couch head first. Kids and being resilient and all that - it really is true.

I'm not one to miss documenting this type of event, so I of course have pictures. Look away now if a few drops of blood and some stitches gross you out! I wasn't TOO terrible of a mom because I at least waited until the major drama and gushing blood was over before busting out the camera.

Daddy and Beckett waiting at the ER. This was after we saw the triage nurse and we had gotten the bleeding stopped by then. We had to drive to the hospital with a rag pressed on his head.

Waiting for the nurse to come in and apply the numbing medicine.

Numbing medicine in place, kicking back and eating a Pop Tart.

All stitched up, bandaged, and waiting for our discharge papers.

Changing band-aids when we got home - as you can see he was happy as ever, hardly phased.

And the stitches this morning.

Haircuts: A Chinese Torture Method

2009-04-02T21:57:00.002-04:00

Or so my 2-year-old would have you believe.

Today, Beckett got a haircut. And I think we succeeded in annoying the piss out of every patron and stylist in the salon as he wailed and squawked like he was on fire. I know what you're thinking: where are the pictures of this so-called torture? I don't have any, because I was busy pinning his arms down and hugging him to my chest while the stylist tried not to slice an ear off amidst his thrashing.

He didn't want a Tootsie Roll Pop, he didn't want to wear the cool lime green cape with cars on it, and he certainly didn't want the Clippers of Doom anywhere near his head. Thankfully for my sanity (and much to the enjoyment of everyone's ears) he calmed down towards the end. One hair-covered red sucker, two sticky hands, a snotty nose and some cleavage full of hair shavings later, this little man emerged:

So in my opinion, the torture was worth it because he looks damn adorable. But rest assured I had her take quite a bit extra off the top. No plans to repeat this again any time soon.

Crafty Finds

2009-04-01T08:49:00.002-04:00

I went shopping with a friend last night and we hit up Goodwill, JoAnn's and Target. Despite being completely exhausted from being out and about for four hours (her even more than me, she's 31 weeks pregnant with twins!) I found some good stuff. Now I just need to find the energy to actually put it to use.

First, from Goodwill, some vintage kiddie fabric. I am in love with the colors in this. It has a very cool weave, not the typical cotton quilting stuff you see today.

Goodwill also had this pretty vintage pillowcase, perfect for a pillowcase dress. I adore that little scalloped edge.

And, two dress shirts, to be made into sundresses using this fab tutorial.

At JoAnn's I found some diamonds in the rough: Alexander Henry Bird Seed and Robert Kaufman Pears. The fabric on the right is a Keepsake Calico that I thought was cute.

And have you seen the Orla Kiely stuff at Target?? I WANT. IT. ALL. My favorite are these pear canisters. Yum. Want! Not to mention, it's almost like she created this collection with MY kitchen in mind. Observe:

Amirite??

Ugh. Lust.

Anyway, I did grab some of her awesome dishtowels and am planning to make them into a bag.

Ahhhh.. so many projects.

Week-End Wordle

2009-03-29T23:35:00.004-04:00

Go here to learn more about this nifty meme.

Why no, I'm not mainly posting this because I haven't blogged in a week and have an obsession with not being a blog-neglecter. *innocent whistle* It is pretty cool though. A nice way to wrap up the week's posts. And it's a little obvious that I've been posting a lot of recipes lately. Oops.

24-week Bump Report

2009-03-23T20:17:00.005-04:00

It's official - I feel huge. Not just in my belly but everywhere. My back fat is growing, people. UGH. I wish I could be one of those women who stays stick thin and gains 15 pounds her whole pregnancy, but I'm just not. I have such a huge appetite and I figure if I'm hungry, the baby must need the nutrients, so I eat. I gained 60 pounds with both of the boys and easily lost it each time, so I'm trying not to stress over it, but I still hate blimping up in the meantime. I fully expect to start getting the "Oh my GAWDDDD are you SURE it's not twinzzzz?!?!?!" comments soon. My belly is all baby, just like it was the last two times. I have to say, I love the way I carry my babies straight out in front.

Other than that I'm feeling pretty good. Trying to keep my activity level up, although I don't always have a lot of energy. Having two whirlwinds running rampant all over the house helps with the activity. Heartburn is worse than with Beckett but not as bad as with Sawyer. I'm feeling the baby move a lot more these days, mostly down low and to the sides. Not a lot of activity above the belly button yet. She was hanging out head down with her back to my right side at my last appointment so I think a lot of what I feel is a kick from her feets on the left which bumps her body into my right. It's total cuteness.

I broke down and bought some maternity pants over the weekend. Up until now I'd just been wearing my regular jeans with a Bella Band over them. It was a nice boost of confidence. But the zipper was starting to dig in and the ol' hips were getting too wide, so I went for a pair of these from Motherhood. HEAVEN. So freakin' comfortable, seriously. On the shirt front, I'm still wearing normal ones. I hate maternity clothes with a passion. The tent look is so not me. Luckily, long shirts are in right now. I snagged a few from Rue 21 that I'm pretty sure will last me my whole pregnancy because they're so freakishly long. Then after the baby's born I can just dry them on high to shrink them up. Yay recycling!

I'm having a lot of trouble getting around already, which I guess is to be expected with this being my 5th pregnancy, 3rd to make it past the first trimester. My hips ache horribly after laying down for any length of time, and the pain in my pubic bone is excruciating. It feels like it's splitting in half when I stand up. Probably the early stages of SPD, which I luckily escaped the last two times. I need to bring it up with my midwife and maybe start seeing a chiropractor. Because with 16+ more weeks to go, it's certainly not going to get any better on its own, and I'd prefer not to need a walker complete with tennis balls before I birth this kid.

My dreams are becoming more and more vivid as the weeks go on, as well as incredibly twisted most nights. I dream every single time I fall asleep, even after getting up to pee in the wee hours of the morning. Which means I have 2-4 dreams per night. Most are nightmarish and leave me not wanting to fall back asleep. Should probably discuss this with the midwife as well. I'm hoping there's an extra supplement I can take that will help.

Next update: 28 weeks. Getting closer!

This child is in trouble...

2009-03-19T22:45:00.002-04:00

For I have discovered how to make bows as big as her head.

Two Candles

2009-03-18T10:12:00.001-04:00

Apple Banana Walnut Cupcakes

2009-03-18T07:00:00.001-04:00

Also known as Beckett's Birthday Cupcakes! I wanted to do something a little healthier and not so sinfully sweet, and this turned out to be the perfect recipe. So of course, it must be shared. I found both recipes on allrecipes.com and altered them to my liking.

Apple Banana Walnut Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 2/3 cup shortening OR applesauce
* 1 1/4 cups white sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/4 cup vanilla yogurt
* 2 ripe bananas, mashed
* 3 small apples - peeled, cored and chopped
* 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
* 1 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour 24 muffin cups, or use paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the shortening/applesauce and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and yogurt. Beat in the flour mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Fold in the mashed bananas and chopped apples, then add the walnuts and white chocolate chips. Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

INGREDIENTS

* 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
* 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 teaspoon almond extract
* 1 tablespoon honey
* 3/4 cup powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, brown sugar, vanilla and almond extract. Beat with an electric mixer. When mixture starts to stiffen, stop mixer and add honey.

2. Continue to beat until light and fluffy. Then add the powdered sugar and mix until well blended.

3. Ice cupcakes immediately. I used a small amount of icing because I didn't want to overpower the already very flavorful cupcakes. Also, if you would like less almond flavor, cut the amount of almond extract in half.

Of course, these wouldn't be complete for the birthday boy without a finishing touch. So I added what else? Dinosaurs!

Birthday Boy at the Zoo

2009-03-17T21:03:00.002-04:00

We took the boys to the zoo this morning with some friends and their two boys. They all were surprisingly well-behaved, no injuries occurred and no children were misplaced. I call that a successful outing.

Shark touch tank:

Checking out the meerkats:

Hitchin' a ride:

S and B with my friend's little boy Lucas:

And her other little boy Logan:

Happy Birthday, Big Man!

2009-03-17T16:30:00.004-04:00

Dear Beckett,

At exactly this time two years ago, you came swimming into the world in a pool in our bedroom. 8 pounds and 13 ounces of squishy cuteness, who would grow to be a high needs infant the complete opposite of your brother. We weren't prepared for the challenges we would face with a baby who never slept and was rarely content. But we managed, and all those sleepless night were well worth it.

At age two, you are such an absolute joy to be around. One of the happiest toddlers I know and still a total mama's boy, much to my enjoyment. Nothing makes my day better like a cuddle from my chunky monkey, and there is no shortage of Beckett cuddles in this house.

You idolize your big brother and the contentment and pride I feel watching you mimic his every move is indescribable. You are best friends more often than not, and I am thankful a hundred times over every day that I was blessed with two boys so close in age. The only thing that will match that is seeing your baby sister look up to you the same way. You are going to be such a fabulous big brother. You did have a pretty good teacher, after all.

I can't believe it has been two years, baby boy. I still get choked up thinking back to the day you were born, and I will have just as many happy tears tonight when I watch you blow out your two candles. Thank you for giving me so many reasons to smile every day.

All the love my heart can manage,
Mama.

Not Me! Monday

2009-03-16T20:00:00.003-04:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This will be a short list of confessions this week, because I have lots of work to do still tonight for Beckett's birthday tomorrow. I mean, I don't. ;)

Upon getting home from work today, my husband did not immediately need a beer because Sawyer did not put on my bra, declare that he was a girl, and no longer had a penis. I also did not laugh hysterically as this unfolded while at the same time saying, "I'm so sorry, dear!"

Tomorrow is not Beckett's birthday and I do not still need to sew his superhero cape that will be his present. I will not be up late tonight finishing it! I also do not still need to go to the store for supplies for his cupcakes.

And again, Beckett is not turning two years old tomorrow. He was just born and is still my tiny little squishy. *sniff*

Get Low

2009-03-13T12:10:00.001-04:00

Teething starting early?

2009-03-11T14:00:00.005-04:00

With pregnancy comes increasingly vivid and strange dreams for me. Last night? Avonlea was born with 12 teeth. Practically a full set. Adorable newborn baby, 8 lbs. 15 oz., light fluffy blonde hair, nice pearly set of chompers. Let me just say that I'm glad I don't feel pain in my dreams, because this baby did not know how to refrain from biting while nursing.

I woke up and went, "Phew, THAT was weird. Thank goodness that doesn't really happen. One or two teeth, maybe, but not 12." And then I Googled it.

Also in the same dream was a 48-hour labor. I'm thinking I'd rather have the toothed newborn.

Not Me! Monday, in pictures

2009-03-09T11:43:00.003-04:00

Time for Not Me! Monday! Head over to MckMama's blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This week, I did not giggle uncontrollably like a 14-year-old when I got "flatio" as my word verification on someone's blog. I also did not deem it worthy of a screen capture so I could share it with you all.

When giving Sawyer a haircut, I did not use the wrong guard on the clippers (again) and leave the poor boy looking like a chemo patient. Again.

I also don't force my oldest son to go around with a buzz cut while his little brother gets to sport long lovely locks. It's not because Sawyer's hair is awful and coarse and looks bad long, while Beckett's is soft and fine and straight as a pin. It's even cute after getting soaked in the rain.

My children always pose like angels for photo ops. They never ignore me, try to run away, or have to be held upside down by Daddy while I snap away madly.

I didn't cringe as my two tornadoes whizzed around the seemingly delicate Lego sculptures at the Children's Museum. My kid would never be the one to grab hold of the dragon's lower jaw and cause the whole thing to come crashing down.

I do not have only nine bags left out of the 36-bag case of Wild Berry Skittles that DH got me for Valentine's Day. And it definitely wasn't me who ate them all. Definitely the boys. And the cats. But not me.

And in that same vein, I would never stop at Dunkin' Donuts for a late night snack after a filling dinner at Weber Grill. Because my pregnancy diet is the perfect balance of the five food groups, with absolutely nothing unhealthy ever. Mmmmhmm.

Support Seth, two amazing charities, and win BIG!

2009-03-09T10:05:00.007-04:00

Remember the bag I posted a picture of last week?

You can win it! I'm also donating a personalized minkee blankie that you can win as well.

But really, that's not even the best part about this giveaway. Let me give you a little back story. My good friend Ellyn has two beautiful baby boys that she is celebrating this month with a rockin' giveaway. Sweet baby Eli was born still and his second birthday is the 28th, so we are celebrating the little man in style.

And Eli's little brother Seth is the other guest of honor. See, Seth had a rough start in life, and he lost his hearing as a result of some strong antibiotics he was on in the NICU. He needs cochlear implants so he can hear some day. Which brings me to the BIG prize in this giveaway: the Profound Pictures Prize Package! By making a donation of just $10, you will be entered to win your choice of a Canon Rebel XS or a Nikon D40! Plus tons of great accessories like a camera strap, camera bag and your own copy of Photoshop Elements. Your donations will go towards two amazing charities: Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep and Rhyan's Hope.

There are lots of other great prizes too, including the items I donated, which you can be entered to win for FREE simply by promoting the contest on your blog. So get over to Profoundly Seth and enter!

German Chocolate Cupcakes with Coconut Pecan Frosting

2009-03-07T17:07:00.003-05:00

I made these today and OH. MY. They are divine. It would be a sin NOT to share the recipe with my bloggy friends.

German Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes 30 cupcakes

* 1/2 C hot water
* 4 oz unsweetened Baker’s Chocolate
* 1 C butter, room temperature
* 2 1/2 C sugar
* 4 eggs
* 2 1/4 C flour
* 1 t baking soda
* 1/2 t salt
* 1 C buttermilk
* 1 t vanilla extract

1. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate in the water and then remove from heat immediately and set aside.
2. In a large mixer bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure to beat well in between each addition.
4. Add the remaining ingredients and blend at low speed until combined.
5. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until the top bounces back when touched.

Coconut Pecan Frosting

* 1 cup evaporated milk
* 1 cup white sugar
* 3 egg yolks
* 1/2 cup butter
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 cups flaked coconut
* 1 cup chopped pecans

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine milk, sugar, egg yolks, butter and vanilla. Cook, stirring frequently, until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in coconut and pecans. (I stirred with a wire whisk almost constantly so I wouldn't end up with scrambled eggs in my frosting. Once it got to a boil I let it boil about 5 minutes and then emptied it into a bowl and added the pecans and coconut. Then let it cool fully before icing.)

Me Via Flickr

2009-03-04T19:03:00.002-05:00

Here's how it works....

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

b. Using only the first page, pick an image.

c. Select the size of boxes as 3 by 4. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name? Alicia
2. What is your favorite food? cheeseburgers.
3. What high school did you go to? Mooresville High School
4. What is your favorite color? pink.
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Kat Von D
6. Favorite drink? Diet Dr. Pepper
7. Dream vacation? Japan
8. Favorite dessert? cupcakes!
9. What you want to be when you grow up? fulfilled.
10. What do you love most in life? my family
11. One Word to describe you. passionate
12. Where do you live? Indiana

Sawyer Says

2009-03-04T11:37:00.004-05:00

So there is a note circulating on Facebook for you to interview your toddler about yourself. It took Sawyer a minute to get the hang of it, but once he did, it was pretty funny.

1. What is something mommy always says to you?
Uhhhhh... this!

2. What makes mommy happy?
Uhhhhh.. I don't know! This!

3. What makes mommy sad?
Because you like candy. You're not having any babies. Grandma is having a baby. (Um, okay!)

4. How does your mommy make you laugh?
Like this... ahahahahahhahaa!

5. What was your mommy like as a child?
You growed bigger.

6. How old is your mommy?
I'm not your mommy, you're Beckett's mommy!

7. How tall is your mommy?
I don't know! This big, taller!

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Um, nothing. Just working around and give me a kiss and going potty and laying down and resting on the couch and going to bed. That's a good thing. (So apparently he notices that I like to sleep. Ha.)

9. What does your mommy do when you're not around?
Well, it's in my backpack and my Batman costume.

10. If your mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?
Nothing. Will you just do this for me, mommy?

11. What is your mommy really good at?
Playing with your sewing machine. You sew.

12. What is your mommy not very good at?
I don't know. Okaygottagobye!

13. What does your mommy do for a job?
Uh, nothing. (Thanks, kid!)

14.What is your mommy's favorite food?
Dinner.

15.What makes you proud of your mommy?
Um, just the girl baby! (Awwwww.)

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Mighty B!

17. What do you and your mommy do together?
We fly in the air like butterflies! Is that a good idea?

18. How are you and your mommy the same?
Yeah yeah yeah yeah like that!

19. How are you and your mommy different?
Because we are friends.

20. How do you know your mommy loves you?
Because I'm just gonna eat you up!

21. What does your mommy like most about your dad?
The girl baby.

22. Where is your mommy's favorite place to go?
To the store.

The Everything Bag

2009-03-03T14:55:00.002-05:00

I made this bag yesterday using the Everything Bag Tutorial. Didn't take me long at all and I love it. I think I could be growing addicted to making bags. I have a mile-long list of supplies to get at the craft store so I can tackle a few different patterns I have bookmarked.

This bag (and some other goodies that will be forthcoming) is part of a super special event that I will have more info about on Sunday. So keep yours eyes peeled!

Not Me! Monday

2009-03-02T13:46:00.002-05:00

I do not let my child eat crayons. That would just be gross. I also did not grab my camera and snap a picture of his purple crayon face instead of immediately scrubbing it with a wash cloth.

Above mentioned child does not still wake multiple times a night at almost two years old. And we definitely do not give in to whatever demands he has at the time, whether it be drinks, more blankets or an episode of Max and Ruby. We would never be too exhausted to worry about the bad habits we are creating and just want him to go back to sleep without screaming.

And if the above statement were true, I would never be so lazy as to have just now, today, gotten around to ridding his crib of the mountain of blankets he has horded in an effort to eliminate that portion of the problem.

No, I did not just admit that my two-year-old is still in a crib.

I do not have about ten loads of laundry piled on my couch waiting to be folded. That would be such an eyesore. And I would never dress the children from that pile, thus forcing them to wear wrinkly clothes. My children are always perfectly groomed and dressed to the nines.

I did not learn a couple weeks ago that I am going to become an aunt for the first time. My baby brother is definitely still a baby and has no interest in girls. And despite the less than perfect situation he is currently in, I am not the least bit excited about my impeding niece or nephew. Nope, not at all. Which means I definitely did not announce it all over Twitter.

I am not contemplating Arby's for dinner tonight just because I have a coupon for a free Roast Burger. That would be unhealthy! And I bet I did not just tempt all of you to do the exact same thing.

What all have you not done this week?

This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Today's Sewing Project

2009-03-01T17:27:00.002-05:00

I needed a break from sewing the states quilt blocks, so I decided to do something completely different today. My friend Rachel made a cute tote bag for her little boy and it inspired me to make a bag. My current "purse" is actually more of a giant tote bag (it's this one) and for the little amount of things I actually carry (wallet, cell phone, camera) it's way too big. So I made this smaller one to carry this spring.

The straps were originally supposed to tie in a knot, but the fabric I used was too thick and the straps were too short, so I had to improvise and just stitch them together. The straps are still a little short for my liking.

It has a nifty little pocket inside that fits my cell phone perfectly though. I have a ton of this skully denim left (literally, like 4 yards). I think I need to make a diaper bag to match.

Avonlea's Quilt: Finished!

2009-02-28T18:00:00.003-05:00

I am so proud of this thing. My first "real" quilt and it actually doesn't suck! It's not perfect - there are tension issues and I got a little messy in some parts of the quilting. But I am in love with it. Photo overload, I know.

Ignore DH's legs. I still haven't found a good spot to hang quilts for photographing.

The back.

I decided to add a little personal touch and free-motion her name into the bottom corner.

I love the way a quilt looks when folded.

Folded nicely on her crib.

And big brother had to get in on the action. He is so fascinated with all the things I make for his little sister. :)

USA Quilt

2009-02-27T09:57:00.002-05:00

After watching me work on the baby's quilt for so long (which by the way is FINISHED, I just need to take pictures), Sawyer proclaimed to me yesterday that he wanted me to make him a quilt with blue, green, yellow and orange in it. I started digging through my scraps and some fabric I've had laying around for at least two years caught my eye. I have this great Alexander Henry states and capitals fabric, as well as this map panel. I knew instantly I wanted to make him a quilt of the 50 states.

I was originally going to just do the panel on the front and the AH fabric on the back, but the cut I had was smaller than the panel. So instead, I decided to fussy cut each state and make a block to feature each one. Then I'll put the panel on the back. I absolutely LOVE how they are turning out so far. The blocks are so fun to make, too, since they're all different.

Here are a few of the blocks so far:

I have all 50 states cut out, although I'm not sure if they will all make it onto the quilt. I'm going to try though.

Taking the Plunge

2009-02-25T09:51:00.003-05:00

My latest project is the most time-consuming: Avonlea's quilt. It's about 47" x 60". I didn't intend for it to be that big, it just kind of happened, but I'm glad now because it should be big enough to use on her toddler bed.

It took me a day to cut and piece everything, then another day of basting and beginning the quilting. This is 2 days of work so far and I'm about 25% done with the quilting. I'm doing free-motion quilting, which is where you lower the feed dogs and use your hands to guide the speed and stitch direction. The pattern I'm doing is called stippling, which is basically just a continuous squiggly line over the whole quilt. I've never done this on a scale this large before (in fact, this is only the second time I've done it in general), so it's a little intimidating, but I'm really happy with it so far.

I wish now that I had made the blocks a little more detailed and the sashing a little thinner, but I still love it. The back is really cool too, I can't wait to take a picture of it.

I have to say that this is really exciting for me. I have always been an avid reader of several quilting blogs, my favorites being a quilt is nice, Crazy Mom Quilts and Handmade by Alissa. I love to marvel at the intricate quilts they make. I could also spend hours browsing quilts on Flickr. Until now, I've been too intimidated to try anything like this myself, figuring I would just be an in-the-ditch quilter for life. I'm so glad I took the plunge though and can't wait to make more.

Okay, on to the pictures.

Laid out over the table:

Close-up of the quilting:

Here you can see the difference between a quilted section and unquilted section:

Halfway!

2009-02-23T20:30:00.002-05:00

Today marks 20 weeks. And I have quite the bump to show for it.

Have I mentioned how much I love pregnancy? The ability to eat a huge meal and not worry about sucking your gut in afterward. Can't beat that. Okay, so that's not the only reason I love it, but it's a nice perk. I also love not having to visit an OB and step on a scale that measures 10 pounds heavier than my home scale.

The nerve and joint pain, I could do without - experiencing that already this time around. But I'm finally feeling Miss Avie move on a regular basis, which is fabulous. I love it so much. I felt her from the outside for the first time a couple nights ago and it just made me smile.

And the baby's name is...

2009-02-23T18:57:00.006-05:00

And let me just say that I am severely disappointed in the magnitude of people who don't get the literary reference. Anne of Green Gables? L. M. Montgomery? Road to Avonlea? Ringing any bells? Seriously, about 99% of the people I know in real life have never heard of it. This makes me sad.

Anyway, for those of you who are in that same boat, it's pronounced Av (like have)-in-lee. The boys already call her Avie and it is adorable.

For Keisha

2009-02-21T21:41:00.002-05:00

This is the crib we ordered. $134 from Wal-Mart. Can't beat that.

Sickies and More Nursery Updates

2009-02-21T20:51:00.003-05:00

Sawyer broke my heart a couple days ago.

He'd been loafing around, lethargic and grumpy, and spent most of the afternoon on the couch. He'd been telling me his "head and body were bleeding," his way of saying they hurt.

Then, out of nowhere he said, "Mommy, can't I just feel fine?"

My heart shattered into a million little pieces for my poor boy who didn't understand why he felt bad. Really, isn't that just the saddest? He then told me he needed to go to the doctor and I assured him that Mommy would take good care of him and we didn't need the doctor yet. He seemed satisfied with that, which made me feel a little better.

I thought for sure he would start puking shortly after that, but he never did. Has just been running a fever and had no energy or appetite. He's the sweetest when he's sick though, always asking for hugs and drinks of water. We went to Sonic for dinner tonight and he only took one bite of his corn dog and ate maybe two tater tots. Poor guy.

He perked up today when we showed him the baby's room:

He's excited enough about it that he's FINALLY calling her by her name, and not "GoGo," which is the name he had given her since I first found out I was pregnant.

Speaking of the name - I think I may be spilling the beans soon, so keep your eyes peeled. ;)

More Nursery Progress

2009-02-21T12:46:00.003-05:00

I feel like this is turning into a home makeover blog, but hey, I'm proud of my handiwork and like to show it off.

Last night we painted:

A couple days ago I finished the crib skirt:

And yesterday I made a quilted wall hanging. My first ever attempt at freehand quilting:

Today we're hanging the chair rail and curtains. And after that, pretty much all the heavy lifting is DONE (other than putting together the crib when it comes) and I can focus on making accent pieces!

Stash revamp!

2009-02-18T20:33:00.003-05:00

I was inspired by a couple of the crafty blogs I follow and decided to reorganize my fabric stash today. As you can see, it was much needed.

The serger is going on Craigslist since I never use it. I'd eventually love to have built-in shelves here to store my fabric, but for now piles will have to do. I still have several bins of minkee and other random fabric upstairs that I need to go through, as well as two huge carts full of scraps. Quilting paradise, I tell you.

The fabric is stacked two rows deep. Back right corner is fleece. Next to that is chenille and knits/thermals. Then back left is decorator weight stuff (I really need to make some bags or something). Front right is minkee (yum!) and the rest in the front is all my cotton, since I use it most. There's also some satin binding there in front, as well as my scraps basket and notions box underneath. Oh, and some rolls of tulle that I need to break out and make some tutus for babygirl.

I feel so refreshed now and totally ready to start banging out some quilts now that I can see everything I have to work with.

Prettyful Window Valance

2009-02-17T11:31:00.002-05:00

The window valance is finished! I hate hate hate sewing curtains so I'll just buy some white sheers to go under the valance. Isn't it pretty? Next up, crib skirt.

Ignore the green walls, I hung it in my dining room for the picture.

Close-up of the pretty edging.

Mission Crib Bumper: Accomplished

2009-02-15T21:28:00.002-05:00

After much swearing and extensively pin-pricked fingers, the first piece of the baby's bedding is finished. I'm glad I tackled the bumper first because it was definitely the most time-intensive part. I can't wait til I have the actual crib to display it on because these pictures just don't do it justice.

Oh, and that ruffle on the top edge? PAIN IN THE ASS. I wasn't smart enough to invest in a ruffler foot for my sewing machine and thought I could do it by hand. HA. That 400-inch long strip of fabric had other plans for me. Never again will I attempt to hand-gather a ruffle.

Anyway. On to the pictures.

The fuchsia and plum panels go on the inside and the yellow and white will face out through the slats. The big A will go on the back side of the crib (like this).

Let's begin.

2009-02-13T21:02:00.004-05:00

I am a few minutes away from slicing into that scrumptious fabric (eep!) and beginning work on squishy's bedding. Had to get a photo of the before, because things tend to get messy when I'm getting creative.

Crafty gifts are the best gifts.

2009-02-13T18:32:00.003-05:00

I don't much care for Valentine's Day, but my hubs is a sweetie so I wanted to do something for him without spending money. I also needed to practice hand-stitching quilt binding, and he likes showing his military pride. So voila, a quilted service flag is born. He loves it. :)

Basic Bow Tutorial

2009-02-11T07:55:00.003-05:00

I've been getting lots of questions about how I make my bows, so despite my absolute loathing for the sound of my own voice, I made my first video tutorial. I may do more in the future with different techniques depending on the response to this one. Enjoy!

First Baby Dream

2009-02-08T22:35:00.003-05:00

At each appointment with my midwife, she always asks if I've had any dreams about the baby. Last appointment, I had to say no. But yesterday, while napping on the couch, I had an extremely vivid dream about her. I want to write it down here so I don't forget it. It'll be cool to look back after she's born and see if any of it is true.

For some reason we were out of town when I went into labor. Not sure where we were, but as a result I ended up giving birth in a hospital. I still had a natural birth, but the actual moment of giving birth was blacked out in the dream. It flashed forward to me holding this gargantuan baby and begging people to tell me how much she weighed, so I could announce her arrival on Twitter (yes, I'm a nerd). They all seemed to think it was some hilarious joke to not tell me her weight and it pissed me off. She was huge though, had to be around 11 pounds. And she had quite a bit of reddish-blonde hair.

The weird part was that at first, I thought she was a boy and was calling her Daniel. Weird because that has never been a name we have considered. I told the boys to come meet their new brother. Then, it occurred to me - oh yeah, I was supposed to have a girl! I unwrapped her and pulled back her diaper and sure enough - all girl. I told DH, "Oh, it's _______ ______!" The name we have chosen for her, plus the middle name that I like and DH isn't crazy about. I told him that of course this means we have to use that name now, so there.

The dream ended with me nursing her and then her sleeping peacefully in my arms. She was so pretty and I got several good long looks at her face. It will be crazy to see if she actually looks like she did in my dream. And if she really has that much hair - I'm expecting a baldy.

Speaking of Little Miss, my brother officially moved out this weekend. Which means I have an empty room and can start the NURSERY! I got paint tonight and will probably get it on the walls this week. It'll be two-tone with the Rose Dust on the bottom and Cornmeal on top, separated by a white chair rail.

New Sister

2009-02-05T09:26:00.002-05:00

Finally, some estrogen in the house! Now Little Miss and I will have a feminine companion amongst all these boys. We'd been talking for awhile about getting a third cat, and I happened to be looking on Craigslist the other day and found the perfect candidate. Her name is Lulu and we brought her home yesterday. She is SO pretty and fits in perfectly with our boys.

Best of all, we got her completely FREE and her previous owner also gave us all her supplies. She is up to date on shots and a very healthy kitty.

The boys (all four of them) LOVE her. Zach and Julius have been following her around since she got here. They are dying to pay with her. Unfortunately, she wants NOTHING to do with them so far. I'm letting her camp out in my bedroom most of the time and will just bring her down every now and then for small doses of the boys until she gets used to her new surroundings.

The hilarious part is that Zach and Julius are now pacing the house, searching for her and howling like they lost their best friend. Poor girl isn't going to know what to do with all the attention.

Here's Zach and Julius meeting her and cornering her, trying to get her to play. Heh.

Break out the pink...

2009-02-02T12:25:00.002-05:00

Because she's definitely a GIRL!

And my 17 week belly shot:

Tomorrow is the big day.

2009-02-01T22:08:00.003-05:00

I go for another anatomy scan tomorrow, and most importantly, the confirmation that this girly still has her girly bits. I really hope she hasn't grown any new appendages, because if she has, the baby boy will look pretty funny wearing all the bows I've been making. Who knew it would take a baby girl to get my crafty motivation back?

Oh yes. I'm not ashamed to admit that I plan to make her one to match every outfit. I've waited a looooong time to have a little babe that I can dress all frilly and dainty.

I already painted the plaque that will eventually be transformed into a bow holder as well. Yes, she has a name, and I doubt it will change because it took me way too long to painstakingly paint those letters to redo it. Sorry about the blur. It's still a secret! The 'A' is all you're getting.

Tune in tomorrow for a dangle vs. spout report, as well as more pictures of our sweet most likely girl.

When Daddy Cooks

2009-01-29T11:52:00.002-05:00

This is probably more suitable for Not Me! Monday, because it's more of a confession than anything else. But it's too hilarious not to blog. One of those moments where you say out loud, "I'm totally blogging this, honey, and the whole internet is going to laugh at you." You know you've had those moments.

So last night, we're laying in bed, laughing about an incident earlier in the day (and me making a mental note to blog about it) in which Beckett was fighting his nap and hollering from his crib. After about ten minutes of it, I turned to DH and said, "Well, what should we do with him?" Without missing a beat, he responded, "Give him a chocolate donut and tell him to go to sleep?"

We totally did give him that chocolate donut. And guess what? We got two hours of free time because the bribe worked and he went to sleep. My husband is a genius.

That lead to him mentioning to me that he had made the boys hot dog quesadillas for lunch.

"Come again?!"

"Yeah. Hot dog quesadillas. They needed meat in them and we didn't have any chicken left."

"Oh, you're so getting blogged TWICE now."

Saying goodbye to handmade.

2009-01-25T00:00:00.003-05:00

As many of you know or have heard, new legislation that will go into effect on February 10th by the name of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) will force many small businesses, work-at-home-moms and other makers of children's items to close their doors. Forbes has a great article explaining the whole thing.

I won't even begin to explain how saddened, outraged, depressed and defeated I feel over this issue. I was a full time WAHM in the past and am a self-proclaimed handmade addict. The thought that I can no longer buy or sell handmade items is just sickening to me. And if you read into it further, you will discover that there is even a possibility that the making of items as gifts could be outlawed. I have no words for that idiocy.

I know that my first question was, "What can I do to help?" So I thought I'd pass along my findings to you. We need all the help we can get to turn this around.

One of the best things you can do is write a letter to your senator and congressman. You can find a sample letter here. Find your senator here and your congressman here. You can also put a button on your blog like I have at the top of this post. Find the code for that at Buy Handmade's blog.

Another thing I'm trying to do before the dreaded deadline is buy handmade while I still can. I searched around and found several stores with CPSIA specials. Check 'em out, help 'em out, show 'em some support.

Kissing Kumquats - Her adorable skirts are half price, plus many other great deals.

Hair Sprinkles - 25% off her entire stock of custom made hair clippies.

Whimsy Couture - Custom monogrammed onesies on sale for only $8.88.

plainjane - Her entire inventory of custom baby clothing and accessories are marked down.

Tiara's Boutique - Gorgeous custom tutus. Seriously, these things are adorable!

Baby Brewing - All baby and kids tees are marked down from $16 to just $6. Lots of witty and cute sayings screen-printed onto American Apparel tees.

Peanut and Tommy - Wide selection of knitted and crocheted toys marked down.

There are obviously many more so shop around Etsy and see what treasures you find before it's too late.

Reason #45474 my son makes me laugh

2009-01-24T21:02:00.003-05:00

Tonight he danced around the living room, playing air guitar on a drumstick and sang "I wish-a-fad-a MESSY'S GIRL!!"

Translation: "I wish that I had Jessie's girl."

Yes, my 3-year-old sings Rick Springfield. Quite well.

Crazy. I am crazy.

2009-01-21T13:49:00.002-05:00

So, scratch the post from last week in which I said I'd chosen what bedding we'd be getting. I decided on a whim today that I'll sew everything. I think I have lost my mind. I attempted it with Beckett and only got about halfway finished. But this time, I ordered super yummy Heather Ross fabric that I definitely can't let go to waste, so I'm in it for the long haul.

I decided to go with the Mendocino line in the Jughandle colorway. I'm picturing two-tone walls - fuchsia on bottom, pale yellow on top with a white chair rail. Hand-painted mermaid and fishy artwork. Lots of pillows and coordinating lamp shade, mobile and basket liners. Ohh, I'm drooling just thinking about it all coming together.

Drool with me. These are the fabrics I ordered:

SquishyGirl is spoiled.

2009-01-20T23:37:00.002-05:00

Already. And this is just the beginning.

Some of our purchases from the last two days. There are also several cupcake onesies I didn't take a picture of. She is going to be drowning in cupcakes.

15-week Ultrasound

2009-01-19T12:17:00.002-05:00

I've been waiting for this day for weeks and I can't believe it's finally here. The ultrasound was amazing. It took about an hour and the baby was soooo sweet. Laying on its belly the whole time, one arm back behind its head. Measuring between 15 and 16 weeks so that's good. My placenta is on the back of my uterus, which surprised me. I was sure I had an anterior placenta because I haven't felt near as much movement as I did with the boys at this stage. This one just seems to be a quiet baby.

And of course, the part everyone wants to know: it looks like squishy is a GIRL!! The tech didn't want to say for sure since I'm early still but there were definitely no dangly parts and we saw labia. Looked nothing like my boys' ultrasounds! DH and I went shopping and bought some pink already, we couldn't resist. We'll keep tags on and I'll go back in a few weeks to confirm.

Here's the money shot.. looks girl to me.

The Most Important Decision Ever

2009-01-15T22:30:00.003-05:00

Okay, so not quite. But pretty damn important to a super anal planner-aheader decorator.

After spending countless hours crawling through website after website chock full of baby gear, I think I am 99% sure what bedding we will be getting.

For a boy:

And for a girl:

I can picture either possibility in my head with certain wall colors and now I'm on pins and needles waiting until Monday, hoping that the babe will cooperate and we'll get a good enough shot to determine the sex. Because I cannot wait another three weeks. CAN. NOT. Most impatient pregnant woman in the world here.

I'm also 99% sure we are decided on names. And no, we aren't telling, so don't ask. Heh. But they're gorgeous and perfect and I can't wait to announce this little one by name on his or her birth day.

Baby!

2009-01-11T21:21:00.000-05:00

I hate being melodramatic in my blog posts because it's always short-lived. I woke up feeling much better yesterday. I really need to not miss doses of my meds any more because I'm pretty sure that was the main reason for my temporary freak-out.

Plus, I got to go squish on Miss Trinity yesterday and who wouldn't feel fab after that? She is so much tinier than my boys were. I got out Beckett's footprints when I got home and I'm not lying when I say his feet were twice the size of hers at birth. I almost hope I get a little peanut this time, just so I'll have a newborn a little longer.

I forgot about this crazy hormone thing.

2009-01-09T21:11:00.003-05:00

I have been on the verge of tears all day. Ugh! I know I need to just give in and have a good cry but DH is playing poker at a friend's house and I don't want to do it alone.

It has been such an emotional day for me and I'm sure it doesn't help that I've missed two doses of my Zoloft in all the excitement. Why am I a blubbering mess? Here's why:

My good friend since high school gave birth to a gorgeous baby girl today. I was at the hospital with her last night and stayed up until the birth aside from a couple hours of sleep at a friend's place.

I am so incredibly ecstatic for her but I also didn't expect the huge wave of emotions that would take over me. Seeing a laboring mama and then the tiny little baby that comes out of it really brought all the memories of Beckett's birth flooding back for me. And I won't lie, a few times today I have caught myself thinking, "Oh my god, that hurt. Really bad. And I have to do it again. What was I thinking??" I know it'll all turn out fine but it's so different when you see someone you know go through it as opposed to doing it yourself or seeing it on TV or the internet.

I also got the.. privilege *cough* of having my birthing choices challenged to my face over and over again throughout the day. An opinionated mama bear watching her youngest daughter go through natural labor - and very obviously blaming you for her daughter making the choice to attempt such a feat - does not equal a fun time. And being told that she "hopes I go through this tenfold" - well, you can only imagine how great that was to hear.

I just need a good hot bath and a long cuddle with my hubby to relax all the stress away. And tomorrow I'll get to go and love and squish on a newborn and hopefully that will make today not seem so rough.

Project 365: 1-7

2009-01-07T15:15:00.006-05:00

I decided to take another stab at Project 365 this year. I've failed twice in the past because really, there's only so many things you can take pictures of as a SAHM. But with 2.5 kids plus two cats, I'm hoping my life will be exciting enough this time.

Click the thumbnails for a larger view.

Fawyer

2009-01-06T15:43:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, Sawyer helped me write out a birthday card for DH. I tried to instruct him in writing "Happy Birthday" but we ended up with "Happe" and then the B-I in birthday, plus a bunch of random letters. It still charmed the pants off DH though, of course.

Also. He gets the letters F and S confused, because they sound so similar. And he absolutely insists that his name is spelled F-A-W-Y-E-R. Ah well, what can ya do?

DH and I had a deliciously unhealthy birthday dinner at Outback, where I guiltlessly snarfed down a bloomin' onion, Caesar salad, bloomin' burger (okay, so I only ate half of that) and some fries. NOM NOM NOM.

13 weeks

2009-01-05T22:37:00.001-05:00

Time is flying for me with this pregnancy. Which means my belly seems to grow at supersonic speed. Seriously, where did this thing come from?!

I love it though. Pregnancy is really the only time I feel truly and completely sexy.

Inaugural Not Me! Monday

2009-01-05T11:13:00.002-05:00

Today I'm participating in MckMama's Not Me! Monday for the first time. Never heard of it? Then hop on over to her blog and read the rules so that you, too, can air your dirty laundry and not feel an ounce of guilt about it. Or at least, be able to find someone who totally did not do something just a little more scandalous than you.

So, on to my.. erm.. confessions.

Yesterday morning, I totally did not fall down the stairs while holding Beckett. We were not only about halfway down and thus fell a full 8-9 steps. As clumsy as I am, I did manage to keep him on top of me and break his fall, resulting in several lovely battle wounds for myself. And yes, I did check on the baby with the doppler and he/she is fine. No, I definitely do not have my big fat cushiony butt to thank for that. Do I?

I did not get a hankering for nachos at almost one this morning while watching Food Network. And I most certainly did not use being pregnant as an excuse to melt some shredded cheese over tortilla chips and indulge, at 1am. They were not tasty at all.

I have not been a lazy oaf for the past several weeks, spending most of my time on the couch. My laundry is not piling up and my kids definitely do not watch too much Dora and Blues Clues. I also have not trained Sawyer to do things like bring me clean diapers and throw the dirty ones away. Nope, definitely not already behaving like this in the first trimester of pregnancy.

And speaking of the first trimester, I do not already have to keep my pants unbuttoned at only 13 weeks pregnant. My parents, however, did get me two BellaBands for Christmas which have been a lifesaver for my chronically unbuttoned jeans.

My husband is not turning 27 today, and I am not turning 24 in a couple weeks. We are not getting older. It has not been ten years since he graduated high school and we certainly do not sometimes act like we still ARE in high school. Nope, not us.

And lastly, I am not still in my pajamas at almost noon and my kids are not eating waffles and bananas for lunch. Of course I have already been to the store for baking supplies to make DH's birthday cupcakes, and they are already in the oven.

Or.. not.

It's starting to sink in.

2009-01-03T11:24:00.004-05:00

A couple days ago, I received a sample package from Luvs containing one of their cute little BLues Clues diapers. I'm a Luvs girl, so I was like, "Sa-weet! Free diaper for my giant kid!" (Because you know the size 6 - which BOTH my kids wear - has the least amount of diapers in the box. NOT fair.)

Well, this was no size 6. Not even a 5 or a 4. It was an itty bitty, teeny tiny size ONE. Aside from wondering how the gods at Luvs could know I was baking a wee little thing that could fit into that size, I marveled for a good five minutes that OH MY GOD - I am going to have another baby that fits into that size. Size 1's are so tiny, people. And tiny equals disgustingly cute.

DH does not believe that either of our chub monsters ever fit unto a size 1, and I had to assure him that they actually started at the size below that - newborn. I have a hard time believing it myself.

Up until now, it has not really seemed real that I'm having a baby. I'm in that in-between stage of having a little bloat-belly but not feeling any movement or getting many "when are you due?" comments. Not even having a doppler at home to spy on the little nugget every now and then has made it much of a reality. But seeing that tiny little diaper that fit into the palm of my hand made me catch my breath.

Holy crap, guys - I'M HAVING A BABY.

Hello, 2009

2009-01-01T10:15:00.003-05:00

2008 had it's fair share of good, bad and awful. It goes without saying that I am beyond stoked that 2009 is here and I'm ready for a fresh start.

2008 became the end of life on earth for two of my closest grandparents. Both losses were shocking and very unexpected, and gave me my first real dose of loss in my life.

My parents moved away in 2008, leaving me to truly grow up and learn how to live day to day without my mom a phone call away as a last minute baby-sitter or grocery shopping partner.

I struggled with many personal demons in 2008, and I'm confident in saying that I have overcome them. Confusion over sexuality, battles with severe depression and a troubled relationship consumed my life for over half of 2008. I turned to partying and alcohol and shut everyone out. Not my proudest moment as a mother by far, but I'm so incredibly lucky that my wonderful husband stood by me through the worst of times and we are now proudly past those demons, together.

2008 made me the mother of a pre-schooler and a toddler instead of a toddler and a baby. My boys are the only ones, aside from my husband, who have stuck by my side no matter how bad it got and were always able to bring a smile to my face. I am so incredibly in love with them and couldn't imagine two more perfect children.

We got the shock of our lives in 2008 when the baby we never thought we would have was conceived. I won't lie and say it was easy at first, as we were both confused and scared and unsure if we could handle it. A third baby was not in our plans but we have embraced it with open hearts and are now beyond ecstatic about this new little life.

2008 left our family, like many others in America, struggling in this horrible economic crisis. But we thank our lucky stars that my husband still has a job, we still have our house and we still have each other. We will get through it, and I feel that things will get better sooner rather than later.

Hello, 2009. Nice to meet you. I hope we become great friends.

Mouse?

2008-12-30T09:57:00.002-05:00

"MOUSE! MOUUUUUSE!"

"Mickey Mouse?"

"Nooooo! Mouse!"

"Cheerios?"

"Nooooo!"

"Mail?"

"Nooooooooooo"

Then he bangs on the pantry door and as soon as I let him in, what does he make a beeline for? MARSHMALLOWS. Duh, Mom.

Time for the Snip Snip.

2008-12-22T11:24:00.003-05:00

My cats are gay.

No, really.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. I just feel slightly violated when I'm awoken at 2:30am to the rhythm of my two male cats going at it next to me on the bed. At first I thought one of them was having a seizure. Then I turned the light on. And saw Zachary splayed out on his back, Julius straddled over him. And went, "Oh. OH. NO, none of that. NONE OF THAT NONSENSE."

Looks like I'll be putting in a call to the spay and neuter clinic when we get back from vacation. They're five months old now so I suppose it's time. No feline promiscuity in this house!

Oh, and yes, I thought about how I would blog this as I laid in bed at 2:30am, and I did ponder if it would be appropriate to post about my humping cats on the internet. You see what conclusion I came to.

And So It Begins

2008-12-20T13:14:00.002-05:00

And this, my friends, is evidence that I will be able to be seen from space by July 2009. I will be my own friggin' country if I keep growing at this rate.

I had been happily gloating that I wasn't getting poochy at all, up until around four days ago. Then THIS THING popped up out of nowhere. Hey there, ten weeks and four days old fetus.

Add Magic Erasers to the Grocery List

2008-12-18T16:53:00.005-05:00

My children both have a profound love for crayons. For Beckett, it's tasting them. He just can't resist the rainbow of wax and it's not uncommon for me to open a diaper and find hot pink nuggets staring back at me. It's become a game for him now, and he gnaws on them just to get a rise out of me. He'll sneak one from Sawyer's stash and wait until I notice him inching it towards his mouth, and then dart off behind the recliner giggling his head off. He's apparently shared this hobby with the cats too, because a couple weeks ago I witnessed Zachary pooping a yellow crayon turd into the little box. Lovely, right?

Sawyer, on the other hand does not eat them, thankfully. He draws. All. Day. Long. Every page of every coloring book he owns is covered in a prism of colors, and he's even confiscated several of DH's notepads for use as his own personal sketch books. I'm also happy to say that he's inherited my artistic talent as opposed to his father's, which is a very fortunate thing. I think at this point the kid would win hands down in a draw-off with Daddy.

For some reason, lately he has started *ahem* "decorating" my furniture with his drawings. I don't know why, because he KNOWS he's not supposed to. But nonetheless, my kitchen table is now adorned with two smiling stick figures standing on some tall grass under a very bright sun.

And on Tuesday, what I thought was an innocent gazing out the living room window was actually him depicting an entire scene along the whole length of the window sills. It's wasn't until I heard him announce, "Mommy, I'm drawing your shirt!" that I found the artwork that he was oh-so-proud of. And really, how can you be mad about this? It's better than the boring white, yes?

From left to right we have some balloons, a dinosaur, a smiling sun and Sawyer and Mommy dancing around. Down at the other side were more suns, people, and random letters.

I tried to get him to pose with his masterpiece, but only Beckett was willing to get in the shot.

Toddler Logic

2008-12-15T14:55:00.002-05:00

A couple recent conversations with my ever so logical three-year-old:

Him: Mommy, what does a monkey say?
Me: *monkey sounds*
Him: What does a cow say?
Me: Moooo.
Me: Hey, what does Beckett say?
Him: *thinks for a minute* Um, Beckett is not an animal.

Him: Mommy, where did you come from?
Me: I came from Grandma.
Him: And where did I come from?
Me: You came from me.
Him: No, I came from the store.

HA. If only it had been as easy as scanning his butt across the U-Scan and popping in a credit card!

Beckett's First Haircut

2008-12-13T20:23:00.004-05:00

Beckett got his first haircut today! He was NOT excited about it. At all. The entire process looked like this:

But he looks so cute and grown up. He went from this:

To this:

Must. Step. Away.

2008-12-13T19:23:00.002-05:00

With the impending arrival of a third little person in our family, I joined a "due date club" as I have with my previous pregnancies. As I check in from day to day, it's becoming increasingly obvious to me that I really need to just stay away from those places this time around.

This is my third baby, so there's really nothing I have questions about or that is the "unknown." And there is only so much I can read from the clueless first time mommies before I can no longer sit on my hands to keep from typing, "Yes, lunch meat is going to make your baby grow five legs" or "Don't take a hot shower unless you want your uterus to spontaneously combust" or "You can totally feel your grape-size baby wiggling around already!" And my personal favorite, "Ew, GROSS, how dare someone offer you hand-me-downs for your precious little angel who only deserves top of the line designer duds?? How dare they touch your belly without getting PERMISSION???"

Seriously, I don't mean to be snarky. I was there once too. I remember being so incredibly neurotic during my pregnancy with Sawyer. It was insane. I was addicted to those mommy boards and felt the need to run and gab about every twinge, craving and doctor's appointment. And when he was born - holy cats on a cracker. I was the most over-protective and bitchy mom ever. I was the only one who was good enough for my baby and anyone even breathing in his general direction was a cause for concern.

The second time around, I did somewhat better and was more laid back. I still tended to get uppity about certain things though, and allowed myself to get involved in tiffs over breastfeeding or circumcision a little too often. Not quite out of the know-it-all phase of motherhood, I'm embarrassed to say.

This time, I am the most carefree I have ever been during a pregnancy. I welcome advice from people. I love that people rub my belly already, and I don't care if they don't ask first. I'm stoked every time someone offers me their baby's old clothes and gear, because we all know that crap is way too expensive for how short of a span it is used. I still *GASP* eat at Subway. And I don't give a hamster's hernia how other people choose to give birth or raise their kids. It is REFRESHING.

Maybe this is just the natural progression of motherhood coupled with getting older, I don't know. But I like it.

And on that note, I have to go teach my three-year-old why it's not cool to tell me he hates me. Oh boy, this is starting already?

Breakfast with Santa

2008-12-13T19:16:00.005-05:00

We had "Breakfast with Santa" today, complete with pancakes and sausage. I had hopes of getting at least one picture with both boys in it, but as expected, Sawyer was in full-on "I'll cover my face and pretend no one can see me" mode and completely refused to sit anywhere near Santa. Beckett surprised me and didn't want to leave Santa's side.

(crappy quality, scanned)

This is as close as Sawyer got.

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies with Vanilla Glaze

2008-12-13T10:53:00.004-05:00

We still haven't gotten around to painting cookies, but I wanted to share the recipe I used. I search high and low every year for a good sugar cookie recipe and can never find one. It's always too sticky or too crumbly or expands too much and loses its shape. This one is PERFECT and tastes so good. The glaze is really easy and tasty too. Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg yolk
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, combine the sugar, butter, cream cheese, salt, almond and vanilla extracts, and egg yolk. Beat until smooth. Stir in flour until well blended. Chill the dough for 8 hours, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough 1/3 at a time to 1/8 inch thickness, refrigerating remaining dough until ready to use. Cut into desired shapes with lightly floured cookie cutters. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Leave cookies plain for frosting, or brush with slightly beaten egg white and sprinkle with candy sprinkles or colored sugar.

Bake for 7 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until light and golden brown. Cool cookies completely before frosting.

Vanilla Glaze

1/3 cup butter or stick margarine
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 to 4 tablespoons hot water

Melt better over low heat. Remove from heat. Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir in hot water 1 tablespoon at a time until consistency of thick syrup. Ice cookies immediately. Glaze will harden quickly.

They finally like each other!

2008-12-12T20:33:00.003-05:00

Is this not the cutest thing you have ever seen?? They do it all the time. <3

They crack me up.

Bah Humbug.

2008-12-11T23:52:00.003-05:00

I'm a scrooge this year. I'm not afraid to admit it.

I decided last week that I wouldn't put our Christmas tree up this year. The boys are young enough yet that they don't really care, and I get a headache just thinking about what fun it would be to constantly be chasing our two kittens out of the tree. They are into EVERYTHING still, being only 5 months old, and I think we'll have much better luck next year when they're more mellow.

DH and I also decided we aren't getting the boys any big gifts. We'll fill their stockings with small stuff and they will be perfectly content with that. I have always hated how commercialized Christmas is, and how it's all about who gives and gets the best gifts. Absolutely hate it. And I refuse to succumb to the hysteria.

Now, before I come off as the worst mom on the planet, I will say that we are traveling to Wisconsin to spend the holiday with my parents, and my mom does have her tree up. So they will still get to experience the lights and ornaments and wonderment there. She also will undoubtedly go overboard with gifts, so the boys will have plenty to rip into on Christmas morning.

We're also creating some new traditions to carry on through the years that I feel are more important and worthwhile than a bunch of gifts. Sawyer helped me make Christmas-shaped sugar cookies a couple days ago, and tomorrow I'll let both boys "paint" designs on them with icing. We're going to "Breakfast with Santa" this Saturday too, which will be the first time the boys have visited Santa. I'm still waiting for the first good snow to help them build their first snowman, but I'm thinking we'll just have to wait until we get to Wisconsin where the white stuff is plentiful.

I'm still thinking of other ideas to make the holidays fun for our family without breaking the bank. This little bambino I'm cooking was a huge surprise, and thus not planned for financially, so we really need to be careful with what we spend in the coming months. We have to get a new vehicle at some point, because three carseats won't fit in our Ford Focus. We also need to begin making payments to the midwife for the homebirth, since Indiana is backwards and insurance probably won't cover any of it.

Okay, so maybe I'm not so much a scrooge as just extra frugal this year - and all about making things easier on my extremely fatigued and morning sick self. I tend to get down on myself a lot for not being super mom and having elaborate Christmas-themed plans each day until the 25th, or a pristine house adorned with snowflakes and garlands in every room. But I'm getting better about realizing that it's not the quantity of what I do, but the memories I create for my kids that really matter.

This post was not supposed to be so serious, I swear! Tomorrow will be better with pictures of my crazy men covered in a rainbow of icings and loving every minute of it.

On a good note, my husband is awesome because he dyes my hair - and actually does a good job. No more roots!

Take Two

2008-12-09T12:38:00.003-05:00

Wow. It's been over a year since I cracked open the virtual pages of this thing. I just spent awhile reading over my tirades as a new mom of two and had a good chuckle. And then became terrified when I realized I'm doing that all over again, this time with three. Here's to hoping that the little bebe I'm cooking this time decides to take after her oldest brother and be the most mellow kid on the planet. Yes, that would be nice.

Last night, I was looking at pictures of our kittens from when we first got them, and said aloud to DH, "I don't remember them being that small!" That, of course, led me to pictures of the boys in their infancy and those days are all but a distant memory. Sawyer is now a very articulate and sensitive 3-and-a-half-year-old, and not nearly the terror he was at age two. Beckett will turn two soon, yet is still very much my little baby. Luckily, he's past the constant night-waking and crying all day, THANK YOU GODS. How is it that I can barely remember what it was like back then?

I decided today that I would start writing here again, because I NEED to be able to remember these times. I don't want to be looking at pictures a year from now and not know what my kids were like in them, how their laughs sounded, what antics they devised to drive me crazy yet make me giggle hysterically.

I need to remember what it was like to show Sawyer the first ultrasound picture of his new sibling at nine weeks gestation, and see his eyes light up with wonder when I told him it was a baby. "Oh, that is SO cool, Mommy!" Seriously priceless. He then declared to his father and me, "Mommy, you are having a girl baby. Daddy, you are having a Spiderman baby. And I want a boy baby." I definitely cannot allow myself to forget moments like that.

I need to be able to envision in my mind how warm and wonderful it feels when Beckett crawls onto the couch with me and snuggles up right against my face to look in my eyes. He doesn't say anything, just grins and giggles and plays with my hair. Such a mama's boy he is, and I love it.

Sawyer is becoming more loving and affectionate as well, constantly asking, "Mommy, do you love me?" and demanding hugs and kisses throughout the day. I am so lucky to have these moments with my children and it would really be a shame to just let them slip away into the past, unrecorded.

I am one of those slacker moms who is the victim of the digital age, with very VERY few printed pictures of my children. The ones hanging on the walls are all I have. I take so many and am so far behind now that it would take hours upon hours and cost a fortune to have them all printed. I haven't made tangible baby books either, which I feel awful about. It goes hand in hand with not writing hand-written letters to relatives or compiling photo albums of our family for my children.

I have to start somewhere, so getting our day to day life down in virtual format is as good a place as any. Some day I WILL have the time and money to get those pictures printed, and my kids will have books full of memories to look back upon. But for now, I'm happy just writing about our adventures here for safe keeping.

So, hello again!

Here I am

2007-12-01T21:24:00.000-05:00

Yeah, yeah, so I've been a bad blogger. Many of you noticed that I made the blog private for a couple days, and I won't lie, I was very surprised and flattered by the outpouring of concern. I'm fine, but I was in a slump, and I guess it made me feel better to think that the blog was locked up and people weren't checking it for new posts. I guess I thought no one would notice? Ha! You all definitely noticed. So thank you. :)

Last night I got the next part of my sleeve done and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. It's beautiful and I need to give a plug to Amanda Cancilla at Artistic Skin Designs (that's the one on US 31 for you Indy peeps, if you need any ink done, I highly recommend her). She did a fabulous job and it's exactly what I wanted.

I go back at the end of this month for the third session, a pink and purple koi on the inside of my arm. It'll be rounded out with some swirly sparkly water around the koi, bee, clovers and roots of the tree, and thunder clouds up behind and around the branches. Squee! (Yes, I just squeed. This is squee-worthy.)

Today I've been feeling like utter poo on a stick, and I think I might be coming down with mastitis. Who the hell gets mastitis after almost 9 months of breastfeeding? Apparently I do. At first I thought it was just my adrenaline crashing after the tattoo but today I've had body aches, a headache and dizziness all day, and my right boob is firm and tender. I get nauseous when I touch it. Joy.

DH was the best husband ever and let me take a nap, which ended up being four hours long. Yes, he is a saint. I've got a heating pad on the boobie right now so please please keep me in your thoughts that I can kick this quickly so DH won't have to take any time off work.

Hats off to the holidays

2007-11-22T21:45:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving, from our crazy little family to yours!

naughty and nice., originally uploaded by sam&bex.

My spidey senses are way more than tingling

2007-11-20T10:06:00.000-05:00

Okay, let's see if I can peel myself off the ceiling long enough to tell this morning's tale of horror.

I was in the bathroom going pee, and out of the corner of my eye I spotted a dark blob. I have some wicked good spi-dar and I KNEW what it was before I even turned my head. It was a huge nasty spider and it was gross. And huge. And really, really gross.

Okay, I HATE spiders. Seriously, I'm still shaking because they freak me out that much. Have you ever seen those episodes of Maury Povich that he does about phobias? And the woman that runs screaming off the stage because they bring out a bowl of chalk or some aluminum foil? That's me. Deathly, unhealthily, irrationally afraid of spiders.

Well, Sawyer came in and swung the door open and it started crawling, and I was still on the pot so I told him to step on it. AND HE BENT DOWN AND PICKED IT UP. Oh my God, I jumped off the pot and ran out of the bathroom screaming NO NO PUT IT DOWN!!! He was holding the damn thing by a leg and it was wiggling and being gross with it's nasty long legs and.. eww. Then it was CRAWLING ON HIS ARM.

I was like "Sawyer put it down!!! Step on it! Smash it!" So he gets down on the floor with it and is laying on his belly and starts poking it, with his face two inches from it. Oh I about DIED. I was seriously jumping all over the place. I wish there had been a camera rolling because we'd have won a bunch of money on America's Funniest Home Videos.

Then, he tried to step on it but didn't do it hard enough and it was still moving, so he picked it up AGAIN and came at me with it. Oh, I just about lost it then. I have childhood memories of my brother chasing me with locust shells and I am traumatized for life, I tell you. I ran shrieking through the house to grab a shoe and when he dropped it again I smashed it.

OMG. My hair is standing on end. I probably shouldn't teach him that bugs are scary but I can't help it, my phobia is too bad. If it had been a tiny one I might have been okay but this one was big and gross and just.. NO!

And he didn't seem phased by me screaming at all. Just kept playing with it and looking at me like I was crazy. And now he's telling me it's "asleep." And I feel bad for killing the ugly thing. Wait, no I don't.

I have to stop thinking about it. Must calm down and breathe. Go on and laugh. But remember me and my tale of peril when your 2-year-old is chasing you with the most disgusting worst nightmare ever and maybe then you won't be laughing so hard NOW WILL YOU.

And I will spend the rest of my day jumping ten inches off the floor every time I feel a tickle on my feet.

Eye love the internet

2007-11-15T21:07:00.000-05:00

So, I just realized that I commited one of the biggest crimes in blogging: I talked about a resource I used and didn't link it. For shame! I went back and looked and it wasn't YouTube but actually Videojug. YouTube has an endless supply of smoky techniques too, though. This is the one I used, very basic. Behold, the smoky eye tutorial:

VideoJug: How To Create A Smoky Eye Effect

It worked pretty well for me and looked good for my first try. Yes, I'm in my twenties and just now learning how to properly do eye makeup. Hush. Mothers of the world who did not teach their daughters the fine art of eyeshadow should be thanking Al Gore and his internet for giving us novices a second chance.

Interested in bright green smoking eyes? Check. Or perhaps you want hot cocktail eyes, fruity eyes or mermaid eyes. YouTube's got ya covered. So go, watch, learn, be colorful. I've already warned the husband that a makeup addiction could be a dangerous, dangerous thing (for his bank account).

This one gets hairy (ha ha, I'm punny)

2007-11-15T15:33:00.000-05:00

Hello, separation anxiety. How pleasant to see you again. Didn't we already get plenty acquainted the last time you were here though? Please try not to overstay your welcome, thanks.

Trying to fix my hair was interesting this morning, with Mr. Separation Anxiety here as a guest. Beckett crawled after me screaming his loud little head off until I strapped him to my back in the mei tai, which, in case you were wondering, is not the most ideal thing to have on your back when you're wielding a hair dryer. So that didn't last long.

And see, I'm hair impaired. I'm one of those people who can never get their hair to look as good as the stylist does. I hold out on washing for as long as I can, so as to preserve the state of hair euphoria I get from the salon. And now that I have this rockin' purple hair, I'm not supposed to wash it as much. I washed it for the first time on Tuesday, and was less than impressed with how it looked after I styled it, and then bitched to a friend about it. To which she responded, in the most well-meaning way, that maybe I needed something to make it more shiny (and of course I got pissy, because I'm a woman and that is what We Do, and was then obsessed with finding a way to fix it).

I got lots of helpful advice, like more product actually makes it more dull and only washing in cold water. Which would be a hell of a lot easier if we had a detachable shower head. But, we don't, so instead I washed it in the shower and then applied the conditioner and got out to rinse it in the tub with a big cup. Because me and cold showers? We do not mix.

I dumped cup after cup of cold water on my head, being sure to come at it from every angle to get a good rinse. Or so I thought. Then I went downstairs to start the drying process, which now takes about three times as long since I have also learned that heat is bad and evil and makes your hair dull. And I have hair thicker than a friggin' wooly mammoth's. After 20 minutes of drying I was starting to realize that the "wetness" wasn't really going away, even though it was mostly dry. Yeah, not only do I suck at styling, but I apparently also suck at what should be the easiest part: rinsing. I didn't get all the damn conditioner rinsed out and my hair was a greasy mess. Lovely.

We were supposed to meet a friend for lunch at 11am and it was 10:17, and I still had to get the boys ready. So I threw on a headband and attempted to salvage it enough to go out in public. And that was a big negative. It was slicked down and stuck to my head and just gross. So in a matter of about 15 minutes, I said screw the cold water and the cold hair dryer, jumped in the shower to wash it yet again (twice in one day, for shame!), I used my regular shampoo without color protection (bad bad bad!) then flipped my head over and dried it like mad on the hot setting. And you know what? It looks surprisingly decent now. Still not the same, though. And no, not shiny.

And I'm still pissed that I can't use a brush and a hair dryer at the same time, or get the cold rinse down, or use the spray wax and mousse without looking like a grease ball, or work magic with a flat iron and it's just ANNOYING. Seriously, I've been doing my own hair since I was what, 12? And I still don't have the first clue what I'm doing? NOT COOL. My mom never showed me how to apply makeup either, which led to me sitting on YouTube learning how to do smoky eyes for the first time EVER on Monday night. One of the many reasons I'm glad I don't have girls.

Jaclyn has been more than patient with me though, answering all my stupid questions and giving me ideas. So I have to be a good pupil and keep trying, so I can have hot hair when I visit her and Lucas. (Wink wink, Jaclyn!)

So tell me, oh great Internets. What is your hair routine? Got any great secrets? Fool-proof tricks? Please do ~~shair~~ share with the Hair Impaired.

Wordless Wednesday: Finally Fall

2007-11-14T21:54:00.001-05:00

It's the middle of November and is finally starting to look and feel like Fall around here. The grass is still green, but is littered with leaves that Beckett loves to munch. And it's brisk enough for a soft, cushy liner in the BabyHawk!

The More You Know

2007-11-14T09:49:00.000-05:00

Did you know that oven doors have built-in locks? Ours does. And I know this. Now, that is. It would have been nice to know before I smelled burning plastic while pre-heating for some cookies. Sawyer wanted to give his plastic stethoscope a tan, apparently. It got more of an incineration though, and I found it dripping hot down through the racks and into the bottom of the oven. TASTY. And not harmful in the least when those fumes leach into your food! I guess I should have listened to my mom when she would preach about "Always LOOK inside before you turn on the oven!" Yes, Mother.

I must be doing something right though, because my two-year-old says please and thank you. "Mommy, I want a banana, please!" Which I'm happy to oblige, and feel all giddy because as soon as I hand it to him, he says, "Thanks, Mom!" (Oh and yes, he calls me just 'Mom' sometimes. Isn't he too young for that?) AND, he throws the peel away on his own. He's quite fascinated with the trash can, actually, which is nice for me because now I can easily convince him to throw anything away for me. Of course, now is when many toys will begin to go missing, as I've already rescued Diego's maned wolf from the bottom of the bag twice.

Despite being incredibly curious and just way too smart for his own good, he really is a pretty easy kid. Which bring's me to Fizzledink's question of how we transitioned him out of the crib. And I feel kind of stupid saying this - but I honestly don't know. Sawyer has always been such a good sleeper that it wasn't much of a bump in the road at all for us. He started sleeping through the night, with no help at all from us, at around three months old. Since then, we've had a couple bouts of night waking but nothing that lasts more than a week.

So when the time came to think about breaking out the Big Boy Bed, I really wasn't worried. I was probably a tad over-confident, but at that point in parenting I'd never really had any incident with him that had knocked me on my ass too hard (no worries though, Beckett fixed that for me!)

His crib is the type that turns into toddler bed so one day when I was eight or so months pregnant, we decided to just go for it. No careful planning or a course of action, just cold turkey. (Which really makes me think I'm probably not the best person to be giving advice on this subject, but well, I'm already halfway through the story.) We wanted him out of the crib before the baby got here so we wouldn't have to worry about that on top of a newborn.

So that night, I had his bed all made up with comfy blankets and a big cushy pillow, and we took him in like normal and put him in it. Said goodnight, gave him kisses, and shut the door. Now, this part is this single most important thing we did: we put a gate on his door. I honestly don't know how we would have remained sane if it weren't for that gate. Him coming out of his room multiple times? Possibly wandering the house at night when we're sleeping? No thank you. Not to mention that the bedrooms are upstairs and I'd had visions of him tumbling down them in the dark. So the gate was a safety precaution as well as peace of mind for me.

In hindsight though, I think it definitely helped to teach him that once we put him in his room and put the gate up, it means bed time. The gate is not there during the day so he can go in and out. The first night of the Big Boy Bed, he didn't get out of bed a single time. He went right to sleep without a peep. Of course, that was the calm before the storm, because the next few nights were a relay race of running up the stairs and putting him back in bed because he'd stand at the gate and yell for us. It didn't take long for him to catch on, though. Now, if he gets up, we just ignore him and 99% of the time, he gets back in bed and goes to sleep himself. Occasionally he'll want something, like a drink or a hug or a story, and we always get him whatever he needs.

He was about 18 months old when we made the transition so he's been sleeping in his bed successfully for close to ten months. Naps, however, are another story and he generally refuses them now (although he did used to take them just fine, even in the toddler bed). So I have no advice there. Except that sometimes, you may need to turn the bed to the wall so the kiddo can't get out repeatedly (if you have a crib that has been transitioned, that is). We've had to do this a handful of times when he was extra defiant to show him that we mean business.

I have to add though that very rarely did he ever cry or act scared to be in the bed. We've never had to sit with him until he fell asleep or do anything else drastic. So, again, probably a sign that I'm not the best person to get advice from. But this was my experience and I hope that it helps somewhat. I think the key is consistency and probably the best thing you can do is to just keep trying, keep putting them back in the bed, and don't give in. Of course, if you truly feel that your child isn't ready yet, then by all means, don't force it. Take a break and try again in a week or so.

And now that I feel like a The More You Know commercial, I'll end with a video of Beckett from a few days ago. He can clap! *sniff*

Where does it go?

2007-11-12T15:46:00.001-05:00

Time, that is. Thursday? Have I really not blogged since Thursday? For shame, for shame.

I've been busy, though. Saturday, I went purple.

And I don't think I could be any more in love with it. My girl did such a good job! I feel like a rock star. And that sounds so corny but seriously. Rock. Star. It's weird how a new hair cut and color can give you so much more confidence. Although I think I almost gave a few ladies at church a heart attack yesterday. The median age of our congregation is probably 60 so you can imagine the looks I got. And I'm sure it didn't help that when someone would ask about it, I told them it was to match my full back tattoo. I've never seen eyes pop wide faster.

It's fun though and I figure I better have my fun now while I don't have a stuffy professional job that prohibits anything "weird." [insert giant eyeroll here]

And I know a bunch of you left questions for me in comments on past posts, and I promise I'll get to them! I'm going to write some answers as separate posts in the next couple days. You gave me some good topics.

This post was supposed to have more guts but Beckett apparently thought it would be fun to sleep a total of 40 minutes total all day, and is currently yelling for me from his bed. Please wish me some patience so I don't lock myself in a closet with my iPod..

Could my children be any more opposite?

2007-11-08T21:22:00.000-05:00

As much as I talk about Beckett NOT wanting to sleep, it wouldn't be fair not to mention how much Sawyer flat out adores it. Seriously. This is a kid who has been sleeping 12 hours straight through the night since he was about two months old, and who we have never had a problem with getting him to go to sleep. He loves his bed and when he was 18 months old or so, he would actually ask to take naps. He'd find his blanket (which he calls his 'mimi') and truck upstairs, then go right to sleep without a peep.

He has since dropped his nap most days unless I force him by turning his bed to the wall (it's a crib turned toddler bed so there are still rails on three sides). But at night we never have a problem. DH usually does the bedtime honors and Sawyer is now old enough that he'll tell me he loves me and give me kisses. It's so fabulous.

Last night, he was being a pistol and throwing fits at the drop of a hat, about sending me off the deep end since Beckett was also being a beast by screeching and clawing and attempting to bite me. He refused all our suggestions for dinner and instead threw himself into a flailing heap of limbs on the floor, so DH took him up to his room to chill out. Ten minutes later, he was asleep at 6:30pm. Without dinner and his regular bedtime still an hour and a half away.

Now, once he's asleep, you can not wake him, lest you'd like to take on the beast on a whole new level. He is not a happy kid when his sleep is interrupted. But I felt insanely guilty for putting him to bed without dinner, so DH and I devised a plan to bring him a meal in his room no matter what time he woke up. Quesadillas and pears, even if it was 4am.

We went to bed around midnight and he was still sleeping. It had gotten cold in the house, so I pulled a quilt from the closet and took it in to bundle him up. He sat up when he saw me, grinning from ear to ear. I covered him up with the quilt and asked him if he was going back to sleep.

"Yes, I go night night!"

"Okay, baby, I love you, night night."

"I love you, Mommy."

And when I was halfway to the door, I heard him mumble, "Thanks!"

Seriously, how can you not completely melt after something like that? You can't not.

He also can eat yogurt with a spoon now, which he probably could have done a long time ago if I hadn't been too scared of the mess to let him. He's becoming very particular about which chair he sits in to eat (it must be the Big Boy Chair) as well as what he eats. He used to be a garbage disposal and would eat anything we put in front of him, which made it really easy to feed him a good diet full of fruit, veggies and protein. Lately, however, he turns his nose up at anything that isn't pizza, PB&J, or smothered in cheese. Typical kid, I guess. Although he does still love most any fruit, so I'm thankful for that at least.

And Beckett. What can I say about him. He's growing up faster than I remember it happening with Sawyer, yet it still seems to drag by, if that makes any sense. The sleep deprivation has me worn pretty thin, but I've given up on lamenting over it and have just decided to accept whatever sleep pattern he chooses. I don't feel like there's much I can do to change it until he weans anyway, so it's pointless to get worked up over it. As I type I can hear him waking up for the third time since we put him down two hours ago. Le sigh.

He seems so much older to me than a week shy of eight months, what with almost eight teeth lighting up his once gummy smile and being fully mobile. He can crawl clear across the house in less than ten seconds and will pull up on anything of height. Cruising is just around the corner and I have a feeling he will walk before Sawyer did.

He still doesn't care much for solids. Some days he'll gobble it up at every meal but most days he refuses it (quite loudly) unless it's super sweet fruit. He wants nothing to do with most veggies other than sweet potatoes and isn't crazy about meat either. He's great at self-feeding though so we may just jump right in to table food soon. Even on his good days with solids though, it still makes no difference on his sleep so I'm not in much of a hurry.

Most pictures I get of both of them these days are either of a backside or a chubby blonde blur. I couldn't believe I actually caught all four of them looking at the camera in the above picture. Don't be fooled, as that moment will likely never be captured on camera again. The other two are my friend's boys that I was watching for her that day. They are ages four and two. And yes, my 2-year-old and 8-month-old are the same size as them, respectively. I grow giants.

These are more typical of my usual captures. I generally have to take 60 or so in order to get a couple good face shots, and on the day I took these, I didn't get any. Hey, at least he has a cute butt.

An hour of my life I'll never get back

2007-11-08T12:06:00.000-05:00

I've been neglecting you, bloggy friends! I apologize. DH and I have both been making a conscious effort to spend less time on the computer and more time together. We've had a relapse already. Shocking, right? So while it's been nice to take a break, I've been missing the blog world. My Bloglines is lit up with hundreds of unread posts that I'll probably never catch up on, but someone gave me a nudge to update so here I am.

Yesterday, a friend from high school that I hadn't seen in about two years stopped by for a visit. Yes, that's right, contact with the outside world! Go me. Anyway, it was nice. We got caught up on the latest happenings and then decided to take the boys to lunch at Bob Evans. Had I known in advance the idiocy that would ensue, we would have just stuck with the Mickey D's drive-thru.

We got there and were seated and the waitress came by to take our drink order. I put Sawyer's food in right away because he raises hell if he has to sit still for too long without stuffing his face. Chicken strips and smiley face potatoes. Easy enough, right? A few minutes later she came back by and took our orders, which we had to repeat three times while she stared at us and slowly nodded her head, looking completely confused. Ohhhh boy.

Fast forward about twenty minutes. Sawyer's food finally came, just in the nick of time as he'd been rolling around under the table and trying to dump out the salt and pepper. Chicken strips and fries. Yes, fries, not smiley face potatoes. I told her it was wrong and she again stared at me dumbfoundedly. I pointed to the picture in the kid's menu of the potatoes and she acted like she'd never seen them before in her life. You know, these things? Right here on the menu? Yeah, that's what I ordered.

So back to the kitchen she went, and at this point we had been there over half an hour and I'd still not received a single refill. We waited another good fifteen minutes and then she finally brought the potatoes (which at this point he had no interest in eating since he'd already devoured the fries). Still no sign of the rest of our food. By this time, Beckett was pretty much over the whole experience and no amount of Puffs was keeping him quiet. I paced with him and tried to keep Sawyer from tearing across the restaurant while my friend asked her for the check and to just box up our meals and we'd take it home.

MORE awkward staring, stuttering, and flipping through her order pad. Then back to the kitchen again, where we watched her tap away at the computer trying to get together our check for ANOTHER ten minutes. She finally brought it to us, along with one box.

"We will need more than one box."

"More than one?"

"Um.. yes? We each had a meal, plus his that he didn't finish? Did they already box ours up?"

Frantic flipping through the order book again. And then she said, "Umm, be right back, something isn't right here."

GEE, ya think?!

We watched her bustle back behind the counter and scramble with some boxes, shouting at the cooks that she needed our orders. We waited some more. And waited. And waited. And watched the manager walk around apologizing to other tables, but never stopping by ours. Finally, I was sick of it and we packed the now screaming kids up and went to the register, where the manager checked us out. I told him we only ever received the kids meal, and got an annoyed "Sorry about that" and nothing else.

So I paid a whole $3.20 for the chicken meal, plus a dollar tip, which I'm not even sure why I left. See, I'm not a sympathetic tipper. You have to earn your tip from me. The husband has worked as a server before and always leaves a tip, no matter what. Not I. Your tip starts at 20% and goes downhill from there the crappier your service gets. I never got a refill, Sawyer's order was wrong, and we never even got our food after being there for an hour. So she's lucky I even gave her that dollar. I think I only wrote it in because the manager was breathing down my neck watching me sign the receipt, and I had a twinge of guilt as I signed.

And yes, you can bet on it that I'll be emailing corporate with a copy of this blog post. I wouldn't go back there and pay, but I'll try again on their dime. Not that I even needed to be eating the caramel banana pecan pancakes I ordered, not in the slightest, so maybe the pancake gods were trying to tell me something?

NaBloPoMo drop-out

2007-11-05T08:37:00.000-05:00

I was all geared up to write 30 posts in 30 days for NaBloPoMo. I had some ideas ready and planned to look to some other blogs for interesting writing prompts.

Then Halloween happened, and seemed to drain me of every ounce of energy and motivation I had, and I decided to take a short bloggy vacation instead. I haven't checked in on my Bloglines feeds in days and the 'new post' button on my dashboard has gone untouched. So, like a few others, I'm a drop-out. But that's okay! I'll enjoy reading a post a day for the whole month at my favorite blogs. I never was good at meeting deadlines anyhow.

And I have to say, the break has been nice and much-needed. I had a very ME weekend, which I don't do very often. Friday night, my mom and I treated ourselves to Starbucks. I sipped hot chocolate and munched a pumpkin cream cheese muffin as we sank ourselves into their big comfy chairs and had a nice chat. We try to do this about once a month and I always look forward to it. I'm so lucky that DH doesn't mind at all and in fact, encourages me to go out and leave the boys with him. He knows I need the break and is always good at reminding me that it's OKAY to want that break. Sometimes my mommy guilt clouds over me and I feel so bad leaving them for a few hours, but I feel so refreshed and reenergized when I do.

Saturday, I left Beckett with DH and took Sawyer with me to my sister's softball game. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a chance to do something with just him, and it was so nice. Seriously, you cannot believe how much easier it is to only have to worry about a two-year-old and no baby. I was able to actually sit down and STAY sitting down as he played around me. No fumbling a squirmy baby, no trying to discreetly nurse a distractable infant among dozens of people, no shushing or swaying or walking. Yes, I'm definitely one of the few mamas who can't wait for the baby stage to be over. I don't want my babies to stay babies. I love the age Sawyer is at and will be a much more stress-free mom when Beckett is there.

My judgement is probably clouded a little by the fact that he still wakes, oh, five or six times a night. Those of you who deal with a sporadic night-waker and still go on to have more kids, my hats are off to you. I'm just not that resilient I guess and I'm not ashamed to admit it. It is HARD. I thrive on sleep and am a wreck without it so this round is it for me, no more babies. DH agrees. So uh, any tips on breaking him of nursing every hour and a half at night would be much appreciated. For the gift of sanity, I would be forever indebted to you.

Saturday night, my parents watched the boys for us so we could make it to church. After two failed attempts at taking them with us, we've accepted the fact that we'll just have to wait until they're a little older to enjoy church as a family. It's either a battle to keep them quiet throughout the service (resulting in us paying attention to nothing but them and kind of defeating the purpose of going to church in the first place) or they scream for us the whole time in the nursery. Bless the little old lady that runs the place, she does try. But they just aren't comfortable with her and I won't force them to stay there and be hysterical the whole time.

So, we were able to enjoy the service alone for once and it was a nice breather. Afterwards, DH took the boys home and I went out for dinner with some friends I hadn't seen in awhile. I really owe him now because he allowed me TWO getaways this weekend. He's a brave man. I told him he needs to plan something with his friends and asked him, "Don't guys go out to dinner like women? Why can't you do that?"

"Oh, yes, I'll just call Larry and be like, 'Hey, you wanna hit Panera with me? Oh oh and there's a JoAnn's right there, we can make a night of it!'"

Judging by the high-pitched lispy voice he used, I'm guessing that's a no? Men are strange. Don't some guys do the beer and wings and sports thing? Mine is just weird I guess. But then again, I did marry him because he's not a typical man.

So, now we're at Monday morning yet again. We survived falling back an hour and the boys seem to be back on their normal schedule. I'm determined to make this week go by quickly, because Saturday is when I get to head to my hair dresser for a pretty drastic change and I'm antsy with anticipation. Maybe we'll hit up the Children's Museum and meet some friends for lunch. The days always seem to go so much quicker when we get out of the house.

And on that note, the baby is up.

The winner, y'all.

2007-11-04T19:02:00.000-05:00

Wow! I was blown away by the number of comments I received on my giveaway post! Thank you all for the wonderful compliments. Hubby picked a number for me, and the winner is #213, Megret. Congrats, mama! I'll be emailing you to get your choices for your blankie.

Everyone else, check out the winners list to see if you were lucky!