Arielle at 4 months

Miss Arielle 

 ...is 4 months old today

...rolls from side to side when on her back, but is still not rolling over completely.

...is discovering all sorts of new noises, including shrieking, really loudly.

...smiles for just about anyone.

...is content for 8 whole seconds on her belly.

...drools llike a fiend.

...has discovered her feet.

...only woke up once last night (let's try it again!).

...still has blue eyes.

...kinda looks like her brother.

What do you think??

Be Prepared

I think I have to blame my mom for not letting me be a girl scout. If I had the opportunity as a child, I might not be quite as spacey as I am today. I would always be prepared. I might always have a stocked purse with every item known to man in it. I might remember to bring a diaper bag with me on outings. That's right folks; I forgot the diaper bag again. This time there was no turning back. We were already at our destination when I realized it was missing...15 minutes away from home.


I took the kids to meet up with our friends at a park that is a ways from our house. We arrived and, as I pulled the baby out of her seat, I smelled it. The unmistakable smell of a poopy diaper. No biggie, I'll just change her before we head into the park. I reach into the back seat where the diaper bag should be, but there was nothing there. {Thank you honey for being such a helper and bringing the bag in the house} Oh and thank you laws of the universe because, this time, we had a blowout. A leaking diaper, no wipes, no clean diapers and no change of clothes. CRAP!! (literally) Luckily my friend's son isn't fully potty trained yet and she had wipes and a diaper. It was a size 5 diaper, meant for a 2 year old, but hey it was a diaper! I improvised. I got her changed and cleaned her shirt off as best I could. I pulled her pants up to cover it, put her in the Ergo and off we went.

I'm glad this wasn't my first rodeo or I might have started crying and just gone home. You get wiser with each kid, and maybe a bit more relaxed. The moral of the story? Always have friends that are more with it than you (oh and hide the damn diaper bag in the back of the car so your husband STOPS bringing it in the house!!!!!!!)!

Swap it up!

I participated in Mamarazzi's "Favorite things swap" again. I just love these things! First, I love getting something in the mail that is not a bill. I also love when it is a total surprise, which doesn't happen if you just order something. I think my favorite part is deciding what to send and wrapping each little gift, because I'm weird like that. My swap partner Beth lives all the way on the other side of the country. She does really great DIY tutorials, so you should go check her out!

Here are all of the goodies I got in the swap...

Three pieces of dark chocolate cake (there are only 2 pictured because I couldn't
wait to eat one!) & a mini whisk (I have always wanted one of these, but never remember to buy one)

A book that I will start this weekend & a pound of locally (to her) roasted organic coffee. She must know that this 2 kid business is zapping every last drop of energy I have.

A lavender scarf that I think she made herself and you know how I loves me some handmade goodness & some perfume from a local shop near her.

...and last but not least, some pretty mineral makeup. I will have to try this if I EVER make it out of the house without my children again. Please...girls night..anyone...help.

P.S. I hate Blogger and their stupid bizaro formatting. What the what is going on with the pictures and text??

Singing their praises!

 I saw a tutorial on Michele's, an awesome fellow New Englander, blog for these amazing photo blocks. In my never-ending quest to decorate Arielle's nursery, no really it will never end, I decided I wanted to make some for the shelf (that I coincidentally bought from Michele's Etsy site) on her wall.  Michele's tutorial spells out everything and was super easy to follow. I think they turned out pretty great!!

All sides of the blocks are covered with either scrapbooking paper or photos of Arielle and our little family. It was a fun project, as I love being crafty, but it took a looooong time! I'd say it took me about 3 hours to complete the project. This includes the editing of all of the pictures (25 of them), the paper cutting, gluing, sanding and painting.

It was totally worth the effort because I love them but honestly, after I bought all of the materials and including the time I put in, I realized it would have been cheaper to buy them from Michele! She does an amazing job and they would just show up at your door beautiful and ready to be placed somewhere in your house! Seriously, just go buy them!!

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On another creative note, do you like my new blog layout?? Heather did an awesome job reworking my blog for me...again. I guess it pays to have a blog designer in the family! It is awesome to have so many creative ladies around me!

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I also must give props (can I praise her enough???) to the lovely Blog Baby's Baby Mama, who took the amazing pictures that you see in my header and sidebar. The best part is, I have twisted her arm and convinced her to fly all the way to the dinky state of RI to grace us with her photography skills again! This time I am not keeping her all to myself and have set up sessions for friends to get a taste of her photographic magic! How good is she?? Oh, you know, Brooke (can't wait to meet her and Tem Tem) is only driving all the way from freaking MI to get her pictures taken! I still have a few slots left, so contact me if you're interested in a session (May 28-31st).

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  I love when blogging friends turn into real life friends. My life has truly been enriched by blogging. Thanks ladies!

Is this the 'Real' life?

I watched an episode of House MD last night. There was a woman mysteriously dying (of course) and this woman was an obsessive blogger. She blogged about everything in her life (even about her marital spats and sex drive) because she felt she had to be "truthful and authentic" to her readers. The team was actually reading her blog to see if they could find any clues as to what was wrong with her. At one point in the show she was faced with a decision. She had to choose between 2 methods of repairing her heart valve. One was a plastic valve, but the drugs that she'd have to take could cause birth defects and the other was a valve from a pig that would have to be replaced every ten years. Instead of listening to the pleas of her husband, she grabs her laptop to ask advice from her "followers".

At first I was irritated. I was offended that they were portraying bloggers like that. I'm a blogger. I don't do that! I wouldn't put that much stake in the opinions of people I had never met. Family is more important than the blogosphere. Then it occurred to me that some people are like that. I've actually had to stop reading a few people because they were like that; people who let the idea of having "an audience" go right to their head.

I love the people I've "met" through blogging. I get excited to meet people in real life that I feel I've connected with on some level. I don't, however, think that some aspects of my life are for all to share in. I'm not so caught up in the total number of people who follow my blog, but rather the select few who actually care about what I have to say. I don't talk about fights with my husband, financial issues or complain about my work because once it's out there for all to see, there's no taking it back. I believe in being authentic. What you see is what you get with me, but at the same time I think you have to be able to decide what you keep to yourself and what you invite other people into. You can be real and still manage to preserve your privacy. Don't you think?

Go see "Biego" Go!

I like to do fun things with my kids. I am always on the lookout for things I think they might like to see or do, especially if they are cheap or free. I heard on the radio that a local chain furniture store was having an event for charity to collect new pjs and books for children in need. Well, actually I heard the words Backyardigans and Bob's Furniture and took it from there. Nate loves the Backyardigans and I told him that we were going to go see one of them and he was so excited. The commercial also said to visit the website to see which one was at your local store. This is where it started to go downhill.


Apparently RI isn't good enough for the Backyardigans because they were only at the NY and NJ stores. Crap. I look to see who is at the stores in our area, and it is some characters I've never heard of. Then I see it! Diego will be at a store semi-close in MA. We're going! Nate got over the switch in characters pretty quickly, which was good. I was happy that he didn't get too upset by the change.

Saturday arrives. Daddy is working so I get both kids ready and loaded into the car. We get 5 minutes from the house when I realize I have forgotten the diaper bag. Double Crap! Murphy's Law clearly states that if I were to keep going to the store without said bag, baby girl would have a blowout of epic proportions and I would have nothing to combat the situation. Of course the other part of that law implies that if I do go back, she won't need a diaper change at all. I reluctantly turn around, explain to a confused Natey that we are still going, go get the diaper bag, and head back to the store.

Now picture this: Baby is in seat and locked into the stroller, I have an excited toddler practically pulling me through the parking lot toward the store, giant Nikon camera around my neck. Got that mental image? Now picture the look on my face, the store employee's face, and Nate's face when we discover I looked at the site wrong and Diego wouldn't be there until NEXT weekend. Um, yeah, that happened to me. Luckily this store has a giant supply of candy which I promptly distracted Nate with and assured him we'd come back next Sat! A little candy and a Happy Meal for lunch is always a good strategy for when you screw up royally.

Needless to say, Saturday we went back, were the first ones there and Nate FINALLY got to see "Biego" (as Nate calls him), up close and personal!

Maybe too up close and personal. I hope there was a girl inside that Diego costume becasue Natey had to give him a kiss.

Arielle was not impressed with Diego. She was more impressed with the fact that she has recently discovered her thumb.

I literally had to pull Nate out of the store. Other kids wanted to see Diego too and Natey kept trying to get back next to him and into other people's pictures.

One last hug from Diego's biggest stalker fan and we were out of there!

Of course we didn't need the diaper bag either time, but you know what would have happend if I hadn't brought it! My biggest lesson learned form this whole adventure is to not open my big mouth until I know what I'm talking about! Oh, and the other thing I learned is that giant themed characters are so creepy. Try explaining to a 2 year old why Diego doesn't talk! Ugh!