Random Ramblings

....aka the post where I tease you with all of the pictures I need to post but don't post any of them.

Thursday came too fast this week. Why is it when you need the days to go by slowly, because you have so much to do, that they move in fast forward? I think I may just pretend that I am this busy all the time so my weeks go by at this pace!

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First, I can't believe it is going to be May this weekend. I am very happy to be moving toward warmer weather and getting my kiddos out and about. Nate needs it. He is driving me batty with his pent up energy. I need it. I am as pale as a ghost and am sure my vitamin D level is at an all time low. Arielle needs it. Ok, she doesn't know she needs it, but she hasn't had enough fresh air in her short little life yet!!

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I participated in a consignment sale last week. I didn't sell as much as I'd hoped (only 52 items out of 180), but I made more money than I spent so I am calling it a success. I got some great things (pictures to come later). I ended up with 5 or 6 Gymboree dresses or outfits for the girl and 2 pairs of shoes (Red Mary Janes and pink ones too that make my heart flutter !) that were brand new with tags for 5 or 6 bucks each. There wasn't much in the way of 3T stuff, but I got Nate a bunch of 4T shirts for later. Yes, I know, I shop way too far in advance. Don't tell the hubby that I have a coat for the girl that is a 3T. Ha!

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I made cake pops last night. Let me tell you, it is way harder than it looks. Well, the baking of the cake and getting them to the naked pop stage is not so difficult, but the dipping was a little rough. I microwaved the candy to melt it, but next time I think I'll use a makeshift double boiler. It might work better. They turned out cute I will have to post pictures of them later too. I fear I will be obsessed with these cute little things and will be making them for all occassions! Nate kept calling them "surf pops". I have no idea why and now he wants "Spiderman surf pops" for his birthday.

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Tomorrow morning I will be waking up at 4am to get myself and the baby to the airport. Shoot me now. Our flight leaves at 6ish and we're heading to Northern California to visit my grandma. She hasn't met Arielle yet and has been scaring me by going in and out of the hospital 5 times already since January. I would be crushed if anything happened and she hadn't met her, so it's a girl's weekend for us. If you have any suggestions for flying, ALONE, with an infant pass them along. I'm hoping she nurses and sleeps the whole time. A pipe dream. I know.

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Today it is officially 4 weekes until the amazing BabyMama comes to little Rhody to enrapture us with her photography skills! I am beyond excited, not only to have another family session that includes the baby OUTSIDE of my belly, but to spend time with someone who became a friend in a matter of hours the first time we met. Sometimes I think it's not fair that I meet such amazing women by blogging and they all have to live so far away. Fortunately, I get to meet Brooke as well since she will be driving all the way here from MI! Ahh, my very own blogging conference...without all of the hoopla!

Arielle at 5 months

Some baby....

...is 5 months old

...has the sweetest disposition and only cries if she's hungry or exhausted.

...seems hungry all the time and will be starting cereal next week.

...has the prettiest blue eyes, that I'm sure are staying at this point!

...has mastered rolling from back to front, but still gets stuck trying to get back.

...still sounds like a pteredactyl when she cries.

...will be going on her first airplane ride this Friday.

...has the sweetest 2 dimpled smile.

...makes some of the funniest faces, just like her brother.

...still has almost no hair.

...looks stunning in yellow (if I do say so myself!).

...is content to relax and watch the world around her.

...has discovered her feet and thinks they're mighty tasty.

...is too tall for most of her 3-6 month clothes, but the next size is too big.

...is my sweet baby girl, who is growing way too fast.

Fun with felt

Last Saturday night (yes I know I am dreadfully behind on posting) we had a crafting girl's night in at my house. We had been talking about it for a while, and luckily Liz threw an idea on the table and we set an official date for the get together. Each of us made some (real) food; we had a drink and relaxed in the company of the girls. Michele even drove all the way from NH for our evening! Our first project was making felt food for our kiddo's play kitchens. It took a surprisingly long time to make some of the food, but we ended up with some cute stuff...even if the oranges had it in for me. Yes, I know, they look easy but don't be fooled! We had a great time and ended up closing up shop around midnight. I have enough felt left to choke a horse so stay tuned for more cuteness coming your way...sometime in the next millennium.

Wordless Wednesday

UPDATED: To say that girls need not always be dressed in pink!

The Reason

My mom was diagnosed with MS when I was 7 years old. She battled a poorly understood disease for 16 years before her body decided it had had enough. I clearly remember doing the MS walk with my mom every year as a young child. Sometimes we'd start the walk and it would be too much for her in the heat (we lived in California) so we'd ride the air-conditioned shuttle to the end. Other times she'd feel strong enough to make it all the way through. After she passed away, I felt compelled to keep doing the walks and raise money for the organization that had helped my mother get through some really rough times. 

When I moved to RI, I didn't know anyone and ended up doing the first walk here by myself. Later that year, I found out a friend at work organized a team in honor of her dad who continues to battle with MS. We usually do the 6.2 scenic walk in Narragansett, but she was unable to attend this year so I opted to do the one held in Providence instead.

I woke up early on Sunday to a dreary morning. It was drizzling and kind of cold out. It wasn't the most motivating conditions to get up and go for a walk. I always told myself that I would involve my kids in this event. It is important to me that they know their grandmother, even if they were never able to meet her. The thought of pushing them for 3 miles in the rain was not at the top of my happy list, but then something occurred to me. My mom took my brother and I every year, rain or shine, feeling able-bodied or not, to show our support for this wonderful cause. I immediately pulled up my big girl undies and thought, "If my mom could do it year after year, so can I". I loaded up the kiddos, all by myself, and headed out to the walk.

I bundled them up and was one of the first people to head out when the walk began. The baby slept for about 30 minutes of it and the boy was so well behaved. We finished up and headed home. I was filled with a sense of pride for taking the first steps to introduce them to this event. I hope that they will always want to do this with me, in honor of their grandmother and all of the men and women living with this disease.

Thanks to some wonderful friends (IRL and bloggy buddies) and family, I was able to raise $555.00 this year!! This is the most I've ever raised and hope to keep raising my goal every year!

Random Ramblings

Hello Thursday. You've taken your sweet time getting here this week. I have had no time to post much of anything (thank you 2 days packed with meetings), so here is a rambling recap of the week.

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This boy was in desperate need of a haircut. He has only had one other haircut in his life and I did it. You may remember that I killed his curls, but as you can see they came back. They were getting very unruly though.

Before: Craziness (yes I know this is also bed head, but it was still crazy)

After: Super cute curls again!

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This weekend was a busy one. Saturday we took Nate to get his hair cut, went to a Pawsox game, I got pulled over (no ticket), Aaron got pulled over (yes ticket), Sunday I got to go shooping at Target ALONE (yipee) and then we went to a birthday party.

Me and my rosey cheeked, just woke up from a nap in the Ergo, baby girl.

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I was feeling down the other day and had a 20 minute conversation with one of my best friends, Darcy, that ended in laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my face. I love that I have my girls to rely on for cheering up. We can all use attitude adjustments from time to time!

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My house is an utter disaster. I wonder if I can get FEMA funding to get it cleaned up! I have been sorting through EVERY stitch of clothing in the house for purging purposes and am going to sell all of Nate's clothes that don't fit at an upcoming consignment sale. Three years of clothes is a lot to go through. They are all over the place in piles and I need to get them all entered into the system and tagged by Saturday. I need little elves to help me out. Maybe the Keeblers can take a break from cookie making and help a girl out.

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I am having craft night at my house for a few friends Saturday night. I'm so excited! Liz came up with the idea to make felt food for our kiddos kitchens. It is going to be fun! I'll be sure to post pics of our creations!

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I'm sure there's more, but my mind is mush right now.

A tale of 2 tickets

Well, the title is kind of a lie. It is really a tale of two traffic stops and 1 ticket. Just bear with me for a minute. Saturday Aaron and I got pulled over. On separate occasions. What are the odds of us both being pulled over in one day??


We went to an AAA ball game Saturday afternoon. I had high hopes of the boy hanging out with daddy and the baby falling asleep in the Ergo and sleeping happily through the game. Yes, I am sooo delusional. Nate did great but, as you can imagine, a baseball game is a little loud and the baby didn't really want to sleep. In the middle of the 4th inning Aaron accidentally spilled his beer down the back of my shirt and I took it as the opportunity to go to the car and drive around until rhea game was over so the baby could nap. I got a text that they were ready to be picked up and headed back toward the stadium. The baby's head was slumped over, I heard her gasp slightly and I was checking her in my rearview when it happened. I ran a red light. It was green right before I looked back, and had just changed, but I ran it just the same. Oh, I should mention that I almost got T boned by a policeman as a result. Yep, it would be my luck to run a red light in front of a cop. Needless to say I got pulled over. I told him I was checking on the baby, yada yada and he was soooo nice about it. He said he had a 4 year old and understood it is easy to be distracted by the kids. He ran my info and came back and said he would let me go since I'm not a delinquent with a bad driving record. Score! I was so glad to have skipped out on that ticket. Especially one I probably deserved to get.

Fast forward 8 hours later and my hubbs is on his way home from watching a fight at our friend's restaurant. One of the guys that watched the fight with him was behind him and started flashing his high beams (he doesn't have a cell phone) because he thought they were going the wrong way. Aaron pulled into the left hand turn lane at a light, rolled down his window, and told him that they were taking a different way than he is used to, but to keep following him. He proceeded to put his blinker on and pulled back out in front of his friend. He got pulled over for an illegal lane change. He explained what happened to the cop, but long story short, he got a ticket for it.

The irony of the whole situation is I am probably the one who should have got a ticket, not him. I wonder if it had been me in his situation, if I would have gotten out of it. I think the moral of this story is that the universe has a way of evening the score.

Random Ramblings

It has been a while since I just rambled on a Thursday. I kind of miss it, so here goes.

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Why do I have no time for blogging these days? It is making me rather pissy. I'm too busy at work (I'm sneaking in this quick post before I have to run down to the lab), I am sewing like a madwoman and have a million things to do at home, but don't seem to have enough time. This is my outlet, my venting, and my down time. I need to make more time for it!

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I feel like a freaking dairy cow. I am pumping 3 times a day at work to keep up with the eating needs of my chubby baby girl during the day, but it is getting really hard. Apparently my right boob thinks she doesn't have to pull her weight around here! I run from the lab, upstairs to pump, back to the lab, manage to eat, then pump again and I feel like a chicken with my head cut off. I managed to pump for 10 months with Nate, but I was a wreck the entire time. When he started sleeping through the night I would still wake up and pump to keep up. When it comes down to it, I just don't think the pump can possibly do as good of a job as the baby when it comes to extracting. I am not going to let it turn me into a guilt ridden, waking up in the night to pump wreck this time around. I'm going to attempt to get to 6 months with breast milk alone and then start supplementing if need be. Some is better than none after that, right?

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On a {YAY} note, Liz and I got accepted into the Providence Art Festival! I am excited as it is just one day and it is held in downcity (as we like to call it here in Rhody) Providence. I just have to keep up my commitment to sew a little each week so I have enough inventory. The Bjorn covers I've been making are selling great lately, so I think I will focus more on them and some new dress designs I am concocting!

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So that's it for now. It is the most words I have put in a post in weeks and it feels great to get it out of my head!! Now off to do some work. Cross your fingers I don't lose my mind today. I need my experiment to work they might find me in a heap on the lab floor pulling my hair out!!!

Wordless Wednesday - Easter

Chat with Nate

As we got into the car today, Nate starting freaking out because his shoes weren't on. Ironically, he's the one that didn't want them on, but that is neither here nor there. He was crying and I was trying to talk to the hubbs on the phone. Those two things are not exactly a good combo. Aaron decided that talking to him would calm him down so I put the phone on speaker and handed it to Nate. This is the conversation that took place:

Aaron: "Buddy, stop crying. What's the matter?"
Nate: (almost unintelligible) "Ahhh, shoes. Waa, need shoes. Uhhhh, uhhhh, mommy took my shoes."
Aaron: "Hey buddy, I got you a present."
{silence}
Nate: "What is it Daddy?"
{if I hadn't been in the car with him, I wouldn't have believed he was just wailing on and on about his freakin shoes}
Aaron: "It's a surprise, you can see when you get home."
Nate: "Um, is it da Easter Bunny?"
Aaron: "Nope, you'll see when you get home."
Nate: "Um is, um, (mumble, mumble) it?"
Aaron: "Are you guessing?"
Nate: "Nope, Arielle gassed, not me."
{at this point I am in tears laughing}
Aaron: "Ok, I will see you when you get home."
Natey: "Is it a kangaroo, a helicopter or a sign?"
Aaron: "Ok, I will see you when you get home."

Seriously, Nate is going to be the biggest class clown. I'm preparing myself now for all of the notes that will be sent home and the parent teacher conferences I'm going to have to sit though because of this kid. At least he makes me laugh. I guess I'll keep him around for a while.