Word (less) Wednesday

The Faces of Mary....

The Toddler Walk

If  you have a toddler you are going to know exactly what I am talking about. It's the walk they do when you are in a hurry and have to be at a meeting or you need to be somewhere at a certain time.

You know the one where they are walking three feet behind you, looking at the sky, asking why the drain on the street is where it's at, wondering why you didn't bring their fruit snacks and then asking you for the 3,000th time why they have to go to school. Don't forget that they are also trying to carry 100 things because well they need to take everything from their playroom with them. You spend most of the time hearding them and picking up the 100 things they are dropping on the ground because they don't have a care in the world. At this point you have now broken into a sweat and are pretty close to having a heart attack because at this point you are going to be late. You then flash back to a time where this wasn't your life and for an instant you wish you were back there but then realize you love your life and go back to hearding the toddler into school.

What should have taken an easy three minutes has just taken about 30.

Who knows what I am talking about?

Silhouette Cameo!

Silhouette Cameo is the most amazing crafting tool ever - or at least so I am told.

I have been dreaming about a Silhouette Cameo for over a year. I even put it on my Christmas list for Charlie but the old model was sold out and he didn't get me the new one. He didn't understand, so I don't blame him for not getting it but I still really want it.

So, this morning I check my blog roll and I see a giveaway for a Cameo on Tater Tots and Jello. My heart skipped a beat. Yes, I'm being serious, this is how bad a I want one. Not only are they giving one away, they are also offering a code for a discount.

I'm not sure how I am going to convince Charlie if I don't win that I should buy one but I must think of a way!

Flashback - 13 Years

Thirteen years ago on March 25th, two people stood by a fence and decided to start their relationship.

This picture was from the Carolina Cup. I have no idea who took the picture but I really should thank them because I love what they captured. They captured two drunk people talking about where their life was going and if they should date.

Who knew thirteen years later they would have two kids, a beautiful house and a relationship that is just as strong as it was 13 years ago.

We also celebrate Ellie today. She would have been 13. The day her parents started dating she was being born. I know we didn't get her until May but her papers said that March 25th was her Birthday.

Happy Birthday, Ellie! We miss you!

My Opinion.

I usually don't use this blog to voice my opinion about things, but lately I am annoyed with something, so here it goes.

I feel some breast feeding moms need to back off moms who don't.  I get it, breast feeding is great for your children but you know what, just because I don't do it, doesn't mean I am poisoning my child or my child is any different then yours, but for some reason you look at me differently.

Why do YOU look at me differently?

I don't look at you differently and I surely don't make comments to you about your decision. One of my favorite compliments (sarcasm) is that breast fed babies are healthier and don't get sick as often. Well, maybe that is the case but not four house. My kids are healthy and they do go to daycare, where germs are all over. Henry was rarely sick when he was an infant, and if he was sick do you think I said "Shit, I should have breast fed my child." No, I didn't and I don't plan to say that with Mary either. I also know that  Henry doesn't look at his friend at school who has an ear infection or a runny nose and says "Were you bottle fed?" Maybe, we should learn from our young children and not judge each other.

Then my other favorite comment is well I think breast fed moms connect more with their children, you don't get the same connection when you bottle feed. You know what I say "BS." I connect with my children just fine and I cherish the moments we are alone feeding. Just because they are not hooked up to me doesn't mean I'm not connecting with them.

I also enjoy that when talking about this or when it comes up on boards I am on, that those who are breast feeding always say "I'm not judging you for not breast feeding but............."

I know, I know everyone is entitled to their opinions and that is fine. I have plenty of friends who don't judge me because I didn't breast feed but it's the strangers that don't know me who are the ones that really get to me. I'm sure they mean well but honestly, back off.

We all make decisions that work best for our family and everyone should support those decisions, regardless of what they are.

The End.

The Evolution of her Cheeks

I was on my Mom's Board this morning and somehow a picture of Mary from February came up. I was in shock at how different she looks already. Then I couldn't help but notice that it's her cheeks that have really changed the most. So, I went digging through photos and I can see the evolution of her cheeks.

Please see my pictorial below:

I'm surprised she can keep her head up with all the weight in these cheeks! I love every ounce of them and right now I want to go home and squeeze them!

Words on Wednesday

This week instead of Wordless Wednesday, I'm going to post Words on Wednesday.

It's been 10 weeks since Mary has come into our lives and I still think about that day often. There are certain songs on the radio or my ipod that I hear that bring me back to the hospital because they were playing when I was having my surgery. Now, I don't remember if it was a radio station or a doc's ipod but I could still hear the music in the background.

I remember Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People, How to Save a Life by the Fray and then the one that really stuck out was Brighter Than the Sun by Colbie Caillat. After leaving the hospital I found myself singing it to Mary or at least humming the tune but I never really knew all the words. So, I looked them up and honestly the song could not have been more perfect to describe the day we met Mary.

Here are the lyrics:

Stop me on the corner
I swear you hit me like a vision
I, I, I wasn’t expecting
But who am I to tell fate where it’s supposed to go with it?
Don’t you blink you might miss it
See we got a right to just love it or leave it
You find it and keep it
Cause it ain’t every day you get the chance to say

Oh, this is how it starts, lighting strikes the heart
It goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun
Oh, it could be the stars, falling from the sky
Shining how we want, brighter than the sun

I never seen it, but I found this love I’m undefeated
You better leave, I’m … better than anything I’ve ever had
Cause you’re so damn beautiful read it
It’s time and deliver it let’s seal it
Boy we go together like peanuts and paydays and molly and reggae
And it ain’t every day you get the chance to say

Oh, this is how it starts, lighting strikes the heart
It goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun
Oh, it could be the stars, falling from the sky
Shining how we want, brighter than the sun

Everything is like a way out, cause we … shine down
Even when the light’s out but I can see you glow
Got my head up in the rafters, got me happy ever after
Never felt this way before, ain’t … this way before

I swear you hit me like a vision
I, I, I wasn’t expecting
But who am I to tell fate where it’s supposed to go with it?

Oh, this is how it starts, lighting strikes the heart
It goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun
Oh, it could be the stars, falling from the sky
Shining how we want, brighter than the sun, yeah

 These lyrics describe everything I felt that night and it was like this song was suppose to be playing when Mary arrived. Lighting struck our hearts that night and our life will never be the same.

Easter Decor.

I love Easter and all the bright color decorations that come along with it. It turns a blah winter house into one that has popped for Spring.

My mantle has to be my favorite space to decorate in our house. I love that I can change it every season or holiday.

I didn't make the wreath ;( I actually bought all the plastic eggs to make my own wreath but laziness and a sale at JoAnn's won out. We did make the bow, does that count? I'm in love with it. The only thing I want to change is the frame, I don't like the black so I need to pick up another one. The egg garland is from Target and I think it adds a little fun to the mantle.

I also decorated the island in the kitchen and the dining room.

Aren't the bright colors great? I guess I could have taken the pictures when the sun was out but you only have so many hours in the day.

I did make that basket with the flowers in it. I had quite the collection of flowers sitting in the basement so I arranged them inside a very large Easter box. The eggs on the table, they came from the Dollar Store.

Henry of course loves having all the Easter decorations out. He is pretty excited about the Bunny hoping over to his house. He wants skittles, m&m's and CARS airplane. I told him the Bunny is not like Santa and doesn't bring toys. His response "Well then why doesn't the Bunny get a sleigh." Sigh...............

Photo Shoot!

I snagged these pictures of Henry and Mary tonight. It is not easy getting the two of them in a picture.

We are getting closer to a normal picture of the two of them. Maybe by her Baptism.

Weekend Update.

What a great weekend - we had AMAZING weather and we certainly took advantage of it.

Saturday, Henry had a birthday party for two of his friends. They had the party at Pump It Up - what a fun place for a party. Two giant rooms filled with slides and bounce houses. The kids didn't know where to start. Henry had a lot of fun and it was great to get him out to burn off his energy.

After that we headed over to Dick's Sporting Goods to get Henry some shin guards and some Umbro's for soccer. The whole time we were there I kept thinking that my baby was growing up and that this cannot be happening. He was so excited to pick out the shin guards and shorts and you could tell he wanted to play soccer right then and there.

Finally we hit up the St. Patrick's festival in Reston. If you have never been and of course are in NOVA, you should check it out next year. It is very kid friendly and family orientated. Henry runs around and we drink beer, what more could you ask for. They also have Irish dancers and Irish music. We met up with our friends and had a great time.

Today, we hung around the house. My mom and I decorated for Easter while Henry and Charlie worked on the yard. Henry basically supervised Charlie, while Mary supervised the inside working crew. We did get outside and I planted flowers in the pots on the deck. Mary's baptism is only two weeks away and we are trying to get the outside ready for the party.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Leprechaun Day!

Since it's not St. Patrick's Day, Henry called it Leprechaun Day.

They were celebrating at school today, and he was pretty excited that the leprechaun was going to visit at school. So we got Henry dressed in his Irish best!

Check out Henry through the years!

Tomorrow, Mary will be wearing that shamrock onesie and I can't wait to compare the two pictures.

May the Luck of the Irish be with you!

Henry, you are so funny!

This kid cracks me up, maybe it makes me a bad mom because I think it is hysterical but whatever, IT.IS.FUNNY.

He doesn't understand short sleeves or shorts.

Since the weather has been incredibly warm this week and today being the warmest, I sent him to school in shorts. Well, the kid kept trying to pull the leg down on the shorts and kept telling me that they didn't work right. I could not help but laugh. I tried to explain to him that they were fine and suppose to be that way but he kept asking for his comfy pants.

Then he moved onto his shirt and kept saying that it didn't fit and was trying to pull the sleeves down.

At this point I'm laughing so hard because well, it was funny.

I was able to get him out the door in the shorts and short sleeve shirt but he just kept pulling them down as he walked. When I got to school this morning, I told them what he was doing, because honestly I could see him just taking them off and not wearing them. I did bring comfy pants to school for him so we shall see when I pick him up.

I love him for this because it was the smile I needed to start my day.

Word(less) Wednesday

Shopping!

I'm going to rave about some Etsy sellers in this post.I've been doing a little shopping for the kids lately. I wanted some artwork, Henry needed things for school, Mary needed a daycare bag and some other essentials.

First up some very bright and fun wall birth announcements. I wanted something for the wall between their rooms so I searched on Etsy. I loved these because they were an 8x8 square not just your typical 8x10 or 5x7. I contacted Galen and within 48 hours they were in my inbox. Cilck this link to connect to the Etsy shop  - Geld Design.

Aren't they great?! I bought some black frames from Michaels so they will match the rest of the framed work in the loft. I can't wait to get them hung up.

My next purchase was some reusable sandwich and snack bags for Henry. I hate using 100 plastic bags when I pack his lunch so I thought these would work great. I saw similar ones the other day on BabySteals and by the time I checked out the pattern I wanted was gone. Again, I went to Etsy and found Sack Savers and they had the CUTEST patterns. Christa made a custom listing for me and is real easy to work with. I ended up getting one sandwich and two snackers.

Henry is going to love having these in his lunch box. The inside have a nylon lining so you can just wipe them out and they can be thrown in the wash too! Easy peasy.

Now onto Mary. In about three weeks she will be starting in home daycare so I needed to get her a daycare bag and some labels for school. It was like my Inbox knew I needed stuff. Yesterday, there was a Living Social Deal (I think) for Scout. For $20 you get $40 worth of merchandise. I had seen these bags before and they were of great quality. I went into the Sale section to see if I could stretch my deal further and I did. I got two bags - one for daycare and then one for travel.

I ended up saving $40 after it was all said and done. The shipping was a little pricey but well worth it in the end.

My final purchase this week were some Inchbug labels for Mary's bottles. I always wanted these with Henry but his daycare made us fill out labels so I never bought them. I always hear good reviews so I figured I might as well get them now so we can use them for a long time.

I ordered them in a pinky/purple color and just put Mary N on the label. I'm pretty excited to finally be ordering these things. I know they look like LiveStrong bracelets but whatever.

I think I'm done shopping for awhile. I need to get back to crafting, it is way less expensive!

Now I know why.....

Now I know why maternity leave should be longer then 8 weeks. This whole going to work and caring for an infant at night is crazy hard.

You are probably thinking Amy, this is your second child, what did you do the first time? Well, I was so lucky last time to be let go from my job while I was on maternity leave (insert sarcasm). Thanks, GTSI and a manager there that I never liked or should I say never liked me.

Sorry, getting away from why I am posting.

Mary has decided this past week that she needs to go to bed at 8:30pm and sleep until after midnight. She then eats at midnight but barely and is up again at 4am for another snack then and is up at 6:30am. I know, I should not complain they ARE 4 hour stretches BUT she is so noisy when she sleeps. Yes, we have moved her to her crib, so maybe I need to turn the monitor on a lower setting?

Prior to this new schedule, it was a bottle at 9pm/10pm and then up at 2am and then again at 6am/7am. This my body liked. Only getting up once in the middle of the night.

I know this won't last forever but please baby, help mama out. There is not enough coffee to keep me awake at work all day.

And I will leave you with this picture, she is going to be so sassy when she grows up..........

Monday Thoughts

I only have random thoughts this Monday because sleep was not happening last night. Sleep happened for Henry just not for Mary. As I was rocking her from 2am to 3:30am, I had a lot of thoughts.........

Thinking....You know you spend too much time looking for cars from CARS when you are telling people in your dreams what ones we still need.

Thinking....In June we are going to have a puppy. We got an email from the breeder that the puppies will be born in 3 to 4 weeks. I'm guessing Mary will finally be sleeping better by then only to introduce another non sleeping animal.

Thinking...We were like kids waiting for snow yesterday, except for warm weather. We kept opening the door to see if it had gotten warmer out there.

Thinking...The dress I got for Mary's baptism is something right out of "The Help" and I love it. I do need to find a shrug because my arms are pretty scary.

Thinking...I scored a Mei Tai carrier at TJ Maxx yesterday for $10 but I don't have instructions on how to use it. Hmmmmmmmmm.

Thinking....Is the Easter bunny at the mall yet? Need to subject my children to this because we forgot last year.

Thinking...March Madness - who is going to be my bracket winner this year and how am I going to get updates while I am at work.

Thinking...Mary needs a daycare bag and some labels for her bottles. Mables Labels or Inchbug??????

Thinking....St. Patrick's Day and Charlie and I could really use some time out of the house and hoping our town center is having something.

I was pretty busy rocking in that rocking chair last night. Probably why I couldn't fall asleep after Mary was placed in her crib.

Two Months!

Tomorrow Mary will be two months old but I have some time today so I'm going to post.

We took her on Tuesday for her two month appointment and she is doing great! She is over 9 pounds and grew another inch. Her long stretch of sleep is from 8:30 to 1:00am. Then she will go to about 5am and wake again around 7:30am. We are hanging in there with this schedule but would like for her to go from about 9 to 3 or something like that. I know we will get there eventually.

I also went back to work this week. I'm slowly getting back into the routine. It was nice that it was only a 3 day week so I am sure next week will be a lot tougher. My mom is watching her during the day so I enjoy the updates and pictures throughout the day, it helps get me through.

Wordless Wednesday...

Before work this morning - I already miss those cheeks.

Two Month Check up

Took Mary for her two month appointment this morning. We are a little early because she won't be two months until Saturday but who is counting.

Mary did great. She weighed in at 9 pounds 2 ounces and she is 21.25" tall. The doctors were happy with her numbers and said she is doing great. She gained 1 pound 6 ounces since her last appointment and grew an inch and a quarter.

I'm in love with her outfit today. It was a gift from our neighbor and it has ballerina's over it. You can't really see it in the picture but I love it and it fits her so well and it is so soft!

It's so nice that her clothes are starting to fit her! I'm jealous that my mom gets to dress her in all these fun clothes she has. She is going to look adorable when I get home from work each day.

They return......

Cue the knot in the stomach and the I don't want to go to work blues on Sunday night.

How is it possible that it has been 8 weeks since I last sat at my desk?

How is it possible that it has been 8 weeks since we were sent to labor and delivery and the doctors were telling us that we need to deliver in the next two hours?

I cannot believe that on Wednesday I am taking Mary to her two month appointment and then after that I have to go to work. I have to sit at a desk and do work, really? This cannot be happening.

This all means weekends are back to being two days filled with errands and running around like a crazy only to get ready for Monday again.

GAHHHHH - this cannot be happening this quickly, but sadly it is.

In the next two days I am going to have to get a lot of lovin in on those little cheeks!

Music History

Now, I don't know a thing about music history but I do that there is history behind songs on my ipod.

While, Mary and I were sunning ourselves today we were listening to some music and I was giving her the history behind some songs. She needs to know about Charlie and I and all the friends and family that love her, plus, it kept us occupied during play time.

Our first song was "It's your Love" by Faith and Tim. I explained to Mary how her Aunt Nadine and I used to sing this song in the car. I was always Tim and she was always Faith. I asked Mary if she wanted to take up the Faith part but she said she wasn't ready yet, in due time, I guess.

The next song that came up was "Livin of a Prayer" by Bon Jovi. We fist pumped, enough said. Actually, I told her that it is not an armpit but the place where Mommy was born and grew up. I also told her about her cousins and her Aunts and Uncles. She seemed pretty happy with this song selection.

Then came "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson. Does it get any bettter then this? I explained to her who he was and that he is by far one of the greatest singers of Mommy and Daddy's generation. I even told her that Aunt Andrea was madly in love with him and had a poster in her bedroom. I also told her that when Uncle Dave was in school they passed around a glove with glitter on it because it was all the rage to wear it. I told her I would explain more about that later.

"All for Love" by Sister Hazel came on and I told her about a bar in Columbia that is not there anymore. It's where Hootie got their start and that Sister Hazel played there. Then I told her that Daddy and I were both at this bar when they played but we didn't know each other, but years later we both realized we were there. I also explained to her that she will not drink underage and sneak into bars like her parents did. I'm pretty sure Charlie was barely 19 at the time.

Our history lesson closed with Collide by Howie Day. I told her that Daddy played this at our wedding and that he wanted it for our first dance song but decided against it. She thought maybe some day her and Daddy could dance to it at her wedding.

It was fun going down memory lane with Mary and I'm sure we will do this again soon!