shelleyfaye

Crafting is in their genes

2011-11-21T00:06:00.000-05:00

As if I wasn't already head over heels in love with this little girl, she just steals my heart more and more by doing things like this

I have been working on this sign for the aprons that I sell at craft shows so this board has been on the counter for days. The other night Lily pulls out her colored pencils and went to work making one of her own. I wouldn't let her touch mine so she was running back and forth, from the counter to the table. She would run over and check this detail or that, making sure she had everything right. You can't tell from this picture, but she even has the little squiggly lines and things in the word 'kitschy'.
The next day I taught her how to do patchwork on the machine.
I'm so glad she is a crafter!

Eric just may be a crafter too. Today I was going to take Lily with me to a craft show while Eric & Ross stayed home to take a nap but he threw a fit when he found out he wasn't going. He cried and cried saying "craft show" so Ross got lucky to have the whole afternoon to himself in a quiet house. They had a kids craft table where they got to make Indian hats (I know there is a name for these things, just can't remember it)

And Eric wore his all day

Broken computer, saving money, loosing a job and Halloween 2011

2011-11-13T12:49:00.003-05:00

Eric knocked over the tower to my computer a few weeks back and broke the hard drive completely, so I lost everything (this is why there aren't many pictures). I'm pretty impressed with my thrifty-ness in the repair of the computer. I talked a friend of mine (who happens to work in computers specializing in hardware) into fixing it for me and was able to pay him in Magners (that Ross got for free because of a labeling error over in Ireland). I needed to buy the new hard drive so I talked Office Depot into a price-match from $96 to an advertised $59 sale at Best Buy so that I could use my $20 reward (from turning in empty ink cartridges all year). So, basically I paid about forty bucks in all. Not bad huh?
I recently got laid off from Monstertixx so the need for extreme thrift is more of a necessity now than ever before. I'll be hired back when baseball season starts, or if the NBA decide to quit being greedy and come to an agreement or if people actually decide they would enjoy seeing the crappy Dolphins play, basically when/if ticket sales become more in-demand.

Halloween.
The weather tried its best to ruin it, it had been raining and raining and a tropical storm came through over that weekend, but it managed to stop raining long enough to trick or treat.
The Friday night before Halloween was the Boo Bash, an annual event hosted by the city for the kids. Every year this has been fun, but this year they didn't give any candy at all so the kids were pretty disappointed. They had bounce houses but you had to be 5 in order to get in them so that didn't work out so well for Eric. The following pictures are of Lily's costume:

She and I dressed like Jesse from Toy Story and Eric was Batman. I made mine & Lily's but I wasn't about to attempt a homemade Batman. We borrowed his from a friend.
We were supposed to go to a pumpkin carving party and then Trunk or Treat at the Y on Sunday, but Lily decided to stay up all night Saturday night pretending to be sick so we cancelled those fun events and carved our pumpkins at home.
Monday, actual Halloween, we went trick or treating in the rich people's neighborhood. In our neighborhood people don't answer the doors! It is pathetic. This other neighborhood, they throw parties in their yards and really go all out, so that is why we go there.
This last picture is from us playing at the field. It is our family workout that we like to do every now and then. We go to the baseball field at the neighboring school/church and run sprints and do drills and things while the kids just run around.

Eric loves being a baby

2011-11-07T13:10:00.003-05:00

Eric doesn't want to be a big boy. He doesn't have any interest in getting big, gaining independence or using the potty. When we got a big bag of hand-me-downs from a friend and there were underpants in it, I couldn't even get him to try them on! If you ask him if he wants to try them on he says "Diapers!"
so, I guess I'm still clipping coupons for diapers for awhile.
If you ask him his name he'll tell you "Baby"
I may have babied him a little too much.

I'm sorry, truly sorry. I had no idea that the Komen foundation had lost sight of the goal

2011-10-12T12:05:00.005-04:00

Right now I am so angry that I'm struggling with the right words to express it. As you probably know, every year I raise a bunch of money for the Susan G. Komen foundation's Race for the Cure. This race is coming up on Saturday and my fundraising efforts were currently in full swing. That is... until about an hour ago.

The Susan G. Komen foundation spent millions this year going after other charities for the use of the phrase "for the cure" or for using the color pink. It made the news back in August, but I missed it, had I seen it then, I'd have never asked for your donations to this organization.

I can't even describe how angry this makes me. I've raised thousands upon thousands of dollars for this organization over the years and I donate 10% of every handmade sale that I make. I buy the Susan G. Komen stamps, I pay more for products that donate a percentage, and I run the race. I was getting really excited that next year would have been an entire DECADE of supporting this charity. I feel like I've been cheated.

I understand that charities have business obligations and sometimes tough decisions need to be made, but lawsuits to other (smaller) charities is a loose-loose. It forces those charities to shift their money away from their causes and into hiring lawyers to defend themselves. When the Susan G. Komen foundation ends up with a few extra million, why not spend it on something that would be a closer fit to the cause? Why not increase the per-dollar amount that is actually used in research? Build a Hospital! Geez, anything other than suing another charity!

Going forward plan:

remove any Race related fundraising links I have on any of my sites
replace all of the tags on all of my handmade products (it states that I donate 10%)
draw a big black bar through the "Susan G. Komen foundation" script on my business cards where it says that I donate 10%
Revise all of the eBay auctions that I am currently running that I had set up to automatically donate anywhere from 10% to 100% to the Susan G. Komen Foundation (*update* eBay won't allow charity changes in active listings, so I'll have to let these ride and change the charity when I re-list)
Document this day in my sales records because I have a duty to make that 10% donation for the sales that I've made in the past year because otherwise I would be lying to my customers and that is just something I am not willing to do. I said I'd donate it, and I will. A percentage of future sales will go to another charity.
Send an apology email to everyone that I asked money from letting them know
write a message on my race day shirt tag. Not sure exactly how the wording will go, but it will honor my mom first then express my disappointment in the Susan G. Komen foundation
Write a letter to the Komen foundation letting them know about my disappointment. I know it probably won't matter to them, but it will matter to me
Research and find a better charity to support. I am proud that I, personally am able to donate hundreds of dollars and because of my awesome family and friends, usually able to pull that number over a thousand every year. I want to find a charity that hasn't lost sight of the goal and direct my money there instead.

2011 Race for the Cure

2011-09-20T20:35:00.006-04:00

**REVISED on 10/12/11**

I removed the link to the Fundraising page for the Race for the Cure, see this blog post for explaination

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

I ran my first Race for the Cure 9 years ago and have participated every year since! This year's race is less than a month away and although I signed up for the race months ago, I haven't raised a dime or gotten a single person on my team yet. So, if you wanna help me catch up to my usual lofty goal of raising a grand, click here and donate. Click that same link if you'd like to join the team too.
I was actually considering not actually running this year and "sleeping in" for the cure instead. That means that I still pay my fee, get a t-shirt, raise money but sleep in instead of running (you can do that too folks... click that link up there) but because this is the first year that Brandi is gonna run it with me, I guess I'll do it.
Gotta run, need to go draft up an email begging everyone I know to donate some money :)

oh yeah, I should also mention that I donate 10% of the purchase price of every single handmade item that I sell all year long whether it be in my online shop, my other online shop or at local shows, so if you are thinking of buying handmade gifts this holiday, that is another way to support the Race for the Cure too.

Birthday

2011-08-06T11:21:00.006-04:00

This year, it seemed like we were going to birthday parties every weekend (sometimes more than one on a Saturday) so we decided instead of throwing parties, we'd do a family day at the zoo for the kid's birthdays. Brandi gave Eric this Charlie Brown shirt and he loves it so much that I have to do laundry too often because he wants to wear it every day. I love that he will wear that FSU cap, but feel kinda bad for his big head 'cause it is an adult hat!

My dad got Lily the camera for her birthday and it was so sweet that she had it at the zoo. Remember all the sketching she did at Butterfly World? well the camera got the same attention and it was a good thing too because if we had to take the time to sketch every animal, we'd have never made it out of that place!
Both kids LOVED the Goats. Eric didn't really wanna feed them, I think the tongues scared him a little, but he really enjoyed brushing them.

Feeding the giraffes was the only thing that Lily remembered from our last trip to the zoo so she had been driving us nuts all day asking when we'd get to do that again. FINALLY, we got to the giraffes.
I have loads of pictures from the whole day up on flickr if you wanna check out more

Summer Summer Summer

2011-07-15T22:04:00.002-04:00

047, a photo by by Shelley Faye on Flickr.

This pic is the face Eric makes every time you point a camera in his direction. Maybe he'll become a dentist.

Anyhoo...
We've had a busy summer so far. We've been having a blast going to sprinkler parks and swimming at the Y but of course, there never seems to be enough time in front of a computer to keep up with blogging as often as I'd like.
I am a gadget junkie though so I'm regularly posting pics on flickr (user id: by shelleyfaye but you'll need to add me as a friend in order to see the family pics... they are private so I have to approve you first. If you don't do this step, you'll only see pictures of the stuff I've sewn) and videos to youtube (user id: sirrossmitchell, just search that word... no spaces) so please, if you are craving more up-to-date pics, bookmark those sites.

Lily's Pre-School Graduation

2011-07-08T16:08:00.005-04:00

The entrance to Lily's classroom
Eric waiting patiently for things to get started

Lily and her teacher Ms. Nancy

I cried. A lot.

Lily excited for fireworks

2011-07-04T20:39:00.003-04:00

Lily usually doesn't do well when she stays up late but we've decided to let her stay up tonight to watch the fireworks from the roof (we can see 5 shows from there!) this video is of our excited little girl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrwtzGnKZF0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Grandma's funeral

2011-06-03T13:09:00.003-04:00

A week ago yesterday, my Grandma passed away (above pic of her and Lily in the fall '06). Of course it is very sad and I'm heartbroken for the loss, but I'm happy that she is in a better place. She was very very sick and her quality of life was not good. It was really nice to get to see the family and even though the visit was quick, it was a refresher for me. I love my babies dearly, but it is so nice to have a whole day start to finish every now and then where I don't have to change a diaper, make sure someone is eating healthy or cleaning up toys.
I don't have much time to post because I have a mound of work to catch up on and because life seems to always throw things at you all at once, everyone in the house is sick!
I came home with a box of old pictures and I'm going to be scanning them over time and posting them to flickr. I have loads of pictures there that are public, but you won't be able to see most of the family stuff without logging in. If you log in (it is free) and connect with me, I can mark you as a family member and you will be able to see all of my pictures.
This link might work to take you to some pics from the 70s...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22026365@N02/sets/72157626876705560/

Lately

2011-05-26T13:35:00.002-04:00

004, a photo by by Shelley Faye on Flickr.

It is full-on hot as hell around here (love it!) and we've been spending alot of time in the water. Eric completed swimming lessons and still cannot swim, but they both do really well in the water anyway.
So, in my relentless pursuit of figuring out a way to get us enough money to get a REAL pool, I've gotten really really into coupons. Inspired by Sherah, and encouraged by a local crafty friend who got me into her coupon group on facebook, I've saved a BOAT LOAD! It is insane! If you've seen that show Extreme Couponing, I'm no where near that level, but I've been saving so much and in only a few weeks of doing it. You already know how cheap I am, and we've been on a tight budget forever, but I've managed to cut even more! I started keeping track of it so I can see if it is all worth my time and if you are curious, this is the blog for that. As of today, I've spent $155.31 on $534.90 worth of food, cleaning supplies and toiletries. Pretty awesome huh?

Why

2011-05-22T22:41:00.002-04:00

I'm not really sure how to type it out, but I'm sure that anyone reading this knows exactly how it sounds, a young kid asks for something, the parent says 'no' and the kids responds with a whiney "wwwhhhhyyyyyy?????" complete with the collapsing body language.
We've all seen it.
As much as I'd love to say that Lily doesn't do this, I can't. She doesn't do it often and we've been working on curbing it, but the real problem now is that Eric does it too! It is kinda funny because he has no idea what why means, she just knows that is what he is supposed to say when he doesn't get his way. It is a tricky thing because I can't use the same techniques to get him to stop doing it.
Another funny thing that he does is if he wants to run around in the store and doesn't want me to carry him he starts saying "ow, ow, ow, ow" so everyonat looks at me like I'm hurting him!

Yay....new iPad

2011-05-21T17:15:00.002-04:00

If you are on Facebook, than you know how much I've been bitching about having to share a computer with Ross during the day. Well, I finally got my new iPad! I love it yet I'm disappointed that I can't upload pictures. There were two things that I was concerned about and uploading photos was one of them. Every person I asked told me that I could. Not just salespeople either, I asked iPad owners and they all said that you could. Well.... If it was possible, you'd see a pic on this post because I'm sitting on the patio right now with the kids playing in our new $10 blow up pool and I can take their picture, just can't upload it. I can upload to all the social networking sights but those don't make money for me. I was hoping to use this thing for work. So I'm kinda sad about that.
Ok enough bitching.
Yesterday was the spin a thon. Our team had to keep a bike spinning for 6 hours. We raised money for Kids in Distress. We ended up with a pretty big team and so we only had to spin for 27 or 28 minutes. I'm pretty proud of myself too because I raised $350.00 and did 45 minutes of spinning and didn't feel like I was going to die (we loaned some riders to a smaller team). I'm not looking the way I want to look, but health-wise, I'm in the best shape I've ever been in! It feels great.

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T14:07:00.006-04:00

Mother's Day is always a little sad for me. I love being able to have a day to celebrate, but it always makes me super sad that my mom isn't around any more. She was such a giver that she is the exact type of person that holidays like Mother's Day were invented. I hate that I didn't give her the appreciation that she deserved. I took so much for granted and just wish I had some way to turn back the clock just for one day to tell her how much I appreciate everything the did for us. My kids are so awesome and I'm so proud of them, I wish so badly that my mom could have known them.
There were alot of tears this weekend over that.
There were also two more big reminders of our mortality too. My boss, for whom I've worked for about 6 years now lost his sister on Friday to breast cancer. I don't know her exact age, but she is his younger sister and he is 44. She had a family... small kids! I am so sad for them, I know how hard it is not to have a mom and I didn't lose mine until I was an adult. I just can't imagine.
Then, Brandi's most recent ex-boyfriend died Saturday night in a motorcycle accident. I didn't really know him very well, but Brandi is pretty broken up about it.
It is heart breaking, but death is part of living, so although there are tears, it truly makes me more apt to pay attention to today.
So, on that note, I'll move on to tell you about what a fabulous day I had on Mother's Day with Lily. Moms get in free to Butterfly World on Mother's day and I took Lily last year. It is the first thing she talked about when she heard that Mother's day was coming up so I told her we'd certainly go again this year. Eric still naps and Butterfly World is kinda pricey so the boys stayed home and cooked dinner for us.
Lily was so excited for the day that she had been drawing pictures of us & butterflies for about a week. She even set out her butterfly underwear to make sure to wear them on Sunday! She woke me up at 6:55!! Ross is the one who gets up with the kids everyday because he is a morning person, I'm not, and... I do my web-work at night so I don't get a chance to get to bed early like he does. So, on a regular day, I get up at 8. Mother's Day, the day that moms are supposed to SLEEP IN.... Lily woke me up at 6:55. I grumbled that I was supposed to sleep in on Mother's Day and she started to cry telling me that it was a special day and she had something she wanted to give me. Even though I'd been out late at a party the night before, I dragged myself out of bed to receive their gifts. Lily had picked out some gummy fruit snacks for me and a spool of ribbon. She & Eric drew me a picture on a big piece of cardboard. Eric even sat up at the table while I looked at it pointing and saying "draw, draw" (this explains the mysterious green marker arms late last week). It was very sweet. I gave them bagels and snuck back to bed. A few minutes later Lily joined me (she usually has to be woken up for school, so 6:55 is early for her too).
After a little more beauty sleep, we got up and headed out to Butterfly World. Lily likes to sketch things so we stopped at the dollar store and bought two sketch pads, a pack of new crayons, a box of markers and treated ourselves to sodas.
Not long after being there, one of the workers told us that if we put our finger out slowly to a butterfly when it is on a leaf, it may crawl onto our hand. This picture is of how upset Lily got about that silly butterfly not wanting to crawl onto her hand. (Notice the finger still out and ready for the butterfly to climb on)

There was an annoyingly friendly little girl who managed to get one on her finger and she tried to hand it off to Lily
It didn't work, but after a minute of resting in the trees, it climbed onto her hand... just for a second
We bought the butterfly guide book and really took our time looking at each and every butterfly trying to identify them and checking them off in the book.
Then we had horrible pizza & chips for lunch. (*note to self: next year... pack a lunch.*)
Next up were the lorikeets. For a dollar, they give you a cup of juice that the birds are crazy for and they climb all over you. I don't care for birds climbing on me but one really liked me and landed on me twice even though I didn't have any juice. Lily loves them.
And as you can see... they love her too. I worried about her getting pooped on, but thankfully she didn't. Everyone around was taking pictures of her and she thought it was the funniest thing.
After a round of purell and a real soap & water handwash, we got ice cream
The whole day we stopped and sketched out the things we'd seen. Here is Lily drawing the millipede in the Bug Zoo.
And sketching the humming birds

She was really cute with the sketching. She made sure to get all the colors right. She'd see a bird that had a black spot on his eye, or a red feather on the tail or whatever and make sure to put that in her picture. Then she'd tuck her notepad under her arm and move on like some little scientist or something. It was very sweet. I'm holding the memories of this day very close to my heart.

Because Aunt Linda told me to

2011-04-26T14:01:00.006-04:00

I talked to Aunt Linda yesterday and she reminded me that I haven't updated the blog in a long time so here goes. Toward the end of March I donated my hair again to Locks of Love. I hate having short hair, but as you can see from the photo, I really needed a haircut! Oh well... it is a renewable resource and even though I don't have alot of money to give to charities, I do have alot of hair!You can donate your hair too (I got a free haircut out of it too by going to Great Clips) information on how to do it is on their site http://www.locksoflove.org/
On the first, I finally went and got that tattoo that I've been talking about for years and years
I'd saved up and set aside the money years ago and bonus for me, inflation on tattoos wasn't nearly as high as I had expected. My last tattoo before this one was in the late 90s and it cost me about $200 so I figured I'd need about $300. Lucky me, it only cost me $150! But, as luck tends to always swing in both directions, the City of Hollywood caught me running a redlight via photo/video (oops) so I had to give them the rest of that money I'd set aside for tattoos.
it is a Flame Lily, the national flower of Zimbabwe.
Most of my time in the last 6 months or so has been spent working my booty off to organize the Odd Duck Bazaar. This was the second year of the show and I was so proud of the outcome. There was so much blood/sweat/tears put into this event and it really paid off.
we were written about pre-show in three newspapers, one local and two regional! Last year we were only featured post-show on the newspapers' websites. We had about 1500 attendees! Magners was one of our sponsors and set up a tasting booth at the event.
Ross's staff girl ended up getting sick and needing extra help, so he had to work part of the event. Brandi was originally volunteering at the show's admissions booth, but when Ross had to come up there, Brandi had to leave to take the kids home. Eric spent a few moments helping his dad. Sweet huh?
The other day we received a parcel from Zimbabwe with some love gifts from Granny & Grandpa.
The next picture is slightly out of order, but it was from the weekend before Odd Duck when I took Lily out on a girls day to go to a craft show in Boca. It was a combo, show promoting and spending some quality time with my girl. We shopped, ate handmade Popsicles, got a glitter tattoo from the henna artist and ate out for lunch.
I swear, these kids spend so much time in the dirt! I have so many pictures of them looking like this...

Now I really need to get back to work. SOMEBODY, who will remain name-less, allowed Lily to play with my laptop on the couch and she broke the screen so I'm working on finding things around here to sell so I can get an ipad.

Through the eyes of Lily

2011-03-14T22:01:00.002-04:00

These photos are taken by Lily. She was playing a little too quietly the other day so when I checked on her she said she was doing a photo shoot. It is really funny to me to see the things she finds photo-worthy.
This is the slider that goes between the dining room and pool table room. It is one of those that opens completely out so most days it is open, mainly because having a sliding glass door in the middle of your house is strange, right? Well, it has this weird leaf pattern thing on it, presumably to keep people from walking into it. I never really thought I'd be blogging about it.My rocking chair. I've had this chair all my life, I have insisted on keeping it even though I have more reasons to let it go than to save it. I have no place to put it, it is too small for an adult, too big for a child and no one uses it but yet, here it is.
The really nasty fan over the pool table and the glorious popcorn ceiling above it.
Lily's boo-boo and spongebob bandaid

Lately Lily has really gotten into saying "lets pretend..." it just makes me smile to hear all of her big ideas.
Eric, finally has started to try and talk. He does several animal sounds but won't attempt the name of the animal yet. He says 'no' and 'uh-huh' (I know, terrible... I should insist on 'yes' but I'm still just happy he is saying something!) and 'ball' and 'shoes'
I'm gonna need to try and get him on video saying 'shoes' because it is really cute that sh sound.

New Year's resolution Fail

2011-02-14T15:36:00.002-05:00

I was supposed to write a blog post once a week.... oops.
I did 4 in January, so I guess I'll try to play catch up and as long as I can squeeze in 4 a month, I won't beat myself up about it.

Happy Valentine's day!
Today I was invited to have snack at Lily's school with Lily for Valentine's day. It was really sweet. Lily introduced me to her best friend Derek (it used to be Logan, but now Derek). She came home with a load of candy so now I've been spending the day like a broken record telling her 'no' to eating it all in one day.
Eric is finally starting to show signs of learning to talk. He will say 'no' but he says it in such a funny way that no one but us knows that 'no' is what he is saying. I'm wondering if he really does have a speach issue. I keep telling myself not to worry and most days I don't, but I still do.

If I ever get organized enough to upload pictures to the same computer that I'm writing blog posts on, I'll get some pics to you.

Disney

2011-01-27T21:41:00.012-05:00

Last Friday we loaded up Granny and the kids and rode up to Melbourne. We spent the night at Sandy's house and got up real early, traded our car for her van, added Allison to the group and headed over to Orlando.
I did check the weather ahead of time, and again that morning, but for some reason I really only paid attention to what the high was for the day and forgot to worry with the low. We took the ferry over to the Magic Kingdom and realized very early that we really weren't dressed appropriately. Everyone had long sleeves and jackets (except Ross, he was in shorts! but he is never cold) but we were cold almost the whole time.
This picture was taken while we were in line for our very first ride.
This super excited face would turn to tears very soon. We rode some Lilo and Stitch thing that was meant to be fun. Well, it wasn't. It plays out like you are expecting a scary alien and instead of a scary alien, Stitch arrives. Well, I guess Lily hasn't watched enough Lilo and Stitch to know that Stitch is a good alien so being in the dark, strapped into a seat and a scary alien on the loose was more than her little heart could handle. It of course broke mine too. She was crying and asking to get out but all I could do was try and tell her that it was all ok and hold her hand. We were very careful in picking our next ride and double checked that the Buzz Lightyear ride was in fact not scary before going on. It was great and even Eric loved it. So, all it took was one good ride for Lily to forget all about the awful beginning. Next we rode the teacups.
Then Lunch at Pinnochio's place and then rode Its a Small World. Eric really really loved that one. He liked being able to sit on the seat in the boat and not our laps. He just pointed and pointed. It was really sweet.
Next, I took my tired little man on a walk in the stroller so he could nap while Ross, Marje, Allison & Lily rode the Dumbo ride. Marje wasn't impressed with that one and I had a terrible crowd experience. Everywhere I turned on my walk they had things roped off for a parade. I just wanted to keep walking but ended up in some strange walkway with raised walls that was too narrow for the crowd. The walls were about shoulder height and I was in the middle of it when another family came through going the other direction with a double-wide stroller. The pathway wasn't wide enough for us both but there were so many people packed in all around us that neither of us could back up to get free. People were climbing over the strollers (with my sleeping child inside!) and climbing up the walls. It was insane and I lost it. I wouldn't let anyone climb over Eric and basically just caused a complete blockade until enough people realized that they weren't going to get through and finally backed up to let some of us out.
So, after I was free, and met back up with the family, we had some ice cream. Daddy sent us money for ice cream so even though it was really really cold, we had ice cream!
Next stop was the toon town fair so Lily & Allison had their faces painted.
Eric is just as entertained by the decorations as he is the rides. He was awesome. Not one melt down!
The sun started setting so we found ourselves a good spot to watch the parade and played there for awhile while Ross went off and found us some hot dogs to have for dinner. Everyone loved the parade. Marje bought the kids some light up toys to play with and it was so sweet. Lily had meltdown #2 when Puff the Magic dragon came through. She was really frightened. I guess we need to make it a point to catch up on our Disney movies because I know for sure, had she seen the movie, she would have never been scared of HIM!
After the parade we went to see the Carousel of Progress in order to squeeze in one more quick ride and warm up a little.
Lily was really struggling by the end. She was cold and very tired so we took turns carrying her. Lucky Duck Eric got to bundle up in the stroller for nap #2.
After leaving the park there was a really bad accident on the interstate and we were in dead-stop traffic for about half an hour. Lily & Allison passed out right away but Eric stayed awake watching a movie. (so cool to get to watch movies in the car. I'm jealous)
But, we finally made it back to Sandy's and the next morning she cooked us a big, fattening American breakfast and we headed back south.
Everyone was still a little pooped from our adventure.
Notes for next time: Wear clothing appropriate for the weather. Plan our rides in advance. Bring lots of snacks.

My Grandma and my Kid's Granny

2011-01-20T22:49:00.005-05:00

The above picture is one that I put together for my grandma. She has dementia and has to live at a hospital so I just wrote her a quick note and printed a picture to include with it. When I went to visit last fall she didn't know who I was. It is really heartbreaking and the whole situation sucks. I really should write to her more often, I think about it alot but just never seem to actually DO it.
On a lighter note... Ross's mom is here right now and we have been having a blast. She had met Eric before, but he was just a newborn so he didn't remember her but took to her very quickly. Of course, Lily is still head-over-heals in love with Granny. We all love having her here so life is really great right now.
I'll have lots of pics later, but I need to get caught up with my never-ending to-do list, cheers.

Well at least...

2011-01-07T09:56:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I was hanging out with a friend who's youngest is the same age as Lily. I was talking to her about the doctor's concern that Eric hasn't started trying to talk yet. I was telling her that I was on the verge of getting worried myself too. She said what I was hoping that she'd say (I just needed to hear it, I think) that all kids are different and that everyone grows on his/her own schedule.... you know the rest. I whole-heartedly agree, but just in case, I've been trying to work with him more and more on making sounds and things.
My friend shared that her son (Lily's age remember... 4 1/2ish) was having serious trouble with fine motor skills. He was getting frustrated at school (even just a half day of pre-school) because of it and that she was very worried. I had never really put much thought into fine motor skills mainly because for us, it has never been an issue. So, this morning, just as a test, I gave Eric a pen and notebook just to see what he did. I gave no prompting or instruction, just handed him the pen & book and grabbed my camera to document.
I'd say, we do NOT have a problem with fine-motor skills!
So, I guess, if Eric never learns to speak, at least he will have no trouble writing down what he needs to say.

iPhone and YouTube videos

2011-01-04T10:11:00.005-05:00

After a year and a half of using an iPhone with a shattered screen, I finally got a new one. It was actually last month, but I'm just now getting around to blabbing about it. In case you aren't aware, iPhones have a real glass screen so once it shattered, I had to buy a Zagg invisibleSHIELD not to protect me from breaking it, but to keep the glass from falling out or cutting my fingers. I really should have gotten one of those first!

I've been a HUGE fan of the iPhone for years, but now, with the 4, I'm in love. This thing is amazing. I keep finding more and more awesome things I can do with it. Right now, the only un-cool things are that I can't upload pictures from it straight to this blog (well, I can do it on the phone, jut not directly or easily), and, I can't find an armband (for working out) that will allow me to keep the protective case on it. oh, by the way, I went overboard on the protective case this time. it has padding on the inside, a plastic box, then rubberized on the outside... I am NOT going to break this one!

Basically, I've just written all of this to let you know that, with my new phone, I can upload videos directly to YouTube. So, between my fancy new phone and my fancy new camcorder that Daddy bought me, ahem, I mean Eric last summer, we've got some cute videos up on the web. Check 'em out here.

Resolutions for the New Year and Old

2010-12-31T10:28:00.004-05:00

These pictures really have nothing to do with the post I'm writing but I know that there are some folks who check-in to this blog just for the pictures, so here are some recent ones from our Christmas shopping this year. (I have a stupid tight gift buying budget so I really don't "shop" like most people do, we just toured around to see the hub-bub)
Eric relaxing while Lily got her glitter "tattoo" at a craft show
Lily making a craft at Bass pro shops

Eric picked out what he wanted for Christmas at the Disney store and so Lily told Santa about it in her letter. He read that letter too! because now that little Buzz is in Eric's crib.
Now on to the post I wanted to write.....
Happy New Year! or should I say Happy Old Year (new year starts tomorrow). It is resolution time. I treat resolutions as year long goals. Each year I'm pretty good about keeping my resolutions. 2010 resolutions were:

Get a tattoo
run 100 miles
double the pool fund

I didn't get the tattoo but I did accomplish the other two. I'm really sad about the tattoo one too because I'd been wanting it for ages. I have the design picked out, the money waiting but just haven't found a time when someone can go with me. I am too chicken to go solo.

2011 resolutions:

get that tattoo!
run 300 miles
double the pool fund
make 50 aprons
make 50 softies
finish writing my 40x40 list
get dressed daily
blog 1 x per week

running 100 miles this past year was really really easy so I figured I needed to up my goal. 300 miles is under 6 miles a week and since my regular workout includes at least a 2 mile run (usually 3 but when I'm feeling lazy... I do 2) and I typically work out at least 3 times a week, I even think that 300 will be easy. I just have to be consistent. When it comes to fitness, I believe that consistency is the key, so I'm happy with that goal.
Doubling the pool fund again this year is going to be hard, but at the rate that I've been saving, we'll pay off the house before getting a pool and by that time we'll be too old to swim in it! So, it must be done.
The sewing part is to keep me sane. I get all crazy right before a show trying to whip up the merchandise needed but this year, I'm gonna have inventory all year long. Both of the items I make are the kind of thing that really is seasonal and next holiday season, I plan to have the inventory to actually make a decent profit. or, that is the hope at least.
My 40 by 40 list is on facebook if you haven't already seen it, it is here. I only have 20 something things on it. Obviously I still have almost 5 years to actually DO the things on the list, but I'd like to at least have 40 things listed.
Being a work-at-home-mom has a tendency to allow you to slack a little on your own appearance if you are lazy. I do shower everyday though, I've talked to some moms that even let that slide! I find myself going from pajamas to workout clothes back to pajamas. No more. I actually started this one three days ago and feel more productive because of it. Everyday I have to get dressed. Maybe not shoes, but real clothes.
I write several blogs for the various things I do. This one is the family blog, but I have one for the Aprons, one for the Kids Creatures, one for the general sewing, one for Addicted to Rockabilly and also contribute to the Hollywood Craft Mafia blog. That is a LOT of blogs! My goal is to post on each one at least once a week.

fun pics from the park today

2010-11-20T20:15:00.006-05:00

I love my new phone :)
pretty cool pics huh?

Busy busy, trying my best to get caught up

2010-10-29T00:11:00.002-04:00

No time for a post, but finally uploaded a couple of videos today.
This one is of Lily's Harvest Show. It is the first performance she's ever had, of any kind. Ross and I are very proud parents. Proud of Eric too for behaving so well that we were able to watch it.
This video is of Eric enjoying his first lollipop. It was a couple of weeks ago and is pretty funny how he can't make up his mind if he wants to eat the lollipop or the carrot.

How was the Race?

2010-10-18T20:22:00.005-04:00

Survivor recognition (pre-race)
Brendan & Shari & Me (above) Me & Nichole (below)

This awesome banner unfortunately is not for our team, but pretty cool none the less. You have to raise alot more money than our team does to get a tent, so there must be another Betty that is dearly missed as well.

This year's Race for the Cure was as meaningful and as powerful for me as any of the other years that I've done it. This year my team wasn't as active as last year and we didn't raise as much money as years past either. But, that didn't stop me... I still managed to get our team to the $1,000.00 goal. I've noticed that this age/stage of life is the busiest one for me and all my friends. Everyone is so busy with careers, kids and caring for their families and everything that it is hard for people to find the time for the extra stuff. So, most of my team did the "sleep-in" for the cure instead of the actual race.
Nichole came down from Saint Pete and refused to run so I walked with her instead of running solo. Of course, all of the survivors (they wear pink shirts & hats so that you know who they are) and the messages on everyone's backs always bring up powerful emotions but this year we witnessed something that brought Nichole and I both to tears instantly. Here is what we saw...
About half-way through the course there is a place where you turn around and go back the way you came, but on the other side of the street. This is a fun spot because as you are coming up you can see the people who are really racing and you can cheer them on, and as you are passing back, you can see how many thousands and thousands of folks really participate in this thing! Well, Nichole and I were on the second part and I noticed a group of people in the median of this road holding big handmade signs and banners. The signs said things like "we are supporting you mom" and "you can do this, we are so proud of you". There was a man, maybe 40s, an older couple and four young children, two in strollers, the older ones were holding the 'mom' signs. Then, as I was looking at them, a woman with a completely bald head in a pink shirt comes running up arms outstretched and into the group for big hugs. It was obvious that this woman was the one they were supporting.
What a powerful thing to witness.
There is usually something or someone that really stands out to me each time I do these races and each time it encourages me to keep this up. This was the 15th year of this race and my 9th time participating.
I can't wait until next year!
Oh, in case you were wondering... our time was 1 hour 30 seconds.

Some pics for ya

2010-10-08T23:13:00.001-04:00

Big sister, big helper

2010-09-30T10:16:00.002-04:00

Lily has always loved being a big helper, and she really has embraced the role of big sister. Sometimes she helps a little too much. The flash on this photo actually made the sunscreen mess not look so bad, but she had him COVERED in sunscreen. The funny part was that he was being such a good boy sitting still while she did it. She was saying "hold still Eric, I have to make sure you are covered"

Eric and his birthday cake

2010-09-17T14:54:00.000-04:00

I finally started to upload some of the videos from my camcorder. It takes awhile to upload them to youtube and the quality comes out very poor. I really don't know what I am doing wrong. These videos look great on my hard drive but terrible on youtube. This really bothers me because no one is going to want to stand around in my hot studio in order to see these videos on my computer, I need them to look good online!
Anyway, I've uploaded the one from our second attempt at getting Eric to eat his birthday cake back in July... it is HERE

Race for the Cure

2010-09-15T21:12:00.003-04:00

It is that time of year again! I've been training very hard this year and am already race ready. But, my donation page is far from ready for this event. I have a check from my aunt on my fridge waiting to be delivered on race day, but my webpage hasn't gotten a single donation yet! Help me out folks ------->>>>>>>
The link is over there ---------->>>>>>
or, if you want to join my team and race with me http://bit.ly/bettysteam

Football season!

2010-09-15T21:10:00.001-04:00

Lily said that she doesn't like when the noles get a touchdown. She said it gives her a fright.
Guess I need to control myself better if I want her to be a fan.

Lily sewing

2010-09-10T15:51:00.003-04:00

Remember back when I wrote this post about how Lily made a plush creature for Grandad? Well, I told you that I had a video but I never got around to uploading it. So, here it is:

It is kinda poor quality because I didn't use my fancy new camcorder (batteries were dead) but used my regular point-n-shoot and it doesn't have a flash.

Dummy

2010-09-09T10:43:00.001-04:00

Eric has the cutest little smile with the best little gap in his front teeth. You'd never know it though because all we ever see is this dummy.

First trip to the ER

2010-08-31T15:43:00.002-04:00

Eric had his first trip to the ER today. He is fine. It was just me, overreacting.
He fell and hit his face on Lily's metal bed and busted his lip. There was alot of blood and I got scared. I thought that he had opened up the roof of his mouth too, but apparently it was just that there was alot of blood and I'm a wuss.
He is fine, they told me to give him some tylenol for the pain and that is it.
I feel kinda dumb and now that we are home, I'm worried for the bill.
I hate that money is so much the factor in things.
Last month we had to spend my entire month's salary on a diagnostic mammogram because I found a lump. Turns out it was nothing, but given my family history, I didn't want to take a chance. When they told me how much it was going to cost, if I didn't have the family history that I do, I wouldn't have gotten it done!
I am totally thankful that both mine and Eric's trips to the hospital weren't necessary, just sucks that it is going to be yet another year without a vacation because of it.

First day of School

2010-08-23T08:35:00.003-04:00

I just dropped Lily off at her first day of Pre-K.
I'm a sobbing mess.
I worry so much about her because she is so shy. I remember how painful it is to be shy and in a new place. I wish I could better prepare her so that she doesn't feel that.
She is so cute because she was so excited for school that she woke up extra extra early and got herself dressed right away (even her shoes & socks!) and was eating breakfast by the time I woke up at 7:15. This is the same kids that will sleep past 9 if we let her.
The morning went all good, she was still excited and happy for school until we were ready to walk out the door. I gave her her bag and told her I wanted to take a picture and she started to cry. I asked her why and she said she was missing me. It was so hard for me not to burst into tears too but I knew I needed to calm her down and my tears wouldn't have helped.
In the car we listened to music real loud and sang along so she would cheer up. I went over some last minute things with her, (like making sure that she knew to ask to go to the bathroom if she needed to rather than trying to hold it) and asked her if she remembered her teacher's names. She responded with this meek little whisper. I'm absolutely positive that she will not utter a word to anyone today.
She was really tough when we got to the classroom. She didn't cry but she was wringing her hands and holding her head down. After I signed her in, I peeked back in the room and she wasn't crying, but she was just standing around all alone in the middle, not playing or anything. I know that this is going to help her with her shyness, but watching it, knowing how hard it is for her is just so painful.
I'm excited to hear all about her day this afternoon.
So right now the house is quiet with just me and Eric, I'm gonna go try and teach him to talk to fix that problem.

(If you want a copy of either of these pictures, just email me for a copy rather than copying them from here, I blacked out the name of her school from her shirt to be web-safe)

For Sale: Sold to Grandad

2010-08-20T21:28:00.003-04:00

Lately I've been making these stuffed animals called Bed Fellows. I sell them online and have been getting them into some local shops and have a show next month. So, basically, I've been cranking these out.
I make them by embroidering the faces first. Lily watches and pays very close attention. She made one the other day and sold it to me for $4.50. My dad heard about this and commissioned her to make one for him. I use a disappearing ink marker to draw out the face before I stitch it. Lily did the exact same thing. I stitched one of the eyes for her because she refused to go to bed until it was finished and I can sew faster than her.
The next step is to stitch the faces onto either fur or fleece. I've got a video of this too.. just haven't charged the camera enough to upload it (oops). She is a fabulous stitcher. She totally flew solo on this.
I used to make her only stitch using the handwheel because I was afraid that she would sew her fingers. She has been obsessed with sewing for so long that I gave up and let her use the foot pedal. She isn't tall enough to sit in the chair and reach the pedal, so we have to use a box for an extension.

The next steps I didn't get pictures. I take the fabric that has a face on it and draw a shape with legs on the backside then sandwich it to another piece of fabric and sew it up. Lily did this herself also. My bed fellows don't have arms but Lily drew arms on hers. But, when she was sewing, she forgot to go on the outside and sewed over her armholes.
She turned it out herself. I had to help with getting the feet completely out.

She stuffed it and stitched up the hole by hand. Even tied the knot! This is the finished product.
Lily watches everything... she insisted on taking the photos of her creature herself. I took the one above, she took the one below.

The one she made for me, she set the price herself at $4.50, so I asked her how much Grandad was going to have to pay for this one and she casually said 20. I asked "20 what?"
"20 dollars" she said.
I laughed and asked her what she would say if Grandad thought that was too much and she said "well, he is just gonna have to save up"

I'm so proud.

oops...

2010-08-20T20:58:00.003-04:00

I just logged in here to put up a post about the project Lily and I have been working on and realized that I never posted about Eric's birthday!

I'm a terrible mom.

no, I don't really believe that, I'm just too much of a busy body.

We had a great BBQ and everyone had a great time. Everyone but Eric that is.

Eric was annoyed with all the people in the house and spent the entire time in his highchair. I've discovered that he feels safe there and unless I was holding him or he was in his chair, he screamed. He didn't even eat his cake!

I have pictures and even video but they are on the other computer and I haven't edited them so I'll have to post later. Hopefully sometime before Christmas. ;)

Lily's Birthday Party

2010-07-30T09:54:00.003-04:00

Lily's birthday is only a few days before one of my good friend's daughter's birthday so we usually have to coordinate not to have our kid's parties on the same day. This year we decided to just combine the parties. This turned out so well for me. I never could have thrown such an awesome party on my own. Christine and I threw a tea party for the girls. We searched thrift stores for real tea pots and tea cups and surprisingly only broke one!
We had over 70 people attend the party and it was such good fun.
We used Lily's old curtains for table coverings, Christine's camp canopy for shade, and borrowed small table from all the neighbors & friends.
Lucky for us, Christine and her husband are almost finished with their new masters suite addition to their house so they had a big empty room that we could use as our costume closet. We collected up costumes and dress up stuff from friends and neighbors and set up a wonderland of dress up stuff.
We also borrowed a friend's teenage neighbor to run our nailpolish and makeup station (This the is the other Birthday girl, Freya getting her nails painted)
We also roped Christine's 19 year old nephew to do character face painting
There was a pinata too but I didn't get pics of that, only videos that all turned out poorly.
We had two separate cakes for the girls. I made Lily's Barbie cake and Christine made Freya's birthday present cake.
The costumes were so funny, some kids got into it way more than others. Lily was excited about the costumes the day before while we were setting up and the day after when we were cleaning up, but maybe it was just too much for her because most of the day she didn't put on costumes at all. She put on the bug suit for a little bit at the end because you know... pirates always wear bug suits.

Lily's 4th Birthday

2010-07-19T22:38:00.004-04:00

Lily picks out her own clothes, I guess she wanted to wear something extra special for her birthday. Unlike her brother who does not enjoy wearing clothes

We decided to have a picnic lunch at the beach so on the way, we stopped at the convenience store for her first ever pack of gum. My mom didn't allow us to chew gum until we were 4, so I just used that as the timeline for my kids too. It was really funny because I think I stressed the 'don't swallow it' a little too much because she was even afraid to swallow her saliva. I had to re-describe it to her telling her it was ok to swallow the sweet taste, but not to swallow the actual gum. She will chew it for a minute, maybe two then spit it out and get another piece. She went through this whole pack in a day & a half.
Grandad got her the whole collection of toys from Toy Story so I let her write her name on the feet like Andy did in the movie.
These toys were the hit of the day for sure. She has slept with Andy and Jesse every night. For some reason, Bullseye has become the designated bathtub toy and poor Buzz Lightyear... she won't sleep with him because she says he makes too much noise for bed.

Luckily there are enough of them that it is ok for Eric to play too. They have now gotten to the age of fighting over toys.
I'm thoroughly disappointed in the toy that Ross & I got for her. We bought her a sewing machine. She has been talking about getting a sewing machine for months and months and Singer makes a child version with a safety cage over the needle so that is what we got her. It turned out terrible. This sewing machine is complete garbage. It won't even work enough for Lily to sew one seam! She was so happy and we got her her own little pink sewing kit with all the tools and everything. She measured and cut out her own fabric and the damn machine would break. I'd get out the screwdriver, spend 20 minutes fixing it. She would sew again, and it would break again before finishing the line. It is pathetic. I am an experienced sewing, standing over her, watching everything ... she did everything right but the stupid piece of garbage machine just doesn't work. So, of course, now she has completely lost interest in sewing.
I truly wasn't trying to push my love of sewing on her, she wanted to do it. But the thing that makes me so angry, is that any kid who has any interest in sewing and gets this machine, will no longer have an interest in sewing. It is sad really. Singer should be ashamed to put their name on this hunk of junk.
sorry, back to the good stuff...
For dinner, Lily chose to go to Chick-Fil-A. The Round-up gang got to go too. We didn't do cake on her birthday because she was having a party a few days later. We just had ice cream with Dinner.
Next post.... the PARTY!

Fun with Balloons

2010-06-19T10:33:00.003-04:00

Last night was the Etsy Craft party and I brought home a couple of balloons. Entertainment for the whole morning. This video may make you a little dizzy watching crazy Lily but Eric at the end is really worth it.

Our child won't eat

2010-06-17T15:34:00.002-04:00

I distinctly remember sitting alone at the kitchen table in Corpus Christi Texas with a plate of cold spaghetti and a cup of warm milk while the rest of the family was off watching my favorite show Magnum P.I. in the living room.
Now, I am doing the same torture to my child.
Lily won't eat. Won't eat breakfast. Won't eat lunch. Won't eat dinner.
It is now a common occurrence around here for Ross, Eric and I to be playing in the yard or in the back rooms while Lily sits at the dinner table with a plate of cold food.
I really don't know what else to do other than giving her a diet that consists completely of cheez-its and apple juice.

Eric Walking video

2010-06-06T08:51:00.002-04:00

First Steps

2010-06-04T21:14:00.002-04:00

Although he has been trying for a few days now, We are claiming today the day Eric has taken his first steps. I was in the kitchen, and Eric & Lily were just around the corner in the pool room. Lily starts saying "look Mommy... Eric is trying to walk!" and I peeked around the corner and there he was standing with the cutest grin on his face. It was like he was saying 'Look at me! I can do this!'
I watched him take 6 steps.
Lily and I spent the rest of the day counting his steps. Most times he would do between 3 and 5 before sitting down or just lunging into something.
We tried and tried to get a video, but it is pretty hard to do because we don't have a video camera, just the point-n-shoot camera with a video option, so this is the best we got...

I thought this one was cute too, even though he isn't walking, it does show how balanced he is in pushing things.

Aunt Linda came to visit

2010-06-03T14:08:00.002-04:00

Tuesday Aunt Linda came down to visit for a couple of days. We really enjoyed the visit and hated to see her go. She showed up on Tuesday around lunch time and took me & the kids out to eat at our favorite restaurant Shenanigans.
Aunt Linda read books to Lily during quiet time. I peeked in to check on them and Aunt Linda was napping (and snoring) and Lily was laying down on the other side of the couch going "haw.... shhhhh... haw.... shhhhh" pretending to nap with her. Then, after nap time we totally forgot that Lily was supposed to be at Soccer practice and went to the park downtown.
Since Eric was so good on the playground, Aunt Linda treated us to fancy chocolates at Kilwin's. They gave Lily a taste of their ice cream and asked if Eric wanted some too. I'm not sure if he had ever tasted ice cream before, but we said "Why not?" and he LOVED it. Got angry that we didn't have more for him.
Ross had rugby practice so we let Aunt Linda in our our special dinner that we do when Ross isn't home.... SCALLOPS! Ross is super allergic, and Lily and I love them, so that is what we do when he isn't home for dinner.
Tuesday we had a packed day. We took a picnic lunch to the beach and played in the sprinkler park. After the afternoon nap we went to Ikea. Aunt Linda bought me new curtain rods and a towel rack for the patio.
After Ikea we went back to the beach where we met Ross for dinner. We went to a new restaurant Vedu's that we had been wanting to try. It was a good choice because we had a great view of the water and the food was fantastic. Even the kids enjoyed it because Lily got a free Spongebob icecream treat after and Eric got to crawl around all over the broadwalk.
She left this morning and Lily said that she wanted to go with her :(

Eric, getting ready to walk

2010-05-17T14:31:00.002-04:00

Eric has completely mastered crawling. He is so fast that you can put him down in one room, run out into another room and seconds later you'll see his little head poking out around the corner. He just takes off so fast that he has calluses on his knees and tops of his feet.
He has also mastered the standing holding things skill. He will cruise from one piece of furniture to another and just within the last week or so is attempting to stand without help.
I've seen him standing, holding the couch then let go for a few seconds, but today I saw him stand without help! He had a little help because he used the step to get up, but stood there with a big grin and when we all cheered for him, he did it again.
He is really good at pushing his push toys around and Lily, ever so jealous, is constantly taking them away. We finally found a solution, one rides, one pushes. The following video only has a couple of steps of Eric pushing, but he actually pushes her all over. It is really sweet.

Easter

2010-05-15T22:07:00.004-04:00

I just realized that I forgot to post the pictures from Easter... oops. So, here we go...
Aunt Charlotte sent me a newspaper from Huntsville when they did a Breast Cancer awareness issue and dyed the entire paper pink. I thought it was so cool so I saved it. I didn't know what I was going to do with it at first, but when Easter was coming around I decided that instead of dying eggs, we'd make paper mache eggs with this pink paper!

They came out really nice and Lily loved the project.
Easter Sunday...
I guess the Easter bunny thought that three teeth is enough to get a big chocolate bunny. Eric chewed on the box... Ross & I ate the chocolate.
The Easter Bunny left plastic eggs full of candy & chocolate all over the house and the yard. After we found all of them Lily and I went to Church.
It is kinda sad, but this was Lily's first time at church. My mom would be horrified. Well, she did go to church once before when we had her baptized but she didn't stay the whole time. She behaved so well. She sat on my lap most of the service, but was quiet and although she was bored, she kept still. They invited all the kids to the front for a children's lesson and I figured that she wouldn't want to go being that she is so shy and we were towards the back in a pretty big church, but another mom asked her if she wanted to go and surprisingly, she said yes and jumped up and followed the other little girl. It was funny because after it was over, I guess she wasn't listening when they said to go back to your seats because she just sat there after all the other kids had gone. I had to stand up and wave her back over to me. The sermon was of course about Easter, but they related everything about butterflies and gave all the kids butterfly lollipops.

After the service, as we were leaving the church, they gave everyone a box with a real butterfly inside. Everyone gathered around and released them at the same time. It was fabulous.

After church, we went picked up the boys and went to the beach.
right after tickle time.

Mothers Day

2010-05-10T14:41:00.005-04:00

Mothers Day is always a little bitter sweet for me. I love that I get a holiday, but it always makes me a little sad that my mom isn't around anymore. I usually take the day off from being a mom and do something by myself. This year I only half did that. We spent the first half of the day at the beach. Eric is getting to the age where the beach is fun. It is still a little work to keep him from eating all the sand, but it is worth it.
Butterfly world does a mother's day special and lets moms in for free. I took advantage of this on Saturday. I had been wanting to take Lily there for awhile now but it is very expensive so I'd been putting it off. I am so glad that we got to go. Lily is at such a great age for this. She was just full of wonder. Eric stayed home with Ross so we had a nice little "girls day".
Lily fed the birds. She was so funny because she wasn't afraid at all. She kept putting her face closer and closer to the birds. So close that I had to go wash her face because the birds were flinging the fruit soup up on her cheeks.
Last weekend we went to a picnic with the Hollywood Craft Mafia and made pet rocks. Eric just licked them all for us.
Last week Lily brought me her pillow to stitch up because it had a hole in it. I took it as a teachable moment and taught Lily how to whipstitch.

Eric and Lily play together so well. He can't walk yet, but gets around pretty well with a combo of crawling and scooting along the furniture and walls. He likes to open and close things. Lily likes to hide inside things. The other day they played this game for ages.

Lily & Eric at the same age

2010-04-12T08:51:00.002-04:00

Eric woke up at 6 then went back to sleep. I had managed to get 6 hours of continuous sleep so I just stayed up and wrote that last blog post. Then, I started looking through my blog's old posts of Lily at the same age that Eric is now. It is easy because their birthdays are only about a week apart. Friday night was the Marlin's home opener so I put Eric in Lily's old Marlins jersey. Lily got to go to the opener when she was a baby, but unfortunately, Ross is out of town, and I'm not organized enough to take two kids to a baseball game solo, so we didn't go. (First one I've missed in 5 years!)

I didn't get Eric smiling, maybe he was sad that he didn't get to go to the game :(
but I love being able to compare these pictures. Eric has much more hair than Lily did and although he is a little chunkier, has a thinner face. I'm also glad that it was the girl child that got the Carney ears so that they can be covered by hair. Lucky Eric got Mitchell ears!

Lily's Monster comes to Life

2010-04-12T07:20:00.002-04:00

I've wanted to do this project for ages, and finally made time to do it last week. Lily always draws monsters, I'm not sure why, I've tried to get her to draw other things, but for some reason, it is always a monster. Ever since she started doing "art", I've picked a few here and there and put them in a box to save. I usually put the date on them and sometimes a description. I came up with the idea to turn her work into a stuffed animal (or more than one, so I can sell them.... you know me... always out to make a buck) so I chose this one:
As you can see, it is on the paper from the Race for the Cure. At the race, they give these papers to the runners to pin to their backs. Some say "In Memory of" and some say "In Celebration of" and you write the name of the person for whom you are running. It is very powerful as you are running to read these, but back to my story. There was some confusion last year pre-race and we ended up coming home with several of these, so they went into the stack of paper that Lily is allowed to draw on. It doesn't really have any significance to the monster story, just thought I'd explain.
Lately, Lily has come up with this new thing that she has to sleep with my pillow and since I can't sleep without MY pillow, I go in her room every night and take it back. Well, the night I finished the monster, I took my pillow and replaced it with the monster. Here is Lily in the morning when she found it.
She was so excited. She loves the monster, but I think I was just as excited about it as she was. I told her that he needed a name and she named him "Monster". Very original right?
She carries him around and told me that he is her 'helper' and when I asked her to explain what she meant, she said that he is her helper just like she is my helper.
Monster details: He is blue, because the plans were drawn in blue. The face and hair are made from scraps of the fabric used to make Lily's curtains. It is stuffed with fiberfill and PVC pellets (like a beanie baby). One arm is longer than the other and he only has one ear.
It was a lot of work actually, so I don't think I'm going to go into the child-designed-monster business. It was kinda funny that just this week my friend Jaz posted a blog about her daughter's artwork as well, and one of her friend's posted this site in the comments section where they take kids art and make it into jewelry!

Recycling

2010-04-10T07:57:00.003-04:00

The city changed their recycling program last month and now has a program with Recycle Bank where we get points for the amount that we recycle. They replaced the little plastic box with a huge can with a lid. Our recycle bin is now the same size as the big trashcan!
I've always recycled, but Ross never really got into it. I was always pulling things out of the trash and moving it to the recycle bin. I guess this program was the kick in the pants that Ross needed because now it is the other way around. I'm pulling things out of the recycle bin and moving it to the trash.
We are now recycling more than we are throwing away!
I haven't really found anything really great that we can redeem our points for, but it is kinda cool to track. As you can see from our widget, we haven't quite saved a whole tree yet but we sure have saved quite a bit of oil!

First Sleep Over

2010-04-05T22:52:00.002-04:00

Lily had her first sleepover at our house a few weeks back. Well, I don't know if it really counts being that it was her cousin, but we are counting it anyway. Sandy dropped Allison off on her way down to the keys on a Saturday and then they stopped back in on Sunday and Aunt Charlotte took us all out to dinner.

Lily is so in love with Allison. Ever since, she has been saying "I miss Allison" and putting on her sad face.

Lily & Eric share a bedroom and although there is a bunk bed in there, we had the girls sleep in the pool room on the futon instead because we weren't sure if Eric's mid-night wake up would bother Allison or not.

We spent Saturday shopping and then made our own Pizzas and the girls stayed up about two hours past Lily's regular bedtime. They giggled and giggled on that futon forever and then fell asleep holding hands. It was so sweet.

The next day we went and had lunch on the beach. Allison didn't have her suit so Lily didn't wear hers either. It is great beach weather but I think it is still too cold to swim (although both Ross & Lily usually do)

Lily, although very shy with strangers, is so proud in her own house. She took Allison around and showed her everything. Kinda funny hearing a 3.5 year old explaining things to a 9 year old. I love this pic because it looks like Zelda is playing the game too.

Totally unrelated to the sleep over. I told Lily to go get her shoes on because we were going to the store. She took a while to do this (totally normal.... she is easily distractable) and when she came back this is what she looked like.

I asked her if she had been playing with my makeup and she told me that she couldn't go out with no eyebrows!

dance dance dance

2010-04-04T09:18:00.002-04:00

I bought Lily some new shoes for Easter and when we came home, she told Ross that I bought her 'Dancing' shoes. So we got dressed up to dance. Eric likes to dance too.

Trying to stand

2010-03-28T09:55:00.002-04:00

This morning I woke up and went into the kids' room and Lily was up building a fort out of blankets on the floor and Eric was STANDING up in his bed.

They are so independent.

Playdates, pictures, carnivals & parades

2010-03-18T23:31:00.005-04:00

We went to a playdate at Chuck E Cheese and this game cracks me up. The game has a camera on the kids so if you stand behind them, the screen is above. I guess Lily thought the game was too loud.

Then I caught all three of them in the game together! They even had the seatbelt strapped across all of them! Lily wasn't smiling for the camera, they don't know that it is there, she was enjoying the game.

Eric doesn't have any friends his own age, so I thought maybe he'd like to talk to Lily's baby. He stares and stares at this baby. Probably because it walks & talks. But it is funny.

Just some cute pictures I took in the yard one afternoon when we were playing ball.

There are two churches in Hollywood that throw carnivals every year and we love to go to both. The one, is across the street from our house but for some reason, I don't have any pictures from that one even though we went 3 times! They are Catholic churches so there is beer there and the food is awesome so we pretty much ate there all weekend.

Lily really enjoys the rides, we can tell that she is going to be a roller coaster freak like Ross & I because she wasn't scared of anything. She isn't tall enough for the big rides yet, but I'd bet she would ride them if they let her.

She is so cute because she knows all about how things work. She stands in line and hands her tickets to the ticket man then waits to have her seatbelt checked. It is cute because she is so shy and if you watch closely you can see how hard it is for her, but she does it anyway.

Eric just waking up. Thought it was a funny face.

Aunt Marie sent us a bunch of Girl Scout Cookies that my dad bought from my cousin's kids.

We celebrated St. Patrick's day on Sunday because there was a parade. We started the day with green eggs. We didn't have any ham though.

I left Eric in the middle of the floor in their room while I ran to go get something and came back to find he had crawled all the way over to the book stash and was checking out some books. I think this is a good sign.

Lily's attire for the parade. I made her this "dress" last year for the parade when I woke up the morning of and realized that she didn't have a single article of green to wear! I'm too busy and too lazy to make her anything this year so we just threw some shorts on under and called it a shirt. As you can see, she has acquired many more green things in the past year.

This next picture touches my heart so much. I was so painfully shy as a child and I see myself in Lily. This woman, dressed as a princess was reading stories to the kids and Lily was so excited to go hear her. She ran right over at the very beginning before the woman had even sat down. BUT, she froze. Stood there wringing her hands while all the other kids crowded around. Then, Lily walked around behind the lady and sat down with her back to her. When Lily first sat down there weren't any other kids around the back, only her. It broke my heart because I know how hard it is to be shy like that.
Later that night Lily and I were discussing the day's events and talking all about the parade and the games and everything and she told me that her two favorite parts of the day were listening to the princess tell stories and getting her face painted. I couldn't believe that what I thought was the worst part for her was really her best.

Eric liked the princess's story too.

Ross missed out on all the fun at the parade because he was working. He does it every year. There is a little Irish pub that a friend of his owns that is on the parade route and they put up a temporary bar outside and Ross tends it. Last year he made some extra spending money, this year he made what I make in a month!

As we were leaving, one of the floats, an old fire engine, was parked on the side street and I asked the man if Lily could check it out. He said sure so she climbed up....

As I'm watching her, these two women come over and walk up to the side of the truck and pour themselves a beer! What?!

Those ingenious firefighters had built a tab right into the side of the truck! I was looking right at this and never even spotted it.

There were face painters at the parade but by the time I found the booth they weren't taking any more people and Lily was really sad about it so I told her that we'd paint faces when we got home.

To me, this was one of the best parts of the day. We sat out on the back porch and painted each other's faces. I painted Lily a Shamrock, and she painted me a smiley face. Then she look my phone, lined everything up and took this picture.

We had so much fun that we wanted to keep going..... so we did.

Some Video catch ups

2010-03-11T17:27:00.002-05:00

I've been taking a bunch of videos to catch Eric and his new talent for crawling. The following one is about a week ago back when he was doing more of a scoot. I think his technique looks like the guys in military boot camp.

He does a proper crawl now and can go from crawling to sitting with ease. He can get up the step in our pool table room, but we haven't allowed him to attempt going DOWN the step just yet. I remember all the knots on Lily's head from that stage!

This next video is really dark, I'm not sure why, but my camera takes awful video in artificial lighting. Eric jamming out to Lady Gaga.

And lastly, again, a really dark video, but the sound is great. Ross sets Eric on the futon and throws a burp towel on him and he thinks it is so funny.

2 Teeth and today's stats

2010-02-22T22:00:00.002-05:00

Today is Eric's 7 month birthday, and on this day, he...

weighs 20 lbs.
is 28" long
has a head in the 95th percentile
has 2 teeth
can roll front to back, and back to front
when put into the sitting position, he can sit all by himself for over half an hour
can do a scoot-crawl hybrid maneuver to get around the room
can go from sitting to scooting unassisted
cannot go from laying to sitting
knows his name
eats pureed food from a spoon
takes 2 naps
goes right to sleep every night at bedtime
does NOT sleep through the night
can spot his dummy (pacifier) anywhere and goes right for it
can get his dummy into his mouth the right way all by himself
cries when people talk to him

Lily is 3 years and 7 months old. On this day she...

weighs 36lbs.
is 40" tall
can write her own name
can recite her parent's names (first and last)
can recite her address
can count to 29 (she then starts to go to 20-10, 20-11, 20-12)
makes her own bed
takes out the recycling
brushes her own teeth
can crack an egg
knows how to use scissors & a glue stick

Ross is 34 years old and recently he ran a half marathon in just under 2 hours.

I am also 34 years old and I can run 4 miles. It takes me almost an hour, but I can do it non-stop. Yay me!

Ross's birthday

2010-02-06T22:20:00.003-05:00

Ross's birthday was on Thursday. We didn't plan anything big and I didn't get him any gifts because, as you may already have heard, he is being laid off at the end of the month. We've been living on an extremely tight budget for what seems like forever, and with the economy putting a real hurting on my business, we have been holding onto every penny in anticipation of having to go a couple of months living off our savings until Ross got another job. Well.... he got the best birthday gift ever.... a job! Horray, no lapse in income!

There were two different positions that he had been interviewing for and he got the one that he wanted. The other one was a slightly different job than he is currently doing, slightly less desireable but would have been more money. However, this one is basically doing the same thing as his current job, which he loves, but repping a different beer and a little better pay than his current salary. Yay!

So starting March 1st, you all have to start drinking Magners CiderNot nearly as cool as the peace of mind about being gainfully employed, but Lily and I made Ross a cake. Last week I asked Lily to run and ask Ross what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday. Either she messed up and left out the word "cake" when she asked, or Ross misunderstood what she was asking because she came running back to me screaming "he wants steak"

So.... even though I knew he wasn't really asking for a steak-cake, he got one anyway.

Eric's faux-hawk

The cool thing about doing Eric's his hair funny is that it stays that way! At night I put lotion all over him (including his head) and whatever way I comb his hair, that is the way it is the entire next day.

Lily can't be left out of anything and she insisted on getting in the photo too. I'm getting pretty strong because Lily wants to be carried almost as much as Eric.

Eric likes to imitate. If you make noises, he makes noises. If you blow on him, he blows back. If you squeal, he squeals. It is so much fun.

Toys, siblings, movies, tea parties and the value of money

2010-01-20T15:48:00.003-05:00

Eric loves to watch Lily. He is so entertained just sitting and watching her trying his best to get his hands on her toys. He is in a Bumbo seat in this picture but he is also starting to be able to sit up on his own. He can do it for awhile but can't be trusted to sit alone because he loses focus and falls back on his head.
Lily likes to have him play with her but she gets frustrated that he doesn't play right. Notice how she has the potato heads lined up? Well, she is very particular about what goes where and Eric tends not to be able to do that. Not long after I took the picture, Lily took Eric's potato head away from him because he didn't have the right accessories on it.

But, as you can see by the shoes on the head, she isn't always that much of a stickler for normalcy.

After that cold snap ended the weather is back to being the South Florida weather that makes us put up with the high cost of living and the snowbirds' driving habits. Lily is really great at riding her bike but gets bored/tired after about half a mile.
Before Christmas I told Lily that during the holidays when there were other people in town that we would sneak off and go see the Princess and the Frog. Well, you know how hectic things get, and we never got around to it so weekend before last, we had a girls day and I took her to the movies. We had so so much fun. It was perfect. The weather was raining and freezing but since she had gotten a new raincoat for Christmas we were set. It gave me an indication that I'm raising a typical Floridian when, after walking through the parking lot and the long stretch of outdoor shops before getting inside the mall, she says to me "Mommy, my toes feel funny". The poor child had never had her toes go numb before!

We had a stack of clothes that Santa had delivered (via my dad) that didn't fit and needed to be exchanged at Gymboree so Lily got all sorts of new clothes along with her morning at the movies. I couldn't be left out and since I still had some birthday money left over, I bought myself a new sweater too.

Well, because Lily and I had a girls day, Ross invited Lily to have a tea party with him this past Saturday and there were no mommies and Erics allowed. Apparently, you must be dressed funny to attend. Unless you are a unicorn, of course.

Ross and I got Lily a Bugbsy for Christmas. It is a little computer wand thingy that reads stories when you run it accross the page. It is awesome and Lily loves it so much.

She had one book for it and wanted another. In trying to teach her about money and earning things, I made her save up her own money. I know, it may sound mean to do this to a 3.5 year old, but I was pretty generous with what I gave her money for doing and it was more an exercise in teaching her to quit asking for M&Ms every time we are in line somewhere. It was awesome to hear her say one day in line "I'm not gonna buy a treat today because I need that dollar for my bugsby book". Oh, if I didn't mention it before, I make her buy her own treats too. She has her own wallet and if she leaves it at home, no treat. (at Joann's she even uses a coupon! ... I'm so proud)
So, day before yesterday, she traded me 20 quarters out of her purse that Grandad gave her (are you kidding me? I got ONE quarter in purses I got from my grandparents!) for a $5.00 bill and yesterday I took her to Target to get her book. She makes me so proud. She had already picked out the exact one that she wanted during the last trip to the store so she lead the way through the store and right to it. She put her book up on the conveyor belt and counted out $11.00 from her wad of money. She even knew that the one with the 5 on it counts as 5! Explaining the tax to her was difficult though. In hindsight, I should have thought of that in advance and told her that the book was $11 instead of $10. She was a little confused why she had to hand over more of her money than she had planned.

I love her so much.

New Years Eve - Florida family style

2010-01-15T11:34:00.003-05:00

Ross and I both being retired bartenders really have no desire to spend new years eve out amongst the crazies so we celebrated by going to our favorite place... the beach.
Crazy Ross went swimming but being a true native, it is just too cold for me to swim this time of year. Lily is crazy like her dad and swam too. Eric and I chilled out in the shade.

New bikini from Santa

Eric trying to eat the camera

Crazy thing I found

2010-01-15T11:27:00.002-05:00

I was looking to see where my eBay listings would fall in the search of items being sold for earthquake relief in Haiti and ran across a listing for Zimbabwe money. I just thought it was funny and figured I'd share. This is for 10 - 500,000,000 dollar notes. What the hell is someone thinking when they give the approval to print a 500 million dollar note? Can the concept of how large that number really is even make sense?
And you see what the bidding is going for right? so sad, so so sad.

Christmas pics to come

2009-12-31T21:47:00.002-05:00

Daddy bought me a new computer for Christmas and I love it so much that I haven't really been on the laptop much. But, all the Christmas photos are on the laptop because I loaned my photo software to Michael and haven't had a chance to get it back to load on the new computer. So, Christmas pics will have to wait. Sorry.
Christmas rocked though! Lily must have been very good because Santa brought her some really nice things. We opened the gifts from one another on Christmas eve and Lily was so funny because every gift that she opened she screamed "this is just what I always wanted!" and if there were more than one thing in a gift bag together she would scream "this is ALSO just what I always wanted!"
Sweetest thing in the world!
These pics were taken with my phone at the mall a few days before Christmas when we went to go have our pictures taken with Santa. You'll have to wait on the Santa pic because I haven't figured out how to get my scanner to work in windows 7 yet.
Eric was really cute because he didn't scream when we put him on Santa's lap. We really figured he would. He must know that he has to be nice to that guy so he can get some good loot next year.

This bear is mechanical and rocks back and forth. It was sweet because Lily walked up and put her arms up for a hug and waited for him to lean down to her. She usually hugs the characters that have people inside so I'm not sure whether or not she thought this one was one of those. She kept hugging him over and over so I think she may have thought he was real.

Meeting Grandad

2009-12-26T08:54:00.003-05:00

Eric first meeting his Grandad

He didn't cry which is suprising because he has begun doing this thing where he cries if anyone other than me holds him.

Christmas..... yay!

2009-12-22T16:46:00.002-05:00

I am so happy for Christmas. I've been so over-worked lately with trying to juggle two kids, two jobs and doing craft shows too. The last two weekends in a row I had shows and after they ended and I finished up the last of my custom sewing projects I'm finally able to relax.
Well, sort of, I still have to work but after as busy as I've been the past month, work seems easy!
Plus, Eric has gotten SOOOOOO much easier. He still doesn't enjoy sleeping and is still getting up in the night, sometimes twice. But, during the day he is so fun to be around. He laughs and plays and just watches Lily in awe. Below is his interested face....
I get lots of pictures of the interested face because my phone has a zebra print cover on it so if I hold it up to take a picture of him, that is the face he makes. Funny huh?

David & Sherah are here, another reason I feel so relaxed. Sherah just jumps in and helps with Eric and Lily follows David around like she is his shadow. They are such fantastic house guests.
We went to the park yesterday to make ourselves dizzy on the spinny disks...

and climb trees....

Everyone was pooped afterward.....

Daddy should be arriving any minute now with his girlfriend Janet and Richard flys in tonight just after midnight.

Let the overindulgence of food, sweets and alcohol begin!

Rolling over, Solid food & Santa

2009-12-08T20:34:00.003-05:00

Saturday Eric officially rolled over from his back to his tummy and now he is a rolling machine. I lay out a blanket on the floor and lay him down in the center and he loves to just roll around. He can't roll from his belly to back yet, so he just does a 3/4 roll then back then 3/4 roll to the other side, then back. It is entertaining to watch.
I think I'd mentioned before that we had been introducing solids, but that is still going ok. He understands what is happening now and really gets excited when we sit down to eat. Also, I've stopped breastfeeding and I'm loving not being the only one who can feed him!
Lily is so caught up with Christmas right now and writes a letter to Santa every day. Tonight we had a meltdown because I wouldn't let her have another envelope. She would use 20 a day if I let her! It is really sweet though.
Ross and I have been taking her down the toy aisles to try and feel out what would be a good gift for her because right now she just seems content playing with her babies and crayons and we certainly don't need any more of either of those things. We've picked out a toy that is an interactive book reader thingy and so for those of you who have asked what you can get her, you can get a book to go with it. I'm certainly not asking anyone to buy anything! We aren't going to be buying anything for anyone and don't expect anything, but... some of you can't be stopped so if you insist.... here is what I'm talking about, it is called Bugsby and the books are about $12-$14 I put a widget that links to Amazon on this blog over there ------->
and they have them at Target too.

Random pictures and thoughts

2009-12-03T23:31:00.006-05:00

Eric loves to try to eat my face. He just started doing this a few days ago. I'm hoping it is just a coincidence that we are also working on switching him from breastfeeding to formula this week. I hope we haven't thoroughly confused this little boy.

This giant hot dog is at a farmers market that hasn't opened yet. We were checking out the space in hopes of me vending there in the future when they open. We just thought that we needed a picture with a giant hot dog.

Brandi reading a story to both babies. Eric isn't interested in the book. He just watches Lily.

Ross has cancer. Well, I guess I should say Ross HAD cancer. He had it cut out and he refused stitches because he didn't want to go back to have them removed! I guess I'll have to get used to looking at him with a hole in his neck. Good thing is, they were able to get it all out and Ross and I both went to the Dermatologist to have full body cancer checks and we both have a clean bill of skin health now. We've hit our deductible for the year and since we have no idea what the job situation (thus the health insurance situation) will be after the first of the year, we are making sure to get all the check up stuff done before the year is over. Teeth cleaning and eye exams next.
This year is going to be so special with Lily at Christmas. She is at the age where she remembers things from last year and understands what is happening (as well as a 3 1/3 year old can understand) and is so excited.I'm excited too.Tonight at Target Lily said we should buy a treat and had her own little wallet with her own money and everything. We bought something for Ross and I reminded her that she isn't supposed to say anything to him about it. As soon as we got home she went running into the sewing room looking for wrapping paper. I was tickled because I never said anything about wrapping it up.She is growing up so fast and is so smart. I am so proud of her.

Makin' Stuff, Doin' Stuff

2009-11-25T21:29:00.002-05:00

Lily made a birdfeeder. She is very proud of it. No birds have ever eaten from it, but we keep watching anyway. Notice her green on green outfit? Being the independent spirit that she is, she picks out her own clothes and is very particular about what matches and what does not. I told her that this one didn't match and she said "yes it does! Green, green. See... I'm monochromatic!"

I'm so proud that Ross did some handy dandy work for me and replaced our bathroom sink. I know what you are thinking... "why on earth would anyone want to get rid of a pink sink?"

He did an awesome job but I forgot to take an AFTER pic... it really is complete, I promise.

These are Lily's monsters. She loves drawing monsters and will draw monster after monster all day long. She would go through a pack of paper if I would let her. These 8 were completed before 9AM. Notice how she writes her name on them? I'm so proud of her. 3 and a third and can write her name! (well... we have to work on the Y a little, but I still think it is awesome)
Eric is such a chunky butt that we had to move him from the infant bath to the next stage bathtub. He is really too young for this one because he doesn't really sit up on his own yet but he seems to still like it.
Lily using a stencil and markers. She is no longer allowed to use markers.

She wrote on the couch AND the carpet in her bedroom.

Today we were talking about Christmas and Santa and I asked her if she has been a good girl this year and she said "no. I wrote on the carpet and the couch with markers. We better get that cleaned up before Christmas"

Its Bananas! B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

2009-11-25T21:03:00.004-05:00

Eric is 4 months old this week! So, in celebration of his 4 month birthday, we gave him Banana. This is his first food other than breastmilk. He is funny because he really doesn't get it. Lily started cereal at 3 months and took to it fine. Eric, his mouth doesn't seem to want to keep it inside. It is pretty funny. He loves it, but I'm not sure if he is loving the attention or the new taste. Because it is more for a novelty than anything else, I started to give him his banana at dinner. We have a sit down meal for dinner every night as part of our routine so I figured that Eric would enjoy being a part of it too..

This picture is Lily playing with Eric during "Tummy Time" which he HATES

Lily decided that she wanted to have lunch in front of the TV. I told her 'no' because I didn't want her to get food on our new rug. So, being the brainiac that she is, she set herself up with a table and chair not on the rug (but really close to the TV)
This is what ROCKS about working from home. Ross hates that I've taken over the pool table, but it is so nice for me to be able to spread out my stuff on the table to work and have my babies "work" with me.
Lily is playing with Eric.... sweeeeet!

Halloween

2009-11-10T14:48:00.002-05:00

Things leading up to Halloween were hectic so we didn't get around to carving our pumpkins. Ross has been doing all sorts of promotions at nights and weekends that just add to his regular workload (but unfortunately, not his paycheck! another story, another day) and of course, I bit off more than I can chew with sewing projects so we waited until Sunday Nov. 1st to do our jack-o-lanterns.
I spent hours and hours making Lily a Princess Aurora (sleeping beauty) costume but two days before Halloween realized that she fit into my brothers' Naval Aviator flight suit costume. So, we dressed her in that one to go to the Boo Bash (Child's party downtown) the night before Halloween then wore the Princess costume for Trick-or-treating on Saturday.
Lily woke up Halloween morning feeling very sick so that is why she looks so sad in these pictures. Because she is. A little girl she befriended in line for the bounce house at the boo bash coughed one of those wet nasty coughs right in her face and I'm just sure that is where she got it. She was miserable, but would cry and cry if I suggested that we skip trick-or-treating. It broke my heart. We went to just a handful of neighbors' houses and she started to cry and asked to change clothes. So, we went back and put on the flight suit. We drove to the rich neighborhood and trick-or-treated a little there. We definitely over-did it because when we got home Lily started running a high fever and both kids were a screaming mess. Ross was working so he missed all of it. Thankfully Brandi was here so she could run to the store for Children's Tylenol and juice.

I was Flo, the progressive spokes girl. This picture isn't really good but I'll have to post another one once I download my phone pics or Brandi's camera. Ross and I went to an adult Halloween party on Friday night and he was the Geico Caveman so it was really cute. We won the costume contest! A whopping $27.00! It was more than we spent on our costumes so we still came out ahead. If only Lily had won a contest, I spent close to $60 on the fabric for hers!

Don't worry.... she DID wear shoes. These Aviator pics were from the days BEFORE Halloween when we were just playing dressup.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-11-10T13:20:00.001-05:00

Mid October - David & Sherah's visit

2009-11-10T13:00:00.003-05:00

Needless to say, I'm behind on my blog. I'm still having trouble balancing everything that I need to do with two kids, two jobs and a household to run. I'm getting better though. I've finally organized myself into a planner that is divided into sections for each segment of my life. It is helping me stay focused even if I can only work for 10 to 20 minutes at a time.
The part on my to-do list for today was to upload Halloween pictures but I realized that I never did pics from David & Sherah's visit mid month. So, here are these first... Halloween next.
The Hollywood Beach Clambake. We left Eric home with Brandi because I really don't feel comfortable having him out in the sun. A cold front had come in that weekend and although we still weren't able to turn off the AC, it was very comfortable on the beach. (notice my long sleeves?)

Eric LOVES this toy that is in his bed.

This wig is a pumpkin wig and she is hiding under the pool table along with all the rest of our junk.

Race for the Cure results

2009-10-20T13:48:00.004-04:00

I haven't had time to download the pics yet because we've been so busy with David and Sherah in town but a quick summary of the Race:
We raised $789.00 through our donations and team signups but in the end it really was more than that because we had two additional team members sign up on race day (therefore they weren't on the site) and there were some cash donations turned in race day as well. So, even though I don't have the exact numbers, I'm sure we got over our $1000.00 goal!
Thanks to everyone who helped!
This was the first race ever for some of the moms in my SAHM's group and they are now fired up for more running in the future.
Ross & I hosted a dinner the night before the race for our team members to come over, load up on spaghetti and re-vamp our t-shirts into tanks. So glad we did that too because it was hot as anything race day.
I was able to run the entire thing without stopping (very slowly) and my time was 33:48. Ross completed it in just over 20 minutes and had he been a woman, he would have gotten a medal. They give a medal to the first 50 men and the first 50 women. They were still giving out women's medals when he crossed. David was kind enough to walk it with Sherah so his time was a little longer than he usually would have done.
This was Lily's 3rd race and obviously, Eric's 1st. Brandi hung out with them in the kid area while we ran.

Race for the Cure Miami - this Saturday

2009-10-14T09:05:00.002-04:00

Ok readers,
Last time.... please help us reach our fundraising goal. We've met our goal for participants but are still a long way away from our fundraising goal. We'd love it if you can donate anything, just a couple of bucks would help. Thanks

http://race.komenmiaftl.org/site/TR/Race/General/1663100046?pg=team&fr_id=1000&team_id=3000

picture updates

2009-10-01T14:10:00.005-04:00

Gameday!
Allison's birhday party

First attempts at a smile

Do we ever dress this child?

Lily helped Ross wash my car then he came to me and told me I owed her $2.00

Don't forget to donate to our team for the Race for the cure! Check my link over there --->

Our baby is 2 months old already

2009-09-24T06:53:00.002-04:00

Eric turned 2 months old yesterday!
He is the sweetest thing ever and we absolutely adore him but he has been much harder to handle than Lily was. Or, maybe it is just that when Lily was this age we didn't have an attention demanding kid to take care of also. Either way, these last two months have flown by. Eric is just now starting to have a sleeping pattern emerge (yay!) but we are a very long way away from a full nights sleep. We get up at least 2 times to feed, but several times this week it has only been twice. The feedings are easy though because he eats and goes right back to sleep. Lucky-duck Ross doesn't even have to get up to help anymore.
The hard part is getting him to sleep in the first place. Ross and I have been so programmed to thinking that our child care times end at 8 when Lily goes to bed that it is difficult for us to adjust to the fact that we don't get to clock out that early any more. Eric likes to start wailing at around 8:30 or 9 and usually doesn't get to bed until about 10. This has been really difficult for me because this is the time that I usually do my office work. So, now, I have to somehow find the time to do that. As you can imagine, I have a pile of work to be done that is not getting done. And, unfortunately it is starting to show in my bank account!
Eric is starting to smile and respond to us and that is the best part of parenting. He has such fantastic expressions and I've gotten a couple of good pictures on my cell (to be downloaded soon) He is even holding his head up! and has become a real fatty.
Lily, she is smart as a whip and her favorite thing to do right now is rhyme. She is memorizing nursery rhymes and likes to come up with rhyming words. I've gotten a few on video (again, to be downloaded soon)
ok, now back to work....

Race for the Cure time again

2009-09-11T16:51:00.004-04:00

Ok people... it is that time of year again!

The Race for the Cure is Saturday October 17, 2009

Last year I set a goal of having 10 team members and raise a grand. Last year I didn't get 10 people to attend the race with me (sadly, only two!) but somehow managed to raise well over a thousand dollars.

I like to be an over-achiever and try every year to do better than the year before but since we are in the middle of an "economic downturn" or whatever it is the politicians like to call it, I didn't raise my goal. I'm going to again shoot for raising a thousand dollars but work really really hard at actually getting 10 people to participate with me.

So far, there are 7 people signed up on my facebook page saying they are going to participate, but only 3 of those folks have actually registered for the race. We've raised $105 thus far.

Hopefully, I can meet my goals this year.

If you wanna help with a donation or join my team, or just check out our progress CLICK HERE

Routines

2009-09-11T02:09:00.003-04:00

I remember at some point soon after having Lily, we decided that having a schedule and a routine was the way to go with a baby. We went from being night owls to early risers and got so used to our daily routine that I don't need to look at a clock to tell you when it is lunchtime and there was never a fight about bedtime.
I still believe in the routine but right now it is making me crazy. Mainly because Eric doesn't have a schedule yet. Lily is like clockwork but I can't predict anything with Eric. Many times Eric is wailing or won't let me put him down at the time that Lily needs something. In turn, she has a meltdown because she is so conditioned for a certain time. Two screaming kids needing attention. Ugh.
I really need work to balance things. I don't know how single moms do it or people with more than two babies! I've got Ross who is a huge help AND Brandi too and still struggle.
The sleeping situation has improved. Eric does sleep for longer intervals but I still haven't gotten more than a 3 hour stretch of sleep time.
I have gotten really savvy with my iphone though. I can get all sorts of things done while walking around with Eric on my shoulder trying to rock him back to sleep (including writing this blog)
I've somehow managed to make time to run on a semi-regular basis and have been trying real hard to get ready for the Race for the Cure. I've put a team together again. Oct 19 if you wanna join me. I'll get the link up as soon as I get to a real computer but I'm sure you could find it by searching the Miami affiliate for Team Betty.

6 weeks

2009-09-05T19:12:00.003-04:00

(Sorry, it is the only picture I've got on this computer. It is of the new shirt that Aunt Marie sent to Eric. I don't think he likes MTSU)

The only reason I have time to post right now is because I traded my exercise time for computer time. Ross and I have decided to trade off. He went running then I was supposed to go running but just needed to catch up on computer stuff instead.

Stats:

Eric is 6 weeks now and we took him to the doctor because he was crying non-stop and only sleeping in 20 minute intervals. He has reflux and they have put him on meds that take a week to kick in, so, we are going insane around here.

We've done ok so far because Marje was still here but she left two days ago and it feels like a week.

Lily is driving me up the wall too because she is so used to getting constant attention and has gotten very jealous of Eric.

Other than that, both kids are awesome and putting on weight. Lily gained 3 lbs since her birthday and now weighs 35lbs. Eric weighs 11lbs and me, I've lost quite a bit (yay!) I weigh 134 only four pounds off from my pre-pregnancy weight. I can get into most of my clothes but they just don't look good around the middle. Not bad for 6 weeks. Guess all this walking the floors carrying a baby non-stop and not sleeping is great for weightloss.

Almost one month old

2009-08-17T14:38:00.002-04:00

I started this post awhile back but never got around to posting it. I have a difficult time updating this blog because I have such limited computer time. I have an iphone that I do just about everything on simply because I can play with it while I'm feeding Eric. And, since he eats every three hours around the clock... I can do quite a bit on that phone!
But, there are things I can't do on it and blogging here is one of them. The others involve work, and since I'm paid for that and not paid for this... blogging doesn't always make the cut.
Anyhoo... these are from when Eric was almost a month old.

This is MY dinner but Lily has gotten very very attention starved and Eric doesn't let me put him down.

The SAHM group I'm in had a field trip to Krispy Kreme where they let the kids go into the back and dip their own doughnuts into chocolate and put their own sprinkles on them. Lily still won't talk to any of the other kids but she does participate.

Eric Owen Mitchell

2009-07-26T18:01:00.003-04:00

Ok, so the official stats:
Eric Owen Mitchell born July 22, 2009 at 5:38PM
weighs 7lb 9oz
length 20"

Ross & I's self portrait as they are getting me ready for surgery. I'm so much happier here because they have given me the IV and I am no longer thirsty.
They let Lily come in too. They only allow one person at a time to come in but Lily wasn't considered a whole person so she got to come in with Marje.

I had my tubes tied too so we had a few more minutes to get to know little Eric in the OR. He only opened one eye for us but didn't scream nearly as much as Lily did.

Last few photos while still a family of only 3

2009-07-26T17:18:00.004-04:00

This is one of Lily's new outfits for her birthday. She is modeling here.

And she got a card from our cousin Becky that turned into a crown so here she is modeling it.

One last belly shot the night before Eric was born.

This was the day that we had Eric. Lily actually got in trouble because we caught her standing on a chair in the living room putting in a DVD. I figured it was a cartoon or something but she started crying saying she wanted to watch "pi-o-tees"

Marje and I couldn't understand what she was talking about but when she layed down on the floor with the stretch band I got it. Sure enough, the video she had put in was Pilates!

This was taken during the day before going to the hospital

I told Lily to dance (even though there is no music) and I guess I caught her in a mood to perform....

Pics with my new camera & first haircut

2009-07-21T16:06:00.003-04:00

Daddy sent me a new camera to take pictures of Eric because my old camera (the one he bought me when Lily was born) was not doing so well. The battery door was broken and it took a minute or so of fiddling just to make it snap one picture. Not very effective when trying to take photos of children!
So, the day it arrived my feet were very swollen and Marje offered to give me a foot massage. I was like a queen sitting on the couch getting my feet rubbed while I played with my new camera.
Awhile back Lily and I layed on the bed and took self portraits so now every time I tell her that I want to take pictures of her she wants to go lay on my bed and take self-portraits

Every time Marje sits down to her computer to check her email or anything, Lily pulls her chair up next to her so she can look at pictures. I think she thinks that is all we do on computers is look at pictures and play on www.pbskids.org

We decided that it was time for Lily to get her first haircut. Being that we are cheapskates and I cut Ross's hair and only get mine cut twice a year at Supercuts, Lily gets the at-home-ghetto-cut too. She liked all the attention and I barely cut anything except for evening up the ends a little. It looks good though, nice and healthy.

We cancelled Lily's birthday party on Saturday because she had been not feeling well since Monday. She hadn't eaten much all week and even though she wasn't vomiting anymore, she started having diarrhea so we were afraid that she may be dehydrated. We took her to the ER Saturday morning and they have her some anti-nausea meds and she perked up immediately and ate a banana. Saturday she was up and down all day alternating between being lethargic and being herself.

At one point when she was feeling good we had cake and did the candles and everything.

She helped me decorate the cake and requested that her cake have her name on it in Green. And, because we were planning for pizza for the party anyway, so we had pizza for dinner.

Lily, EKG & Ultrasound

2009-07-07T13:27:00.002-04:00

This picture is of Lily on the Fourth. We spent the day at the beach then Brandi put her in this outfit to wait for the fireworks. I made this outfit for her when she was one! She wore it again last year and although technically fit on her, it was a little too small to get away with one more year.
From our roof we can see fireworks from 5 different displays. So, even though I disagreed, Ross decided that he was going to take Lily up there to watch the show. Of course, I wasn't going to get up there but even though I didn't think she should, I was going to allow Lily to do it. Lucky for me, she chickened out. She never has liked fireworks. We have tried to talk her out of being scared and she acts like she is excited about them and wants to see them but when it came down to it, she was frightened. The shows started at 9 and this is about an hour after her bed time so we just hugged and layed in her bed and joked about how the fireworks sound like popcorn popping. Maybe next year.
Last week when we took Lily for her 3-year check up the doctor said that he thought he may have heard a murmur in her heart and recommended that we see a specialist. So, this is Lily getting an EKG.

The nurse was sweet to tell her that the stickers were "magic stickers" with strings attached and they were gonna watch the wiggly lines on the TV. As you can see from the pictures, she kinda liked the experience.
The doctor said that the EKG looked fine but he could hear the murmur too so he did an ultrasound to see more.

This picture makes it look like she was sad, but she wasn't. The doctor wasn't as entertaining as the nurse, but she didn't mind this experience. She has been with me twice for my ultrasounds so she had seen it before. She told the doctor that she didn't have a baby in there! As it turns out, she does have a murmur. I forgot the technical name but basically she has a leaky valve. There is nothing to be done about it and it won't effect her at all at this point in her life. They told us to come back in a year to keep an eye on it. There is a good chance she could outgrow it. One of my best friends is a nurse practitioner for a Cardiologist so I talked to her about it and she reinforced what the doctor told me, that we didn't need to be worried.

So, we came home and played in a box.

Who knows how I missed the fact that she had a bottle of baby powder in there with her.

17 days to go

2009-07-05T23:09:00.003-04:00

Today I weigh 161 pounds, have a 43" waist and ankles & feet so fat that they look like giant marshmallows.

I'm tired non-stop but Ross is awesome about letting me sleep in. Lily is getting irritated about having to pick everything up for me and I'm sure is tired of hearing me say that I have trouble bending over.

I have been craving nothing but junk food but have managed to make it this entire pregnancy without ordering pizza once! Not sure how I managed that so far because when I was pregnant with Lily, I ordered pizza twice a week.

That is all I have for now. Hopefully I'll either break down and get a new camera soon or download the pics on my phone.
Cheers-

23 days to go!

2009-06-30T22:08:00.003-04:00

This picture was taken on the 21st.
I am still conflicted about wether or not I'm completely comfortable with my belly out. I am more UNcomfortable in my maternity swim suit that DOES cover my belly, so even if I offend someone, the bikini wins. I see many many mom-to-bes on the beach in bikinis these days, so I really shouldn't care, but for some reason I feel a little like the old guy in the thong. I feel like I'm a spectacle.
Yesterday I took Lily to the doctor for her 3 year check-up. Early, I know, but it is one less thing on my my to-do list now. This is the first time she has been big enough to wear the paper gown and we both got a big kick out of it. I usually try to prepare her for things so we had talked about what to expect before we went. We talked about how she may have to get a shot and all that just so she would be ready. I didn't know they would put her in the gown so when they had us put that one we both ended up with the giggles. The happiness continued because she didn't need any shots!

She is in the 75th percentile for everything. This has come down, she has always been in higher percentiles. I guess that explains why she is still wearing the same clothes that she was wearing a year ago. Spurts are funny. Her size has not changed, she has only gotten taller.

This last picture was taken tonight. If you can't tell what is going on here, that is my belly that Lily is laying on and she is sitting on the couch between my legs.

She has taken to wanting to lean against my belly all the time lately. She feels it and wants to help me put on lotion. I think she totally understands what is happening, although we'll never really know what is going on in that little head of hers. The other day when she was in the bathtub we talked about how baby Eric is going to be too small to take a bath in the big bath with her but once he gets bigger he will. Then she said "the doctor is going to cut you open and take him out and then you can't pick me up for awhile". Wow, what a memory! I remember telling her this once but am surprised at how well she actually understood it.

Funny things from Lily

2009-06-13T22:37:00.003-04:00

Lily is a little mini-me. This little girl is enforcing the golden rule on me by treating me as I treat her. She says things that are almost exact repeats of what I tell her.
For lunch today we both had sandwiches but she had goldfish and I had triscuits. She put 3 goldfish on the table and slid them over to me and said "mommy, you have to have at least 3 before you get up"

I yelled at Zelda for getting under-foot and almost tripping me while I was cooking and Lily says "Mommy, there is no need to yell, be nice to doggies"

There are lots of bathroom things that she says to me that seem so normal for me to say to a 2 year old but are funny when a 2 year old says them to an adult. She regularly asks me if I wiped or if I put my panties back on. The other day she stuck her head in the bathroom while I was on the pot and said "call me when you are ready. Just let me know, ok" I assume she was intending to come help me wipe because that is what I say to her when she is pooping.

Then there are other random things that she says that I have no idea where they come from:
"hey mommy, lets sing together, ok, on 4.... 1, 2, 3, 4"
"do you know that chickens come from eggs!" as she is holding an egg at her bum squatting over it

Then there are funny things that she notices and points out. This quality has the potential to be pretty embarrassing if she weren't so shy and actually talked in public.
Brandi is staying with us and Lily came to me after showering with her to tell me "you have BIG boobies and Aunt Brandi's boobies are smaller"
or looking at Ross after he hadn't shaved all weekend and said "daddy you have a dirt mustasche"
One of my favorites is how she thinks anything in a can is a beer. "Mommy, are you going to have another beer?" She said this one in public at the park and the other moms immediately looked up to see whether or not the pregnant lady was really drinking a beer.

Tired tired tired

2009-06-13T21:56:00.004-04:00

Lately I've been having good and bad days with this pregnancy. Some days I have had tons of energy and feel great and other days (like today) I can't seem to get the energy to keep my eyes open. My circulation problems have gotten pretty bad and I just can't wait 'till this baby is born. It is hard to get comfortable in just about any position. When I sit in a chair straight up, it is difficult to breathe and after about half an hour I end up with pains in the front of my hips.
When I sit in a chair in a recline position I can breathe well but my legs fall asleep. If I lay down flat I can't breathe, my neck falls asleep and the heartburn is horrible. If I lay down on my side my arms fall asleep and depending on how the baby is positioned, my belly can hurt. And of course, walking and standing makes my bad veins in my leg throb. So, I spend my day doing a rotation of positions.
I've been wearing a compression stocking every day and have gotten used to how silly I look but it definitely makes the summer heat terrible. It is hard to put on and hard to take off, but it really helps the pain.
So basically, no matter what I do.... I'm gonna be complaining.
I've gained 5 pounds in the last week and can see and feel a distinct increase in belly size. I've gained 30 pounds total so far and my belly is 42" around.
Lily has been so sweet. Today when I was laying down she asked if I would do something for her and I asked her to give me a minute because I wasn't feeling good and she came over and gave me a hug and kiss.
She has taken to talking about "MY baby" when she says something about him. I just think it is so cute that she talks about her baby brother.
But she is most excited about Granny coming to sleep in her bunk bed with her.
The picture above is tonight (39 days to go) and the photo below is of me when I was pregnant with Lily 33 days prior to her birth. Just for comparison sake.

Trip to the ER, mixed up Script and a new dress

2009-05-25T21:27:00.004-04:00

The above picture is NOT my leg. I've spared y'all that but decided to gross you out with Brandi's leg instead. Yesterday I had to take her to the ER because she picked at a bug bite so much that she turned it into an absess (I don't think I spelled that right but that is the way the word sounds). This is several hours after leaving the ER so the swelling had gone down quite a bit. She couldn't move her knee and was having pains all the way up to her hip. The docs told her that she was lucky because the infection could have gone into her joints or worse.

The scary thing is what happened AFTER that though. We filled her prescription at Publix and later that night Brandi noticed that her antibiotic looked just like her ibuprofen. She thought that she had grabbed the wrong bottle but once we looked closely we realized the pharmacy had made a mistake and instead of giving her two anti-boitics and an ibuprofen they gave her 2 ibuprofen and one anti-biotic. The bottle was labeled properly but the wrong drug was inside! I've always heard that you should check your prescriptions but I never had before, I will start now!

We went back to Publix to straighten it out but the pharmacy had closed and had a big sign that they would not be open the next day, Memorial Day. We kinda freaked a little because we couldn't go elsewhere because we no longer had the script. Thankfully the super-cool pharmacist at Walgreens called the ER and verified and gave Brandi enough of the antibiotic to get her through until Publix pharmacy is open again. Scary.

Ok, here is a belly shot for ya. I've gained a few more pounds, now I weight 156 and my belly is 41" around. This baby is kicking like crazy and I am now rolling out of bed 4 or 5 times a night to pee. The way he is positioned, he kicks my bladder and makes me feel like I'm going to pee my pants.

Ross and Lily playing in the yard today...

If you like her dress, you'll be happy to know I made it for her. She picked out the fabric herself. And of course, I made 2 so the other one is up on eBay for sale if you know anyone in the market for a spaceship dress (click here).

Whirl-wind car wheeling & dealing day

2009-05-21T21:11:00.002-04:00

Bye Bye old Civic... You've been good to me!
Ok, so after coming home with the new car, I went to the tag agency to get a temp tag so I could try and start to sell the car over the weekend. And with tomorrow being the one day I have to work at Monstertixx, and Monday being a holiday, figured I needed to get it done today. I had already cleaned and photographed the car earlier in the week so I decided that I would go ahead and put an ad up on craigslist just to see what happens.
Blue book on a '95 Civic DX coupe WITH AC and WITHOUT being wrecked is $1900. I decided just for shits & giggles would ask $1000.
I posted the ad, and 10 minutes later the phone rang. Guy wants to come see it now. I scrambled to dig out the title just in case he was interested. About 20 minutes later he shows up and takes it for a test drive. While he is around the block with the car, 2 more calls. He and I talk for awhile, 2 more calls!
Ross and I had assumed that we would be lucky to get $400 for it but within an hour of posting an ad on Craigslist I had Six crisp $100 bills and a Fifty in my pocket and no more Honda in the driveway.
In a weird sort of way, I'm kinda sad. As much as I hated that car, I really loved it too.
The guy who bought it, bought it for a friend. Guess what he drives? A teal green '95 Civic! Only difference was that his was a hatchback.
This is the first car I've ever sold. I'm glad that I've finally gotten one to last long enough to be able to do that rather than send it to the junkyard. $650 sure feels better than the $75 I could get for scrap!

Yippee!!!!! "New" car for me & Lily!!!

2009-05-21T17:07:00.002-04:00

Finally! We found a car in our price range (sorta) and today we got a car! Wooo hoooo!!! It is pretty old, but you can't really expect too much when your budget it only 2 grand. It is a '97 Sentra. Kinda funny because before the Civic, I drove a Sentra and before that Sentra, I drove a Civic.

As you can see, it has 4 doors, yay! The following is a list of things it has that the Civic does not:

power steering

a Radio

power locks

power windows

4 doors

tilt steering wheel

cup holders

The light color car and light color interior makes a huge difference too. It is not nearly as hot after sitting in the sun for awhile. It isn't as sporty as my taste would prefer, but we were in no position to be considering how a car looks. It runs, has what I need and we could afford it. Good enough for me :)

A blog post for Dickson

2009-05-13T13:38:00.003-04:00

This post isn't ONLY for Dickson, it is just thatt my friend Dickson keeps bothering me on facebook telling me that I need to get a blog post up. Well, I don't have as much time in front of a computer these days, so here goes....

Over the weekend we got Lily a bunk bed and she loves it. She actually plays in her room much more now (yay!) but keeps getting out of bed at night. Well, she could be falling out, we aren't quite sure. She doesn't wake up and doesn't cry but I have to pick her up off the floor and put her back in the bed several times a night. I think she is sleep-crawling because she isn't always next to the bed. Last night I found her halfway UNDER the bed once, once across the room perpendicular to the bed and once next to the bed.

I have video and pictures of the bunk bed but they are on the other computer and it doesn't seem to want to turn on today. It has been "loading" since I started typing on this one.

This video was yesterday. That is elastic that Lily has tied all over her. 1,000 yards of elastic! It WAS on a bolt but now I can only find pieces of that bolt around the house. Oh boy, is this going to be fun to try and untangle this? Any volunteers?

We went to the doctor yesterday and they weighed & measured me. They didn't tell me my measurements but said I was "measuring beautifully"and I now officially outweigh Ross. I weigh 154. I just measured my waist and it is 40" around. I am feeling good other than the usual, killer heartburn and bad veins. I finally broke down and bought a pair of compression tights because my doctor told me it "might" help the pain. I bought thigh highs so I can only wear one leg (crazy hot here and the thought of wearing tights makes me want to die). I look like I have a prosthetic leg. I've considered cutting the foot part off so it won't be so hot but because they cost me $50, I don't want to risk it. It is pretty funny looking and I feel like an old lady but it does help me stand without my legs throbbing. Don't get me wrong, they still hurt... a lot, just a little less. I got alot of slack about posting pictures of my yucky veins before, so I'll spare ya'll the trauma and just tell you that they have gotten about 3x worse.

oh, by the way... the other computer just now decided it was ready to turn on. See why I don't get much computer time? Usually Ross is using this one (it is his work computer).

Baby prep:

Now that we've gotten Lily out of the crib, we just need to get the room neutralized. I wish I would have put some thought into it before I made everything in Lily's room out of girly fabrics. I'm trying to decide what colors I'd like to switch to. I'm considering going with straight primaries so they are neither 'girl' or 'boy'.

We kept everything from Lily so we really don't need to get much. I've been bidding on a moby wrap on eBay for weeks now but I just can't seem to win any auctions for $15 (including shipping), I've still got time though. I've gotten really cheap these days! I went through all of Lily's baby clothes and pulled out all the neutral stuff and have it ready for #2. The rest I sold on eBay, dyed green or gave them away to moms in my group.

The main thing I need now is a car. It has gotten more than burdensome to deal with this stupid car I've got now (I'm just thankful that I really don't have many places that I absolutely HAVE to go, and we live in a neighborhood where everything is close) It is so hot now that by the time I climb my giant body into the back seat to strap Lily in her seat, I'm drenched in sweat before even starting the engine. And, as you know, there isn't any AC that will cool me off once it is on. Sometimes Lily yells from the back seat "go faster Mommy!" I'm not sure if she is wanting more air or if she is just wanting the thrill. Lucky for me, I can fool her into thinking we are going fast by just pushing the gas slightly. When you have a hole in your muffler it sounds like you are racing! Also, we are also getting more into the rainy season, so if it rains I'm stuck at home because I have no way to de-fog the windows. I'm dying to get something.......... anything else. Unfortunately, Ross has been out of town all week and I can't necessarily go around test driving cars when Lily's with me. There is one at the end of the road that I like, I've been tempted to just go down there and buy it. I think Ross would kill me though. :)

Pictures

2009-05-07T21:32:00.000-04:00

Race for the Cure Miami

2009-04-27T17:02:00.002-04:00

I know it is a long way away... but, mark your calendars for the Race for the Cure!

October 17, 2009

I'm gonna put another team together and I've already set my goal for the year.
Last year our team raised over a thousand dollars. I want to do that again, but this year I want to get a bunch more people to actually participate with us. I had 10 folks sign up last year but only myself and two others physically DO the race.
This year I want to get 10 of us out there on the pavement!
So, this is your fair warning, I will be bugging you all to participate with me. I'll only be 12 weeks after having a baby and I am fully committed to doing it.... you can to!

Pergnancy update

2009-04-26T09:35:00.003-04:00

I haven't been really good at the pregnancy updates this go 'round. I did a craft show yesterday and everyone kept asking me how far along I was, I didn't know the answer! I know my due date, July 31. Sad, I know how much time is LEFT rather than how far along.
Well, I figured it out this morning, I'm 28 weeks.
My belly measures 39" around (non-prego measurement is about 30")
I've gained 20 lbs
I feel ok, I get tired quickly and feel like a cow. I've got the killer heartburn again and my belly button turned inside out again and again, bothers me when things touch it. I'm pretty sure that it will NOT go back to looking normal afterward. oh well.
My veins are my biggest issue. They have gotten so bad in my left leg that they hurt even before I get out of bed. I've ordered some compression tights but am not convinced that it will help. My doctor just says to put my feet up but that doesn't seem to help anymore. She gave me a name of a cardiovascular doc to see for treatment after the baby is born. She said that they can't do anything now because more than likely it will mean surgery. I think I'm gonna go see him now anyway just to discuss some things that I can do to relieve the pain. It is really making me miserable.
I had Ross take these pictures last night after a very very long day, my face looks terrible, but you can see how huge I am.

This morning Lily decided that she was going to dress herself. I often let her pick out her own clothes, but this morning was especially funny. You can't tell much by the pic, but that hat is flowered too. I think I'll let her wear this for awhile but will change her before we go to a birthday party... this is a little TOO independent for me.

Piano Player?

2009-04-21T18:56:00.002-04:00

Lily and I decided to listen to some music with dinner tonight because Ross was away. We chose the Eurythmics and Lily seemed to really like them. At the beginning of this song Lily pushed her plate forward and started playing air piano! I don't know if she has ever seen anyone play the piano before, but I cracked up because she was being really serious. I jumped up for the camera and when I came back she had the milk in her mouth but still playing the piano.

I hope this means that she got the musical gene that some of my family got but I didn't.

Reasons that Lily is happy to have a new baby

2009-04-20T12:38:00.002-04:00

Lily is happy for having a future little brother, here is why:

she gets to get a new big girl bed
Granny will be here to read books to her and take her to the park
she will be 3

Gotta love the logic of a 2.75 year old.

Busy busy day yesterday. How to wear out a toddler

2009-04-15T11:48:00.003-04:00

Yesterday Lily and I spent 5 hours at Chuck-e-Cheese for a playdate then, had a visit from Brandi, Todd and their 2 new doggies. A pair of rescue dogs, a chiwawa and a miniature greyhound. Lily ran around and around with the little guys chasing her, she loved it. Then, we all went to the beach and picked up Jeannie (my cousin who is in town for a conference) and she took us all to dinner at O'Malley's. We took Lily's bike so she could ride around on the patio and the broadwalk while we waited for the food.
When we got in the car at the end of the night she immediately closed her eyes and said "Good night". Pooped.
Slept in today too!

Easter

2009-04-12T18:41:00.007-04:00

I'm totally unsure what bunnies, chocolates and hiding eggs in the yard has to do with Easter, but we played along.

Ross never did the dying Easter egg thing so that whole concept was completely foreign to him. And for him, he grew up finding chocolate eggs in the house, that is foreign to me! So, we compromised and colored a few hard boiled eggs with crayons and hid candy filled plastic eggs inside AND out.

This video is of some of the conversations that Lily and I had yesterday while coloring Easter eggs.

This morning I got up before anyone else and went and hid the eggs. I was at the computer at the kitchen table when Lily got out of bed. She ran to me all puffy-eyed (she has a cold right now) and said "Is the Easter Bunny here?"

I told her he had just left and she ran to the window to look for him. She grabbed her Easter basket and was so happy.

The challenge the rest of the day is for us all NOT to overdose on candy and chocolate.

After breakfast, we went to the beach. Today was the perfect beach day. The water was crystal clear, not a cloud in the sky and we got there early enough that there wasn't much of a crowd. Of course, I forgot the camera!

These videos are of the egg hunting:

Vacation

2009-04-06T13:46:00.002-04:00

Lily woke me up holding her Dora pillow saying "Mommy, I'm ready for my adventure"
Me too!
Today Lily just left with Sandy and the kids to go on a Spring Break vacation. She was so excited to go. I'm glad for the day off. Lily is so easy to take care of these days that I can still do most everything I need to do with her around, but I've been really craving an opportunity to spend extended amounts of time doing the same thing without interruption. I am a die-hard multi-tasker but some days I just like to actually get an email written in one sitting without having to pause in the middle to stop Lily from writing on the walls or needing to help wipe her rear end. Selfish, I know. But I'm happy for the break every now and again.
Sandy didn't have a real plan on what they were going to do for their adventure but she was thinking the Zoo or something here locally then stay the night in a hotel. (Sandy is my cousin by the way for those of you un-related)

******* Pause ***********
how completely ironic! As I was typing this, I realized that I forgot to give Sandy the stroller so I had to stop what I was doing and jump in the car to go catch her two exits down on 95.
ugh!
Ok, so now, on to my vacation. Sewing projects!

Such a little grown up!

2009-03-30T16:57:00.003-04:00

I tell Lily over and over that no matter what, no mater how big she gets she will always be my baby. Well these days she acts more and more like a grown up than she does a baby. She just amazes Ross and I sometimes with her matter-of-fact way that she goes about doing things. Some of the stuff is not good, like the fact that she can get into the freezer and goes in and helps herself to Popsicles. Or when she goes to the toilet by herself and doesn't let anyone know, and I find out later when I see a huge skid-mark in her panties or she is crying that her bum hurts.

But some of it is so cute. This morning I told her we were going to pack our lunch and take it to the park. When I got out of the shower she had gotten her diaper bag and packed it with a change of clothes, my wallet, and was trying to get into the fridge to get my water bottle. It was so cute!

This video below is of Lily playing a Curious George Game on the computer. Until yesterday, I have not allowed her to use the computer. She gets up in the chair and tries to get to the computer every time we turn our backs, so finally, decided to see what would happen if I let her play a game. I was shocked because she knew exactly what to do. She can control the arrow using the laptop mouse-pad-thingy and then once she gets it lined up, she knows how to "click". She can use the regular mouse too but because she can't hold it still and click at the same time, the cursor moves before she gets to the click part.

We are in trouble, she is going to out-smart us by the time she is 10

We still cannot agree on a name. I checked out a baby name book from the Library and literally read the entire thing cover to cover. (I don't recommend this for pleasure reading... boring!) We have a list of names that I'm not excited about. I have a favorite that Ross says is a "low-class" name in Zimbabwe. According to the name book, biblical and literary names are upper class, but aparently that is not so in Zim. Ross's favorite name is one that makes me picture a shirtless red-neck with a mullet and a perpetual beer-in-hand. Ross says my 2nd and 3rd choices are "gay names" and I think his 2nd and 3rd choices are nerdy and over-used.

Boys names are WAY harder than girls.

Me, I am starting to feel this little guy moving around. He is pretty active for this early in the pregnancy. Another thing that is happening too early is that my vericose veins have gotten so bad that I can't do everything that I want to do. It is so strange too that they are only on one leg. I guess I should be thankful that I still have a "good leg" but the bad leg hurts after only 30 minutes of standing. I am annoyed that I have to lay down in increments throughout the day. I actually have energy to do things but can't without pain. I can't wait for the next few months to pass!

Here is a video of Lily and Ross playing in the bath.

Modeling Pictures by Ross

2009-03-24T12:56:00.004-04:00

Ross took Lily outside yesterday evening to take some pictures of her in her new Rugby jersey. He and his parents splurged a little on this shirt for Lily and she looks so sweet in it!

The demise of my Blog

2009-03-23T19:22:00.003-04:00

I have been so slack about keeping up with this blog (and my work blog too!) and I blame it all on my iphone! This phone is amazing and can do so much that it has kept me away from the real computer so much that I keep forgetting to update the blog. It is a good thing that I'm not chained down to the desk anymore, but there are a few certain things that I just don't do as much of these days because of it. Granted, like I said, this thing is amazing, I CAN post blogs from the phone, it just isn't as easy to type so I tell myself that I'll do it later on the real computer but then don't get around to it.

Ross went to Dubai to see his brother play in the Rugby 7s World Cup at the beginning of the month. Here is a picture of him and his LITTLE brother.

They did very very well and won 3rd place overall! Ross hadn't seen Grant in about 6 years and his parents got to go too, so they had quite a good time in Dubai. Zimbabwe made a big stir in the media there because of all they had overcome to get there and all. Ross and his parents made the front page of the Dubai paper on the 2nd day they were there! (If Windows Vista wasn't so retarded and would allow my scanner to function I would have a picture here, but I don't, sorry). Here is Grant signing autographs.

My dad went internet shopping again and sent Lily 2 new bathing suits. So, of course, I had to take her to the beach to try them out.

I love this sprinkler park area they have here in Hollywood. It is right next to a parking garage that charges less per hour than the meters on the street, and there are bathrooms there too. It is perfect.

Actually, lately we've been taking advantage of all sorts of government funded things. I figured if it is there for us to use, we better be using it. The county gave away free native trees the other day and I got up early and went and picked up two! I've gotten a library card and been going to festivals and all sorts of stuff. Anything that is close-by and free.... I'm in.

Here is Lily with her face painted at the St. Patrick's Day parade.
That morning I woke up and realized that Lily had not one article of clothing that was green! A couple years back I made a bunch of St. Paddy's day skirts and patchworked together the leftover fabrics when I was done. I didn't know what I would do with that patchwork piece, but it sure came in handy this year. I made Lily a new dress with it. :)