impossible

to go shopping and not come home with a little treat for my girl...

oh janie and jack. thank you for sales.

my girl and her naked feet

olivia has never met a sock she couldn't houdini her way out of. and her feet... they are positively EDIBLE, but it's 25 degrees outside and well, she really needs those pigs covered.

i've tried every kind of sock imaginable... even the kind with a velcro strap on the ankle to keep them snug and NO DICE. i've tried robeez. no luck.

so we've pulled out the big guns. (no, not duct tape, but so help me that is NEXT)...

she should be the proud little owner of these cutie shoes by next weekend:

and...

courtesy of our new bffs at pediped! to be honest, i liked this pair a lot more because of the darker brown, but hey. i'm on a budget, people.

cross your fingers that this does the trick.

makin over our mudroom...

i always want to post and i always forget. but i'm going to hold myself to posting about this project. DAMN IT. of course, it would be best to start with pictures of our current mudroom so you can see the makeover from start to finish, but i don't have any so this is whatcha get. it's this or no post. and i want to post more so COME ON.

my inspiration is this droooooooooooooooooooolly samantha set from pottery barn:

but in black. but it's a little out of my price range, unfortunately at $560 for the bench and shelf (no cushion or baskets included). so i did a little research and found this set from overstock for a total of $210 (no cushions or baskets included here either):

so this is what we're going with. i'm not sure i'll get a seat cushion for now, but i'll definitely score some baskets probably at the christmas tree shop or something. i'm also moving our desk down there, and getting some hanging mail organizers and some hooks down low for olivia's stuff (i know. she's a baby. but just yesterday she was five days old in the nicu on a feeding tube and now she's seven months old, 18 pounds and eating me out of house and home. she'll be a big girl by next week.) and an area rug.

i'm also thinking of getting a chalkboard, too, to write miscellaneous notes, but we'll see how much space i have. OH! and a new mat to wipe feet and a big basket for shoes.

i am on a mission to get a FEW projects done in this house this year! this is the first one, painting our front door and getting THAT entryway done is next!

stay tuned... or don't. i wouldn't trust me because i'm the worst updater ever. but i'll try!!!

nearly seven months old. WHAT?!?!?!?

how did this happen? my teeny, tiny baybay:

got all growed UP:

BIG GIRL CAR SEAT!!

Lord help me.

HI!

guess what livie did ALL NIGHT??

zzzzzzzzzzzzzz*

aw YEAH! my girl is BACK! she guzzled 5oz (bringing her daily total to 21! that is SADLY just under her normal intake) and slept from 7:30pm till 6am this morning! i was all wringing my hands that my good sleeper was GONE FOREVER and then i remembered... she hates to eat and loves to sleep so SCORE!

seriously though. this girl is the chubbiest non-eater eva. my sister's nickname for her is squishy due to the squishable squishy cheeks. but, i am not kidding, she is SO put out about eating. at six months, her normal daily intake is about 24-26oz. and that is even without eating food. fareels. yet i'm guessing she'll tip the scales at 16lbs at LEAST today at her visit.

i'll check back later to verify. oooooh exciting!

*bonus awesome shot of the mohawk!

ah mah gah

i'm sorry! i've been preoccupied. livie has a double ear infection and tom is complaining about the messy house while wearing gray coors light pajama pants. and while i DO NOT have a picture of THAT, i do have some others:

oh HI! i am adorable and nakies except for my cute NEW BOW!

i know. it's not a christmas picture, but THIS IS:

I GOT PRESENTS!

sophie. nom!

this is what christmas eve looks like in my house:

and in other news, olivia's six month well visit is tomorrow. ok, she's not well so already we FAIL. i've been freaking out about other milestones, too.

here are some things she's "supposed" to be doing, and my comments will follow in blue:

• rolling from back to belly and vice versa yeaaaahhh, well THANK GOD she just decided to roll from back to belly like last week. she does it all the time and then promptly pitches a fit because she hates being on her belly. has never rolled from belly to back. that i know of. eva.
• sitting unassisted AHHAHAHAHAHA no. not even tripoding (whatever the hell that means).

and a bunch of other stuff according to babycenter.com and i just started ignoring it because hey, she sleeps well so WHATEVER. also? she does this:

i love water!

and a few others to make up for my horrendous lack of posting...

shoppin'

a new superhero... DIAPERHEAD!

and with that, i bid you good night. i need to get some sleep because remember how i said livie was a good sleeper? well that was until the giant ear infection. now she likes to wake up fifty times a night crying, puking and pooping everywhere. oh yes, and sleep only while being rocked. so i have to catch 10 minutes while i can.

wish me luck

i have christmas pics. I DO. i just have to find the camera cord. i can't find it because i'm a disorganized MESS.

i bought some bins (HAHAHAHAHA like that'll help) and i hope to make good use of them this weekend in my cleaning/organizing extravaganza.

what i need luck for isssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss... tonight i'm making my first batch of baby food for olivia. everything i've read makes it sound SO EASY and hi, let's be honest here: CHEAP. her formula is wicked expensive (hi, olivia? your college fund went to alimentum. sorry!) so this whole cheap-feeding idea? sounds pretty freakin great to me.

so we took a trip to whole foods last night and stocked up on butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, avocado, apples and bananas. i'm inspired since we switched to the happy bellies oatmeal and she's now OMG GIMME MO! she didn't care for pears (me neither, sister), but loves apples and bananas. (we had some earth's best organic fruit jars to start with).

tonight? avocado! can i give her that and oatmeal? that just sounds gross. i don't know. also? when do i start increasing the times of day she gets food? like, for now, she gets a bottle four to five times a day and food also at one of those times (on the weekend, i give it to her with her second feeding, weeknights at dinner/fourth feeding). when do i start giving it to her more?

and add one more reason to the list titled WHY I HATE WORKING because i have to send food to daycare now. so they can feed her. WA! *i* want to feed her food and watch her cute scrunchy faces!

bah.

the crack heard 'round the world...

ok, or just around my upstairs. olivia was HARMED!

this child has been injured twice in her five months and both times to the head. poor bean.

so, we have this wooden sign with olivia's name on it that my friend brought back for her from tanzania. with me so far? do you see where this is going?

i'm rocking her to sleep last night and that fucking sign FELL off the wall somehow and cracked her (and me) on the head. not the flat part, oh no. the edge. the thin, sharp edge. and not, say, on her forehead, but right along the top of her head. you know, the soft spot. we both scream. she starts bawling.

i called the pedi because it was bedtime and i wasn't sure if i should let her fall asleep or WHAT really to do. (fun fact: the other time she was injured, her NICU nurse dropped a CAN of formula on her head. true story.) they asked if swelling was greater than an inch. no. any dents? no. is she acting normal? i guess? is there any fluid coming out of her ears? no. THANK GOD. any fluid coming out of her nose? not any more than usual. can she move both arms and legs freely? yes. any vomiting? no.

they said it sounds like a scalp injury (it bled. WA.) more than a brain injury (holy shit. brain injury. ugh.) and to put her to bed, but wake her in two hours. she needs to be conscious and alert and moving arms and legs. i'm thinking to myself: ok, how the hell am i supposed to get her back to sleep after that? and then wake her again four hours after that.

they said she needed to be close to us, so i slept on the aerobed in her room last night and will tonight, too.

here's the rundown on our night and morning:

she took a bit of effort to wake up at 10:15 and was finally like WTF PEOPLE??? she went right back down in the crib. no rocking even necessary! i've NEVER put her down without rocking. (i don't want to hear any shit about CIO because i'm not doing it. i don't care and have zero opinions on how anyone else gets their own children to sleep so please do me a favor and zip it.)

i woke her again easily at 2:15 by changing her diaper and she gave me the stink eye, so i figured i'd try rocking before i busted out a bottle (she's been sleeping so well, i am terrified of giving her the idea that OOOH i can start waking back up at 2 for a bednight* snack!) and she zonked out on my shoulder in about 5-6 minutes.

the swelling has gone down quite a bit, too. and the cutest thing... when i woke up this morning, she was just staring at me from her crib with the biggest fool smile like, "MAMA! what are YOU doing here?!?!!"

heart. melt.


*that is what hunter used to ask for before going to bed when he was little. not a midnight snack, a bednight snack.

remember me?

could she look LESS impressed?

so, apparently when you are five months old, your mom is UNIMPRESSIVE. never mind if she puts you in super cute outfits and let's you sneeze all over her (in my FACE people) and on and on. DADDY is where it's at.

oh, she loves her daddy. she'll laugh like a hyena at him all, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA DAH!" over and over. it's actually insanely cute.

also? she hates food. well, let me offer full disclosure. she does have a sinus infection (yeah, the sneezing in my face sounds a bit grosser now, DOESN'T IT?) and is on antibiotics, so maybe that's contributing. but she is a total fake. she whines for my fork and stares us down when we eat... so on her five-month birthday, we started cereal. she did really well the first try. subsequent tries were all huge FAILS. she shut me down hard. every time.

but look, doesn't she look like she WANTS to eat? you'd think so. but you'd be wrong.

yeah, she's staring lovingly at her dad in this picture. of course!!

christmas shopping

for the bean is WAY more fun for me than it is for her:

um that is called a CURLY FRUFFLE.

oh man. it's not even december. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

thankful

i thank you for choosing me

to come through unto life to be

a beautiful reflection of his grace

see, i know that a gift so great

is only one god could create

and i'm reminded every time i see your face...

i don't get many things right the first time.

in fact, i am told that a lot.

now i know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls brought me here.

now, where was i before the day that i first saw your lovely face?

now i see it every day. and i know...

that i am, i am, i am

the luckiest.

think they look related?? they are TWINS!

my cup runneth over.

ok, how about meals?

but first, olivia.

her daycare had a PLAY the other night. A PLAY. she was a squirrel. and i am not kidding. my four month old was a squirrel in her school play. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh and mama forgot the camera. idiot.

my friend's daughter is in the same daycare (she was an indian) so she took pics for me. anyway, olivia also got her first "report card" and we got artwork she made. AHHAHAHAHAHA I LOVE IT. she thumb-painted apples on an apple tree. i cannot take it.

ok, so i made a delightful HEALTHY meal tonight. like, whoa. it was lemon chicken and broccoli over garlic couscous. so good.

made even better by my ginormo glass of beaujolais nouveau. ohhhhh i love this time of year.

and?

FUCK YEAH, UCONN! ahem.

things i need to blog about...

• olivia.
• cleaning my stupid house.
• organization, or rather, my lack thereof and how it's slowly, but definitely driving my husband out of his fool mind.
• meal planning.
• thanksgiving.

i can address some of this now. let's see... how about OLIVIA?! i am turning into one of those baby-crazed moms and i guess i have to get on board with the fact that this will mostly likely just be a mommy blog now. hey, whatever. i love her. and you know what else i love? BOWS.

hi!

i'm lucky in that olivia is pretty good about bows and cute hats. she generally keeps them on without protest and that is a huge win for me. especially since the other day she was in her swing and fussing and i was ignoring her because she always makes her little eh, eh, eh noises just before she falls asleep. well, i happen to glance over and this is what i see:

help!

NO WONDER SHE WAS FUSSING!! so i did what any responsible parent would do... i laughed so hard i almost choked and then took a picture. of course, i took the headband off after that. poor bean!!

happy saturday

so i never posted about olivia's four month well visit. she was fantastic and didn't even cry TOO much for her shots. even though her evil mother had dressed her in JEANS so i had to wrangle those up over her puffy, hurting little legs afterwards. ugh. must remember loose, comfy clothing for next time!

stats:

height: 25 1/2 inches which is 92nd percentile

weight: 14 lbs 1.4 oz which is 60th percentile

head circumference: 33rd percentile, i don't remember the number

things she's doing:

• ROLLING OVER!!! well, ok, she rolled over twice on 11/8 and hasn't done it since. i think it's because she rolled from back to belly and realize, "oh crap, i HATE being on my belly. this sucks!"
• she's loving her play mat. her favorite thing is the little cardinal. well, or else she hates it because she's always swatting it and chewing on it and just generally issuing it a beatdown
• still sleeping like a champ. 7pm till 5:30am
• eating about 25-27oz a day, still not a big eater, still the grossly expensive and smelly alimentum, but if it ain't broke...
• giving me the stink eye when i eat food. i think she's trying to tell me telepathically that she's ready, but i'm not ready for her to be ready and so i'm pretending i don't see it.

things she AIN'T doing:

• loving tummytime. she still doesn't push up all that well. i checked the bump message board for babies 3-6 months old and had to close it because i found myself getting all competitive and wondering why some of those children SIT UP UNASSISTED and all of them (it seems) are practically up on all fours and my kid's like,  yeah, this is SO NOT HAPPENING.
• trying to stand when you hold her up. she will have none of it. the doctor said she's not worried, but we'll keep an eye on it. she kicks just fine, she just doesn't feel like putting any weight on her legs right now, OK???

to help her get more excited about standing, we put her exersaucer/jumper thing together this morning and i thought she was going to catapult herself out of the swing, she looked so excited. they've been putting her in the one at daycare a little bit and say she really likes it, so i suppose it's time!

in other NON-olivia news... hm. there is none. :)

next week's menu!

• tomato-sauced pork chops with garlic green beans
• chicken and spinach couscous with glazed carrots
• potato and sausage dinner with tomato & okra and crescent rolls
• lemon chicken and broccoli with couscous and spinach salad
• ham and broccoli pot pie with applesauce

a few side notes:

1. i have never had okra in my life. i hope it's good.
2. these are all WW friendly meals, so SCORE!
3. are you interested in the points values? if so, i'll post them.
4. wish me luck in making all these because i'm SO TIRED when i get home from work, the last thing i want to do is cook, but i am inspired by this post, so i will remain steadfast!

also, thanksgiving is in two weeks. oy. that is all i have to say about that.

handwritten fun fact friday!

because i like to copy all my faves.

also, SWOON over these kids, pls.

OMG. my little livie and her big cousin. think he loves her?

photo by tania sones photography

wow, bitch much?

am i out of SHAPE. i ran 2.5 miles on monday and i'm in AGONY. that child tore my body to shreds. every morning, it's physically (and mentally, but that's another story...) painful to get out of bed. my feet hurt to walk on, my hips hurt when i walk down the stairs, my back aches. OH MY ACHIN BACK. seriously? i still have sharp, pointy pain in my lower right back that shoots down my leg from before i gave birth. i am hopeful that working out will help all of these improve.

i have to admit, while i was running, it felt AMAZING. i forgot how freakin good doing something good for myself feels. these little snippets of the Old Me pop up now and again and it's like oh HAI, i MISSED you!

not that i don't love my life. seriously, don't get me wrong. tom got me the best anniversary card yesterday (even though it wasn't filled out -- hey, i didn't even GET him one!) and pajama pants from CVS, because it was our "cotton" anniversary. hahahaha -- i love him.

and honestly, how could you be pissy when you get to come home to this every single night:

ok

i'm getting back to this blog. i've been keeping track of all things olivia in a separate place, but this is just getting too annoying, so here we go. back to this one. i need a blog (and real life, don't EVEN get me started) facelift, but in the meantime, HAPPY HALLOWEEN

these are three of my favorite people in the universe.

i've got a LOT to keep track of and you can suck it if you aren't interested in these topics. hahahaha as if i have even one reader left. oh well. i'll talk to myself.

topic #1: olivia. SHOCKING! she is almost rolling over. shit. i am torn between being so proud and amazed AND depressed because she is just growing so fast. she's 17 weeks already. she has her 4 month well visit (read: MORE SHOTS) on friday. HOW is that possible? look, she's already big enough for her high chair:

ps, that's stretch. her fave giraffe buddy.

topic #2: dinners for the week. look, i'm terrible at planning like, ANYTHING, so the fact that i'm still cooking dinner at least a few times a week is pretty f'ing amazing. this weeks' menu:

tonight: crockpot chicken soup and biscuits
tuesday: ANNIVERSARY DINNER OUT!
wednesday: babyback ribs and camp beans and maybe a salad to balance the FAT
thursday: balsamic pork chops, sweet potato (for me, tom will puke if i make him eat that, so regular baked potato for that PITA), and asparagus
friday: beans and rice, guac, chips
sat: bacon cheddar quiche, hash browns
sun: sausage cheese chowdah, garlic bread

which leads me to topic #3: WORKING OUT. ugh, seeing some pics of me lately is just so depressing. i had that baby SEVENTEEN weeks ago. i feel gross. and most importantly? MY ENGAGEMENT/WEDDING RINGS STILL DON'T FIT. so.

i'm making half of my meals ww friendly (baby steps, y'all), started taking pilates, just signed up for an abs/core class, signed up for a 3.5 mile race on 12/6 and brought my runnin shoes to work today. ENOUGH.

and just for good measure....

fourteen pounds... the weight of the pumpkin, the weight of my daughter and the amount of weight i'd be happy with losing.