busy bees

Where has this week gone? Oh, now I remember: I think I worked about 60 hours, Baby E was teething AND has a cold/ear infection, the upstairs addition is FINALLY done (which means i've been moving stuff up there), we have company this weekend, and they are INSISTING we go to Six Flags theme park, I've had to give not one, but TWO presentations at work, and the laundry just never ever, ever stops.

So I'm off on the adventure of trying to get a shower while keeping an eye on Baby E! See you all on the flip side!

p.s. watch for photos of the house in a few days--------I'M SOOOOOO EXCITED (and I know that I have used more than my fair share of CAPS and punctuation today, but I just don't care. so there.)

Baby in a cage

I was inside cleaning today while Big J was out working in the garage/yard. I decided that it was too beautiful outside for Baby E to be hanging out with me in the house. So I dragged his little baby cage out to the yard (I know, I know, I can't believe I put my kid in a cage either, but it's the ONLY way I can actually get a shower, or vacuum, or load the dishwasher or make the bed with out worrying about what the heck he's going to get into). I told Big J to make sure to watch him because I really needed to get the floors cleaned in the house. I looked out the window a few moments later and this is what I saw:
It totally melted my heart and reminded me of one of the many reasons I love my husband so much: HE IS A GREAT DADDY!!! I don't know too many adults who will stop whatever they are doing and go hang out with a little baby in a cage.

I LOVE MY BOYS!!!!!

oh, towels. How I love you.

A towel. How can a towel make you feel better? When we were kids we knew someone was sick not by the smell in the bathroom or the vaporizer in the bedroom, but by seeing "the towel". It was a sure sign that mom had been up in the middle of the night in order to tend to a sick child. Maybe it was the flu, maybe we had eaten too much Halloween candy, maybe we got a hold of a bad cheeseburger. Whatever it was, you could count on the towel.

What does a sick person need a towel for? I'm not *exactly*sure what mom's logic was, but I think it had something to do with not wanting to change the pillowcases 4 times in one night. "If you start to feel sick, just lean over the side of bed and try to get it in the garbage can. When you are all done, I'll come clean it up and you just lay your head here on this towel."

And you know what? It worked every time. It was like a security blanket (except it was a towel). I knew that once I put my head on that terrycloth piece of heaven, I was going to feel better.

During my first 3 months of pregnancy, I wore a hole in the towel. I felt sick all the time, but I when I put that towel over my pillow, something magical happened. I fell asleep, and THAT is the best medicine of all!




This was my entry to Mama Kat's Workshop this week - I chose prompt #2

2. What was your medicine? Tell about a time you remember being sick.

My copy/paste isn't working (oh BOOOOO)! So here is her site -if you haven't checked it out yet, DO IT!

The sound of silence

Shhhhhhh. Did you hear that? It's SiLeNcE. It means that Baby E is sleeping, the washing machine is finished with it's cycle, the phone is turned off, the cat has been fed, and Big J is sleeping in his red chair. I love that sound.

I was so busy with daily life this weekend that I completely missed wishing "Happy Ten Months" to my little monkey. I usually get photos developed and try to get a page or two done in his scrapbook. In lieu of that, I am going to tell everyone in the world (or at least the ten of you who read this blog) what I love about my baby boy.

Dear Baby E,

I love your big blue eyes.

I love that whenever I take you somewhere somebody stops me to say what a precious/cute/gorgeous/adorable/sweet baby you are and then you bat your eyelashes at him or her and he/she just gushes over you.

I love your smile.

I love that you only have 2 teeth in your mouth, but you really give them a workout.

I love how happy and alert you are when you wake up in the morning or from taking a nap.

I love your curly red-blonde hair that can't decide if it's going to be blonde or red.

I love your kisses. You open your mouth as wide as you can and pull on my cheeks until I cave and you slobber all over me.

I love your "cuddles" when you are sleepy and just want mama to hold you.

I love that you let me kiss your neck whenever I want - you just tip your head to the side and let me keep my mouth on your soft neck until I can't breathe anymore.

I love when you pull on my legs to help you stand up.

I love that I can't get a thing done around the house when you are grumpy.

I love to watch you feed yourself. It is one of the best moments in my day.

I love when you try to kiss Delilah and you end up with a mouthful of fur.

I love it when you get giggly after dinner and before bed - I call it your "happy hour".

I love to watch you sleep.

I love when I'm trying to change your diaper and you roll yourself over and crawl away.

I even love when you are crabby, sick or teething.

I love you, I love you, I love you (with all my heart) my little bean/peanut butter cup/monkey/bear/lovey.

Love, Mama

And here are some photos from his 9th month. It was a busy month for us!

Here he is just after his bath

With his Auntie Tara

Asleep in his bouncy chair - poor neglected baby!!

Baby E wants to blog.

Sleeping in his car seat - after a day in Disney World.

And just hamming it up for the camera.

And finally, the coolest flower I've ever received - I think it was a genetic mutation, but it's pretty cool! (Mother's Day flower)

Ladies and Gentlemen

I GOT AN AWARD!! I don't remember the last time I got an award.......it was a long time ago, that's for sure. So thank you to STEF for the Versatile Blogger Award! I feel so honored that you actually stop in a read my blog! I really enjoy reading all about your crazy life!

So I'm supposed to tell you 7 facts about myself and then pass the award on to 15 other blogs that I have recently discovered.

Well, I'm new at this, so I will give you seven very random facts, but I can only pass the award to a handful of people.....cause that's all I know right now!

OK, here are the rules of this bloggy award:
1. Thank the person who gave you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Pass the award on to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic.
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked at let them know about the award.

1. I love to sing along with the radio. I have the uncanny ability to hear a song once and remember most of the words - it drives my husband crazy because he can't even remember the words to the National Anthem. I especially love Billy Joel and when one of his songs comes on the radio, I turn it up as loud as I can stand and then try to out-sing him.

2. I love to read. I sometimes have 2 or 3 books going at the same time. There is usually one at my mom's house, one in my bedroom and one in the bathroom. I rarely get them confused, but sometimes I have to go back a chapter to remember where I left off.

3. I have always wanted to have a monkey for a pet. I had a child instead. Pretty much the same thing.

4. I don't like to go places by myself. Except the grocery store. I really like the grocery store.

5. There is a part of me that truly believes I could be a famous singer/songwriter. If only I knew someone in the biz....

6. I wear grandma underwear, and I'm not ashamed of it. It started when I was pregnant and I'm not gonna stop.

7. I have moved 15 times in 14 years. Some of them have been for 3-4 months at a time, but the longest was only 2 years. I would REALLY like to say that we are putting down some roots this time, but who am I kidding? I married a gypsy.

Now, to bestow this award on some fellow bloggers:

Pieces of me

Nana Diana Takes A Break (which happens to be my mom's blog) :)

Life Via Pixels

Pink Tumbleweed

Mommy Drinks Because You Cry

And last but not least

Mommy of a Monster (but I think you have already gotten this award, so you don't have to do it again!!) :)

These are all some wonderful blogs and I truly enjoy reading each and every one of them! Thanks to all for stopping by my blog!

Click here for the award!!

I had to work yesterday. On a beautiful Saturday. If you know anything about Wisconsin, those are hard to come by. But I digress. I put in a llloooonnnngggg day. I am in the process of hiring 700 (yes you read that right, seven HUNDRED) employees to work the the summer "festival" season. So yesterday, I got up at 6 and headed into work. We invited 500 people to come to in for an interview yesterday and 375 of them showed up. I didn't get home until almost 7:30. I'm still tired today.

Here the good and bad of when I got home.

Good: Big J got the DOORS hung on our new addition. Even the one at the bottom of the steps (which we HAD to have because my sister is allergic to our cat and we want her and her family to be able to come and stay at our house). It's a pretty glass door and it lets in TONS of sunlight in the afternoon! This means that today, we have to do touchups on the paint and then this week the carpet goes in, and we are DONE!!! YAAAAYYYYYYYY!

Our new door!!

Bad: Poor Baby E was out of formula and Big J didn't think to go get more, so poor little guy missed his two afternoon bottles. Also, when I walked in Baby E was wearing just a short-sleeved onesie and it was starting to get kind of chilly AND Big J had every window in the house open. ALSO, Baby E had food caked on his face and in his hair. The house is a MESS and oh, Big J made plans to go over to the neighbor's house for dinner.....we're supposed to bring a salad and something for dessert - they are making the burgers and drinks. Oh, did you say DrInKs? I am so there. But first I had to run to the grocery store, buy stuff for a salad, pick up some dessert (cause I'm not feeling like baking something) and GET FORMULA for my poor little guy.

Today I'm going to relax and catch up on mommy-baby time. I miss my little monkey when I'm at work, but I just keep telling myself - it's only until October!

Whose toes are those?

First of all, thank you to my newest follower, Natalie, for introducing me to Mama Kat's writing workshop. I've decided to give it a whirl. Please don't expect too much!

Here goes:

They are big, ugly and usually cold. Sometimes I decorate them and sometimes they are hidden away for months at a time. Once in a while I forget that they have been decorated and when I finally DO remember, the tops have begun to break and the paint has chipped away. Occasionally I decide to really spoil them and they get a special treatment that includes a total makeover. There have been a few times when I have really abused them by not letting them rest for hours on end.

They've seen me naked and in my swimsuit. They were with me when I learned to ride a bike. They came along for the ride when I learned how to drive. They were with me when I moved away from home. They were there when I got my heart broken the first time. And the second time. And every time after that. They took some abuse in my early twenties when looking good was the only thing I was concerned about (even at their expense). They are present in some of the best photos from my wedding. I guess you could say they've been with me every step of the way.

On a warm Wednesday afternoon last July, after weeks and weeks of waiting, I decorated them with pink and blue paint and we eagerly awaited our new arrival. We must have walked up and down that long hospital corridor over a hundred times while we were waiting. When our gift finally appeared, I did a quick count - he has ten little toes. They are tiny, beautiful and they look just like mine.

This is supposed to be about my feet, but I just can't seem to get past my toes.....

You can learn more about Mama Kat's workshop HERE:

Mother's Day?

I wonder how many years it will take for my poor husband to get it right on Mother's Day....Last year didn't 'count' as far as he was concerned because I was only pregnant and not yet a "mother". This year, I thought it was going to be something special. Let me just say this before you get the wrong idea: I was not disappointed in Mother's Day.

BUT here's the scoop: At 6:00 the Baby E decided to wake up. The only thing I was really expecting yesterday was the delight of sleeping in.........not happening. I finally got out of bed at 6:10 to go get the monster and bring him into bed with us. He was not interested in going back to sleep - so guess who was up for the day? Yep, the mother. On Mother's Day. Damn.

Next: Big J gets out of the shower and says he's going to run to Starbucks (which I just KNEW meant that he had completely forgotten to get me a card and was therefore running to the drugstore to pick one up, and probably some flowers too, if they were on sale).

Then: He comes home while Baby E is napping and I'm catching up on emails and hands me the flowers (price tag still on) and the card (envelope still wet from being sealed). Oh man, do I know this guy, or what?

Then: We headed up to meet my sister and her family for breakfast (my mom had to work, so we didn't get to spend the day with her). Get to breakfast and guess what - it's a buffet. Anyone who knows me, knows JUST how I feel about buffets. Anyone who doesn't can ask. To Big J's credit, it was at a really great art museum and it WAS pretty good food. After hanging at the museum for a while, we took a walk by Lake Michigan, which was quite nice. Also, Big J painted Baby E's hand and put his print on card for me in the children's area of the museum. That was totally cute.

Finally: We come home and Big J decides that he is going to work on painting something in the garage and asks me what I am making for dinner. I told him that he could order pizza, cause I wasn't cooking. on mother's day.

Then I did laundry and put the baby to bed.

I know it doesn't sound fantastic, but I did get to hang out with my sister and nieces and we DID have a nice family day. And believe me, I quit expecting big romantic gestures after Big J proposed to me while we were sitting in the car. But that's a different story for a different day.

Spend like it's going out of style.

My favorite season has arrived! Which season, you ask? Garage Sale Season. I LOVE garage sales (and thrift stores, and consignment shops, and church/school rummages, etc.)!

I went garage-sale shopping with my mom last Friday - every year, I forget how much fun that can be. We decided that when my Honda Element was full, we would be done shopping. I don't know if you've ever seen the cargo area in an Element, but let me tell you, that puppy has TONS of space. My mom, in all her brilliance, decided to buy a huge round coffee table at the SECOND house we stopped at. But I worked my magic, flipped up the seat in my car and we were good for a few more houses. I can't even tell you all the treasures I found whilst out looking through other peoples' junk. I can't tell you because I can't remember all of them. I know that I found loads of clothes for Baby E, some toys that he can play with out in the yard, an inner tube to pull behind the boat (that was, by far, Big J's favorite find), and some other miscellaneous baby crap. All-in-all, it was a good day. Until I got home. Where I realized that I now had to sanitize all those toys, wash all those clothes, find a place to store the inner tube AND find room for all the other stuff. Thank God the addition on the house is almost done, cause now I actually have a REASON to go looking for good garage sales. I was going to head out today, but the rain made me change my mind - I guess I'll just get some cleaning done around the house instead - not nearly as fun, but probably much more necessary than shopping.

Ohhh, cuuuutttteee.

A LONG time ago, when my sister-in-law had her first baby, she actually said this: "I think I'm the only person in the world who thinks my baby is cute, and that's only because she's my kid". Pretty sure that is something only a crazy person would say. I, on the other hand, think I have the very CUTEST baby ever born on the planet. No, make that universe. There has never been a more adorable little baby boy with big blue eyes and curly red (almost BLONDE now) hair, sticky fingers and skinny little chicken legs. I'm sure other mothers will try to disagree and say that their baby is the cutest. But they are wrong. Wrong. Even my mom says that her baby boy, my brother Ryan, was pretty cute and that Baby E is just about as cute as her baby. But guess what? She's also incorrect. Sorry to say, Baby E is the cutest.

But here is WHY Baby E is so darned cute: His squinchy-face smile. He has started doing this 'look' that seems to say "I'm just checking you out and after I figure out if I like you or not, I will either smile at you or just look away". He makes his eyes all squinty and squishes up his nose. You can't help but laugh at him - which makes him crack up and give you his big 'Irish Eyes' smile.

ANYWAY, I had four days off of work and went back today - only worked 6 hours, but most of that was used checking voicemail and email. I love the long weekends, but when I get back to work it's like I'm playing tag with a Kenyan marathon runner...... I will never catch up. So, after a busy day at work, I picked up Baby E from the babysitters and went to the neighbor's house for a beer and dinner. I'm so blessed to have such great neighbors - their little guy is just 2 weeks older than Baby E and they are fantastic playmates. We got to s it outside all evening - I just love this time of year!

Better go get some laundry done - if I don't stay on top of it, our entire house will be buried in dirty socks and underwear by Friday.