39 weeks, 1 day

I carried Lorelai in me for 39 weeks and one day, and that's exactly how old she is today, on her 9 month birthday. 



I don't have a picture of me on the day I went into labor with her (silly me, I was too busy getting my membranes stripped, working my last day of work and excitedly timing contractions to think about getting one last official belly pic...which I totally regret), but here is my last official belly pic, taken at 37 weeks.

Lorelai had her 9 month doctor's appointment the other day, and she's completely healthy and perfect, which we already knew. And no shots this time, yay! She's currently 20lb 14oz and 28.5 inches (80% for both). She's continuing to level off on her growth curve as we expected. (Check out her previous stats.)



She’s still sleeping really well (knock on wood), although she does sometimes like to wake up at 5 or 5:30 and start talking. I usually go in and give her a pacifier so we can go back to sleep until about 6:45 and she's cool with that. I'm still nursing her, and she's been doing really well on solid foods. Her pincer grasp is really good so she likes to feed herself if we put bits of food down. Fortunately she still eats purees too, because I still have tons of frozen squash and sweet potato cubes in the freezer!

She's still rocking the vampire look—no top front teeth yet, but her other lateral incisor just cut through the other day, and her bottom two front teeth came in at the same time two weeks ago. The doctor seems to think the top front teeth aren't far behind, but I'm not so sure...  

No crawling yet. In fact, she hates being on her belly. She can get into a semi plank position and can move around in circles on her belly, but fusses if she's down there for too long. She prefers to sit and scoot around on her butt. She's getting pretty good about moving around that way! I should say for the record that both boys had started crawling by now, but I'm in NO hurry for Lorelai to crawl. Crawling means some serious baby proofing needs to happen (i.e. 495782 small plastic choking hazards that the boys call toys need to be banished to their bedroom) and that will be quite a feat that I'm not looking forward to.

Speaking of the boys, she still can't get enough of Aidan and Logan, and they can make her laugh like no other. They're still smitten with her, too. They refer to her as "baby girl" in the most affectionate way, and it warms my heart beyond words how much they love each other.




Happy 9 months, sweet baby girl!

Chaos

Sometimes (ok, most of the time) I try to do too many things at once. I'm a mom, that kind of comes with the territory, right? Well tonight was a major fail in the multitasking department. I've always said how chaotic our evenings are, but tonight takes the cake for most chaotic in a long time, and I pretty much wanted to pull my hair out in frustration. Incidentally, Lorelai wanted to pull my hair out, too (ouch!).

Tonight is Aidan's night for soccer practice, so I had about 45 minutes to fix dinner and feed Aidan, Logan and Lorelai, get Aidan changed and help him do his homework that's due tomorrow. I simultaneously dealt with one of Logan's temper tantrums when I told him he needed to finish his banana, and one of Aidan's temper tantrums when he told me he didn't want to/couldn't do his homework. All the while, Lorelai was crying in her highchair because she just wanted to be held.

Then Adam got home 10 minutes before they had to leave for soccer practice and told me we have termites in our garage. Lorelai pulled some more hair out of my head, no one answered when I called Terminix to schedule a service appointment, and I didn't even get a chance to fix myself any dinner.

I ended up deciding that I couldn't go to practice because Lorelai didn't nap enough and needs to go to bed early tonight. So right now, I'm sitting here nursing her, starving, surrounded by complete chaos.

The kitchen table is a complete mess:

 There are dirty dishes in the sink:

Aidan's homework isn't done and he'll have to stay up late to finish it. There are toys all over the floor. Lorelai's bottles for daycare need to be made, the boys will need a shower when they get home, I still haven't finished editing/uploading all of our Easter pictures, it looks like the Easter bunny threw up all over my dining room, and the list goes on and on. The physical chaos just gives way to mental chaos and it makes me crazy and overwhelmed when I think of all the things that are a mess and need to be dealt with.

{Deep breath in, deep breath out...count to 10}

***
Whew, mental breakdown averted. Lorelai's in bed now, the boys are home and showered, Aidan is finishing his homework with no complaints and Logan just went to bed. Adam ran out to pick us up some dinner, so I guess I'll clean off the table now. But I'll leave the dishes for him!

And I promise I'll try to get the Easter pics up this weekend...fingers crossed! (I'm playing around in Photoshop trying some new actions, so that's why it's more of a daunting task this time.)

Easter Egg Treasure Hunt

I (on behalf of the Easter Bunny, of course!) put together a treasure hunt for the boys' baskets on Easter morning and it was a huge hit. Logan even proclaimed it to be the "best Easter ever!"

I made up several clues and hid them in plastic eggs throughout the house.

When they woke up, there was a note taped to the banister that they would see as they came to our room:

Good Morning, AIDAN and LOGAN!

Are you ready for an Easter Egg Treasure Hunt? Well get to hoppin'!

Look for your first clue in the place where you scrub-a-dub-dub and get all clean. Don't go alone, work as a team ☺

 Here are the clues I came up with:

 Clue #1: Brrr, it's cold in here, but not freezing! Look for your second clue where we store food. {hidden in the fridge}

Clue #2: Right foot, left foot. March, March! Look for your third clue where you get ready before going outside. {hidden in a shoe in the front closet}

Clue #3: Want to be in a Rock Band? Or would you rather play tennis, golf, basketball or bowling instead? Find your fourth clue there. {hidden on top of the Wii}

Clue #4: Look where Mommy puts your clothes when they are clean but still wet. You'll find your fifth clue there, I bet! {hidden in the dryer}

Clue #5: If guests like Grandma and Grandpa come to stay, this is where they'd put their clothes away. {the baskets were hidden in the guest bedroom closet}

They easily found most clues, but they were inexplicably stumped by the final clue. I guess it's because we keep all of their clothes in drawers and we rarely have overnight guests (Grandma and Grandpa don't ever spend the night so I think that confused them). After looking in every single one of their drawers and some of ours, they finally thought to open the guest bedroom closet. Adam and I were cracking up listening to them try to figure everything out. It was awesome how excited they were!

This was their treasure:

The baskets were pretty simple. The boys got the mini Nerf blaster they ask for every.single.time we're in the checkout line at Target, some cotton candy, marshmallow sticks and juice from the Dollar Store, and some jelly beans and tattoos in plastic eggs.

Aidan is showing off the Nerf blaster
and Logan is practicing his silly face.

 Lorelai's basket had a pink UNC onesie, some jammies, sippy cups and Gerber puffs in plastic eggs. Conveniently, all things she needed anyway! How smart of the Easter bunny ;)

Logan was so excited to feed Lorelai her puffs.

 

I've got a ton more Easter photos to share as soon as up finish uploading and editing. Stay tuned...

9th Anniversary

9 years ago today, I married my high school sweetheart and love of my life.

 It seems like such a lifetime ago, really. We got married young (I was a month shy of 22, Adam was already 22) but we had already been together almost 6 years, so it was about time!

It was a very simple wedding because my mom was paying for it and she had already paid for my entire college tuition (thanks Mom, you're the best!). I was happy with how it turned out at the time, but that said, if I could do it all over again knowing what I know now, there are a LOT of things I would do differently. I don't regret having a budget wedding at all (in fact, it boggles my mind that anyone can spend more than $2k on a dress they'll only wear ONCE!!), but I still wish it had been a bit more elegant and fun and had more personal creative touches. But hey, I was young and inexperienced and didn't know a thing about weddings since I hadn't been to many.

Regardless of all the little details I would change, there's one thing I wouldn't change for the world—the groom! Adam and I ended up married and that's really all that matters in the end, right? 

Who knows, maybe we'll plan an elegant and fun anniversary party one of these days. But first, we're planning to go on a second honeymoon cruise for our 10th anniversary. Woohoo, can't wait!

We went on an awesome cruise around the western Caribbean
on the Grand Princess for our first honeymoon.

Random thoughts and pics: IKEA, orange fingers, fugly shoes, etc.

Here are some random thoughts from the past couple of weeks.

1. Why in the world would someone throw their soda can in the trash when there's a recycling bin like 3 feet away?!? Someone must really hate the earth.
2. I hate that my fingers stay orange after I eat Doritos or cheese balls.
3. I REALLY wish I lived closer to an IKEA (the closest one is a couple of hours away).
4. Shopping online for fabric is difficult. Finding time to go to fabric stores might be even more difficult.
5. I want to knock a hole in the wall and build a closet, but that will probably never happen because Adam and I aren't handy or very DIY-ish.
6. I wonder if Adam and I would be more handy and DIY-ish if we had more fancy tools, or if they'd just sit in the garage unused and collecting dust?
7. Why are all the people who respond to my Craigslist posts to sell kids clothes either flaky or scammy? So frustrating!
8. Do toning shoes really work? I wish they didn't look so fugly.
9. I cringe at the thought of a teacher not knowing that it's "could've" or "could have" but NOT "could of."

And here are some random pictures from April 2008. Happy Spring!

Logan, 19 months

Aidan, 3.5 years

You read a book called WHAT?!?!

The other day I asked Aidan what book he read during DEAR time. I couldn't believe my ears when he told me so I asked him THREE times to repeat himself. Finally I asked him to just spell it for me because he had to have been mispronouncing it.

K-U-N-T is what he spelled out for me. Thankfully we were in the car so he couldn't see the look of shock on my face. He told me it's about a polar bear who "lives somewhere that's not Alaska or Africa. Maybe North Carolina?" At that point I'm almost laughing hysterically at all that's wrong with what I'm hearing.

When Adam got home, I told him to ask Aidan what he read. More hilarity ensued (not where Aidan could see us cracking up though). Adam may have even asking him if the polar bear was hairy. So bad.

I eventually figured out that he read a book about Knut, the polar bear who was born into captivity in a Berlin zoo in 2006, rejected by his mother, and raised by zookeepers. Sadly I also read that Knut recently passed away suddenly. (Note to self: check this book out from the library.)

Anyway, "Knut" makes SO much more sense than what he told us he read. Aidan's usually a good reader, but I can see how he could misread an unfamiliar word like Knut. However we really do need to work on his reading comprehension some more. Berlin is not even remotely similar to North Carolina! Ha!

Knut

That's so tacky!

Yesterday was Tacky Day at Logan and Lorelai's school. Logan really went all out, including mismatched shoes.



Making tacky look good



Lorelai got in on the "tacky" action too, although she didn't quite achieve the same level of tackiness as Logan.



Laughing at Logan

Love the scrunchy face!




I do have to admit that I changed Lorelai's shirt and made Logan change his shoes, socks and shirt before we went to Aidan's soccer practice. I certainly can't have people thinking I don't know how to dress my kids, right? ☺

Speed eating

I'm convinced that speed eating is a natural adaptation of motherhood. Growing up, it was almost a running joke that my mom would sit down to the dinner table last, inhale her food, and then be done before everyone else. I didn't understand it then, but I do now that I have kids of my own.

Unfortunately, taking the time to eat my meal at a leisurely pace is not a luxury I have right now when there are seconds to be dished, drinks to be refilled, dishes to be washed, bottles to be made, lunches to be made, homework to be checked and babies to be fed. It's a shame, too, because I love food. Don't love to cook, but love to eat. Scarfing down my food is so normal to me now, that even when I go out to eat, I just naturally eat really fast. It's kind of embarrassing sometimes if I'm out to eat with coworkers or friends!

Of course I know that sitting down at the dinner table isn't just about eating, it's about family time. Plus, eating fast isn't really the healthiest way to eat (if I don't give my brain time to figure out I'm full, I'll end up eating too much and then hello post-breastfeeding weight gain...yikes!). I've got to retrain myself. One of these days. When there's not as much to do. Maybe once I don't need to send bottles to daycare for Lorelai (man, those Dr. Brown bottles are a frickin' PAIN to clean). Until that day comes, I'm not holding my breath. I'll be too busy inhaling my food.

My tuna salad sandwich didn't stand a chance!

Party at my crib

Lorelai has always been such a good sleeper (knock on wood) that we've been completely spoiled. Ever since she started sleeping through the night at about 8 weeks old, she rarely wakes up in the middle of the night and even if she does, Adam and I have only had to go in to soothe her back to sleep less than a handful of times, and never once we were both already asleep. That is, until the other night.

I'm not sure what was going on with her, but she woke up at 2am ready to party, and "mamamamamama" was cordially invited. (On the plus side, she's mastered the "mamamama" babble—music to my ears!) She wasn't upset at all, so I waited to see if she'd go back to sleep on her own. No such luck. I got up and tried giving her a paci. That worked for about 5 minutes until she spit it out so she could keep calling "mamamama" back in to play. I could hear her getting frustrated because no one was coming to get her, so I got up again and tried to rock her back to sleep. No such luck with that, either. She wasn't getting sleepy at all (but I was!) so I just brought her back to bed with me so I could nurse her back to sleep. To my utter shock, that didn't work either. She finished eating and just laid in bed with me clapping and smiling. I couldn't even be mad because she was just so frickin' cute and happy.

Finally, 2 HOURS later, she was asleep, so I put her back in her crib and crossed my fingers for a late wake up. Yep, no such luck. She was up again at 6am. I put her paci in and tried to get some more sleep, but that only lasted about 20 minutes before I brought her back into bed with me. I love my snuggle time with her, but I'd strongly prefer it not be in the middle of the night or at the butt crack of dawn.

It's also worth mentioning that Adam had NO idea any of this happened. He didn't hear her talking (loudly!) in her crib, and he didn't even hear her when she was babbling and clapping in bed next to him. Is that a typical guy thing, or what?! It's ok, dadadada wasn't invited to the party anyway, but you'd better believe that I'm going to extend the invitation to him (in the form of a kick in the butt) if it happens again ;)



Sweet dreams!



Things that go bump in the night

I have no idea what our neighbor is up to, but he gets random visitors pulling up to his house day and night. Of course I'm nosy and want to know what in the world he's got going on. I mean, he's a middle aged man, how popular could he really be at 2:30 in the morning?

Granted, I don't know much about him at all besides the fact that his previous house got foreclosed so now he's renting in our neighborhood, he does carpentry in his garage all the time, and he's got a son in college. In my mind he's totally a drug dealer, but that's just me being a complete drama queen and rumormonger. I don't really think that. At least not all the time...

Well last night at like 2:30 or something, one of his visitors pulled up with the bass bumping loud enough to wake me up. This inconsiderate jackass sat there in his car for at least a half an hour with the music on while I tried to sleep. Seriously!?! Who in the world thinks that's ok???

Since Adam and I weren't going to confront them in person, I've got to take it out passive-aggressively here.

crappy phone pic of the cutest bird flipping ever ;)

So there! Vent over, I feel better. As long as it doesn't happen again!

Random thoughts and pics: ice cream, goggles, thongs, etc.

Here are some of my random thoughts over the past week:

1. Why is there not a spin-only cycle on my washing machine?
2. Edy's slow churned light Samoa ice cream is yummy but doesn't have nearly enough samoas.
3. It's awesome to have a job and boss(es) who recognize my value as an employee. Unfortunately that's not the case for every job I've had.
4. Cold, rainy days suck!
5. Grandparent sleepovers are awesome, but I miss my boys even when they're gone for only one night.
6. I hate grocery shopping.
7. The DirectTV commercials with the tiny giraffe are funny (incidentally, searching "tiny giraffe" gave me 11 swagbucks).
8. I think places that sell candles should give you a book of matches with purchase. We're out of matches and I keep forgetting to get some at the store, so I've been in candle withdrawal lately.
9. Victoria's Secret one size (implied "fits all") thongs crack me up. They are really stretchy though...


And here are a couple of random pictures not related to any of those random thoughts:

Logan, 15 months (Christmas 2007)

Aidan, 3 years (Fall 2007)

Aidan (almost 4) and Logan (21 months) on Father's Day 2008

 
After digging up these old pictures, I have to add one more random thought: goggles are funny. What can I say, my kids love goggles.

Gotcha!

The boys may have forgotten that today was April Fools day, but I didn't! I pranked them this morning and they were so surprised. I switched the bags in the cereal boxes and made jello instead of juice in their cups. Simple, but funny to them, and a happy start to the morning! I did end telling Logan it wasn't Friday, but that only lasted for second to avoid a major meltdown like yesterday.




Gotcha! It's not juice, it's jello!


After Aidan realized that today was April Fools, he ran around pulling all the chairs out from the tables, putting my bags on the floor and putting random stuff in a bag and getting me to guess what was in it. When I got it wrong, he would say "I tricked you!" It was pretty hilarious what he considered to be an April Fool's "prank." Although, considering my totally lame pranks, it's not like he had much inspiration to go on! Ha.

He also kept asking me if I was done pranking him. I'm sure they'll both be disappointed, but unfortunately I didn't plan well enough to do anything more elaborate today (especially since it's a school day). I did think about switching them in their beds last night, but decided that might confuse them if they got up to go to the bathroom. I definitely didn't want to pull a prank that would backfire on me in the middle of the night. But who knows what I'll come up with next year...mwahahaha!



Happy Friday!