My first blogiversary

One year ago today, I jumped on the blog bandwagon and wrote my first post. Hard to believe I've been word-vomiting about my life for a whole year. I started this with the thought that it would be a good way for family to keep up with what's going on with us. Well, I'm not sure how much of my family actually reads this blog (other than my Mom), but I do know that I'm lucky to have "met" some other really great mommy bloggers through this blog. Thanks so much to everyone who cares enough to read my ramblings. I truly appreciate everyone and every single comment I receive! It was a good year, and it was nice to share it.

So without further ado, here are some highlights of our year.

January: Lorelai turned 6 months old and started on solids, Aidan lost his first teeth and the boys rode their scooters (oh, and I cooked a meat diaper).



February: I celebrated Valentines day with my loves, Lorelai was super cute as always, Aidan got Beaver fever, and I laid the smack down with Aidan's 1st grade teacher (not really).



March: The boys started soccer and Logan ended up being really good at it, I got random, and Lorelai turned into a vampire.



April: Logan and Lorelai got tacky, Adam and I celebrated our 9th anniversary, we had fun on Easter, and Aidan hilariously misread a book title.



May: Super busy month with lots of unseen footage. Lorelai got silly with Grandpa and played peek-a-boo with Grandma; we hung out with rarely seen cousins; I celebrated Mother's day and my 31st birthday; Lorelai started crawling; and I lost my ever loving $h!t over some snakes in the yard.



June: I sucked at blogging and didn't post all the cute photos of the kids hanging out with their cousins from Atlanta, we celebrated Father's day with Adam, my Aunt gave the boys swim lessons, and I started running.



July: Another super busy month! Aidan started second grade; we went to the beach and aquarium to celebrate Aidan's 7th birthday; Lorelai turned 1 and we had a party for her.



August: Adam turned 32 and the boys picked out some awesome gifts for him, and Lorelai started walking.



September: Logan turned 5 and Adam and I took a vacation for a friend's wedding. Plus, there was a random shrimp crayfish in our driveway.



October: Duh, halloween. Also: pumpkin patch, peanut allergy, and my first 10k!! What I didn't blog about: there was a scary Dora at my niece's 3rd birthday, Aidan dressed up for tacky day at school, and he won an award for self-discipline (completely unrelated to being tacky).



November: There was sickness and more sickness, but then we all got better and had a nice Thanksgiving.



December: Adam and I lost our minds and decided to start a kitchen renovation right before Christmas, Jack the elf showed up, I made an advent calendar, and we had an awesome Christmas.



What a year! Thanks again for reading.

Christmas craft: Advent calendar

The Christmas stuff is coming down tomorrow, but before I put it all away I wanted to finally share this post on my DIY advent calendar.

I've really wanted an advent calendar for a few years now, so when I saw this PB inspired knock off last year, I drooled and mentally tucked it away then completely forgot about it until it started showing up on Pinterest a few months ago. I was totally inspired, so I created my own and I'm super happy with how it turned out!



The photo might not really do it justice--it was hard to get a good picture because it's sitting on the window sill in our living room--but hopefully you get the point.

I started with an old dry erase board I got for free from work (don't worry, I didn't steal it, it wasn't being used any more so they gave it to me) and stuck some 12x12 cork board tiles on it. Conveniently, the board is exactly 24x36, so the tiles fit perfectly (I just had to trim the corners a bit to round them).



I picked up a $10 drop cloth, cut it down to size and ironed it to use as my fabric. I considered some linen fabric, but the drop cloth was far cheaper considering I have plenty left over to use for other projects (one of which I've actually completed! Post to come soon!)

Then I just wrapped the board with the drop cloth. I used some tacky spray to stick the fabric to the cork. I worked in sections spraying directly on the board, and smoothed it out as I went. Once the fabric was stuck to the front, I flipped the board over and just used duct tape to wrap it like a present (which I suck at, btw).



Looks totally janky from the back (good thing it's sitting on our back window!), but it worked. One thing that didn't work was the ribbon I used to try to hang it. I knew I didn't want to do anything permanent on the wall to hang it, so I thought I'd try to run a ribbon through the metal channel on the back of the board so I could hang it on an existing hook. The thing is, the dry erase board is heavy! Ideally I would have loved to have a lighter board (an actual bulletin board would have been fabulous), but I didn't want to buy anything so I just worked with what I could get for free. So the ribbon worked for a week, but it somehow slipped out of the channel (maybe the board got bumped?) and became "unhangable." Onto the window sill it went, because that's the only other place I could have put it where the boys would be able to reach it to put the ornaments on it.

The tags are just blank 3x5 index cards I cut the corners off of. They're stuck to the board with straight pins (the short ones). The numbers are on card stock I spray painted silver because I couldn't find any paper I like at Michaels. I ran it through my printer but the ink wasn't dark enough so I used a pen to outline the numbers. It's much more subtle than what I had in mind, but it works. Eventually I may get some number stickers.



The boys loved picking an ornament to put on it each day. That's how we did it this year--I've got a bowl full of ornaments and they counted down by adding an ornament each day. Originally I wanted to load the board up with ornaments so we could move one to the tree each day and then replace that with a photo (so the board didn't end up empty/uninteresting), but I didn't have 24 ornaments when we first put the board up.

I may do it the other way next year, but I also like looking at all the pretty ornaments on the board. Plus, we have plenty of other ornaments on the tree already--don't want it to look too crowded.

Of all my Christmas decorations, I'll probably be the most sad to put this away. Only like 329 days until I get to put it out again!




PS: No idea what's going on with photobucket, but some of my pictures aren't showing up for some reason :( Hopefully they'll show up soon...

Peanut allergy: confirmed

We had Lorelai's appointment with the allergist today, and after a skin test, her peanut allergy was unfortunately confirmed, and bonus! We're also probably looking at a fish allergy. I had them test her for that because she started throwing up after she ate fish sticks at daycare.

It was a really rough appointment, to be honest. From the moment the nurse tried to take Lorelai's blood pressure, she went into full freakout mode. I had to hold her on the big scale to get her weight and we had to literally pin her down to get her length and have the doctor look in her ears and nose. When it came time for the skin test where they put a dab of the allergen on her back and make a small scratch, she was a complete mess. We finally got her to calm down during the 15-minute wait for a reaction, but as soon as the doctor opened the door, she started crying again. Even just barely touching her back with a ruler to measure the reaction was a huge fight.

In addition to the allergens, they scratch the skin with a histamine control (which she should react to no matter what) and a saline control (which she shouldn't react to). She reacted immediately to the peanuts, and her hive got bigger than the histamine. The fish didn't react as quickly or as strongly and initially the doctor said it didn't look like she had a fish allergy. However, as time passed the fish reaction became stronger.

Lorelai's back. They did the fish twice because while Lorelai was squirming,
we thought my hand might have wiped the first test off.

They also did a blood test, which was absolutely horrible. The phlebotomist missed her vein two times and ended up digging around in there till she got one. Lorelai's all bruised and I'm traumatized :( I hate needles and have had bad experiences with blood draws and IVs myself.

We won't know for sure about the fish allergy or how allergic she is to either until the blood tests come back in about a week. And unfortunately, no test can tell us how severe her reaction will be. We got a prescription for an epi pen though, just in case. We go back in a year to test again and see if anything has changed. Apparently, if the level is low in the blood test, she has a better chance of outgrowing it.

Now it's just a matter of doing tons of research and educating ourselves and the boys on the ins and outs of food allergies. Fortunately, Duke is one of the top research hospitals for food allergies, and they're conducting several studies right now on peanut allergies. I have no idea yet if we'd consider participating in one of the trials, but the doctor did mention it as a possibility (they've got one going now for children 18 months to 3 years called the DEVIL study). Regardless, we're in good hands and the doctor seems optimistic that with all the research being done, they'll probably find a cure within Lorelai's lifetime. Here's hoping...

But bottom line? This sucks.

Wise words Wednesday: Christmas 2011 memories

“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.” ― Dr. Seuss

We still have all of our Christmas decorations up because I just couldn't stand to take them down on Monday. I really wanted to enjoy Christmas just a little bit longer. But now I'm back to work and can appreciate the fact that it's over. It was a good one, full of fun memories.

And now, as promised, a Christmas 2011 photo bomb.

I took lots of pictures tree-trimming at Grandma Ellie's. Lorelai hung with Aunt Anna (but Logan wouldn't go anywhere near her or Aunt Jillian). Raina and Lorelai played. Isaiah helped decorate. Adam helped Raina put the angel on the tree and she was so proud of herself.



Adam's sister Anna and her son Isaiah; my sister Jillian and her kids, Shaun and Raina.



Lorelai's a kissy-face monkey :)



A semi-decent family photo.



Christmas Eve presents:




Grandma Ellie had fun with the new spy goggles and nerf blasters on Christmas day.

Pants are way overrated.

We got silly with the spoons before dinner and Grandma and Grandpa's.

Not pictured: Logan, who barfed right before dinner to make a point that he REALLY didn't like my broccoli salad. Fun.

We met Blaze, Grandma and Grandpa's new collie puppy! Lorelai and the boys LOVED her. Lorelai got on all fours and wagged her tail just like Blaze. And Logan actually said meeting Blaze was one of his favorite "gifts" :)



Aidan and Logan got new boots.



Lorelai was super cute, as always. Plus, reindeer butt!



And there were sweet snuggles.





I'm already looking forward to next year!

The new floors are in!

The floors went in the Thursday before Christmas and they look ah-MAZE-ing. It took them all.freaking.day to do 700 square feet of kitchen, breakfast area, dining room and foyer and it left a huge mess of sawdust everywhere, but we're so pleased with the final results.

We went with a hand scraped chestnut hickory laminate wood floor from Lowes. We debated between hardwood and laminate, but ultimately the lower cost and durability of the laminate won out. The floors were actually what finally kick started the kitchen reno. We just happened to be at Lowes and wandered into the flooring section where we saw the installation special they were having--$397 for the entire house, which would save us about $1000 for our 700 sf! Only one day left on the special so we jumped on it right away, and booked our measurement appointment to lock in the price.




The color isn't quite as red as the first picture, but a little warmer than the second picture. I love the hand scraped textured look and I'm hoping it'll help hide any wear and tear from the kids. One of the best parts is that we no longer have a really awkward 1-inch transition from the old kitchen linoleum to the foyer. It was an annoying tripping hazard and I'm so glad it's gone.

Next up is the back splash. Adam has a guy he knows coming on Thursday to do that and the electrical work (to hide the exposed wire and boxes). We're going with a white subway tile with a white and gray mosaic tile accent. I'm so excited, it's all coming together!

Happy New Year!

Well hello there, 2012. We started off the year on a fun note at my friends' annual New Year's Eve party while my mom had a slumber party at our house with the kids. I tried (and failed) to stay on my feet all night in my new party shoes. There may or may not have been some adult beverages involved, but the real culprit is the fact that I have no experience in 5-inch platform heels (I swear, and you can't convince me otherwise!). But they were only 15 bucks and go with my navy dress, so I just couldn't pass them up, walking be damned.

My heel got caught in the back deck and down I went. Hoping for better luck when I wear
them to my company party in a few weeks!

After a lazy morning on the couch recovering from a fun night (me and Adam) and trying to recover from a mysterious case of the hives (Aidan), the kids and I went to watch Adam play in an alumni soccer game at our high school. We enjoyed the nice 60 degree weather (before the cold blows in) and Adam started of the new year with some exercise, good for him!

Having fun on the bleachers, but check out those hives! My poor Aidan :(

Let's just hope that me falling on my butt and Aidan having hives aren't a sign of the year to come. (Oh, and my possible case of pink eye. Yeah, awesome.) Seems like all the best stuff happens for me during the even years: my birth (obvs), getting married, kids being born...so I have high hopes for 2012. (Though there will be no more marriages or kids for me, ha!) A trip to London is in the works, so that should be a real highlight!

So I don't usually declare any official resolutions, but I do have some goals I want to achieve. I guess they're technically resolutions, whatever.

• Start running again. I got lazy after the 10k in October, and with the shorter days, colder weather, holidays and sickness I've been dealing with, I pretty much quit running. I'm hoping I haven't lost all of my endurance, but I'm definitely going to try my hardest to make time for exercise starting soon. Maybe I'll start with yoga while it's really cold, but I really do want to run in another race in 2012, so I've got to start training again.
• Take better photos. Adam and the boys got me a nice new camera lens for Christmas and I'd love to learn how to use it, and my camera better. 
• Get better about sharing/maintaining my photos. I'm so bad about leaving pictures on my camera, building up a huge backlog of unedited and more importantly, unshared photos. I should also really catch up with my photo albums, but I've got almost 2 years of unprinted photos that need to be in an album, and that's just plain daunting, so I'll just start by posting them more often (on the blog and Facebook). What good is a photo if no one ever sees it? Which leads me to my next one...
• Blog more regularly. Even if it's just a few words and couple of pictures. I started this blog with the best of intentions, and I disappointed myself that I didn't keep up with it like I had planned. 
• Do more Pinterest projects. I've spent so much time pinning tons of cool things, I really need to follow through. There's a sunburst mirror I'm dying to DIY (even though sunburst mirrors are SO 2011, lol).
• Organize my house. The boys' closet is piled high with toys, the linen closet is bursting at the seams, half of the garage is almost unusable, and the desk in the middle of our kitchen/living room is a total eyesore. I will organize at LEAST one of those spaces this year.
• Paint the kitchen cabinets. I've got to put this one on here. Adam and I are know to be all talk, little action, so I don't want that huge portion of our kitchen renovation to go undone. Since we're planning on tackling it ourselves, it's a time-consuming project that has procrastination written all over it!

Of course I'd also like to eat more healthy, but I've already tried and failed miserably, so I won't set myself up for failure yet again. But these goals seem manageable to me, so we'll see how well I do. I've got a whole 12 months, that's plenty of time! (Famous last words, right?!)

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

Wait, what just happened? There's no way Christmas has already come and gone and we're about to ring in a whole new year. No freaking way. My head is still spinning from the whirlwind of holiday festivities and it still feels like I'm playing catch up. I mean, I literally just created my Christmas card (now a "holiday" card because Christmas is over, duh) yesterday. I knew I wasn't going to get them done in time to actually mail them out, but I had at least hoped to have it done before Christmas so I could post it and print them out for family.

Behold, one of the only semi-decent family photos of us this Christmas (or recently), and it's blurry. Next year, I'm bringing my tripod (no offense, Mom!)

Unfortunately, we're dealing with a computer malfunction (it's either the graphics card or the monitor) so I can't even see the screen on the computer where I've got Photoshop, so it's been a challenge to do everything on an old work laptop. Anyway... (long post alert!)

We had a wonderful Christmas full of fun, family and a crap ton of gifts for some very lucky kids (and us, too)! We started off the festivities at my mom's annual tree-trimming party on Friday. Growing up, it's always been my family tradition to wait to decorate the tree until right before Christmas. While Adam and I don't maintain that tradition ourselves, it's nice to still hold onto it at my Mom's.

My mom and Adam were in charge of handing out the ornaments.

On Christmas Eve, my sister and her kids came over to open presents. When they left, we got ready for bed, and started getting ready for Santa. We said goodbye to our elf, Jack.

Then we read Twas the Night before Christmas...



...and left Santa some snacks and pictures that Logan and Aidan drew for him. They were very specific that Santa was supposed to take the pictures with him, so I had to take a photo to remember them.

Logan's picture is on the left, it's Jack flying away with Santa and a reindeer. Aidan's picture is of an elf hat. Apparently they're normally green. Ok, sure.

Then Santa came!!




We had a blast opening gifts like nerf blasters from Santa, a 3DS (to Aidan from Santa), a Gameboy (to Logan from Santa), and water drawing board and slippers (to Lorelai from Santa), and movies, clothes, shoes and Angry Birds plushies from me and Adam. My big gift from Adam and the boys was a new camera lens, and Adam got a key and a tool set specifically chosen by the boys. I gave no input and they did a great job choosing (from an infomercial while we were watching a DIY network show!).

Opening stockings

Shoes, shoes, so many shoes!

Loving the nerf blasters

Then we packed up  the rest of our gifts and headed to Adam's parents house for dinner and another round presents. To say that the kids (and us!) are spoiled by such generous and loving family members would be an understatement. We had a great time hanging out with aunts, uncles and grandparents. Although we really missed Adam's older sisters and the cousins, who stayed in Atlanta this year.

How is it possible that yet again, I don't have a good group picture from a family gathering?

By the end of the day, we were all exhausted from so much fun. So hard to believe it's all over.

Snuggling on the couch

Every year when I'm stressing at the last minute about shopping, baking, crafting, wrapping and memory-making, I tell myself that next year it'll be different. Next year I won't procrastinate. I'll wrap gifts as I buy them. I'll make lists so I know what to get people. I'll make time to do everything. So far I'm 0 for um...at least 7 (since Aidan was a baby), and it seems like it just gets harder every year.

I stressed right up until Christmas eve until we went to bed. Then I stressed about stressing and not enjoying the anticipation like I should have. Because that's half the fun, right? It just took me too long to be in the Christmas spirit, and now it's over. At least the kids had fun and were able to enjoy every minute. I'll be sad to take down all of the Christmas decorations this weekend, but I guess I can just start looking forward to next year. Who knows, maybe I'll finally get my $&!# together and next year I won't feel crazy. Oh, and lesson learned, we will NOT be scheduling any home renovations right before Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night (a belated 5 nights after Christmas).

"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care"

PS: I'll have a Christmas photo post soon with more pictures, and another post about my DIY advent calendar that I'm super excited about.