Last day of Kindergarten!

Yesterday was Reedster's end of year performance to celebrate finishing up Kindergarten!  I cannot believe how fast this year went by.  

I mean, really, LOOK AT THIS KID!  So cute.

A doting big brother.

G requested to walk to Mama & Papa's house this morning instead of driving. Even though my legs felt like dead weight from Pilates on Sunday and then Strength and Zumba last night, I agreed and grabbed my coffee to go.  Having my ILs in our neighborhood is one of the best things ever.  They watch the kiddos for me while I'm working part time.  We are so blessed to have them so close by.  It doesn't hurt that occasionally (pretty often actually) my MIL even cooks us dinner on those days!  I love to cook, but anytime someone else offers, you know I'm taking them up on that offer.  

I mean, really, look at those faces.  

Being home has it's perks!  Little helpers are the best!

Walking back home this morning, I spent the quiet time thinking about how much has changed during this school year. Reedster's first day of school was right after my sister Jules got married - we were still coming down from the wedding "high" (or rather exhaustion) on his first day of Kindergarten.  Now we are done with weddings for a while and just spent an awesome weekend with family at Darien Lake.  

Not my best work - but it will have to do.

I thought about how grateful I am for our family and friends and the transition from full time work to part time work and full time mom. Even though I miss my family at ROL, I am so happy to be able to be with my two cuties more.  Just seeing Reedster get on and off the bus for the last 3 weeks has made me realize how precious and short childhood is.  It was an agonizing couple of months of thinking about what I should do leading up to the ultimate decision to leave full time work, but now more than ever I realize that this is what our family needed.  I am forever grateful for the friendships (and family) that I have at ROL and how supportive they were of my decision to leave. And I'm super grateful for the opportunity to work PT for my BIL's business. 

Can you see where EMX wrote "IAN WAS HERE" in the dust - 14 years ago when we worked at ROL over the summer.  (My work husband made an appearance in this photo.)

Your smile(s) for the day

With my new schedule/routine, I'm able to spend way more time one on one with G than I have in the last, oh, 2 years.  Even though I've always said she is a nurturer, and a caregiver, and is SO loving and affectionate, this video just really personifies our little peanut and I'm so happy to be able to spend some more time with her!  This is from last week, but is too cute not to share.

Not to be outdone by cuteness, Mr. Reedster had some huge accomplishments this weekend that I posted about on FB.  He earned his yellow belt last week in karate, learned how to ride his bike on two wheels AND learned how to tie his sneakers.  I cannot believe how fast he is growing up.  Our next task is for him to learn how to tie his yellow belt!    Here is a quick video of him riding his bike up a steep hill at Mama and Papa's house this past weekend.

Ober-vations - Get it?

This morning while looking online for new sneakers for Reedster (he DID just learn how to tie his own shoes - that deserves some new sneakers, I think!), I was browsing and looking at maxi dresses.

Ober-vation 1.
Man - things are EXPENSIVE!  How annoying to not be able to know if that will look good on me?  Maybe I should go to that local consignment store/closet and try and see if I can find something there for a low price before I spend eleventy-billion dollars on something that won't look good on me.

So, off G and I went to the store with a few dresses and a couple of sweaters that I had in the back of my closet to see if could maybe get them to buy them and then not have to pay really ANYTHING for a dress.  How awesome would that be?  I am convinced they'll want my clothes because, duh, they are really cute, but just don't fit me.

G and I walk into the store and are greeted with a 12 year old with drawn on eyebrows.

Ober-vation 2.
When did they let 12 year olds start working in retail?  Because clearly this person is at least 10 years younger than me - and I'm definitely only 22.  Darnitall!  That's not right.  Reedster is 6, and I was how old when I had him?  Man - math is hard this early!  What year is it?

I'm met with a smile (I think - I really can't move past the eyebrows).

12 year old:  Hi!  Do you know what we do here?

Me: Um, I think so but I've never been here before so why don't you tell me?

12 year old: Well, we buy TEEN and YOUNG adult casual wear so I can already tell by looking at those dresses that they are not something we'll want.  They are WAY too formal.

Me: Um ok - well, can I just leave them with the other few things anyway so I don't have to carry them around?

12 year old: sure.  Come back with your ID, blah blah blah.

Ober-vation 3.
G and I decide to browse (BROWS, get it?) the maxi dress section and find a super cute dress for $12 and a matching belt for $6.  SCORE!

I don't care what that girls says, I can totally pull this off.  I'm buying it just to show her how hip and YOUNG I am.  And by HIP, I don't mean that I have child bearing hips, which I totally do.  I mean that these hips don't lie and they can shake what my momma gave me... or something.

Ober-vation 4.
On the ride home tonight from picking up my unwanted clothes (ahem, all of them), I was stopped at a light with my windows down.  Up next to me pulls two Harley Davidson motorcylces with some serious bikers on them.  Guess what they were BLASTING?

THIS.

That's when I realized that even though those teens and young adults don't want my clothes, at least I'm not blaring my music trying to find someone to "ride wit me."

Mommy & Me...

NAILED IT!

Perfection

I've actually been struggling with this for quite some time and haven't been able to put into words as eloquently as this writer did.  I actually have a few unpublished posts on this very topic.  To clear the air, here's the scoop:

1.  Sometimes my kids are SO cute and affectionate that my heart feels like it's bursting from love.  I can't help but share their cuteness by taking pictures and posting on social media.

I mean, really?  Look at how he puts his arm around her!

Other times, I've definitely left my kids in the car in our garage while I went inside to take a deep breath to calm myself so I could get my not quite 2 year old buckled in her car seat b/c she was playing limp girl and literally sliding herself out of the car seat onto the floor of my car.  I was definitely 20 minutes late for work that morning and thankfully I have a very forgiving boss (who happens to be a Godmother of the child, which doesn't hurt).

This picture was taken one week prior to the meltdown described above.

2. Sometimes I feel like I'm Queen of the world and no one can stop me.  Other times, I feel like a #cranzy person (which btw is the newest coolest word to use - crazy and cranky combined if you didn't already figure that out) because I cannot figure out how to get everything done in the day and still sleep, which I really, really love to do.  Then I wonder how the heck every other mom is handling things like cooking a healthy meal and getting it on the table by 5:15 when they work until 4:30?  And how do they fit reading to their kids in every night when they have karate two times a week and need baths, and need to eat dinner, and need to do homework?

3. Sometimes our house is super clean and tidy (read: when we are expecting people to come over).  Other times, (read: most of the time) at least one bathroom has toothpaste spit all over the mirror, there are hair ties/barrettes/matchbox cars/legos/baby dolls/stuffed animals/fake food/real food/hair all over the floor, in most rooms of the house.  The book shelf has baskets tipped over on the floor (see #2 - sometimes I just send the kids in to get the books ready so I can try and read to them and that happens).  There is probably a pile of clean laundry on my side of the bed, which is not made.

Bottom line?  I'm not perfect.  No human is.  Sure, we share mostly the happy/best looking pictures of our life.  I think most of us realize that the majority of people aren't very excited to share the not so perfect aspects of their life.  I think that's different than actually SEEING someone share they not so perfect aspects of their life.

But you know what?  You try your best.  Every day.  It's OK to fail at something, especially if you are trying something completely new to you.  While we strive for perfection, we all need to really know that it's not possible, and that's OK.

Enjoy Yo Selves - Happy Birthday edition

September 3, 1985, two brunette, ADORABLE, pale skinned girls enter their kindergarten room at #7 school and quietly notice each other.  Maybe our mom's noticed the fact that we were NOT the screaming girl in the corner with a mom who was struggling to keep it together?  (NOTE: we were forced to hang with said screaming girl - but at least she had Girl Talk to play with at sleepovers.)  Whatever the case may be, these two adorable, intelligent, HYSTERICAL girls became best friends.  Their names are Michelle and Taylor.

Over the years, Michelley and Tay Tay went through some interesting times.   From the "Mother Goose Bake Shop" play in 2nd grade, where Michelle wanted to club Taylor for getting to act in a scene with the cutest boy in school, to changing schools in 4th grade together, to knitting at lunch time in 5th grade (who does that?), to going to different high schools, different colleges, and now living in different cities, the thing that remains constant is the ability to pick up a conversation where we left off, even if weeks have passed.

In honor of Tay's birthday today, I thought I'd share some of the perks of having a lifelong BFF.  If you are lucky enough to have someone like this, I'm sure you'll relate.

1. When you don't remember something, just call on your BFF and she'll recall the details.  I do that when I want to remember ANYTHING from Elementary school.  Also, since I met Tay before my youngest sister was born (HOW WEIRD IS THAT?), I can also go to her for stories of my sisters as babies.  
2. Her mom is your mom and your mom is hers.  I know I can count on M-Biddy for a swift quick in the bottom OR a loving hug when I need it.
3. Her parents don't mind when you drunk dial them.  So, this one time, in 2004, EMX and I got married and had an apartment downtown.  Now, because we lived within walking distance to the bars, our apartment became quite the gathering place on the weekends.  And what do you do when you feel the need to talk to someone?  Why not call your best friend's mom and dad?  It's not just because you can remember their phone number by heart...  It's because you REALLY want to talk to them. At 2 in the morning.  While eating pizza.  Another perk?  After your BFF's brother's 21st bday night, your BFF's mom brings you hangover soup.
4. You can live in different cities, but still rely on each other to talk you down when you are in full panic mode. Through email.
5. You've known each other through all of the awkward stages.  So you can REALLY appreciate now how cute each of you turned out.
6. It's not weird that your BFF is also good friends with your husband.  Even when it's AWKWARD.
7. You liked to party together.  Now you like to commiserate about the fact that OJ just gave you heartburn.
8. Your BFF can write letters to your unborn children, or soon to be adopted dog - even though you don't - and it's not weird at all!
9. You can have panini nights weekly with your BFF and still have her compare every other panini in the world to yours and like yours the best.
10. Your BFF knows all of your wacky family history and quirks, and still loves you anyway.

Happy birthday Tay Tay!  I can truly say I LYLAS!

Hey Tay!  It's $1 drink night at the JUNGLE!

401 4 L.

A pic of Tay with EMX.

Best Peeps Wedding shot.

One of my favorite shots - actually this picture is hanging in our powder room. 

Classy Tay.  Not to be confused with Classy, Tay.  This is actually Classy Tay.

Tearing up the dance floor.  Probably before she yelled at everyone to "GET IN A CIRCLE."

Two beers. One Tay.  One Hat.

Tay laughing at her own jokes.  I guess I'm laughing too.

First apple picking trip ever!  There were no apple trees at the farm we chose.

At our sprinkle for Baby G.  Love these two.

Hugging it out.

Just an iron worker with a dog.

A typical Friday night back in 2005.

Oh geesh - this face is embarrassing.  Maid of Honor Speech talking about my dress stuck in my underwear - in kindergarten.

At Reedster's 1st birthday party.  Traditional shot with Godmoms.

awwww siblings.

I mean really, how cute are we?

Probably laughing at something EMX said, which was probably inappropriate, while holding our baby girl.

A pic of Tay with my hubby, again.

Traditional "Let's show our legs off" wedding picture.

Another picture of Tay with my hubby.

Just a typical Wednesday.

How cute are we?

Typical wedding pic with bride and her sisters.

Still cute.

Yep - still $1 drink night at the Jungle.

Yes those are bras on the drying rack.

An Ode to EMX (WHAT?)

In honor of my husband's 33rd birthday, I thought it would be nice to share some things that you may or may not know about him.  I was getting a little TOO personal trying to come up with 33 facts, so I figured I would narrow it down to 14, since that's the number of years we've been together.  Here goes nothing.

1. His favorite meal is anything "sink your teeth into."  Now, you may be asking yourself, what is that?  It's easier to define what it's NOT for me.  It's NOT quinoa anything.  It's NOT soup.  It's NOT most salads.  It MIGHT be meatloaf, or spaghetti bake, or salmon with bbq glaze.  It's definitely not couscous.
2. He is a horrible speller.  
1. He once left a note for his parents to let them know that he did something for them.  "I feeded the dog."
2. He once wrote a book report about an "Angle" in a closet.  The book, however, was about an "ANGEL" in a closet.
3. He may not be able to spell, but he IS super smart.  He can tell you all about his job (electrical engineering) or car stuff and I won't recognize most words.  I like to say he's like Chandler Bing.  No one really knows what he does. 
4. He can only cook 4 things. PB&J, Grilled Cheese, Spaghetti with jarred sauce and take out.
5. He may not be able to cook, but he CAN swap out an engine in a foreign car in a little one car garage in the dead of winter.
6. He has the BEST announcer voice.  Anyone want to hire him?
7. He can shake his eyes from side to side.  It's super creepy.  He still won my heart over though.
8. He's willing to try all of my experiments in the kitchen.  My first and worst experiment was Rachael Ray's "You Won't Be Single For Long Vodka Cream Pasta."  Guess what?  The way I made it?  I would have been single in about an hour if I hadn't made a back up meal.  You'll NEVER guess what it was..... Give up?  Bean and Hot Dog Casserole.  Now THAT is a sink your teeth into meal.  
9. His favorite band is TOOL and his all time favorite musical artist is Maynard James Keenan.    I never thought I'd be a fan, but I now find myself listening to TOOL in my car by myself!
10. He semi recently started running.  He clearly has inherited his dad's running gene because he rocks at running.  He's training for a marathon in 2014.
11. Ian will vacuum, do laundry and dishes any day of the week for me.  (Aren't I lucky?!?!?!)  He will also put away my stuff when I leave it out, only complaining after a few days of it.  
12. He's into photography.  Have you checked out his webpage lately?  
13. He is selfless.  In 2009, when we were deciding whether to build a new house, or buy an existing house, the difference in our monthly payment was almost equal to the payment on his S2000 sports car that we had purchased only a year and a half prior.  He decided to sell the 2 seat car in order for our family to get the best house possible in a brand new neighborhood.
14. He's an amazing dad.  From coaching soccer, to kissing boo-boos, to singing goodnight songs, to changing diapers and everything in between.  I love to watch him interact with our children.  I cannot imagine another person I'd rather parent with.
15. OK - one more for good luck. He the best husband, friend, and supporter I could ever ask for.  I cannot imagine my life without him and I love that I get to spend the rest of my life with him.  He truly is my best friend, the person I can tell anything, and the person I trust the most.  

I love you Ian!  Happy Birthday and thank you for everything you do for our family.

MG

The Double D

OK.  So this post isn't about cooking - and it isn't even really about "food."  But I'm feeling very hilarious today (or as EMX calls it, corny) and felt the need to write and share.

If you are a mom, and have breastfed, and have had the devil infection called mastitis, you can totally relate.  If you are grossed out by nursing, you may wish to close your browser window now.  :)  That was your warning.

So I've been proudly nursing Giselle for 6 months.  Actually - 6 months today!  My original goal was 6 weeks.  Which is one week longer than Reed drank breastmilk.  During the first 6 weeks this time, I was lucky enough to get mastitis twice.  AWESOME.  (Sarcasm!)  The first time was actually not bad because I caught it SUPER quickly.  I knew what to look for having had it once with Reed, just a mere week into his life.  The second time, however, was probably one of the worst few weeks of my life.  I won't get into details about it now, but I literally thought I was dying.  I got past that (THANK GOD) and continued to breastfeed semi smoothly until this past Sunday.  I woke up tired, but felt fine, and then a few hours later - BAM.  I knew I had mastitis.  Went to urgent care and immediately got on antibiotics.  It took a full 48 hours for me to feel human again, however, the nasty little (big) blockage has decided to keep on keeping on.

I've tried compressions, massage, heat, no heat, pumping, nursing.  You name it, I've tried it.  Nothing is working.  So yesterday, I gave a call to Dr. Google to see if other moms had some suggestions.  That is when I came across this advice... which I wish I could say worked for me, but it hasn't yet.  It has however provided me with some laughter over the past 24 hours.

A few moms recommended letting gravity work with you, and said to do the following:

Get on all fours and place your baby on the floor.  Position yourself over the baby and let the affected breast "dangle" over the baby while she nurses.  That should hopefully help dislodge the blockage.

So.  Cut to me last night.  I had to go away from my other loving family members so that I could concentrate (read: not laugh).  Another tip I knew about was to position the baby's nose toward the blockage to help drain it.  So our position was me on my knees and left elbow, with Giselle's toes near my head, and my right hand compressing the heck out of the dangler.

It was like some kind of weird yoga pose, involving balance and strength.  So, to commemorate the pose, I decided to give it a yogatastic name.

The Downward Dangle.  Or - the Double D.

I hope you laughed.  I know my cousin K will when she reads this.  She gets me.

You're welcome.  :)

What is the weirdest thing you have found yourself doing since having kids?

Another letter to Kid B - Love Mommy

Dear Kid B,

Hi.  Remember me?  You should.  You're growing inside me.

For the last several weeks, I've been freaking out your dad at night when you decide to move or shift in my belly.  It's a cool thing to watch with my shirt covering my belly, but lift up the shirt so you can see the actual belly, and Daddy gets super freaked out.  I find it to be quite humorous actually.  The other day, your big brother R (who is SOOOOO psyched to meet you btw) was sitting on my lap and you kicked him in the back.  He didn't mind though.  He thought it was pretty cool!

You may remember from this post, that your Auntie Tay likes to write letters.  In her letter to you, she talked about our work out sessions together.  We worked out together tonight actually.  Aunt Jen was there too!  Tonight, Auntie Tay and Aunt Jen, along with 2 other women who happened to be near us, had the pleasure of seeing you move around while I was working out!  While doing our ab workout, you decided that you  needed a little work out as well and started moving all around.  Right now, I cannot figure out how you are positioned and I was REALLY trying to figure that out, but you kept moving and shifting.  I think you and I freaked out everyone, but again, I thought it was pretty humorous.

I'll get serious now for a moment or two.  Daddy, R and I are so excited to meet you!  It seems like we just found out about you, but in about a month or so, you will be here!  R tells me he is going to be my BIG helper. He assures me that he'll help me change your "stinky" diapers and sing songs to you to help you sleep.  We've been practicing some songs every night actually.

Daddy took some pictures of us this past weekend.  R and I decided that we should pose with the stuffed turtle that R picked out for you a while back.

This is proof that R DOES love you.  :)

And this is proof that Mommy and R are goofy and your dad makes us crack up.  :)

In closing, Kid B, I promise, we'll figure out a name for you too.  I SWEAR we will not call you Kid B after you are born - at least not for very long.  :)

We love you!

Mommy

"Kid B"

So here we are.  Week 25!  HOLY COW this pregnancy is going fast.  I'm definitely not complaining about it.  I'm not the "Oh I LOVE being pregnant type."  Don't get me wrong, I don't despise it, but I like NOT being pregnant more.  :)

Seeing as I haven't written much about the pregnancy at all, I figured I would give a little update - don't worry.  It won't be TMI.  :)

So according to this pregnancy website, the baby is now the size of an eggplant.  Yea!  It's now weighing between 1.5 - 2.5 lbs.

As you may notice, I am calling Kid B "it."  I know this may annoy some people, but I have no problem calling Kid B "it" until "it's" born, since we don't know if "it" is a boy or a girl.  In daily conversation, sometimes I call Kid B, "he" and sometimes I call Kid B, "she."  I have no idea one way or the other and the words I use change daily - or sometimes several times through the day.  And I'm OK with that - so you better be too!

I'm feeling great so far.  In the first trimester, I thankfully didn't get much of the dreaded morning sickness.  I had moments of queasiness and certain foods totally grossed me out, but thankfully, I felt overall OK. In the second trimester, I'm continuing to work out as much as possible, to try to keep my weight gain down since I gained "a little" too much weight with R-ster.  I've had a couple of cravings that were non healthy (the day I HAD to have a Tom Wahl's cheeseburger and fries instead of the veggie burger and roasted vegetable meal I had originally planned for that night, and the pizza and wings that we had last night), but overall, I've been wanting to eat a whole lot of baby spinach, both steamed and raw, with a little splash of dressing or lime juice, and blueberry stuff (yogurt, blueberries in my morning oatmeal, etc.).  So that has definitely helped me so far in my weight gain situation.

I'm continuing to track my food intake vs exercise.  I'm definitely more sporadic with it since I'm supposed to be gaining weight.  But it helps to make sure I'm not overindulging too much.

As a family, we are keeping SUPER busy.  It seems that we have at least one activity planned each weekend, or even multiple activities.  Maybe that is what is making this time go by so quickly.  :)

I went there. And it was glorious.

Here is an early Christmas or Hanukkah gift for all you ladies born in the 80s.  

Jon isn't there... which makes me sad, as he was my favorite.

If you want to just listen to the song, You can do so here.  :)

You're welcome.  :)

Smile

I've been in a pretty rotten mood this week.  For no reason in particular.  Have you ever had a bunch of really small, not really important in the big scheme of things, annoyances happen?  That is why I'm in a rotten mood.  Just a bunch of annoying, stupid little things that have added up all week and led me to be in a funk.

I will tell you one thing.  I REALLY dislike being in a bad mood.  One thing that I pride myself on is looking for the positive in everything.

So, that leads me to this.  In trying to turn my mood around, I figured it would be great to write something about GOOD and POSITIVE things that come to mind right now.

1.  This.  Seriously.  My kid is awesome.  And to be fair, I haven't taken him for ice cream in several weeks/months.  He has certain other people in his life who like to take him for ice cream - often.  But I'm super grateful that my little guy is going to have a close relationship with those people, who shall remain nameless of course.  :)

2.  The song posted above.  Something about the lyrics and the instrumentals really do put a smile on my face.  Too funny.  After I hear this song, I start to think about how Lily Allen is British and EMX and I are going to go to London/Dublin in the near future!  And then I start to think about that summer in 2002 when I was oh so homesick, and missing EMX so much, but traveling and seeing so much and ultimately having a fabulous summer.  And then coming home and getting engaged.  And then I start laughing thinking about how I asked EMX if there was anything stuck in my teeth right before he proposed.  I'm classy like that.  Then I start thinking about my littlest sister L who recently became engaged.  SO EXCITING!  So yeah - follow that thought process.

3.  I was having a really super irritating problem with my car, Pilot Pete.  Thankfully, EMX is great at diagnosing (with the help of Dr. Google) and FIXING problems.  Yea.  Happy dance.

4.  I think once R is actually sleeping and I've finished cleaning the rest of the bathrooms, I'm going to learn this dance.  That will definitely put a smile on my face.  :)

5. I made an omelette tonight for dinner inspired by my favorite at a local diner we frequent.  Sauteed onions, jalapeno peppers, tomato and cheddar cheese.  YUM!  I made it lighter by using 2 egg whites and 1 whole egg.  The diner version also has breakfast sausage in it but all I had was maple sausage and that didn't sound right.  I topped it with light sour cream and homemade salsa.  It was awesome - and tasted like I was at the diner.  I love brinner.  R isn't big on eggs which is why he had pumpkin waffles for dinner.  I make a big batch and freeze them for an easy go to meal on nights I'm making something that I know R will just not eat.

OK - starting to feel better now!  Off to clean the bathrooms and learn how to" party rock."