Oh hey, Friday! | Welcome December!

Happy Friday y'all! And happy December, as of yesterday! I can't believe how quickly this year is coming to an end! I've started addressing our Christmas cards and making Christmas shopping lists, but my Christmas decorations are still in their bins. Hopefully I'll be able to get to those this weekend. I need some cozy Christmas cheer in my house!

I welcomed December by putting Louisa in Max's old "First Christmas" pajamas yesterday. That was her outfit for the day. She was happy. I was happy. It was a good day.

This week has been a bit crazy as we combat "re-entry" after our trip last week. Here's a peek into our week:

1) A crew began digging up our yard on Monday to remedy an issue the county has with our rainwater drainage. It's a long, boring story so I won't get into it, but our yard has been a mess all week. Also, the utility marking company didn't note where our Verizon Fios line was located when they marked for the dig, so the crew accidentally dug up and sliced right through our Internet and cable line on Monday. Thankfully a nice gentleman got out here on Tuesday, in the rain, to get us temporarily spliced back together until they can bury the line again. That little setback caused my Thanksgiving recap post to be delayed until Wednesday. Find it here in case you missed it!

2) My desire to watch all the Gilmore Girls has really put a damper on my productivity, and at the same time my to-do list is really putting a kink in my plans to watch all the Gilmore Girls. I've made it into the beginning of season 4, but I've got a long way to go until I'm ready for the revival. 

Speaking of Gilmore Girls, have you entered the giveaway! You have until midnight tonight to get entered!

I'm also 3 episodes behind in This Is Us, and I need to watch the 3rd part of the Real Housewives of Orange County reunion. So much TV to watch, so little time!

3) I finally cleared off my desk in our home office so now I can actually sit here and do office-y desk-y things, like blog, send emails, address our Christmas cards, pay bills, etc. I still have a lot of work to do to feel totally organized and settled, but at least I've made a step in the right direction! I'm so excited to finally get all of the office-related clutter out of the kitchen!

4) I did all the kids' laundry on Monday (or maybe it was Tuesday), and it's still sitting, unfolded, partially in the dryer and partially in the basket. Perhaps I'll fold today while I watch some of that TV I need to catch up on.

5) I made a delicious almond-crusted tilapia for dinner this week, and I plan to share the recipe here next week! It's SO GOOD!

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

Linking up with

Karli and Amy

Oh hey, Friday! A (much-needed) quiet week

This week was a welcome reprieve from the craziness that was last week. Preparing for that party was quite intense...which is the main reason why there likely won't be another Fall Extravaganza at Casa Little Blue Sailboat. I enjoy gathering family and friends together, but that party prep was next-level crazy!

We've had a quiet week here this week, and it was glorious. Here's a peek at what we've been up to:

1 |  We've been trying to nail down our family Halloween costumes. I'm not a huge Halloween fan, so something easy and not scary is always up my alley. Victor LOVES Halloween and frequently pushes for a couple/family theme (see last year's photos), so for a while we thought we were going to be Jake and the Neverland Pirates, which is Max's newest favorite TV show. However, I put off getting our costumes around until after the Fall Extravaganza party, so this week didn't leave much time. Plus Max kept changing his mind about what he wanted to be. First it was a shark after seeing a costume at Target, then it was "Pirate Jake," then it was a Ninja Turtle. We went to TJ Maxx on Monday to find some shoes for our family photo shoot and we happened across this airplane.

Awkward smile phase. How long will it last?

Max wore it all around the store and kept saying he wanted to be an airplane for Halloween, so I bought it. However, we've since changed our minds, and the airplane has been returned. I'll post a photo of our final costumes on Tuesday next week!

2 |  On Tuesday evening, we had our family photoshoot with our good friend and talented photographer, Dottie Millwater. It was a bit chilly and windy, but the light was gorgeous and she got some great shots of our little family. I can't wait to see the final edited photos! We went to Dottie's house for dinner afterward, and Max played his his BFF, Dottie's daughter, Eleanor. Max loves playing with her toys...they're so different from what we have at our house!

Post-photoshoot selfie

3 |  Max loves playing with Kenny, our dog...until he doesn't anymore and starts shouting "Go away, Tee! No Tee!" Don't ask me why he calls him "Tee." We can't break him of it. They had a sweet moment earlier this week, and it reminded me of a photo I took of the two of them when Max was Louisa's age two years ago. Enjoy the throwback, folks.

October 2016

October 2014

4 |  Louisa has started taking an interest in sitting up lately, but she doesn't last very long. AND she finally rolled from front to back for the first time last night! Both my kids were late rollers, and I think the issue with Louisa is that she doesn't spend enough time on the floor since I'm always worried Max or the dog is going to pounce on her. We'll keep working on it! Max sat up unassisted for the first time on Halloween in 2014. Perhaps Louisa could do the same???

October 31, 2014. Photo by Dottie Millwater Photography

5 |  I'm happy to report that our sleep problems we were having with Max over the past month and a half are starting to ease up a bit. I still have to sit in his room until he falls asleep (otherwise he won't stay in his bed), and he sleeps with his door partially open. If we wakes in the middle of the night (still happening, I think more due to nightmares than separation anxiety these days), I am usually able to get him back in bed and tell him he can sleep with the door wiiiiiide open, which comforts him enough to help him fall back asleep until his OK to Wake! clock glows green (it's set to glow at 7 AM). It took about a week for him to understand the concept of this AMAZING clock, and he doesn't come out of his room in the morning until it glows; however, it doesn't help with night wakings.

It's definitely been an adjustment waking up to Max standing next to my bed, but it's much better than him screaming from his room! He's very quiet about coming to our room in the morning: he tiptoes in, then stands by my side of the bed to see if I'll notice he's there. If I don't, after a few minutes he'll quietly tap me and say, "Mom, clock green!" It's so cute! Now if I could just get in the habit of waking by 6 or 6:30 to get my shower in, we'll be in great shape!

Other great sleep news: Louisa is regularly sleeping in 6-7 hour stretches now! I love that baby-child. 

As I mentioned, I've been greatly enjoying this quiet, normal week. I've also been going through the kids' closets and dressers and boxing up out-of-season/too-small clothes. It's so crazy to think that NONE of Max's shorts I boxed up will fit him next summer. His size 2T pajamas are already too snug and we've had to graduate to 3T! His 2T t-shirts won't last much longer, either. Stop growing!

Hope you all have a spooktacular Halloween weekend!

Linking up with 

Karli at Sept. Farm

Amy at The Farmer's Wife

Oh hey, Friday! | Quick family visit

We survived another week! This was a loooong one! I have been so tired this week because both kids are waking up at least twice each, which means I'm getting very little sleep overnight. Their naps aren't syncing well during the day, either, so I don't really get a chance to catch a few zzz's while they nap anymore. Also, we switched to decaf coffee in our coffee maker (still not owners of a Keurig. #rebels) so even though I drink it all the live long day, it doesn't do much for my energy level. Just call me "Mom-bie" over here!

I don't really have a clever post for today's link-up, but I did want to share about my mom and sister's 27-hour visit the weekend we returned from the beach. My mom had foot surgery this past Monday, and she won't be able to travel for a few months (she can't put weight on her foot for at least 6 weeks!). She didn't like the idea of not seeing us and the kids (let's face it, it's mostly about the kids) until Thanksgiving, so she and my sister booked flights to visit the weekend of September 24/25. Their flight got in around 11:45 Saturday morning, and they met us at our house just as we were returning from the beach! Then they flew back home on Sunday evening. It was one of the shortest visits they've made out here, but it was well worth the trip!

Here are some photos from the weekend...all taken on Sunday.

Who dey game day! My mom got Max this Andy Dalton jersey, which is perfect because they're both redheads!

It was my mom's birthday on Sunday, so my sister and I made her a cake to enjoy after lunch. Max couldn't wait to dig in!

The photo above cracks me up. It reminds me of "Full House" for some reason with the passing of the baby.

Side note: I still haven't decorated my house for fall. That's our summer wreath.

The lightning-strike scars add so much character to this tree lol

Max fell asleep in the car on the way to the airport, clutching the Delta airplane my sister got for him. He slept the entire ride to and from the airport, which was close to an hour and a half, round trip!

It was a whirlwind weekend, but we had a great time. Max loves it when Gaga and Auntie Ha come to visit, and I'm sure Louisa does, too!

Happy weekending, loves!

Linking up with

Karli at Sept. Farm

Amy at The Farmer's Wife

Oh hey, Friday! | Things that Need to Happen ASAP

What a week! I feel like I say this every Friday. If you read yesterday's post, you'll have a better idea of why this week has been so crazy for us. I still haven't unpacked my clean clothes from our beach trip, and there's a pile of sand on the floor in our bedroom that was stowed away in a pair of Max's shorts (must sweep that up). I was supposed to head to Ohio on Sunday with Louisa to help my mom after her foot surgery next week, but since Louisa is sick, we're staying home and my sister will do the bulk of the post-op help with my mom. We're bummed that we can't help out, but we're also thankful to be able to rest at home. 

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed as I get back into the swing of things here at home. I have a lot of stuff to do, two kids that make getting things done difficult, and a strong desire to curl up with my book or some On Demand TV shows (I blame the gloomy/rainy weather we've had all week). So, instead of getting to work crossing things off my to-do list, I've compiled this list of Things that Need to Happen ASAP (with little/no intervention from me).

1 |  My entire family gets healthy. I feel like the kids have had runny noses and intermittent coughs for months now. I was walloped with a fever, body aches, and glandular pain while we were at the beach, which then turned into swollen splotchy tonsils. I'm better now, but Victor is still feeling a bit under the weather. Louisa is obviously working on getting better, too. I think I'm going to empty an entire can of Lysol on my house today, germs be damned!

2 |  Max goes back to putting himself to sleep peacefully. You guys. Bedtime is AWFUL these days. It all started the Wednesday night before we went to the beach. Max would freak out when I would leave his room after his bedtime stories and back rubs. A mild whimper/protest is normal for him, but I can usually give him "10 more rubs" and he'll calmly whisper "Night, Mom" after I kiss him goodnight and a few minutes after I leave, he's out. Not anymore. He quite literally hyperventilates if I leave his room before he's fallen asleep. Same thing if he wakes up in the middle of the night. He bolts off his bed and screams at the top of his lungs like he's being tortured, "Where me mom gooooo??!!! Where me dad gooooo?!?!!" Last night I went in to him at 4:30 AM and scooped him up to comfort him. His entire body was shaking and his heart was racing. I have no idea what's brought this new behavior on. Nothing especially traumatic has happened while he's been asleep in the past two weeks. The only way we've been able to get him to fall asleep initially is to rock him or rub his back until he's breathing heavily. If he wakes in the middle of the night, Victor has had to sleep in his bed with him (I can't do it because if I have to leave to feed Louisa, all hell will break loose again). We've tried all of our tricks from sleep training to no avail. We've also tried tough love and punishment. Nothing is working. Send help.

Max's "Bedtime Face"

3 |  My entire house gets cleaned. And organized. And decorated. Lately I feel like cleaning is futile. It only lasts about 3 seconds before it's destroyed or dirtied again. I love having a clean kitchen. But then I don't want to do any cooking for fear of messing it up again. We also need to do some serious organizing in our sunroom/office (our new file cabinet arrived today and needs to be assembled). A lot of the office stuff is cluttering the kitchen right now, but once the office is set up, things should be more organized. We also could stand to do a bit more decorating. I need to find art/frame photos for our upstairs hallway, and our guest rooms could use some more decor, as well. Oh, and I still haven't organized my closet. So if that could all just miraculously happen, that'd be great.

4 |  I have time to watch daytime TV. I got to watch a lot of TV while Louisa and I were in the hospital. TV that wasn't broadcast on Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel. We watched The Today Show (I used to watch that every day when Max was a baby), Rachael Ray, The Price is Right...it was awesome! I couldn't watch The View because it was "rating blocked" by the pediatric ward, nor could I watch RHOC or This Is Us in the evening for the same reason, but I was digging the uninterrupted TV time. I love watching TV. It's terrible.

5 |  My Costco groceries miraculously show up at my door. This is probably the only thing on this list that will actually happen. I've created a cart on Instacart and I'm about to checkout. Although I'm feeling some guilt because I could go tomorrow. But I don't want to take children. And Costco is insane on the weekends. And I can't go today because I have to wait around for the HVAC guy. The dilemma!

I hope you all had a wonderful week and your weekend is even better! I will get to posting about our beach vacation early next week!

Linking up with

Karli at Sept. Farm

Amy at The Farmer's Wife

Oh hey, Friday! | Things I'd Rather Not Do

Well hello, Friday! We meet again. And not a moment too soon. It's been quite a week. Monday felt like 3 days rolled into one after I took both kids to Target and decided to push Louisa in her stroller and let Max walk through the store with me. There was a meltdown about not getting to try on the shark costume; a stern talking-to with an Avengers stuffed action figure who was flying too fast through the store, thus making Max walk too far ahead of Mommy (Max thought it was cool that he wasn't the one getting the scolding); several utterances of "Mom, me nyee dis!" (I need this); and a sweet little dance party to "Can't Stop the Feelin'" (see it on Instagram here).  Then he didn't nap and was a bear for the rest of the afternoon/evening, taking a break to pass out in his chair watching The Little Mermaid for 30 minutes. The Monday-est Monday I've had in a while, people. It was brutal.

He looks so sweet and innocent here.

I did a lot of "stuff" this week. If I made a list of everything I needed to do on a daily basis, I think I'd have an anxiety attack every single day. I do a lot of stuff every day, even on days when I feel like I don't do anything. However, there are lots of little things in my daily life that I avoid doing or put off doing because I just don't like doing them; I'm sure we all have our own recurring tasks that we avoid with all our might. Here's a sample of Things I'd Rather Not Do.

1 |  Make a side salad to accompany a meal. I don't mind making a big salad as a meal, but after preparing the main course for dinner, the LAST thing I want to do is make a salad as the veggie. I don't know why I hate it so much, but I gripe about it every single time. Perhaps it's because we weren't a "salad family" growing up; we always had some warm vegetable with each meal, or the veggie was incorporated into the main dish somehow. I need to be better about it, though. Perhaps preparing the salad first will take care of this problem.

2 |  Iron. Y'all, I avoid ironing like the plague. I'm not good at it, and since I'm a perfectionist, I get so irritated when I can't get all the wrinkles out. To avoid ironing, I try to grab wrinkle-prone items from the dryer almost immediately after it's finished running and hang them up or fold them e v e r so carefully. And don't even get me started on baby items that require ironing. They should be outlawed, or someone needs to make mini irons specifically for kids' clothes; the big one doesn't work on those tiny garments. I think I'm going to start steaming kids' clothes, though; I saw someone (likely her assistant) doing it for baby Luna in one of my BFF Chrissy Teigen's snaps. BRILLIANT!

3 |  Use tablecloths or placemats on my table. Even though I don't like this, I still do it because I feel like I should. Here's my beef with those things: I have to stain-treat them if people slop on them. I'd personally prefer to just wipe my table down after my dinner guests splatter spaghetti sauce and red wine all over the place instead of treat stains on table linens. Or I could just get everyone a silicone placemat like Max uses and not worry about it. I'm seriously considering the silicone mats.

4 |  Eyebrow maintenance. I don't purposely avoid this task, I just don't notice that I need to spend some quality time with my tweezers and magnifying mirror until the situation above my eyes is DIRE. Seriously, why doesn't anyone alert me to my eyebrow status?

5 |  Be trendy. It's just too much work. I'm a simpleton, so keeping up with fashion/home decor/makeup/hair trends is just too much for me. White walls are in right now, but I have been very anti-white walls ever since my apartment days, so I'm having a hard time coming around to that trend (although I do love the brightness the white walls create in a room). I also hate painting walls so you won't find me with a roller in my hand any time soon. I don't even know what's "hip" in terms of fashion or makeup. Probably stuff I can't pull off, so I don't even try. I like to be comfy, and comfy clothes aren't always fashionable. And since I wear very minimal makeup (even to fancier events), watching makeup tutorials is not in the cards for me.


What's on your list of Things You'd Rather Not Do?

Linking up with

Karli at September Farm

Amy at The Farmer's Wife

Oh hey, Friday! | Strange Things

...not to be confused with the hit Netflix series Stranger Things...which I haven't watched, B-T-dubs. I also never watched Making a Murderer. I'm such a rebel.

Anywho, I kinda have a theme for this week's Oh hey, Friday! post. Just some things I find fascinating/strange.

1 |  My right foot hurts this week. Specifically the outside edge of my right foot (that's the technical term, in case you didn't know). It hurts all the time when I walk, some times more than others, but I'm never without pain. It's not swollen and doesn't hurt to the touch, though. I didn't do anything special to injure it, either. However, I have noticed some habits I have that might be contributing to the pain, which makes me wonder if it always hurts and I'm just noticing it more this week, or if it's a new pain (I honestly don't know). When I walk, I tend to put my weight on the outside edge of my right foot, though I seem to distribute weight evenly on my left foot; I've tried putting weight on my right foot differently and it's so hard! When I stand and put more weight on one foot, it's the right foot. When I sit at the table, I cross my ankles and rest the weight of my feet on the outside edge of my right foot, with my left foot on top/off the floor. And I take my first steps with my right foot. Perhaps my habits have caused this pain? I don't know, but I might go get it checked out. Thanks for listening.

2 |  I went to visit a friend at my old school on Wednesday with Louisa, and I headed to use the teacher bathrooms before I left, which are in the copy room. As I left the bathroom to walk back to her classroom, I for realskies almost grabbed the mail out of my old teacher mailbox/cubby on my way back to the classroom before I realized I don't work here anymore so that's someone else's teacher mail. It was a total force of habit, but I haven't worked there for over 2 years!!! How weird!!!

3 |  Similar to above, at my mom's house I always expect to see my reflection in the full-length mirror in the hall bathroom when I reach the top of the stairs, but I never do because the mirror hasn't been there for YEARS! Like, probably 8-10 years it's been gone. I don't know why I can't shake that expectation; perhaps it was still there when I was living there and then they redecorated the bathroom once I moved out? I can't remember exactly when it was taken down, but in my head it should still be there.

4 |  This isn't a strange thing, it's more of a fascinating thing. And it's not a thing. It's Chrissy Teigen. I think I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: I love her. I want to be besties with her. I want to come over to her house and make an indulgent dinner with her and John Legend in their stunning kitchen (her Snapchat is full of dinner prep/dinner eating snaps). I want her to jump on my #dinnerprepdanceparty bandwagon and have an epic dance party as we prepare the aforementioned meal, all while making fun of ourselves. I feel like this is all possible because she diapers her {adorable} baby Luna in Pampers and eats Subway and watches Real Housewives and doesn't ever do a duckface pose in any of her Snaps/Insta posts. We are soul sisters. Once again, I love her. She's so relatable...except for that whole model/celebrity/married-to-John-Legend thing.

5 |  Max's brand-spankin' new harmonica disappeared Tuesday evening. It arrived from Amazon earlier that day and broke almost immediately, but Max told Victor to "fee dis" (fix this), which he did, and it was back in action until bedtime. And now we can't find it. Anywhere. He keeps asking for his "may-ha" and I keep looking for it but it has quite possibly disappeared forever. I'll keep you posted on the Harmonica Hunt. Promise. I know you're anxious.

**Update: The May-Ha has been located. It was in the "cars" drawer in the playroom. All is right in the world again.

Yes, it's pink. I couldn't choose a color on Amazon. He doesn't care.

Have a wonderful weekend, loves! Max starts soccer tomorrow (aaahh! Does this mean I need a minivan???)!

Linking up with

Karli at September Farm

Amy at The Farmer's Wife

Oh hey, Friday! | Some things

I seriously can't believe it's September; this year is flying by so fast. I think I've mentioned at least once how I can't wait to be out of the 90-degree weather season. I quite literally melt in such heat and humidity (that's just a cute way of saying I'm always a sweaty mess). It's supposed to be in the 70s here this weekend, but then it'll be back in the 90s next week. I'll take what I can get, though!

I'm linking up again for Oh hey, Friday, and per usual, my theme for the day is...I have no theme.

1 |  This week I've been doing dinner prep every night while listening to the Justin Timberlake station on Pandora, which means I'm also doing a lot of dancing while I do my dinner prep. If you follow me on Snapchat (username: rachiepalm), you may have seen some of my #dinnerprepdanceparty snaps. I also shared a few on Instagram and Facebook, but the Snapchat filters take them to a whole different level. I encourage you to partake in your own Dinner Prep Dance Party; it's lots of fun, even if you're the only one dancing. I think I need to get a selfie stick to make my snaps more exciting, though. 

2 |  I made some chocolate chip cookies on Tuesday with Max, and he had such a great time helping (see photo below for evidence). I thought I had found the best recipe a while ago (find it here), but the fabulous mom of some former students of mine (I had her "middlest" and youngest in my kindergarten class) had her amazing recipe featured on a blog recently so I had to make some cookies her way since I can't receive them as gifts from her anymore. I tell you what, I'll never go back! These are THE BEST homemade chocolate chip cookies. I think I ate at least 6 as they came out of the oven. I'm not at liberty to disclose how many I've eaten since then...

3 |  After taking two dance classes in Ohio when I was visiting, I've decided I need to do some more actual dancing on a regular basis, so it's become my exercise regimen. I bought this exercise video at Target the other day and tried it out yesterday. I gotta be honest, I'm not a huge fan; I found it hard to follow (and I've been taking dance since I was a wee one) and it wasn't much fun. Tomorrow I'll be doing Hip Hop Abs instead. However, I can't wait until my Paula Abdul Cardio Dance DVD arrives this weekend! I had this workout on VHS in middle school and it was how I got myself in shape in 8th grade. I loved it and am so excited I found it on Amazon (used, but whatevs!). It's totally dated (check out the warm up!) but I always looked forward to doing this workout so I'm pretty stoked.

My workout DVD collection. Can't wait to add Paula to it!

4 |  My husband thinks he's got jokes. He left this for me in the sink last night after dinner.

In case you can't tell, that's a PICKLE on my SPONGE! If you know nothing more about me, you should know that I HATE pickles! I can't even try them because I can't get past the awful smell! So even though the hubs thought he was being funny, the joke was on him because I refused to touch that sponge right after it had touched a pickle, so he earned himself dish duty last night. HA!

5 |  I'll leave you with this sweetness wrapped in her super soft towel from Portugal.

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend everyone! Any exciting plans? We have zero. And I'm not mad about it. We'll see where the weekend takes us!

Linking up with

Karli of September Farm

Amy of The Farmer's Wife

Oh hey, Friday! | Odds and Ends

I somehow made it to the morning. Both of my kids decided mama didn't need no stinkin' sleep last night. Louisa just wanted to be nursed more frequently than the last two nights (I wouldn't mind a return to her 6-hour stretches). Max, on the other hand, woke about 5-7 times in a two hour period, crying and then not falling asleep well (hence more wake-ups). Not sure what his deal was as he's slept through the night most nights this week, but Victor must have had the magic touch because after he went in there, Max didn't wake again.

Now I'm sitting here enjoying my once-daily pumping session and getting this post out to you for my first Oh hey, Friday! in a while! Lucky you! I don't have much of a theme for today's post. It's just a random "odds and ends" post.

1 |  Have you heard of the term "re-entry" in reference to life with kids? It's the period of time after being away from home when you get back into the swing of things and return to your routines and some form of normalcy. After being at the beach last week, I can tell you that this session of "re-entry" has been a doozy. I went crazy and wanted to do all the vacation laundry last Saturday and Sunday (I think I did 6 loads of laundry in a day and a half; we had to bring our own linens). However, my bag of clothes I didn't wear at the beach is still sitting in my room, waiting to be put away (and likely full of wrinkles and sand). We're working on getting Max's nap/sleep schedule back on track. And I'm trying to re-learn how to plan ahead for meals. But hey, at least we're home! I'm such a homebody; everything about vacations makes me anxious!

2 |  I'm getting my hair cut--AND colored--in a couple of weeks and I am SO EXCITED! I haven't gotten a hair cut since the Carrie Underwood chop earlier this spring, and I'm so ready for a change. I think I'll keep the same general style of haircut, though, with plans to grow it out. I'm really looking forward to getting my hair professionally colored, though. I'm so bored with my hair color, plus the grays are getting more numerous. I need to look on Pinterest for some color ideas. I'm going to stick with something in the brown family, though, Nothing too dramatic!

3 |  I'm getting super excited for a trip to Ohio in a couple of weeks with the kids. I have a fun "Cousins Day" planned with my...you guessed it...cousins, and I anticipate it to be equal parts fun and awkward. Fun because my cousins are hilarious and know how to have a good time. Awkward because I'm the oldest/only one married/only one with kids so I'm in a different season of life than they are (my sister is the next oldest at 27, then the rest are college/high school age; I used to babysit them all). I also have plans with two of my college roommates/bridesmaids and their families while we're there. It'll be the first time the 3 of us (and their hubbies, who also went to college with us and are great friends) will be together with our kids (5 of them among us!). My heart is bursting with anticipation!!!

4 |  After a month and a half of back-and-forth nonsense with our health insurance company, we finally have Louisa added to our plan! I won't even get into the nitty gritty of it all, but long story short, their communication practices are terrible and ineffective, we got different information from each person we talked to, and we were at risk of not having her covered since we were creeping up on the 60-day cut-off point. I would love to suggest ways for them to streamline the process (get all of your member service people on the same page regarding which form to use to add a dependent to your insurance; put on the form that you have 60 days to get your crap together; mention on the form which other documentation is needed so the applicant can send it in with the form; call/send correspondence when something is missing or still needed, etc.), but I doubt it'll do any good. Let me also mention that while we were waiting for the insurance company to get their stuff together, we kept getting bills from the pediatrician's office and frequent phone calls asking for her insurance info. For a gal who doesn't like not being in control, that whole experience did a number on my patience.

5 |  I'd like to leave you with this photo of Max and his tios (aunt and uncle). They were practicing cutting their wedding cake, and Max was all too eager for them to get it over with.

And now zoomed in for a more dramatic effect:

Happy Friday, y'all!

Linking up with

Karli at Sept. Farm

Amy at The Farmer's Wife

Oh hey, Friday! | Funny Things My Kid Says and Does

Happy Friday, lovelies! It's been quite the long, eventful week here with moving Max into his big boy room--it's quite the transition for all of us. I'm tired, a little stressed, and my brain is fried. So I'm going to let Max do the majority of the work for today's linkup post by sharing 5 of the funny things he's been saying and doing lately.

After spending 10 minutes "riding" his bike (meaning I pushed him around on it), he ran around the yard for an hour...still wearing his helmet.

1. "Me poo. Mama poo. Dada poo. Tee (Kenny, our dog) poo. Gaga (Grandma-my mom) poo. Ha (Holly, my sister) poo. Vovo (Victor's parents) poo." In an effort to make sure he's not ashamed of needing to poop, there was a time at diaper changes when I would tell him that it's okay to poop and that everybody poops, and we'd go through our family tree, saying that all his favorite people go number 2. And now, he goes through the entire family tree pretty much every time we say the word "poop."
2. Wipes his belly button with toilet paper. Blame this on me needing to pee with the door open all the time (motherhood means throwing privacy out the window). Now whenever he sees me go to the bathroom--or sees a roll of toilet paper unattended--he grabs a piece, says "Me pee," lifts up his shirt, and wipes his belly button.
3. "Uh oh! Do!" I have no idea what he's trying to say when he says this. He's been saying "do" a lot this past week, and I'm trying to use context clues to figure it out, but I'm still not 100% sure what he means. He'll say this if he drops something or if something doesn't happen the way he wants it to. And last night, he was running around in the backyard and fell to his knees, after which he shouted, "Uh oh, me do!" Perhaps he's trying to say "What did you/I do?" I have no clue.
4. If he doesn't want someone (or the dog) to follow us, he puts his hands up and says, "Hee" (here), which is his way of saying "Stay here." He says this every time we go upstairs for naptime or bedtime and the dog tries to follow us. We were at Costco this week and if people were following us too closely, he would say this to them. If people get in line behind us at Target, he says it.
5. Pumps his fists up and down alternately and sings, "Buh buh buh" over and over again anytime anyone mentions Bubble Guppies. This has become his new favorite show, and if you ask him if he wants to watch it, you darn better have one queued up or he's going to flip out. If you've never seen the intro, the guppies do a little dance as they sing the theme song, so I guess that's what he's trying to emulate. It's a cute show and somewhat educational, so I don't feel bad about letting him watch it. However, I'd like to request Verizon FIOS to make some new/different episodes available On Demand, please and thank you.

Even though this kid drives me mad sometimes, he's still the cutest stinkin' thing around. I might be pulling this post up when he refuses his nap again or throws another tantrum about nothing.

He's just too cool!

Linking up with
Karli at September Farm

Amy at The Farmer's Wife

Oh hey, Friday! | 5 Things I did this week

Another Friday is here, y'all! And this mama is looking forward to the weekend. We have some visitors stopping by Saturday afternoon, and Sunday, it's supposed to be in the 60s. After traipsing around the big city in the 30-ish degrees and crazy winds last night, I am SO OVER winter weather! Why must it be windy? The wind is whipping up leaves and dirt outside as I type this, and it's vicious! Max and I have errands to run today, and every time I tell him we have to go out in the wind, he says, "Me haaayyy!" ("my hair" in Max speak). Just like his mama, his hair gets a good tousling in the wind. We don't care for it.

Anywho, I thought I'd share a few things I did this week: some are exciting and others underwhelming. Such is the life of a stay-at-home mom.

1 ||  I made aprons for my kids out of dish towels. Yes, you read that right, ladies. A dish towel, some twill tape (I used rug binding because it's all I could find in a pinch, but some thinner twill tape is more desirable), and 2 stitches (just 2!) turned these cute dish towels I found at Michaels into aprons. Even the most novice seamstress can pull this off. I saw the tutorial months ago on Miranda's blog, One Little Minute (she is such a talented seamstress and an inspirational lady), and I knew I had to make them.

How cute?!?!

I had to bribe him with Teddy Grahams to be my model. He still prefers my floral apron. Probably need to hide it.

2 ||  I left my clean sheets in the dryer for 4 days. I changed our sheets on Monday. I washed the dirty ones on Tuesday. They're still in the dryer as I type, likely wrinkled beyond recognition. Whatevs, they're clean.

3 ||  I picked a tick out of the dog's ear fur. Ugh, ticks. Why are they out already? I wasn't expecting to see one, but Kenny's ear was flipped back and I saw a dark black fleck in his fur, so I investigated. I thought it was just some tree bark or a dead leaf or something, but upon further inspection, I discovered it was a nasty tick. It was still crawling around in his fur and hadn't attached to him yet, so I was able to get him off (through no help from Kenny, of course. He made the task quite difficult because he's a spaz). Kenny takes oral flea and tick meds, and he's been bitten by ticks in the past (finding their engorged bodies stuck in his skin is quite frightening), but I think I need to be more vigilant about checking him when he comes inside. Our yard backs up to the woods and we have lots of deer visitors, so it's better safe than sorry!

4 || I stayed up well past my bedtime each night. In a perfect world, I'd head up to bed around 10:30 to read and be ready to pass out by 11. But this week I haven't made it to bed before midnight each night. Blame it on perusing the interwebs and watching HGTV with Victor. As a result of staying up late, I take naps during Max's nap, which means I'm not tired for bed at 10:30. It's a vicious cycle...one I hope to break next week.

5 || I hung out with Carrie Underwood. Ok, we didn't actually "hang out," but she sang for me...and thousands of other people last night. I went with a group of my old teacher friends to her concert in DC; it was my first "mommy's night out" in...forever. We had lots of fun and Carrie was amazing! That girl is so talented and adorable (can we talk about her cute new hair cut?! I've decided I want "Carrie Underwood hair" now). She made me cry a few times (singing Dolly's "I Will Always Love You" and showing a slideshow of pics of her with her hubby and baby during "What I Never Knew I Always Wanted"), and I didn't bring tissues (pregnant woman mistake...I should know by now that I could cry at the drop of a hat with all these hormones). Her set was amazing, as well. I was kind of fascinated by the logistics behind it all. Please enjoy these blurry pics from my phone.

Get it, girl!

Today I plan to watch "Fuller House" on Netflix during naptime until I pass out since I was up until 1:30 AM last night and Max woke me up at 7. It's okay, though, because I missed him. Have a happy weekend, everyone...can you believe it's the last weekend in February?!?!

Linking up with

Karli at September Farm

Amy at The Farmer's Wife

Oh hey, Friday! | 5 Random Things

Happy to be back linking up for Oh hey, Friday! I don't have a specific theme for today's post, so I'm just throwing together a random combination of 5 different things to tell you. #sorrynotsorry

1. I'm currently reading For the Love by Jen Hatmaker and I'm loving it! I haven't read a book in a couple of months, and this book was the perfect one to get me back into my groove (thanks for bringing it, Santa!). It's different from my typical chick-lit novel choices, but it's so good. It resonates with me on so many levels. I also love it because it's funny, the chapters are short (which is perfect for my pre-bedtime reading. I don't like stopping mid-chapter), and she makes some profound points. Highly recommended!

   

   via

2. Last night, Max went to his first "big kid" birthday party. By "big kid," I mean a party meant just for kids and not a big extended family party like he usually attends. His cousins Juliana and Jayden had a joint 9th and 2nd birthday party at a local bouncy palace, and he had such a great time! I was honestly so impressed with how well-behaved he was, especially once all the bouncing was over and it was time to go eat dinner. There's no denying that my baby is growing up (he turned 21 months on Wednesday). It's sad and fascinating all at the same time. 

   

   Daddy was a great bouncing/climbing/sliding buddy

   
   

   

   Raise your hand for cheese pizza!

   
   
   
3. My mom is leaving for Arizona this weekend for spring training (for her job) and I am so very jealous! I can't remember when the Reds moved their training camp to AZ, but I want to say it was 2009 or 2010. I've gone out there every year since for at least a long weekend to visit with my mom and sister, enjoy the Arizona sunshine, and take in some spring training games (and occasionally schmooze with the Reds officials and players). I didn't go in 2014 when I was pregnant with Max, and I'm missing this year, as well. Thankfully Victor, Max and I made a family trip out last year so I could get my fix. I have some serious FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) when I think about not indulging in the startling blue skies, dry desert heat (it's in the 80s there right now), and daily baseball games. However, the Reds traded away many of my favorite players (Todd Frazier to the White Sox??? I could cry!), so it won't be quite the same this year anyway. Wishing my Ma a safe flight and a wonderful time working her booty off in the warm weather! 

   

   Owners' Weekend 2013 with my ma and sis

   
   

   

   The resort my mom always stays in, The Wigwam. We love it there!

4. It's supposed to be 61 degrees here on Saturday!!! This might call for a trike ride to Starbucks with my little ginger! We might be getting more snow next week, so we need to take advantage of the nice weather when we can!
5. We got to see baby girl again via ultrasound on Thursday to check on the location of my placenta. At our anatomy scan at 20 weeks, it was discovered that I had a very low-lying placenta that was only 1 cm away from my cervix (they like it to be at least 2 cm away). To prevent bleeding, I was told not to do any heavy lifting, strenuous activity, or exercise until I came back at 26 weeks to check on it. Good news: the placenta has moved away from the cervix and all is good! Baby girl is measuring small but still within the normal range. I also have what's called marginal cord insertion, which means that the umbilical cord inserted itself near the edge of the placenta instead of near the middle, which could cause the baby to receive decreased blood flow, leading to a lower birthweight. The doctor is not overly concerned about this at this point in time, but I'm scheduled to go back at 32 weeks to check on baby's growth; prayers are appreciated that everything continues to go well with the cookin' of this babe! In the meantime, I'm just enjoying feeling her wiggle and jab/kick around in there. The other day, she kicked me so hard in my bladder that I almost peed myself. No joke.

Have a great weekend!

Linking up with 

Karli at September Farm

Amy at The Farmer's Wife