awesome thrift store finds

chris did his usually errands around town this morning, and while there he found a few items that he wanted me to check out. there were two jogging strollers both listed for $20 both had their flaws.... and not worth the effort to purchase and resell. so if any readers are looking for some heavily used singer joggers there are two at the st vincent depaul in coraopolis today....

while there, i did find a few other items that were totally worth the drive down there.

here's one:
we have one of these already but we have two kiddos... so i was in search of another. $2.99! score! and doesn't andy look sooooo damn cute in there!? he's such a good little model! i had to hose it off and take a few clorox wipes to it and some goo gone but it's good as new now :)

here's purchase number 2:
again a few clorox wipes later and it's in perfect condition.... and it even makes firetruck sounds!

and for the crafty readers:
there's bias tape, seam bindings, rick rack and some other seaming covers. all in some fun retro colors! 3 for $.49! now i need to dust off my machine again soon!

i spent less than $8 there and got a whole lot of fun!

firsts: pineapple and cereal

andy had his first taste of food today. he's been clamoring for food ever since he's been sitting with us for meals which has been a few months now. i of course got the go ahead to start them when i was ready at his 4 month check up. i wasn't ready and frankly didn't think i would be for another month or so but apparently i wasn't the only one to make this decision. andy had to weigh in on it too.

yesterday i decided to make this yummy treat but we didn't actually have the treat until tonight. man was it goooood. andy was ready to nurse and go to bed but we were having our snack so i decided to give him a little taste. i mean really it's just pineapple. no added sugar or anything so what can it hurt? he licked it up like he's never had food ever in his life, oh wait... he hasn't! i didn't give him much just little bits on the tip of my spoon. but once we finished he got really angry and demanded more food. so i made him some baby oatmeal, it's all i had on hand... i made him about an inch or so in one of those small take n toss bowls... he ate all of it! then i took him upstairs, changed him into his bedtime clothes and he nursed for a full session. he wasn't asleep though when he was done which is about normal for the past 4-5 days. i put him down, gave him his binky and walked out the door. he fussed (hardly) for a few minutes and then..... quiet.

he's also been sleeping through the night like a champ lately. it's morphed a bit in the past few days but it's super in my opinion. he goes down between 8 and 8:30 then wakes up between 5:30 and 6:30, nurses and goes back down for about 3 more hours. it's lovely.

his naps are still hit or miss and not very consistent. but i usually get at least an hour sometimes two in the afternoon when both boys are napping. it's just not at the same time daily and sometimes doesn't happen at all.

now i'm on poop watch. i remember with max when we started cereal there were a few long no-poo spells in the beginning. then when the poo came... holy crap... literally. fun times area ahead :)

yawn....

i need a nap.

i need to put the clean clothes away.

i need to pack.

i need to clean.

i need to relax.

we're preparing to head out of town this weekend for a week's stay at the beach with chris's family. it should be fun, i hope it's fun. i ran to kmart today for a few incedentals and ended up dropping $75.... that's the most i've ever spent there... but i attribute it to having to buy about 8 greeting cards... damn those things are expensive.... it sucks.

max is a horror these past few days. refusing food. cranky pants. coloring on carpets, doors and toys. screaming at the top of his lungs and flinging himself onto every piece of furniture and every floor of every room. it's a lovely sight. i am not sure what the entire reason for this behavior is... it may be some more teeth... it might be that he has some sort of sick... doubtful.... but i think it's called a toddler and being very near to being 2 yrs old and his lack of communication skills.

he is saying new words daily. i really don't know how many things he can say but he can say a lot. but he still can't communicate well. this has got to be so frustrating... i feel his pain. i want to understand him so it's just as frustrating to me.

andy is doing well. he's finally regulating his feeding schedule and not eating every 45 minutes to an hour... he went through a major growth spurt last week so that has tappered off. he's also huge. he is 4 months old now and he's currently wearing clothing that is 6-9 months. he's very long. he is also getting the hang of naps and his nighttime sleeping. a pattern has arrived. but it's very easily disturbed... fun times are ahead while we beach it next week...

on the knitting front. i'm still working on everlasting:

i'm about half way complete. i need to join new balls soon (i'm using two strands of hempathy so that it's sturdy enough). i'll be taking this as my beach knitting. i also checked out ravelry for info on some local yarn shops near where we will be staying. there are three. i think i'll take a little me time one morning and check these shops out. maybe find some yarn for MY lady sweater :)

i might check in once or two next week, in order to do that i have to go to the local library. it's not within walking distance... so that's a deterrent.

until then i leave you with this, my giggly little baby:

mom's night out and a bit of a hodge podge

this past weekend i had my first mom date without any kids or husbands since having maxwell. it was great! my friend annie and i went to see dave matthews. annie is an avid concert goer and i on the other hand haven't been to see a live show in over 7 years i think. it's been so long that i can't even remember the exact date. needless to say, this mom date was totally worth it and i had so much fun that i can't wait to do it again.

the wedding. the wedding went off perfectly! the weather couldn't have been more pleasant. my boys couldn't have behaved any better, the tent couldn't have looked prettier (you can see the fun paper flowers we made in the photo of max below) and the happy newly weds couldn't have been more in love :) *cheese* they are currently traveling the north eastern coast in Maine and plan to be back in the burgh this weekend.


here's a photo that my cousin, johanna, took of my little guy max. so far it's the best photo that captures his cute little outfit :) andy had the same thing on.
ooh, knitting. well.... first, annie wouldn't let me knit while we tailgated on saturday. sooooo, the little bib i was working on did NOT get finished. but i did manage to complete the finishing touches to the sweater so that i could give it to the mama to be on sunday. she loved it, i took photos of it with her. i'll share those in the next post.

photo fairness

so yesterday, on one of the most beautiful days of the year so far, i packed up the kiddos and went to the zoo with a few other mommies that know. i scurried around the house prior to anyone else being up gathering up diapers, sippy cups, snacks, extra clothes for the wee one, hats, coats, sweaters, baby carriers and batteries for my flip video camera and my regular camera. got everyone fed, dressed and into the car and i only managed to be a few minutes late... due to me being behind every single slow moving dump truck along the way... needless to say, everything went swimmingly. we had to leave a bit earlier then the others since i had some family coming to visit us later that afternoon. but we managed to get through the entire animal part. then on our way out we stopped to see the polar bears.

this year, max in all of his one and 1/2 year old glory, actually knew that there were animals out there and what some of them were. IF they moved.... lol. needless to say, it was entertaining for me to watch him see the animals....

however there was a bit of a sense of disappointment. as mentioned above, i had to round up batteries for all of my life recording devices... well... you might think.... 'oh, i'll bet you got some great photos of your little ones at the zoo, it was such a beautiful day and all' well, that is a far cry from reality. i snapped 3 photos.... i didn't even get my video camera out. and did i take any photos of andy? no! i was wearing him so that made taking his photo a bit hard... but still.

this is something that i feel horrible about. i took these three photos of max, two of them include the back of his head and an animal in the background.... but overall. this is about how the overall percentage of photos of max to photos of andy is in our entire family photo collection. for max by age 2 months, i'm sure i had over 100 maybe even 200 photos of him in all sorts of mushed up positions. sleeping here there and everywhere. being held by every visitor. in the stroller for the first time, going outside for the first time, sitting next to the cats for the first time... you get the picture... this time around. nothing! i have taken i think three sessions of photos of andy. two are of him in his swing. and now i managed to take him to the zoo and didn't document that! i need to get my butt in order and bridge this photo gap and do it soon.... he's getting so big already that if i don't get on the ball soon, he'll be 1 year old and i will have 5 photos of his first year of life....

what is it about kiddo number two? why do they get slighted in terms of photography and general life documentation? is it because what was new with number one is old hat? is it because with two kiddos to take care of you don't have time to be mama happy snaps? is it because your so tired from taking care of two children that you can't remember to bring the camera out on a regular basis?

i realize this is a pretty funny predicament to be in considering that my husband is a professional photographer and all... but really... we both need to grab our cameras and get snapping. because if we don't this little baby will be gone in a flash and will then be a big toddler and we'll miss all his little wee cuteness.

all gums

so my little guy smiled at me today and i believe it was his first real smile not just gas :)
he took a huge poo while he was swinging then i went to check on him and he's goo'ing and talking up a storm then he just busts out this huge smile! so adorable, all gums, totally MY little guy.

a few things

i took the boys on our first outing alone yesterday. i don't know why i was worried about them acting up... because apparently it was ME that i needed to be more concerned with. we went to the mall, had a quick dinner, then went to the play area. max got his yaya's out by running around for about 30 minutes. then we went and did a little shopping. one stop a card shop... i'm trying to push this beast of a double stroller around and let me tell you, i now really feel for the handicapped people of our community. a single stroller is one thing... but a double, holy cripes... anyways, i'm standing there with cards in hand and i pick out another and take a reasonable step back away from the card stands and bam! i step right into the side of a shelf holding tons of those little figurines that are tan and have the blank faces, there are mothers and father holding babies, and expecting mother ones, i have a few, i think everyone does... but back to the story, so i bump into this shelf and about three or so of them go tumbling to the floor! i completely shatter one. i'm completely embarrassed.... i start to pick them up and pick up the broken pieces, the manager comes over to make sure that we're ok, we are. i offer to pay for it, she declines and then points out that she broke something earlier in the day. of course though, all the other shoppers who happened to be men, just looked at me like i was nuts... nice.... anyways, thank god the manager was so nice and understanding... after that, i paid for my cards and we went home... i do have to say though, that i feel much better now that i've gone out with them by myself. i know we can do it again and i plan to very very soon!

ok, so i mentioned a few posts back that i was going to start reading again :) i have. i lost interest in Freakonomics... it just wasn't what i was looking for at the moment... but, my copy of Happiest Baby on the Block came to the house on saturday and i've been complete engrossed. i have realized that reading a hardback book isn't very easy with a baby nursing.... so i have resorted to reading it a bit just before i go to bed. dr. karp is amazing! granted i don't think we have a very sensitive baby in his terms but let me tell you i think his methods are awesome! and so is his theory on "colic" and the "fourth trimester". regardless, his methods sure do help with prolonging sleep periods at night! whoa! two nights straight, andrew has slept for 6+ hour stretches! i'm in awe! and i'm only 1/2 through his book, the swaddling suggestions alone have helped this much. i was swaddling before but i don't think i was doing it tight enough. max always got out of them and andy was a bit too...

anyways, i really suggest reading this book. all new moms or mom's to be, pick this one up. there are cheap copies on amazon, i got my copy for $3.59 or something insane like that! it's worth it!

ok, so i know there was a third thing that i was planning to write about this morning but i can't remember what the heck it was... mommy brain strikes again...

major connection made today

max made a major connection :) he peed in the potty for the first time today and he did it TWICE! we did a happy pee in the potty dance for him both times and made him feel really good about it :) he was happy and very proud. the plan at the moment is to just put him on the potty each time we get him up from napping or sleeping or if it's time to change his diaper or what not since he's not really communicating that he has to go just yet. i know that will happen soon though!

in other news, andrew is HUGE! i swear that he has doubled in size and is about to round out his first month! i can't believe that he'll be a month old in a few days! it's just amazing!

as for chris and i, we're surviving, adjusting to being parents of two.... it's rough. basically, we do for them, then we sleep. then we do for them... and sleep... same cycle... over and over... i know it will become less strict soon but in the meantime we just want some us time. so since we know that it will come soon enough we decided to book a little weekend getaway this fall to celebrate our 5 years of marriage! we've decided to go to deep creek md and stay here for three nights! the grandparents have already said go for it! so today we counted our change that we have been saving for a few years and low and behold we have enough money in change alone to pay for the three night stay! whoo hoo!

we can't wait and are looking forward to the time along :) yay!

on the move

well, the date is 10.10.07, max is 13 1/2 months old and he has as of tonight taken his 1st steps! talk about exciting :) and talk about being excited! max can't stand it he's so excited, in fact he gets so excited that he's just walked that he can't seem to do it again until he calms down a bit... it's really funny!

how it happened: he took three solid steps from daddy to me. then we tried to get him to do it from me to daddy but that didn't work, so i handed him back to daddy and he did it back to me again! then later this evening, he did it from the chair to the couch, then from the couch to a toy and again a few more times between us.

it's so much fun to watch him learn new things and to be there to help him learn these things :) it's such a fun time!
i tried to take a few photos of him in the act but my camera is really not all that great and won't take a photo on demand... there is some serious lag time... daddy's on the job of getting mommy a better one so that she can better capture these important moments :) thanks daddy!

i took a few more photos, you can see them here, one is a little freaky looking but he's actually just in motion.... he's not playing the part of casper, so don't be scared... then i figured, duh, i have video capabilities on this camera, i should just capture him walking on video... well, i switched it to video then my batteries crapped out. so we'll try that again tomorrow then hopefully try to figure out how to share video on youtube. wish me luck with that... i'm not the best at video work...

onto the next part of our lives... the one that will require that we have enough caffeine to keep up with a toddler :) ack, i guess this means that my baby is now a toddler.... oh my

i have been inspired

i can't sleep... it's 1 am and i have to be at a breakfast meeting by 7:30 am (today!!) and i'm blogging instead of sleeping... go figure.

my mind is racing, with lots of inspiration. which, i figure, is a good thing. i just wish my mind would keep these racing thoughts in check and only have them during daytime or awake hours. instead of having them at 1 am....

anyways, my cause of inspiration? a new book. THIS new book, Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol. there are so many projects in there that i will be making. at first i thought i would try my hand at sewing in a zipper... thus making the small pouches, the first project listed in the book. then i got further and further in and really i think i'm going to make a bunch of them. for one, i'm making max an elf hat for no good reason other than to embarrass him in year to come. but really, i have a moth munched on kelly green wool sweater that is just screaming to be repurposed, and this is a perfect reposition for it. max will look dashing in a green elf hat :) i'll have to find some fun way to decorate it, something tells me a little flower isn't appropriate for my little guy. maybe just some large bold colored buttons. we'll see.

as for other projects on my list. i've been so inspired by one of them that i am planning a stop at the fabric store tomorrow morning so that i can start it right away. it has a due date of this saturday and the recipient reads this blog so i can't go into any more detail. just know that there will hopefully be some photos and a blog entry to follow this coming weekend. i'm so excited to make this and i sure do hope it turns out as giftable :)

i have finished (all but sewn on the buttons) booties for a friend. i need to cast on another pair and buy some fabric to match because, again, i've been inspired to sew something to go with the booties for another friend. i might wait a few weeks on that project though because hopefully by then she'll have found out what sex her baby will be and i can find appropriate fabric for that certain sex.

as for me, i'm feeling great and feeling lots of movement, especially in the evenings and early morning. such a great part of pregnancy.

as for max, he's getting sooooo close to walking. he took a half step to the couch on sunday and did about the same thing today. he mostly has found that being upright is much more fun than on all fours. but instead of taking that full out step he'll be more willing to just launch himself towards whatever it is he wants to walk to... thank god those things are usually not much further than arms reach for him and he ends up catching onto those things, couches, chairs, mommy's arms etc.... before falling face first to the ground. i however am not rushing him in the least bit :) i know he'll take a step and i know he'll do it on his own terms.

as for everything else... i think that's it.

again, please don't forget to read and sign the petition that i have listed in my post below. i don't want that to get burried just yet. it's for a really important cause and these folks need your help. go here for lots more information. and thank you for helping them out.

ok, so let's hope that posting this blog has put an end to my insomnia for the evening and that i will be asleep by 1:30.

just a little update

max is 1 year and 1 week old and doing great! he's slowing down a bit on his food intake, so i just offer him food and if he doesn't eat it, i don't press the issue, i just offer him more at a later time. that seems to be working, sorta...

he is also very very close to taking his first steps. right now he is so excited to walk holding onto my hands or anyone elses for that matter all around the house, or in the yard, or down the sidewalk. it's cute! chris and i have been encouraging him to walk a short distance alone between us but as of right now, really all he can manage is to do a belly flop in either direction, close but not quite... not trying to rush anything though.

he has also started to brush his own teeth, talk about adorable! i plop him on top of the (closed) toilet seat, put tooth paste on his brush, and hand it to him. i then do the same with my own toothbrush and we brush our teeth together, he tries to mimic everything i do except for the spitting into the sink part. talk about adorable :)

we also went out this past weekend and got him his big boy car seat! he now faces forward in the car and loves it! i can look back at him and he just smiles right back! it's fun, i just have to remember that i'm driving and i'm supposed to keep all eyes on the road at all times, not on my cute kid in the backseat lol...

as for me, i'm almost 18 weeks along (just shy by two days). i feel great! i just started sleeping with my body pillow again and i don't know why i hadn't done so a few weeks ago because i'm finally sleeping well again. well, as best as i can expect to be. one thing i'm patiently waiting for is for the weather to cool down soon so that i can go shopping for some fall/winter maternity clothes, something i really don't have much of... chris doesn't know it but he he should be so glad that since i'm not working i can get away with piecemealing my outfits together at the moment, something i could never do if i were working in an office or something... however i have no long pants that will fit in a few weeks except for one pair of very nice dress pants which i don't plan on wearing around the house while i push max around on his tractor... so a shopping excursion will be in order soon, i hope sooner rather than later, this heat and humidity is really starting to get to me... i want the cool crisp fall days to return and i want that soon!

oh, as of about a week or two ago, i had to take my wedding rings off... one part of pregnancy that i absolutely hate. i can manage to wear them during the day but if i dare sleep with them on... it's not good. so instead of forgetting to take them off at night i just haven't been wearing them at all. something i hate to do because when not pregnant, i never ever ever take them off... i've managed to wear them for special events and such but on the normal day of errands and what not, i just don't bother. so far i haven't noticed any "looks" from the local biddies with regards to my lack of ring, child on my hip and another in my belly... hopefully i don't encounter any stupid no-it-all's because i guarantee they will get an ear full if they even so much as look at me funny... and yes, i realize i could wear a different (larger) ring in their place and i did that last time but it just makes me feel like i'm cheating... on what, i don't know...

well, that's about all for this week.

round up

a lot has happened since my last post. sorry readers for such a long lull...

chris's grandmother passed away, she had a stroke three weeks prior then passed comfortably and peacefully in her own home. we bought a newer car, replaced chris's 1990 jeep with a 2000 jeep, now we both drive the SAME EXACT vehicle just in different colors... i think we need to get us some vanity plates. what do you think? my suggestions are the following: CTR 1 and CTR 2. i'm totally joking of course... no vanity plates for us, but that sure would be funny...

i have officially made it to the 2nd trimester! and i'm feeling just a tad less than 100%. still tired often but not sick :) yay! my belly is starting to change shape... and i'm really not liking it much this time. my skin is still very loose from just doing this a year ago... so i'm feeling very very lumpy... but that's not that horrible.... i just can't wait for the weather to change so that i can go out and buy some fall/winter maternity clothes that will hopefully hide my lumps... lol

no knitting has happened in the past few weeks... i'm planning on going to a knitting get together tomorrow so hopefully i'll get out of my non-knitting funk there. i need to get moving on this project so that i can move onto the NEXT one...

max has had a few milestones too, he's begun to stand and let go of things, no steps on his own yet but lots of hand held walking up and down the sidewalk and around the house. he also learned how to use a fork as of yesterday! we load it of course then he puts it in his mouth :) it's so cute! he has also made the switch from formula to whole milk. he seems to really like the change. but i'm thinking that the milk is not as filling as the formula because for the past two nights he's been waking up at strange times of the night wanting nothing but another bottle... sooo.... i guess this is just something we'll have to adapt to.

i leave you with this, our little fork user:

another tooth

max is now 10 months and two days old... apparently, i need to start planning a birthday party.

yesterday was one of the worst days he's every had... thank god my all day sickness decreased a teeny tiny bit... but at least i'm not the only one that saw his madness. my brother stopped by for a minute and he watched max crawl into a corner and just start to cry cry cry as if someone had pinched him, really hard... he cut his fifth tooth yesterday. he was a wet drooly mess, he was stinky and totally cranky... usually he chooses to sleep through this process so this was a new thing for both of us to have to medicate him during the day. all of his other teeth came in at night so that meant that he just woke up every few hours screaming... this was an all day screaming event. nothing i did would help... he would just cry in my lap, cry on the floor, cry in my bed (we tried to take a nap together), he cried in the car and in his crib too... he cried pretty much everywhere... i put him to bed a little early last night, he went down with a little resistance but then ended up crying himself to sleep... since he slept through the night and is still sleeping but starting to make some waking noises... i'm hoping that today is a better day and i have my normal jolly baby back today :)

as for me, i remembered yesterday that i needed to start taking my prenatal vitamins. i think this might be helping my all day sickness a bit. or at least that's what i'm telling myself. power of suggestion, ya know?

I have no new recipes to try, i have no new knitting (yet), and no other crafts that are worth mentioning... in fact my house is pretty much a sty.... i haven't done much of anything and that includes load and unload the dishwasher... today is my "get back on track" day. i will have clean dishes and my husband will have some fresh underpants for tomorrow.

new bag... new baby stats... new found love

my mother in law reupholstered a wing back chair for me a few months ago (love it!) and she had some left over fabric that she gave to me. i made some pillows but i still had a pretty big piece that was screaming at me to make something out of it. the fabric is bright and cheery but not crazy. it has my favorite colors reds, oranges and pinks. so i decided to make another bag for myself. this time i bought some hefty interfacing to help it keep it's shape, it was the sew in version... next time i'm going to try the iron on kind to see how it makes a difference. i basically made two bags, each with it's own interfacing layer sewn to it, i turned one bag inside out and sewed the edges together, then attached the magnetic closures, folded the top into the inside of the back and pined the straps into place and sewed up the top. it's very thick, very sturdy and i love the shape. i did some basic measuring to keep everything even but i didn't use a pattern, same as last time.

here's a photo:

i attempted to take some photos of the inside but my batteries died :( i found some new ones, i uploaded all my photos to flickr then i realized that i really wanted to take an inside the bag shot but again, as i got all set up outside, my new (but used - thanks for lending them to me max... you won't notice that that crazy toy doesn't make those whacked out noises anymore will you?) batteries died again... sorry... there is one other photo on flickr if you want to check that out.

max turned 9 months over the weekend! he's crawling like a uh, i dunno, baby? ha! anyways, he crawls like mad, he loves it! he had his 9 month drs visit yesterday he weighs 19 lbs 11 oz and is 28 1/2 inches long. he is right on target for growth and a little bit advance in the skilz department! lol he also has been given the green light for eating meat. so last night chris made some sweet and sour chicken in the Pressure Cooker (segway into "new found love") and we gave max some of our chicken all mushed up, he liked it but it was a little dry for him... we're just happy that he can now start to eat what we're eating :) how fun is this going to be?

new found love... my Rapida Pressure Cooker. Number one reason, chris cooks with it! number 2 reason, it's fast and super tasty food! we received this as a wedding gift almost 4 years ago and we had one failed attempt at using it to make some beans... we are not back on the pressure cooker wagon with a vengeance. AND, i'm going to attempt to use it soon... it scares me for some reason... but i WILL figure it out. chris has made three totally yummy things in it. the first was beef in an onion raisin sauce, the 2nd was rice pudding with dried cranberries! (he's made this twice actually) and the third was the sweet and sour chicken. one thing that we need to work out is the timing. it's very easy to over cook things, then they turn out kinda dry but still tasty. it's a work in progress.... stay tuned for more fun food stories surrounding the rapida pressure cooker! i like the name rapida.... it makes me think of mexican food! mexican food that's FAST! Rapido!

peek-a-boo, i see you! bath time fun and a thank you

max has learned how to do peek-a-boo :) how cute is that? he and daddy were sitting in the living room this morning before chris had to leave for a meeting. and max had a burp cloth that he was trying to eat when all of a sudden he put it over his face then pulled it away and laughed! so we both said "peek-a-boo!" to him and he kept doing it! adorable...

he also took his first bath in the bathtub without the baby tub, he wasn't too keen on sitting in that little thing for the past month or so... so i cleaned up the tub and plopped him in with his foam letters and numbers and he was so funny, he kept scooting his little butt all around the tub. i don't know if he liked the wave action he was creating or if it felt funny or what... but it sure looked hilarious.

a HUGE thank you to Melissa (masavvy) on the nest (sorry i don't have your blog link), she suggested the use of a Magic Eraser in the tub over on the nest in Amanda's bathroom cleaning post, you deserve a big hug! WHY have i been scrubbing and scrubbing with crappy cleansers for so long? why didn't i try this magical cleaning product in the bathroom before? i've used these things in the rest of the house and have been happy with their results... why didn't i think to use it in the tub? seriously a duh moment... especially since my tub has a non-slip micro texture on it that creates a polka dot effect on the bottom of my tub. only the polka dots are usually dirt colored... nice... i usually have to put some serious elbow grease into it, but not this time! i think i might like cleaning the bathroom again! or maybe for the first time ever!

spring cleaning

it's monday, we changed the clocks forward two nights ago. yesterday, FLEW by... today, i'm a little groggy and so is maxwell but it's not too bad, i'm actually motivated more than anything. the cats don't seem to notice though....

yesterday chris and i spent most of the day spring cleaning the office. my desk is (for the first time) totally clear of clutter! no magazines, no papers, no random items that belong elsewhere in the house. i threw out, i reorganized, and i cleaned. the only thing left to do is vacuum which we couldn't do at 11 pm last night because max was asleep... and i didn't want to chance it. on a whim the other day, i bought some of those little magazine organizers at IKEA. we have a lot of magazines, they are mostly photography related and need to be kept. i also don't want to get rid of my Real Simple magazines because they have so many great recipes in them that i've never ever made... my thoughts are that if i know where they all are, then i'll reference them more often. wish me luck :)

i also made a list of "to do's". it's not an unattainable list but a reminder sort of list. i always say, OOh, i'm going to make this or do this or that... then i promptly forget... until the next time i'm motivated and think, oh yeah, i was going to do this last year.... i'm going to do this NOW... and then promptly forget... this list will help me stay on track. one of the first items on the list was to clean and reorganize the office AND set up a sewing station for me. i had been "storing" my machine in the dining room on the floor next to the buffet. that's not acceptable. i would then have to set it up at the dining room table when i was working on a project. that takes up the entire table and i am sick of that... so we moved it upstairs. and put it on our old kitchen table that had been up there and was just a resting place for items that didn't have a proper home. now those items do have homes and so does my machine! (i even cleaned it!) i have a few items that i need to get to further organize that space but for the most part, i'm on my way to having a crafting corner :) yay!

I made this last week:
it's my first attempt at a tote bag. see, i had this diaper bag but i have since grown out of it. since i now have to bring food items with us everywhere we go, this small bag just doesn't work well.... we were bursting at the seams and i needed a little more space. so i created this cute bag. it's perfect! fits everything we need to have with us and has a little extra room for whatever else might need to come along as well :) here are more photos. i didn't use a pattern, i simply bought a yard of fabric that i liked, cut it in half, did some trimming and basically put a bag inside a bag, it's lined, has a small inside pocket for keys and my phone and has a magnetic closure to keep all of it's items inside... there's even room for a small knitting project if need be :) spectacular!

i'm almost finished with the knitted bibs... i didn't get much knitting time last week since chris was out of town. but i'm planning on finishing the 2nd one in the next few days so that i can get them in the mail. photos of those to come soon.

other than that, spring/summer is on it's way! chris and i sat down yesterday and went over our weekend schedules for the next few weeks and we realized that we've got 6 weekends go go until he's finished with the semester. then we'll be able to kick off our summer with a PROPER trip to NYC. and have the rest of the summer to be pretty much carefree (for the most part) we're so excited to spend time with max as he is starting to so much more aware of his surroundings... he's standing (while holding on of course) like a champ. we both think he's going to bypass crawling. i'm also convinced that he said his first word the other day, it was "hh" which is "hi" he is waving too - it's adorable.

ok, i'm off to conquer mt. laundry - it's a very steep peek!

simple pleasures

HOT WATER! yes, a hot shower, the ability to run the dishwasher, the ability to wash clothes in the washer in HOT water, washing my hands in at least luke warm water.... all things i was not able to do since LAST monday evening until this morning. yes a week and a 1/2 without hot water... because of our lack of hot water, i woke up this morning and took a long hot shower all by myself with no interruptions from a crying baby at 6:30 this morning. the luxury! i never shower that early in the morning. i might just start though, it was very relaxing and max wasn't sitting in the upstairs hall crying his eyes out because i wasn't paying attention to him while i dry my hair... simple pleasures i tell you....

on the knitting front, i made these....

I'm really not happy with the final product. i put them on, was all happy about them, they are super cute really, but then when i wore them for the first time they stretched out beyond belief and are not in the least bit cool anymore... they flop around on my hands... and look silly... the yarn is a 47% acrylic and 53% nylon mix, the directions say to hand wash so i might toss them in the washer with some warm water to see if that fixes them... i'm guessing it will temporarily but that they'll just stretch right back out again once i wear them... oh well....

i'm still working on absorba, and i'm knitting some bibs that i think i've screwed up as well... and my log cabin... i need to get back into that project or i might just end up proving chris right and not getting it finished before NEXT fall...

ooh, ps max is 6 months old now! my god!

the funniest woman on the face of the earth

that's me! yep, all me! apparently, i am the funniest woman ever and it's not just in my head this time around.

ok, so maybe all mom's are hilarious to their children at least when they are in the "baby" stage. i know my mom was pretty cool until i hit my "teens" then she was the farthest thing from cool. she's now regained that "cool" status but that's another story for another day. back to ME being cool!

all i have to do is look at him, LOOK at him! and he smiles like he was just given a golden ticket, and giggles and *raspberries* like it's going out of style! this in turn, just melts my heart! it's the coolest most gratifying feeling on the planet to be a mom and to be someones most exciting form or entertainment! no one else can get these kinds of reactions from him. only me! that's why I'M the funniest woman on the face of the earth and no one else is... poor daddy...

i know i promised knitting photos... but they didn't turn out how i would have liked, so i need to enlist chris and his expert shutter operating skills. THEN... i'll have some photos for you all.

i'm now off to play with the bubby...

ahhh, valentine's day wrap up

first to lay it out, chris and i aren't huge v-day celebrators. it's sort of a silly holiday, i mean we love each other everyday (usually) why do we need to have one day a year to profess this love to each other when we should be doing it everyday.... well, i guess it's just a reminder to us all that we SHOULD be professing our love on a daily basis. reminder noted.

ooh, i just glanced at a stack of mail to realize that i have a Real Simple still in the packaging that came last week that needs to be read! yippy! anyways.

So as for my gift to chris for v-day, i had made a trip to our local grocery store on monday and picked up some steaks. I had planned for my own version of surf and turf. I bought sirloin steaks and used some frozen shrimps that we had. We paired that with a sweet potato and some red wine called Boomey (it had a boomerang on the label, was $4 a bottle and was really quite tasty! it even had a real cork not a fake plastic one). anyways, i took no photos, so you'll have to imagine what it all looked like... really i could shoot myself for not doing so because everything looked amazing! I prepared the steak earlier in the day by letting it marinate for a few hours in a ziplock with olive oil, parsley flakes, and black pepper. the green parsley looked very pretty on the raw red meat. then i heated up the iron skillet, got it as hot as i could and preheated the oven to 325 degrees. once the skillet was piping hot, i put the steaks in and seared each side for about 15 to 20 seconds, then i quickly put the entire skillet in the hot oven and cooked one side for about 12 minutes then flipped them and cooked them for another 10. (about two minutes too long but it was still quite pink in the middle). very very tasty...

as for the shrimp with tails on, i marinated those in a ziplock with lemon juice, hot sauce, ground pepper and crushed and roughly chopped garlic for a few hours. then i transferred that package to a small baking dish, sprinkled some more parsley on top and threw those in a 400 degree oven for about 6 minutes.

as for the sweet potato, i pricked it with a fork, and zapped it for 8 minutes... sliced it in half, and put a pat of butter on top.

No dessert... we had plans to go to a friends home later that evening for a little dessert party but because of the weather it was cancelled. so instead we just finished the bottle of wine together (haven't done that in a while) and snuggled on the couch after max went to sleep.

steak and shrimp dinner was my gift to chris. his gift to me was a $25 gift card to a yarn shop in sewickley! i can't wait to go spend it!

Oh, and my cutie pie little boy got me a card with monkeys on it! the one monkey is wearing pearls, i guess that's the mommy monkey :) so cute!

day two

getting up with chris wasn't so bad this morning, but that might have been because i HAD to in order to make it to my meeting on time. i went to a networking meeting for the first time this morning. it was the first "professional" work thing i've done since i left my job four and a half months ago. it felt great to be around business professionals and to have some conversation that consisted of things other than goo goo and gah gah. not that i don't love those conversations, those are great too, but an adult needs a certain amount of non baby time in order to keep a sane life. this meeting was catered by one of the network members, wow, it was really good. I love food and i especially love breakfast and THIS was a great one... i would love to find a recipe that would duplicate this, eggs, cheese, onions, sausage and a slightly sweet bread top that was puffy and really good all baked up in a casserole. fresh fruit salad too, and a yummy cherry scone. I am thinking that i'll have her cater our small gathering for after max's baptism.... it's only just family and the god parents but that's one less thing that i have to worry about right?

Knitting news: i found this great project on magknits.com it's super easy potholders i'm making these for a few of the women in my life. i just think they are so cute and i already have one done (with the knitting portion of it) with just putting in about a hours worth of knitting last night. I'm sure the sewing part will take a little longer but that's not a big deal. I love giving knitted gifts :) when i'm finished with them i'll take photos and share them here and probably on flickr.com as well.

well, i'm off to do a little more christmas shopping and to purchase some items for a baby shower that i'm helping out with this weekend.