The 90's were bad enough

Lucky for me that I didn't have a digital camera 15 years ago because if I did, I would mostly feel compelled to reach into the depths of my stored pictures online and root around for a senior picture of myself. Alas, I don't. And I'm not about to scan one. No Sirree. Go through all of the trouble to just be able to give you a side by side, mind-burning image of this:Scary, no? Sorry. This could have been my class picture if I had graduated high school the same year as my mom. Freaky, right? God, and to think that I often feel like I take too much time doing my hair as it is. Can you imagine all that work to get that result? **cringe** And the glasses? **goosebumps** (Mom, I'm sure you looked gorgeous anyhow.) Dear Lord I can only imagine what my kids will say one day as they look back on photos of me and how I've dressed them. On the other hand, since I'm always the one behind the camera, they may never know what I looked like in the first place.

Try on any year you'd like at http://www.yearbookyourself.com/, and don't forget to let me know what a dated you goofball you look like too. Fair is fair.

The 90's may not have been so bad for me if only I had known that thick, Brooke Shields eyebrows and silk shirts buttoned up to your nose wouldn't be cool 15 years later. Then again, maybe I did. Maybe I didn't.

What else would it be?

As Elaina was finished with her bath last night, she wanted some extra time to play in the tub with her dissolving colored tablets which effectively turn the water either blue, red or yellow. Eric had cautioned her not to make a mess while he stepped out of the room briefly. When he returned just a minute later, he walked into Elaina laying on her back in the bath water, splashing both legs.

Eric sternly asked, " Elaina, what did I tell you about not splashing?"

To which Elaina quickly answered in earnest, "No, it's okay Dad. It's just my tail."

Apparently she is part mermaid. Must have slipped my mind.

The Little Weekend

Yeah, um, I'm not so sure what happened to last week. As a whole. Missing. Gone. Busy.
Whatever it is that has kept me from blogging, it sure has been keeping me busy. So let me just pop in over to the start of our weekend. That was only a few days ago, I can surely remember some noteworthy points of interest from then.

For the past few weeks, we have experienced incredible weather and perfectly comfortable temperatures both day and night. This is the same reason that on Friday night, Eric decided to build a fire in our fire pit and enjoy the almost-fall season. It's only the second time that we've taken both kids out at bedtime to cuddle on our laps and watch the fire, but surely just the beginning of a nice tradition. The last time, Lincoln was entirely too wiggly and Elaina just wanted to eat marshmallows. Straight from the bag. This time Lincoln cuddled on my lap contently sucking his thumb and Elaina was endless help tossing kindling and sticks into the fire. Only one time did she get slightly closer than I would have preferred, but in her tender age of 3, I think she showed much respect and caution in regard to distancing herself from the fire pit.

The part I enjoy most about sitting by the fire in the night air, is that it reminds me of so many nights my family spent camping as we were growing up. We were always the family that had the biggest fire, the best popcorn and the biggest circle of old and new friends gazing into the warm, open flames. While we don't have any intention of camping until our kids are older, I so much want our kids to be able to reflect back on their childhood and have such fond memories of such simple things as enjoying a toasty, warm campfire.

On Saturday, Eric tackled some projects outside and Elaina and I baked cookies inside while Lincoln napped. After many delays and interruptions, we finally made our way to a fall festival I had read about in the local newspaper. We arrived a full hour before it was scheduled to end and everything had already been packed up, cleared out and cleaned up. Apparently, a light rain shower had passed through and they decided to close down early. I was hugely disappointed for the kids until we learned that the people at The Little Gym were welcoming everyone to play in their facility. And as we are huge lovers of PBS, and The Little Gym just happens to be a proud sponsor, I have always been curious as to what all it has to offer. This was a great opportunity for the kids to run, bounce, swing, play and slide with no limitations. The best part is that they practically had the place to themselves as there were only a handful of kids left playing.

Even though we missed the activities I intended upon, The Little Gym was great (free) fun for the kids. And while I'm not willing to make the 40 minute drive (one way) to enroll my kids in their classes, I was happy to see what it's all about. Do these kids look happy to you?

As much as I had been looking forward to a fall festival day with my family, I have to admit, I was very much looking forward to Sunday which was a girls' day out. Three of my girlfriends and myself ventured out early in the morning to make the hour and a half trip to Ikea in Pittsburgh. I proved to be a disappointment to myself because I was totally off my game that day and didn't manage to score any super-fantastic finds or even great deals. How did that happen? We even went to the mall and I found nothing. I must be coming down with something. All in all, it was a great day to spend with my friends and the better part was getting home mid-afternoon and still having plenty enough time to spend with my family.

How's that for a fun, little weekend update? This week, I'll try to do better.

However. Late. Anyhow.

While these pictures aren't exactly fresh from the memory card, they were still taken with the intent to post and worth the viewing. Here are some clips from my favorite moments in the past few weeks.

This was taken at our favorite park about 30 minutes from our house. This time, we remembered to bring some bread to feed the ducks and geese. Elaina was the "feeder" while Lincoln watched intently from his stroller. Next year he'll be big enough to throw on his own.
The first day our power went out, I stayed home from work and McDonald's was the closest place that still had power, thus providing a warm meal. There were at least 5 other moms there donning their ball caps (from not showering)(no power) with their anxiety-ridden children in tow. Lincoln was such a big boy exploring all of the tunnels he could maneuver. Since Elaina hardly stood still for longer than a second, this is the best picture I could capture. While playing with the other kids at the play area, I paused to hear that Elaina's voice was the loudest, serving as the director-of-pretend to all the children within earshot. She wasn't so much bossy, which I'm happy about, but she was definitely the ring leader to make sure everyone was going about the same pretend mission as herself.

On Monday evening, (our first night without power) we drove an hour and a half away to a friend's house to borrow a generator. We ate dinner at a restaurant and dressed the kids in their jammies right in the restaurant, ready for the long trip home and straight into bed in our already dark house.

This past Sunday, a friend of mine came over with her daughter, Ali so that the girls could enjoy a fun dress-up play date together. Every time I tried to take a picture of the girls posing in their finery, Lincoln wandered right in front of the camera, completely obstructing my view of the girls. He was like an ant at a picnic, coming over to see what we had for him. Lucky for him, I'm always happy to take a picture of his sweet, goldfish-chomping face!

Drum roll please.... ta-da-ta-da! The Fanciest Friends ever! Ali-bug and Driving Miss 'Laina.

Because Nobody Likes IKE

Just in case you missed it, thousands of Ohio residents became the latest victims of the remnants of Hurricane Ike. Since a huge-a-freakin-normous wind storm passed through our area on Sunday night, we became a tally mark on the long list of areas without power. The storm, ironically without a single drop of rain, left mounds of destruction and debris all over our neighborhoods, tattered homes and uprooted trees from their cemented bases. I haven't even had a chance to post a picture of our lovely, new sun canopy we've added to our back patio, the one that has the nice netting panels with split sides that roll back and the one that Eric just (Saturday night) strung the frame with rope lights, but it's that one that is now bent, warped and uneven as a result of the high winds. I would have loved to show you how pretty it was. But not anymore.

Also, I had wanted to reserve a chunk of time Sunday evening to write about my parent's weekend visit and how we had such a good time hanging out and not doing too much of anything but laughing and playing with the kids, and how they had to drive back to their house in the thick of the wind storm. Alas, no power, no blogging, just good memories.

What I can do is recap some of our days living like the amish. After only an hour without power, I was desperately missing my luxurious, well-lit, appliance-efficient lifestyle. Hello Spoiled American. After nearly 72 hours of camping out in our house, we finally regained power on Wednesday morning. It was a blessed event if ever there was.

Things that I have learned to love about being in the dark:

Really getting to know how resilient my kids are. Although Elaina had asked to watch Noggin every single day without fail, she really made considerable adjustments and has enjoyed reading bedtimes books by the light of the lantern and sleeping in our bed. The power outage hasn't fazed Lincoln in the least. I've paid more attention to how well my kids play together and entertain themselves with the toys that they have in front of them. Their easy dispositions have made this ordeal bearable for all of us.

I never take friendships for granted and friends with generators available for loan are even better! We were able to save most of the food from our refrigerator and freezers, including the half side of pork we just picked up 10 days ago.

I found myself enjoying earlier bedtimes for all of us. We had to get the kids into a quick bedtime schedule since it becomes pitch black outside and inside, right around 8:00. And since there isn't particularly much housework I could do without power cords and appliances, and most certainly no internet browsing, I was able to fall asleep to the tune of the frantic hum of the generator around 10:00.

Lord, what would we have without a gas hot water heater? Take cold showers, that's what we would do. Amen! for hot water showers and no water shortage! And candlelit showers are always calming don't you agree?

I very much enjoyed the team work and partnership of my husband. Since we had limited time before the sun went down and lantern time began, we learned to rush through our evening routine to keep as much consistency for the kids.

As anal as I may be sometimes about having everything in it's proper place and housework kept up as much as possible, I certainly found it all working in our favor while accessing things that we needed by candlelight.

Since Wednesday, things have gradually been getting back to normal around here. There are still plenty of people without electricity, but we all have to consider ourselves fortunate that we've hardly had the burden and hardship to deal with as the residents in Texas. And even though I found myself shaky and filled with anxiety about what our week had in store for us as the electric company predicted an entire week without power, we managed and we managed well.

Tomorrow is Sunday once again and the forecast is looking sunny. I still plan to reserve a chunk of time in my evening to finally post some pictures and hopefully get back in the swing of things on the blog front. Until, let our thoughts and prayers be with those who have suffered even greater burdens than us without lights and conveniences.

Party ON!

Since I haven't posted in a few days since my Fisher Price party, did anyone begin to wonder if I survived? No? A party in which babies and toddlers outnumber the adults and in the home of someone who can't stand not having symmetrical pillow shapes flanking the sofas? ( <---- okay, I'm really not that obsessed, but I really do like the appearance of symetric pillow shapes on my sofa)

Well, let me just tell you about my cool party. Eric spent Friday night putting together all of the toys and learning how to hook up the (super cool) wireless, "Smart Bounce & Spin pony" and we hid all of the new toys in another room until the guests arrived. And speaking of my party guests, there was a little issue with that. Fisher Price encouraged each hostess to invite at least 10 kids aged 6-24 months that were certain to attend. The problem I ran into was that I didn't necessarily want to invite too many more than 10 because I only had 10 nifty FP party favor bags to give to my guests. As the day drew nearer and most everyone was confirmed, I learned that 2 (sibs) guests were battling a cold the morning of the party, one kid came down with a super high fever and two of the moms of my potential guests, had work obligations and couldn't make it. I ended up with 7 kids in all, counting my kids. Not as nutty, crazy, busy, messy, loud and crowded as I suspected and I was alright with that.

The kids all had a really great time playing with the new Fisher Price toys which made for great photo opportunities, just as Houseparty had expected. I made such a point to capture the guest-children in poses, taking for granted that I would have plenty of pictures of my kids as always, but the opposite was true. My little Turdletts only wanted to play on the slide because I moved it to a new area of the living room. Twice. Turds.

Here is a link to my party page on their website. Look for Lincoln wearing an orange shirt and Elaina in long ponytails and a white shirt. Somehow they managed to stay mostly clear from the camera and were just as happy to have other kids to play with at their house. I drew two lucky winners to take home 2 of the younger age category toys and kept the 2 toys that I saw my Monkeys enjoying the most.

All that Houseparty.com has asked for in return is to simply complete a short survey about the party, posting pictures and videos to the their party website and a comment on their blog that highlights the fun we had at my party.

Hooray for Fisher Price and great, free toys! It was an awesome experience for me and my guests, now go sign up and when you get selected to host a fabulous, new party, don't forget to invite me over!

How Awesome is this?

If you recall from my 50 Random Things post a short while back, I mentioned that I got selected to host a Fisher Price party through Houseparty.com.

So here I am to gush about the caliber of awesomeness of which I am so excited to be a part of. First of all, I came across information on Houseparty.com through a random bargain blog that I read and went over and signed up a quick little profile of myself and hoped that something peeked my interest that I could experience a party of my own. The whole concept of hosting a houseparty boils down to select families across the U.S. are chosen to host a theme-type party in which a major company sponsors to get real reviews, reactions and opinions from real, live potential customers. The company sends you a boat load of free goodies that they want feedback on and in turn, you host your friends over to party with you and all they ask in return is your feedback and pictures posted on their Houseparty blog. Easy! Awesome!

When I first signed on, I was a bummed out because I had missed the sign up for hosting a taste testing of the new Hershey's Bliss chocolate candy that has recently hit the stores. (BTW: DELISH!) The company continued to send e-mail announcements of party themes to host and Fisher Price soon struck my eye as they were looking for kids aged 6-24 months and I already have one of those! Plus, I know lots of those!

Out of over 100,000 registrants who applied for the Fisher Price party, only 1,000 were selected. The specifics required to the host to have 10 or more 6-24 month old children in attendance and hold the party between Sept. 6-7. That way 10,000 families are hosting the same party all across the U.S. at the very same time. How cool is that?

The really, really awesome part of the whole party is that Fisher Price has sent me such an incredible load of new toys and age appropriate party favors for each guest. Also included were gift bags, coupons, product manuals and batteries. Seriously!
Here are some pictures of my jackpot:

The Party Favors:

The following are mine to keep, but seriously, do my kids really need 4 new giant toys and where would I put them? I've chosen to keep 2 of my kids' favorites and pull 2 guests' names from a hat to win the other 2. Surely there will be 2 very appreciative babies and mom's who can enjoy these way more than my kids.

If you have a 6-24 month old kiddo and no plans for Saturday, stop on over, it sounds like my house is going to be a full blown Fisher Price fun house. Do you think I'll survive this? I have a lot of cleaning to do. Before and after. oh.

Heading West: West Virginia, that is

For this lovely 3 day weekend we held true to what has become another annual tradition of going to spend Labor Day at Eric's grandma's house in West Virginia. Mamaw just lives on the outskirts of Charleston which gives us the added bonus of celebrating the Sternwheel Regatta Festival while we're there.

Because we were there from Friday until Monday, I'll just share half of the load of pictures that I took and highlight the most fun, sweet and unforgettable moments of our trip. Our first night, we foolishly thought that Lincoln would sleep happily in his pack 'n play. Imagine our weary dismay when he began to cry to get out of it at 3:30 in the morning. Eric lay Lincoln in between us in our bed where he flopped around for 2 hours and then began to scream at 5:30 a.m., waking up the entire house. Needless to say, our first day was off to a rocky start but with a much needed scheduled nap time for the whole family in the early afternoon.

Since it was near 90 outside, we sought out a cooler climate and free entertainment in the mall. Both kids loved playing with the oversized train table in the most awesome toy store. Lincoln picked out his favorite train cars and didn't want to ever give them up. Elaina made a little seat for herself out of a package and played with the doll house filled with little bear people and pint sized furniture.When we arrived back at Mamaw's house, we were pleasantly surprised to walk in on a toddler bed set up in our bedroom with a giant, full, Winnie the Pooh comforter set atop of it. Eric's aunt and uncle who live nearby, so kindly brought over these accommodations that they use for their grandchildren for our kids to enjoy. Our lucky day, indeed. We lined the pack 'n play with the comforter and Elaina slept happily in a perfect sized bed for her. Aaah, the beauty of a good night's sleep! Thank you very much Gail and Ernie!

On Sunday we ventured out to the Regatta Festival held on the river bank, packed with food, entertainment and rides. The inflatable slide was awesome for Elaina and she wore herself out by making at least 15 trips up and down the slide until she was so sweaty and flushed we had to make her stop. Lincoln was finally big enough to ride some rides too. I don't think I would have been especially trusting if Elaina wasn't at his side, but Elaina would never let anyone or anything harm her baby brother. Who's that in the back seat of the crazy car ride? Why, it's me and Lincoln. Eric finally stepped behind the camera and with some stroke of luck, I actually look like I went on a family trip with my family! There's finally proof that I was there! (Tangerine shirt, visor, baby to the right... it's ME!) (And look where Lincoln's arm rests. LOOK. It looks like a giant fat roll seeping from underneath my shirt. And that leaves me to critique my picture. Maybe this is why I'm never in any ;-)) And this would be Mamaw. Eric's grandmother who is 85 years young and still believes and lives good, old southern hospitality. For her, it's all about family and good cooking. Thanks for a great visit Mamaw! I love this tree. The actual tree stump is grounded off to the left. Years ago the tree was struck by lightning and bent just so that it planted itself upright to begin to grow in a new direction. (Tracy, eat your heart out at this photo op! You could spend all day capturing angles and poses with this tree.) Here, Eric was tossing Lincoln in the air and on one particularly high toss, he got hollered at by not only his wife but his Mamaw too! ERIC!! But if only you could hear Lincoln's belly laughs bursting from his little self. Look! There's a Buckeye in the West Virginia tree! Eric, do you just want to be hollered at by your wife?Just before we left, Eric's Aunt Debbie got some help picking tomatoes from the garden. Elaina already asked to come back next year to help when the tomatoes are even bigger, like she will be.
And the tradition lives on.

Kidding around at the FAIR!

Upholding a long standing work / play tradition, I volunteered myself once again to "work" my employers' information booth at the county fair. The best part about the shift I sign up for is that it allows me to leave work early, people-watch from our booth along with my girlfriend from work and then Eric and the kids meet me at the end of my shift for us to enjoy the evening together. Almost every year that I've been doing this, the weather has been perfect to accommodate late nights, riding the rides and filling up on enough greasy fair -food to last me another year. This week, however, we had been on a cycle of cold, rainy weather and this day didn't see above 60 degrees. Despite my warning of the inclimate weather and still-dripping rain, Eric wanted to make an effort to bring the kids out to the fair, with the promise that they would be warmly dressed. Oh.


We managed to rig an umbrella over the double stroller and with hats and hoodies, we mostly stayed dry. We took in all of the sights and smells from the animal barns and the informational booths and like every other fair goer, picked up some cheapy-freebies along the way. Helium filled balloons were very much appreciated by our passengers aboard our stroller limo.


Elaina was most impressed with the goats and every one of them became her friend. She couldn't bear to pet only one goat at a time because in an instant, another lonely goat caught her eye and she darted to give him it's share of attention. I can't hardly believe we made it out of that barn without a scene. I was just happy it was the little kid goats that struck her fancy rather than than the larger than life cows and pigs that you could smell before they were seen.
Lincoln was mostly content to steal away some drinks from his sister's sippy cup and hang out in his warm, dry seat.

Even when the goat became a little too interested in the taste of Lincoln's blanket, he took in stride as if he's around goats nibbling out from their pens everyday.

Despite the rain and cold, we had a really fun family night. I guess this is one of those instances of when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. In our case, just really, really watered down and cold lemonade.

50 Finale, (Finally)

And the list continues...


31. We need a new trash can. The reason being, Lincoln is obsessed with the little flippy door on the trash can lid that conveniently makes his cars and blankets and toys disappear into the abyss. I tend to wonder how many cars we've thrown away before making this realization.


32. Since breaking up with my chiropractor, (remember me: stretching 10 mins/ day) (<---not happened once) I have resorted to buying glucosomine with chondrotin tablets to make this old, haggard body feel not so decrepit. Two days in, already noticing a difference.


33. Eric and I will be celebrating our 10th year anniversary this year and I want to plan an overnight getaway without the kids, but still don't know where to go or what to do with our grown up selves. It's fascinating to look for a place for us without having to worry about a nearby park, attraction or play area.


34. Elaina's hair has officially grown to her waist already at 3 years old. Wanna know how I know? I had to pull her hair out of her waistband the other day while I was dressing her. Simply gorgeous.


35. Lincoln loves taking baths. From the moment the bath water begins to run, he is already trying to lift his leg over the side of the tub to climb in. Whether or not he is clothed makes no difference to him, this kid wants to be in the tub. Now.


36. I suspect that Keegan is fully blind at this point. He has had macular degeneration for the past several years and in the past few months, he has gotten to the point where he can no longer judge distance nor direction without stumbling his way through.


37. Lincoln has learned to walk backwards. One day, he stumbled his feet in the backward motion and ran into the closed door and thought it was the funniest thing ever. What give with that kid?

38. I did my very last Tastefully Simple party on Sunday and actually ended it with much relief. I've already cleaned out and organized most of my supply closet and have a bundle of paperwork to recycle. This is a pretty good indication that my time is up and I'm ready to move forward.

39. What's a kid update without mention of Picky Pickerson? Elaina's appetite seems to be picking up only slightly. Basically, I'm talking about the difference between 6 bites of her hot dog versus only 4. Oh well.

40. Keegan is making it difficult for me to blog tonight as his fuzzy rump is producing the most severely toxic, gaseous fumes that could gag a skunk. I do it for you people. For you.

41. We're seriously discussing a very much needed kitchen remodel to potentially begin in the first part of next year. While I don't mean to sound ungrateful or unappreciative, living through remodeling again, only this time, with two kiddies in the house just scares the ever- loving bejesus out of me. The kids and I might need a place to stay, anyone have a spare room?

42. A teeny, tiny part of me is ready for summer to end. (Aack!) I love the fall weather and layered sweaters with long sleeves and great jeans and not having to worry about pasty white legs and shorts and bathing suits. As for winter, I can only handle and appreciate only about 30 days of snowy, cold days below zero and that's not a consecutive appreciation by any means.

43. I never thought that "50 Random Things" would take me almost a week to compile. I feel like I've addressed a lot of things that have been occupying our time and planting a seed for future blog topics. My mind feels clear of so many "remember to blog this" details.

44. I've gotten selected to host a Fisher- Price Houseparty on Sept. 6 with 10 babies (and moms)as our guests. The details are awesome and I can't wait to tell you more as the date approaches.

45. We still need to get Lincoln baptized. This topic weighs so heavily on my mind and there are so many circumstances involving church and religion that it's impossible to address them here, but will be definite material for a post of it's own.

46. Did anyone know that I could eat an entire tray of rice crispy treats all by myself. In one sitting. Have not completed, year- to- date, however, not ruled out.

47. My monkeys have come up with a fun, new toddler-sport. They climb the top of the slide ladder and dump themselves onto the sofa cushions, squealing with joy until the get up to do it again. I so much need my videos to upload.

48. I watched about 20 minutes of the closing ceremonies of the Olympics. That's about 15 minutes more than I had watched up until that point. Why do I have to sleep?

49. I wish desperately for 9:30 bedtimes for me. It would only be possible if I saved absolutely every chore for the weekend and never had weeknight plans.

50. Keegan's butt smells so bad and I've finally reached my 50! I hope that you enjoyed the read and feel like you're a little caught up in the life and times of our little family.

Anyone want a smelly, blind dog?

30/50 Things

Today I've decided to mix things up a little bit on the blogfront. I got inspired from a recent e-mail that I've pulled from my inbox several times in the past month and thought it would be fun to share in my blog.


The e-mail asks the recipient to make a list of 5o things you are doing right now, wearing right now, like and dislikes, etc, etc... you get the point. I began to think that with my recent neglect of my old friend, Blog, this might be a fun way to recount a lot of the little things that seem to be making our lives so full, busy and fun over the past few weeks. Besides that, there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think, "Oh I need to write about that!" and the story line begins to create in my head, but never consummates into written words. With that said, this is my attempt in recounting and capturing a whole bunch of randomness all in one spot. Over the next two days, I'm going to compile a list of sorts to include my favorite moments with my kids, my husband and my days in general. My challenge is to come up with 5o, no more and no less and restrict my summary into 3 sentences or less. In case you haven't noticed, I sometimes have a tendency to ramble and and talk incessantly about tiny, little details which are mostly important only in my mind, but could otherwise fore go such detail and length. Just sayin'.


Are you ready? Grab a snack and a comfy chair because I'm rolling out the first 30, here we go!

1. Lincoln is waving. A lot. He waves his arm in the air with his goofy little grin, just before slapping his arm closely to his chest, letting you know the wave is over. Where did he come up with that?


2. The stubborn, "I-want-what-I-want, NOW!" attitude of a 3 year-old has been rearing it's ugly head at our house as of late. When she's not rested, Elaina gets a slight affliction of "Diva Syndrome." We've had more power struggles in not her getting her own way more than ever.


3. We bought a wagon. A super cool 2 seater, Radio Flyer with seat belts, back rests, a sun canopy and a rear cubby trunk. The kids love it and we're already getting lots of use out of it. It's been a great, timely purchase for our family.


4. My laundry baskets of clothes that need ironed have reached epic proportions and deserve a gold medal for the number of set-in wrinkles and creases they have incurred while being dumped in my largest laundry basket.


5. Picky Pickerson's eating habits nor her menu have not shown much improvement. The thing that really is driving me up a wall is that the child will dip her mozzarella/cheddar cheesestick into her raspberry yogurt, eat it and say "MMmm, good." [Excuse me while I barf, thankyouverymuch.]


6. Lincoln has been on some weird pattern where he wakes up screaming and crying with his eyes closed and seems virtually inconsolable for anywhere from 5 - 25 minutes. My first instinct was to blame it on his molars coming in. With more input and research, I'm (unfortunately) leaning toward the fact that he may be having night terrors.


7. Momma hasn't been getting much sleep. See #6.


8. You know your lifestyle and family dynamics have changed drastically when you go from running the dishwasher twice a week to every other day.


9. I actually got a lot done at home this past weekend. We had no plans so I purged kid closets, vacuumed and cleaned our bathroom. I feel like I really made some progress in tackling some of my bigger chores around the house.


10. I made $50 when I took my load of baby clothes to a resale shop. They sent me home with just about the same inventory; I barely noticed that they had looked through them. But $50 in my pocket, heh!


11. I've jumped aboard the facebook-addiction-bandwagon. Wow... I really feel like I'm part of something, neat, trendy and cool. I guess it's about time; for the neat, trendy and cool part that is. I'd love to see more of my blog friends in my new neighborhood, why don't you stop by?


12. Elaina has been helping me pick out my outfits for work each morning. It's not likely that I would be willing to wear my pink, plaid tank top paired with my ill-fitting [READ: too tight!] khaki capris, but hey, it's the thought that counts right?


13. I have recently become aware that applying rewetting gel drops in my eyes before bedtime is a necessity to be able to open my eyes the following morning. Thank you old age and allergies.


14. Eric and I have made the decision to partnership with an established business to begin to sell monuments from our home. The circumstances seemed right since we've already had to make 2 monument purchases ourselves, we live in very close proximity to a reputable funeral home and there are really no other competitors in our area. Eric's brother and SIL have previously partnered with the same company and have built a very strong business of their own.


15. Since Blogger has made uploading videos so incredibly easy, wouldn't it just be my luck that with my new camera, I can't seem to make the video-blog connection work for me. I've been squirreling away so many cutie videos that I've wanted to share, but I just can't seem to make them work. Any ideas?


16. Eric is leaving tomorrow for the NASCAR races in Bristol. He'll be gone from Thursday until Sunday and I'm already missing him. My days are much less enjoyable when our family isn't complete.


17. I don't know how I'm doing it but I am actually managing to get the kids ready and out the door by 8:00 each morning. I've been fortunate that Eric is able to offer a little bit of help occasionally, but for the most part, it's all me.


18. We bought the kids a second-hand Barbie Jeep. A co-worker was clearing out toys that her kids had outgrown and offered the Jeep to me at a price I could hardly turn down. So far, Elaina and Lincoln are only mildly impressed with it which makes me glad I took advantage of this deal versus a brand new one at over $200.

19. The game of peek-a-boo has become more interesting when Lincoln decides to play. With both hands, he covers his face but only above his eyes and mostly hides his eyebrows and forehead. I still see you!


20. Lincoln is beginning to use a fork to feed himself. It's quite possible that he could have done it sooner however, sometimes things don't occur to me quite as quickly with Child #2 as they did with Child #1. That's my fault.


21. Elaina LOVES her brother to pieces. In fact, sometimes she likes to squeeze and love him so hard that he could quite possible break into little pieces all over my living room floor.
22. Elaina has also adapted some pretty unique names to call her baby brother. He has been called everything from "PayPay" to "Peter" on any given day. Most days he is is Baby or Baby Brudder.


23. Have I mentioned that Elaina has imaginary friends and that imaginary events happen in her life all of the time? She showed me a "trophy" she got at basketball camp with "Kenny." Kenny (sometimes Penny) has been her friend for a while now and she somehow found a basketball camp for 3 year-olds.


24. Lincoln is developing character. Yes, my dear boy is 15 months old and is finally breaking out of his shell. He is beginning to learn ways that he can express himself with a sense of humor and attention to detail.


25. Lincoln is completely fascinated with wheels, cars and noise. Oh , what a boy. Whenever there are wheels to be investigated, Lincoln will plop himself flat on his stomach to take a closer to look to see where the rubber meets the road.


26. Lincoln has also claimed his addiction to his right thumb (never his left) and his blanket. Not just any blanket, he mostly prefers one with a silky side and a fleecy side and the bigger, the better.


27. Our school district has built a new school and hosted it's dedication on Sunday. I wanted to make it a family trip but when Lincoln was napping when it was time to go, Eric took Elaina by himself. She was shuttled on a real school bus all of 1/4 mile to the school and she got to look around classrooms and enjoyed cookies with M&M's in them.

28. Elaina can't wait to start preschool next year. She talks about school and worries about missing the school bus all of the time. She was even packing her book bag with her books and hairbrush and a doll to go to school.
My child who forgot how to smile naturally.

29. A little girl at the sitter's house is a huge fan of my boy. Keirra's face lights up when she sees Lincoln and rushes over to him with his blanket (that we keep at the sitter's) in her hand and tries to lead him by the hand to go play. Can you say "CUTE?"


30. Have I mentioned how much I would love to blog every single night? Oh, yeah, the day that I wind up having more than 2 hours to spare for everything not kid related, I will commit to doing that. I often wonder when that will be.


Stay tuned for tomorrow when I challenge myself to complete my list of 50 without boring you out of your seats! Only 20 more still to come!

Sisters

Upon Ava's passing, her NICU nurses and palliative care team had gifted us with a 3D moulded casting of her tiny little feet and her open hand. I consider this to be my very most valuable item in my entire household that I treasure beyond compare. The box that holds my baby's tiny imprints is pink with happy bow-tied, dancing teddy bears and sits on my closet shelf. Elaina knows about this box, where to find it and what it represents.


There will never be a time that I will try to confine or limit either of our kids in talking or thinking or asking about Ella or Ava. Whenever Elaina raises the subject of her angels in heaven or wants to look at their pictures, I am on the edge of my seat wondering how she is processing the information she has to deal with. With the circumstances of how we became a family and what it took to get us to where we are now, Eric and I want to be fully honest and upfront when it comes to talking to our kids. Of course, keeping in mind that there is a fine line of what a 3 year old is capable of understanding in terms of life and death. But we want them to know and understand how God made so many miracles happen in our life and that all of it was according to His plan in His own perfect timing. And just look what we have to show for it all.


This morning, Elaina asked to see Ava's hands. I lifted the big, pink box from the shelf and lifted the thick sheets of tissue paper which have protected her perfect, dainty hand and feet and knelt beside Elaina. She admired them with such love and respect and touching them softly said, "I'm so proud of Ava." I asked what she meant that she was "proud" of her. In the most grown up 3 year old voice, her reply was "because she is so perfect and she gave you this. And Mommy, she's in a heart." Oh.Dear.God.Elaina. Talk about wanting to cry your eyes out. Ava's imprints are cast in the center of a heart shaped mould with fluted edges. Elaina noticed the heart shape for the first time this morning and gave me such insight to what miracles are all about. We talked a little bit about our angels Ava and Ella and I told her that they played together in heaven before they asked God to send her to our house to be our daughter.


Elaina's comments touched my heart like no other. While I'm not sure how she has pieced all of this together in her mind, I know that our babies are with us in everything we do and that we have been blessed to have our angels Elaina and Lincoln to have and to hold and bring the most special joy and love into our hearts and lives. Every single day, no matter how many fussy fits or dramatic attitudes, I am refreshed and renewed just to have the privilege of being a mother. Their mother. A mother when it seemed like the universe and everything it stands for , was against me. And just look at us now. Look what God blessed us with. Whatever depths of understanding Elaina has about how and where her sisters are and how they have touched our lives, I think that she is already on the right track of embracing something so extraordinary and beautiful that it just elates me and gives me a sense that God continues to walk amongst us. Just another reminder that you can never take a single day for granted, you never know what might touch your heart and open your eyes at any given moment.

Canal Days

Canal Days is the name that our little town festival goes by and commemorates each August. I consider this weekend a "hump" of sorts as it marks summertime being half over and another hurdle to monopolize our time. Since Eric is on the volunteer fire department and the firemen host a food stand in the town park, much of Eric's free time (READ: "all of his time") is spent lending a hand selling food, serving food or selling raffle tickets. I, on the other hand, volunteer to work a few random shifts in booths or elsewhere that I am needed. Thank God that my mom and dad have begun to make it a tradition to come visit us for the weekend to help take care of the kids and make our lives easier. I don't know how we could ever get through it without them.

This weekend was especially interesting given that my parents had already arrived at our house when I came home from work on Friday, only to find Elaina cuddled up, watching a movie with my dad and roasting with a 103 degree fever. And do you want to just imagine the temperament of a tired 3 year old with a 103 fever? Answer: not so good.

Despite Elaina's fever and Eric's limited guest appearances in our house, we actually had a great weekend. And since it will be impossible (and likely boring for you) for me to recap the whole weekend, I present: photo-telling. (I just made up that phrase and decided that I like it to narrate a whole story without a lot of words.)

So here we go on a photo-telling tour....

This picture of Lincoln was during the Grand Parade which marches right in front of our house. Seriously, the kid was in total awe of the whole thing. He loved it all. I imagine that his sweet, little blue eyes were awfully tired in the end since he barely shut them to blink throughout the whole parade.
And, HEY... who is that on top of that van? No other than Ronald M. himself! Cool!

And as much as I talk about "Nancy the Babysitter," would you like to see what she actually looks like? Nancy is sitting with Elaina in front and her real life granddaughter, Gracie (also Elaina's friend) aside of them both. This was the first time that my mom had met Nancy and it was a delight she and her husband both came down to enjoy the parade with all of us.

Elaina is pretty lucky to have so many Grandpa's (and Pop-Pop's) who love her so much. This Grandpa didn't seem to mind hanging out with his favorite granddaughter.After getting ice cream in the middle of the day for no good reason except that it was there, we went to see Eric host the canoe race. Elaina wasn't terribly impressed with any part of the canoes and just really wanted to throw rocks in the water.

Pretty much unrelated to anything "canal days," just one cute boy who loves his cars.

I got two shifts working the monster truck inflatable bounce house. And honestly, it was so much fun! Not because I bounced, but because the kids enjoyed it so much and that's all Elaina wanted to do is jump. Good sign that she was medicated and feeling better. Best of all was Sunday night when she got to jump with her best friend, Ali and no other big kids.

And what evening is really complete until you have 15 pounds of candy to sort through? This is Elaina's haul from the parade on Sunday. That's alot of candy, folks.

Finally, Elaina was hell bent on using my camera to take my picture for a change. I have to say that this picture actually turned out pretty good. No editing, just a lucky shot. Lincoln even mustered up a half smile.

So... weekend in a nutshell: GREAT! The weather was awesome, our company was unbeatable and when Elaina peaked at feeling good, we were all happy. Things that we could have done without this weekend: Elaina's fever and attitude, Lincoln crying his head off in the middle of the night and passing this summer hurdle reminding us that summer is already half over.

Teaser

This past week has had us bouncing from here to there and everywhere in between all in preparation for our town festival this weekend. Being with the volunteer fire department, Eric had spent almost every evening last week helping to set up the booths and the food stands. Me on the other hand, I made my best attempt at being a short order cook and parent. Dinners were rushed to get him out the door before I was left to wrangle the kids for the evening.

At this point, the weekend festivities are finished, my parents have come and gone to lend a hand and I am left exhausted but with lots of great pictures and stories to share. For now my must-do list begins with getting some sleep and preparing for the upcoming week with hopes of returning to more regular postings soon.

Here's hoping everyone had an enjoyable weekend and stop back to see what Elaina plucked off the street!

Work, schmirk

Since the beginning of July, Eric's division at work has mandated a set schedule of when their employees' days begin and end. Previously, for the past almost 9 years, his schedule has offered great flexiblity in that when he fulfills his 40 hour week, he's done. Most times he could knock that out in as little as 4 days, meaning bonus time at home and with the kids.

I've not been overly impressed with how his new work scheduled has panned for the overall function of our household morning routine. His day is now scheduled to begin at 7 a.m., and since our home is considered his home office, he must be out the door at that time. This is coming from a family who hadn't been accustom to waking up until just a little bit before 7:00, let alone, be up, clean, dressed and out the door. Because Eric is a hunter by nature, early mornings don't seem to bother him in the least. His wife on the other hand is NOT a morning person. But, this hasn't held me back from waking up an hour early to have myself completely ready for the day and still making time to accommodate the "unexpected's" the morning will surely bring. Once I'm ready, the kids gradually wake up and we go about our business to get ourselves out the door.

Do you want to know what I'm really having a problem with? I find myself more and more not wanting to go to work at all. At all. When I arrive at work, it sometimes feels more like trying to navigate a field of land mines abounding with attitude, superiority, depression and overall pissiness. That's some days. Other days, everyone is happy-go-lucky and just wants to be there to socialize. And really, I'm okay with both. I'm not in charge of anyone, I don't pay them from my payroll. I like a well-balanced, happy medium. Sometimes we have it, sometimes we hit rock bottom.

The biggest part of my general feelings toward work have centered around Lincoln and Elaina. Every single day, Elaina comes into our bedroom first thing in the morning and is a complete love doll. She is slow and sweet and gentle and loving and her mind is just exploding with the most awesome thoughts and ideas that she presents. And I love to watch her talk. Yes, I could watch her mouth move about her face for hours. There is nothing like seeing the sweet child you love so dearly talk so much like a grown-up but with words coming from the most tender baby face. And her voice. Don't even get me started on her voice. She cracks me up in the tone of voice she uses for even the silliest of things. And when she gets really serious, her voice gets really deep and low. Oh, how I can't wait for morning to come just for her to entertain me once again.

And really, would you think my morning would be even close to complete without my sweet Lincoln? When he wakes up, the first sign he gives me is pressing the music button on his crib aquarium. He'll lay in there just as quiet as a bug and suck his little thumb and play. When I slowly open the door with Elaina at my side, he POPS up and coos and smiles and sways back and forth against his railing so excited to see us. He is full of cuddly, warm hugs and just wants to be held and loved. Every morning I tell him I could spend the whole day just squeezing him. And I could. Lincoln wakes up happy and ready to explore the greatness that another day brings with it. The worst part for me comes when I change his clothes and see his little baby body that seems to have literally grown overnight into that of a toddler. Gone are the days of the little pudge-pudge legs and thick middle section. He's growing long and lean by the day. Even his face is losing the round-ish baby fat and growing more distinguished and handsome. Oh the pain of it all!Probably not unlike any other SAHM or WOTHM (working out of the home mom) I could give you a hundred reasons in favor of me continuing my career and another hundred reasons to quit tomorrow. At this point, I don't suspect that there will be any drastic career moves on my part and most likely I won't be able to wave my magic wand and change the grouchies into good at work. So, here I am. In the middle. Trying to savor my time with my kids and not let my work get me down. All the while, this non-morning person is trying to freeze and bottle all of the sweetness from my kids that holds me together each and every day.

Does anyone else have any magic that gets you motivated to do what you really don't feel like doing?