Facing Your Fears (Even When You Don't Know You Are About To!)

not my pic... but this is what the traffic looked like!

 On Saturday, I drove  to NJ to visit some friends from high school. We all have kiddos now, and we have recently reconnected. Last month they came out to visit me, so it was my turn to go out there. We had a wonderful time - took the kids to Liberty Science Museum, and everything was great...

Except I had to drive through Manhattan. Let me say that again. I had to drive. Through. MANHATTAN. Not only that, but I had to cross three lanes of traffic! NYC traffic! I mapped out the route beforehand, and it looked like I had to drive 2 blocks, straight, in some neighborhood. No biggie. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Nope, the GPS says to stay to the right on the bridge. Ok, sure, I'll stay to the right in this narrow lane of this bridge - even though the lane is outside the bridge and over the water! But wait, in 4 blocks I now have to turn left! What?!?! Attempting to cross those lanes of traffic, where nobody will let you in so you have to find a crack in the traffic and wedge your way in - that was the scariest part, and I almost got in an accident, thankfully I didn't. That was followed by a right and a left and a couple more until I finally reached the Holland Tunnel. Insane.

And I had to do it all again on the way home.
(But it was a more direct that route that time).

I want to clarify - I LOVE driving. I prefer to drive. I am not afraid of driving in any U.S. city - except for Manhattan. I have driven in some of the biggest U.S. cities - Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago, even among the older folks in Orlando - but just watching the way people drive in NYC made me never ever want to attempt it.

Sometimes you don't have a choice - you look ahead of you and BAM there are your fears, and you are hurtling at them full speed. You just have to take a deep breath, say a little prayer (or a bunch of little prayers!) and just get through it. You might make it to the other side a bit more stronger and less afraid - and maybe even with muscle aches from tensing your body and gripping the steering wheel so hard!

I survived one of my biggest fears.
What are you surviving today?

...just don't get me started on the toll booths...

Here is a pic of my kiddo in NJ... he makes me want to be braver and bolder :)

I Refuse to Believe it!

Toys R Us has a great birthday club - balloon, crown and in store announcement

Nope, no, no way, ut uh. My baby is not 2 years old!!! It has been a week since Baby E.'s 2nd birthday, and I am still in denial!! My parents were here for a week and a half (yay!), and everyone we invited RSVP'd Yes. A couple had to cancel last minute, but our house was still full! It was a fun day, but it was insanity, and next year we will have a quiet dinner and possible weekend trip.

The theme was the Pixar movie Up, since E. loves balloons, the color blue and the word up! The pic below was my attempt to get a pic of E. with a handful of balloons. The blurry figure is my brother.

Up! This kid does not stay still... he was trying to jump

Successful day.... here is to my funny, wild, sweet and loving boy... Hope this next year is awesome!

A few more pics.

CAKE.

I tried to make a rainbow cake, but I messed it up so we got a Mickey cake from BJ's

Tried Bakerella's Upcakes... failed there too

Used a helium tank for some of the balloons

My sister in law did a great job decorating! Adventure scrapbook paper, stencils, some streams and balloons taped to the wall

Goody bags - Up book, packet of Goldfish crackers, Adventure notepad, travel card game and bubbles

One last picture of the happy birthday boy!!

Walking, Walking, Walking!!!

Just a quick note that we have a walker!! While he still does so some crawling, as long as he starts standing and doesn't fall, my "baby" is WALKING! All over the living room, the kitchen, the bedroom... I can't believe it. I don't have video uploaded yet, but here are a few pics of him since it has been so long!

playground time!

cannot stand his cuteness!!

blurry like most of the pictures I take of this boy who never stops moving!

meeting Minnie mouse in Disneyland!

From Pain to Fun!

What a week. I woke up on Wednesday with my eye hurting. It stung and was in pain, but it was bearable. Wednesday night I saw that I had a little bump on my eye, and Jeff said it was a sty. Thursday, I woke up in AGONY. It felt like someone had stabbed a pencil in my eye, and when my eye moved, it felt like someone was twisting that pencil. So there was no way I could form a coherent post. I could barely get through my day.

Ready to go on a road trip!!  He loves reading books in the car

Friday, my eye was better, and we went upstate for the weekend to visit my brother and sister-in-law. I was planning on catching up on my A to  Z blogging then, but after packing (since I didn't do that Thursday) and making cookies (had to have a hostess gift!) I had no time! We ended up leaving 15 minutes later than we wanted to anyway!

He woke up early on Saturday morning, so we brought him into bed with us. You can barely see it to the left of his forehead, but he fell asleep on my teddy bear, Taddy. :)

I did not touch the computer all weekend! We were so busy and just exhausted! After getting E. down, it was time for us to go to bed lol!! So tomorrow I pledge to try my best to catch up to the blogging A to Z... in between finishing unpacking and laundry!

11 Months Already!

I can't believe that my baby boy is 11 months!!!

forever moving = blurry pictures!

He is finally teething steadily again... 2 teeth are poking through and 2 more are fighting their way out. That means more restless nights for baby sleepless nights for mommy! He is still working on building up the courage to walk on his own, but he is standing more. We are also working on the sippy cup. Slowly but surely. He babbles a lot and says mom and bye bye. He is also clapping! In less than a month he will be a year old... insane.

climbing in his toy box and digging through it is his latest trick!

Sickville

Moved into size 12 mo shirts but still fits into size 6 mo pants...`

Welcome to Sickville, population 3!!! Jeff came home from work Tuesday with a sore throat.... by morning, it was a full fledged cold. He called out Thursday and spent the whole day lying and sleeping on the couch, poor guy! :(  He is on the mend today... Meanwhile, my throat started hurting on Thursday, and today it is in so much pain! I have a slight cold too, as does baby E. A lot of sneezing and nose running from his tiny baby nose!

With all of this lazing about, I have actually started to plan next week's menu. Yes, I must be sick because I am looking forward to cooking this week ?!?! I need to use up some things, so I am thinking chicken pot pie and quiche. I have a hankering for muffins, too, I think I'll make muffins this week and maybe scones next week.

Blog-wise I am working on getting more reviews and giveaways up! Since I took such a long break, I feel like I ma starting all over again almost! But I promise I will have some good stuff up soon. Until then, you can still enter to win a 2 night stay in Estes Park CO!


In exciting news, E. is finally cutting his next 2 teeth! He has been teething on and off since he got his first 2 teeth on Oct 26th. This morning I noticed 2 off to the side that are almost all the way through. So exciting! It has also been a blast to hear how his speech is developing, from the sounds that sound almost like words to now, when he says mama clearly and knows who I am! He is pretty good with saying dada too. and he LOVES to sing! So cute. Hopefully someday I'll be able to get it on video.

Have a great weekend!!!

shopping time!!!

My Favorite Five Month Old...

It's so funny that July drrrraaaaagggggeeeeed on and on but August was over in a snap, mostly due to my parents being here a week and spending 5 days at Disneyland!!

Last Thursday Baby E was 5 months old! On Monday he went in for his 5 moth checkup. (Our dr does appts every month for the first 6 and gives shots at 5 of those 6 appts!) His stats: 15 lb.11 oz.and 24 inches; 40th percentile for weight and 25th for height. But 60th for head circumference lol!!! right where he has been pretty much.

On Monday!

He is doing everything he should except rolling over. He can stand - even hold himself up with one hand standing. He can sit by himself on a soft surface, without leaning on anything. On hard surfaces, he sometimes can lean on his hands. He LOVES the bebepod.

on his 5 month birthday

As you can see, he can hold his feet, hold and grab just about anything and everything! His aim is getting better. He can move himself in circles. And of course EVERYTHING goes in his tiny little mouth. Fingers are still number 1, but toys, noses, burp cloths, teethers, washcloths... all are a close second!

But the kid will. not. roll. over. He has rolled front to back about 4 times, and back to front once the other day. But he just wants to either hold himself up to look around or kick his feet and wave his hands. Doesn't care to see what it is like on the other side!

right after he rolled back to front the first time

This kid is soooo happy. All the time unless he is hungry or wet. The best is when he laughs <3 We are giving him rice cereal but his lovely pooping issues returned so we switched to oatmeal. He has been eating fruits, and we are starting veggies tomorrow! He has LOVED everything so far. This kid has always been an eater lol

21w5d sitting

Now if he would only roll over!!!

And We're Back!!

Well it has been quite a week!!!

Five days at Disneyland were WONDERFUL!!! Other than blowouts on each of the flights, Baby E did so good flying. I think he enjoyed Disneyland too, hard to tell, but he did very well being out of his element and off his schedule. He certainly is very outgoing and friendly. I really hope he stays that way. We got to hang out with most of my friends too <3 I will probably do some sort of trip report, but here is one pic:

Meeting Buzz Lightyear!

While we were gone. Hurricane Irene struck at home. It was just a tropical storm then, but it caused quite a bit of damage to the area. We just had branches down and are very thankful to J's parents for prepping our house. I'll add a pic of the tree in our neighbor's yard - kinda scary. Our ~lovely~ power company has taken forever to repair the damage.. In our town, power went out early Sunday morning, and we just got it back today! /still more than a thousand people without power.

So I was behind to begin with and am even more behind now! I will be extending the Fiber One giveaway through Sunday night. And I am planning on getting up an overdue review tomorrow.

Hope that all of you out there are doing well and were not too affected by the hurricane!

Slacking Again...

I still find it almost impossible to find 15, 30 minutes a day to sit down and write a blog post. I have so much to post about and a giveaway I need to post by Friday. But during the day, I am usually holding a now 4 month! old. When he goes for naps, I do the laundry, dishes, etc. He only sleeps for 20 to 30 mins and a lot of that is while he is laying on me lol!! Plus worrying about him and anticipating him waking up is always on the back of my mind so I just can't concentrate. I should at least write SOMETHING when he is sleeping, though, so I have the start. Never get anything done in one shot! Then at night I am soo exhausted that I can't even think. And since it is my only uninterrupted time, I need to send e-mails and reply on message boards and Facebook, stuff I can't do while holding my wiggle worm!!

4 Month pic. Rare moment where he was still - but you can see he was leaning forward!

So, I am still trying but failing. Next week my parents will be visiting and the week after we will be in Disneyland so my time is even more limited. I need to schedule posts, lol, yeah right. I have an event coming up in Sept, and I don't have any sponsors because I want to have more current content up... it is an endless cycle!!!

Enough whining, here is another picture of my handsome boy!

Doing what he loves most - putting as many fingers in hid mouth as he can!!!

OK OK one more!!!

His Woodloch souvenir!

Re-introduction

Oh so much to say, and only now 2.5 months in can I actually take some breathers. I have a long list in my head of what to say about motherhood, its difficulties, it joys and how I feel so different from every other mother I have seen.

On June 1st

Baby E was 11 weeks yesterday! At his 2 month appt, he weighed 9lbs 15 oz, up 1lb 3oz from birth. He lost weight his first month, that is why. But with formula, he is finally getting enough. (He has always liked eating - he likes putting anything is his mouth he can!). He can hold onto objects and has just started reaching out. He has already been to Illinois and Woodloch Pines in PA. Disneyland is next! He is a great kid! And soon he'll be able to DO stuff!!!

June 16, ready to go out to dinner

It has been quite an adjustment! We still are adjusting LOL!!! so I am planning on getting this blog back on track, at the very least posting some sales and deals and giveaways. And more about my life, at least to have a bit of a memory book? I missed the deadlines for some giveaways, unfortunately, but hopefully I can get this going again and pick up some more fans :) I'm going to try to post regularly - maybe not every day but regularly! thank you to everyone who is still around!!

One more pic...

Father's Day, I want to eat this kid up!!!!

<3 lots of love!

I'm Still Here!

Emmett was 3 weeks old yesterday! I don't know where the time went - it seems like the days go so quickly, but his birth seems like it happened so long ago! Having a newborn has been the hardest thing i have ever done in my life. I still am in some pain too. And of course, exhausted! 5 hours of restless sleep a night... naps just don't happen :( But overall it has been a fun ride so far... a few more weeks until it is supposed to get better they say lol

I hope to be back in the swing of things soon. Monday Jeff goes back to work, so we'll see how it goes with just Emmett and me all day. i am a little nervous but we'll be fine!

(Here is a pic of our adorable boy in his Easter outfit, before I get  to the meat of this post!)

Awww! <3

I did want to post a link to this article from Intentionally Katie. She is one of my favorite bloggers becuase she is so real. She recently wrote a must-read post called Raising Future Husbands. I am very lucky that Jeff does so much around the house. I think that was an advantage to marrying someone who had been on his own for awhile - he HAD to know how to clean and cook and do laundry, etc. Now that I am SAHM, I am planning on doing more around the house, but he will still be helping out. All of the things he has done since Emmett was born has been amazing - this house would be a smelly mess without him. As much as we joke about having a kid to do all of the household chores - it IS important to teach him the basics and have him help out around the house. We want to teach him to be self-sufficient. and one of the reasons why Jeff is such a good husband is that he can take care of the household and does help out. I want Emmett to be like that as well.

Anyway, if you have a son, then you should definitely check out Katie's post.

Random Thoughts from a 38 Week Pregnant Woman...

Ugh. I just realized I haven't posted since Saturday!! It has been a long, tiring week. 38 weeks, 4 days today, and I am finally slowing down lol! Anxiously awaiting the nesting phase, though I think that won't happen. :( I have sooo much to do. Thankfully, Jeff starts his leave next week so he will help motivate me, and we will be able to get things done together! ...with plenty of rest for me.

We attended a labor and delivery class at the hospital last night.. of course, me being me, I already knew most of what they told us. It's not like I haven't already read 5 books on the subject! It was good to see what the hospital's views on things are and how they pretty much match mine.

But I am still scared to death about giving birth. And how J will handle it. :\ BUT nothing we can do until it happens.Which it won't for awhile - baby and I have a "not until April" pact ;)

I have been watching One Born Every Minute as another preparation, and every time a baby is born, I cry. It makes me wonder if I will be bawling when my own baby is born!

Random thoughts from a very pregnant person LOL!!

BTW we bought a dining room table... figured we should probably teach our kid things like table manners and not watching TV during dinner. It got delivered today, and we both LOVE IT!  (We did have a tiny table that only fit 2 people... and definitely not a high chair!)

Now to keep the cats from scratching it up...

Pregnancy update and question

Hi gang!
How was everyone's Valentine's Day? Mine was as low key as I wanted it. The movie we watched was Easy A. We both really liked it. Though it wasn't quite the Valentine's romantic comedy lol!!!

Friday, my work threw me a baby shower! It was a little unexpected... and then thy gave me my car seat!!! Shock. Total and utter shock! They gave me a bunch of other stuff too, onesies, bibs, a photo album, this great diaper pack...  It was really  nice!! And the number 1 thing that I was worried about not getting I have! Everything else seems so much easier to obtain (yes I am crazy...)

so pretty!!!

I will admit that my last day at work is Thursday and I a cannot wait  to get out of there!! Even though I have so much work to do at home,

I am 33 weeks now! I have had a lot of people asking me how I am feeling. And I honestly say I am feeling good! My only real issue is sleeping, between the peeing and the pain in my hips and legs when I turn over in the middle of the night. Otherwise, I don't really feel much pain. Which is nice because on Saturday we leave for DISNEYLAND!!! I cannot wait.

So my question is... I am thinking about getting some sort of pillow to use at night to help with the pain. Any suggestions?I have heard good things about the snoogie pillow.

I am not sure how it would work with the tossing and turning from side to side? I was thinking of something smaller, like a wedge. I'd like to get one and try it before we go. Though it doesn't look like this pillow is travel sized LOL!!!

Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated :)