The Whirlwind of the Holiday Season

WOW I think I am still recovering from what we are calling the Christmas Triatholon. It was an amazing time with my side of the family celebrating Christmas, it was just A LOT of celebrating. We are looking forward to a relaxing New Years Eve and New Years Day and hopefully I will get some time to redecorate this fabulous little blog and get ready for 2009!

Happy New Year to all my faithful readers!

All I want for Christmas is....

I was driving yesterday and reflecting upon the many and when I say many, I mean literally hundreds of things we have to be thankful for this holiday season. I could try to list them all, but I don't think you really care about a sappy list at this point, here are the top 3:

1)We have a happy & healthy family

2)We both have excellent jobs

3)There are not many things out there in the universe that we want and don't already have

Here is what I can't figure out, at such a sentimental time of year, when it is EASY to think about all that is right in the world and be thankful for everything you have that others don't WHY DO MY IN LAWS have to torment us?!?!?!?! Mainly my husband, but you know that trickles down to me. I can't take it anymore. This is the rundown this year, we were waiting to get INVITED or for some one to make PLANS for the holidays that we could participate in. IT NEVER happened. Somehow it became our responsibility to plan the Christmas celebrations at both Jeff's mom & Jeff's dad's houses. Why - I am not real sure, since #1 - we don't live at either of those places and #2 - isn't this something that the PARENTS in the family usually coordinate? So we of course took the opportunity to name a date & time that work best for us. Which in my opinion is our prerogative, since no one else can PLAN ANYTHING EVEN WHEN IT IS OCCURRING AT THERE OWN F-N HOUSE. Here are the comments we have received back thus far, please note, I am not even exaggerating here, these are REAL, if you need explanations to put any of these in context, please feel free to call or email, I just LOVE talking about this, and finally, remember that we are traveling from Green Bay to Milwaukee with a 1 year old, we are making a round trip in one day which will end up being about 4 hours in the car and we have to go to 2 houses and celebrate with 2 separate families.

1)Why do you have to come to my house at 11am - I can't possibly prepare everything by then?

2)That date works for us - what time are you coming?

3)(Same person from comment 2, 2 days later) Not sure about that date, I will have to check and get back to you

4)It is really hard to do everything to get ready all by myself, are you sure we can't change the date?

5)(Same person from 2&3) I need an EXACT time you will be arriving

6)(you know who - AGAIN) We might have theatre tickets that day, I will have to let you know if it works

7)What?!?! This is on Cooper's Christmas list??? I don't want to get him any of these things!

8)I am sorry I accidentally invited our cousin who you are not comfortable being because she is a criminal, it won't be that big of a deal will it?

9)(same person again) I guess we will have to change our theatre tickets for the 20th, I guess it is okay if you guys come over

10)I AM SO SICK OF BEING SECOND CHOICE FOR EVERY HOLIDAY

11) What?!? You aren't coming because our cousin who might be in federal prison next year might also be there, well I don't want to ask her parents if she will have a furlough from house arrest that day, I don't want to make THEM feel bad. Can't you just get over it?

So, I guess all I want for Christmas is for our "celebration" with Jeff's side of the family to be OVER.

Casualties of Motherhood

Apparently carrying this darling baby for 9 months, worrying about their every breath, and completely dedicating yourself to their very being isn't enough. More of a sacrifice is needed. My sacrifice this weekend was a toe on my right foot. As I was gracefully scampering after a crying Cooper who had taken yet ANOTHER painful tumble across the floor in an attempt to climb onto Grandma & Grandpa's coffee table, I broke my second to last toe on my right foot. Over the weekend the toe was triple the normal size and a gorgeous purple & red shade. To add insult to injury, I believe my darling angel of a son has stepped on said toe about 3,000 times since I have broken it. This might be why I am NOT in a holiday mood.

To blog or not to blog - that is the question?!?!

Lately I have not been in the blogging mood and I have really been questioning whether or not I should keep posting or not. Many of my pals have been telling me to just get on MySpace. I just don't believe in MYSpace I guess. Perhaps I am old fashioned but I truly believe the people I want to be in touch with, I already am in touch with and the people I don't want to "find" after all these years can stay out there in cyberspace and LEAVE ME ALONE! I have given myself a January 1st deadline, by then I will know if blogging is worth it for me or if I should just give up and focus my time and attention on something more worthwhile.

Anyway - updates here, Thanksgiving was lovely, we were at my parents'. Cooper provides entertainment for everyone by running around and knocking over cans of soda onto the carpet when no one is looking. He also ate a TON of food, as everyone likes to feed him, sort of like a little lap dog or something. Perhaps he won't be our skinny Ethiopian baby for much longer with all the holidays coming up, we shall see. The day after Thanksgiving I was at Younkers for the 4am opening and IT WAS GREAT - I wasn't even buying gifts- I was just buying stuff for myself:) 2 pairs of shoes, 1 comforter, and 1 outfit for Cooper later, I went to Kohls and purchased more things for myself. I did get Grandma a scarf and my mom a calendar, but mostly, I bought things for myself. I love Christmas shopping(for myself).

Friday continued with our newest family tradition - ringing bells for the Salvation Army, also at the mall. Cooper LOVED ringing the bell and literally running after people while ringing the bell. He was very good at luring people to donate. I was feeling really lucky as we were ringing bells and thinking about how nice it is to help out such a great charity, we will definitely make this an annual tradition. After we rang bells we carried on our other day after Thanksgiving tradition and went to Hooters for dinner. Hooters was the first restaurant Cooper ever went to in his entire life!

Tomorrow I plan to make a turkey and do a lot of sleeping!

How much can we accomplish in one weekend?

The answer for me is usually a lot! Here's the review of what was happening at the H-Haus:

Friday, my lovely sister Heidi volunteered to watch Cooper so we could have an actual date night. Jeff surprised me with a very extravagant night. We started at KoKo where Jeff loves to have cocktails. It was nice, my drink was a little yucky, but I should know better than to order martinis anymore, I just can't drink them. From KoKo we headed to Republic Chophouse, the newest most trendy Green Bay restaurant. It was delish: pretzel bread with cheese butter, bacon-wrapped scallops, french onion soup, a steak served with a shot of Jameson, some very good red wine from Chile, and Red Velvet Cake for dessert. I even felt like we were young and fun again.

Saturday, I headed out to UW-Green Bay for the Outstanding Student Award interviews, always nice to be there, did some shopping in the bookstore which is now located in the Union, then cruised through Walmart. Came home, had lunch with the boys, then headed to Barnes & Noble and JCPenny for some Christmas shopping. Finally stopped at the Kress library to pick up the December Mothers & More bookclub book.

Today, we cleaned the entire house, read the paper, paid bills, I did some reading, made a tie-blankie for my sister and made chicken with brown rice for dinner.

Also this weekend we started the holiday negotiation with Jeff's family, as usual, it is not easy, no on seems to be happy and Jeff already feels bad about an event that is a month away. I don't understand why everyone doesn't do it the way my family does, show-up, eat a lot, drink even more and play Catch Phrase while you are loaded. My plan is to bring a bottle of wine to each location, pretend like I am going to share it and then drink both bottles myself. And when I am serious about how the holidays are going to go I don't mess around. I do recall making the statement after one particularly horrible holiday session, "That's it, I am not going there next year, I will either be pregnant, have a newborn I can't travel with, or poison myself." And wouldn't you just know it, the next year Cooper was born. Before anyone can post a smart comment about getting knocked up to avoid the 09 holiday season, let me be clear - I will be poisoning myself in 09 NOT having a baby!

I am tired, I am cranky, and I am going to bed.

Too long - So Sorry!

Yes, it has been much too long since I last posted anything, so if anyone is still reading this blog I will be shocked. Here is what has been going on:

1)Cooper turned one & we had a fabulous party, if I ever have to upload pictures, I will share some
2)Cooper has learned how to walk and we continue to childproof around his latest skills
3)Cooper has a minor issue and will be having surgery next Tuesday(please keep him in your prayers)
4)I went to a craft show and decided that my fabulous cousin Adge & I need to start selling our knit items at craft shows, especially the gorgeous things she can make - SO MUCH nicer than the crap I saw at the show I was at
5)Work has been nuts and will probably be this way through the end of the year

And I decided to fill out one of these and just post it here instead of boring you all with the email:

What is your occupation right now? Senior Account Manager - I sell stuff
What color are your socks right now? What socks?
What are you listening to right now? Silence, it's nice when Cooper is asleep
What was the last thing that you ate? Panera Turkey Artichoke panini
Can you drive a stick shift? Oh no
Last person you spoke to on the phone? Petra
do you like the person who sent this to you? Jill is wonderous
How old are you today? 24.5
What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? Golf or College Basketball
What is your favorite drink? Red Wine
Have you ever dyed your hair? Of course
Favorite food?Cheese, chicken & Chocolate
What is the last movie you watched? I am in the middle of No Reservations, it just takes me 6 weeks to watch one flipping movie
What cd have you listened most to lately? Wee Sing on the Road(try not to barf)
Favorite concert? Goo Goo Dolls with Bon Jovi OR Neil Diamond
Where will you spend Christmas this year? Hopefully just in Manitowoc & here
Is there something that you would do over? What? Probably be more emotionally available to others in MANY situations, I am working on it
Favorite day of the year? Cooper's birthday 10/20
How do you vent anger? I blog or write in my journal the things that are so secret I can't complain about them on my blog
What was your favorite toy as a child?Barbie or Fisher Price Lil People
What is your favorite season? Summer
Cherries or Blueberries? cherries
Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? if they need an excuse not to work - sure. If not no big deal
Who is the most likely to respond? Who ever fits the above criteria
Who is least likely to respond? Everyone
When was the last time you cried? When we found out Cooper has to have surgery
What is your most favorite possession? My wedding ring and Cooper, both are with me almost all the time
What is the most favorite gift you've ever given? Anything I have given Jeff that really surprised him, that he thought I would NEVER buy for him, most recently his batman watch
What is on the floor of your closet? shoes
If your favorite color no longer existed, what is your next favorite? pink
Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to?Adge?
What did you do last night? took a field trip to Walgreens, then played with CJ
What are you most afraid of? Losing those I love
Favorite dog breed? Westie
Favorite day of the week? Friday
How many states have you lived in? 1
Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds
What is your favorite flower? Gladiolas & hydrangeas

F- N, my new word of choice

About a month back during one of Cooper's long babbling sessions, I am, almost positive he said G*dDa*mit! He said it in the same tone of voice I am sure he has heard me say it thousands of times since he has been born and probably even a few thousand times before he was born. this caused me to panic, as I most certainly do not want to be putting an expletive in the good 'ole baby book as his first word. So we immediately put a ban on all swearing at our house, not that we speak like sailors around here or anything, but something that needed to happen before our darling little man starts flipping off traffic from the back patio.

I have one observation about NEVER swearing - it is F-N difficult! And there you can see why F-N is my new favorite word. It is 2 letters that help get me through the day. I was telling one of my customers about F-N the other day and he suggested using "clucking" in it's place. To me, that just sounds dorky, F-N is much cooler.

On another note, send good thoughts and prayers to our friends the Metz family, Natalie & Pete are in Hawaii right now & Pete is competing in the Iron Man today. He is a super dedicated athlete who is in such great shape it makes me want to get into better shape. But then McDonald's started Monopoly this week and crushed my dream of being a tri-athlete. So Pete, it's up to you! Check out his blog here: http://www.petemetz.blogspot.com

Have a good weekend!

Another Milestone to be VERY Proud of....

Lately Cooper is racking up the milestones Daddy is proud of. A few weeks back, he officially starting picking his nose. And ladies & gentlemen, once his finger is in the nostril, good luck getting it out of there!

Last evening we discovered that Cooper had another talent he was waiting for just the right moment to expose. Following his bath, he gets wrapped in a hooded towel and a bath towel and warmed up. Then he likes to throw the towels off dramatically and get away from mommy to revel in being naked prior to a diaper being put on. All was going well until Cooper crawled his naked butt over to his mail cart and decided to stand behind it. He pulled himself up and once in a very straight and tall standing position, he proceeded to PEE STANDING UP! I think Jeff got teary:)

Have a great week, I will be lysoling anything I think pee got near.

Things I love about Cooper

I haven't done a list blog lately so I thought this was the perfect topic since the best baby in the whole world is approaching his first birthday and seems to get more independent and more like a toddler everyday. Here is my list:

#1)The way you pretend to be shy with ladies and bury your head in my shoulder when a new lady smiles at you

#2)The way you will say,"HaHA" if I say it to you first

#3)Your constant motorboat noises

#4)The way you never give up when in a quest to get what you want(this definitely comes from me and will probably cause most of our arguments as you get older)

#5)The easy going way you let the other kids take whatever toys they want from you during playgroup and then the sneaky way you manage to capture them back without the other kids knowing

#6)Your giggle

#7)The way you help me yell at Daddy when I am right(which is every time I am yelling at him)

#8)The way you sleep just like a grown up and wriggle around until you are in the perfect position

#9)Your expression when we arrive at our destination and I get you out of the back of the car

#10)Your gray eyes

And the list just keeps going and going.

Finally a DECENT idea

Of course news of the financial bailout plan and our economy is EVERYWHERE. Even as some one who typically avoids the TV news, I can not seem to escape info about who is accountable for it not passing yesterday. My husband heard some radio host yesterday who had a PERFECT idea. Instead of the government doling out cash to financial institutions, and whomever else needs their help, what would happen if they distributed the 700 billion(please don't get upset if my numbers are wrong, I truly don't care about these details and do no research prior to writing) to all of the US citizens. They did the math and it would end up being about 500k per citizen. Seriously, if I had 500k, my financial worries would be over, we would have no debt, our family's college funds would be established, and we would be spending $$ like crazy. As you can see, this is just what the economy needs.

I know my fingers are crossed that this will happen!

Don't Mess With an Angie

I have said this before and I will say it again, Don't mess with me! I am not sure what gives some people the idea that they can screw with me and not suffer any consequences. Pretty sure you can tell I am talking about something specific which I will now sound off about.

The moron(if you want her name, just email me and I will give it to you so you can avoid the completely unprofessional behavior I have endured this week) who was watching our son decided this week she wanted to bump us(after only 6 visits) to watch another child who was a close family friend. Now if she wanted to do this, she should have said, "I am so sorry, but I really need to help my friend out, if I give you 2 weeks notice would you be able to make other arrangements for Cooper?" Instead I am not sure what she did to him yesterday, however I had to pick him up early because he wouldn't stop crying. I am 100% positive she was not attending to him properly in order to make him cry, therefore giving her a reason to call me to pick him up. Cooper has never cried for no reason, NEVER! So I picked him up and could tell he was rattled. With some extra TLC and a long cuddle with Nanny Maggie today, we are hoping he will be back to himself by this weeked.

Here is why this idiot should have never messed with me:

#1) I have put her on a Do NOT Use list with my local mothers group that has over 100 members

#2) I will be telling everyone I know about this(in Green Bay I think I probably have about 200 personal contacts)

#3)They will be telling everyone they know

#4)I will personally make sure this person is contacted by the State in terms of licensing

Alright, I feel better now, everyone, please have a Happy Thursday!

Christmas - I can't wait!!!!

Perhaps it is because I truly LOVE shopping for ANYTHING, but I seriously can not get the holidays off my mind these days. And yes, I know it is September 16th. I do have a happy little formula to make sure I am truly able to enjoy the holiday season to the fullest and not get stressed. First, I never shop for presents after Thanksgiving. I seriously have already started my shopping and will finish the week before Thanksgiving. Then the weekend after Thanksgiving, I can take my sweet time decorating the house. After that I spend all the weekends of December leisurely wrapping gifts, baking and going to holiday parties. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

This year seems to be even more exciting shopping-wise because there are toys to be purchased for Cooper AND Connor AND Baby Luke. I was talking to Kim today and she advised that she had just picked up a 3 ft tall talking dinosaur over lunch for Connor. So I am not the only retail junky already firing up the engines on the holiday season!!!!

I will have to keep everyone posted with my deals and steals of the season - I think Fleetfarm Toyland opens in a few weeks, it will be my first stop for toys!

So Much to Say So Much to Say

Where to start? I think this will be a bit of a blog smorgasbord.

First, I will start with my favorite new blog to read and advise you my friends to go check it out as well:

http://www.mccainblogette.com/

Also, I haven't given props to my girl and fellow laid back mommy Angie O. lately. This lady has taken motherhood by storm. Her boy, Luke is seriously one of the most adorable babykins I have ever seen in my life. Here is the most recent picture I have of the two of them. I am absolutely thrilled to get to raise our boys together and know that Warrior and Crash will soon be getting into mountains of trouble together.

I also have some mommy musings to share. I have recently started to think that Cooper needed to do more, see more and in general be exposed to more kids. Just today he started swim class, which seems to completely mystify him. I have also been thinking I should be in a regular playgroup rotation and perhaps get him involved in some sort of music class. Then I read an article about just letting your kids play and not scheduling so many experiences for them. Which is great, a stingy mom like me is glad one of his favorite things to do is look out the window and spot big trucks!

Finally, I would like to highly recommend that if you live in the Green Bay Area and haven't checked out Butterfly Books- you are TOTALLY missing out! It is a WONDERFUL store and their story times are GREAT!

Surprises

I have been thinking about surprises lately and how they can change the course of your day in either a good or a bad way. I will give you 2 examples.

First, My most fabulous friend in the world who is celebrating a birthday today was surprised with an IPHONE this morning from her husband. What an AWESOME surprise.

Second, The other night Cooper surprised me not once, but twice by projectile vomiting onto me.

So - are surprises good or bad?

Right back to the Daily Grind

Well our vacation officially ended Tuesday. It was a great time visiting with all sorts of friends and family. It definitely made us both start to consider moving back to Milwaukee. We shall see where Jeff's career takes us. I can work from anywhere at this point and plan to continue working from home for as long as I can possibly stand it.

My personal favorite time during out vacation had to be Jeff & I taking a solo trip to Eddie Martini's. Truly amazing food as always. I am a huge fan of their AHI tuna. I also had a very fabulous Pimm's press cocktail there. It was made with Pimm's Cup, which is a British Spirit and cucumber soda. It is officially my new favorite drink. For dessert I of course had to go with chocolate creme brulee. I can never pass up creme brulee no matter where we are. Jeff had perhaps the most carmely delicious pecan tart I have ever tasted. It was a great treat to have a night out alone together. Thank you to Kim, Creighton & Connor for entertaining "Crash" while we were out.

Yes, Cooper's newest nickname is "Crash". He has started pulling himself up on anything that leads to a higher place and then forgetting that he is standing and crashing face first into whatever is available. You seriously can not leave him unattended for even a second. It sucks, I have gone from barely getting anything accomplished to getting absolutely NOTHING accomplished. So, if you are planning on visiting, do us a favor and don't choke on the dust!!!!

Up this weekend: Fisher Price toy testing party on Saturday morning. And a special dinner with Heidi's new boyfriend Saturday night. Should be a jam packed weekend as usual. I am hoping to also make it to church, hopefully we haven't been excommunicated!

I'm work from home, NOT stay at home

I attended a meeting of a local mothers group this week. I have heard many great things about the group. What I did not hear is that most of the mothers are stay at homers, at least most of the mothers who were in attendance at the meeting I went to. Not that this is a bad thing, these ladies were all extremely friendly, welcoming, and had so many great tips and ideas, I think I will be joining the group in the coming weeks. However I found myself in an interesting spot. Trying to explain that although I am physically at home with Cooper everyday, I am still working full time. Which no one seems to be able to understand. Yes, there are many perks of working from home, getting to my desk a few minutes late, switching loads of laundry between phone calls, and being able to be with my son each day as he is growing up. However when I indicated that we have our Nanny, Maggie at the house each day and that Cooper will be going to a babysitter for 2 days per week starting in fall, the reaction was mixed. Not that anyone said any thing directly, but you know what I mean, the faces and expressions say it all.

Personally, I think I still have the best of both worlds, I am at home with my son each day, I am instantly available for him, and now that he is getting close to one, he really does need a dose of reality and a chance to learn that he can exist away from Mommy and that it may even be a good idea. And I truly feel there is nothing wrong with that! I am hoping to convince other working moms to join this group with me, I am also hoping that someday when I tell people that I work from home that the reaction won't be the insinuation that because I am in my house, I am not working. I get furious when I have to justify to people that I actually have a job where I usually work more than 40 hours a week, I have over 20,000 long term care beds in my territory and a contact book of 700 people that I am tasked with staying in front of. It's no joke!

Okay I feel better now - we are heading out later today on vacation to Milwaukee and will be back sometime next week. Enjoy your last few weekends of summer!

I think I am getting better.........

I was truly proud of myself over the weekend. I ran into a person I despised when I lived here in GB during college. Seriously, I almost punched this person more than once. However that was 8 years ago and so much has changed that when I was confronted with this person in a store and could not avoid them, instead of being my usual furious self, I did something very surprising..... I WAS NICE! I asked how the person was doing, how their family was and in general was very friendly and felt good about our exchange when I walked away. I thought, wow, my patience and tolerance have really improved, this is wonderful!

Of course then some other situations came up these past few days that lead me to believe that I am not cured of my general intolerance for those who are MORONS:

-There is nothing I can't stand more than servers at restaurants who are idiots, I have been waitressing for 15 years and still think it is one of the EASIEST jobs in the whole world. Jeff & I went out for a rare meal alone Saturday night and I couldn't help but take note of a server who thought he was rather smooth, his hair was slick, his shirt was unbuttoned one button too many and he pranced around the dining room like he was the SH*T! The table next to us requested blue cheese dressing, this genius said, "We do not have dressing, we just have blue cheese crumbles and ranch dressing." I said to Jeff, loud enough for this guy to hear, "Well then you have bleu cheese dressing IDIOT!!!!"

-Earlier today I called a facility to reach one of my customers. Now I don't know about you, but my picture of what a receptionist does is that they answer the phone and take messages if the person you are calling for is not available. Again - not too difficult usually. I called one of my customers, was told by the receptionist she was in a meeting. Then there was a LONG pause. Finally I said, "Okay, This is Angela calling from..." And she said, "WAIT WAIT WAIT, I need to find some paper" Then there was a one minute pause while she was apparently looking for paper & a pen. Um- if your job was to answer the phone and take messages, wouldn't you have paper & a pen with you? Anyway my customer never got my message and called me later wondering why I hadn't called her.

So yes, I still think the world is full of morons and I am FURIOUS in general!

Going Places

Cooper is growing up so fast. It has truly been amazing few weeks around here:

He has gotten 2 new teeth, bringing the grand total to 4, Tooth #5 & #6 are on the way

He has mastered the art of "So Big"

And today, Cooper proudly unveiled that he can clap on his own

I think next week we'll start working on his Mandarin Chinese.

Why Summer is Great.......

This weekend was lovely for the most part. We celebrated my mom's upcoming 60th birthday on Saturday by surprising her with a spa day and a family picture. It was so much fun and literally the first time our whole family has been together since Jeff & I got married 2 + years ago. It really meant a lot to mom just to have us all together. We took her to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and Cooper was extremely well-behaved(he entertained himself and all of the tables around us by waving a dill pickle around and smearing it on his face and hair) until we had to give grandma her birthday Yee-Haw, then he was a little upset and we needed to get him in the car and on the way home. He was asleep within 3 minutes of pulling out of the parking lot.

Today Jeff's mother visited which was a wonderful excuse for me to make home-made potato salad and a tiramisu trifle. Both turned out excellent and we grilled brats, burgers & polish sausage that Cooper & I picked up at Maplewood Meats. I can not wait to head out there again - I LOVE that place.

Other than that we are having a wonderful summer, Cooper is becoming more hilarious every day and growing up way too fast. I can't believe he is 9 months old already! I am of course already working on his first birthday party - we have a very special theme and menu in the works.

Have a good week everyone!

How could she keep a straight face?
I have been in a bit of a funk lately. Not sure if I am depressed because I have a birthday coming up I will never admit to celebrating or if I am just crabby. Anyway I was doing a little searching through my memory bank and I started to think about jump roping in Catholic School.
Picture it, St. Andrew, circa 1988, I am a fifth grader and we have a jump rope unit in gym class. for our final test we need to perform a routine which can be either solo or in a group. And even though I started in a group I am sure some one in the group irritated me(something that still happens today when I attempt to work in groups) and I decided to just do the routine on my own.
I selected the Pointer Sisters song, "Yes" and went along planning a little routine where I showed all of the dippy jump rope tricks we learned and thought nothing more of it. Well over this weekend something occurred to me and I am not sure how in the HECK my catholic school gym teacher could EVER keep a straight face. Some of the lyrics to this song are, "Oh YES, we're gonna makea love, gonna be tonight, YES I can just imagine, huggin and squeezing and loven and teasin all night: YES" What on earth was a 10-year-old doing listening to this? And what would make me select this for my jump rope routine? I just crack up thinking about that teacher trying to watch my routine to the Pointer Sisters talking about getting some and it puts me in a happy place!

Is this possible?

I truly have nothing to blog about. Perhaps I will share how we had a marathon laundry folding session around here or how I made banana chocolate chip muffins today. Seriously other than that nothing is going on around the H-Household this week. Perhaps it is a blessing in disguise and I shouldn't worry about it.

But then I will have nothing to worry about and I will just have to blog about that!

2 favorite new websites....

Oh yes, I actually have some advice, can you believe it?

I recently decided to give up paying WAY too much money at places like Chameleon & Synergy for my haircut for many reasons. First, it is super expensive, second no matter where I go and what I tell these fools, I end up with the same long layers I have had for the past 5 years, third, I have recently decided to donate my hair to Locks of Love in honor of my friend Summyr who is battling leukemia and realize while I am growing my hair to the longest it has ever been, it truly does not matter what it looks like. So, brace yourselves...I visited www.costcutters.com and discovered that they give you coupons and have a reminder service that you can set-up to email you when you are due for a trim, which includes a coupon EVERY TIME. What is even better is the salon nearest to us has my favorite stylist Renee, who I went to while in college and absolutely love. So even better, reconnecting with a long lost stylist who always does a great job!

Next, I am making a top secret birthday present for MeeMaw(that's what my mom called herself once instead of Grandma and it is so hilarious, I just had to start using it). I am using www.mypublisher.com and designing a storybook about Cooper and MeeMaw that she will be able to read to him for years and years. They have beautiful options there!

I can't take it anymore!

Why are the children who live in this neighborhood so stupid? Really I think it is the parents, but I can't be sure. Here are my two examples:

#1) I came within inches of hitting a little girl on a scooter this morning. I assumed since she was stopped at the corner and I had my left blinker on she would perhaps not put herself directly in front of my car. Wrong, literally as I took my foot off the brake this total moron rode right in front of me. The sad thing is, this happens all the time in our neighborhood, those on scooters assume they have the constant right of way, can drive down the middle of the street and not stop at stop signs. Eventually one of these little kids is going to get hurt and as some one who watched her younger brother get hit by a car - I hope it is not me who is the driver when(not if) it happens.

#2) The kids next door, for the record we are pretty positive that either their parents are running a meth lab, or they are on some serious meds, placed a slip & slide in the front yard this week and it has become the neighborhood hangout. It's very entertaining for Cooper to watch the kids outside playing. Here is the problem - they are so dumb, and of course their parents are busy "cooking" and don't have time to supervise them EVER, so they have put the slip and slide going UPHILL in their yard. Sooo - no one is really sliding. It's more like slip and skate or slip and scoot. I was thinking that maybe after two days of this it would occur to them that wow, this would work a whole lot better if we say, turned it around. NOPE-they are still sliding uphill.

Please say a prayer that my kids don't turn out this stupid!

Welcoming Warrior & The Pink Ribbon Classic

Today is the day ladies & gentlemen(alright, I can't think of one male reader of this blog, but just in case) Angie O. & Mike are welcoming their little wonder baby sometime today. I haven't been this excited since Cooper was born. What I think is even more adorable is that my parents & my sister & Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Kenny are also super excited to hear the news of Warrior's arrival. The whole Laux family- Can't Wait!!! Perhaps they are looking for another reason to celebrate?!?! Just kidding, anyone who knows my family knows there is no need for a reason to celebrate, that just seems to happen everyday. So we are all praying for a very uneventful delivery for Mike and Ang and an angel baby who likes to sleep a lot!

I will actually be on the golf course today. Wander Springs to be exact, golfing in the Pink Ribbon Classic. Each year, my mom, my aunt Rita, my sister & I all golf together to raise money for Breast Cancer support in Manitowoc County. When it comes to charity, I have decided I will always find a reason to donate to any kind of cancer research, anything kid related and anything that helps animals. I know, as usual - totally focused! Anyway, pray for me when I am on the course, I haven't picked up a club since last year's outing - YIKES!

And some more good news - my friend Summyr is officially in remission from Leukemia - thank you for all of the thoughts & prayers you offered for her. She continues to have the most unbelievable positive attitude - she is truly amazing!

Housekeeping....

Is definitely not my forte, but here are a few things I wanted to remember to blog about all mixed into one post:

#1) Happy Birthday to my cousin Adrienne who had a flag day b-day this past Saturday! I have way too many memories growing up with Adge to even start sharing them here...one of my favorites was the very catchy song we wrote and then made a music video to with all our cousins when we were about 10, it was called, "Tis Thee Boinga Boinga" and it was great! I am really looking forward to heading to the Brewer Game with Adge in July and talking and knitting and cheering for the Brewers!

#2) I finally after almost two years of marriage have some marriage advice to share. At the end of each day when Jeff gets home from work we each share our best things and worst thing that happened during the day that is work related and then we don't talk about work the rest of the night. It's great, no one spends hours complaining about their job and it really puts what happened during the day into perspective. I think I even feel better about my job.

#3) Cooper is sick, he has caught a change of the seasons cold and is really miserable, all he wants to do is be held and rocked. I feel just terrible for him. However, I am secretly enjoying all of the hours of holding him it reminds me of when he was first born. Hopefully though he will be healthy by Friday, we again have a weekend on the road planned. We are looking forward to July and literally doing NOTHING but enjoying our own house this summer!

Eventually- My garden will grow!

Margaret Atwood once said, "In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt." I just love this quote and this has been true about me almost every weekend this spring. I am obsessed with getting our yard on the way to looking nice. I could spend hours pulling weeds and messing around with the plants. I love going out to water everyday and dreaming about different rose gardens, wildflower gardens and all of the fruit and veggies I want to grow. If only I was a gardener by trade instead of a salesperson!

Happy Memorial Day( A week later)!

And what a long weekend it was. Here is the roundup:

Saturday:
-Jeff hauled brush out of the backyard for hours, Cooper & I planted a wildflower garden and planted the seeds we had for the planters on the patio, we have our fingers crossed that some flowers will actually grow.
-We took Cooper out to the golf course to congratulate Grandpa Laux on a big win in the annual Memorial Day Scramble. Cooper got to teethe on a bottle of budlight - he screamed when Grandpa tried to take it away, he may look like Jeff, but he has my feelings about beer!

Sunday:
-We sold Jeff's car, the famous 3 fendered Saturn. And even though we are happy it's not taking up space in our driveway, we were both a little sad watching it drive off into the distance. It was the car Jeff picked me up in for our first date! It made us feel a little better to know the car is going to be back in West Allis at the very least.
-We celebrated Connor getting out of jail and introduced Cooper to him, Cooper smiled a HUGE smile, it was very cute. Connor is walking all by himself and confidently cruised around this whole party of about 60 people, it was adorable
-We stopped in Sheboygan to see Heidi's new apartment, Cooper loved playing with her new shower curtain rings and rolling around the floor.

Monday:
-We picked up Grandma Laux and headed to the Manitowoc Memorial Day parade, Cooper shook his red white and blue morrocos before the parade, when the parade started, we were worried he wouldn't be too happy with the noise. Well, Mr. Cool cuddled up on Daddy's lap and looked bored with the entire parade, it was very cute!
-We went to the Veteran's Memorial in Manitowoc where Cousin Patrick read the Gettysburg Address and I felt like we truly celebrated Memorial Day the right way, reflecting on those who provide service to our country, giving their lives to protect our freedom. It was a beautiful program and Patrick added a lot with his reading of the historic speech. It was a great warm-up for the upcoming Lincoln High School Graduation, where he will be a commencement speaker.
-We stopped at Angie O. & Mike's where the men built furniture for the nursery while Cooper tried out one of Warrior's new blankets and played with his toys. Auntie Angie even gave Cooper his first piece of watermelon, which he loved, further confirming he will eat anything!

Summer has officially started and we are BUSY, but enjoying all of the fun!

Things I can't do anymore....

#1) Watch Oprah
I have been a fan of Oprah for as long as I can remember. I have learned many things from her over the years. I have laughed, I have cried, I have even traveled to Chicago and seen a taping in person. But it's over, the magic is gone. I know this because yesterday when I turned Oprah on to kill some time before Jeff got home from work I witnessed the following. Oprah and Dr. Oz leading a group of people to a dumpster where a woman who was petrified of vomit ran her hand through some. Yep- I'm through. Ellen Degeneres is MUCH more entertaining.

#2) Stomach Denise Richards
I was reading Redbook the other day(yes, I have an actual subscription,hold your laughter, I also get Good Housekeeping) and first of all, I am not sure why slutty Denise Richards is on the cover. To add insult to injury, there is a lengthy article on her inside the mag where it basically paints a picture of her as mother of the year. I don't buy it, I think she did the article only to promote herself and upcoming reality show and I am sick of her. She is talentless.

#3)Workout like I used to
I attended the Interval 1-2-3 class I used to be at religiously 3 times a week yesterday. First of all, I almost died, second of all I had to wait to speak when I got home until my heart stopped racing and third my thighs hurt so much I may have to waitress on crutches tomorrow evening. But I do plan to get to this class at least 2 times a week from here on out - no more excuses!

Welcoming the Warrior

This weekend is the baby shower I am co-hosting with the fabulous Barb & Liz for our dear Angie O. as she gets ready to welcome her first baby into the world. I am seriously just BUZZING with anticipation and delight as I get ready for the big fiesta. The planning is all coming together and I am BEYOND excited to spend tomorrow cooking and shopping and prepping all of the ADORABLE things we have planned. None of which I will mention here in case my favorite mommy to be happens to read the blog before Saturday.

I also think it is so hilarious that Angie & Mike call their unborn child The Warrior! We were never that creative before Cooper was born, we just called him Baby H. And secretly I called him Luciana, my absolute favorite girl name because I was POSITIVE he was going to be a girl.

Here's to Angie and Mike and hoping these last 6ish weeks are comfortable, go fast and are filled with rest and relaxation, because I am not kidding when Warrior is born, it will be awhile before any of these are possible again.

Happy Mother's Day!

I am excited to celebrate my first Mother's Day with Cooper in person. Last year he rode along(in my belly) on 9 holes of golf and then we went to the Dugout Bar in Manitowoc for Grilled Cheese, one of my favorites. I joked the whole day that it would be the last Mother's Day for awhile that I wouldn't be changing diapers and I enjoyed every minute of it. This year we are celebrating by taking both grandmas to The American Club in Kohler for brunch, hopefully it will be an enjoyable day for everyone.

Being a mom is something I take very seriously, it's the most important "project" I have ever taken on and I am determined to do the absolute best that I can. Being Cooper's mom is very rewarding in a way I can't even put into words. It makes me appreciate my own mom even more and wonder how in the heck she ever dealt with 3 kids under the age of 4. I mean I don't think I could handle 2 kids under the age of 4, and sometimes I don't think I can handle the 1 kid I have who is under 4. But my mom did it, plus took care of the neighbor kids, always had a big dinner on the table and was there for everything we needed. And now she is an even more dedicated Grandma. I definitely didn't know it when I was a kid, but I know it now, I am lucky to have such a great mom and I really appreciate all of the things she is still doing for me and teaching me. I guess being a mom is the job that never really ends.

Here's wishing everyone has a wonderful mother's day, whether you are celebrating yourself, or celebrating your mom, I hope it is a great day.

Home is Where my Heart Is

Although this Friday night that I spent in Milwaukee going out to dinner at Swig with Kim and then staying at the Hilton downtown was absolutely wonderful and the Making Strides walk for Breast Cancer I participated in Saturday morning was inspiring and the most exercise I have gotten in a long time, I have come to the realization that I like to be at home the most. I think it is because even though I was away from Cooper for less than 24 hours, I feel like I have missed something. He seems bigger and to have developed more personality in the short time I was away. Sappy I know, but definitely the truth!

And today we have no plans on the agenda, I need to straighten up the house, grocery shop, and if the weather cooperates, I need to get outside and clear brush, plant flowers and spray for weeds and bugs. I know - I am the most exciting & glamorous person you have ever met!!!

PRAY FOR SUMMYR

I know I haven't blogged in much too long, but let me tell you this is a great reason to get back in the habit. In the picture above are two of the most wonderful people I know, Mike & Summyr Zuern. Mike was my mentor when I started at Direct Supply and quickly became like a brother to me. He taught me everything he knew and is mostly responsible for my success at selling. I could give you a million examples of Mike being so nice and so smart and such a gem as a Partner and more importantly a friend. And his wife, the absolutely stunning Summyr is just as fabulous. They are so fun at all the DS functions and truly the kind of people that would do ANYTHING for you.

Here's my point(as we all know it takes me awhile to get there, but I get there): Summyr was diagnosed with Leukemia late last week and is going through treatment right now. Please pray for her while she goes through this tough time and send all your loving thoughts her way. No one deserves this, especially not my friends The Zuerns!

Visit her CaringBridge page at: http://www.caringbridge.org/cb/viewHome.do

Weekend Update

It has been a lovely weekend thus far. Okay weather, happy baby, lots of things crossed off the to do list and today seems like it is going to be even better. I am hoping I can convince Jeff to grill out tonight. We'll see!

We are in the process of getting a new car. As most of you know we are a Saturn family, both Jeff and I drive rather small Saturns. We of course both have NO interest whatsoever in getting a mini-van, at least not yet. So we decided to test drive the Saturn Vue and a Toyota FJ. And now we are in quote a pickle - WE both LOVE the FJ and it seems to have more cargo space and just be a more comfortable vehicle. However the Vue seems to be a better value:( And Jeff's employer offers a discount when purchasing a Saturn that totals about $1100. The FJ is fun, the Vue is practical. We will see what we end up with.

Today we are off to church and then perhaps we will do something fun like taking a trip to Target and the grocery store. It is definitely time for Cooper to get his rear in a highchair!

What a Week!

Can I just say that I am so thankful tomorrow is Friday and I have off from work? Although technically I will still be working at the golf course tomorrow evening, I will have most of tomorrow off and am planning some fun activities with Cooper like swimming in the pool at the Y, shoe shopping and getting an oil change. I know he will like at least one of those!

This week the following has take place at the H-Household:

-A plumber came to fix the toilet in the master bath

-A landscaper came to give us suggestions on what we are hilariously referring to as "the 10 year plan" for our yard (because it will take us 10 years to be able to afford everything!)

-Cooper is cutting his second tooth and it is a killer! Case in point, I asked Jeff to pick up some teething remedies, as Tylenol alone is just not helping and he came home with 4 options. We will try anything to keep this little guy comfy

-We tried out a new babysitter Emily, she was scheduled for Monday, Wednesday & Friday morning, in preparation for a big night out for us on Saturday with Kim & Creighton when they are in town for Coop's baptism. Well, Monday went okay, Emily showed up looking like she was out all night drinking, but did an okay job with Coop. However she did share that her younger brother a high school junior who steals "things" from people is expecting his first child with his girlfriend in July which was a little alarming. Then Wednesday morning at 1:40am she emails me to tell me she has "been up all night throwing up and won't be able to make it for Wednesday. And will call me IF she wakes up in time in the morning." You will be shocked to know she hasn't called. I asked her to let me know if she could make Friday morning but haven't heard from her. Don't worry ladies & gentlemen, I am not leaving my kid alone with this drunkard on Saturday night, Cooper will be coming out to dinner with the grown-ups.

-We have decluttered the whole house to get ready for the baptism on Sunday!!

-And I have barely slept at all, thank you Cooper!

WHY???

Just a few questions I would like to ask my fabulous readers to make sure I have a grip on reality and also just to let it out!

Why do houseguests always seem to break something? For the record Marcia tried to break our stereo/TV by pressing all the buttons in an attempt to turn up the volume. Joke was on her when she accidentally set the alarm timer and blasted Baby Einstein throughout the house at midnight - as she slept in our living room. She successfully broke the bathtub drain in one of our bathrooms by pulling it to the side instead of straight up & down. Luckily Jeff fixed it.

Why do in-laws have to make everything difficult? After one of my friends shared a HILARIOUS in-law story this morning, I was thanking my lucky stars that we have not had much in-law drama with Cooper's upcoming Baptism. WRONG! Jeff fielded a call today basically asking him to establish a schedule with both parties for which events they would get to attend. So our kid is like a timeshare or one more thing that should have been settled in their divorce decree I guess. I will say this again to my single friends: DO NOT MARRY SOME ONE WHO HAS DIVORCED PARENTS THAT ARE ON POOR TERMS!!!!!

Why does Jeff stop at Green Lights? I would call this DANGEROUSLY cautious!

Why does Cooper put his feet in his mouth? Because he can!

This could be the best weekend ever....

The weather is predicted to be in the 50s and I seriously almost teared up when I saw that forecast. I am so excited to get some fresh air into my house and enjoy the weather. We actually have our good friends Marcia from Iowa and Tiffany from Milwaukee staying with us this weekend and have had a blast with them so far.

Friday night we just had to head out to Royal Scot golf course for the best fish fry in Green Bay. This morning, we enjoyed a HUGE breakfast of bacon, an egg & sausage strata, fresh fruit and donuts. Then of course we were off to the Packer Hall of Fame. Cooper enjoyed learning about the Packers very much and is excited to go back when he is a little older so he can learn how to do the Lambeau Leap. When we finally got back home, it was of course time for dinner. Chef Jeff my husband grilled Chicken Spinach & Asiago Sausages, which are delish with Aunty Jeanne's home made BBQ Sauce and also burgers that he somehow made so juicy, it was great, a wonderful first grill session of the season. We complimented everything with our famous potato grill packs and jello salad. I am in bad food heaven. Is it sad I am already dreaming about leftover donuts for breakfast tomorrow?

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. I am hoping Cooper and I can get some yard work done tomorrow. We also need to get his baby swing attached to the swing set.

A day in the life of Cooper J. Hoisington

7am-smack mommy in the face to wake her up since I insist on sleeping right next to her most nights(if mommy does not respond quickly enough I start flailing my arms and screaming in her ear)
7:10am-Eat breakfast
8am-play with my toys but only until I determine mommy is actually getting something done
8:15am-Sit on mommy's lap attempting to pull her headset off, if this doesn't work, lunge at her keyboard and push all the buttons at once
8:30am-Play with mommy who looks defeated
8:45am-Bounce in my jumparoo, the whole time staring at mommy and making her feel guilty
9:00am-Tired from all that bouncing curl up for a nice nap
9:25am-I am refreshed, I think I will make sure mommy is okay
9:30am-Spend about 20 minutes trying to break my animal gym
9:50am-Realize I am hungry and start making a high pitched dolphin/Mariah Carey noise, if this doesn't make mommy stop taking phone calls, nothing will!
10am-Have some more milk, then cereal, then some sort of fruit
10:20am-Create the most disgusting diaper possible, then smile slyly as mommy almost vomits while changing me
10:25am-I feel light as a feather and would like to roll around all over the floor
11:00am-I would now like to ride in my swing
11:15am-Now you need to hold me and sing my favorite songs and don't try to throw in any new songs, this makes me furious!
12:00 Lunch and another nap, just in time for Nanny Maggie to arrive
1:30 Nanny Maggie & I watch the Brewer game, to show her how much I care I pee and poop enough to get some on her very white very nice Brewer jersey. This makes nanny Maggie scream and Mommy run around the house getting stain remover. Meanwhile I am relaxing in a clean dry diaper and loving life.
2:30 Mommy and Maggie have recovered from my mess and have redressed me-this sucks. I protest by whining a lot and then falling asleep
4:30 Daddy is home, mommy and daddy are trying to eat dinner, but in my house, no one eats until I am done eating, so I decide to let everyone know I want dinner by screaming
5:00pm I am finished eating and now need both of my parents to pay attention to me nonstop, I want to be entertained!
6:30pm I am getting bored and need a nap prior to sleeping for the night
7:00pm I awake and proceed to spit on myself and anyone else who comes near me for 30 minutes, I am a pro spitter
7:30pm FEED ME!!! I need cereal, veggies, fruit and a huge bottle.
8:30pm Mommy and Daddy think I am asleep for the night, jokes on them, I am in the crib dreaming up how I can get them to let me sleep in their bed again. I will take a Tempurpedic king size over this crappy crib mattress any day!

THE TOOTHFAIRY HAS DROPPED OFF OUR FIRST TOOTH!

After weeks of thinking Cooper was teeting as he drooled and put everything into his mouth and tried to bite our fingers off. Finally - he has a tooth. And I am devastated. No more perfectly gummy smiles! I also can not believe 5 months have already passed since he was born. He does something new everyday and most days it's something absolutely hilarious. For example, he has started screamingin a very high pitched tone. So the other night he is screaming and it lasts for about a good minute and then at the end of the scream is a low pitched belch. Seriously - such a man!!!!

PERFUME

So I was thinking over the past few weeks about perfume. Do you remember being younger and thinking your mother had THE BEST perfume? Of course for me, this was during the height of the 80s and my mom had this very fancy mirrored pedestal tray that she kept all of her special perfumes on and I remember spending hours smelling each one and thinking they were very glamorous. She did have Chanel No.5, which for my mom is pretty remarkable because nowdays she doesn not do ANYTHING hip. The funny thing about the perfume and my whole point for writing this is that there were 2 that I was totally enamored by: White Shoulders and Charlie And of course now that I am grown up, I have WAY different opinions of these fragrances.

Do you have any fragrance flashbacks that crack you up now?

Spring- Where are you?

Really-what in the world is going on? I know we live in Wisconsin, I know it snows a lot here, but seriously when is the reprieve? Where is the one or 2 token 40 degree days that help get rid of all the blasted white stuff? Our driveway is so narrow it's more like a hiking trail. And unbelievably I can recall that just a mere 8 years ago when I was a senior in college, Royal Scot golf course opened on February 28th because it was completely thawed and the frost was GONE from the ground. So... I am personally combatting the winter blahs by doing the following:

#1) Planning a TON of activites for all of us for this summer (brewer games, trips to Kohler, trips to the zoo, we may even get Cooper baptized in there some place)

#2)Accomplishing one of my goals this year and doing more fundraising/community service. The first is the Breast Cancer Walk in May, just say the word if you would like to join the walk, or if you would like to donate, that would be FABULOUS as well. The second is something so easy, I would encourage you to take part as well. it is called: Make a Child Smile and you can find details at: ww.makeachildsmile.com I set an outlook reminder and then once per month I log on and send out a few cards to the featured children on the site.

#3)Planning the baby shower of my girl Angie O. and her fabulous baby who we all refer to as
" The Warrior" I can not wait to meet this lil spitfire!!!

#4)Planning our winter vacation for next year, we will be going to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training with Kim, Creighton and Connor. It will be Cooper's first plane ride.

So if you want to steal any of these ideas and use them for yourself, you should go for it. It is helping me forget that I have been trapped inside almost non-stop for the last month!!!!

BATTLE OF WILLS

Well it has happened, Cooper and Mommy have had their first battle of wills and Mommy has won. It all started a few weeks ago when Cooper decided he would like to have a bottle all of the time instead of nursing. He refused to nurse and then would scream his little head off until I would just give him the bottle. At first he was doing this once a day, then suddenly it was at every feeding, so finally I called my favorite nurse Ramona at Bellin to get some advise. She said that basically I would have to just keep offering him to nurse ONLY and that he would get pretty upset but he would eat eventually as babies don't starve themselves. So...I decided to take her advice immediately. Cooper was in hysterics for about 5 minutes then finally he gave in and started eating, however he wouldn't make eye contact with me and seemed defeated. It was heartbreaking to have to be mean to him, but it was for his own good. I have a feeling I will be feeling this way even more often as he grows up.

Who cares if the Packers lost.....

I won big last Sunday night - REAL BIG, now before I sound like a big jerk, we were in fact heartbroken that the Packers lost. In fact both Jeff and I really thought we were going to vomit as we watched the Giants win in overtime.

However, I had a GREAT day - GREAT!!!! First, my Amazing Race team Rachel & TK won, if you don't know Jeff & I always bet on the reality TV shows we watch. We place the bet in the first minutes of the premiere episode, so there is no way to have an advantage, however, Jeff always seems to win. Well this time, I finally prevailed and I won a spa treatment from Jeff. I think I am going to get an herbal body wrap. Which if you never have had one before - I recommend them!

And it gets better - we put Cooper to bed about 10pm and he slept until 5am. YAY - one full night's sleep, it was GREAT!!!!! Of course he hasn't slept through the night again, but I have confidence that he will get there.

For now, that's all I have got - the life of a mommy is not all that exciting!

Happy New Year- I am purging!!!

And no, I haven't suddenly gone bulimic, I am just cleaning out my closet for the first time in about 2 years. It has actually been a lot of fun. First, because some things that didn't fit prior to me being pregnant now fit and secondly because I have found some hilarious items that I can't even imagine actually buying. Do you have anything like that in your closet?

So, although the task is not yet complete, I have found it to be very motivational and rewarding. It is actually VERY strange and surreal to put on your "normal" clothes after 9 months of gaining weight and getting larger. Your mind really plays tricks on you, like, "really me stomach isn't sticking out 3 feet in front of me?!?!" So I am finding it difficult to wear anything that shows my waistline, but I will get there. Because seriously, who can wear those crazy balloon shirts of pregnancy forever?

I am packing up my collection of maternity wear, combined with the items Kim gave me after she had Connor and putting them into a Rubbermaid container for the next fabulous friend who needs them. My plan is to have everyone who needs/uses the clothes just kind of add their own items to the box and eventually we will have a 4 season maternity wardrobe. My stuff is pretty heavy on the summer items, of course, BUT- I am thinking with a few more pregnancies amongst the friends, we will get there. HINT HINT to my pals reading this: GET PREGNANT!!!!

I hope you are all having a wonderful new year thus far - I certainly am!