thats what she said thats what she said thats what she said

today i had a meeting about why we don't need to have a meeting tomorrow.

unplugged

we unplugged for a bit (gasp!) and headed to st. louis for the holidays.

here are a few christmas shots.

the holidays were oddly quiet this year. there were some sick kiddos this year that were unable to attend the normal family festivities.

i did not get much of what i wanted to get done over break, but i did enjoy my time with my family and friends. nate got loved and kissed on, and recieved some wonderful toys and clothes. we ate too much, drank too much, slept too much (nate too! yea!), and now we are home to start another work week! the holidays fell very oddly this year. i feel like we should be off work all next week as well.

i haven't felt much like writing these past few weeks. i have just been soaking up the time off and playing with nater!

also, over the break, we are officially weaned and formula fed (i bought my first can of formula- did you know that shit is expensive?!). it was a bit bittersweet but less dramatic (and less painful) than i thought. i am happy about the decision and proud that i was able to give him nothing but breastmilk for 5 and a half months and half bm/half formula until 6 months. it is NOT easy to exclusively breastfeed and it takes a lot hard work and dedication! i do feel a little guilt quitting now, but maybe only because i am not meeting my original 1 year goal. nate seems unaffected by the change and continues to thrive. 6 months was a good healthy start!

before i tell you about the gorgeous wedding i was in...

let me tell you about my GLORIOUS friday morning.

i wake up. late. semi-exhasted. (as the baby has decided that sleeping through an entire night is a ridiculous concept.) run around doing normal morning things (but in fast forward). karl has a dentist appointment and has to leave early so I am on my own. that afternoon, there is a christmas party scheduled for the babies and parents at nate's daycare. they are supposed to wear christmas outfits... i don't have a christmas outfit per say, but I do have these adorable guitar jeans and this cute rock star onsie with red stripes... i thought it was super cute. i put it on him. i have an 8:30 mandatory meeting at work (complete with christmas bonus so you know i can't be late!) so i am FLYING around the house looking for my car keys. i stick the baby in his carseat and run out to start the car. i come back in to a strange yet completely identifiable smell. i pick the baby up. UM, i am not going to go into a TERRIBLE amount of detail here but let's just say the phrase BLOW OUT does not begin to describe what happened friday morning. EVERY. WHERE. up the back, like waaaaaay up...in his hair, in his EAR. disgusting. i use about 12 wipes before i finally throw him in the sink because i can't be sure the wipes did the job, trying not to get anything on my coat... he is screaming... i am gagging... (i may have wrapped a sweater around my mouth and nose)... i am panicked because i am late... it was hilarious. (well, admittedly, not AT ALL funny at the time.) i finally get him into another semi-cute (BUT NOT CHRISTMASey in the slightest) outfit and fly out the door. i seriously threw him into his teachers arms and made it with one minute to spare to my meeting. (and got that bonus. that's right.)

the rest of the day was similar to this... for some reason NOTHING went according to plan on friday!

i finally called it quits around 3:30 and headed over to daycare for the party. nate had ANOTHER accident (ten whole minutes before the party started of course!) and was in his ugly clothes (the ones i leave at daycare in cases of accidents.)

Ahh... well, what are you going to do? Hopefully his outfits aren't indicative of my parenting skills. ;)

moral of the story? it's time for bigger diapers?

alright stop collaborate and listen

so here is how i spent my first ice/sleet of the season:

i huddled outside in said sleet, wrapped up in a blanket, waiting for my dogs to puke. why did i need my dogs to puke? oh because one of them ATE AN ENTIRE CHRISTMAS SLEIGH FULL OF CHOCOLATE KISSES and MINI CANDY BARS. Every single choc-o bite and wrapper... there was nary a shiny foil kiss wrapper and not even a fleck of a little flag that said 'kisses' or whatever on our living room floor.

(i will give you one guess as to which dog.)

since we didn't know initially who the doggie culprit was we decided to induce vomiting in both.

we gave them one dose of hydrogen peroxide.

arlo puked it up - no candy bars (CANDY BARS!). no wrappers.

we gave roxy another dose of the peroxide. no upchucking. much running around happily in the yard, chasing around sleet, still trying to eat everything. finally we gave up and came in with her.

she never threw up, never acted weird, ate dinner and breakfast this morning like normal. a-parent-ely chocolate has no effect on her. aparentely the women in this family are tough.

oh roxy. what are we going to do with you?

(yea, some of you probably think we are bad doggie parents for not calling a vet. BUT GOOGLE SAID (haha) that it actually takes quite a bit of chocolate to harm a dog her size, and she honestly was acting just fine and our instincts said the 'wait it out method' would work just fine for this case.)

(flame us if you will.)

(there will be no roxy #2 for Christmas this year!)

(i know. i am a horrible 'animal person.')

sunday pics gone wrongs

food is messy. and the camera should probably not be a part of mealtime (for anyone!) as most of my pics look like the middle two. but they are funny, no? i think so!

potential news on the horizon. stay tuned.

11 days till Christmas.
Zero presents purchased.
The blogosphere is quiet as everyone else is probably out shopping.

this weekend jenny (it's her birthday!) and jeff came to visit. we had the best time. doing nothing but hanging out. playing with the kiddo. eating. attending a christmas party. perfect. it is fun to watch your currently pregnant friends look at your baby with different 'this-will-be-me-soon' eyes.

My mama in law gave me the best present - she decorated our house for the holidays!
i admit to feeling some christmas cheer when i pulled up to a gorgeous christmas wreath on my door.
pics of nate's stocking to follow. (and the advent calendar - i promise!)

long blog ahead...

whatcha whatcha want

i am having a bit of blogger's block. any burning personal questions you would like me to address?

maybe it is because lost season 4 arrived at my house yesterday via netflix and i can now only think of the island and the people getting off the island. (SHHHHHH - don't tell.)

i just got an email from Nate's daycare entitled "Health Advisory." The first line went like so: "Today, in one of our Early Childhood classes over 50% of the student population is experiencing at home or at school repeated and persistent vomiting, some to the point of possible dehydration."

ummmmmmmmmmmm. what does that mean!?

ummmmmmmmmmmmmm

i am not sure whether to die laughing or order one.

i think our family would look good in the blue, don't you think?

sunday: it's for pictures

rocking the fohawk, my friends.

5 months, 1 week, 4 days

oh baby i wanna get wit-cha and take yo pict-cha

four things:

one, karl may have said to wait for him to eat dinner (he is wrapping up a b-ball practice and should be done around 7:30). i may have translated this as "open the fridge and polish off the rest of the sweet potato casserole - straight from the pan; don't bother with plates... just grab a fork." (loosely translated, you see.)

two, i like to entertain myself with some more google analytics search terms/phrases that hit on my blog. i don't check too often but they sure do make me giggle. here are some fun ones (and my commentary in the over-used parenthesis) i love thinking about the folks sitting in front of their computers tping in these EXACT phrases:

beer flavored toothpaste (please, mom, can i?)
how to keep your pants up when pregnant (i don't know if this is intended to be dirty or not, but i am guessing not. in a non-dirty fashion, it IS really hard to keep (some) maternity pants up!)
i sure am tired (yep. sure am.)
paint by numbers rat (wha? that dirty paint by numbers rat.)
what should i wear to work today nov. 12, 2008? (ha! this one makes me giggle.)
wear more cloth (PLEASE. just add cloth.)

three: some nuggets of internet goodness (very random):

advertising at its worst/(best?) (can you believe this? i don't know whether to be horrified or glad that these programs are finding money.)
christmas fetus cookies (yep, fetus.)
christmas giving video. (thanks angela)

four: nate's teachers at school are OBSESSED with this onsie. they crack up every time he wears it. it is pretty ADORABLE! (from my dear friend melissa down in NOLA where the red beans and rice run a-plenty.) and, sadly, he is outgrowing it and many others.

that is all. run along.

5 months, 6 days

so this is the post about christmas and how excited i am about it

and blah blah blah.

why am i the only one who doesn't love the holiday season!? it nate's first one so everyone (no one really) is pressuring me to get a tree and have my presents all wrapped and ready to go by, like, tomorrow. what if i don't wanna tree? what if i don't want to spend hours untangling the lights i simply threw in the box last year? whatcha gonna do? hmph. (hating holiday decor makes me speak like a petulant child.)

i do hate shopping.
and i do suck at decorating.
and i am terrible at wrapping (like, terribly horribly suck at wrapping. and it makes me angry to spend money on bows. karl and i are THOSE PEOPLE who give each other gifts unwrapped or in the store bag/box- gasp - the horror! whatever will our children do if we continue this way!? we are also those people found wrapping things on christmas eve in a panic of 'WHERE ARE THE SCISSORS? CRAP - I RIPPED THE CORNER AGAIN! (just flip it upside down when you place it under the tree.) HOW DO YOU FOLD THIS?? DO WE EVEN HAVE ANY GIFT TAGS?! DO YOU THINK I CAN USE DUCT/PACKING TAPE?').
and i am not a big fan of baking. (see how i am so not meant to be a holiday person? i would much rather cook a large meal for 30 than bake a cake. although i have seen some pretty awesome cookie decorating crafts out there i MIGHT like to try... but the cookies would most likely taste pretty average.).

but i am pretty good at microwaving water for hot chocolate (ha!).
also, i kind of rule at eating an enormous and delicious meal and drinking wine (yum).
AND i guess i am pretty good at loving on my family.
and i do appreciate the whole gathering aspect of the holidays.
and i do love that whole baby jesus thing.
(though i still don't understand why we prep for months to spend mere hours.... i guess its like any good event! just with the same cast, crew, and family drama every year.).
i also love christmas cards. but i think that is only because of my love of paper and snail mail.

and, finally, as a sign of slight hypocrisy, i do have a christmas craft (ADVENT CALENDAR!) that my MIL and I made and is SUPER DUPER adorable. and, i admit it, i am ridiculously excited to hang it in the Room of Baby. pictures to follow. i will say that there is lots of felt involved. (and clearly felt crafting is the new knitting.) jealous? you will be when you see it.

5 months, 5 days