If You Give A Mama A Trip To Target...

I can remember a Mother's Day from when I was younger, probably eleven or twelve, where my dad took my sister and I to a Detroit Tigers baseball game, leaving my mom alone. At the time, I can remember thinking how sad she must have been, that her whole family was abandoning her on the most special of all days and how she must have spent the afternoon waiting by the window for us to return.

And then I became a mom myself, and I imagine now that the second our car rolled out of the driveway she was doing a little happy dance in the living room. It was probably the best damn Mother's Day she'd had in the history of ever.

On Friday, my in-laws came and scooped up Anna for a day of Costco shopping and visiting relatives in Grand Rapids. All week, I had been planning in my head what I was going to do with my temporary freedom, and it mostly involved a Starbucks run and a glorious, peaceful, toddler-free trip to Target where I meandered through the aisles and stocked up on Easter basket goodies. The only bad thing? The part where I had to pay for all the fun stuff I had blissfully thrown in my cart.

As if the day couldn't get better, my Target adventure was followed by a sushi lunch date with Mike. We sat at the bar, conversed like real grown-ups, and didn't have to stop our conversation twenty times to pick food up off the floor or flag the waitress over to bring us some more milk or more napkins. It was glorious.

And I swear to you, the rest of the weekend played out like that children's book, "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie", because it seems those few precious hours of Anna-free time were just what I needed. I finally cleaned and organized the toys that were threatening to take over our living room. I swept and mopped every floor in our house. I washed windows. Heck, I even painted my toenails. The next morning, I cleaned and vacuumed out my car. I was on fire, and all it had taken was a soy latte, that red bullseye, and some wasabi.

Sometimes, as a stay-at-home-mom, I don't feel entitled to take days off. It's so hard to remember that even though I'm not on a payroll or punching a clock, I so need those mental health days to decompress and drink coffee alone and try on twenty things without a two-year-old trying to escape the dressing room.

All my cleaning and toe-nail polishing was followed up with a visit to meet my dear friend's baby and a trip to my parents' house to celebrate Easter. We ate cheesy potatoes, eggs benedict, and lots of chocolate, and finished the day with an egg hunt out in the yard.

This is what the mullet looks like first thing in the morning.

"No pictures!"

Ready to hunt.

My Aunt Janet is the master of the egg hunt.

I hope everyone's weekend was as awesome as ours, even if you didn't get to go to Target.

This afternoon, we embark on a trip down to Florida - Mike is fishing with his brother, and Anna, my mom and I are heading down to visit my sister. I'm looking forward to the beach and the sun. And maybe even giving my mom an afternoon or two off so she can go to Target!

Happy Tuesday!

You Can't Have 'No' In Your Heart

There's a running joke around our house that Anna has, by leaps and bounds, the coolest hair of anyone in the family.

And when I say coolest, I mean "looks the most like Joe Dirt".

Leading up to her birth, I was convinced my baby would enter the world with a head full of long, flowing locks. Heartburn doesn't lie, does it? And according to all the old wives' tales, constantly reaching for the Tums during pregnancy means  your kid will pop out ready to be the next Pantene model. Well, it turns out all the old wives are full of it, because Anna had barely a fuzz covering her noggin - a fuzz that stayed put well beyond her first birthday.

Finally, though, her hair did begin to grow.

Except. Well, except for one small problem. Her hair is growing, yes. But it is only growing in the back.

People, my child has a mullet. She is business in the front and party in the back. She could get through a security checkpoint into Canada without a problem or a passport of the paper kind . I'm pretty sure any hockey team would give her a spot on their roster simply by looking at her. It's hard core.

On a good day, she resembles Florence Henderson in her Brady Bunch days.

On a bad day? Well, let's just say that she would fit right in with Billy Ray and his achy, breaky heart.

If you are ever feeling sad, I urge you to use Google Images to look up "mullet". You will be giggling the rest of the day.

She was born in the South, after all. Maybe this is her way of telling us she wants to be a country music singer when she grows up.  

Just to clarify, The Band Perry (pictured on the right) is a current band. This picture is from the last year, meaning those dudes cut their hair like that on purpose. Maybe Anna is a trendsetter?

Sure, we could cut it. But then how in the world will we torture her with pictures when she's a teenager?

We've tried putting in cute little barrettes or headbands to distract people from what's really going on - usually involving bribery in the form of gummy bears - but they never seem to last longer than an hour or two. I have to say, despite the fact that she is still mistaken for a boy (with a really bad haircut) on almost a daily basis, the idea that my daughter could easily be an extra in a White Snake video makes me smile.

If that's not love, I don't know what is.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to enroll Anna in guitar lessons and buy her some cowboy boots. And maybe add a little hair-growing serum to her milk while I'm at it...

I Need A Kristintervention

In more ways than one. For reals.

Today is my sweet sister's birthday. And while Kristin is basking in the sun in the faraway land known as Florida, I am sadly stuck in Michigan. (Although, no complaints about the weather, because I have been doing quite a bit of basking myself. Thank you, Mother Nature!)

We won't be drinking margaritas together to celebrate, but that doesn't mean she hasn't been on my mind all day, because I sure do miss her.

Do you know who else misses her?

My house.

Remember that time she came over and basically kicked my ass and ordered me around and forced me to get organized? Weeellll...let's just say I haven't exactly been living up to her expectations. I'm pretty sure every surface in my house has suffered my abuse, and it ain't pretty.

I don't think I can convince her to leave the beach to, ya know, beat me into organizing my life. Which means I must take matters into my own hands.

I've been pondering a few things I've seen on Pinterest, like a daily cleaning schedule or one of those "52 Weeks to an Organized Life" deals. I don't know. I'm feeling overwhelmed. And embarrassed.

On a scale from one to ten, how pitiful is it if a stay-at-home mom wants to hire a cleaning service? (Although, as I said to my friend Katie today, my house is too much of a wreck to probably even get a cleaning service to come!)

You gotta start somewhere, right? So Kristin, in honor of that magical day you entered the world, I'm going to clean at least one room of my house today. If that doesn't shout "I'm so happy you were born!", then I'm not sure what does...

Happy Birthday, sister! I hope your day is surface-abuse free and full of wonderful things that make you happy. I love you!

Anyone have any tips or pointers for me? Experience with those daily cleaning schedules? HELP ME!

Nap Time, I Thought We Were Cool

I think that Mike and I are dealing with a little Post-Traumatic Stress when it comes to Anna's sleeping habits. I mean, the kid has been slumbering twelve to thirteen hours a night in her own crib for more than a year, and I swear to you the one night she happens to wake up we both get all twitchy and angry and totally revert to our sleep-deprived maniacal selves. That's the way we functioned the entire first year of her life, because girlfriend was not what is known as the kind of baby who, well, sleeps like a baby. Or, rather, maybe she was, and the person who came up with that expression is a huge jackass.

I've been noticing lately lots of pictures of kids popping up on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram sleeping in totally random places - sacked out in front of their blocks, curled up with the family dog, sawing logs in their high chair - and I find myself chuckling and feeling just the tiniest bit jealous. Because there is no chance in hell that Anna would EVER fall asleep anywhere but in a moving vehicle, someone's arms, or her crib. And while we've come leaps and bounds since her first year, (despite her lack of spontaneous nodding off) there have been some changes 'round here in her sleeping patterns, and they've got me quaking in my boots.

The rarest of all Anna sightings - spontaneous sleeping!

I am starting to fear that Anna is coming to the end of napping days. It hurts almost to type it. Nap time - those treasured two or three hours every day when I can pop open a bottle of pinot and catch up on reality TV (ha)- seems to be disappearing. I put Anna in her crib, and no joke, two hours later she will still be in there laughing and singing and talking to her toys. She's not crying or complaining - she's genuinely having fun. As I type this I can hear her calling to Super Grover to bring her a sandwich. Some days she finally seems to give up and go to sleep, but by then it's pretty much the time she's supposed to be waking up, and her whole schedule gets out of whack. Other days, she fights it and I relent and go get her. At first, on the days she would miss her nap, come six o'clock she would be a walking little terror. But lately I've noticed that missing her nap doesn't seem to throw her off as much as it used to, and she goes to sleep at night much faster and easier. Is this how it all ends? Please say it ain't so!

Two smaller things have been happening, but none so life-altering as the loss of the nap. First, Anna has rediscovered sleeping with her mama and dada. It started one of those twitchy nights when she woke up for some reason or another, and instead of putting in the work to rock her or sing to her or rub her back while she went back to sleep, I simply scooped her up and brought her into our bed. As I was doing I thought to myself, "Oh, this could be trouble!" But then we all snuggled up and slept wonderfully and that was that. Until two nights later, when she was up again. This time, I was more determined (less lazy?), but Anna had other plans. Immediately she was asking, "Sleep in dada's bed?" Well played, kid. So far, it hasn't been too much of a problem - she's probably been joining us about once a week, and both Mike and I sort of like having her around. She did sleep with us the entire first year of her life, after all. The girl knows how to get what she wants, though, and we have created a (snuggle) monster. I submit the following photo as evidence:

She somehow convinced my sister to share a twin bed with her...

The last thing is much less dramatic, although it definitely has the possibility to be, well, messier. Several mornings a week I open Anna's door to find a small pile on the floor consisting of pajamas and a diaper. And a naked, bouncy toddler grinning up at me. So far, no accidents, but who knows how long that luck will last. The girl wants to be naked, I guess.

Who can blame her, really?

All is quiet in her room now, which means that she'll probably be asleep until dinner. So I best be gettin' my drink on. Or, you  know, folding some laundry.

Parents - when did your kids drop their naps? Am I fooling myself in thinking this might just be a phase? And any tips for keeping my baby clothed (and her crib free of poop)?? 

Huge Elmo, Pie, and a Baby Shower

Well. Would you look at that? The month of February is basically over, and it turns out I've been kind of a slacker in the blogging department.

Truth is, it hasn't been too exciting of a month. But in a good way, I suppose. We did take Anna to see Sesame Street Live ("Elmo is huge! On the stage!") and we did have some fun celebrating Valentine's Day (with delicious pie, how else?). Of course I didn't really document either of those things, but lucky for me my good friend Alexia did, so if you're so inclined you can check it out here and here. (She's eight months pregnant, so I'm not really sure what my excuse is, but I'm thankful she's a lot more on the ball than I am!)

Mike and I also escaped for a little weekend adventure (baby free!) up to Traverse City. Kristin and Drew were up there for the Special Olympics, and we had lots of fun exploring and hiking and taking in all the festivities. It was quick, but so nice to get away without Anna for a couple of days.

Probably the biggest excitement in February was a baby shower we threw for my oldest friend Caitlin. (When I say oldest, I mean that we have been friends since we were in our mama's bellies - not that she is old!) And seeing that her sweet baby girl arrived on Saturday, I suppose I could share some pictures from the party.

I'd never really been involved in throwing a baby shower before, but I have to admit it was a ton of fun. Of course Pinterest played a huge part in many of the ideas we used (did you expect anything else?), but the whole day was such a lovely celebration of Caitlin and Doug and the new life they are bringing into the world.

For the life of me, I could not blur out the address using Photoshop. Paint for the win!
Invitations from Etsy.

We played a fun game with everyone's baby photos

Favors - here is the original link for the DIY instructions

We all signed a copy of Caitlin's favorite book when she was a baby

The decorations were simple, but oh-so-fitting

What's a party without a little champagne?

Delicious cookies from Caitlin's aunt and uncle's bakery - Johnny B's Cookies

The parents-to-be

Womb Sisters!

One of the ladies made these sweet buttons for everyone to wear - little Caitlin and Leslie were so cute!

Now all that's left is a trip to Chicago so I can squeeze baby Madeline in person!


I hope everyone has had a wonderful, er, month. Here's to March - I'm ready for some sunshine!

What has filled your February?

Pinny Party!

Ok. Ok. I promise that I will stop talking about Pinterest. Soon.

Just not today.

It seems as though my beloved site is going mainstream. And I've heard some grumbling. Like people who are all mad that now everyone else has discovered this little gem and think it's getting tarnished or something. To me, the more the merrier. Because now there are even more people sharing even more awesome ideas and recipes for me to try. So, all you new Pinterest users? We're cool.

A few weeks ago (well, actually it was probably more like a month ago, but I am slow) something amazing happened. See, my friend Trista had this great idea that we should start organized little parties where we make something we find on Pinterest. When she told me, I was like, "Um, excuse me while my head explodes." Because, first of all, you know that I love making crafts, especially ones I find on Pinterest. And secondly, I loved the idea of getting my craft on with a bunch of other fun girls.

And the best part? We are going to call them "Pinny Parties".

As a stay-at-home-mom, (as it has probably become pretty obvious to you) life isn't always mega-exciting, and I sometimes find myself craving interaction with other adults. I mean, I love staying home with Anna, but there are days when episodes of Sesame Street and trips to the park and conversations with a two-year-old just ain't cuttin' it. Of course I have Mike, and while he is amazing and patient and excellent at listening to me ramble on about every minute detail of our day and keeping me sane, the one thing he is not? A girl. And there's just something about a group of girls getting together and laughing and eating that can't be replaced with anything else.

So, the date was the set and the project was selected and the supplies were purchased. And craft and laugh and eat we did.

Hard at work!

Marshmallow fluff & cream cheese fruit dip - also known to me as "crack"

How cute did these turn out?

Jenny was giving me serious vacation envy.

Part of my collection.

Here is the link to the original site where we found the idea - she goes into much more detail on how to make them, so check it out! We wanted to pick something fairly easy and cheap for our first try, and I think we did a great job.

Basically, we bought tiles from Home Depot (I think they were around 31 cents each). Some girls used actual photos, some used photos printed on plain computer paper. Both turned out, although I would say the ones that were on regular paper did a bit more "bleeding". Modge Podge the back of the photo, press down on the tile, and let it dry for a bit. Then Modge Podge over everything to seal it all in. I didn't get any pictures, but some used scrapbooking paper to accent or add borders and words.

I decided to hang mine on the wall using some of those little Command picture-hanging strips. They can also be used as coasters, although I think it would probably be best to use some kind of sealant so that water drips won't ruin them.

So there you have it. Our very first Pinny Party was a success - and I can't wait for the next one!

Have you made anything awesome you found on Pinterest?