Dreamy Bubble Bath...

Ever need to relax and draw a nice, warm bath?

You crawl in and adjust the water to stop scorching your skin. Pull back the shower curtain for some privacy in case someone walks in accidentally.

That's what I did just the other night. I got the flu and wasn't feeling very good so I thought a bath would improve my situation.

I got the water just right. Got settled with my makeshift pillow to keep my ears above water (Ada's rubber duck upside down works great). Quiet house. Ahhhh!

Sniff. Sniff. What the hell is that smell?

Ug! The diaper pail is 6 inches from my nose and rank nasty full of dirty cloth diapers. Gross!

I tried my best to picture myself on a beach somewhere warm with an umbrella drink in my hand, but after about 3 minutes, it just wasn't worth it. I got out, dried off, dressed, and did the laundry. Talk about calling Cinderella back from her elegant ball. I didn't even get to enjoy the bath at all. At least I'm clean and the diapers are clean. There is that.

Memorial Day Neighborhood Parade

It turns out our neighborhood has an annual memorial day parade. There is this thing they started 46 years ago called the Wellington Oakdale Old Glory Marching Society (WOOGMS) and some guy in the neighborhood organizes it and everyone comes out to walk about a mile to the local hospital and have a BBQ. So we decided to go. I wasn't expecting much and was pleasantly surprised to see about 1000 people with kids and dogs in tow. The Jessie White Drum Corp comes to give us a beat to march to, and the Jessie White Tumbling Team does a performance at the end. We had a great time --in as far as I could since I caught the flu just hours before the parade started -- which just happened to be our 7 year wedding anniversary too. Yikes.
Ada's first participation in a parade.

Ada's festive dress and hat.

Ada and Daddy with her first flag.

Ada and her friend Luke from down the street.

Moral of the story: Chicago may be a big city, but we can have some serious small town fun, too.

New Nanny take 26!

Got the new nanny yesterday. Like her a lot. She missed the bus this morning and was five minutes late but called me early to let me know and was super apologetic. That's cool with me. We've all been there.

Ada seems to like her. The little thing keeps falling asleep earlier than her scheduled nap -- like while on the swing at the park or while eating lunch -- and my theory is that she's having too much fun with the nanny to stay awake. This nanny is super intense and all about Ada whereas I'm a bit more laid back (read: busy) and don't play with her as much. But so far so good. And I've already passed her name around to all of our nanny friends so that she can pick up extra hours here and there to help us moms out.

It's kinda weird knowing that I only have her until mid August and then we switch things up again. I think I'll be more tolerant of little stuff if that's the case. And my co-worker's wife is looking for a preschool for her 3 year old and that got me wondering, when do I need to put Ada in daycare or preschool? I think she'd be more open to it now but she's also so clingy this past few weeks that it might not be as fun as it sounds. And finding somewhere 3 days a week that is flexible... ug. Not exciting.

Moral of the story: Just keep going with the flow. Eventually you'll end up somewhere.

The scream heard 'round Ada's room

She got me.

In a moment of weakness, she caught me off guard and I'll admit it, I screamed.

I gave Ada a bath --she smelled like sunblock.

Got her to her room for a new diaper --she bit me in the side just under my rib along the way.

While getting her diaper ready, distracted by the new teethmarks in my side--she pooped on the letter H. A regular, mini-sized, grown up turd. On the floor. In plain view.

Scared the bejesus out of me.

Then I laughed while cleaning it up and cursing her mildly under my breath.

Moral of the story: Yeah. Good luck with that one.

GIRL does NOT have to equal PINK

When Rick and I found out we were having a girl, my immediate reaction (once I finally stopped calling her a "Him" since I thought she was a he from the get go) was NO PINK.

Now don't get all crazy on me. I have a rational reason for saying this.

First off, my brother Rob, hates pink. I don't mean "dislikes". I mean HATES. If he could annihilate one color from the planet, I can guarantee it would be pink. Then he had a baby girl. Oh, don't think he changed. He just learned to adjust. He's secretly sorry he isn't color blind. You should have seen the torture his daughter's baby shower was for him. "Awe, so cute. So PINK. Thanks! You guys shouldn't have (or should have in any other color, really.)" It was painful to watch. I'd say 90% pink. Pink camouflage (which is just wrong on so many levels I can't even tell you.) Pink blankets, sheets, diapers, onsies, shoes, hats, gloves, jackets, barrettes... EVERYTHING PINK. Poor guy was miserable. And I don't really blame him. But seeing him go first I had the foresight to strongly suggest that people interested in getting gifts for Ada steer clear of all things pink. It kinda worked... sort of...

And it was a kind of game at my baby shower because if something was pink when I opened it, my good friends would all be heard under their breath saying "Oooohhh, they didn't get the 'no pink' memo. Whoops.". And I had to politely say that "some pink is okay but without restrictions, people just get out of hand with the pink stuff."

And let's be practical -- which I am. I'm not going to deny the fact that if and when we have more kids, I plan to reuse as much as I can from kid #1 for kid #2. So we are either going to have another girl, or a boy dressed in pink flowers-- unless I swap with my friend Jen who had a boy and has all blue. What happened to all of the other colors of the world?

Which brings me to the point of: When is a children's clothing designer going to start making really cute baby stuff using the rest of the colors in the rainbow that aren't blue or pink. Ever hear of ROY G BIV? Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue(omit), Indigo, Violet? Brown, Black, White, and Cream are all good too. But pink, baby blue -- the curse is in the name of the color, light green and light yellow really get old after awhile. Everything in moderation, right?

People are predisposed to immediately say girl=pink and boy=blue and that is just crazy. Do you know what happens when people do that?

Pink bib... pink pajamas...
then pink shirt, pants and shoes...

and finally... pink pajamas and pink toys...What's a mom to do?

Moral of the story: Do your best to suggest that there are other colors in the rainbow than pink and blue.

Little crap!

What a day.

So far, Ada didn't get up until 9:30. Nice.
Ate breakfast - made a mess. Got a shower. Okay.
Did laundry, played with the laundry machine buttons. Fun. Beep Beep Beep.
Put clothes away. Realized Nemo wall stickers are more than one parent can install alone. Fine.

Then came the poopy diaper. "Poop. Poop." I think she learned a new word. Yeah.
Got the diaper off and in the blink of an eye, Ada has taken off running all over her room.
"Get back here or you'll get poop on your dress!" "Ada, come to momma." "Ada." Slightly escalated as she starts grinning... "Ada, get over here now, please." I coerce her over with a stuffed animal. Why is she all wet? Damn it Ada. She peed on the floor. I wipe. She takes off. I catch her again. Ug. Her feet are wet. There are pee prints all over the floor. Damn. Damn. Damn. I wipe her feet, legs, hands, butt. She takes off again. I grab her again, wrestle her into the new diaper. Throw the wipes away. Garbage is filling up. Better take that with me too. Yuck. My feet are wet. Set the diaper and garbage down. Grab 2 wipes and attack my feet, the floor and all surrounding areas while keeping her from running through the pee again. Grab the garbage and the diaper again. Drop the garbage in the kitchen. Once in the bathroom, dump the diaper in the diaper pail. "shit." That's a poopy diaper. I have to rinse it first. Grab it out of the diaper pail. Poop falls like big glob of cookie dough onto, yep, the yellow bathmat that is a pain-in-the-rear to clean because it has a rubber back and we have to put it through the wash machine downstairs so as not to ruin our new fancy dancy expensive machine and then it unbalances and so we have to throw it in with other stuff and basically this means it will just sit by the back door for a month or two. Great. And we just got it back into the bathroom 2 weeks ago maybe. Ug. I grab some TP, scoop the poop into the toilet. "Damn." The diaper is still in the toilet. Now I have to shake out the diaper without dissipating the poop lump. Tricky. Flush. Ring it out. Put it in the pail. Scrub hands, arms, under fingernails.

Thanks Ada. She's playing on the still clean part of the yellow bathmat with a comb. Nice.

And it just turned noon.

She's currently next to me with a face full of pasta sauce and hair that has a reddish tint from the tomatoes. Time for a quick wipe down and a nap. Thank God for naps.

I can't skip yoga today. I need some peace and calm. Gesh, Kids! Any tricks for washing bathmats? I'm sending Rick out to buy a new one today.

Car Seat Flip

We finally did it. We changed Ada's car seat around and boy does she love the new view and the legroom.

And we like being able to adjust our seats back so we don't have our knees in our armpits.

Yippee!

Day trip to Milwaukee

We have the best friends ever in the whole wide world. It just so happens that one set of friends from that label lives in Milwaukee. We call them JG, DG, and EG. It's always refreshing to visit them and this time was no different than the rest. DG is an awesome cook. She always feeds us well and makes me jealous of my lame cooking skills. JG is funny, entertaining, and easy to chillax with (EG made that word up one visit long ago). EG is too cute and good with Ada. He's learning how to deal with another little person in the house, but he's got the role of "protective old brother" down pat. He cleaned up all the choking hazard toys and made sure to keep her away from the lego people. He even put the spongy baseball in the hood of her sweater to annoy her -- but it didn't phase her as she's not easily annoyed these days. But he's got the right idea. And he protected her by redirecting her whenever she was heading toward the street while we were at the park. Giving Rick and I a break from chasing her. It was so nice to have a little baby patrol man around.

Here's Ada and EG in the park...acting silly...

And Ada did some gardening in the back yard... so nice to have a yard to play in... even though it was only 60 degrees, Eli had his whale pool open for business...

And Ada tried to eat rocks and dirt. That's what babies do right? Oh, and sunglasses as seen here with remnants of dirt on her face. Nice.

What a beautiful way to spend a sunny Sunday. They are so good to us, we might just have to go back more often...

Mother's Day Whirlwind

What an action packed weekend. It started by my sister-in-law Heather coming to town. She took Ada for a long weekend Thurs-Sunday. Rick and I went to see the new X-Men movie and then went to bed. We don't know how to go on a date anymore and couldn't even stay up to make it dinner and a movie. It was dinner and take out from Big Bowl, in bed by 10.

Then we went to work and to a birthday party that stared with appetizers and led to a karaoke bar, broken ear drums (who needs water boarding when you can do karaoke?), and a drunken trip home. We both decided we can't party like we used to-- because we never used to. We just aren't trained as party-ers. We'll just have to find other lame ways to have fun.

So then it was time to get up Saturday, quick clean the house while Rick slept off his hangover. A fast breakfast at Stella's diner down the street -- yummy ham and cheese omelet-- and off to grandma's house. We arrived to see the whole family and extended family as Rick's granny's sister flew in and her 2 other sisters came for lunch-- with their families. Whew! This was the group photo shoot minus Danny on the end... I tried to set a timer and then the neighbor came over to take the photo because we were in a small town and everybody knew the neighbor so it made sense to ask her to come take the picture. Of course! But the timer went off anyway and this is what we got...

And of course we needed some photos of aunt Heather. After all, she did fly in for the weekend. (Ada kinda likes her.)

And then we had to catch babies falling from the sky. This is Ada's favorite game to play with Dad, next to tickle monster of course...

And somewhere among all of the chaos, we made Mother's Day cards. Ada's first experience with stickers. And they turned out really cute, I think. And yes, I did help with the bubbles because she kept trying to eat them. They were so small... she helped pat them down to make them stick though. And she put the fish on upside down all by herself.

And this doesn't even show how we spent time with my family too. I found out I'm going to be an aunt again... my brother's #2... and we ate and ate and ate -- which we always do when we go to grandma's houses. Oh, and it doesn't show how sleep-deprived we are since Ada had a cow at midnight on Saturday and slept in the middle of our bed, pushing Rick to the far edge. She's trying to get those darn molars to come in.

And then we get home and she's sleeping a ton. 6:45pm last night and I am going to get her up now at 9 am. Growth spurt or teething, whatever it is, she needs her rest after a long and crazy, fun filled weekend with family.

Moral of the story: Frequently, when you have kids, you'll find that you need a weekend to recover from the weekends.

Save the Drama for Your Momma

While out on a date with Rick the other night... (translation: I went shopping for shoes after work, then we went to a student art sale, then to a local Mexican restaurant two blocks from our house...home by 8 pm...) we stopped into a local store that I like called P+L. It's a neat little boutique with men's and women's clothing, super cool owners who had a baby boy about 3 months before I did, and they happen to have a few baby t-shirts too.

I happened upon an adorable T-shirt for Ada that spoke to me. It was soft, cute, and best of all it says "Save the Drama for Your Momma" and has a kangaroo and a joey on it. I'm always saying that too her and just had to have this t-shirt. It helped that it was on sale too. So in my infinite wisdom, I decided I wanted to photograph it and send a picture to P+L in case they want to ever put her in their newsletters. They tend to have model shots showing off their stuff and I figure I can offer her up as needed. Too bad my photography skills are so rusty.

Here is my first attempt: Blurry and shows nothing of the t-shirt.
My second attempt: a bit blurry, can't even come close to reading the t-shirt, but doesn't she look cute in that skirt with her girl power pose and chunky baby legs?

And my final attempt: Better... but still not all that great.

She wears the shirt every other day it seems so I'm sure we'll get something cute eventually. Fashion photography is much harder than it looks... especially when your model is a moving target/toddler.

Runway baby...with a toothbrush...That's Hot!

Come here Ada. Momma wants to take a photo of you in your dress and sweater. Come here.

I'll take what I can get. You could have left the toothbrush in the kitchen but ... oh well.

You'll notice the photos I take will be getting a bit more blurry and out of focus. That's because a)she's a lot faster now and b)I still don't know how to use my camera. Another goal for the summer I guess.

Talk about embarrassing...

In an effort to stay social and cool, we try to go to brunch with our friends Aaron and Cassie about once a month. To their shock and horror, they got way more than they bargained for this month. Ada started out showing how she can walk. She was really good during the meal. She ate a ton of blueberry pancakes and all was well in the world until this moment...

Then it was just time to leave.

Nanny Secured

I've been too busy reading the Twilight series in a matter of a week and watching the movie 4 times to possibly have time to post anything exciting in our lives. My bad. Sorry.

In the past week or so, we hired a nanny --Courtney. She seems super nice and good with Ada and I think she'll be a great fit for us this summer. So that's fun and exciting.

It just hit me today, with 2 weeks left, that Ashley is leaving. It's weird having a nanny for a long time and then switching it up. She's been a really good fit for us. Luckily, she got a full-time nanny gig here in the city so she'll still be able to babysit Ada. That's always nice.

And Ashely just learned where the plunger was yesterday, darn it. Takes so long to get a nanny trained and up to speed. (It was a minor toilet clog and she fixed it just fine.)

Next week, Ada is giving Ashley 2 days off to go chillax with her aunt Heather and grandma Ba. Heather is flying in for the Mom's day weekend. That means I get two days off too! Yippee!

Lame update. I know. What more is there to say? Change sucks but that's life. Hopefully Ada adjusts better than I do.

Here's a photo just for fun...