No Sleep Weekend All Around

Rick and I thought it would be better to ship the kids to Grandma DD and Grandma Ba's houses for the weekend than spend a fortune on sitters so we could partake in a few holiday parties this season. It seemed like a good plan at the time, and could have been awesome under better circumstances. The reality was a bit more than we bargained for.

Friday, our neighbor Krissie accompanied me out to Huntley where we enjoyed lunch, switched cars and give Grandma DD the kids. The transfer went well and Krissie and I had a blast on the ride home. The highlight was seeing a motorcyclist wearing a furry hat with a coyote or a fox head on top, and the animal's tail and hind legs blowing in the wind behind him. It was quite the sight to see. Our spirits were high until I parked my mom's car on our street and heard my cell phone quietly summoning me from my purse. It was my brother calling to ask what tricks they could try to get Iain to calm down since nothing they did was working. Instead of making my mom suffer, I called Grandma Ba to go to my mom's aid. Ba is a baby whisperer of sorts and was all too happy to help. My mom ended up giving Iain to Grandma Ba for the rest of the night and kept Ada. Both kids had a cold and I was not sure my mom knew what I had volunteered her for. Divide and conquer works on grand kids too.

Ada ended up getting sick that night. Pretty much all of that night. Bobpa was up until one in the morning doing laundry since she threw up everywhere, numerous times. Not what any of us had hoped for. And it was a good thing Iain wasn't around waking my parents up in the night between Ada's coughing fits and throwing up. Yikes. That would have been like what we deal with and we know that isn't fun.

While Ada was throwing up, I was busy spilling wine at Rick's holiday party. The first glass spilled on the table top because I was talking and waving my hands with my glass too close to me. The second glass I spilled sprayed the woman next to me as I ripped apart a piece of bread and, when it gave way, my hand flew into the glass and sent it flying toward my neighbor. Not the best way to make friends. Sad part was that she and her husband witnessed the first glass get spilled too. I wasn't even intoxicated and was already cut off. Her husband felt bad for me and got me wine in a tumbler the next time he got up. What a sweetheart. At least she was a good sport about it. Unfortunately, Rick and I didn't get to bed until two in the morning.

I woke up Saturday morning to learn that Ada was a hot mess at DD's house, I had lost feeling in two toes from the four-inch heels I was partying in for six hours, and our friends coming from Minneapolis to visit us cancelled their trip. Oh, and a big storm was headed right for us. Good morning Amanda!

While Ada was decorating Granny's Christmas tree back in Sycamore, and Iain was theoretically being good (I never got a bad report from Grandma Ba so I'm making a big assumption here), I was napping in my bed to get rid of the wine headache I acquired the previous evening even though I wasn't ever intoxicated. Not fair at all. Really not fair since this was my day to get so much accomplished without having the kids around to distract me. Bummer.

Rick and I got ready for Holiday Party #2 and went to Five Guys for a quick dinner since we were running late. Apparently, it took me a long time to get ready since I only did it four times a year and needed to enlist my neighbors' help to look anywhere near decent. The party was so fun that we didn't get home until two in the morning. (Two times does not a trend make.)

With the storm fast approaching, we woke up a little after eight, grabbed bagel sandwiches from The Bagel restaurant up the street, brushed off the car and began the trek to retrieve our little monsters.  Rick's parents agreed to meet us in Huntley and had quite the time getting there since the roads were being attacked by blowing snow. At one point, they were driving with their blinkers on and aiming between the telephone poles since they couldn't see the road. That's always fun. Luckily we didn't have any trouble on the expressways. We made the transfer and again switched cars. Grandpa Rich got Good Samaritan points for helping to push two cars out of the ditch on his way home and calling the police to report a third. Fortunately, we all made it home safely and in time to watch the Bears game. Unfortunately, the Bears didn't play so well.

We rounded out the weekend with yet another impromptu gathering of neighbors upstairs at Kelly's house for some delicious white chicken chili and a tree decorating party. After a wonderful night spent with friends, we realized that maybe we really did need sleep and made it to bed around eleven.

Moral of the story: Holiday parties can be fun. Try to remember that sleep is important for the whole family. And do your best to make time to recuperate.

Traveling with Kids

This Thanksgiving, we arranged our entire travel schedule with our kids in mind. It was worth it to take an extra day off work so we could leave a day before the holiday city traffic rush. Not only did we avoid traffic delays, we also got to spend three nights at Grandmas house so Iain could get more settled in each night. We left after eight at night so both kids slept in the car making the ride and the transition into Grandma's beds much more enjoyable for everyone.

This will be our travel strategy going forward. I think it may even help Ada since she tends to get motion sick fairly easily.

Ada, Cousin Anna & Iain

Moral of the story: Travel will likely disrupt your family rhythm. Try to cater to your childrens' needs and place high importance on consistent naps while maintaining your bedtime routine.

Halloween

This wasn't our most creative year for Halloween, but we've been kind of busy, and neither of the kids really understand what the holiday is all about so we just let it sneak by virtually unnoticed. We did coax Ada into dressing up like a cat. Her costume next year will have to be awesome to make up for the lameness of this one. She's really good at growling though so maybe she was a black panther instead of just a cat.

And Iain got lucky with a costume from a friend who wasn't big enough for it quite yet. Turns out being a four-month-old boy who wears nine to twelve-month clothing was a benefit in this case.

Moral of the story: Sometimes you just have to wing it when it comes to Halloween costumes and a busy schedule. Hopefully you're kids won't hold it against you when they get older.

Happy Halloween!

I didn't mean to dress them up and take photos. It just happened. I'm pretty glad it did because we had a fun little photo shoot. These will be great for blackmailing them someday...

 It's also proof that Ada does kind of, sort of like him, maybe just a little bit...

Moral of the story: Take the opportunity to dress your kids up when they are young since they probably won't let you get by with it when they are older.

Picnic in the Park

For an impromptu little get together, Sunday's picnic in the park was quite a success. I called or emailed most of our city friends to see who was available for a little get together and while many folks were out of town for the Labor Day weekend, a good crew was lingering in the city. Four families came with one set of grandparents for a total of ten adults and seven kids with the eighth in the oven. My grand plan for playing bocce ball and croquette failed miserably. The bocce set never made it out of Ada's red wagon. The croquette mallets threatened shins and kneecaps as the kids swung them wildly. The end posts were pulled up to create swords. And the wire wickets (the arches you hit the balls through) became tripping hazards. Not one of my better ideas. We'll skip the games until the kids are a bit older and less into throwing and hitting things.

The food worked out much better than the games. Each family contributed a dish and various snacks to keep hunger at bay. The kids picked at their meals and were quickly off and running through the trees and exploring the wide open field. At some point there was talk of imaginary lions in the rain forests of Chicago --yet another cultural attraction our fine city can boast of.

At some point while I was eating and Rick was calming Iain down for a nap, Ada decided it would be a good idea to take off her shoes and socks. Rick and I both assumed the other had helped her manage this small feat since she doesn't typically do it on her own at home. She, in fact, had removed them completely unbeknownst to either of us. By the time we noticed, she was off and running with her friends.

While running wild, Aaron, Ada and Bella started a sprint across the park. Aaron's grandpa was in hot pursuit, but they had a ten yard head start. As the kids maintained speed and were headed toward Lake Shore Drive, the parents all became alarmed. Rick passed Iain off to me and sprinted over to take control of the situation. He made it to them with less space between them and the highway than any of us parents wanted to see, but he made it none the less. Aaron wasn't excited to walk back to our picnic area so he sat down in protest as Ada and Bella started on their way back. Rick was trying to coax Aaron to get up and join the rest of us at the picnic site when Ada suddenly started screaming. Rick ran over to her aid and found a bee stinger in her foot. "This is why we wear shoes!" became his mantra for the next ten minutes of tears and whines as I ran to the closest convenience store in search of ice or sting medicine. Of course the store didn't have anything that would help so I returned to the park to find Ada still crying, in wet pants with an overly full poopy diaper at Rick's feet. Great. He ended up carrying her all the way home while everyone else packed up the party. Our friends helped gather our stuff since I was busy calming Iain who was, of course, overdue for a nap. Once everything was packed up, our friend Ted pulled our wagon to the edge of the park so I could wait for Rick to retrieve Iain and I with the car. There was no way I was going to make it back home with the folding table, packed wagon, double stroller, and an all-too-alert baby Iain. It was no small feat fitting it all into the back of our CRV either.

As we drove the six blocks home, both kids screamed. Rick unloaded the car while Ada watched a movie and I nursed Iain. Once Iain fell asleep, Ada started screaming and woke him right back up. I gave her more ice and got him back to sleep again while Rick went to park the car. He returned to put Ada down for a nap while I put all of the food from our picnic away. Rick took a bath to clean up as I rode his bike back to the park to search for the red croquette ball that we may or may not have ever had to begin with. I didn't find it.

At three in the afternoon with two kids sleeping, Rick and I collapsed onto the couch for a much needed nap. Things that used to be so easy, like having a little picnic in the park, have turned into major productions now that we have two kids. We packed enough food for five kids since we never know what Ada would eat, and then we had to tote it all back home since she never ends up eating much of anything. Now we know for next time.

Moral of the story: When venturing out, take the bare necessities, leave the extras behind, and know that sometimes you just might have to give up and go home.

Traveling with Baby

I don't like the act of traveling from one place to another. I love vacations and exploring new places, but I really hate traveling in the car for hours on end, and I'm not excited about flying either. A friend just told me that she is taking her almost-three-year-old-son on a vacation via car from Illinois out to Pennsylvania and the Jersey Shore and then somewhere another sixteen hours away to stay at a relative's time-share. I looked at her and said, "You couldn't pay me to do that with a kid."

Maybe it's because I suffered from motion sickness for the duration of my childhood. Any car ride over forty-five minutes left me throwing up into my very own "barf bucket" --a one gallon ice cream tub complete with lid and handle. We flew to Florida every year at Christmastime to visit my grandparents and my dad and brother got seats in a different part of the plane so they didn't have to deal with me getting sick every time we landed. My brother would go through the plane and gather several barf bags for my mom to have handy and I never failed to use at least one. Thankfully, I've outgrown that for the most part. I do still get sick occasionally on cruise ships and I tend to avoid my dad's boat as a precautionary measure.

Ada hasn't shown any consistent signs of having my weak traveler's stomach, but she has thrown up in the car three or four times. It always coincides with her having a cup of juice right beforehand. I count my blessings that she inherited her dad's more tolerant stomach. And we'll just have to wait and see how well Iain fares in the car--so far, so good.

But that's not really why I don't like traveling. Now that I have two kids, it is because it takes forever to get anywhere. By the time you pack the car, load up the kids, get on the road, stop to nurse the baby, get stuck in traffic, listen to the baby scream, listen to Ada whine, pull off for gas or a snack or a bathroom break -- which means unloading the kids and reloading the kids--it is an exhausting process. Just going to the grocery store can take hours. I assume things will improve as the kids get older and I'm not nursing and we equip them each with an Ipod filled with movies and a cushy neck pillow. But I can't imagine I will ever get to a point where I look at my husband and say, "Let's put the kids in the car and drive far, far away for a cross country family vacation!" And if I did ever say that, I think he would look at me and know that something was really, really wrong.

The only way that I tolerate long road trips is if they are for something really worthwhile. Worthwhile meaning that I will put up with an eight hour plane ride if I get to spend two weeks in Germany. Or a six hour car ride if I get to see my best friend get married (while saving $500 on airfare and getting the grandparents to watch the kids so I can have alone time with my husband.) I start hitting my limit on trips back to our hometown an hour-and-a-half-away when we only go for a day or an overnight visit. By the time we pay for gas, pull over to quiet the kids a few times, pack and unpack the car, and then return home to a long list of chores that were put off so that we could spend three hours in the car, it doesn't seem worth it. Luckily, both of our parents live in the same town so we get to see most of our relatives each trip. And they are willing to watch the kids so we can get a date night out of the deal--assuming we aren't too exhausted to stay up late enough to actually go out on a date.

As I get older and our family expands, I find myself still wanting to do all of the things our parents and friends from back home invite us to do, but just not having the strength to endure the car ride out there to do them. I've been trying to coordinate and consolidate visits so that we maximize what we do and who we see each time we go home. It is nice to be invited and included in their lives, but there comes a point where we need to make our own lives. We live in the city and have a lot of friends to see and have Saturday brunch and BBQs with, museums and cultural centers to visit, and lazy days to enjoy. That's tough to fit in when we spend so much time traveling home for this, that, and something else. I've definitely noticed since we had Iain that more family members are coming in to see us, and they are coming more often. Now that, nine weeks after he was born, we finally got a chance to actually clean our house, I can be much more receptive to having friends and family stop by since I'm not as embarrassed by our messy home.

If nothing else, having a second child has taught my husband and I that we need to get better at saying "No" when it comes to our social calendar. I think we also need to get better at inviting our families to come visit more often and host more events here since they are more mobile than we are at this point in life. Hopefully, we'll find a happy medium.

Moral of the story: Having kids changes your social life and complicates travel. Set limits and learn how to say "No" to prevent yourselves from being stretched too thin.

Memorial Four-Day Weekend

Day 1 - Friday we went to the Shedd Aquarium to test out our new membership card. Ada immediately fell in love and was amazed by it all. The new baby beluga is pretty cool and Ada got really close to penguins and dolphins, among a million other underwater creatures. We decided an hour-and-a-half is the perfect amount of time to see what we can and get out before she gets hungry, tired, or just plain cranky--or I do. We'll have to schedule a special time to go see the water show and the 4-D movie feature, but that's why we have a membership.

Then it was out to LaGrange in traffic for a double stroller I found on Craig's List. It was a pain to get out there and back since traffic is always bad the Friday before a holiday weekend, but it was worth it to get that checked off the list. We had to be back in the city by four to see the Doctoress. I had hoped Ada would get a nap in while we were on our way out to get the stroller, but I was clearly mistaken. She finally fell asleep when we were twenty minutes from the Doctoress' office. At least she got some rest.

The Doctoress gave Ada Flownase thinking she might have seasonal allergies that are triggering her asthma. We had her blood drawn to test for allergies so we can avoid any triggers and stop assuming she's allergic to everything. (We found out today that she isn't allergic to anything they tested her for--mainly cats/dogs and seasonal allergies--which is good, but not aligning with her current diagnosis.) It turns out that we have a very rare child. She doesn't cry when you draw her blood or give her most shots, and she let's the Doctoress check her ears and nose without putting up a fight. She's just amazed by it all--causing great shock to all of the nurses. I think it helped that the nurse drawing her blood was awesome. She was calm, soft spoken, and friendly. She came in and asked for a happy vein. Then she asked if Ada would feed her "butterfly"--the needle has two blue "wings" to help her hold it in place. Ada was great and sat perfectly still while the butterfly snacked on her arm. I'll admit it was a moment of pure pride for Rick and I to watch our little rockstar in action.

We rounded out the day with dinner at a new, local burger bar that is environmentally friendly and offers grass-fed beef. I had my first veggie burger and it was delicious. All in all, not a bad start to the weekend.

Day 2 - Saturday didn't go so well. It started early when I smelled a gas leak in the basement as I was doing laundry and getting flower pots from the basement. The gas company found 3 leaks in the main line pipe and shut our building down completely until we got it fixed. That meant no hot water, and no cooking gas. Our building manager scrambled to get emergency pipe fitters to come fix it. She found some, they charged us time and a half and by 8 pm we had hot water. Still no cooking gas--that didn't come back until Tuesday morning (3 days later) when they could inspect each unit in our building to be sure the stoves were working properly. I spent a lot of the weekend getting in touch with our neighbors, who were mostly out of town, to try to get spare keys to allow us in to inspect their units, and to keep them informed of the situation. Not fun, but at least the building didn't blow up.

Before we knew the extent of the gas leak, Rick and I got to sneak out for BB's 36 week ultrasound. He's in position with his head down, just as the Doctoress thought, and all looks good. They think he's 7 lbs at this point, but who knows how accurate that is. And he's still growing so if we get to 8 lbs, I can handle that. It was nice to get the ultrasound out of the way early in the weekend as that always makes me a little bit anxious in case they see something and rush me off for more testing or something even more dramatic like you see on TV. No drama for this momma.

To make things interesting, this was a home improvement weekend. Grandma Ba was in charge of planting flowers in the pots on the porch with Ada while Rick and his dad were going to replace the air conditioner over the back door. When I think air conditioner replacement, I think "Pull out the old, put in the new, plug it in and turn it on." Easy, right? No. That is clearly not how this works. "Pull out the old one" took the majority of the day since we enlisted an Architect and an Engineer and they just don't jump into anything without figuring out how it works first. I respect that. But I sure didn't have the patience for it. They worked on that while Ada was entertained by her Great Granny, Great Aunt Terri and Grandma Ba, who all came in to cook out and enjoy a Memorial Day BBQ. Good thing they brought the food and we were able to grill because the stove wasn't going to do us any good. Grandma Ba and Ada had much more success with their plants and the addition of an herb garden to the baskets on our porch railing. Ada even has her own mini garden that is already starting to sprout. Now I just have to remember to water it all.

Day 3 - Sunday started with my imagined hope that the air conditioner project would magically become fast and easy, and ended with a reality check that we really should have just paid someone else to do it so Rick could have enjoyed some time off and we could have spent some quality family time together. Hindsight is 20/20. He ended up spending the day re-framing the space above the back door to hold the new, bigger, and surely better since the other one didn't work at all, air conditioning unit. I spent the morning making pancakes on the electric griddle and being thankful for having a microwave when the stove has no gas.

Sunday's high note was a BBQ with friends down the street. I gave Ada a bath right before we went since she was covered in dirt from playing on the porch and in the parking lot behind our place. I knew they would have a baby pool out at the BBQ but I wasn't sure how Ada would react and we were already running late so I opted for a dress and regular diaper instead of a swimsuit and swim diaper. At least I was thinking and had her wear water friendly Crocs instead of fancy shoes. In my defense, it took her a good hour to decide she wanted to get into the pool and when she did, there was no hesitation and little warning that she was going "all in". Now I know what diapers look like when they get dunked. Wow. Thankfully I had a change of clothes and extra diapers on hand. After finding a stopping point and cleaning up a bit, Rick arrived in time to clean up the leftovers and have a couple, much deserved, beers.

Day 4 - Monday's plans all went down the drain. Rick continued re-framing the space over the door -- we could charge admission to see this thing now it is so beautiful. We were supposed to have brunch with friends who spent the weekend moving to thier new condo, but knew that was unlikly since, well, they were moving and that throws all plans out the window. Then we could have marched in the annual WOOGAMS parade --a neighborhood parade that's been around for almost 50 years now, but a thunderstorm rolled in right as it started and I wasn't up for getting wet or hit by lightening. I decided to sit on the porch with Ada to have a light lunch and watch the storm blow by. Rick just kept working. That afternoon, when trying to find something local to have for a late lunch, Rick realized that most restaurants near us aren't open on Memorial Day so we ended up with soup from the Soup Box. By 4 pm, Rick was still working on the air conditioner project and it was time to go sell our single stroller to some friends and meet their newborn. We made a quick trip to the grocery store after that for the bare necessities and then went to dinner which turned into the longest experience we've ever had in entertaining Ada until the food came. It wasn't the night to be slow with our meal and Rick, Mr. Patience, was about to lose it. Luckily, Ada was a trooper and was easily entertained by his animal drawings on a lime green Post-it Note I had tucked into my purse. We made it home in time to put Ada to bed, put me to bed, and finally, at 11 pm, Rick turned off the drill and crawled into bed as well. The framing was finally done.

Tuesday, we ignored the air conditioner and took a night off. I cooked myself dinner on the stove and Rick played a little volleyball with friends. It was so nice.

Wednesday night, Rick caulked the air conditioner case into it's new home and suckered two strong neighbors to help him hoist the new unit into place, which took less than three minutes and it fit perfectly, of course. Then he did some final screwing and assembled the actual air conditioner front and insides.

But wait, we're not done yet.

Friday, the electrician is scheduled to come in and upgrade the outlet to a 15amp/230volt so we can plug it in. Oh yes, this is a powerful unit and needs it's own, special outlet. Chances are that this new outlet will cost a few hundred dollars -- hopefully not more than the air conditioner itself, but we'll see about that--and will involve the demolition of a portion of the wall in our kitchen. Can I just tell you how excited I am about the prospect of Rick having to re-drywall a section of our kitchen when I'm due to have his second child in three weeks or less? And home improvement projects in general? Needless to say, we won't ever be buying a "fixer upper", and I'll be getting a quote from a professional from this point forward on any projects we think we can handle ourselves. I'm much more motivated to find ways to save money so we can afford to pay professionals to get the job done. I think this is similar to the point you get after moving a few times when you finally say, "Next time, we're hiring movers."

Moral of the story: Home improvement projects are easy to underestimate. Do your best to know what you are getting into, and hire a professional if this isn't your favorite pasttime.

A Mother's Weekend

Last Sunday was Mother's Day and it's always nice to be recognized now that I'm a mom.

It started out well with Saturday being dedicated to me or at least focused a bit more on how wonderful I am. Rick made breakfast for the family, but not until he took Ada out in the bike carrier for a trip to get eggs. That freed me up some time to tackle the best job ever--rinsing the cloth diapers and dragging them to the basement to the wash machine. I'm such a lucky mom!

Rick and Ada ended up running more errands and coming back with flowers and an aloe plant for me. I guess I hinted at wanting the plant months ago, and the flowers were a nice gesture -- even if I did have to then put them in a vase and add water and even if Rick thought the vase I picked wasn't big or nice enough so he got the other one out of the cabinet so I could switch it out. What a sweetie!

Since it was a Saturday, Rick had a soccer game that afternoon so he got to get out of the house while Ada and I took naps. Ada actually took a nap so that was nice. She's such a sweetheart. Until the maintenance man for the building decided that three pm on a Saturday afternoon would be a great time to demolish the ceiling under our condo unit for some repair work that needs to be done -- even though he knows we have a toddler that naps between one and four typically. It cut both of our naps short and made for a bit of a cranky mommy, to say the least. At least Rick got pelted with freezing rain while riding his bike home from the game. There is such a thing as Karma. I believe it exists.

Knowing that Rick really wanted to see the Iron Man sequel, I arranged with a neighborhood mom to swap babysitting time and we went to an early show. The movie was great and it was nice to get out. On the way home we stopped for a snack since Rick was still a little hungry from a light early dinner. Of course, he got pizza which is the death of me if I eat it these days with my heartburn. I had to endure the entire process of going into the pizzeria, ordering, waiting for them to bag it up, and having it sit on my lap the whole way home, all while salivating and cursing the heartburn this second child has forced upon me. Motherhood is so awesome!

Once we got home, he took our friend home and I got to plate his pizza. I'm such a good wife. He got rockstar parking right outside our house -- which never happens on a Saturday night, unless you go to the early movie and are home by nine when everyone else is just starting their night of fun. Now we know we are lame (or responsible) parents when we are home that early. We've clearly run out of "midnight oil".

Instead of going straight to bed and calling it a night at 9pm, I suggested we try Rick's movie rental choice of Fred Claus with Vince Vaughn. He's been in charge of renting movies lately and learned his lesson (no dramas) when he got Everybody's Fine with Robert De Niro and I cried hysterically at the end. He learned a second lesson (no stupid movies) when he rented You Don't Mess With the Zohan with Adam Sandler. Fred Claus wasn't good either, but it didn't make me cry, and I didn't feel stupider having watching it. At least it qualified as our "free rental" of the month so we didn't feel so bad having paid for it.

The Sunday portion of my Mother's Day Weekend started with another yummy breakfast by Rick. It was nice to stay in and not have to pay a bundle for brunch only to have Ada get ornery and force us to pack up and finish our meal at home. We didn't have anything really planned for the day so I was excited to work on some craft projects that I'd been eyeing for weeks. That idea was quickly stopped by Rick's suggestion that he wanted to "work on sorting out the storage room in the basement". Translated that means, "we need to go through all of Ada's stuff that is down there and make room for all of baby boy's stuff before you're going to get me to put any more boxes downstairs, including the two you have in the living room currently." Seriously? Today? But this is MY day! He says his intention wasn't to get me to help, but if I didn't, Ada and I wouldn't have seen him for three hours and he would have drug all of the boxes of her clothes upstairs to make an even bigger mess of the house, and then had to drag it all back downstairs until we had a chance to distribute it to the people we are giving it all away to. So, we spent a good portion of our day sorting the basement storage room. But it's done. That's a relief. But it isn't what I ever would have volunteered to do on MY day. Just wait until Father's Day comes buddy! Now I know why Mother's Day arrives first in the year...

After the storage room was clean, I got to sit on the couch and iron fabric for the duration of two movies. It was a lot of fabric to pre-wash before getting to cut it into the quilts I hope to get to work on in the next six weeks of my pregnancy -- in all of the free time I keep thinking I'll have since I banned all travel for the next two months. We'll see about that.

We rounded out the weekend with one final movie, Avatar. It wasn't in 3D, and it kept us up way too late on a Sunday night, but it really was very good. A definite highlight of the weekend.

The real best part of Mother's Day, was being able to spend it with my family. Even if we did chores and cleaned, we still got in a lot of quality family time and that is precisely what Mother's Day is all about.

Moral of the story: Mother's Day and Father's Day may seem like made up holidays conceived just to sell a bunch of cards, ties and flowers. Really, they should be considered as a time to reflect on what it means to be a parent and give thanks to those who sign up for one of the toughest jobs in the world.

A Windy Easter Sunday

The final leg of Ada's whirlwind weekend with Grandparents was a trip back into the city for Sunday Brunch. DD brought her back in our car and Bobpa lead in his car so they'd have transportation home. It worked out quite nicely for us since we didn't have to go anywhere and just had to give up our car for a few days. Thankfully we have public transit.

As with any trip home for Ada, the first half hour is spent unloading all of her loot. Somehow, she's got these grandparents all suckered into buying her cute things. They justify it by this being a holiday and Spring and she's outgrowing her Winter wardrobe. I think they forget that I have 1050sf and only one room of that belongs to Ada--and will soon be shared with her little brother-to-be.
This time her loot included new clothes, three new pairs of shoes, socks, an unidentified stuffed animal, Easter baskets, an Easter hat, dress, and sweater, a book, a coloring book, candy, a Spring jacket, and surely a few things I've forgotten.

Since it was such a nice day, we decided to walk to the restaurant, Mon Ami Gabi, across from the Lincoln Park Conservatory. Ada again got a good deal since she only had to walk a few blocks and then hopped into her awaiting chariot, chauffeured by Bobpa.

Lunch was nice, minus the micro burst tornadoes that carried away our menus, broke drinking glasses, stole my napkin, took Ada's masterful artwork and crayons several tables away and tried to steal Bobpa's jacket from the back of his chair three times. It was really windy and the wind block on the fence couldn't stop the powerful swirls that kept us on edge waiting for the next burst to blow our meals away. At least the food was good and the rest of the family enjoyed the bloody mary bar so that made up for the wind, mostly.

After several attempts, I was able to get in this decent photo of Ada's Easter dress and hat. Don't look too closely or you might notice the 12 inch stripes of blue crayon she added to make it her own. I'm not ruling out a career in fashion design in her future just yet...

The walk home was a windy one, but Ada didn't seem to mind... until she got to the corner and ran out of energy.

Bobpa kept her from blowing away and tucked her into the stroller for the trek home. Not surprisingly, she passed out on the way.

Moral of the story: It's hard work being spoiled, but well worth it for everyone involved.

Thank Goodness for Family Nearby

I've been so burned out this past 2 weeks since I got back from Minneapolis that I just needed some time to catch up... on sleep, housework, work, relaxation, and just un-bury myself. I'm writing this at 3 am so the sleep thing isn't working yet, but I'm optimistic.

In my burnout mode today at work, I figured out a way to have Rick's Aunt take Ada and our car out to Sycamore (she works downtown and commutes via the train usually) for the weekend. Ada's spending the night with Rick's parents, then going to see my mom and dad tomorrow to spend the weekend with them in Lake Geneva, and driving our car back here on Sunday for Easter brunch. I get 2 days of peace and quiet to get stuff done, albeit without a car. I have a massage scheduled, and don't have to travel for Easter, or cook even since my dad is taking us to Mon Ami Gabi. Whoopie. Too bad I can't sleep. I'm hoping that gets better tomorrow once I have a full day's worth of getting stuff done under my belt.

Of course, I have 2 deadlines next week for work and am nowhere near close to meeting them. Awesome! At least I can see the surface of my desk at home. And now that I don't have to chase, tickle, reprimand, cuddle, or entertain Ada for 2 days, maybe I can kick up my feet and relax the belly. It's been giving me more pain and I just fear the Dr telling me I have to "take it easy" or go on bed rest for a bit. I really don't know how people do that, but I sure don't want to have to find out. And I'm sure it isn't anything bad. Likely just a pulled groin muscle that I just have to deal with, but it still hurts and I'm exhausted.

Moral of the story: Live near family when you decide to raise children. You just can't do it alone.

The Compact...hmmm...

So Rick had to make some purchases, which normally fall under his category of things to buy since he is in charge of the computer and all things electronic in the house. But I'm in charge of most things photographic including printing photos of Ada, creating photo albums, and organizing and archiving our photos.

To cut to the chase, he had to buy printer cartridges because we ran out of time while trying to get Ada's valentines into the mail. They will still be late by a day or so, but closer to the 14th than they would have otherwise. And why so much drama? The Compact.

You see, instead of sending Christmas cards each year, I've started the tradition of sending a Valentine's day card from Ada to some of our closest friends. Last year I had 100 copies of a photo we took of her at the lakefront copied and I made valentines frantically to send out. Knowing we would keep up the tradition again this year, we discussed how to go about such an undertaking while respecting The Compact. We considered having Snapfish print and send the cards, but Rick would have to make that purchase since I'm "not allowed" to buy things that are new and unnecessary, and it would be costly. Creating more waste defeats the purpose of The Compact so I instead wanted to use up supplies we already had in order to make this project more "Compact friendly". The solution was to do it all ourselves and instead of ordering photos from a chain drugstore or Snapfish, we'd print them on our home printer and reduce our mailing list. The list dropped from about a hundred to less than forty. We then incorporated an email version for friends who aren't big "photo people" or who have Internet access and can get the sentiment and print the photo, or make it their computer monitor's wallpaper, if they like.

To achieve this feat of printing the photos on our home printer, we had to get new ink cartridges since ours were dead and Rick didn't have time to reload them with our refill kit we have in the basement(which we may have already refilled them to death anyway), nor did he have time to stop at the cartridge recycle store a few blocks away since he's been working late. So again, we had to compromise, but do so with good intentions. We now have the old cartridges to refill and can use the new ones as back ups to refill and alternate so we always have some available. That's the theory anyway. Or we'll take them to the recycle place next time around.

Unfortunately, after printing most of the photos, the last 2 pages didn't print properly because, after spending $31 on ink for the printer, the color couldn't last beyond 11 full-color photo pages and lost it's luster on pages 12 and 13. Knowing that we still had 6 valentine's to stuff with a photo of our little angel, I received a photo coupon for a free 8 1/2 x 11 from Walgreen's today and bit the bullet to purchase 2 pages of photos so we'd have the six images we needed. I only spent $4, and technically it breaks The Compact, but... it's also technically an errand I did for Rick since I put this all on his plate two weeks ago and he just ran out of time. As it turns out, we didn't even use one of the sheets yet...the one I actually paid for...so it's an "extra".

We did, amazingly, only have to buy stamps to complete the rest of the mailing. It just so happens that I have a huge supply of heart stickers from years ago when my mom must have been doing a mailing for work or something. And my mother-in-law came to make valentines with Ada and just happened to leave us the "extra" cards and envelopes, which we exhausted for the mailing. I used returned mailing labels we keep getting from various charities, and hand labeled the envelopes myself.

Talk about The Compact changing my thought process and increasing my awareness of what I purchase. Whew!

In all of this, I've also justified the purchase of the new printer cartridges as a "necessity" for work since I use the printer when working from home. And even though Rick bought them, I still feel guilty for not planning ahead further so that we had more time to get them recycled from the ink cartridge store, or refilled them from our kit downstairs. I'm also feeling bad since I asked Rick to purchase some DVD's to backup our computer files, mainly photos of Ada, so that we can store them in a secondary location and be able to recreate my work files and condo association records. Again, something I "needed" for work, something Rick purchased, with my final justification being that by using DVDs that we didn't have instead of CDs that we did have, I can use less because they store more data, again making better use of the resources we have available to us.

Does your brain hurt yet? Because I'm exhausted just from thinking about it.

I also must admit to buying gift cards for two friends having babies in the next month since I bought them from a baby store. I didn't buy them gifts, and the gift cards could be used to buy cloth diapers or environmentally friendly toys or laundry soap, but that's less than realistic. I did buy them in conjunction with other friends as "group gifts" if that gets me any points, and I encouraged the "groups" to support a local baby store instead of going to Target--part of the whole "buy local" idea. So if we are keeping track, $10 goes toward one friend, and about $17 goes toward my portion for another friend. Keep in mind that they also may be used to buy nursing bras which would fall under the "necessity" category of The Compact as I interpret it. (I'm all about the technicalities.)

And I also bought a gift card for a local ice cream shop for a friend's son who just turned five. It's local, it's food, and it encourages him to enjoy a treat with his parents and new baby sister-to-be. How's that for a trifecta? Not to mention the homemade card Ada and I made for him tonight from our stash of leftover cards, envelopes, and stamping supplies. Entertainment all around.

Poor Ada must feel like she lives in an art studio or a sweatshop with all of the cards we've been cranking out of here. I'm not sure which but she sure seems to be enjoying it so far and I'm getting a tiny bit more storage space from the supplies we are using up.

Moral of the story: The Compact will make you think harder about how your actions affect the world around. Just know your head might hurt as a result of too much thinking after awhile.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love,

Amanda, Rick, & Ada

My New Year's Resolutions

I'm not one for resolutions, but this year, I've got a couple of goals in mind that I figure it's a good time to share.

1st - Learn to Cook
I can cook. I can follow a recipe. But I'm not patient and I get more frustrated by playing the "What should we have for dinner?" game than anything. And I surely wouldn't say I'm a "good" cook by any measure of the word "good". What I'm really trying to learn is how to:

• meal plan
• stock a pantry to give me more options and make grocery shopping less of a burden
• cook things I haven't cooked before but enjoy
• branch out and try new foods
• eat healthier
• freeze foods so we have quick and easy meals
• have a basic food knowledge I can pass on to my kids so they form healthy habits

2nd - Join The Compact
I'm all about saving the environment and doing my part, and then some. Coming out of this ridiculously materialist and consumer driven holiday season, I've decided I'm going to try The Compact. What's The Compact? It's a group started out in California by some friends who pledged to "buy nothing new for a year". It excludes food and toiletries, but for the most part, whenever possible, you either need to go without or find it used at a secondhand store, handed down from friends or freecyclers, or get creative.

This means goodbye Target, Gap, DSW shoes and cute little clothing boutique on the corner, hello freecycle. I'm not one to shop much, but I shop enough for this to make a big impact on my habits and give a real boost to our savings. I'm already plotting creative ways to make gifts for friends and I even have a solution to giving gifts for the 2010 holiday season as well. Rick's not altogether on board with this holiday solution or this little commitment of mine but I think he'll be more willing as it gets started. Not that he's against it. I guess I don't really know what his opinion is on the matter all that much yet. Anywho, that's my goal. Wish me luck.

Moral of the story: New Year's is a time for reflection, to be thankful for what you have and identify ways you can grow as a person. Here's to growth and a wonderful year to come.

The Holiday Aftermath

It all started with Ada's birthday party on the 19th (actually with Granny's celebration of birthdays at Thanksgiving but I'll get to that next). We must not have put the "no gifts necessary" in bold enough print on the Evite. Next time, that will be the title and will be inserted in between every line in every possible location. And I'm going to strengthen the wording to "No gifts please." Or, "In lieu of gifts, please consider making a donation to one of the following:" and listing a few charities. This is the same issue I struggle with every year. We have so much when others go without. It might not be so noticeable if it wasn't compacted into about a two week time period.

Here's what I mean:

November 21st - we went to Granny's for Thanksgiving and Ada got her bounty of gifts since that's when they celebrate December birthdays.

Ada received:

• Clothes
• Dr. Seuss Books
• a wooden food set and knife to learn to chop foods
• bowling pins and a bowling ball

The 19th - we had 50 people attend Ada's birthday party. 9 kids, 1 baby and 40 adults -more of a fun adult holiday party with a play date in Ada's room, but she's still a bit young to have the party focus on her the whole time.

Even with "no gifts necessary" Ada received:

• a music CD
• a book and a donation to toys for tots in her name (nice!)
• a pop-up book
• a doll
• squishy cars
• a toy tea set made of recyclable materials
• a "My Little Pony"
• a hard hat and a dump truck
• a lunch bag, plate, bowl, and silverware
• Tinkerbell book
• play-doh with cookie-cutter shapes
• bath toys
• college fund money (yeah!)
• a dog book
• blocks
• crayons and a coloring book
• clothes
• a shopping cart full of toy food (DD gave this to her a few months early)

Via mail in between

• two books
• an ice cream truck that sings
• 10+ DVDs
• clothes

The 24th at Granny's

Ada received:

• a baby doll that makes noises
• a vacuum that talks
• They Might be Giants CD
• a dollhouse
• furniture for the dollhouse
• a talking purse complete with jumbo lipstick
• a set of cars
• a baby doll in a tub with changeable swimsuits
• a kite and 5 puzzles (we got that as our white elephant gift so technically, not Ada's)
• a ballerina puzzle
• Leapfrog books that have a tool that reads them

The 25th at Grandma Ba's

Ada received:

• Leapfrog Laptop
• baby stroller
• coloring box with crayons on one side and chalk on the other
• brown boots with fuzzy balls dangling from them
• a wooden horse
• the Pig from If you give a Pig a Pancake (Aunt Heather gave this to her the Christmas Tree Hunt weekend)
• a homemade big girl fleece blanket
• ABC fridge magnets that sing

The 25th at Great Aunt Connie's

Ada received:

• NIU Hoodie
• Gigi the giraffe - as a birthday gift
• Santa Paws book
• an ornament

The 25th at DD and Bobpa's

Ada received:

• a book read to Ada by Bobpa with Bobpa's voice recorded
• a drum set
• a guitar
• a feather boa
• a doctor's kit
• a Cubs jersey and a few clothes
• a noisemaker in her stocking
• race cars and a track
• more clothes
• a hat and gloves set

The 26th at DD and Bobpa's there were some stragglers from "Grandma" Patti

Ada received:

• If you give a Cat a Cupcake and the corresponding cat stuffed animal

Today, New Year's Eve, I find myself with about 50 thank you notes to write, a house exploding with toys and cardboard packing materials, a kitchen full of dishes, and a trash receptacle with expired cake and cupcakes from a party a week and a half ago. Not to mention about 6 full loads of laundry from all of our travels, and a crisper full of extra beer. The crisper full of beer would be nice if a) I liked beer and b) I wasn't pregnant and could drink the beer that we are assuming I liked.

On the bright side, we were able to get it all back in one trip since we upgraded to the CRV a few months back. And Ada is far from board. And I'm way beyond annoyed by all of the singing/noise making toys. SERENITY NOW!

Moral of the story: Modifications must be made before the holidays next year or I will be overrun. We only need so much stuff, have so much storage, and Ada can only play with one toy and wear one outfit at a time. Plus, where is baby #2 supposed to go?

Christmas Tree Hunting

A hunting we will go, a hunting we will go, high ho a dairy o, a hunting we will go.

This year was the last year for Sinissippi Farm in Oregon, IL to be open for Christmas Tree hunting. The owners are retiring and their kids all have "real jobs" so, at this time, it's over. We had insider knowledge of the closing so my sister-in-law flew in for one last hunt with the family.

All of these people went to get one, yes only one, Christmas Tree.

The day started with the drive to Oregon, which is about 40 minutes or so. Or it really started with layers of socks and long underwear for me but let's not think about the cold.

We arrived and cuddled up to the fireplace in the gift shop. Once everyone else got in it was time to begin the hunt. Here's Ada getting her gloves secured for the hunt. Rick's parents bought their tree tag and we headed out toward the tree rows. Then we noticed the horse drawn wagons and we were just going to pet the horses when all of a sudden, the next thing you know, we're all on the wagon going for a ride and being delivered at the white pine tree section.

We unloaded from the wagon and began critiquing nature's work in search of the "perfect" tree. After much searching, debating, and judging, we finally selected a tree that was just right. The boys were getting ready to saw it down when Aunt Terri said "Where's Aunt Connie?" "We must have left her back at the gift shop."

Oops! As it turns out, Aunt Connie was going to do some shopping in the gift shop and catch up with us amongst the trees when she was done. Unbeknownst to her, we were on the other side of the river looking at trees since that's where the horses dropped us off.

Out come all of the cell phones with their various carriers and, of course, only one has service but that person doesn't have Connie's number so they enter Connie's number and try to call her and, of course, she doesn't answer. (Come to find out later that she didn't recognized the 312 number so she didn't answer it. Silly Aunt Connie!)

Meanwhile, I'm flagging down the horse carriage as it approaches to ask the passengers to watch for Aunt Connie when they get back to the main tree shaking area and let her know where we are. I give a brief description of her and they say "we'll try." "Thanks!" is my reply.

The guys are now cutting down the tree. Heather and Grandma Ba head back to the tree lodge on foot to find Aunt Connie. And the rest of us wait for the tree march where we all follow it back to the lodge.

While we were marching back with the tree, it turns out that Heather and Grandma Ba had been picked up by the horse carriage and were headed back to the lodge when Heather spotted Aunt Connie, lost among the trees. She says, "Hey, there's Aunt Connie!" and the driver says "Where?" Heather points her out and the driver yells "Hey Aunt Connie! They're over here!" to the ensuing laughter of the entire carriage of tree hunters. All was well with the world again.

Once we got back to the gift shop/tree lodge, the tree was put in line to be shaken and the rest of us headed in for homemade cider donuts, hot apple cider and coco, and a little someone had her first meeting with Santa. And since she's such a social little gal, she thought he was pretty cool and was just a little confused by his big beard.

Moral of the story: Family traditions make some of the best memories. Be sure to create fun traditions of your own to make the Holidays more than just a commercialized, materialistic frenzy.

Alternate Halloween Costumes

Sometimes you miss out on the fun in life by being sick. This year, we sacrificed wearing silly Halloween costumes, attending parties and trick or treating in the neighborhood in lieu of getting some rest and attempting to keep our cooties to ourselves.

As we tried to stay entertained, while resting mind you, Ada tried on a few alternate costumes:

Bear's Defensive Tackle (Face it, they could use all the help they can get)

Shrek-earred Assistant Tailor

Dancing, Streaking Toddler... complete with Daddy's Magic Hat

Food Network's Youngest Chef

Moral of the story: Just because you're sick, doesn't mean you can't have any fun, even if it is Halloween.

Talking Christmas? Already???

I know it's two months away. But I'm already getting requests and inquiries.

"What are you doing for Ada's birthday?" (December 19th)
"Do you have a Christmas list for her yet?" (Christmas isn't until December 25th mind you)

Woah, Nellie.

Talk about getting a head start on the holidays.

To humor all of the generous people who enjoy spoiling my child, here is what I've come up with as a suggested list of interests and possible gift ideas:

*Rick and I have a parental preference for things that:

1. don't contain lead (crazy I know)
2. don't have small parts she can choke on
3. are wooden or from Oompa Toys
4. don't say "some assembly required" (come on, I have to put that out there)
5. won't cost us a monthly/annual upkeep fee
6. don't have annoying buttons that she can hit over and over and over to drive me insane(Like the pink pony that says --"I'm a magical unicorn, rainbow colors and glowing horn. We'll have so much fun today, when you come with me and play." --she really likes it but it sure does test my sanity some days!)
7. won't cause massive bodily harm to our feet when we step on them while barefoot
8. are safe to be chewed on (everything goes into her mouth at some point)
9. encourage her to use the potty (will the diaper stage ever end?)
10. fit in her room (preferably in a nice, neat little space like her storage bins, dresser, or closet)
11. won't leave permanent marks on my floors, walls or the front of my dishwasher
12. are educational
13. increase the value of her college fund
14. are durable enough to be passed on
15. are good for the environment
16. can fit in our car so we can get them home
17. will entertain her for more than just the day she opens them
18. aren't all pink

• are musical - Most parents would be against toys that make a lot of noise. Ada has such a strong interest in music that I can't deprive her of that joy and therefore I kindly request that any musical instruments are accompanied by earplugs for Rick and I. And don't anyone go crazy and think I mean a full size drum set or piano. It won't fit in her room. She's not going to be backup drummer for any rock band that I know of anytime soon. Give it a couple of years. Drum, Flute, Maracas, Piano, Tambourine, Xylophone, etc.
• encourage her to dance. - Music with a beat (along the lines of, but not suggesting, Beyonce/Britney/Miley Cyrus.) Classes at Old Town School of Music. Gymnastics falls under this interest too maybe?
• can be pulled or pushed - a doll stroller, a train on a string (she has a shopping cart--and loves it. In fact, she got it from DD already as a Christmas gift, albeit a little early)
• transport stuff. - Trucks, Cars, Trains, Planes, Buses
• get us out of the house. - Tickets to museums, play places.
• encourage play - Wooden Kitchen set, puppets, building blocks for her architect of a dad, bath toys (she only has a rubber duck right now),
• encourage sport and exercise. - balls, basket ball and hoop, bowling set,
• teach her how to swim. - Swim lessons, water wings, etc.
• involve fruit. She eats a banana a day so I wouldn't be opposed to a fruit-of-the-month-club for her. It really would be the gift that keeps on giving.
• go to charity.

Like I said, these are suggestions, ideas, areas of interest to be used as inspiration.

Moral of the story: All she needs is love, food, shelter and clean diapers --which she has plenty of. There are so many people, places and things out there in need. Please be generous in their direction this holiday season.

A COLD Day in Lake Geneva - Day 3

Sunday Sunday Sunday

We were slow to get started this morning. We had breakfast. Rob and Michelle left and took Anna back to her mom. DD and Ada and I were finishing getting ready when my friends Anne and Rosalyn arrived for a day of fun, shopping and a visit to the apple orchard. Bobpa arrived shortly after they did so I could take his headshot for a Rotary thing. Anne, Rosalyn and I took a tour of the Oktoberfest downtown. Meanwhile, my dad went to go buy a dress shirt that actually fit him since he grabbed one from his closet that wouldn't button at the neck. Minor problem when you need to wear a tie and look professional. I left the ladies to shop while I ran back to take headshots. Ada squeezed in a little nap. Here's a result of the headshots... I might just be killed for posting this but... we'll, it's worth it. At least I'll dye happy and everyone will know what a real goofball my dad is... Here's the proof.

My poor mom! She's been married to him for a long time...

Then we all went to lunch. We tried one place but that wait was too long. We went to another and it was edible but not fabulous. On the way, Ada got the pompom Bobpa brought back from the Iowa vs. Michigan game for her and got it stuck in the wheel of her stroller. That was fun to cut out and fix later that night. What a mess. After lunch, Bobpa left us ladies to our fun. We decided we'd venture up to Elkhorn for an apple orchard experience and a pumpkin hunt. The apples were awesome. The apple cider was yummy. The apple cider donuts were scrumptious. Then we went to the pumpkin patch. It was well picked over since we were there just before closing on the Sunday after a weekend long festival. I expected Ada to be excited to run in this field and pick out a pumpkin. She was more perplexed... and a bit crabby...

Rosalyn cheered her up with this silly thing.

DD picked a pumpkin that wasn't rotting, all green, or too big for us to carry back to the car.Rosalyn let Ada drag her back to the car. Notice the apple in Ada's had that she took from the ground in the orchard and at in the car on the way home. It's her first stolen good. Anne and I just supervise and ate and drank (even though we learned that we don't like apple wine or blueberry wine or blackberry wine or any of the grape-excluding wines) and we were definitely merry.

Then it was back to the condo to bid adieu to our friends, eat leftovers with DD, and cuddle to stay warm. More knitting -- I made a scarf for Ada and gloves for my friend Cadence-- and more Cable TV, this time it was A Cinderella Story and Another Cinderella Story. Sinfully awful and entertaining and mindless at the same time.

I finally crawled into bed and cuddled with Ada until a whopping 9 am Monday morning! Yeah! Sleeping in is awesome!

Labor Day, Go Go Go

To grandma's to get Ada (she stayed at Ba's and we stayed at DDs).
A nice breakfast date for us while Ada and Ba got in a few more tickles.
From breakfast, straight to Chicago.
From unloading and parking the car, to the WOOGMS (Wellington Oakdale Old Glory Marching Society) Parade down the street.
At the parade, the Jessie White Tumbling Team preformed and we made new friends (imagine that... Ada got some random woman to give her a little flag and I met a new mom neighbor who's daughter is 10 days older than Ada --whereas Colette was on the other side of our house and Eva was 10 days younger than Ada... freaky).

Within five seconds of getting home and closing the front door, our friend Bob arrived.
Rick made lunch as the men prepared for the pending fantasy draft down the street.
Ada and I went down for naps as they snuck out the front door.
Awake in time for dinner.
While they fantasized about football, we dined with our friend Lisa who lives just blocks away.
We walked Lisa home and on the way back, we happened to walk by as Rick and Bob were leaving the draft and we snapped them back into reality.
Once home, we started playing our favorite board game--Settlers of Catan.
Ada crashed soon thereafter.
Bob won, then went home.
9pm, time for bed.
Goodnight.

Greetings from Baby!

What a pain in the butt. In trying to be different, I thought it would be a good idea for us to send a card similar to a holiday card but not a holiday card, to our friends this year. Good idea in theory. But so hard to execute.

"Why Amanda? What's the problem?"

Thank goodness you asked. For starters, December is just way to chaotic for me to send a mailing to 100 of our closest friends and family. So don't anybody expect a Christmas card from me. I enjoy getting them from everyone else and have them on my fridge year round, but I just can't get to that when I've got Ada's birthday, four Christmases, the New Year, and that's when we recover from Thanksgiving celebrations and a turkey induced coma. My oh my. The timing just isn't right.

Then I thought maybe we could do something cute for some other holiday. Coming up next we have Valentine's day and that would be a great option. I had a goal to make some sort of mailing happen. I even told a few friends they might get Ada Valentines. But... that's just not going to materialize either. Why? Because I can't get a photo of this kid that is worth spending over a dollar a card to send to everyone and their mother. She just isn't cooperating and I'm not taking her to a cheesy Sear's Portrait Studio when one of my best friends is a photographer and just hasn't been down to visit for a photo shoot yet.
The options so far...

See more at Ada's snapfish page...

Not only do we need a good photograph, but we also have to decide how to do it. A snapfish card? A postcard we design and have printed? And what about the recyclability of the card? I don't want to spend all this money for people to put her in a landfill at the end of the month. There isn't an obvious answer to this so I'm going the lame route. I've decided that until I get an awesome photo of her that I really want everyone to plaster all over their houses, I'm just going to post more photos of her here, on facebook, on snapfish, and have someone print a copy for her grandparents so that they can see how cute she is.

I will say, as a new mom there is this pressure -- probably all put on myself by myself-- to produce a cute baby announcement. Then, an annual Christmas card. I want to participate in the whole system but just have to work out the kinks. Bear with me as I try to negotiate with myself to find a happy medium that fits my need for convenience, is good to the earth, not ungodly expensive, and relatively efficient, all while being insanely creative and fun and stress free.

Any suggestions? I'm open to all options at this point.

In any case, Happy almost Valentine's Day from my little stinker.