Vacations never last long enough.

We are back from holidays and had a great time! It was alot of fun and we enjoyed all of it. We wish it was longer. We are already dying to go back to the Oregon Coast and hope to get there next year for a longer amount of time. Maybe a wedding perhaps???? :)I don't think I will post holiday pics on here as there are way too many and they are already on the baby site and facebook.

We have been busy with unpacking and getting settled back into our daily routines. Jeremy had an extra few days off after we arrived home and we spent it resting and napping from all of our early mornings on vacation.
We managed to find the jogger we wanted, but back here in Vancouver. They were sold out all over the states when we looked. Mackenzie is sure enjoying it and so are Jeremy and I. We could have used it when walking on the beach on our vacation.

We had a nice lunch on Monday with Aunt Terry and Uncle Roger and also Nanci (Grandma) and her friend Perry came to visit us!!! So we were a full little apartment but it went great. Mackenzie loved the attention and we had a great night with Nanci. She loves her new toy from Grandma and hasn't stopped playing with it - thanks again.

This stupid city is still on strike, so no recreation and library yet. I am starting to really get worried about what this means for Mackenzie and all the activities I was planning on signing her up for such as swimming lessons in the winter.

We are looking forward to the long weekend and some relaxing! Hopefully some tennis as we are watching alot of the US Open right now and I feel the need to go out and try to whoop Jeremy's butt...hahahha!

Why is it so hard to pick out a jogger?

I never dreamed picking out a jogger stroller could be so time consuming and frustrating!

I really love the stroller/car seat I have been using for our everyday use but it just won't cut it for working out or really long walks.

I am dying to start running again. I dream of running in my sleep which is hilarious because I really hate running. It's my body that likes it. It is the only thing that really helps me lose weight. Don't get me wrong though, I am not fast. I am kind of like Fred Flinstone when I run. I put in all this effort but really don't get anywhere.

I spent the last few years before I had Mackenzie working on that exact problem. I finally realized my speed was not going to get better but I could improve my distance. I eventually got to a point that I could easily run for an hour and not die or need to stop. Quite a feat for my body type and big mommajungas if you ask me...haha.

I now have to start from scratch (or at least pray my body has retained some memory of it) and train to that point again. In order to do that I need a jogging stroller.

After 3 months of researching now I think I may have found the one I want. It's made by a company called BOB. It has all the features I am looking for www.bobtrailers.com I am torn between the BOB Sport Utility Strollers and the BOB Revolution. I like the idea of the SUS as it can travel over all terrain and has the hand brake and wrist strap I want. Only downside is that the front wheel is fixed. (No swivel - makes it tricky to turn with) The Revolution has a front swivel wheel that you can also alter to a fixed but has no hand brake. It also is only designed for jogging and more city usage. I think I am leaning towards the SUS for the wheel type (I want to be able to use it on all terrain) and for the hand brake and wrist strap. The hand brake is a necessity when running down hills. This line of joggers get's the best reviews I read and also has a unique easy fold up mechanism that is a plus. No removal of the wheels needed. It has all the bells and whistles and the price is not as bad as some of the other brands.

To me it's worth the money for the amount of miles I am going to get out of it and the change it will have on my body! Yee haw, belly fat say goodbye!

Posing for the Great Grandmas

We are leaving for holidays in 3 days!!!

We are going to be driving a rental car down through Oregon and then staying in San Fransisco for a few days with Jeremy's Grandma Judy and her husband Ken, then working our way back up slowly along the Oregon Coast.

I wanted to pick up a gift for G. Judy as a thank you for their hospitality and I thought what better than a picture of Mackenzie? LOL.

I dressed her up in her pretty pink dress from Char and Tymon. The color pink looks great on her even though Jeremy can't stand pink...sorry hun. She was in a great mood and the pics turned out so good I got a whack load developed for all the Great Grandmas to have.

We are thinking she is so photogenic and way cuter than all the babies we see on tv but we could be biased. She loves the camera though. Hmmmm, new baby star? Good way to make her university fund...lol.

crafty goodness in the mommyhood

whip out those needles, pick out your wool, get out your fabric and material, bring out the paint brushes, whatever the medium or the project it doesn't matter - just get your craft on! so go on, get purly with it!

here's a list of some of our faves:


bitchy bees knitting group

burda style

crafting a green world

craftivism

craftstylish

craftzine

firesign art & design studio

heart handmade

jc handmade

katie did

kids craft weekly

knitting help

knitty

little birdie secrets

lollychops

made

made by rae

meet me at mikes!

one crafty place

one pretty thing

ravelry

sew mama sew

the purl bee

whip up

Where is her hair?

I think my daughter is absolutely beautiful, but her hair is taking forever to grow in.

This is a hairdresser's worst nightmare as a mom. I am dying to put in barrettes, clips, braids, ponytails etc, but her cute little mullet is just not allowing me to do that.

My mom sent me a great set of hair accessories for her (thanks mom) that still look funny on her due to her lack of hair. I try each week thinking that her little tuft of new hair may have grown - but no success.

So I decided to make her my own hair accessory. I quickly crocheted her a cute little headband that isn't very wide and is sized to fit her head exactly (a problem I was having with some of the other headbands). It makes her look like she has some hair!!!!

She seems to enjoy wearing it and even daddy loves it on her. I am going to play around with some other ideas and mix it up with some colors as well.

All in all, took me about 5 minutes to make my baby girl "seem" like she has more hair. Maybe now people will stop asking me if she is a boy or a girl.

Does anyone else agree that Babies R Us has horrible customer service?

I keep telling myself that I won't go back to Babies R Us, but yet I always end up in there. The place drives me mad! They have the absolute worst customer service. I usually have at least one fit when I am there.

Mackenzie and I decided to venture out for our "first time" outing using only her sling. I was a bit nervous taking her out for such a long time with only the sling, but the transit here is a nightmare for moms with strollers. Our trip started out great, she fell asleep as soon as we got on the bus and slept almost the whole shopping trip.

Our problems were with the store. They were sold out of everything I wanted. Plus when I did need help finding something the three people I asked for help from (one being the customer service desk) could hardly speak english and had no clue what I was talking about. They also led me all over the whole store about 3 times trying to figure this out. I was not happy. It was hot in Toys R Us and I didn't feel like doing laps all over that huge store with a sleeping baby slung on me. I left very irratated.

I got home and had to go online and order the things I wanted from Babies R Us online and pay $9.99 shipping when I live a mere 15 min bus ride away. I guess the money is worth the stress I end up with after leaving the store. I think I am going to continue only buying from the website from now on.

Blue Jays down the toilet?

I have been sooooo clumsy this week.
I swear Mackenzie is laughing at me all the time.
I have now dropped 2 glasses (broke 1, spilled 1), 1 plate (my yummy dinner ended up all over the floor), tripped a few times (thankfully not in front of anyone other than Jeremy), burned myself (yep, the iron), dropped my blush all over my white bath mats and worst of all.........
my blue jays hat fell in the toilet!!! (don't ask me how, lol)
I still wore it though (it was clean) and even had a guy try to pick me up because of it. Good ol'blue jays haven't lost their magic yet.

Lansinoh's on the loose

I failed again at my domestic efforts. LOL.
Thinking I was doing a wonderful job I have had another set back.
Doing laundry on the weekend proved to be a bit of mystery solver for us.
I put in my normal super size, squeeze in as much as you can, who cares if the colors match or not load of wash and waited for it to finish. I nicely asked Jeremy to put the load of wash in the dryer for me. Big mistake. It seems as though something got in the wash. A strange, thick, gel like substance had covered all of his polo shirts and the rest of the wash. What the heck is this stuff? We washed the load again.
Still, the gel was there. Did I ruin all the laundry? Great, now I was going to have to iron again! I ruined all of his polo shirts! I decided to investigate further. I tore apart the laundry piece by piece. And you know what I found? My ol pal the breast pad! Her and her friend had snuck in undercover in my bra for a joyride in the laundry machine. Little did they know that water and that magic substance that magically sucks up all my boob milk leakage don't mix. The stuff was everywhere.
I fished what was left of my lansinoh's out and washed the load again. I saved the wash.
But to all you breast pad wearers, watch out for the lansinoh's, they are sneaky little suckers.

Branded

I have now been branded by my own domesticity.
The iron got me.
I had let all of Jeremy's work dress shirts pile up (thank god he's allowed to wear polo shirts in the summertime) and finally got a chance to catch up on my ironing.
Then BAM, it got me. A reminder of my failure in succeeding at being a domestic goddess. Hurt like a son of a Bword and blistered and swelled.
I now have a scar to remind me of the power of the almighty IRON! I vow to try harder to be the best domestic goddess I can be.....well, at least a little bit.

Ole

I finally heard the words I had been waiting for - "It's done downloading!" from Jeremy.
After 2 months of waiting for the Murder She Wrote Season 1 (DVD 2) to finish downloading, it finally finished. I was ecstatic. Hello Angela Lansbury, here I come!!!
Well, the elation did not last long. Jeremy went to burn it and started to laugh. (Oh no. This could only be bad.) I asked him what the problem was, and to my dismay I had friggin downloaded the thing in Spanish!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot imagine my fave gray haired mystery writer solving crimes in spanish????
I almost cried. I had been so excited to watch them. Just my luck.
Oh well, at least I've always got Melrose Place, season 2 just finished downloading.

One day to the next

I decided on Friday to surprise Jeremy with a nice dinner.
I rushed around with the babe getting things ready. Candles lit, wine out, dinner cooking, salad chopped.....and then even got both of us dressed up. It was around 5:40 when I was all done and ready for him to get home. We waited....and waited.....and waited......where was he? It was now 6:05. Jeremy is not usually late and if he is he calls.
I started to worry, I am a WUSSUS. I worst case scenario everything. My mind started racing thinking he was mugged or worse. Mackenzie started to get fussy. Just when I start to panic, she decides to spit up all over both of us. Our outfits are ruined...hahaha. I decide it's not meant. I change us both back into our normal clothes and pray at least dinner isn't ruined yet. I try calling Jeremy on his cell a few times, no answer. He always answers. I am now really panicking. It's 6:15. I finally sit down and try to calm down. Just then the phone rings. As I am about to pick it up, it hits me! It's FRIGGIN FRIDAY!!!!! Jeremy works late on Fridays and doesn't even get home till 6:45!!!! OMG!!!!
I have finally lost complete track of the days of the week. Needless to say, I laughed at myself for the rest of the night.

To pee or not to pee

How come none of the baby books tell you what to do when your baby pees in the tub with you? Do you stay in or do you get out?????

Is it bad to stay in? Is urine sterile? Will it harm her to sit in her own urine? Will it harm me?

We battled this dilemma last night as I sat with my baby in the tub having fun and I felt that warm trickle down my body.....god help me. I looked at Jeremy and asked him what the heck to do. Stay in or get out? We did both. We stayed in and finished the bath (thinking that the bubble bath may kill the pee, I know that sounds stupid) and then got out as fast as possible.

I have decided this should be a new chapter in "Baby's First Year".

Yackity Yack

YES! Mackenzie is now cooing up a storm and talking in her baby language all the time. I am so happy she has finally started to have something that is like ME. I never shut up and it seems some days neither does she.
She looks just like her daddy but SOUNDS just like me. Jeremy is gonna have his hands full..haha, better start stocking up on Tylenol for him now.

Chuckles

Mackenzie recently started doing those real, deep down, honest chuckle giggles. Each time she does them I fall more and more in love with her. Everytime I hear them I think I am going to burst with love for her. I know, I know, mushy, mushy but seriously, there is nothing more wonderful than laughing your ass off with the man you love at the baby you both adore more than life itself.

In love with a plugin

So Jeremy thinks I need to get out more.
Last night we found ourselves in bed watching some tv after Mackenzie went down when a new Febreeze commercial aired. When the commercial ended I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe and he wasn't even smiling.
I don't know why I found this commercial so funny, but I did. It might have to do with the fact that the women loved the smell so much and I could relate with this commercials humorous approach. Although not with her love of Febreeze.
I recently smelled an air freshener plug in at a friends house and thought I have to have this. I usually get headaches from those overpowering, flowery plug ins; but this one was different. It smelled good and produced only a hint of the smell.
I ran out and bought one the next day. It is made by a new brand called "Method". Shoppers Drug Mart carries them. I got the scent "Lavender Lemongrass". I loooooovvve it. I love it so much I am telling everyone about it. I bought another one and am now wandering my tiny apartment looking for more plugs to put more in. My home smells wonderful.
This plug in has super hero qualities. It covers the smell of eau'du'diaper!!! Yep, no more baby poop odor from my garbage. (I don't use a Diaper Genie.) So this company has saved my nose. I sit here smelling the wonderful lavender fragrance and grilling every person who comes over if they love the smell as much as I do. Jeremy is sick of me asking him.
I started thinking to myself yesterday that they must have other products. And low and behold, they have tons!!!!!!!!!!!! Check out http://www.methodhome.com/ to see all their stuff. Their unique packaging and quirky blurbs on their products had me ecstatic! I bought their all purpose cleaner (lavender scent of course) and it works great!
Anyhoo, this lady in the commercial was portrayed as being obsessed with the smell and before my baby I would have thought that's nuts. But now, I think that is a very accurate portrayal of a mom who spends a fair amount of time in her home and has finally found the one thing that makes it smell great and not like dirty diapers, dirty dishes, sweaty man laundry and all other foul odors a home possesses.
If that means I have to get out more, so be it. Maybe it means Jeremy has to stay in more to understand...hahahahaha.

Junkie

I need help.
I have a bad habit.
I have to feed my bad habit.
Thank god I live above my bad habit.
I am grateful that a friend (who will remain un-named) supports my habit.
All I need do is call and poof........magically, my special friend brings me the most glorious gifts to my door. (No, it's not drugs.)
Those beautiful white, aroma filled, energy giving, life saving bags of what else but....STARBUCKS COFEE!!!!
My advice to all you other addicts -
avoid rehab and always make sure you have at least one acquaintance who works for Starbucks to score you free coffee.

Got change?

The girls are drooping. Yes, the day I have been dreading has arrived. After hours of exercise pre-baby and great holders of the ladies for support they have sagged.
I got out of the shower yesterday and stood there in shock. Seems as though when the baby weight starts to come off, so does that fullness that makes even big boobs look perky. Now they are a shell of what they once were.
Jeremy has strict instructions to now start saving for my boob lift. I want another baby and am now starting to really fear what they will look like after two tiny humans tug, pull, twist, yank and suck the life out of my beautiful breasts. Penny jar here I come!

Acrobatics

Ok, Mackenzie has started rolling over. She first scared the crap out of me when she started to roll from her front to her back at like 1 1/2 months. Our doc was amazed and the baby books said this was a bit early. Ok, we thought. She is strong. That's not a bad thing. But then at 2 months or so, the back to front turn happened!!! No more little docile newborn for this mom.

She is now an acrobat turning this way and that, there is no inch in her crib undiscovered! I put her on the floor and if I turn away for a few minutes, low and behold, she has managed to maneuver herself to the other side of the room!!!!! I keep flipping through the baby books to see if this normal. But what really is "normal" with babies???? LOL. I don't think those timelines really exist. For all I know, she is just gonna get up and run! The muscle on this kid's legs are amazing.

Can I live on Melrose?

Ok, so I have found the answer to the lack of Murder She Wrote on tv. I have now sunk to an even lower level of desperation and have downloaded the entire first season of Melrose Place. Yep. Good ol scandalous Melrose Place. I loved that show when I was younger and I still love it now. Nothing better than sitting down with a good cup of coffee, a smiling baby on the boob and a drama filled episode of Melrose.

I cannot wait for the second season to finish downloading as I only have a few episodes left of the first one. Jeremy thinks I am nuts for being so excited about a tv show, but even he is getting hooked! So long desperate housewives, hello melrose. Even 2 of the cast members on Desperate Housewives are from Melrose.

I figure a little scandal in our lives is never a bad thing.........is it??? :)

You know when....

Ok, you know when you are going to the public library too much when the security guard at the door recognizes you and the librarian says your daughter is the youngest library patron to have her own card!!!!!! I know, I know, libraries are not "a cool" place to go hang out, but I love to read and want to pass that down to my daughter (it really doesn't have anything to do with the fact that they don't charge fines on kid's library cards...ok, maybe a little bit...lol).
I also find that, however peaceful breastfeeding is, I got sick of watching tv or staring at Mackenzie. I figure in no time at all, my little girl was going to be up and running around and I would never get to enjoy the quiet peace of reading a great book. So, alas, I now have half the libraries copies of "Chick Lit" at home. I have an evergrowing list of requests still to come and yes, even a dvd copy of the first season of Murder She Wrote is listed. And no - I am not a senior for watching it..haha. Which leads me to - you know when your child has you up all night when you memorize all the late night reruns. I am still peeved that good ol'Angela Lansbury is only on Saturday mornings at 4:ooam (occassionally they do run a double back to back episode), do they not realize people are up at this time and need other tv reruns besides Dawson's Creek and Beverly Hills 90210?
I find myself reading all I can about my little girl - her body, her mental development, games to play, places to go and my long lived hunt for mommy groups (this is a topic I will discuss on another post). I keep coming home and adding to this mountainous pile of books that is slowly taking over our tiny apartment. So yep, you know when you go to the library too much when you have too many enticing reads to choose from, you go through a book a day, and you worry that if you don't space out your visits at the central branch, they will think you are nuts. But with the amount of times I visit you would think it wouldn't be possible to ecrue overdue fines?? Yeah, right.

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