Hey Rebecca...

My Friday was out of control in the busy-mom department. My to do list looks like it got attacked by a wild animal with ink injected claws. Picture that for a second, haha. Anyways, so I totally blanked out on my giveaway, and my Chick Flick Friday (Brokeback Mountain is the movie of the week by the way. Can you believe I still haven't seen it?). Plus, my 5 week old son has been waking me up at oh, right around 4:00 in the morning... for days now. I'm exhausted. By the end of every night I'm calling myself crazy for living the life that I live, but every morning by the time I've had my coffee, I'm grateful for everything that I've been given. On the agenda for today? A shopping trip, a haircut (whoa mama!), a baking date with my daughter, a craft project, some dishes, some casserole, and a whole lotta dirty diapers.

Oh, PS... Rebecca you won this "Scary Girlfriend" Valentines Day card from HeyLady! Yayyyy!!

-Pictured above is "hello animal stickers", by etsy user threedogparty, available for $3.75.

Monday suck-day, take 16!!

Someone asked me this morning in a convo, "when are you going to start doing your blog giveaways again?". I replied with an excuse about how busy I am, and said something about Monday suck-day being gone forever. And then I thought to myself "well what am I doing right now? I've got time". So, folks, friends, strangers and greedy people here just to win something (I love you just as much as the others, haha) ...lets get our suck on.

This week, "Scary Girlfriend", by etsy user HeyLady (I obviously didn't have time to get anyone lined up, so you're winning something from one of my shops!) is up for grabs. Its kind of perfect for Valentines Day. Want to know how to win it?

The Rules:
-Visit http://www.heylady.etsy.com/, and have a look around.
-Pick your favorite item from the shop (feel free to wander past the front page too, hehe) and then come back here to this blog post, and leave a comment telling us about what you liked.
-If you are not a blog user, make sure to leave your name and email, otherwise we have no way of contacting you in the case of your winning.
-For an additional entry, in 20 words or more, tell us why Mondays suck! You think I don't count the words? I totally do, lol.
-For an additional two entries, blog about this giveaway on your own blog (complete with links and pictures), and come back and leave a comment telling us you've done so.
-This contest is open to residents of the US only.
-Contest ends on Friday, January 30th.

...I think that about covers it?

Sale!

I don't normally have sales, in either of my shops (which are both re-opened now by the way), but this morning I woke up and decided that it was time. All of our recipe boxes over at ChristopherAndTia are temporarily on sale! So if you've had your eye on one, there is no better time than the present!!

Relax lady, you got this.

OK. Everyone is gone. The Grandma's have gone back home to the west coast, the husband has gone back to work, and its finally just me and the kids.

...time to housewife it up.

Goodmorning fancy coffee drink.

The other day while my mom was still here visiting, a commercial for those new McDonalds coffee beverages came on (oh how I hate that commercial). My mom made the comment "I've had one of those, and they're nothing special". Me, being the ho hum post partum hormonal wreck that I am, immediately shot back with "ya know, I'll never have another fancy coffee drink from anywhere, ever again, in my life. So while it may be nothing special to you, it might be something special to someone else, and you shouldn't take things like that for granted". ... down girl down. Sorry mom. ...Kind of? So maybe I could have taken it a little easier on her, yes, but I still meant what I said.

This morning when I came down the stairs after Charlie's breakfast (ps. if anyone has any reusable cloth breast pads that they're no longer needing, HI!!!), Christopher had my tall fancy coffee mug that I've had since I was 19, all set up on the counter, filled to the very top with a delicious looking icey something. Do I smell... chocolate? "Whats that?", I asked. "Its a fancy coffee drink", he replies. *long pause*. Then followed up with, "you said you'd never have another one ever again, so I made you one".

All together now...

"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww".

Anyone up for a chick flick?

So, I don't know about the rest of you, but I need some me time. Some everyone-get-out-of-my-face, me time. Being a mother of two, this isn't always possible. You know exactly what I'm talking about, don't you? Well, most of you do at least. I know there are a few people reading this that probably have a little too much me time, but we won't hold that against you, hehe. I was sitting on the couch the other night, and I wondered, "What could I do for myself that doesn't involve locking myself in the bathroom for a moment of silence, which is usually just a quick shower followed by a marathon race of hair blow drying, or attempting to leave the house for anything, since I'm strictly breastfeeding and the youngest has to come with me?". Yes, my thoughts typically come out in run on sentence form. And then a movie preview came on TV. I don't remember which one, but I do remember that it looked awful, and perfect at the same time. That's it!! I'll start watching chick flicks! Once a week. That way I can stay in my sweats, nurse my baby, color with the older one, do whatever I need to do if I have to, but still treat myself to a crappy woman indulgence that I've always been a sucker for. I can always pause it, right? So I'm inviting y'all to join me for Chick Flick Fridays. Anyone? Anyone? I say we pick the movie on Tuesdays (so I'm a day late this time around), that way anyone that wants to participate during that week has time to go out and rent the chick flick, if they don't have pay per view, or already own it (which I doubt any of us will). And I guess maybe we'd need to have a backup movie in case the chosen movie is sold out of your local rental store. I have no idea what movies are currently out, since I haven't rented a movie in like 10 years (obvious exaggeration), so if anyone has any suggestions, don't be embarrassed. The cheesier, the better. I'm probably going to the video store tonight. Or maybe tomorrow. Hit me with your best shot...

-"this time they're off my sleeve for good - archival print", by underneathmytree, $15.00.

Smitten.

The other day we went out as a family for the first time. All 4 of us. Does that sound weird to anyone else? ..."All 4 of us".

Charlie was all snuggled up in his car seat, with blankets secured at every possible angle to prevent bobble head syndrome. And as you can tell by the above picture, he was having a great time.

Eleanore got to wear her new hat and scarf combo, so nicely made and sent to her from Christopher's Nana. Now every time I look at a picture of Elie, I see such a big girl. Shes not just "cute". Shes grown into beautiful. Maybe its the background music I have playing right now as I'm writing this, or maybe its my hormones, but... I sure do have a gorgeous little girl.

And then there is my husband. Having him home the past couple of weeks has been a dream come true. I had forgotten how hopelessly in love with him I am. Thank god for cameras, sunsets, and sad attempts at mustache growth.

Saturday morning cupcake party!

Of course we're on no kind of actual schedule yet. Everything is minute by minute. I eat after Charlie eats. I sleep when he sleeps. I shower after everyone else has gotten clean. I'm sure some of you know how it goes all too well. But, even with my busy super-mom agenda, I still keep my promises. And this morning, as promised, Miss Eleanore Sue had a cupcake party. Lots of gluten free chocolaty yumminess, topped with sugary peanut buttery fluffiness. Who cares if I was in sweat pants and haven't brushed my hair in days. Who cares if I had to skip breakfast. This picture is worth every selfless inconvenience. I'd rather make cupcakes with my daughter than brush my teeth, any day. I hope I never forget that.

Mr. Man.

I still sleep with him in my arms at night. We have a bassinet. We have two, actually. But I just can't put him down. At first I would wake up every 10 or 20 minutes to make sure that he was still breathing. I did the same thing with Eleanore when she was a baby. I wake up and feel his cheeks and forehead, and if he feels even slightly cold, I panic and jolt myself awake with adrenaline. A friend of mine lost a baby to SIDS when I was 10 or 11, and ever since, I've had a lingering paranoia. I've slightly calmed down in the past few days. I can sleep for a few hours at a time before waking up to check on him. It wasn't until last night that we stopped using an alarm clock to wake him up for feedings. The boy would just keep on sleeping. Now that hes back up to his birth weight and his blood sugar has stabilized, we're letting him tell us when its time to eat. Most of the time at least. If my chest is throbbing, I'll make an exception. I've still got my mom force field up, but have lessened the intensity? By that I mean, I can let someone else hold him and not go crazy, but it doesn't last long, so you've gotta grab him when you can. Unless hes got a poopy diaper or won't burp... then hes all yours.

Late nights and early mornings.

We've all completely lost track of time. I've tackled breastfeeding head on, and conquered. Brown rice has replaced white. Does that make sense to anyone other than me? Ya know, whole grains and what have you? Christopher keeps making me laugh, and in my tired imagination, ripping open my stitches. We've made up a catchy tune to sing everything to. Eleanore is starved for attention, and I'm happily feeding her mine with every ounce of energy I can craft up. I've colored enough Dora Saves the Snow Princess to last me a lifetime. Christopher has learned how to sleep walk, in the most annoying, yet helpful of ways. Ice water is the new chocolate shake. Lortabs are my new vitamin of choice. And Mister Charlie, is absolutely worth every yawn and broken coloring crayon that this post has been written about.