Busted

Which one of you traitors gave my husband this blog address?? Now he's starting to make noise about how much Lucy's birthday party is going to cost him. Men. I'm gonna have to make this thing private again. ;-)

Lucy Sings!

So over the snot...

I'm just about done with nursing snotty children back to health...there's so much illness in this house. Lucy is still miserable and it doesn't look like Molly is improving either. Looks like I'll be moving on to an antibiotic for her this morning to see if we can kick this before the weekend.
I'm just tired of being housebound. Well, I wish I could type more, but the coughing toddler hanging from my leg needs me.

Must See Sight #1

1,720,434 Mormons can't be wrong!

If you've been following my real life lately, you know that we might get to take a trip to the Promised Land very soon. If that should happen, I'll be eating cupcakes.

A Pie-ee for Me?

Just 11 days until my baby is 2 years old! She's a maniac, so I'm totally pumped about her birthday party. We elected to have two this year, since we have special circumstances.

• We live 3 hours from friends and family, but we have a lot of good friends here, too. Since Lucy started attending playgroup, she's met a lot of really sweet kids and she actually told me that she wants to have a "Karen" birthday party. I mean, Karen's a character, but...Andrew and I think her "Karen Party" idea is hilarious and we keep picturing all of the kids wearing Karen party hats. Lucy is a tad Karen-obsessed.
  
• I'd normally just make everyone drive 3 hours to come to the party, but Grandma and Grandpa Port Angeles will be in town and we're so excited that they'll actually be here for Lucy's party that we've decided to give everyone a free pass to a local party. (You're very welcome, y'all.)

SO, we cut a deal with Lucy. In exchange for not having a Karen-themed party and totally freaking her parents out, we're just going to invite her to the party. We're having a Sesame Street bash. Neither party will be too big, but I looooove parties, so planning it and spending way too much is just my way. I still haven't given Andrew a total from her 1 year party...it may have been a bit ridiculous, but we don't give gifts to her for her birthday- we throw her a fun party. We'll do gifts when she gets older. Her first birthday was a big deal because we survived the first year. Her second is a big deal because she now knows what a "pie-ee" is and gets totally jazzed just talking about birthdays!
Lucy is an Elmo freak (even though she can't handle more than 15 minutes of him at a time and really doesn't watch him more than twice a week...its just something about a fuzzy, red three year old that she loves!) I think Elmo's adorable. I wish I had his zest for life.
Her first party will be May 9th, so I'm now into the party day countdown and am starting to get things together. I'm waiting on party favors and decorations to arrive and I have to finish some last-minute shopping for plates and napkins and what-have-you. (I love that little phrase.)
Oh JEEZ. I totally forgot to check on Maple! Gotta go!

Boy, you people...

I suppose you thought I meant "start praying in the morning," didn't you?

Lucy was up ALL night. I've never had to do that before. I feel like a seasoned veteran now. She slept until 8:15, which hasn't happened in over a year. (Yeah, I'm that lucky.) She's so sick and pitiful right now. Molly seems to be getting better, but Lucy is just a mess.

In other news, I have no idea if Andrew put the dog out before he left. I don't hear her outside. I wonder if she's downstairs doing the potty dance. I'm going to check. More later from the House of Sniffles.

WHAT. A. DAY.

Please pray for our family this week. Things are just nuts and all swirly and crazy. We have so many things to think about, decisions to make and so little peace right now. By this time next week, I hope to post a big giant update. In the meantime, please pray!

Swirling and Swirling

It's been an incredibly long day. Chunky Monkey Molly Poppers has an Upper Respiratory Infection and is handling it well, but hearing my baby's wheezing "can't-catch-my-breath" cough just breaks my heart. I'll be sleeping on the
Of course, Lucy was just fine at the doctor and I didn't have her checked out. Since returning home, she's spiked a fever, lost her voice and dry heaved three times. That's nice.
And I have pulled something in my back. Well, not pulled. More like a serious "pop." Ouch.

And now for some real talking...

I find it unbelievable that I have to paint my kitchen pink to get a satisfactory number of comments. Sigh.
So, yeah, Andrew was awesome about letting me paint the kitchen pink. He's very open-minded about decorating and it was exactly what the kitchen needed to lighten up and tie everything together. I even like our countertops now, which is a major miracle. He said, "Any color you want - just don't make me paint." It really brings everything in the kitchen together well and it makes the wood a little less dark, which was a serious must. It looks great with all of the stainless and brushed steel elements we have, so I'm very happy. And let's be honest, here. I'm a housewife. The kitchen is my office. As sort of a throwback to the housewife of bygone eras, and to really help our our Cape Cod feel like new again, it needed to be the perfect shade of feminine and fun. And it is.
In other news, I have two very sick little girls on my hands. I'm going to be calling the doctor as soon as they open to get them in today. Molly started off with a little runny nose, and now she's so congested she can't breathe and she's choking like crazy if she's not upright all the time. She woke me up in the middle of the night, choking and gagging. It scared me to death. She's just so tiny. I had her sleep in her carseat and put the humidifier next to her, but she's still not getting better. Lucy is also sick, but I'm not completely sure that she needs to be seen. I think she just has a cold...Andrew said he thinks he's coming down with something strep-ish, so I'll update this thing later after the pedi.

A New Shade of Irony

Here is my mess o' kitchen BEFORE....

And HERE is my new, improved and seriously awesome PINK kitchen just hours later. I'm so in love. I finally have peace when I walk into my kitchen and see this perfectly sweet, clean and light room just waiting to welcome me in my pink apron. More on why I chose pink later. For now, you can just enjoy the amazing transformation.

Excellent Night, Sore Feet.

Molly has been sleeping in her bouncy seat ALL night. I love her. Such a good little sidekick, letting me paint my kitchen.
The more I paint, the more I LOOOOOOVE the pink. It's so cute and retro and perfect for summer. It makes the wood in the kitchen look so nice and it makes me want to throw on an apron and pearls and down a cocktail. And THAT was the feeling I was going for. Something about the thought of cocktails makes me wonder if they're still cocktails at 10:40pm. No? No worries. I'm incredibly adaptable.

What I Love About Summer

• We eat so much less and much more casually!
• I have a ton of energy and my mood is so light!
• We laugh and laugh and laugh.
• Naked babies!
  
• Andrew gives me permission to do this like paint my kitchen PINK! Ahhh!! I'm so excited. The paint is bought and pics are coming!
  

A Few of My Favorite Things

Andrew and I aren't really "stuff" people. We don't have a lot of stuff and we're constantly giving things away and getting rid of things we don't use anymore. We're just not packrats.
That being said, there are a few things in my house that I love SO much.

My picture wall. From top left, Andrew and I on Halloween, 2007, our first kiss as man and wife, Lucy's baptism, outside the church on our wedding day, and Lucy's first trip to Port Angeles.

Lucy's playroom. It's SO nice to have a place to stash her toys. her room is upstairs and we just don't use a lot of it, so the toys she uses daily are next to the kitchen where we can all find them during the day and throw them at night.

Our bathroom mirror. It's just retro cute and I adore it.

The couples we collected on our honeymoon.

The mantle. I love this picture of Molly and I adore this old mirror I found in the basement and cleaned up. Andrew doesn't like the mirror, but I think it's awesome.

I loved this prayer so much I framed it!

Our occasional table. $5! What's not to love about a $5 table that cleans up beautifully? I sigh with happiness when I walk by it.

My Franciscanware. It belonged to my Great-Grandma Maggie and I love it. I have pieces of it all over the house just because it's too beautiful to have in storage.

Our country star. It looked funny outside, so it's in the dining room. I bought this before we even found a house. We knew we wanted a star on the house we bought, but we had no idea what the house would look like. So it sits in our dining room and looks very nice there. Just another example of Andrew's luck.

My awesome chandelier. I say "my" because Andrew hates it with a passion. I think it's totally fun and so kitschy and awesome. I pretty much just love the dining room.

At the top of this shelf is my Great-Grandma Betty's Household Searchlight cookbook. It's old and full of weird stuff. The second shelf houses her coffee pot. I love this funny-looking coffee pot and it makes wonderful coffee. The third shelf is for the silver sugar and creamer set. Grandma Susie gave them to me last time we were in Port Angeles. THIS is why the chandelier stays.

Coming Right Up!

Sit tight, folks. I'm loading all of my pics from the week onto my computer and I'm hoping to get a little video of my NOT EVEN 8 WEEK OLD starting to laugh at her daddy. She's such a genius. I thought I could only love Lucy this much. What's amazing about having a baby when you have a toddler is that you look at your baby and you say with your eyes, "I love you so much. Your sister is driving me bananas and I just wish I felt the same way about both of you, but since she's busy throwing tantrums and being a monster, I have plenty of time to fall in love with you, you quiet little angel." That is how you fall in love with child #2. Everything that was once just adorable about child #1 is suddenly not as cute when they scream about poop in church (remember that sweet baby babble?), slap you across the face to watch your reaction (ah, remember when she discovered those chubby little hands?) and smear chocolate on your living room rug (remember her face the first time she ate rice cereal?) as you run to them in slow motion.

Pics are loaded! Onto editing. Hopefully I'll get something up tonight!

Kisses!

Wee Break!

Hi All! Just a note to let you know that I'll be back next week! Lisa reminded me that I haven't blogged, so I wanted to tell you all that I'm having a fun week with the girlies and will be back to blogging after our fun!

Some Updates

• Pics coming tonight
• I love naptime, but sometimes it's just way too long...3 hours today. We're supposed to meet friends at the park soon, so I need her to get up, already! You'd think putting her down at noon would make us safe for at 3:30 playdate...
• I'm SO psyched about the weekend!!
• The roof is fixed! Good job, honey!
• I'm so sleepy! Must be the sunshine. It always makes me tired.
• I did my first 30 Day Shred workout last night. OUCH! I feel sore, but so awesome!
  

Oh my.

Andrew is up on the roof right now. This makes me very nervous. We have a very steep and VERY high roof. I am just about shaking as I type this but I'm trying to distract myself. We had a very bad windstorm a couple weeks ago and now people all over the county are repairing their roofs. Since we're the highest roof on one of the highest ridges, we knew we were in trouble when it started raining. In our attic. So, we've been waiting for the weather to clear so that Andrew could patch the roof. It needs to be done, but it scares the poop out of me. I'm going to go make a salad or something. Ugh.

Feeling Down

Today I weigh less than I have in two and a half years. By mere ounces, but I'm counting it. However, I'm still a little down. I'm eating right and working out. This morning I was out the door by 6:30 while Andrew hung out with the girls before work. I'm drinking 120 ounces of water a day. I'm starting to strength train at home. But it's such a slow process and it's hard to stay motivated when you're at home with two babies.
I'm working on the way I cook. It wasn't bad before, but I'm really trying to be mindful of what I shop for at the grocery store and how I'm preparing things. I'd like to be eating more raw foods. We already don't eat red meat, which is a good start. I'm trying to make salads a big part of my eating because it's a good filler. Since I'm breastfeeding, I'm hungry ALL the time.That's a big problem. I love to snack, but am trying to stay full of water instead.
I'm losing about 2 to 4 ounces a day, which is perfect for a breastfeeding mom 6 weeks postpartum. But when you turn 20 pounds into ounces...that's 160 days of staying on my best behavior and working my tooshie off to get back to where I was.
I'm just trying to remind myself that this weight isn't a result of bad behavior or a lack of activity. I have two beautiful babies to show for it, and breastfeeding is my worst enemy when it comes to weight loss. Maybe this time around it'll work the way it's rumored to work, but it didn't with Lucy so I'm not getting my hopes up. I'm trying so hard. I just want to feel like me again. I'm hoping that by Christmas, I'll feel pretty and young again. It's just so hard when I'm eating right and am SO active and I'm still not seeing the results. I guess this is the part people don't tell you about.

Toaster Fun!

When you think of all the reasons a person would have to buy a new toaster, what comes to mind? If you answered, "Because my toddler shoved handfuls of dyed pasta down the slots," you would be correct. We do not keep our toaster plugged in and Lucy likes to pull it out of the cabinet and push buttons and things. Remember the melted baby spoon in the toaster? I think this one's way better.

We're going 100% TV-free today. It's already been awesomely eventful. Lucy was starting to like Playhouse Disney a bit too much, so now the TV is off until 8pm every day. Period. I'm going to go insane.

Talking with Molly.

Talking With Lucy

Smiling Molly!

A recipe for YOU!

Since I make this about every two weeks and people keep asking me for the recipe, I'm going to make it public. I learned this super easy recipe when I was working at the Vandiver Inn in Havre de Grace, MD and I always loved it, so I memorized it and having been making it ever since!

French Toast Casserole

1 large loaf bakery French bread.
18 eggs
1/2 small container flavored creamer - I like Cinnamon Bun, but I've also used French Vanilla and Amaretto with awesome results.
Milk - eyeball it
Vanilla - about 2 or 3 tablespoons
Cinnamon - about the same

To assemble this awesome dish, just cut up your bread into cubes and throw them into a greased 9x13 pan. Easy peasy. Mix up the rest of the ingredients just like you're making French Toast. Also easy peasy! That's why I have no idea what the exact measurements are. Pour batter over bread cubes until egg mixture comes about halfway up the sides of the pan. You can mix the bread and batter together, or just let it go and pop it in the oven. I like to throw a few dabs of butter on the top to make it a little more crusty, but whatever! Bake at 350 for approximately 40 minutes, maybe more of less. When your knife comes out clean, it's done. It will puff up high by the time it's done baking and will fall back down - no sweat. Bake it just like a pan of brownies. Serve with maple syrup. This also reheats great in the microwave for about 40 seconds and is a great thing to make on a Sunday night for dessert and keep in the fridge for quick breakfasts through the week. Yum, yum, yum.

Easter Dinner!

Who I Am.

Molly and Lucy are both napping, so I thought I'd take a moment to post.

Last week was tough. Lucy is hitting the terrible twos with a vigor I never thought possible, Molly eats nonstop and I do not own a shirt that isn't stained. I was just missing the "real" world last week. I started reminiscing about working and doing big people things like going to movies and happy hour and sleeping in...thing I haven't done in a very, very, very long time.

I found a book at the library last week by Dr. Laura entitled In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms. It's been just what I need to pick me up and get me through these last weeks of cabin fever. It's been nice to be reminded that I'm the heart and soul of my home and that I bring something to the table other than just keeping the kids alive.

I do not own a shirt that isn't stained. This is a true statement as of 12:30 today. My last one bit the dust. That's ok with me. My clothes are covered in little reminders that I'm needed. Little pink lollipop fingerprints, muddy toddler marks, bloody nose memories, paint from nursery decorating, spots from dinners I ate cold and lots of spit-up. Ohhhh...the spit-up.

I am needed. What's more, I'm becoming who I am by staying at home. When I worked, I was only part of the woman I was created to be. Women are so unique in that they're sensitive, sensual and nurturing beings, and many women don't realize what they possess until they're given the chance to exercise the entirety of who they have the potential to be. That realization can happen in a variety of ways, but for me it's motherhood and making my home. I've had the happiness of proving myself to others in the workplace. I was appreciated there, but I was expendable. Anyone with a job is. I did a good job, but I could always be replaced. Here in my home, I'm irreplaceable. In my daughters' eyes, no one can do it like Mama. No one can kiss boo-boos, tickle the right spot, wash hair the right way, word things in Lucy-speak, conduct time-outs with finesse, cut sandwiches, sing Raffi songs or wrap a towel around my chubby toddler the way I can. In Lucy and Molly's eyes no one will ever be able to do my job for me, and I've never had a boss or manager respond to me the way my family does.

So yeah, because I rock the cradle, I still rule the world. It's a small world with just two flights of stairs and a leaky roof at the moment, but it's mine. As I recover today from lots of chocolate, multiple Easter tantrums and and full day of a nursing baby, I'm happy to be the heart and soul of our old house, young family and happy home.

Easter bunnies this morning!!!

"I'm not sure what Easter is but any morning there is a candy trail on the floor is a good morning!"
[After quickly consuming the 1st jelly bean] "Ah, could there be a better life? It could take me 18 years at this pace to get to the end of this trail!"

"Green, Green, Green, Green". Actual colors, red, red, green, orange, yellow, etc...


"I hope they swept and mopped before ruining all this candy!"

Accidentally kicking a few she'd scurry down the hallways yelling "Uh Oh. It's Okay. I got it" [drama queen!]... and what's hiding under her stool????

"Mama! Somebody put candy down where I can reach it! This is the greatest day in the world! It's like rising from the dead!!!!"

"You heard me. Happier than rising from the dead. Look at all the candy, chocolate & games!"


"A fishing game AND temporary tattoos! You're the best parents, er, Easter Bunnies in the world!"

"I make this basket look good!"

Stuffed bunny. Alarm clock. diapers. pacifier. Cute baby. Yup, that's the good life.

"Turn that flash off mom!" [bunny blanket reads, Thank heaven for little girls]

Mmmm... Happy Easter, can I get just 5 more minutes of slllleeeep??? :-)