Carter's Christmas Gift

I think Carter must of felt bad that everyone was getting each other gifts and being a baby he couldn't do his own shopping. Well he did manage to give us all something although I don't know if I would call it a gift....its the stomach flu! Merry Christmas, love Carter.

Thanks Buds.

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Jingle Bells

This is how Stella sings Jingle Bells:

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.

Oh McFun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh, hey!

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way

Oh McFun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh.

Close Stella, but not quite....

The Christmas Play

This is the first year Stella is old enough to be in our church's Christmas play. She was very excited when I told her that she would have to learn a song and dress up. Her first question was "what am I going to be?" "A sheep" I replied. Well, that apparently is not good enough for her. She wanted to know if there were any roles of butterfly, bumble bee, or fairy available. I told her not this year. Yesterday was the dress rehearsal so I wanted to get her excited. I talked about how she had to wear a white shirt and how all her friends would be there, etc. "Well I am not going to be a sheep, I am going to be a butterfly" she said. I once again explained how she couldn't be a butterfly and that soon enough she would get to audition for a part if she would like. It all went pretty smooth at dress rehearsal so we will see how my little butterfly does on Sunday.

The Nova

My best friend Amy has been with her husband Billy since high school. I met them both when I was a junior. At the time Billy had the sweetest car in the world...a Chevy Nova. This car was seriously the coolest thing ever and we had so many great memories that involved it that I wanted to write a post about it to pay tribute to that great piece of machinery.

To give you a little visual the Nova was Ferrari red. The ceiling was falling apart so at any moment random fuzz, drywall type material would fall into your hair, in your eye or even better in your soda if you didn't have a lid on it. One time we were downtown Milwaukee and ran over a road barrier and dragged it about 20 feet, it was sparking and catching fire, but the Nova pulled it along like it was a semi. There are many great stories like that but, all of our favorite activity to do that involved the Nova was hitting shopping cart in the local Walmart parking lot. That's right, Billy would find lonely shopping carts, position the Nova behind them and then slowly and steadily increase his speed. When they were rolling pretty fast he would slam on the breaks and we would all laugh as the shopping carts went flying.

So here's to you Nova, we all really miss you...

Daylight savings time

What is the point in daylight savings time? If the point is to make me crazy and make me want to throw myself off a bridge then fine. Daylight savings time is always horrible but it is even worse when you have little kids. It makes the witching hours of 4-6 even worse. Yesterday I put both the kids in the bath for an hour just because I didn't know what else to do. Who made this up anyways? I bet it was a single man, that's who because if he had kids he wouldn't have done it. So daylights savings time, I hate you.

Sister Wives

When I heard that TLC was going to have a new reality show called "Sister Wives" which showed the everyday lives of a polygamist family I knew I had to watch. What I didn't expect was that after watching it that I would somehow understood where these women were coming from. They only have to deal with their husband once every 4 days, they ALWAYS have someone to pawn their kids off on, AND there is someone else who cooks for you. Doesn't sound like that bad of a deal to me....

"How may I help you?"

To all of us normal civilized people the phrase “How may I help you?” is a very kind and polite question but to a 3 year old this is clearly an insult. I learned this today as Stella was playing with her Disney Princess phone. When you pick up the receiver a very nice lady says “Hello, how may I help you?” To which Stella replied “NO! I DON’T NEED ANY HELP!” She put the receiver down and picked it up again, and when she did, she received the same nice lady “Hello, how may I help you?” “I TOLD YOU I DON’T NEED ANY HELP!” I then tried to jump in to try and dissolve the escalating tension between my daughter and an imaginary fairy godmother type woman. “Honey, she isn’t asking if you need help, she is asking what she can do for you.” I said trying to explain what the phrase meant. “Well I don’t need her to do anything for me, I can do it myself.” Stella replied. This is when I gave up. So for the next 15 minutes Stella continued to pick up the phone and get madder and madder until she finally threw it on the ground.

We Have A WINNER!

The winner of the Rosewood hair clip giveaway is LINDA!!! I will be email you today to see what type of clip you would like.

Thank you so much everyone for entering. I got a much greater response than I thought I would. Because of such a great response I decided to extent a discount to everyone who entered the contest. If you would like to purchase one of my clip I am going to discount them from $7 to $4.50. Shipping will be an additional $1.25. If you are interested you can contact me at rosewoodstyle@yahoo.com and I would be happy to get started on your order!

Thanks so much again everyone!

GIVEAWAY!!!

I am doing another giveaway but this time it is straight from me! I started making these fabric flower hair clips a couple of months ago and I have had some pretty good success with them. I wear them a lot as does Stella. They are perfect for girls and women.

For the winner of this giveaway I will let you choose the color and bead/beads you want for your flower.

In order to enter the contest you must...
1) be a "follower" of my blog, if you aren't already
2) leave a comment under this post with your email address

To can get one additional entry for each of the things below, just leave a comment letting me know which you did or if you did both.
1) Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway (see button on right)
2) Like my page of facebook, you can do so by clicking on the box to the right

I will chose a winner on October 8th, and announce it on here as well as email the winner!

Good luck!

Bieber Fever

Yes, we have it, Stella and I have the Bieber Fever. I don't care, and I am not apologizing for being almost 29 years old and liking teeny bopper music. It's good, I can dance to it and I don't have to worry about the content.

I had a rummage sale a couple of months ago when a little girl, maybe around 9 got out of the car with her grandpa. As she walked up the driveway I saw that she had a Justin Bieber shirt on so I knew instantly that we would be friends since we enjoyed the same type of music. So when she got closer to me I said "do you have Bieber fever?" To which she didn't reply. She simply looked at me like I was completely insane and should be hospitalized. So I followed up my unanswered question with "Well, we having it (pointing to Stella who was at that point drinking all the lemonade she was supposed to be selling at her lemonade stand)" Again, nothing but a blank stare from the girl.

Sometime I forget that not everyone understands my sense of humor, this was one of those times.

Baby Theodore

Stella has quite the imagination so it does not suprise me that she plays pretend things all the time. It also didn't suprise me when she started talking about baby Theodore. This is the same Theodore from Alvin and the chipmunks but from what I understand he's a little younger. He shows up a lot and when he does it's always a good time.

I recently got a new cell phone and while we were there trying to set it up Baby Theodore started in with his antics again. From what I unterstand he kept trying to play games on the worker's computers, Stella would sigh and say "oh no, he is on the funputer (computer) again!" She would then run over to the computer, snatch him up and then bring him over to me. I would tell him not to do it and make him sit on my lap in time out until he escaped to go to the computer again. She literally did this forever and I was laughing so hard. Sometimes he sits in the front with me when we are driving and he also comes out to eat with us a lot. I am thankful she has such a great imagination, you never know what is going to happen next.

My new past time

I like to feel like I am accomplishing something so somehow a couple of weeks ago I got it in my head that I could start my own little business. I brainstormed about different things that I could do. I love fashion and I L.O.V.E. accessories. They look good on everyone, they can be inexpensive and can totally change the look of an outfit. I started playing around with different ideas and decided on making fabric flowers that you can put in your hair. I wore them around and got tons of compliments so I decided to open my own little etsy shop. (see right sidebar) I am super excited and I am also thinking about selling them at some local festivals coming up. Let me know what you think!

It's all in the name

Long before Dan and I were even married we knew what we wanted to name our daughter if we ever had one. My great grandma's name was Stella and although I didn't know her I loved the name. I am very close with my Papa and that was his mom. It just so happens that our first born was a girl and we never second guessed our name choice. Stella's name fits her to a tea. Now when I was pregnant with Stella, before we knew what we were having we did the whole run around trying to find a boy name that we both like. We came across Carter and both of us really like it. So if Stella would have been a boy, she would have been Carter. When we found out we were having a boy the second time around we had a few names we like; Carter, Luke and Jude. We decided on Carter, we both really liked it and had liked it for a long time.

We aren't big into name meanings so it never occurred to me to look up what the name Carter meant. For some odd reason last week I thought to myself "I don't even know what Carter's name means" so I went online to find out. Before I tell you what it means, let me tell you what the rest of our names mean.

My name, Katie, means purity. Dan's name, Daniel, means God is my judge. And, Stella's name, means star or style. Do you know what Carter's name means? Transporter of materials or driver of cart? Are you serious? Poor guy, he by far and away got the short end of that stick. Sorry buddy.

..or maybe not

I think about dieting a lot. You always see these people and they say "I lost 50 pounds on weight watchers." The truth is, I can't do it. I can not diet. I like food and I like to eat food that tastes good. I can limit myself and I can cut out snacking, that's fine. But I can not handle some system telling me I need to count out every chip, do you know what that makes me want to do? Eat all the chips. That's just my random thought for today.

And the winner is.....

ABBIE! Abbie has won the modern simple round black bead and silver earrings. Thank you so much to everyone who entered the contest and thank you Elsy Bleu for being so generous and parterning with me for this giveaway. Abbie I will email you to get your info. Please check in on my blog for time to time, I hope to make giveaways a more regular occurence on here. It is so nice to be able to bless others.

Elsy Bleu Giveaway

Elsy Bleu is one of a kind jewelry, handmade by Melissa. She uses sterling silver and a variety of gorgeous beads to make these beautiful pieces. For this giveaway Melissa has been so kind and is going to let the winner chose the piece that she/he wishes.

In order to enter this giveaway you must follow three steps.
1) Become a follower of my blog.
2) Visit Melissa’s Etsy store Elsy Bleu at www.etsy.com/shop/elsybleu
3) Leave a comment under this post with your name, email address, and the name of the piece of jewelry you would like if you win. Following these steps will get you your first entry into the contest.

If you would like to enter more than once here are two additional ways to enter.
- Become a fan/friend of Elsy Bleu on facebook and then leave a comment on here saying that you are now a fan.
- Follow me on twitter (button located to the right) and then tweet about this giveaway. Then leave a comment with the link to the tweet.

So you can enter 3 different times! I will announce the winner on Monday, August 9th and contact the winner via email as well. Good luck!

Life Lessons

Dan and I feel that it is important to start teaching our children good habits and life lessons early on. For instance, when we go out to eat at restaurants we encourage Stella to order for herself. We believe that it not only helps her to learn manners but that it also teaches her a sense of independence. Although Stella is 13 years away from getting her drivers license we also believe that it good to start teaching her good habit or skills while driving, this we do more by setting an example for her by the way we drive. Last Friday we were driving in pretty decent rush hour traffic, it was very slow moving with a lot of stopping. Stella and I were having our own personal dance party in the car when all of a sudden she started screaming in delight “the car is driving itself, it’s drive all by itself!” Not thinking she was talking about our car I frantically replied “where?!?” “OUR CAR IS DRIVING ALL BY ITSELF! YOU AREN’T HOLDING ON TO THE WHEEL!” she replied. I then looked down and realized what she was talking about. I had been steering with my knee so I could have both hands free to dance. I explained to her that since we were going so slow that I was using my knee to steer. Well, this is pretty cool to a 3 year old. She started laughing saying “again! again!” I am so glad that I was able to teach Stella a lesson in responsible driving that day: that it is more important to have both your hands free to dance than it is to actually keep them on the wheel and pay attention to what you are doing when you drive.

Big Announcement!

I am so trilled to tell you all that I will be announcing my first giveaway next week! I am so excited! Ever since I started this blog I dreamed of being able to do something fun like this. Make sure you check back next week so you have a chance to enter!

Sophie has come home

That's right she's back! Where did I find her you ask...under the couch. I litterly tore the house apart looking for her and all along she was under the couch. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers. I know you all lost sleep worrying about where this 20 dollar toy might be. We're happy to have her back and thankful for her safe return.

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Where's Sophie?

For the first time in the four years we have lived in this house I have kept it pretty clean for longer than a week. I am keeping up with the laundry and actually putting it away as it is done (normally I just pile it on the guest bed) so how oh how did I lose something amongst all this tidiness? What did I lose you ask? The ridiculously expensive teething toy that Carter only started taking an interest in the day it went missing named Sophie. For you moms out there you might be familiar with her. Moms rant and rave about Sophie the giraffe and how their babies love her and snuggle her and gnaw on her. Finally, last Saturday Carter got the hang of it and started chewing away....then she went missing. We don't know where she is and I have looked everywhere. I asked Stella who is actually usually good at keeping track of where random things are and she doesn't know either. I am hoping that she shows up soon because I am losing sleep over where this $20 plastic squeaky toy could be....maybe I should make some lost puppy type posters and poster them around.

What are the chances?

One of my best friends growing up was a boy named Josh. We met in middle school and were great friends, we went to the same church and attended the same young group. We remained friends through highschool and then at some point while we were both in college lost touch. When I gave in and signed up for a facebook account 2 years ago I saw that his little sister was on there. From looking at her pictures I saw that he had gotten married, I was obviously so happy for him so I asked his sister to tell him I said "Congrats." He emailed me the next day and we began catching up. He told me about his wife Denise and how alike we were, he said "if you are the same person you two would get along great." Well...I don't think he really know how great we would get along. The first time we met we were instant friends, it was like we had know each other for years. We had already had Stella when we met and Josh and Denise were trying for their first baby. Well I found out I was pregnant with Carter and Denise was one of the first people I called. She was very excited for us although I know a litle sad that she wasn't pregnant yet. Little did either of us know that she was pregnant as we would find out a couple day later. We knew our due dates would be really close and when we both went to our seperate doctor found out that they were in fact one day apart. Well due to the fact that she needed to have a c-section and I was being induced we ended up having our babies on the same day, hours apart. She had Addison Lauren and a couple hours later Carter arrived. We call them the twins. It is so crazy to think that my son shares a birthday with my childhood friend's daughter, and that his wife would have ended up to be one of my best friends. Really, what are the chances?

Male Nesting

Let me tell you a little story. You know how when women are pregnant they “nest”? Well I completely believe that Dan nested when I was pregnant with Stella instead of me. The only problem with that is that he did MAJOR projects. I remember waking up one Saturday morning to find that Dan along with several other male neighbors were ripping out our deck. Nothing was wrong with it, Dan simply decided that morning to rip it out and put in a cement patio, a decision he know regrets. When I was nine months pregnant we had no flooring in our downstairs, the oven and refrigerator were living in the garage and there was no toilet in our 1st floor bathroom. I told Dan as nicely as a 9 month pregnant woman could that the toilet better be in by the time I come home from the hospital with that baby or I would be peeing on the floor and he could clean it up. While I was in the hospital with Stella, our neighbor finished the work, that's how close it came to the wire.

You think these are all a little crazy, right? Well, I saved the best for last. Right around the time of the whole deck being ripped out situation which was when I was very newly pregnant, Dan also decided to rip the toilet paper holder out of the wall in our upstairs bathroom. It was one of those old school receded toilet paper holders and he wanted to patch the hole and just put a new updated hook or something there. When he took it out it left a huge open hole in the wall, exposing the insulation and drywall. Well it has now been 4 years and we still have a hole in our wall. We put our toilet paper on the counter top and every single day I look at the whole. Well last week my mom and I decided enough is enough. We went out and bought a new receded toilet paper holder, which are not easy to find since they as old as dinosaurs, and today, we put it in the wall. It took us a total of 15 minutes and cost us $11. It looks like a whole new bathroom. My mom said now we can finally have an open house. I ask myself why it took this long to do it but then I remind myself that Dan is both impulsive and non handy. However I find it amusing that my mom and I were able to do something that he couldn’t in 4 years, in 15 minutes.

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree

I often say that I don't think that Stella got any of my genes. Somehow when she was conceived two of Dan's little swimmer must have joined and made her and I was just the housing unit. She looks like him, acts like him, and is completely in love with him. Tonight however she said something that was so like me that it gave me hope that she is in fact my child.

When Dan was laying in bed with her tonight he asked her what she wants to be when she grows up. "A married girl" was her reply. A huge smile came to my face when I heard this, the reason being that if you would have asked me the same question when I was her age that is exactly what I would have said. My mom likes to tell the story of my first day at K-4. I got off the bus after my first day of school and my mom asked me how my day was. My exact response was "there is the cutest little boy and his name is Chad." I would dream about being a wife and mom, I would even pretend to nurse my cabbage patch kids (a little freaky I know). Don't get me wrong, I don't want Stella to be boy crazy or for her value to come from what boys think of her. We will raise her to be a self thinking, strong, intelligent woman but I do know her heart because it's the same that mine always was, even from a young age. It's the heart of a wife and mother, it's something that we were born with and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Really Girls?

I didn’t get the memo boy shorts disguised as jean shorts were the new staple for young girls. I was made highly aware of this new trend this holiday weekend. I don’t even know where to start with this whole situation so let me just start by trying to explain what I am talking about. These shorts are the tiniest things I have ever seen; they can’t have real pockets because if they did the pocket would hang at least 5 inches longer than where the shorts end. .I honestly think you should have to be 18 to purchase them since when you where them you are pretty much soliciting one thing. I am totally disgusted by them. Sure these young girls are skinny and tan and have great bodies but they are girls, not women! I saw at least a couple of girls whose butt cheeks were hanging out the bottom of the shorts, that’s how short they are! Do these girls not understand that they are completely devaluing themselves? When you wear clothes like that you are sending one message very loud and clear to boys. Where are their parents? I can tell you one thing, there is no way my daughter will ever wear something like that, she will be raised to have more respect for herself and us to want to convey herself in that way. And I will never allow my son to date a girl like that; I want him to date a girl who has value and substance not a girl who wants guys to look at her for one reason only.

Carter's Part Time Job

It seems as though our little man is an entrepreneur. At only 4 months old he has seemed to create his own business. It's true, he has started his own cheese making business. How does a 4 month old make his own cheese you ask? Well it seems to be very easy for him. He seems to be packing on the pounds these days, and his neck has pretty much disappeared now being taken over by his double chin. So all he does is simply open his mouth a little when we are feeding him, allowing the milk to run down into the folds on his chin/neck. He then does not allow any air to get in there so it stays nice and moist. In about several hours that milk turns into cheese and voila! We are proud of his ambition and dedication at such a young age.

Note to self

Stella and I were swimming at my parents Friday when she started screaming "I have to go potty, I have to go potty!" Since she was soaking wet and I didn't want to drag her into my paretns house I told her she could stand in the grass and go potty. I honestly didn't even really think that she had to pee because she makes stuff up all the time. Well sure enough she did have to go so she went in the grass and I told her that this is not something we don't do all the time but she was wet and I didn't want to get Mima's floor all yucky. Turns out that she thought peeing outside was pretty cool and could care less about the emergency only rule. Fast forward to today, when my mom was watching her while I was at work. I got a phone call from my mom who said "Bad idea, she has now peed in the grass 3 times and I even made her go before we came outside." Also please know that she can hold it for like 12 hours. So I guess I learned my lesson, never tell a 3 year old it is ok to pee outside because you will never be able to take it back.

Happy Father's Day

I am blessed to have a wonderful dad. My relationship with my dad has changed and grown so much over the years, he is one of the most important people in my life. We operate on the same "wave length" and often times understand each other exactly when no one else does.

I am also beyond blessed with a wonderful husband. We have been together since he was 17 and I was 18...I know, I know, I'm a cougar. I would never have imagined that my high school sweetheart would become my husband and 2 years later my baby daddy. AND that he would be such an amazing baby daddy. Dan is so great with our kids, he loves being with us and makes us his first priority. I fall more in love with him every time I see him with our babies.

So Happy Father's Day to both the Dans in my life. I love you both so much!

The Addict

She might only be 3 years old, but Stella has an addiction problem. For anyone who knows her well, you knows exactly what I am talk about. She is addicted to the nuk. I relate it to a drug or cigarette addiction. When she wants it and can't have it she literally loses her mind. She will scream and cry and doesn't even know what to do with herself, it's like withdrawal. When she eats she will often stop eating to take what I call a "nuk break" much like a smoke break she will stop eating, stuck on her nuk for a while and then continue eating. Her mood also completely changes when she does get it, she can go from inconsolable to completely calm in a matter of seconds, you can see the change in her eyes. A lot of people give us flack about her being 3 and still having it. Our reply "you try to take it from her and you deal with her." It's not a fight that I want to fight at this point. And, I figure no boy will want to date her when she is 15 and still has a nuk so it's ok by me.

White Chocolate Mochas

I LOVE COFFEE!!! I didn't until I had Stella and it is a love that has grown into an almost unhealthy obsession. I have to have coffee every day or I turn into a different person. I will make coffee at home, but I MUST have flavored creamer. I also really like McDonald's iced coffee. But, if I could I would drink an iced white chocolate mocha from Starbucks every.single.day. I would also not gain a single pound or go into financial debt due to this love of mine. They make me so happy not to mention help me stay awake and have the energy I need for my crazy life. So today's post is dedicated to you my sweet friend.

Snapshot Sunday

They are literally the same person as you can tell from this photo

She only ate the icing at her birthday party

I had to turn the flash off so it's a little fuzzy but look at the chubby face!

I am in love with a new man

Yes, it's true. I am completely head over heels in love with another man. He has stolen my heart. He smiles when I walk into the room and I feel the same exact joy right back. He is my sweet sweet baby boy.

I feel like I don't talk about Carter enough on here. It's probably because he is not the one saying or doing crazy things all the time. I'm sure in the couple years to come I will have plenty of awesome stories about him and the crazy things he will do and say. Anyways I would just like to state how completely in love I am with him. He is the sweetest boy in the whole world. He smiles and laughs constantly, he is always in a good mood...unless he is hungry and you don't feed him right away but who wouldn't be crabby then right? He also just cut both his bottom teeth this week. He is growing up so fast and I am enjoying him so much. I am so thankful that God blessed us with yet again such a beautiful child. Mommy loves you Butter!

Is that a boy or a girl?

Stella is a very smart kid. And it is hilarious to me when her innocence causes her to ask a question that is much wiser beyond her age. Case in point. We were watching American Idol a couple of months ago when Adam Lambert came on to perform. After a couple of seconds Stella very confused asked "Daddy is that a boy or a girl?" It was a very good question as he was wearing more makeup than I do, nail polish, and high heels. As a parent how do you answer a question like that? Well, Dan did a pretty good job. "Kind of both I guess." "Ohhhh..." Stella replied. She seems to have understood exactly what he meant when he said that.

Snap Shot Sundays

I think on Sundays I am going to just post some pictures and maybe a little descriptions and let them to all the talking.

Busted with his thumb in his mouth
the diva

my happy boy
they love each other, but please notice Carter's face.

The Penis Stand

I had a rummage sale a couple of weeks ago and got it in my head that it would be a fun idea for Stella to have a lemonade stand. When I told her about it the night before the rummage started she got very excited. The next morning when she woke up it was all she could talk about. She then shocked me when she said "When baby Carter is old he is going to have a penis stand!" Thinking that I might have mishear her I asked her to repeat what she said and sure enough she had said "penis stand." I wanted to tell her that is illegal in the United States on many accounts some being that it is not legal to expose yourself in public and also that baby Carter is a minor, not to mention completely against our moral beliefs. But, instead of going into the legality of the manner I simply asked her what she meant, what is a penis stand? To which she simply replied "a lemonade stand for boys." "Oh!" I said, "makes sense."

Unrealist Expectations

I have a bone to pick with you Kendra, Kourtney and other celebrities including but not limited to Heidi Klum, Kelly Rippa, Jessica Alba, and that girl that keeps getting pregnant by Matthew Macconahay. You are making normal people like me want to jump off a building or more appropriately drown myself in the nearest pool. You make it seem like an attainable goal to be back in a string bikini at the very latest 3 months after you give birth. And it's not! It's not realistic for normal moms. How am I supposed to wear a string bikini when my stomach is now covered in stretch marks? And how are those little triangles supposed to hold my now DD sagging boobs up? HOW Kendra? HOW Kourtney? I saw both of you when you were pregnant and you were fatties, you made us feel normal, now you have to go and lose all your weight and put on a bikini and act like you never had a baby. Well shame on you celebrities. Shame on you.

Pooping

Pooping for me has now become a group event. Mom's of small children will totally understand this. For some reason when I have to go #2 everyone has to come with me. Today I had Carter (who I bring in there with me so Stella isn't left with him alone), Stella and the dog. As I was sitting there Stella started to rub my back coaching me along. I told her that was nice but that mommy didn't want to be touched while she was using the bathroom. When she heard that I had gone she she began to cheer saying "hurray mommy!" and then gave me a big hug and said "thank you mommy, thank you for going bad poopy." Sadly this is the most encouragement I have received in a long time and it was from an almost 3 year old for going to the bathroom. Maybe one day I will be able to go to the bathroom by myself...maybe.

Carter Daniel

Carter was born February 26th. He was 7lbs 5ozs and 21inches and handsome as can be. My labor story is one I might save for a future post if people actually want to hear it...maybe nobody cares which is fine too.



First off little boys are a whole new ball game...and when I say ball I actually mean balls, and not the kind you play sports with. Who knew that such a tiny baby could pee on you so many times. And why did everyone forget to tell me that his little package is just really a place to hide and store poop? That surely would have been a helpful tip.



We had a tough time figuring him out at first. We knew something was bothering him but didn't know what it was. After a lot of trial and error and now that he's on the most expensive formula known to man kind we have a happy boy. He is the sweetest thing, lots of smiles and laughing and talking. And I can also tell that he loves his mommy. He follows my voice and always smiles when I talk to him. He is the new man in my life and I am totally in love.

He already has a lot of nicknames, our family is really good at them. Everyone calls him "buddy" which is obviously the generic nickname for all boys, my mom calls him Mr. Squeaks sometimes because he is always making noise, even in his sleep. Dan calls him "Cartizner" or "Niezner." Stella used to call him "Mr. Grumps" when he wasn't happy but now that he is we don't really call him that anymore. She also calls him "baby buds or baby butter" which is my favorite, baby butter. Sometimes I just call him butter, kind of like brother but butter.

So welcome to the family Butter, get ready because we are a crazy one!

This is really happening

Carter's arrival is right around the corner...in 10 days to be exact, if he waits until his eviction otherwise it really could be any day. I can't believe how fast this time has gone, when I was pregnant with Stella it seemed to take forever but this has just flown by. I was thinking last night that this will be our last weekend, just the three of us, our little family of 3 will turn into a full on family of 4 so soon. I can't believe that so soon I will have a tiny newborn in my arms. Although Stella is still my baby she is so self sufficient. She can feed herself, wipe her own nose and tell me what she needs and if something is wrong. I can't believe we will be starting over in no time. I know it will be so different and that I will have the best little helper by my side. I tear up when I think about the day that Stella gets to meet her little brother, how happy she will be to finally get to see him and hold him. I feel blessed that we are able to give her a sibling. Here is my all my countdowns.

10 days until he gets his eviction notice
5 days of work left
1 more doctor appointment

This is the moment I realized I am ready for this baby to come out

** Warning, this story contains graphic contents that involve vomit**

I have been suffering from acid reflux since I was about 10 weeks pregnant, it wasn't so bad at first but has now gotten completely out of control. I was taking Pepcid and it would help but still did not make it go away. Finally I called my doctor and they informed me that I shouldn't be "dealing" with it because it is basically rotting away my esophagus and that they would prescribe me some stronger stuff. I got the prescription stuff and yesterday was the first day in 25 weeks that I did not have acid burning my throat. I went to bed a happy girl last night.

After I had been asleep for probably an hour something beyond me happened. Without my mind even registering what was happening my body threw itself out of bed, into the bathroom and I instantly started puking up acid. It all happened so fast I was taking off guard. One minute I'm dead asleep the next I am standing over the toilet puking up stomach acid. It burned so bad so I tried to take a drink of water which instantly came back up too. Dan was horrified and in shock, mostly because he hadn't seen my fat butt move that fast in 7 months at least. Needless to say it was at that point that I decided I am done and this baby can come out now.

Breakfast of champions

On Mondays and Tuesdays I work early so Dan has to get Stella up and ready for school. It is not that hard since I have her lunch packed and clothes layed out the night before all ready for him. I have often asked him if he feeds her breakfast before she goes and I have recieved all sorts of replies. The last time I asked he told me he didn't feed her because she slept in too late and he knew she would be having snack when she got there. I told him the animal crackers they give her for snack are not good enough and that he should really try to give her a nutragrain bar or something.

Yesterday I came home from work and noticed a bowl sitting in the family room, I glanced in it and saw that there were frosted animal crackers and the remains of a soft pretzel now turned rock hard. I figured Dan had given her a snack when she got home from school and didn't think much more of it. After Stella got up from her nap she began snacking on the cookies again, Dan noticed this asked me "are those from this morning?" "I have no idea" I replied, "what do you mean this morning? Is that her breakfast?" He then proceeded to tell me that she would not eat anything else but a soft pretzel and frosted animal cookies for breakfast and he wanted to make sure she ate something so that's what he gave her. Instead of getting upset I actually found it very sweet that he wanted to make sure she was fed and that she got to eat what she wanted.