You Know You're Lame When....

My sister Ashley and I took our girls to Target today. As we wandered through the electronics department we came across the magazines. As my near 5 year old perused the selection for which one of the many poster filled choices she wanted, my sister and I flipped through a copy of GQ because it had Robert Pattinson (aka Edward Cullen) on the cover.

This wasn't the lame part, that came when Paige finally picked a magazine and we actually tried to talk her into a different poster filled one because it had more posters of Robert Pattinson in it...

WTH!?

First off, I wouldn't let her put them up in her room, she only knows Twilight because of the cover of my copy of the movie. She's only allowed to have Disney Channel people on her wall and the poster has to be approved by me first.

Second, what the heck would I do with the posters after I didn't let her put them up?

Paige got the magazine she wanted of course, which incidentally had photos of Robert Pattinson in it anyway - and to settle me and my sister Ashley's obsession I picked up a copy of GQ and plan to pass it on to her when I'm through.

I swear I bought it for the articals.....honest.

Alex is 30!

I counted down, and reminded Alex daily about him impending age until he turned 30 on April 19th. I know he's looking forward to repaying the favor come October when my big Three-Oh rolls around.

Needless to say, regardless of all the teasing he had a great birthday and a totally fun party the Saturday afterward with friends and family!

Here's a few photos, including one of us together with me at 28 weeks, or "just starting my 7th month"

Most of the group that attended the dinner at The Machine Shed - the whole group woulnd't fit in the photo! :0)

Stupid Little Scale Say Whaaaaaaat?

Okay. before you get all "Shut Up You Skinny Bitch" on me, hear me out...

I AM a small person, I have a small framed family that in general has a hard time putting and keeping weight on. I know this. It is for that fact alone that when I do gain weight, even when I'm supposed to, it's a wee bit shocking to see the numbers on the scale creep up.

So when I was stomping on the scale in the beginning of my pregnancy, praying for one more pound to clear that 130lb mark because I feared I wasn't gaining fast enough, I should have known the day would come where I would wish that I could still gain and not have to look at the number...
I passed that 130 mark at 23 weeks by the way (a total of 5 pounds from my starting weight) and then I stopped getting on the scale so much. I shouldn't have done that, because in 2 weeks I gained 7 lbs, do the math - that's .5 lbs each day for 2 weeks! So seeing 137 was a wee bit shocking for me.

Now yes, I get - I'm pregnant, I'm not saying I'm fat I'm just saying....I won't be waiting 2 weeks to get on the scale again so that I don't see a jump like that again.

Baking With My Baby

In 16 days, Paige will be 5 years old. It's hard to believe it's gone by so fast! I remember the first time I tried to make cookies with her, it was a disaster and a mess - but never-the-less fun! Nothing like making cookies with her today, where she can basically do most the steps herself, with a little help in the measuring and oven department.

Here's some of her sugar cookie masterpieces from today. I must admit, the cookies were the pre-packed, just bake ones..it got us to the frosting part faster, which is of course everyones favorite time!

And for those of you who have ever eaten cookies here, or receive them from us for some reason - don't worry, when the cookies are not just for her we have a strict "no finger licking" rule :0) Just in case anyone thought I was simple a disgusting mother who didn't teach their child some manners! LOL.

Katia

I got to take some photos of my niece Katia yesterday during a visit. It was a blast to snap some shots off again. I used to be behind my SLR camera all the time, but in the last 8 months or so I've jumped over to my little Olympus point and shoot just to keep things simple and the amount of stuff I'm lugging around, light.

I'm a novice, yes at one point I worked for a studio and loved it. But there is a huge difference between having a cameras setting all ready to go for you, and having to do them yourself. I'm not wonderful at it, and taking my hand at the "natural light" lighting technique has proven to be a little tricky, but I keep trying. My eye for a good photo is better then my ability to properly capture it, in my opinion. But then again, it's hard to take a bad picture when your subjest is as cute as this little girl!

Here's a few shots I got of Katia.

The Name Game

Alex and I have been having the hardest time naming this baby! I think we've changed it now, 3 times total. And once again we've decided that the name we picked, that we were SO sure of, just may not be it. Naming Paige was never this difficult for me, her name was always just Paige, no second thoughts, nothing. This inability to connect enough with my baby to name her is really a new concept for me I'm not yet used to.

We started with Reagan Louisa, but in calling her that it never felt right. We both admitted it never was "quite right"

We then moved to Ayla Violet, and we were sure that was it - calling her that was easy and it felt right. Then I started to have second thoughts about it.

Now we're on to another name, hoping that by not telling anyone really that the name will stick. But more importantly we are waiting until she is born to see her and find out exactly what her name is. Maybe we'll get lucky and she'll come out with a name tag on!

Until then, we are calling her "Baby".

Decisions! Decisions! You Decide!

On the 27th Alex and I are having our photos taken by our favorite photographer Kari Layland. She's captured so many special moments in our life, it's only right she capture our pregnancy and of course the birth of our baby girl.

I hope to grace the birth announcements with some of these wonderful baby photos she will be taking, not only to show off our newest family addition, but to show off Kari's work because I'm a shameless promoter of my friends!

Anyway, a while back, if you recall, I posted some possible birth announcement choices, and now I have a few more to put up for a vote So let me know what you think! I'm going to take the highest voted from the last round, and this round and pick from those!

Option 1

This is a panel card, you're looking at the front (left) and back (right) of the card

Option 2
Would be made in the 5x7 size. Only one sided.

Option #3
One sided, in a 5x7 size


All cards are the property of the copyright holders.

You're A Bad Parent!

I'm the type of mom who doesn't find leaving my child alone, anywhere, is safe these days. If it was legal to low-jack my kids, I probably would. So when people leave their children unattended, especially very young kids, in even what seems the most secure of places it really gets on my nerves. I feel this unneeded desire to watch them even though I wasn't asked to.

This morning at school was one of those cases. Paige is in Pre-K, there are 2 Pre-K classes in the school and the parents must accompany the children to their class and wait with them in the hall until the teacher allows them in. This is because the kids are mostly 3, 4 and 5. This makes 100% total sense to me, and most of the other parents.

There's always one exception though isn't there?

There is an older gentlemen who appears to be the grandparent of 3 of the kids in the other Pre-K class. Everyday, he pulls up in his small, 4 door 1999 Chevy arriving usually just behind me. I have to back up and turn around to park on the one way road. Instead of waiting 3 seconds while I complete the maneuver he squeezes around me on the tiny road to steal the spot I was pulling into. When he's parked he doesn't wait for the kids, or help the out of the car. Lets the run out in the street to the front door. And I'd bet good money that there aren't any booster seats in the back of that car either...no way they would all fit in this tiny, safety outdated car.

Often I reach the school door before he does and the 3 plow over me, and Paige to get in the door. Not one of the kids says thank you, and often he shoves past me to get in before me as well, and of course there are no kind words from him either. I don't mind holding a door, but when the pregnant woman is standing in the cold every morning hold the doors for you and your kids, Thank You just once would be nice.

As if all this wasn't enough me for me to try to adopt the poor kids, today he left them at the school during the waiting period before class. He didn't tell anyone, ask anyone to watch them and as this hall way is set up the door to the outside is right there. There may be a dozen or more parents in that hall way, but all are concerned with their child and getting them in or out of snow clothes and sorting out library books. If someone was to run out - it would go unnoticed.

I thought I was just missing him, that he slipped around a corner or something, until 2 other moms starting talking in disgust about how he could do that! I don't even think he let the kids know he was leaving because the one girl seemed distraught and confused when she didn't see him and he certainly didn't ask one of the other parents to keep an eye on them because soon the whole hall was discussing the issue. He just walked out, not telling anyone or even the little ones he was in charge of.

I guess I put too much faith in the parents of the kids around me when Paige started school. I don't even want to think about what I'm going to encounter as she gets older. Stupidity is everywhere, I guess I better get used to it.

26 Week Photos & Belly Progression

Here I am at 26 weeks, Alex says my stomach appears much bigger then 2 weeks ago when he took the last photo, I put up a progression sequence as well so you can judge for yourself...

And yes, for those paying extra special attention - that is a Forks High School t-shirt I'm making work extra hard by stretching over my expanding belly :0) Check out the back *wink wink*

Back of T-Shirt

Belly Progression for the past 26 weeks

4 weeks, 8 weeks, 10 weeks

14 weeks, 18 weeks, 20 weeks23 weeks, 24 weeks, 26 weeks

And I Thought I Was Obsessed...

Okay - anyone who knows me, knows I have a thing for Converse shoes, I mean I did wear them under my wedding dress after all! It stems back to junior high and just carried through life. And it stands to reason that anyone who has paid even the slightest bit of attention to me the last few weeks knows I'm a little obsessed with the Twilight Saga.

If you were to combine the two loves of mine, you would have these:

They are hand painted and from the Phillipeans. You can buy them here at Etsy, though you have to be a really die hard fan to pay the $71.00 alone in shipping!

If you think that they are off their rocker for charging that much, note that they are in fact sold out at the moment!!! And then, take a look at this:

Now before you start going all nuts for the doll thinking that it's a great way to keep Edward with you where ever you go, just know that it is still on pre-order and they are selling for $139.00! For that price you would think the thing would be life sized and actually sparkle, and it of course does not. No, the doll is only 7 inches tall and while I'm sure that you can find it online cheaper, I have found that people are really paying this price for it.

Next time I think that I'm obsessed, next time I think I'm talking about my fictional characters too much and that I'm going overboard pre-ordering the movie...I'll just take a minute to search the internet and find things like this - it will make me feel better about things! :0)

Could It Get Cuter?

Today Paige was asked out on her first date.

No, you didn't slip into a weird coma where 10 years suddenly passed, she really is still just barely 5. The whole situation was so cute!

There's a little boy in her preschool class named Michael who is just "in love" with her. His mom and I talk about it all the time and how adorable the little crush is.

Today Paige was upset with me because I wouldn't take her to see the 8 grade production of The Music Man. I could tell her fever was coming back and she clearly had not yet recovered totally from her tummy flu she had earlier this week. Michael had come up to us and stood quietly as Paige talked to me, she knew he was there and almost refused to turn around, suddenly shy. She just looked at me. I greeted Michael and he asked Paige if she was going to the play that evening. Still mad at me she refused to answer him, so I did. I politely let him know we wouldn't be able to go. He stood there a moment, then very sweetly looked at me and said,

"I could take her to the play tonight."

His mom and I arranged a pick up, she offered to bring Paige with, she too thought the request of her son was too cute. I agreed that if she wanted to go, and if her fever was high when we got home it was fine with me. Unfortunately her fever was a little too high, and due to that she had an over emotional break down when I asked her if she wanted to go with, and cried. Which normally she wouldn't do with the option to go out with a friend from school - even on who's "in love" with her.

I really did think that it would be a few more years before she was "asked out", but this was the cutest thing I have ever seen! Paige will be hearing this story for years and years to come , that's for sure!

The Preschool Bully

I knew that at some point in time, Paige would face a bully in school. I guess I always assumed it would be another girl, not a boy and certainly not one half a foot shorter then her.

I've mentioned this boy before in my blogs as one of the kids lacking serious manners and social skills in her class, and lucky for us he's diverted his crazy attitude towards Paige. Instead of now just being randomly annoying to many of the kids in class, he focuses on my daughter and waits until the teacher is out of the room at the end of the day when she steps out to give us an update of the days events. Everyday, when the teacher is done it takes Paige 15 minutes to simply walk out of the room. In frustration I usually go in looking to find her, finding that she's getting smacked in the back side with the kids winter boot, backed into a corner looking terrified at how overly hyper he is, or standing helpless while he steals her coat and whips her with it.

It takes me to shoo the kid off of her, then she feels like she's done something wrong for the rest of the day because she got him in trouble, and he goes right back to this behavior.

I'd love for the teacher to do something, but suddenly when the topic comes up all she says is that they are flirting and playing. So finally I went off a little on her, explaining that "playing" requires more the one participant, not a child picking on another. Not to mention when this kid walks into school Paige curls up under my arm and stays away from him. Her only option was to take out the days activities run down for the parents, which now makes me look like the bad guy, and lets the little brat continue on with his terrible behavior all through his school career.

Her fathers and I, are at the point where we are not opposed to her knocking him over, even though I'm not a fan of violence. But for a kid that doesn't have an concept of personal space, manners or obviously doesn't have parents that pay much attention to him (the teacher has mentioned the behavior to them previously) then what other option of defending her self does she has? The school's obviously not interested in protecting her... Instead I told her that when he gets too close or does something that he doesn't like, to get real close to his face and scream NO or GO AWAY! as loud as she possibly could, and then go right over to the teacher and explain what he did. Though knowing this little brat - he'll think it's a game and yell back and no doubt my daughter will be the one in trouble....

Schools wonder why kids act why they do, and why kids who get bullied don't come forward..because teachers don't care to take care of their students and parents don't spend enough time teaching their kids right from wrong. The kicker of all this is IT CATHOLIC SCHOOL - wouldn't you think that they would pay a little bit more attention to the kids? I guess now-a-days the only difference between a private school and public, is that we'll be paying for my daughter to be bullied and ignored...

The Doctor Said It Was Ok

As mentioned in a previous post, I had my 25 week pregnancy check up yesterday. I brought Paige with and Alex met us there on his way home from work. It worked out great because I was about ready to fall asleep as it was and at least now he could keep an eye on her and play "Dress Chica the Chicken" on my iPhone with her - I was growing irritated with it.

The nurse forgot to weigh me, and I thought it was a blessing in disguise but realized her mistake and took me back to the scale. Low and behold I had actually gained 2 lbs since the last appointment! It's a miracle! I guess all the boxes of Shells & Cheese and Big Macs are finally paying off. Though I must not be gaining fast enough because my doctor slid over on her chair to Paige, who was quite happy with her Chicken Game, and asked her if she could make sure her and I eat ice cream every single day together.

Paige looked up and said very calmly "I don't think that I can do that"

The Doctor was a little shocked, what 4 year old doesn't want ice cream every day? LOL, she asked her why and Paige retorted "Because I might get sick"

We all cracked up, and the doctor said "Okay then well make sure mommy has some every day and maybe you can share her's then you won't get sick, ok?" and Paige just looked at her and smiled and said "Ok" almost as if to be humoring her.

Aside from all the humor in the appointment, things are looking good with the baby. I'm still a little small to be measuring my tummy (fundal size) but they did for the sake of the medical student that was with my doc. "And this is what a below average 6 month pregnant womans stomach looks like" I could hear her thinking it....lol.

Ayla had the hiccups and her heart rate was 139. Good and strong and they found it right away. She's been moving up a storm in there, and I have a strong feeling that she's going to be a mover when she's born too. God help us! :0) Our next appointment is in 4 weeks, and we'll have that ultra sound to check out the placenta privia and find out of I need a c-section or not. Let's hope not!!

Paper or Plastic?

Why do I always get stuck in the one check out lane with either the "new guy" working the scanner, or "Mrs. Older Than Dirt", heck I even seem to be a magnate for "Pissy Teenager with First Job"! It never fails.

Sunday night at Target I was waiting in line, with one person in front of me who had maybe 20 items total. The check out woman was about 9 million years old and had some form of OCD that required her to pack and re-pack several of the items.

This annoying little quirk wasn't even the worst of it. After 10 minutes, the clerk reached the groceries portion of this womans purchase and she proceeded to open the plastic bag of apples, remove each one, and cross reference the stickers on them - to make sure they were all the same brand! There were 8 apples, 2 apparently were Large Galas, not Pink Lady's and the clerk breathed a sigh of relief of finding this. The woman being checked out was not only offended but irritated at the delay - as were the rest of us! She clerk treated her like she was trying to smuggle something out of the store!

After the "Apple Smuggler" had paid and gone, it was mine and Alex's turn. I excused myself to get more water in my glass from the cafe and when I came back Alex was trying his damnedest not to laugh out loud. It wasn't until we were in the car he explained that while the items piled up after she scanned them, he reached for the gallon of milk to put it in the cart and the woman stopped him, she claimed she had the arrangement of the items all planned out in her head and would have it all done "as conveniently" as possible for us, and that she had it all under control. What a nut case.

I have added a new face to the "avoid at all cost" list while checking out at Target from now on!

25 Weeks Pregnant!

Time sure seems to be passing by quickly! I'm 25 weeks pregnant today! That makes me halfway into my 6th month. According to my ever handy "What To Expect When Your Expecting" book, this week the baby is 9 inches from bottom to head, and weighs about 1.5 lbs.

I can no longer see my feet, and my belly button is near popping out but it hasn't gotten there yet. I'm only having mild swelling of my feet - but I've completely cut (added) salt out of my diet all together to help avoid the mega-bloat I get in the 7th month and carry on through the remainder of my pregnant days. Ok, and because it's healthier too.....

I have my next appointment this afternoon and I expect that everything will be fine with Ayla, even though I am not looking forward to explaining to my OB exactly why I think I boiled my baby. Ha!

I've been doing a lot of clearance rack shopping lately! I have been beyond amazed at the little amounts of money I have spent for the amount of clothes...$10 here and $20 there...the closet is nicely filling out. I'm careful to buy mostly 9 months and up, and not anything new born to 3 months as my sister has generously borrowed me a lot of her little girls clothing from that age. Here's a peeks of the closet, the sizes range from new born to 2 years, so don't think I've bought it all expecting her to wear it in the first few months!

A New Look. A Few Updates.

Well, as you can see the blog has a new look! What do you think?

On top of our new look, I have decided to cease the Perfectly Paige blog I had running. As it turns out, keeping up with both is a little tough and I talk about Paige all the time here. It seems redundant to have the same posts on the other blog as well.

Thanks for continuing to come back and, Enjoy!!!

Did I Over Bake The Baby?

Last night about 11 I went upstairs to watch some TV, and wound up putzing around with my iPhone for a while instead. I was thrilled when I stumbled into You Tube and found a relatively clear section of the movie Twilight was there....so I watched it. Having read the book, the bits before hand that I missed were no big deal..the sections were in 10 minute incriminates.

I watched 2 sections on my phone before I realized my lap top was next to the bed, and quickly booted it up to find the next section.

I watched the whole movie like this, on a tiny screen, in 10 minute sections and until the last 20 minutes I had been comfortably laying on my side while the computer was sitting on the bed next to me. When this became painful, I rolled to my back and sat the computer on top of my belly to finish off the movie.

When it was all done, I reached for the computer and noticed how warm I was, the heat from it was radiating through me - I was boiling! And then it hit me - OH CRAP! the computer was sitting on my stomach! And the baby! There was a blanket and a thin sheet between the tow (with out which I would have sustained 3rd degree burns I'm sure) Shoving the computer off my stomach I reached down and it was as if I had been standing on a volcano for 20 minutes. I flopped to my left side and the baby went nuts kicking and punching, obviously not a huge fan of the terrible heat either.

I panicked...did I boil her? I mean we're not even supposed to take extra warm baths or use heating pads while pregnant, never mind putting a direct heat source on them for 20 minutes! The baby was moving, so that was a good sign. I stayed up for another 20 minutes double checking, and finally going to sleep at about 3 am...still worried.

Now I'm paranoid my child is going to born with some weird disorder....or possibly shift into a werewolf in her later years (Twilight humor...read the book and you'll get it) How terrible is the fact I'm going to have to explain to my doctor that I may have damaged my child to watch a crappy version of a teenagers movie on You Tube.

Jeeze.