Um guys. . . . .we have a situation

Yesterday, while moving along in my morning routine I noticed when I was looking in the mirror. Something that made my heart sink and my eyes borderline on the verge of getting wet. I found a gray hair. A GRAY hair! How is this even a possibility? Isn't there some kind of spoken rule, NO gray hairs before 30 or something. Hello! I still have a good 2 years before that, why are we jumping the gun here?! So I grabbed the tweezers and plucked that sucker out of there, out of sight, out of mind. Except, I can't stop thinking about it. I'm constantly checking my scalp now, joy.

You could say I've gone into a unique combination of panic and pure denial. On my way home from work, I found myself pulling into the Walmart parking lot ( I NEVER go to Walmart) and walking towards the hair care aisle. I grabbed a highlighting kit and was on my way. Now, I stopped coloring my hair when we started trying for Alex.  I've been EXTREMELY proud of the fact that I could actually tell you all what my real hair color is but apparently that color being gray just wasn't acceptable so last night I put on the funny cap and gloves and I added a little touch of blonde to my natural brown hair. I am happy with how it turned out, pretty subtle which is what I was going for but refused to pay what the salons wanted to charge. So now I am a 1/2 natural brunette, 1/2 bottle blonde one hot mama.

Here's to getting old!

Wordless Wednesday : Tulip

I shall name you. . . . ????

Baby names are a pain. Some of us are lucky and have had a name picked out for our child since we were 6, others of us have no clue and we get lost in baby books and websites. Choosing a name has a lot of pressure riding on it, at least that's the way it felt to my husband and I. The name you choose is who he will be known as for his entire life. The name WE choose would be what he would be defined by. It may determine who he is, what he is and even possibly the way his personality is. The name WE choose could lead to a lifetime of resentment towards us from him. No pressure there. ( I tend to get a little over dramatic, sorry about that)

We knew pretty early on that we were having a boy. We had absolutely no idea what we would name a boy. My family has girls, lots and lots of girls with an occasional boy thrown in, but not many. I had always expected that I would have a girl and my husband just went along with me. We had a slew of girls names picked out and a few we actually had fallen in love with. But in the middle of an early ultrasound (17weeks) we were told it's a boy, and very clearly, it was in fact a boy. So we started thinking about what to name a boy. We knew it wasn't going to be easy, that there would be a lot of disagreement. One thing we were sure of though, was that NOBODY was going to know his name, besides Kris, myself and God, until he was born. I didn't want anybody's opinion of the name we had chosen and didn't think anybody reserved the right to try to persuade us to change our minds. This was our decision to make, not theirs.

So, we sat down with the computer and baby name books and got to looking. We were overwhelmed by the names that were flashing in front of us, along with the meanings behind them and knew we needed some sort of system to help narrow things down. We created a few rules to follow when it came to picking a name for our son:

1) NO "top 10" name. I had one of those growing up and it wasn't until college that I was referred to as just "Ashley" and not "Ashley P." It was frustrating to always need to be identified by my last initial or to be walking in the hall and hear my name but when I turned around about every 4th girl had turned around too.



2) Needs to be a STRONG name. One that my son can grow up and be viewed as a man and not a boy.

3) It had to be spelled the way it was meant to be spelled. While I do love the creativity behind different spellings and understand how it gives a child a traditional name with the uniqueness of a special spelling, I didn't want him to have to always spell his name after stating it. He already was going to have a long somewhat tricky last name as it was so I didn't want to really mix it up with the first name too.

4) My husband and I BOTH had to agree on it. No settling. This is the one that made picking a name the most difficult. I liked a name and of course he didn't or the other way around. The name always reminded him of someone from work, or school, or just made them think of someone they just weren't a fan of.

Pretty simple rules (guidelines) you would think to follow, but naming a child in the year 2011 proved to be anything but simple. I think it was the year of the trend (in my opinion) and don't get me wrong, I really wanted to fall into it. So many names on the "trend" list I fell in love with and then remembered out rules and had to move on. The first rule, the one about not falling in the "top ten" was really important to me and one I didn't want to budge on. Here a few examples of the names that were on my list.

Loved the name Jacob Kristopher. Really loved the nickname Jake, but it was definitely a popular one and I knew there was a small chance that he would be the only Jake in his class so we moved on. Rule #1

I've like the name Luke for as long as I could remember. But a very close and dear friend has expressed their liking of the name "Lucas" so once again, we moved on.  I couldn't "steal" the name from them.

Not sure where or when I heard this one. I've just always liked it, but Kris wanted nothing to do with it. He said it would be good for child, but didn't sound right for an adult. Rule #2

This was another one of mine, came across it in the Baby Name Book and something about it just made me swoon a little. I really liked it and one point even played the "he's coming out of me so I get to choose" card, but then remembered our rules and #4 kicked this one off the list, tear :*(

This one was borderline "top 10." I liked it a lot, but like many of the names, it made Kris think of someone he knew that he didn't really like all them much, so it got pitched, unfortunately. Rule #4

I absolutely loved this name. I envisioned a little "Coop" running around with his red baseball cap on. But Kris couldn't handle this one, at all. He kept telling me it reminded him of a Golden Retriever. So Rule #4 prevailed, again.

After months of browsing, throwing fits, and considering flipping coins we finally decided that our son was going to be called Alexander James. How AWESOME does that sound????? It fell into all of our rules. It was a traditional name, spelled the traditional way. It wasn't trendy but not unheard of either. It is a strong name, meaning "defender of mankind." One he can grow up with confidence. He will be taken seriously as an adult with that name. AND, Kris and I both loved the way it sounded the first time it was said out loud.

We chose a name that worked with us, one that we can feel proud of. And hopefully one Alex will be proud of. Names are difficult, there is no doubt about that and there is no lack of criticism from family, friends, and complete strangers when they hear what you will be calling the little one. Somebody is always going to have something to say about it, and chances are they are going to do their darndest to point out all the reasons why that is not the right name as if they seriously have a say in it. My advice to you? Choose the name that you want. The name that was meant to be your child. I shared with you how we named Alex by making a list of things we didn't want in a name, rules as we called them, and then went from there.

What "rules" do you have?

Feeling Fatty Friday - Swimsuit Addition

http://kateharding.net/2009/03/22/bathing-suit-season/

READ THIS :)

Ok so I realize the above is an older article but the facts are still the same, after crossing over into what is considered "plus-size" (gag me) after giving birth to my son, I am having a hard hard time finding a swimsuit that doesn't

A. make me look like a slutty slob

B. make me look like I've had a botch augmentation job done.

Since Alex was born, my confidence has gone right out the window! Nothing fits and shopping usually leaves me in tears because the woman that's in the dressing room mirror can't possibly be me. So take that and then switch out the clothes shopping with swimsuit shopping. I seriously would rather hang myself (not really, it's just a figure of speech, no need to call the authorities) I dreaded this pre-baby so tack on 20 extra pounds and imagine how I feel about it now. I've always been well endowed let's say gifted, in the boobage area, a curse trait that comes from my father's side of the family. I feel like I've spent my whole life since JR High searching for clothing and bra's that make me look smaller up top but no such luck as of yet unfortunately. Swimsuits aren't any different.

I look forward to the beach every year, after all, I've gone just about every year since the summer before I was born and last year I felt I had a good excuse for me size, my son was only 10 weeks old so technically I can still pull the "I'm swollen" excuse off. No excuses this year, I'm fat curvy and that's the bottom line. So last week I hit the internet looking for figure flattering "busty" lady swimsuits. I couldn't find anything under $70 per piece and I think manufacturers misunderstand the meaning of the word flattering. I don't want to look bigger, I've got that covered, I want to minimize the hell out of these puppies. Eventually I found a suit that fits well in most of the right places, it doesn't cling crazy tight around my midsection to show off the used to be considered cute "baby bump" that won't go away and it's long enough to cover my new not so loved-handles (I have a skirted bottom I like to where to hide the thunder thighs.) So for the most part, it's perfect. Except, you guessed it, the bustline.  I actually need to make it a tad smaller, aka, more supportive. The design of it is quite flattering, doesn't give me slutty massive cleavage and it doesn't make me look like my boobs are already at 28 halfway to me knees (bit of an exaggeration here) But it could be tighter in the booby cage area. When I stand in front of the mirror and pinch the sides a little up top, it looks so much better (and slimming) so it appears that altering the top should be easy but  as much sewing as I do, I have no clue how to do this.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="265" caption="This is the top I loved, looks great with black bottoms. This is also the one I want to alter, suggestions?"][/caption]

Do I just fold in and stitch the seam like I would on a normal shirt? Has anyone ever made alterations to a swimsuit before? Could really use some words of wisdom here!

HELP ME PLEASE, Comments are STRONGLY encouraged! I need my confidence back, like yesterday!

How do you cope with the changes to your body post baby?

PS If you are one of those hot mommas that drop back down to pre-baby size mere weeks after birth, I temporarily hate you. Don't worry I will love you again tomorrow, but right now, I hate you ;)

Wordless Wednesday : "Puppy Love"

Put the Baby in the Basket

[caption id="attachment_1039" align="aligncenter" width="257" caption="Alex wearing his green for St Patty's and his Easter Pics (and eating fake eggs)"][/caption]

This past weekend was a gorgeous weekend and made me so anxious for this warmer weather to stay. On Saturday Alex and I  met up with my sister and my nephew for a mini Easter photo shoot at a local park. Alex wasn't really all that interested in getting his picture taken. He was more interested in exploring the great outdoors, and all those Easter eggs that were hanging from the tree. But in the end, he wasn't fussy, just not in the mood to smile but I am sure the photographer got some good shots. I have to give props to the ready-to-pop photographer for doing a full day in the warm sun of mini photo shoots, you are a strong (brave) woman! By the time it was time for Logan and Alex to get their pictures together, Alex was just flat out over it and Logan was approaching the first of his witching hours so it was just a better for everyone if we just called it quits. With hopes of being able to meet up the next day to try again, we packed up the kiddos and headed out for lunch with my mom :) Alex ate a grilled cheese kids meal and helped my sister with her cookies and cream milk shake, he's such a little piggie!

The next day didn't work out that well, rain had come in overnight and continued in the morning so the photo shoot was cancelled. My poor sister has had her heart set on getting pictures of the boys together so we made the decision to try to do them on our own with our lack of photo taking experience. I scavenged through the house trying to come up with props, the best I could do were a series of baskets and Alex's jungle, aka, stuffed animals. My sister scrounged up some items from home too and we met (along with my reluctant hubs) at another one of our city's fantastic parks. Of course my son decided I needed a little help with my appearance and whacked me in the face with his plastic golf club giving me a gorgeous fat lip right before we left for our little photo shoot. Apparently he felt mommy needed a little spunk in her look.

It was still raining but fortunately it was early enough that one of the great shelter houses were open and unused so we set up there. Much to our surprise, the boys were pretty cooperative. We set up some baskets, blankets, my sister brought some subway art from Logan's nursery and we started snapping away. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my new camera? We started with Logan in a basket, he's about 2 1/2 months old so we knew he wasn't going anywhere and attempted to sit Alex next to the basket but like most almost 1 years olds, sitting still wasn't a viable option for him. So here comes the purpose for this post's title, I put the baby in the basket. We thought that the only way of even possibly getting Alex and Logan in a shot together was if we confined Alex, so we put him in the basket. It worked! I think he actually enjoyed it, could be because my husband tied a belt to a laundry basket at home, put Alex in it and then dragged him all over the house, he probably thought we were playing.

[caption id="attachment_1043" align="aligncenter" width="512" caption="Seriously! How cute is this kid of mine?!"][/caption]

We tried a few different things but the basket shots really were the best. Alex did a little exploring so I snapped a few of him walking around (photo-shopping the devil signs out of some of the backgrounds, people are so disrespectful!) We gave him his golf club and he waved it to tim-buk-too and back again making his golfer daddy proud. Overall, we got some pretty good shots. Finally! My parents have some pictures to show off of their grandson's and we have some new frames to shop for. I know you are just dying to see some of the results so I suppose I will give into the pressure, here ya go :)

0933fcb4707811e19e4a12313813ffc0_7

Alex wearing green for St Pattys and his Easter Pics

Mini Photo Shot x2

This past weekend was a gorgeous weekend and made me so anxious for this warmer weather to stay. On Saturday Alex and I  met up with my sister and my nephew for a mini Easter photo shoot at a local park. Alex wasn't really all that interested in getting his picture taken. He was more interested in exploring the great outdoors, and all those Easter eggs that were hanging from the tree. But in the end, he wasn't fussy, just not in the mood to smile but I am sure the photographer got some good shots. I have to give props to the ready-to-pop photographer for doing a full day in the warm sun of mini photo shoots, you are a strong (brave) woman! By the time it was time for Logan and Alex to get their pictures together, Alex was just flat out over it and Logan was approaching the first of his witching hours so it was just a better for everyone if we just called it quits. With hopes of being able to meet up the next day to try again, we packed up the kiddos and headed out for lunch with my mom :) Alex ate a grilled cheese kids meal and helped my sister with her cookies and cream milk shake, he's such a little piggie!

Mini Photo Shot x2

This past weekend was a gorgeous weekend and made me so anxious for this warmer weather to stay. On Saturday Alex and I  met up with my sister and my nephew for a mini Easter photo shoot at a local park. Alex wasn't really all that interested in getting his picture taken. He was more interested in exploring the great outdoors, and all those Easter eggs that were hanging from the tree. But in the end, he wasn't fussy, just not in the mood to smile but I am sure the photographer got some good shots. I have to give props to the ready-to-pop photographer for doing a full day in the warm sun of mini photo shoots, you are a strong (brave) woman! By the time it was time for Logan and Alex to get their pictures together, Alex was just flat out over it and Logan was approaching the first of his witching hours so it was just a better for everyone if we just called it quits. With hopes of being able to meet up the next day to try again, we packed up the kiddos and headed out for lunch with my mom :) Alex ate a grilled cheese kids meal and helped my sister with her cookies and cream milk shake, he's such a little piggie!

Mini Photo Shot x2

This past weekend was a gorgeous weekend and made me so anxious for this warmer weather to stay. On Saturday Alex and I  met up with my sister and my nephew for a mini Easter photo shoot at a local park. Alex wasn't really all that interested in getting his picture taken. He was more interested in exploring the great outdoors, and all those Easter eggs that were hanging from the tree. But in the end, he wasn't fussy, just not in the mood to smile but I am sure the photographer got some good shots. I have to give props to the ready-to-pop photographer for doing a

Mini Photo Shot x2

This past weekend was a gorgeous weekend and made me so anxious for this warmer weather to stay. On Saturday Alex and I  met up with my sister and my nephew for a mini Easter photo shoot at a local park. Alex wasn't really all that interested in getting his picture taken. He was more interested in exploring the great outdoors, and all those easter eggs that were hanging 

Mini Photo Shot x2

This past weekend was a gorgeous weekend and made me so anxious for this warmer weather to stay. On Saturday we met up with my sister and my nephew

The Bink

Pacifier, foofee, binky, bink, paci, Fred, whatever you call it, I don't like it. I've heard horror stories about the trials and tribulations parents go through trying to de-bink their toddler and it just isn't something I am interested in dealing with, is that selfish?

This is the story of how I became defeated by a little piece of plastic and rubber.

I've never been a fan of "binks" as we call them and from the start I didn't want Alex to have one. But that first night at the hospital, he hadn't eaten anything, breastfeeding wasn't working, and he was not a happy little baby. The lactation consultant gave him a bink hoping it would help him learn how to suck. I wasn't thrilled with it but I understood the purpose of it. While breastfeeding didn't happen as I've discussed in a previous post, I continued to try the bink with him to no avail. I have to admit I was really excited when Alex refused the bink after we left the hospital. I was pretty excited, he was able to self soothe himself and I wasn't going to have to break him of it later.

Well that all went straight out the window the moment he started teething. In a weak moment after hours and hours of crying, I pulled out that green hospital bink and plugged up that hole. Of course, that particular one was a little small for a 7 month old so we had to go out and get some new ones. So there it was, it happened. I lost the battle. I just couldn't help it, it worked. It calmed him down and seemed to make him feel much much better. He never really sucked on it , still doesn't, he chews on it like you would think he would do with a teething ring or teething toy. So now I am faced with the task of trying to figure out how to make this thing go away. The real problem is, he's not the one that's attached to it. I AM! Ugh! How did that happen? Is it bad parenting, lack of will power, laziness? I honestly think he'd get over it without a problem if it just wasn't there anymore but it's my husband and I who are looking for it when he gets fussy and starts throwing mini-fits. A common phrase in the evenings has become "plug it up." I try to tell myself it's not a big deal, I'll just let him have it when he sleeps. Doesn't always work that way unfortunately. Oh well.



Oh and something else I really really really really really really (you get it?) dislike about the pacifier....... it is a picture ruiner! It takes the adorableness potential out of a lot of shots. Darn you bink! Go away, you are not welcome in my memories!

WW: Here Kitty Kitty

"You get in my face, I get in yours!" ~ Jordyn Lou

A Day at the Park

With the Spring weather preview we've been having, we decided to take advantage and get Alex outside. After all, he has spent the majority of his life inside so we wanted him to get out and live a little! At just 3 weeks shy of his 1st Birthday, we were really hoping he was ready for the park, mommy and daddy assisted of course. While he wasn't as excited about the slide and the swings as we had hoped he would be, we still had a great time and Kris and I started getting excited about all the new things he was going to be exposed to in the coming months. As nice as it was yesterday (Sunday) here in Ohio, it seems that everybody else had the same idea, which isn't really all that surprising. The park that we chose was packed! Alex was more interetsed in watching the other kids (when he wasn't eating mulch) than playing with mommy and daddy.

[caption id="attachment_984" align="aligncenter" width="512" caption=""Oooh, what's this stuff? Does it taste yummy?""][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_985" align="aligncenter" width="512" caption="I spent a lot of time prying mulch out of his cute little fingers."][/caption]

The park we chose to go to, Rising Park, has a fantastic playground with different play-sets designated for specific age groups, IE 2-4 year olds, 5-8 years olds and so on and so on. They also have a variety of different swings on their sets to accommodate infants to adults, handicapped accessible swings included. It really is an amazing park. We put Alex in a baby swing and started moving him back and forth while he showed very little expression from lack of interest I still think he had a good time. We started pushing him from the back to get him swaying back and forth but it was when Kris moved around to the front and started pushing him back and forth he seemed to get a tad more excited.

[caption id="attachment_986" align="aligncenter" width="512" caption="Swing Swinging"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_988" align="aligncenter" width="512" caption="Silly daddy"][/caption]

We played around for a little longer, letting Alex explore and making sure mulch was staying clear of the kid's mouth. We found it helpful to keep his mouth plugged up with his bink (I am NOT fond of his having a binky, may be a whole other blog post.) We took him over to the teeter totter and played for a little bit, he kept giving me this look like he was telepathically trying to tell me "he was over it" but we just kept teetering before moving on. The slide wasn't much of hit, at least not yet but the time will come. I hope, I loved the slide when I was kid.

[caption id="attachment_989" align="aligncenter" width="512" caption="Teeter Totter"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_990" align="aligncenter" width="512" caption="Sliding with Daddy"][/caption]

The park was so busy, it was hard to really get around and do much with Alex so we thought it was a good time to pack up and move on. It was getting really close to dinner time and (if it isn't obvious) Alex doesn't miss too many meals so we knew we needed to head home soon, but we made 1 more stop before doing so. Behind the school for individuals with physical and mental disabilities, there is a sensory park. It runs right along the city bike path and this one was the biggest hit for Alex. It has large, let's call them instruments, set up all along the path that make all sorts of different sounds when you play with them. Alex, being the little music lover he is really enjoyed this part of the day. He followed Kris around trying to mimic him and just absolutely loving the sounds he was making. This was a better place for him to explore too, no mulch! Although he did wonder off the path and found some lovely dirt and grass to snack on (he's ALL boy!)

Before heading home we stopped by the tree house being built just a little ways up the bike path. Alex was really into walking everywhere and not being carried the whole time. He actually made it all the way up a fairly steep hill holding Kris's hand. With one quick stop along the way to make a new friend, he wondered around the tree house for a little bit watching the water flow in the creek below and then it was time to head home for some dinner. Our city is wonderful when it comes to parks and rec, there are parks every where and so many options for little family adventures. We really had a great time showing Alex all these new things. It was fun to watch the inquisitive looks he was making as he was trying to figure out how things worked and what they were. I'm really excited for the warmer weather too, we are going to be able to get out a lot more and show Alex how much there is out there to do, Kris and I feel pretty strongly about Alex being a go-outside-and-play kind of kid so our hope is that we help contribute to that by taking him out and showing what the great outdoors have to offer :)

 Here are some random pictures from our day out, enjoy them, we do!

[caption id="attachment_1009" align="aligncenter" width="512" caption="Walking hand in hand up the hill"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1010" align="aligncenter" width="512" caption="Alex's new friend"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1011" align="aligncenter" width="512" caption="Watching the water in the creek below"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1012" align="aligncenter" width="512" caption="Another little boy caught his eye"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1013" align="aligncenter" width="512" caption="Giggling, all the way back to the car"][/caption]