Wordless Wednesday- Happy Girl

It's Been A Year

I cannot believe it's been a year since this (the reason for this blog) happened.

That's right! It has been exactly one year since we found out we'd been successful and were in fact expanding our family! (I still mark the day that we found out about Baby Maggie, August 15, 2005, but I didn't post about it.)

I suspected that I might be pregnant, but it was my sweet mommy-friend A that convinced me I had to go home, take a test and call her immediately with the results. I did just that and then I called Big Daddy, but didn't tell him, then I took Muff's picture, called the Ob's office and then I e-mailed my special friend Michele. Yes, I told two of my girlfriends before I told Big Daddy. I was over the moon! A called several times that evening to see what Big Daddy thought about the happy news. The following week A and I told our other special mommy-friend K after Kindermusik and we celebrated by going to Gymnastics with our kiddos and then out to lunch. Now, in just a few weeks, A will be welcoming a sweet, little girl of her own. So much can happen in a year!

I didn't know I would be blogging the whole pregnancy (with baby belly pictures), delivery and our life after the big event. It wasn't until I was almost twelve weeks preggers that I told my family, my aunt and the blog was born. I look back on all of the silly posts and pictures and I'm so glad that I have them. I cannot believe how my belly transformed, how much can happen in a year and my goodness, how much The Muffin has grown.

I had aches, pains, complaints and lots of dramatic life-changing things that happened during the pregnancy. The things that I loved the most about being pregnant (besides just being pregnant) with Baby Ellie would have to be The Muffin's excitement and sweet gestures, making my mom and sister SO happy and having my mommy-friends A & K to have lunch with on Mondays. I don't know how I would have made it without my mommy-friends and their encouragement and sometimes sympathy.

Well...Happy Anniversary Baby Ellie. We love you bunches and bunches.

Busy Day

Baby Ellie & I took care of lots of errands while The Muffin was at school having her picture taken with a pony while she wore a cowboy hat, vest and pink bandanna. That's right! Pictures were cancelled last Wednesday when we were at home sick because the ponies couldn't come inside. I'm a bad mommy and totally missed the part about the pictures being taken on a pony! Needless to say, The Muffin was dressed totally wrong for pony pictures, but they came out great! You'll have to take my word on that because I have temporarily lost my scanning capabilities. (again, due to the move)

I have a few pictures from other parts of our day that show our fun and exciting life!

The Muff's Alarm Clock The Muffin's first request was to have Baby Ellie get in bed with her.

Then, she remembered us buying new shoes last weekend. They were supposed to be for Christmas, but Big Daddy and I are suckers and gave them to her this morning!

She loves her S.kechers Twin.kle Toes!

Baby Ellie decided to help with laundry while her sister was at preschool. Here she is keeping the laundry in place while I try to think of better things to do.

We went to lunch at the mall (our favorite chicken sandwich and Sweet Tea place) and then played on the mall playground and then slathered ourselves in hand sanitizer. The Muffin even agreed to pose for pictures!! I felt a little like an unwilling participant in some crazy reality show about motherhood trying to juggle everything alone, but we had a good time.

Baby Ellie was happy in the sling watching her sister play. I am SO thankful for my slings!!

Weekend Update

It's a wet, cool Saturday in central NC and I haven't left the house all day. (I was tempted with a trip to a gun shop (not to be confused with The gun shop that was near our old house...you know the one where they knew if I'd gained/lost weight, had a haircut or a baby?), but I resisted the temptation and decided to stay at home.

Big Daddy had big plans for today. He had planned to re-sew the grass in our yard, but the weather had other idaes. My mom and dad came over this morning to help with another project. My mom played with The Muffin while my dad and Big Daddy put down some fancy metal edging along the sidewalk. ( I say "fancy" only because I'd never seen any quite like this before) Anyway, that's one more thing off our list, but there's still so many things that we have left to do.

Big Daddy is going to try out another church tomorrow. He'll be going solo because The Muffin still has a little cough (and I don't want to worry her by taking her to another church), I have a sore throat and feel like I'm getting sick, Baby Ellie has been a little grumpy and seems to have a stuffy nose. I guess The Muffin decided to share by spreading her germs.

Happy Babywearing Week

Yes, I wore The Muffin. I wore her because I thought it was fun, cute and a good way of having her thisclose to me while I shopped or walked.

The day that I found out I was expecting Baby Ellie, I started looking at slings and trying to figure out what I needed/wanted in addition to my pouch sling and my front carrier. I felt like it would be necessary to wear the new baby. I wear Baby Ellie for the same reasons, but I also do it to keep my hands free for doing things with her big sister. I wear her so that I can keep The Muffin out of traffic, so that I can pick her up and put her in the buggy while getting groceries or so that I can push her on her bike or in the stroller. I also wear her so that I can just get things taken care of around the house.
I wore Baby Ellie for the first time when she was three days old. I decided to put her in the pouch sling while I unpacked our hospital bags. She went to sleep within a few minutes. I wore her while we packed and loaded and unloaded the car for our move. I wear her for walks and shopping trips. She loves being in her sling!
I really don't know what I would do with her if I didn't wear her!

You can read more about my "adventures in babywearing" here.

I'm A "Loyal Commenter"!!

My friend Tara over at "Keeping Up With The Kelly's" awarded me a "Loyal Commenter" award! Reading her sweet post made me tear up a little...which is fairly common, but I was super touched. Tara is a special IRL friend. (You can hop over to her blog to find out how we met many moons ago) I enjoy reading her blog and staying in touch via the word wide web, which is my primary form of communication these days!! Tara's comment about always finding "truth and honesty" on my blog made me laugh. Maybe I should write a post about trying to decide on whether or not to explore permanent birth control for me or Big Daddy just to keep it real!! I was also touched by her loyal blog followers that hopped over to leave a comment. (And just to answer TMM's question, of course I made my own wreath!!)

Now, about my day and why I'm just now finding out about the award.

I spent the ENTIRE day away from home...a rarity for me! I left with the little girls around 8:30 this morning to meet the big girls (a.k.a. my mom & sister) for a little antique shopping at a nearby antiques festival. We walked and talked and didn't buy a thing...except my mom did buy us drinks! I wore Baby Ellie and my mom and sister took turns pushing The Muffin in her stroller. Afterward, we had lunch (at Sir Pizza, Tara) and then sat around my mom's and talked. We decided to sort of combine our food and just cook dinner together. I called Big Daddy so he met us at my mom's to eat. We returned home around 7:30 and I washed a load of diapers, a load of clothes a sink full of dishes, put both girls to bed and decided to check my email and my favorite blogs.

So, that's what I've been up to today.

Thanks for the award, Tara, but most of all for being a great friend!!

Poor Ellie

Who would do these things to Baby Ellie??

Her big sister, of course.

What I Learned This Week-Life of a Mommy

I'm joining the "What I Learned This Week" carnival again . I have learned way too much in the past week, but here are a few of my lessons.

• No matter how hard I try I can't do it all. When I try to do so many things, I get overwhelmed, frustrated and I don't do any of my tasks well. Everything else needs to take a back burner to my girls.
  
• I was excited about having a weekend break at the beach. I was excited about no cooking, laundry or housework and being able to spend lazy time with my two girls. I learned that a weekend away equals four loads of laundry when we get back. I also learned that the hardwood floors get extremely dirty when we're away. ??? I had a little break away from "work" while I was gone, but I've since made up for my two days of "rest".
  
• I met two mommies that were wearing slings in a baby store at the beach. I learned that they get lots of strange looks while wearing their babies too. I felt like the odd mom out during the conversation because Baby Ellie was actually in the stroller.
• I learned that I can take care of Baby Ellie while Big Daddy takes care of The Muffin and get a little rest and relaxation in.
• I'm smarter than I think I am. I've posted lots of babywearing pictures and things about how great it was to wear Baby Ellie at the beach and it happens to be International Babywearing Week!
• It's not so easy to teach a three year old about spreading germs, covering coughs and sneezes and good handwashing techniques when said three year old wakes up with coughs and sneezes. She just doesn't get cross contamination yet.
  
• My baby is growing too fast. Baby Ellie seems to be teething. That is the only explanation that makes sense for all of her little symptoms. I'm not ready for this.
• Even though I've already started our Christmas card list, I'll still be thinking of people to send cards to the day before the holiday. I'm cheating and sending e-cards to some people to save time and money.
• I have to figure out a way to take care of Ellie, get groceries, clean the floors and fix lunch before I pick up The Muffin up at preschool. I'm tired of running around like a crazy person trying to do so many things in the three hours that she's away.
  

Small Town, Big Problem

**UPDATE**
the water came on a couple of hours later...after we had a not-so-yummy meal of leftovers. Just urning on the faucet and seeing nothing almost pushed me over the edge!!

I turned on the faucet in the kitchen and nothing came out. We have no water. They're building a house next door to us and I thought that they did something to interrupt our water service. I called City Hall (because this town is so small that they do not have a "Water Department". A water main broke and the entire city is without water.

Suddenly, I realize that our new town, my hometown, is so much smaller than our old town.

Once again, I'm sad. It's like the icing on the cake. This has not been a very good day and this little problem just tops it off.

And I must get creative and come up with something exciting for dinner that doesn't require water or excessive handwashing.

We may have to drive the two miles to my parents' house to take baths tonight. Doesn't that sound like fun!?

The city website doesn't even have anything about the water main break on it. I hope that it's fixed by morning.

Mommy's Eye View

I was with her. She was with me. We watched them. From the balcony. From the beach. We talked. We laughed. She napped in the sling on the beach and then under the umbrella by the pool. I think she had a good time.
I know I did.

We Were At The Beach-In Pictures

Our little family spent the weekend in Myrtle Beach, SC. We enjoyed great weather in spite of a bad forecast. Here are a few pictures of our trip. Stay tuned for a special picture post tomorrow!!

The Muffin loves stopping at South of the Border. There was one picture where we were looking at he camera, but this is a little more realistic!

She wanted Baby Ellie to ride the whale with her at the Myrtle Beach welcome center.

She wanted to show her sister the beach.

Baby Ellie took in all the sites, but her favorite was...

her big sister.

Baby Ellie enjoyed the sun...

watching the waves...

and spending time with her family.

The Muffin liked the beach and the pool "so much".

She liked mini golf and even managed to score a whole in one!! If you've ever watched her play, you know that was a miracle.

I think she had a great time at the beach.

You may notice that The Muffin insisted on wearing the old bathing suit that barely fits. I pick my battles these days!! And please remember that I must go on a diet.

All I Can Say

These girls...

are keeping me...

so busy!

I'm not sure exactly what's been going on in this house this week, but it's been crazy! We have been so busy. I thought I had a few ideas to help make non-preschool days less hectic, but the laundry and hardwood floors are constantly calling my name. I got a little off on my schedule and did two loads of laundry yesterday AND a load of cloth diapers last night. I would never do three loads of laundry in one day if I were in my right mind!
Miss Muffinhead has been having lots of "I'm three" moments and I've been praying a lot and trying to have patience. Baby Ellie likes attention more and more, but she's also learning to play alone in her entertainer. Big Daddy enjoyed an evening at the gym and I managed to give both girls a bath and put them to bed before he arrived home at 9:00.

Right now, The Muffin is at the grocery store with Nana and Baby Ellie is asleep in her bed. I'm about to enjoy a cup of coffee a the sound of the rain falling all around...or not. Baby Ellie wants her mommy to play with her.