CONSIGNMENT SALE!!!!!

There are tons of consignment sales in my town this time of year and I go to one a weekend for the month of april pretty much but this is the last one this season and its the best one!
There is a church that has a huge community of families with children and they put together this kids consignment sale and it is amazing! It starts in the middle of the week rather than on a weekend which works great for me cus its not as crazy. This particular church has their sales twice a year and I was first in line last year and this year i was again and you really don't have to get there that early cus it starts at 9 on a wed. so what usually happens is there are a handful of new mommies at the door when it opens, but the rest of the mommies come after they drop their kids off at preschool so from 9-915 or so its fairly empty so i can look at everything before it gets to be a madhouse which all of these consignment sales end up becoming!


Last year i got those two wicker chairs i always sit katie in, I have a billion photos of katie in those chairs and they were only 8 bucks for two! The sale goes for 3 days and the last day is half off everything so i usually go back and get books and things for a quarter. OMG today i went and spent 50 bucks and got a TON of stuff!!!!! I got a bunch of clothes, a few books cus katie likes particular ones (i usually wait to go back and get books for 50 cents or a quarter but i paid a buck for these today cus i didn't want them to be gone by friday) some toys, puzzles, bathing suits, and a walker that ya push when just learning to walk. Here are some photos of the clothes. I didn't take a snapshot of the walker but for you mommies out there you know what I mean and I only paid 6 bucks for it. The clothes are to die for!!!!!

some toys, not including the walker and 2 other wooden puzzles!


bathing suits!


a little of this, a little of that. the dress in the middle is too big.will be great for next summer. i couldn't resist it was only 2 dollars and it's a lilly P!
} Dresses!



separates!

Of course Nana came with me and got her fair share of things for Katie as well including a pink and cheetah luggage set with a dress bag and pull suitcase and matching purse, a fisher price chair with a light next to it,i had never seen it before so i can't really explain it but i think katie is gonna love it!, and some silk dress hangers for all of katie's new clothes along with the wooden puzzles. We both did great! Katie is a lucky girl I must say!!!

Bri's Birthday!

Katie was very well behaved at dinner as usual. thank you big girl!!!!




HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!! This was Bri's first birthday as a daddy! Katie and I went to Michaels bright and early this morning and had a wreath made for brian. He has been looking for a blue hydrangea wreath (like we grow in our garden, and like our wedding flowers!) for a while now and i found out that Michaels makes them custom when you walk in and chose your flowers they will make it right there and you can pick
Nana thought it would be funny to give katie some ice cream. ahh not too much!!! It was so messyeverything out and watch them make it. So katie and I had to go to Michaels anyway to get some cardstock for her photo banner i'm making for her birthday (Thank you mandy for the idea it is coming together adorably!) so i decided while we were there to get the flower wreath made. Katie even helped me pick out the flowers.She had a blast holding the fake flowers and rubbing them on her face. she thought it was so funny!
Love you Bri! Hope you had a great birthday celebration!

we looked pretty silly walking down the street like this with balloons flapping all over my face cus it was super windy!

daddy loved his wreath! he says thank you katie!It's gonna look great on our red door!

Teeth!

Did I mention Katie's 4th and 5th tooth are coming in on the top and her 6th and 7th on the top are white and ready to come in this week too! here is a SUPER close up so you can see the teeth just barely breaking through.
i know they are teeny tiny but they just broke through today!

85 degrees outside mid april! OK!

It was so beautiful. we are still transitioning katie back to the crib and she isn't doing so well but i'm never too tired to be outside. there is nothing worse then when i'm exhausted and we are cooped up inside! so despite not sleeping well and being a zombie, when its 85 degrees you know what i'm doing! dressing up katie in summer clothes and taking photos! She loves being outside, especially feeling the grass and putting it in her mouth of course! I can barely take photos unless she is on a blanket cus every 2 seconds she is putting grass, sticks, or leaves in her mouth! Since it's supposed to rain the rest of the week and we will be busy tomorrow getting ready for bri's birthday i thought we would spend most of today outside! Here are a few
snapshots!



pretty little smiley pants.

bri took these of me and katie this weekend. i realized that i had so many photos of katie but no one had taken one of katie AND me lately so i made bri play photographer for a minute to get an updated photo of mommy and her precious baby girl!

sleep please

yesterday. she is just so sweet like a little fairy

i like to think i'm fairly smart. i mean lets be real for a moment... i didn't go to MIT, i'm not a Doctor, and I don't go to law school but i do have a college degree, i did grow up around kids my entire life, and i've had a baby of my own for almost a year now so i like to think i can figure out most things but... for the life of me i can not figure out why katie doesn't sleep well!
i mean come on!!! ahhh she just doesn't need sleep. it's incredible really. she sleeps during the day about a 45 min to an hour and a half nap in the morning and then a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon, usually closer to 2 but then at night, omg she wakes up from her nap around 5 and then is up till 12 tonight! i mean its insane to me. why doesnt' she need more sleep???!!!!!


so that was last night. i'm awake and level headed again but really the question still boggles my mind why katie doesn't need more sleep. she is asleep now as i write this for her am nap which has been totally pushed up because she didn't wake up till 930 this morning. which was nice for me but now her day is going to be all over the place. once she gets up its lunch and then off to Nana and Poppie's house for a play date with the grandparents while i get some serious grocery shopping done.

since i have gotten this computer I feel like i'm slowly but surely learning how to use it. i have never had a Mac before so i'm not used to anything it does or any of the capabilities it has so every day for the past week i have been on the computer when katie naps to try and learn a little about it. the one thing i have learned is that the photo program is great or at least what i know about it is great so far. having the computer during the day makes me take even more photos than i do already and post them the day i take them. pretty much u can see what katie and i are doing as its happening ;) well not that instant but u can see what we did today usually which i love because my folks who are still down in florida for a few more weeks can keep up with katie daily! i know i know if you are facebook friends with me you must be sick of it and i'm waiting for a little bird to tell me to cool it with the pictures but i can't help it. i love dressing up katie in cute little outfits and taking her photo, especially now that its nice outside and the weather is getting warmer; all the flowers are blooming and it makes for a lovely backdrop. alright she is waking up. gotta run! this morning

Katie's appetite has returned!

oh thank god. katie's appetite has returned. now that she is over this awful cold she is eating like herself again!
today she had pancakes for breakfast along with 3/4 a banana cut into pieces covered in smashed cheerio crumbs (her favorite!) and then for lunch she had a whole jar of spaghetti O's and an entire large yogurt along with 2 pieces of cheese. dinner was a grilled cheese sandwich, a jar of baby food, and 1/2 a can of peas (it was a small can but still) She is eating more than I can keep up! I break up things or cut things, and then i go to take a bite of what i'm eating for lunch or breakfast and she already needs more. she cleans her high chair almost every meal!

first day in shorts. going to the park!

i just can't get over how adorable the outfit was!

stay on this blanket... i don't think so. katie loved crawling off the blanket and picking up everything and anything to put in her mouth. i did have her with a paci for a while but even then when she finds something she wants in her mouth she spits that paci out faster than i dunno what to get a stick or grass or whatever it is in that mouth! its really cute to see her pop out her paci. its like paci... i don't need no stinkin paci! i always say that when she pops it out cus it makes me laugh. ehehehhheheheh

well today is a crappy rainy day. nothing like yesterday. yesterday was 85degrees and beautiful outside. i dressed katie in shorts for the first time and she was like humm.... where are the rest of my pants. hehe so cute. we went to old town to stop at a book store that was closing to try and find some good deals but first we stopped at the park. i put a blanket down in hopes that she would stay on it but no way did that happen. i tried to get some good photos but that didn't work either. she just kept moving around and for once she wouldn't look at the camera.
we ran into out friends twins drake and sienna at the park. smart mommy didn't let them get out of the stroller cus she said they would be all over the place. kinda like katie was.


she was happy once we got to the book store. she got kinda pissed when i made her leave the park but when we went to the bookstore she was happy cus thats her favorite place! she loooooves books!


well bri had to work late and he took his tux to work with him because he had to go to some event in the evening so i had a girls day/night with my little angel. i gave her a lick of my milkshake and she went bananas. and i though to myself, daddy isn't home lets get in the car in our PJ's and go get ice cream! i was so excited to do something with katie just the two of us (not like i don't have her all day but still...) and then i realized going to get ice cream is something i will do with her in a year or two. she can't have it now. i just got so caught up in the moment of taking her to a place i know she will like i just forgot she was so little. anyway we ended up having some leftover ice cream cake that was in the freezer and calling it a night. katie actually stayed up to see bri when he got home around 930 which unfortunately is normal bedtime for katie. yikes so late but look it works for us so we do whatever works. i don't see the harm in letting her stay up late. it means she sleeps in and doesn't wake up at 6am so it works for me!

back to the crib!

ahhh well since katie was sick i had her sleeping in my bed and since she was sick so long its been 2 week plus that she has been in my bed. now that we are back from our trip and she is feeling better its time to move her back into the crib. well.... easier said than done. i tried the other night when we got back from our trip and she screamed bloody murder for 5 minutes. usually she cries and whimpers a little just telling us she is tired and not happy that she isn't with us at the time but no not this time she was freaking out so badly i said forget it i'm so tired from traveling i'll just put her in my bed again tonight and deal with this tomorrow and sure enough she went right down. ughh i feel like i'm in for it trying to move her back into her room.
so its the next night and we tried the crib again and again she freaked so bri said just put her to sleep and lay her in bed with you and now that i have my new computer!!!!!!! yeah!!!!!!! i can just be online while she gets good and asleep next to me and then we can move her into her crib when she is sleeping. well we tried that and it didn't work either.

so last night we tried the crib and she slept for 45 minutes and then woke up and realized where she was so she was not happy.when i went into her room as she was still sleepy and just starting to wake up she reached up to me with open arms and a sad face and said MA MA. clear as day! she totally knew what she was saying and it of course broke my heart and when bri mentioned she was scared to be alone i said omg she's coming back in bed with me! i stuck her back in my bed and thought we will deal with it in the morning. awww she is so sweet and just loves being with us. its just easier to have her in my bed at this point but i know i know i have to move her back! she was so cute last night in bed with me. she would sit up, i would give her the pacifier and she would do a face plant into the bed. just fall over face first. well not completely face first but kinda to the side. she would just fall right back over. so she is sitting up but still asleep and once she gets that paci in her mouth and starts to sooth back into a deep sleep she falls over. its so cute and when she is in bed with me she can fall all over the place. i get NO sleep but she does ;) i'm thinking in the crib she wil be able to do this but she will bonk her head all over the crib walls cus she was all over last night. definitely not within crib wail space. she was at the top of the bed, upside down, on her belly, at the bottom of the bed. she was ALL OVER the bed! well we will try again tonight and see if her sleeping with me the past 3 weeks has really screwed this all up! ughhhh
today i tried putting her in her crib for nap. she def did not nap but to keep her from freaking out i just folded laundry in there and hung out with her. i need her to get used to the crib again without automatically thinking i'm just sticking her in there and see ya later! so i just hung out in her room and we took the bumper out again cus she starting to use it to climb up.

the trip!

Well the trip went great. as Katie turned 11 months on wed, the day we left we set out on an adventure. just me, katie, and my dad. what a good sport he was for going on this trip and lugging around everything for me. i didn't take that much but the car seat was a riot. i told ya.... he looks a little like santa with a big bag of toys doesn't he? he he he
Well we got to the train station nice and early and I think katie was excited with the new place and all the people around. it was nap time though and she fell asleep on the way to the station, actually she fell asleep just as we were pulling into the parking garage. so i ad to wake her up. poor thing. as we waited for the train, katie took in everything, sat up in her stroller and looked all around, listening to the new noises, aka mommy saying Choo Choo for choo choo train. poor katie listening to me say that but i thought it would be super cute if we got home and she said choo choo but she didn't.
the ride was good for the most part. the train took about 4 hours and by hour 3 she was so tired and she just couldn't get comfortable. i did get a sticker book like my girlfriend mentioned to me and brought tons of snacks which katie enjoyed. i must say it was hard to nurse her, not because of space or even privacy reasons, but becuase katie isn't used to a blanket over her head while nursing. i never had to take her out, i was either in the car or at our house so i could just nurse her out in the open but on the train i had to cover her up to nurse her and all she wanted to do was play with the cover. it did not work out well but we tried a few times and she figured it out. when i took the stickers out she had a ball. we were so silly putting the stickers on our faces. hehehe it was super cute
on the way up we had 4 seats facing each other so we had plenty of room to spread out and make a mess which katie of course did with all her snacks. by hour 3 like i was saying katie had had enough and she couldn't get comfortable she just didn't wanna lay down with me or be rocked, i even rocked her in the isle and she still wouldn't go to sleep but she kept rubbing her eyes oh god she was tired. so i went into the area in between the train cars where they connect and its cooler in there and noisy from the cars being outside, hard to explain but its where the train cars connect, ya walk through the area when u go to the snack cars or whatever. anyway i started rocking her in there and she was asleep in a few minutes. thought i was home free for the rest of the trip but i was not. she only slept in my arms for 30 minutes, maybe 40 adn then she was up again. but by the time she was up, the people across the isle from us had changed at the last stop and katie was in a good mood so she just flirted and talked to them for the rest of the ride.
when we got to the rental place ,the car rental ladies looked at me and my dad and laughed about us lugging around the car seat but guess what. i paid a lot of money for this seat, and its clean and safe. the ladies tried showing me the ones they have for rent and all except for one looked pretty run down and they said "this is the one we would give you" and i said humm what if someone else needed a seat this weekend, which crappy one would i be stuck with. well i didn't really say that but i was thinking that. well the one they showed me looked pretty good and fairly new, wasn't chewed up or beaten up like some of the other ones so if they could have assured me that one then i would have been ok but look better safe than sorry so we just brought our own.when we got to CT my grandmother had just woken up from a snooze and of course katie fell asleep in the car on the way to her house so she had just woken up too. she was a little groggy but did wonderful with all of the new faces. my cousin, aunt, a few friends and my grandma were all there along with me , my dad and katie. it was a big day for my little pumpkin. we took some photos, had some pizza and we were all asleep by 9! we were very tired and had to get up the next day and do it all over again. yep thats right we were only staying the night.
the best part of the visit by far was seeing my grandma with katie. i haven't heard my grandma laugh in a long time and when we were all in the living room just catching up katie was crawling all over the place and she found my grandma's rocking chair which she no longer sits in but it sits there collecting dust. my grandma said a few times she thought it was too dusty for katie but i assured her it was just fine. anyway, katie found the cover that was on the wooden chair and was playing with it. she would lift it up over her head like she does to her clothes on a daily basis and she would throw it over her head. i of course am used to seeing her do this, and occasionally still makes me laugh out loud but all of a sudden my grandma busted out with a huge laugh. we all looked at her and she had this wonderful genuine smile as if not a care in the world. she was so happy and almost giddy with excitement to see katie having so much fun. that was the best moment of the trip by far was to see my grandma laugh again and to see her smile as she watched katie eat and crawl and the look of shock when katie pulled up on her couch and smile when katie would play with her shoes. it was all worth it and more!

when we got up in the morning we had to get everything ready and set for the train ride home. we ended up having 2 seats and i cleaned the seats on the ride up and the ride back with lysol wipes to make sure katie didn't get any sick germs on the train especially after just getting over a cold. the way back was a little tighter in space and katie was a little more cranky. she didn't sleep the entire way home and then fell asleep when we got to DC and put her in the car to drive home. traffic was awful so she got an hour and a half nap in before we got home so she was well rested to see daddy! all in all it was a great trip but i now know that i will not take the train again. katie would have been so much more comfortable in her car seat and would have been able to fall asleep on the trip and it would have been better for me because i wouldn't have to hold her the entire time. i think its safe to say the trip most definitely helped me get over the fear of traveling with katie and i'm ready to try again this summer!

Getting Ready for our First Trip

Well I took katie to the doctor one more time to get her all checked out and looked at to make sure she was ok to travel and she was! the only thing i was upset about that the doctor told me was katie has lost some weight since she has been sick. at 9 months katie weighed 19 lbs 12 oz and at 10 months we went in for something I forget what it was and she was down about 2 oz and then when i went in this time just shy of 11 months she has dropped another 4 oz. so in the last 2 months she has dropped about 6 oz. she is down to 19 and a half pounds which is still fine but this cold for over 2 weeks really took it out of her. the doctor told me 2 things. 1. until they are 2 years old, when they get sick, any and all calories they take in go towards fighting off the sickness rather than towards gaining weight. (huh didn't know that) and 2. don't give up on her favorite foods just yet (cus i told her katie wasn't' eating things she usually loved and never turn away) because eating has a lot to do with smell. huh. i did not know that. so the reason she isn't eating much is cus she can't smell if cus she is so congested. well thank you doctor for answering my questions. see ya in another 11 months i hope for her next cold. yeah fat chance but good to know she is doing alright and everything that happened to her during her first cold was normal.

I'm getting all packed and ready to take our first trip together. Bri can't go but I'm taking Katie up to Connecticut to see my Grandmother, katie's Great Grandmother. I think that's so cool to say. Great Grandmother. that's pretty impressive if ya ask me! unfortunately my grandma isn't doing so well and all she wants is to meet her only great grand daughter so we thought the trip was necesarry so my dad flew up from florida to get on the train with me and katie and get on up there to see her!
I have been asking around how to pack and what to pack and a bunch of girlfriends have given me good advice starting with advice about the train. oh did i forget to mention, we are taking the train up because i have a phobia of putting katie in the car for 6 hours when she has never done it before. i know i have to travel with her one day sooner rather than later but i'm trying to work up to it so i thought the train would be better because she could get up and move around and not be trapped in the car seat the whole time. anyway back to advice. my girlfriend told me to bring lots of snacks because it was a great time filler and to go out and get a sticker book. humm.... i thought a sticker book hummm??? but sure enough i went out to toys r us and bought katie a book with stickers. my girlfriend said the will love sticking them on you and on the train and on the paper. but key thing... Don't show it to her until the trip so its something brand new! ohh i hope it works!!!

another girlfriend of mine told me i didn't need much cus everything will be so new that she wont' even play with her toys she will just flip through new pots and pans, and maybe a different book, or just go through the boxes or shoes in their closet that toys weren't really a necessity, but even another friend told me that i need to pack everything but the kitchen sink. just bring it all. ya never know! i had to be careful how much i brought cus we weren't taking the car so we had to carry all we wanted with us. one thing i made sure we brought was katie's car seat. i did pack toys of course cus i didn't want to get up there and have her not have anything to play with; after all my grandma doesn't exactly have toys at her house. anyway back to the car seat, once we got to CT on the train we had to rent a car and drive a half hour to her house so i know i know i know u can rent a car seat to go in the rental cars but u know me, i'm a maniac about A. things being clean, and B. things being safe, and a rental car seat to me says neither of those things. so my poor dad has to lug around the car seat on the trip. now my dad is a big guy so he is gonna look about like Santa with a huge bag of toys on his back. i wouldn't be surprised if security stopped him. haha that would make his day. anyway instead of buying a car seat cover, i borrowed one from a girlfriend who is not a chicken about traveling with her baby, she has traveled in the car and plane with her little one and assured me its not so bad. actually everyone has told me to just get over it and go! so here we go. I'm all packed up and ready to go and tomorrow i will set out on my first trip without bri and my first trip as a mom. wish me luck!!!!