Pinterest

Heard of it? If you haven't don't look it up now. It's a deep, black hole that will suck you in the minute you take a peek. Think Facebook meets Google Images meets regular old computer bookmarking. It's brilliant.

Anyway, the downfall of Pinterest is somewhat of a user error. It's so easy to pin and pin and pin and never do. It's so easy to be visually intoxicated by all of the recipes, DIY ideas, event planning, and home decor without ever leaving your couch to implement any of it.

I refuse to let the only downfall get me down folks! Seth can make fun of me all he wants for getting sucked in but I will prevail! My house will be cuter. My kid will have more to do. I WILL make all of the crap I have pinned...someday. For right now I'm just getting started.

So here's my plan. You know that other little blog I started pre baby Evie? The one about decorating and such. Well, I've been doing the decorating part slowly but surely. I just haven't been doing the blogging part. I'm sure you are shocked. Rest assured there is a mammoth post coming to it soon. That is where you will see much of my pinning inspiration come to life. Here I plan to take the other stuff and showcase my efforts. If you read a lot of blogs you are right in judging my big old jump onto the "weekly pin comes to life" bandwagon. I am not above following the crowd.

I am going to say that this will be weekly even though there's a good chance it won't. But I really, really want it to be. I want to bring back Holla Hump Day too (which oddly enough would be today). Baby steps people. One giant step in adding something new does not mean I am going to just up and be on top of things completely.

Anyway, this may seem small and silly. You may be thinking this first pin in action was so easy to do it isn't even worth posting about. To you I say take a look at the pictures and when the big grin on your face emerges you will know it was a perfect start....

pin:

pin in action:

* Please note that this is the perfect image of my world. Baby doll hating life in the background, messy hair in everyone's face, and tutus. We do what we can.

You would have thought I gave Lila the most expensive and amazing toy ever. She kept saying she was making a porcupine. 

Carson decided the colander just went really well with her outfit :-)

In an effort to bring back Holla Hump Day I think "Look what I pinned did!" will from here forward be on Fridays. But not this Friday. Unless I am unusually on top of things :-)

Happy pinning!

Week in review (or lots of random things in review)

Now that school is in full swing for Lila I have to admit I really look forward to Tuesdays and Thursdays. She LOVES school. She gets a little apprehensive on the way there, but she is so happy when I pick her up. She's the perfect mix of exhausted, chatty, and feeling like a big girl. I wish I could say I got all weepy and overwhelmed with her beginning school. I didn't though. I think we were both so ready for this that it was an incredibly easy transition. Being a SAHM lends itself to endless benefits. However, one drawback is an over abundance of time with the same person (people) all the time. Everyone needs a break...even mommies and babies.

Speaking of babies, Evie and I REALLY need that time too. The evil reflux coupled with the big sister gave Evie very little hang out with mommy time. If you don't know, when a baby has reflux (or colic, or anything that is constantly causing irritation to the baby) you don't really feel like you get to do the normal baby things. Every moment spent with her was trying to make her feel better, cleaning her up after yet another barf-fest, or trying to get her to stay asleep for more than five minutes. It's exhausting for everyone. The notion of quality time gets put to the side inadvertently. But now that Evie is on the upswing this one on one time is priceless. Last week we did a lot of laying around and staring at each other (and Molly). I did that ALL THE TIME with Lila. I soaked in every little bit of her that I could. So I have some catching up to do with Evie...

Again, my phone's photo quality is lacking, but for now it'll do. And sweet Molly...she is a lot of things that make me CRAZY on a daily basis. But, we couldn't have asked for a better dog for our kids to grow up with. She is so good with them. Evie has recently really started to pay attention to Molly and it's the cutest thing. Other new things in Evie's world...she is rolling front to back and back to front. However, she doesn't love the tummy time. So the little booger that she is takes her new found rolling skills and throws herself onto her back when I put her on her tummy. That is if there isn't something to stare at like Molly. She is also grabbing everything. Mostly my hair, Lila's hair, and articles of clothing. And, like her sister, she has a serious set of lungs. She has regularly been "talking" in a screaming manner for a while. Her actual crying/screaming is somewhat excruciating. I mean hurts your ears it's so intense. It seems the teenage years around her could get ugly...

In the land of Lila things are so entertaining. Her imagination is starting to run wild and I just love it. She talks to me like a little adult. The effort to be so big and yet the littleness of being two leads to some very cute and endearing conversations. She says thank you but also says you're welcome right after. She has pronouns all mixed up. For instance this is my current Facebook status:

I told Lila to look at Seth tonight and say "Daddy, you're so cute". She looked at him and proudly said, 
"Daddy, I'm so cute!". Man I love that kid.


Lila also spends 75% of her life these days in a tutu. She replaced the pajamas with the "dress ups" as she calls them. But, if I can get her out of the dress ups it's only to then put on the pajamas. Or be naked. She and I are trying to come to a happy place. There were a few weeks there where I thought we were going to make each other crazy. I love her more than life itself, but she's a smart cookie. She knows how to push my buttons and she stomps all over them some days. Nothing has ever taught me the kind of patience this little girl is teaching me. Well, I should say US. Seth messaged this picture when I was at my super glamorous second job one night letting me know that Lila was grumpy:

Needless to say she keeps us on our toes. I have to assume that life would be insanely boring if she didn't!


This past weekend was filled with family. Most of my mom's family came into town to go see Wicked and celebrate Grandma's 80th birthday. I, yet again, did not bring my camera. Aunt Gail, if you are reading this my blog desperately needs the pictures you took! Until then, here are the horrible attempts I did make at taking two pictures...

Look closely at Evie's face...man she's so happy!!! Seriously, what are we going to do when Sara leaves us???

Lila decided Seth did not really want his Zaxby's.

We had the best time with everyone! It's not too often that they all come up here so it was a real treat for us. 


Just a quick side note...this Friday is our five year anniversary! We are going on a date and I am BEYOND excited. I love you Sethy Poo! I can't wait to continue this crazy ride with you for many, many years to come ;-)

Just a note...

...or two or three...

Sorry for the dramatic previous post. Some things just have to be said you know?

I hope you can appreciate the thrown together nature of the blog headers these days. I used to painstakingly put those together because I think they are so darn cute. Now, I snag some pictures off my phone, slap them on there, and hope for the best! The best this month being that Evie only naps longer than twenty minutes unless she is sleeping on me and Lila is learning the art of tracing herself starting with her crotch. Really the best would be that Evie is able to enjoy the bouncy swing and Lila totally digs Tuesday morning breakfast with mommy at Starbucks!

Yesterday was a doozy of a day. THANK GOD my sister decided to come hang out. We think Lila has an allergy (to fish possibly). Then, after giving her Benadryl and putting her down for a nap she vomited all over her bed thirty minutes into the nap. Good times! So after the clean up we had some low key couch time:

Man they are so cute.

Speaking of cute, my second little girl that is often mistaken for a boy has a tight grip on my heart. I just never knew it was possible to love this much more than once.

She's a little deer in headlights in these pictures but don't you just want to smooch those cheeks?!

Happy Tuesday!

I'll be your supermom

There's this underlying world within motherhood that lives in the minds of most mothers. Many pretend it doesn't exist. Some know others are thinking about it but say nothing. And still others may talk about it openly and compete for the title of "supermom" amongst their group of friends. It doesn't matter the approach. The result is the same. A whole boatload of guilt on top of the guilt they already inherently feel all by themselves from day one of motherhood. If you are supermom and you don't feel mommy guilt pat yourself on the back and stop reading.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the choices I make, the type of mother I am, and the mothers I am surrounded by. Women spend a great deal of time comparing themselves to other women. We do it our entire lives. Then motherhood comes and it's like the motherload (ha, ha) of exhausting comparisons. It begins the instant pregnancy occurs. Should I stop drinking caffeine? My best friend stopped and her kid is brilliant. Should I register for the $300 monitor? My house isn't that big but I'm sure I need it because all of my neighbors with kids have it.  Should I have a natural childbirth? It's causing me immense amounts of anxiety just thinking about it. But it's what I should do right?

Then the baby comes and for a while there isn't necessarily the time or energy to care. But when the fog clears and the sleep gets wiped away what do you see? I suppose it depends on your view. If you are looking at a desk instead of a baby most of the time your heart may be aching while your guilt grows as things are missed. A first step here or a new word there can be like daggers in your heart. You count the hours that you spend with your child like they are little nuggets of gold. If even one is taken away you feel like it has to be replaced somewhere. You believe working and helping to support your goals and your family is the ideal for you. However, somewhere over the course of the day the guilt still creeps in.

If you are looking at that sweet angel face all day instead the guilt is a little different. It's hidden in the things you forget to do or the way you discipline your child. It sneaks up on you and then hits you across the face. You realize more frequently how much you have to learn. You hear others judge the working mom yet sometimes, in the depths of your subconscious, you envy her...and then you feel guilty for that too. You chose to stay home because you feel like it's what's best for your child. Or maybe you chose to stay home because you couldn't handle that working mom's kind of guilt.

One day maybe the image starts to change a little.  The view becomes that of motherhood as a whole instead of this kind of mother or that kind of mother. You no longer see that she works or doesn't work. You see that she's just like you no matter what the circumstance. Guilt is guilt no matter how much you get paid, how often you see your child(ren), or how many times you are PTA president. You learn supermom doesn't exist. Even if she did you wouldn't want to be her. That's just too much pressure.

Instead you want to be the best version of yourself that is now mommy. And you want that for the other mommies as well. You lean on the lawyer, doctor, or teacher who goes in late at night to kiss the baby just as often as you do. You count on the ones who have been there and done that because they won't judge. You look to them as examples, as co-workers, and as confidants. But most of all you look to them as a way to believe in yourself more.

So to all you mommies out there who feel the guilt and maybe compare yourself a little too often take a step back and take a long loving look. You gave birth to that child. You do the most with the smallest amount of hours. You deserve a medal...or at the very least a reprieve from your own criticism once in a while. In my eyes you are supermom. Every. Single. One. Of. You.

photo stream

My POS Droid has to be on it's way out. The list of malfunctions it performs on a daily basis is endless. In fact, I tried to make this post last week. It had such a hard time emailing the photos to me that I got angry and gave up. I'm still not sure I got them all.

Anyway, it dawned on me the other day that my phone is full of the most random assortment of pictures. This is because the minute I get the real deal camera out Lila figures out what I'm doing. She then hides or makes every effort to sabotage my photo shoot. Ok.... I am a horrible mother. I just blamed my laziness on my two year old. Everyone can admit it's much easier to whip out their phone and take a picture right? :-) I'm trying to be better about taking "real" pictures but it just isn't very easy.

Before I get to the onslaught of pictures, I have a few random kid tidbits to share:

1) Lila's conversation skills have suddenly changed. She has always been an incredibly verbal child. But recently she is putting many more sentences together. It's so fascinating to me. For instance, we took a stab at potty training and decided it just wasn't time. But, after talking about it a lot for a few weeks she still wants to talk about it randomly. We took the girls to Athens to tailgate this weekend (see below) and because we had both of them I would take Lila to the bathroom with me. Our tailgating spot is near a very nice bathroom that has about five stalls. I shuffle the two of us into a stall and Lila starts going on and on about me using the potty. Here's how it went:

"Mommy is the pee pee coming out of your bottom? Mommy are you going to poop? Mommy did you wipe? Are you going to wipe? Open this door mommy! Make sure you flush mommy."

We open the door and I realize it was kind of quiet in this very crowded bathroom. I look in front of us to see the long line of women giggling and smiling at my little chatty cathy.

2) I know I have said this before, but Evie is SO FREAKING HAPPY. Even when she's super mad she makes me smile. I don't know what it is but her cry is even kind of funny. We went out to dinner with my dad tonight (see below) and our waiter had a very raspy voice. She fixated on him and just smiled at him like crazy as he discussed the menu with my dad. It was the cutest thing. We had her four month check up on Thursday and she won over the nurses with her wide, happy smile. That is until they gave her shots! By the way, she is 14.8 pounds and 26 inches in case you were wondering. That makes her 75th percentile for weight and still 100th percentile for height. I see two daughters that are taller than me in my not so distant future.

Alright, are you ready? These are not in chronological order, you may have seen them before, and most have a comment....It's kind of a lot....on with the photo stream!

We begin with a little outside playtime. It appears they are having no fun right? I promise they were.

You will begin to notice a trend with Lila and Carson's hair....

...I can never quite get it to be manageable.

 The two of us don't have hair problems. I don't because I wear a hat (due to lack of shower) and she doesn't because, well, she doesn't have any.

This is another outside adventure day. This was let's wash everything in sight day. Why can't we do this inside?

 Molly finds the fan for Evie quite appealing.

Washing things seems to tire Carson out. And no, Lila is not eating the washcloth. She has a frozen yogurt (gogurt style) wrapped up in there.

Not sure where we were going but she looks most unimpressed.

Nevermind. Just sleepy :-)

Putting stickers all over ourselves is a daily occurrence.

I like to call this one "Attack of the Hair Band". Carson is shaking the noise maker thingy, Lila is drummer/singer, and Evie and I (not pictured) probably have some other random noisemakers Lila insisted we use.

Just chillin'.

Oh yea. I took this one to illustrate that she found her feet. Poor second child. This type of thing would have had it's own blog post with child number one!

This is the night that we thought Lila had gone to bed so easily. And she had. In our bed that is.

Off for a stroll.

This is at the Botanical Gardens....love that place!

Evie's first official Molly kiss :-)

Hanging out on the floor with Vivi (I think I actually stole this picture from Sara maybe).

Sara said here they were pondering what ducks eat (I think).

Cuddle time.

These girls played with the sand (moving it all over the deck and in and out of the pool) for almost an hour without talking to me or each other. It was serious work.

Finger painting! (amidst the mess that is my house...all that stuff back there is for sale if you see anything you want).

Finger chewing! It seems there may be teeth coming...

We went to hibachi and it would only stand to reason that since Carson had a bib on Lila HAD to have one on too. Seth fashioned one out of a napkin because after all, that's what daddies do right?

He's also great if you need to catch a nap during dinner.

Ugh. I pretty much got horrible pictures on the first day of school. She's still a cutie though!

Goofing off at the doctor's office.

You want to do what? As if the thermometer placement wasn't fun enough...you now want to give me shots?

My sweet angel teaching her baby sister the ABC's. 

I pulled out my consignment sale dress up finds and was SO happy I did!

Yep. Every ballerina should be playing an electric guitar.

Carson not only has an obsession with Evie. She also really loves all forms of seating for Evie.

A little wine, a puzzle, a princess dress, and aunt Kimmie equals a great evening.

 Alright dawgs...let's do this.

Family picture at the tailgate....or what I could get of one anyway.

Way past nap time yet she refuses to go to sleep until ten minutes before we get home....

....so she and I ended up here...

....after nap hair....

....after tailgating/nap general grumpiness.

And last (but most certainly not least!) dinner out with Poppy. Thanks again for the sushi Dad. We love you!

Ok now that you are sick of looking at my kids I hope your week starts off beautifully!