It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Christmas decorations? Check!
Yes that IS a Charlie Brown tree thank you very much. Our teeny little house just doesn't have the room for a Griswold family christmas. For 2 years we actually had a CU football helmet as the "star". I still don't know where that went...sorry Mike. (wink wink)

And check out the little lump in the bottom left hand corner on the chair. That's Gabby, our newest addition. She's camera shy. Something about that whole big black thing clicking in her face thing that freaks her out. Silly kitty. She'll learn soon enough there's no avoiding the camera in this family.

So I sort of dropped the ball on that whole "I'm-going-to-post-everyday" thing. Hahahahahahahahahahhaahaha. Hahaha. Ha. When I found myself getting stressed about what I was going to write on my blog I decided that, through the miracle of technology, I could simply take my deLorean to 4 posts ago and edit that shit out. So if you actually read and saw this so-called declaration of consistency and hard work then allow me to magic wand that memory right out of there. But I will say, and I'll say it in pen, that I promise to post MORE often. Unless of course I don't. Then you can just forget you read that.

:)

Thankful

One day

The purrrrfect gift

So I called Mike to let him know Ellie and I were going to be late today and he let me know that we "had company". I knew he had been utterly conflicted when he discovered a kitten in a window well the other day and rescued it. However tonight his big fat kitty loving heart seemed to have overflowed because that tagless, outdoor kitten was invited over for a visit.

I have to admit, I've sort of loved this pet free existence. But there is no denying that this little nameless kitten really does melt your heart a bit. She's not even that cute really, but she's so...nice. So Mike put a note on the abandoned apt building door where he found her, but if we don't hear anything then, well, I guess we have a new kitten. Provided no cat allergies start popping up.

Kitty doesn't have a name yet. We're waiting for the perfect one to come to us.

Baby legwarmers

These will keep any baby's cute little leg fat rolls nice and toasty in the winter months. And they are a breeze to make! I made up the pattern, and I don't write patterns but I will try. Even if you are a super beginner knitter, you can bust these out in just a few hours.

BTW, don't you just want to eat up this little boy's thighs?

Cast on 22 stitches. (I used a size 6 needle)
Rows 1-5: knit, purl, knit, purl etc
For the next 3 inches: get a larger needle (I used a size 10) and knit one row, purl next row.
For last 5 rows: knit, purl, knit, purl.
Bind off. Sew up in mattress stitch.
You're done!

hats off to easy knitting!

So in efforts to make some homemade gifts this year I've been busting out the ol' knitting needles, constantly searching for the perfect pattern: quick, easy, and a good result. And I have found it! These hats are so super easy to make, and you can finish them in about a movie and a half. The instructions are simple. Thanks again Martha!

Yuletide starts NOW

Ok so I know there's this whole movement to keep Christmas cheer at bay until the day after Thanksgiving. But my philosophy is that Christmas is such a short period of time, and there's so much work and festivity involved, why wait?! I can tell you I've already watched the Grinch, listened to Christmas carols on the ipod and busted out the balsam fir candles. True, Mike won't let me get the decorations out of the garage until thanksgiving but his ebenezer like ways can't stop this Christmas fairy! We are going to have So. Much. Fun. this year!

And so.......to keep my motivation up, I am going to try to post a Christmas craft project/idea/motivation nearly every day till Christmas. All you folks who want to deny the christmas cheer until your arbitrary date, so be it. Then you can come check out my blog the day after thanksgiving. But for all of you other Christmas elves out there...you know who you are....let it begin!!! I've got a ton of ideas and I'm going to be Ho Ho Ho'ing all over this blog. Yes I know how that sounds. So come back tomorrow. And feel free to email me ideas if you have a great one!

co-sleeping conundrum

So it's no secret that Ellie spends her night right in the middle of Mike and I and has since birth. To our credit, she does go to sleep initially in her crib, which is in our room. Then around 10 or 11 or whenever she wakes up I scoop her up and bring her to bed with me. This is just how we've done it.

I have friends that tell me that their children sleep through the night, and I always feel that little pinch of jealousy because folks, I can honestly say I have not slept more than 4 hours at a time since Ellie has been born. Almost 6 months. We do have a room for her, but it's at the other side of the house. Our plan was to move her back there this weekend, but conveniently, it was inconvenient, so we put it off. We continue to put it off and I'm pretty sure I know why. We'll miss her.

And so here begins just a taster of a life where I'm going to have to learn to let go. I have a new found respect for all moms who let their children learn to drive, who drop them off at the mall, who drop them off to their first day of school. I can't be there with her, and that's wierd to acknowledge. Right now I feel like I would rearrange my entire life to spend every possible moment with her. And fortunately she seems to be equally in to me as I am into her. But that will change.

Being a mom is hard. Loving like this is hard. You have to let go. You have to trust the process. You have to let her learn things for herself. You have to share.

Sigh.

And so perhaps one of these days I will write about how my little daughter got her own room, and maybe one day we'll reach the holy grail...an entire night of sleeping. In the meantime, this sleep deprived, coffee worshipping mama continues to truck on, learning about how to be a parent.

Some things never change.

Six year old me is not so different than 32 year old me.

snowed in

Could there be anything more delicious than being stuck inside on a snowy evening with your amazing family, a fireplace, good food, good health, good music. I just feel like I have such an unbelievable amount to be thankful for.

Today I bought some toys for Ellie. I've never liked buying toys before, kind of hated it actually. I never knew what to get and never enjoyed the amusement. But those little rings on a stick made me as excited to buy as Ellie seemed to be receiving. Honestly I feel as though I have stepped right back into my childhood. Here I am staring out the window at this snowy sky and my mind is reeling to my childhood days. Days when we'd get up for school, knowing it was snowing, listening to the radio for the school cancellations, running outside in all our warm winter best to have the most terrific snow filled days of sledding and snow forts and hot chocolate and loving homes. And the images are so perfect, like a dream scene out of a movie. And I can't stop thinking about Ellie, and what she's going to feel, and her childhood experience. And I just want it to filled with so much warmth and love. With so many crafts and homemade dinners. With laughter. Silly games. Hugs. Creativity. Self-expression. The feeling when you walk through the front door that you are just where you belong.

I am thankful every second of the day that I have this family of mine. And when Mike comes into the room wearing his sock cuff arm bands he made, my scarf and doing a funny little Mike dance it just makes me beam inside. We are all perfect together, all three of us. I hope I never forget the joy that I feel right now.

p.s. I'm getting wicked Christmas fever....

Wicked good stuff!

Let's bury that last post now, shall we? This is a picture I took of Ellie mere moments ago. As you can see she is looking soooo much better. STill a little redness under her chin and on her belly, but the worst of it appears to be over. We did get the biopsy results back and it is considered to be a nonspecific dermatitis. Which is just telling me that her skin is inflamed and they don't know why. Thanks! Can't wait to get that bill! So the new line of thinking is that Ellie had an underlying virus and this is how her body reacted to it. Along with green poops, a raspy voice and a fever for a couple of days. Damn viruses! Be gone!!!!!

In other news, WICKED is so awesome!!!!! Wow, I still have goosebumps from last night's performance. It was so moving and my God those actors can sing. If you've never seen Wicked please do. You will love it.

Well we are hosting a little family gathering today which means one thing. I gotta clean. Sometimes having visitors is the best excuse for getting stuff done.

break my heart a little more will you?

My little perfect baby got sick, but no one knows why. It started with a little redness under her chin. That's when I cut out the dairy, thought it might be a food allergy. Then was thinking maybe it was a yeast infection because the child drools like you wouldn't believe. I made an appt with her pediatrician and that day she started getting satellite sores on her belly. They gave me a cream to put on her, which I did. And when I got up the next day she had a fever and looked like this.
My little baby girl!!!!!
So a trip to the ER resulted in orders to stop the cream. Then a trip to the pediatric dermatologist on monday resulted in a biopsy and the general consensus that no one really knows what's going on. The main theory is that she started out with a small infection, yeast maybe, and her body over reacted. All I know is that it was a horrible few days. And my heart was just bursting with sadness for my little baby.

I'm happy to report that the sores are drying up and falling off, and she has beautiful baby skin underneath. Her fever is gone (doctors think it was unrelated to anything). She does not appear uncomfortable.

I learned, and this was not new information, that doctors don't always know. And having a child in this crazy world can be nerve-wrecking. There's some scary stuff out there, and you wish that your love alone could get your baby through it. But sometimes it can't. Sometimes we are powerless. And that's a bitter pill to swallow.

A Halloween would not be complete without....

fabulous costumes.....

spooky clowns...... (guess who?)

...treats....(thanks for the idea Martha Stewart)

and a good ol' donut on a string contest...

Good times.