Big Week Sunday, Day 3 Another day, another Birthday!

I just returned from meeting this beautiful little babygirl and have the pictures in hand to prove it. She is so cute and has a full head of black dark hair. Big brother Matthew seemed to approve of his new little sister and was happy to show her off, pointing to "Baby Rachel". He was especially enamored with her after she gifted him with a way cool Thomas the Train set.

Oh, the flashes... enough.

Yeah, I'm talking to you camera girl.

Sweet pea

The new family of four. This is apparently only minutes before the new mommy decided to give everyone quite a scare with some clotting issues. I don't know all the exact details, but I do know everything is fine now, but I have a feeling it was a little stressful and upsetting for a while. Other than that, Aimee was doing great and looked so unbelievably good for just giving birth a few short hours before. We are so glad everything was fine, but please no more scary moments like that! :)

We love you sweet Baby Rachel! Welcome to the World -
you are one lucky baby and so are your mommy, daddy and big brother Matthew!

See all my pics here:

Rachel Elizabeth

Happy Birthday Rachel Elizabeth!

She's here! I can't wait to meet her - Rachel Elizabeth born at 11:31 am, 7lbs 7ounces. (eerily similar from what I can tell so far to her big brother's birthday). Mommy says she's a little more worn out, but generally doing well!

I'll update more after I've seen the new little lady, but we're so excited you're here babygirl! Now, Auntie eej has GOT to try and do some work today - I'm just too excited by you're arrival FINALLY!

Big Week Sunday, Day 3

What a great night! I got practically no sleep, but got fun updates via text and in between baby shane awakenings I had crazy dreams that the new babygirl was born with pigtails, but she was adorable!

Aimee is such a trooper so far - texting and posting! I just got word her water is broken and things are moving along... It's gonna be an exciting day!

Big Week Sunday, Day 2 - The actual Birthday!

Day 2 of Big Week Sunday was just as exciting as day 1! A little more exhausting than I expected (I blame my little man for that as he has decided that sleeping through the night is suddenly NOT COOL), but babygirl had a great birthday and got lots of attention, especially from her friend "A.J." at school. Which - note to A.J. - I'm keeping my eye on you. I'm not sure if there's something going on here, but Bridget talks about you quite a bit. In fact, between A.J. and Matthew, I'm not sure who she is more infatuated with currently. DO I smell a baby love triangle?

Anyway, so the actual BIRTHday is over, but the fun of BIG WEEK SUNDAY is just beginning. I just got word that A-Le might be starting pitocin tonight so we could be celebrating another birthday sometime in the wee hours of the morning (just like Bridgets!) so that has got me all excited! Maybe when the aforementioned baby night owl has me up in the wee hours of the night again, I'll get updates on baby m's progress like Kim and I did just 3 short months ago...

So, until then, here's a recap in pictures of day 2. Enjoy!

Getting ready to leave for school with her birthday cupcakes!

(Insert lots of hours in between at school and work here... boo...)

Finally home and ready to party with the family (and elmo)!

Big present - her "bike" - she knew what it was even though we've never talked about one before?! We were set to surprise her with this as the big present, but my hiding place in the laundry room didn't work out too well when we had a cranberry juice incident and she followed me in there to change her shirt. All I heard was, "bike, bike" and I knew I had busted that play big time!

Tim snuck this little license plate in our cart, but I can't blame him - how cute is that?

Capping off the evening with yet another piece of "appy earthday cake"
... all is right in her 2 year old world!

Happy Birthday babygirl - you are "two" funny!

Big Week Sunday, Day 1

Day 1 of BIG WEEK started out with the backyard being finished FINALLY! It's fully fenced, the sod is in and both Bridget and the boys were free to run...

Can you even believe this is our yard? We're taking bets on how long it stays green...

Of course a photo shoot broke out at some point in the day. This pic is about 1.1 second before she said "all done" and Shane flopped to his side hitting the stairs. It was not our best moment of the day...

We then spent some time making cupcakes for her "school" birthday party tomorrow... Isn't it impressive how she not only knows how to spell her name, but how to decorate cupcakes, too?

And, then of course we had to eat one of those for "practice".

Then, we took pictures of ourselves and ate Pirate's Booty - God, isn't it uncanny how much we look alike?

Lastly, we capped off day one with a little song...

Stay tuned for more from BIG WEEK SUNDAY! (I don't know why I'm calling it big week sunday, I realize that doesn't make any sense, but that's what I called it in the previous post, so I'm going to stick with it.)

Closing ceremonies open BIG WEEK Sunday

Normally by Sunday nights I have one of a few emotions; these emotions can range from exhaustion from a full weekend with two kids and two dogs and lots of events to sadness that the weekend is over to, honestly, sometimes happiness that the weekend is over and I'll get a break from the house and kids by being back at work! But, anyway, my whole point is this: NOT THIS WEEK, PEOPLE!

This Sunday is different. This Sunday I have a different emotion. I am jittery and shaky (and no I haven't been drinking caffeine again) with excitement. This is one of the biggest weeks I can remember in some time and I'm even including the week of May 1st in there, although that was a big one, too.

This week we get to celebrate TWO big birthdays! Not only is my babygirl turning two on Tuesday, we will also be welcoming a new member of the playgroup the very next day. Well, that is unless that babygirl gets her act together and decides to come in to this world tonight. (Which, by the way, baby r/k, could you please do that? I know your mommy would appreciate it and Bridget would really like her newest BFF at her birthday party).

I just can't believe sometimes how fast this time has gone and how in such a short amount of time so much can change (see that - I used the "c" word - yeah me!). I remember back to last New Year's Eve (wiggle your fingers here and make that doodly doo sound Wayne and Garth make when they're having a memory) when just Matthew and Bridget ruled the roost and we had three mommies to be at the party - which by the way doesn't make for the craziest new year's party, but it was fun nonetheless. We sat around talking about how things would change - ah! there it is again - by next year and how different having two kids would be and how much fun Mark and Kim would have on their first go around and on and on... Now we are about to come full circle with the newest babygirl joining the other two new people that we didn't even know that new year's - Shane and Amelia. It just seems so unreal to me at times, almost more so when I see other people like Aimee and Kim go through it then when I go through it myself. Such an amazing thing.

Okay, to stop the sapiness (can you see how thick it is -yuk) I'll just say I CANNOT wait for this week! Bridget actually understands it's her birthday and walks around singing "Happy Birthday Bridget" which actually sounds more like "oppie earthbay ridgey" but we know what she means, and we're cutting her some language slack again being only her SECOND birthday and all! I'm so excited about the presents we bought her and to have a birthday party for her where she'll have more of an idea about what's going on AND on top of all that, then we get to go meet the new babygirl and shower her with birthday presents, too! What a great week! I almost can't stand it.

I can see next New Year's eve now - 5 little munchkins running around (okay, well two running around and three just looking adorable as three little babies can look) and three new-ish mommies with a camera in one hand and a well-deserved cocktail in the other.

So, as I watch the closing ceremonies tonight, I think I will always remember these Olympics and the end of Summer '08 as being the beginning of a new chapter. One part the kick off of a new age for babygirl (terrible twos and all, I have a feeling this is also going to be one of the most hilarious and fun times with her to date) and the other part, the beginning of another brand new life that I just can't wait to have be a part of mine. Ah, isn't is all amazing, and oh so much fun?!

OMG, I just reread this and I better stop now before there's no more sap left to make maple syrup ever again...

Who says you can't get in a quick round of golf on your wedding day?

Happy 3rd Anniversary Mark and Kim!

Cheers!
We love you guys and remember how fun that day was!

When you push a tender moment to the max...

As I'm putting Bridget to bed tonight , after we've read books, sang "twinkle song" at least 19 times, and rocked, I take her to the crib and we do last hugs before we say night night. The conversation tonight went something like this, bear with me as I'm paraphrasing with toddlerese:

Bridget: night, night mommy

Me: night, night babygirl, can I have a hug?

Bridget: oooohhhhhh (she always illiterates her hugs)

Me: can I have a kiss?

Bridget: aaahh (big wet snotty kiss)

Me: I love you

Bridget: bluv you, bluv you

Me: Daddy loves you

Bridget: All done mommy, all done (makes a break for the crib)


Okay, kiddo I can take a hint.

Oh, how I've missed you big green...

Welcome back, we missed you! Nevermind the fact that this is decaf, but that's another story for another time.

Mystery on Ivy Trace (Perez Hilton style)

Approximately three months ago, my mom bought us a lovely intertwined hibiscus plant to fill a space in the landscaping that needed some added interest. Below is an artist's rendering of what that hibiscus looked like....before the mystery....

Here you will see the current state of the hibiscus is that it has ONE, yes ONE measly full blown growth left on the plant. This is the SECOND time this plant has been vandalized in less than a week. You might need to blow it up to see the pathetic state of the current plant as compared to the artist's rendering above.Approximately one week ago I went out to the car to find that about 1/2 of the beautiful plant was suspiciously missing. Just yesterday, I went outside to find that EVEN MORE of the plant had been compromised. Below you will see a tight shot of the scene of the crime, the cut/gnawed ends of the stems. Forensic testing is currently underway.

This time there was some evidence of an intruder left at the scene of the crime.

After the FBI completed it's criminal profiling, the sketch artist released this rendering of what may be occuring:


So, we know what the FBI thinks could be happening to the hibiscus on Ivy Trace, but I want to hear from you , internet peeps - what the bleeping bleep is going on?

All Star Game 2009 - what's your vote?

Am I the only one who doesn't like this logo? How do you feel - official poll at right.

Welcome to my own private Choo Choo Soul hell...

Q: How many consecutive times can an almost-two year old ask to watch the following 2-minute video clip:

A: Yet to be determined

Q: How many times can a barely 33 year old be forced to watch the previous 2 minute video clip without wanting to hurl herself out the window?

A: 1-2, 1-2-3
(ps-That answer won't make sense unless you actually subject yourself to watching the video. *Warning* Should you do that, you WILL BE singing it for the rest of the day, if not the week - Right aunt meme? 4-5, 4-5)

Lazy Sunday (only without Chris Parnell or Andy Samburg)

Gameday ready for when daddy gets home!

Thanks for the cool hat, Aunt A-Le

Logging lots of pool time this weekend

Riley loves the pool, too!

Chheeeeesssseee Riley

ps - Just in case you need a little lazy sunday pick me up...
Happy Weekend All!

Here you go, Mom (as Bridget would say)

I finally optimized and posted all the fourth of July pics. Somehow, I have none of Amelia and just these few of Shane. Sorry babies! Mark/Kim - do you have any to add here?

070408 4th of july

Tim said my previous title made no sense SO, Kim, this post was for you in response to the comment you posted on the previous entry... better, tpd?

Kim, I'm glad you asked about this as I do have an opinion/something to say about this notion of the "push present". Let's start here - the def of a push present, or you can read this NYT article here. FYI - I also think, for people like me, there should be a "17 hours of labor only to have my stomach and uterus sliced open" present.

Now, my true feelings about this whole "push present" thing - besides the fact that I absolutely cannot stand the name - is that it's kind of just another way our society is "pushing" (yes, pun intended) superfluous marketing down our throats that is beyond superficial and ridiculously sickening at times, “She delivered your first born; now give her twins.” Puke, puke puke... If I look through another Parenting/Pregnancy magazine with a mom holding her newborn and smiling down at both the baby and the new big whopping piece of jewelry on her neck/finger/wrist, etc. I seriously might throw up in my mouth a little (sorry, that's totally gross, but that's how I feel about that crap marketing). Now, having said that, understand I'm not knocking the actual gift-giving if heartfelt and thoughtout, but more the baggage heaped upon it by marketers and the media. So, that being said if a husband wants to do something well meaning and as a token of his love for his wife and their burgeoning future after the birth of a baby, like say buy her one of these, or take her out to dinner here, who am I to judge?

So, Lil' G (and Michael you might want to take note, too) - I've assembled a few photos of things I think you might need now or in the very near future:

A lovely May birthstone ring for Amelia's birthstone (sorry about that whole pearl thing now Kim - didn't know you were gonna up and have the baby a WHOLE MONTH early and screw up my necklace's symbolic meaning - i'm just kidding of course - sort of)
Personally this next one is a little too much for me, but hey to each their own. The mother and child necklace:

Or you could always roll Marc Anthony style with one of these:

Or, lastly, maybe you are more Keith Urban chic with one of these $73,000 gems:


Glad to help you boys (and the baby marketing industry) out.

ps - No, if you are wondering, I really don't have this much time on my hands these days.

Cheers to you Delant...

Here's to another great year! It's a hard one with lots of work, but lots and lots of rewards... we are lucky people!

Thanks to friends and family for all your continued support - you make us who we are! Who can guess where we are?

If my mom were with the KGB, this is how you could get her to talk...

I also thought about giving this to tpd as a present, but then I decided that I like fish too much for that.

I only wish George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg would have been here...

With tpd out of town the past two nights in Silex Missouri (seriously, Silex? At least my brother goes to cool places like New Orleans...) anyway, that meant I was on my own with two under two at dinner time and bedtime [insert sympathy here - sorry, but I gotta keep playing that up for as long as I still can]. Surprisingly though, I wasn't worried about it at all - I'd already had them both alone numerous times and it was no big deal. Last night though? Last night was NOT no big deal... it was, in fact, a perfect storm of a big deal. A perfectly timed convergence of multiple forces (forces being a sleep-deprived mommy, crabby toddler, over-tired baby, hungry and cooped-up-all-day dogs, doorbell ringing neighbor AND battery-drained rainforest electronic sound soother machine) all crapping out in unison to create a massively impressive display of chaos that surely could have been it's own reality tv show.

Want to know the exact moment that broke me? Shane's "wa wa" fell behind the pack and play. I could not find it. It was simply gone (GONE!) even though I had been in sole possession of it just seconds before the unfortunate finger bobble that led to it's disappearance. So, after searching everywhere in the dark with screaming baby on one arm, I decided to deal with it the best way I could... I cried. No, no - I sobbed. Yes, there I was sobbing on the floor... sobbing, people!... wah wah sobs...for at least a minute or two in unison with the other two [actual] sobbing babies. BUT, finally a happy ending ensued as my finger tips located the wa wa and I emerged from under the pack and play victorious, wa wa in hand. Nevermind the unfortunate face full of dog hair or the faint smell of dog urine burned in my nose hairs (yes, part of the aforementioned perfect storm), nonetheless, I was victorious, the storm receded to a mere drizzle and I would live to see another day... the next day...which brings us to today...

Faced with the same MIA husband scenario tonight, I was going to make sure there would be no perfect storm. Tonight I packed my extreme new mommy weather gear: no umbrella, hat, goulashes (what are those exactly?) for me... for tonight's typhoon I was armed... with food. McDonalds food.

We hit the drive thru on the way home. The ice cream cone was supposed to be for me, (only 2 WW points!) but I was prepared to share. I knew I would hear her protests immediately, "eat? eat? Bridget eat?!" So, I willingly handed it over. Worked like a charm. I won her over immediately...until I made a fatal mistake. I reached into her Happy Meal box and popped a fry in my mouth. She saw it. "French fry? French fry" - "Here you go mommy - all done" (she shouted trying desperately to hand me back the ice cream cone.) "French fry? French fry?"

Now, I have to be honest. At this moment, I was beyond proud. She really was MY daughter. She was handing back an ice cream cone for the much more desired french fry. She was turning down sweets for fried food. [A-HA!] We were related... we were soooo... related. (Most of you have heard me say this before, but I would gladly turn down any kind of sweets in favor of a heaping plate of cheese fries.) All was right in the world, my daughter and I were one... and then this happened...

at least Pinka got to taste french fries...
and at the very least, the sky stayed sunny and bright tonight...
not a storm cloud in sight.

It's kinda like the 4th of July threw up all over my page, eh?

I changed the layout tonight to showcase some of my favorite summer photos (on the left), sorry, I'll have to refine it some, it's a little too much right now, but I'm too sleepy to do anything else to it. I'll leave you with one of my favorite photos from the 4th weekend, I can't even take credit for this one - Big D was the photographer here, I just added the artsy fartsy stuff...

Because flamingo balloons are obvious indicators of quality

eej: Look at that cool garage sale - We HAVE to go there Saturday!

tpd: Mmmm..hmmm

eej: Oh! it's right down the street

tpd: mmm...hmmm.

eej: We'll be the first one's there - like 6 am.

tpd: okay, I give, why do you want to go to this so bad?

eej: tpd, OBVIOUSLY anybody that uses a flamingo balloon to promote their garage sale has got to have awesome stuff.

tpd: and that's exactly why I shouldn't have asked.


*****

Sidenote: While I'm busy blogging making fun of my mental age and finding flamingo balloon images, I'm simultaneously hosting a webinar about conversion rates, analytics and using multi-variant testing to increase macro conversion for web 2.0 consumer behavior... if they only knew....

Ah... save me from my cousin's giant baby head!!!(or something better than that hopefully...)

I realize I still owe prizes to some of my past "contest" winners, like this one (Kim was the big winner) or this one (Tara's been waiting two years for her big prize) but here's another - if you are so inclined to enter- Delanty t-shirt contest. (I mean it this time, I'm getting caught up!)

I thought this pic needed a clever caption/slogan and I'm not coming up with anything so what do you guys have, oh clever internet folk?

PS - Are they not too cute or what - even my son and his GIANT towering head... see the caption possibilities are endless...

She definitely doesn't get this from me...

Hey Matthew! This is what I like to do for an hour! In fact, if you ask me to stop this anytime under at least an hour, I'm likely to collapse in a big teary, screaming heap of a mess on the floor because - don't you know- my teeth are STILL not clean!

Gotta get those toofers in the back.

Mommy, teeth? Mommy teeth?

This one is because, oh dear lord, she insists on wearing her socks with her sandals...
remind you of anyone?

Me + Emotions = All Mixed Up (like that 3-1-1 song)

Yesterday was Shane's first day at Bridget's "school". I'm pretty happy with Bridget going there now, even though that was a rough adjustment at first, too. Maybe it's because she waves goodbye and gives kisses and says in her too cute voice, "bye mom, bye mommy" and everything seems fine or the fact she brings me home her artwork and talks about the "markers" and "colors" she played with making her masterpieces. BUT dropping my new baby off there yesterday SUCKED big time. I mean you put so much time and energy into feeding, napping, playing, tummy times, crying times that it becomes your main job and focus of each day and then yesterday, it just suddenly wasn't anymore.

I handed him over to the "ladies". Don't get me wrong, I love the ladies there (we mainly just call them that cause we get their names all confused). They are all very sweet and loving and they loved Bridget and they were looking forward to Shane coming and getting to know him, but they are NOT ME and they are not my mom and they are not any of my family/friends that know his "rhythm" or his needs. So, relinquishing some of that control for the first time was harder than I expected. I'm not even sure why - maybe because I feel like I worked harder on him or understand him a little better than Babygirl when she was his age or maybe it's just being more experienced, but whatever the case, it stinks. And I am SOOO not like this - I am not a control freak nor do I usually care about schedules and time tables, but when I called yesterday and he was not sleeping very well and had been somewhat fussy, it just got to me big time. Suddenly, I felt like they had no idea what they were doing and that they probably missed his all important "sleep window" and that recovering from that missed window is not easy, and that now he was going to go through a lot of screaming and not sleeping ALL DAY and that if I were at home with him I could "fix" it - even though I totally could not fix it and most days when I am home with him and he is having one of those days I just wish he could be at school and I could concentrate on work.... oh! hello grass - aren't you greener over there?

[Mixed emotions enter here. ] Because you know what else? I really LOVE being back at work by myself. I like sitting at a computer in an office and listening to Jack Johnson and Bob Marley on iTunes (it's a good playlist, don't knock it 'til you've tried it) and taking phone calls and planning out third quarter marketing strategies without having one ear tuned in at all times for a baby crying in the background. I don't have to get up every few minutes and feed or swaddle or shoosh and then come back and try to figure out where I was analyzing the SEO data and why there was a decline in the internet traffic for KP Properties over the past two weeks. So, yesterday and today I kept getting these little pangs of happiness creeping in that things are getting to be a new "normal" again and I like it and then I think of my little babyboy and that he is NOT in his little cradle at home and he most certainly is not being swaddled properly and my little happiness sinks backs to sadness thereby creating one big jumble of emotions.

If anyone would understand, I think it's my favorite emotion-monitoring toddler, Matthew. He would look at me with those big blue eyes and say - "Erin happy? Erin sad?"

Yes, Matthew, Erin happy, Erin sad all at once.

It's all about the Gun Show, isn't it TRD??!

I'll let my pics tell the story of the awesome KC weekend. The cards won, we tailgated in beautiful weather, hung out with good pals, we stayed up late for the first time in a long time and NOT because someone was crying or needed something crazy like a bottle (well, at least not a bottle of formula). All in all it was a very good time and a very nice break for us (thanks to mom's and dad's for taking dogs and kids)! I must say it was almost eerie Friday night when the house was totally empty with everyone except tpd and me... nice, but totally strange.

Hope everyone had a great fourth of July weekend, I'll have to post our lake pics soon and recap what an awesome time we had, but I needed to give KC it's proper props first. Yeah, I typed proper props and I like it...click here to see all.

It's not like I did this for 45 minutes or anything...

Happy Birthday Uncle Mark/Lil' G! Hope it's a great 3-1!

At least the cable guy is going to live...

Here is the view from my office window this morning. I guess this is what happens when your husband finally has enough of the people at Charter Communications and short of committing illegal acts of aggravated assault and murder and such, he is left with only one choice:


I don't know when the last time I saw TPD this giddy was. He's like a little girl waiting in line for the newest American Doll to come out: high-pitched, dancing around wiggly giggly saying things like, "it's only a matter of time now" and "i love this direct tv guy already".

UPDATED: Just now, he walked the DSL guy out the front door and I heard him say with glee in his voice, "today is the day that charter goes away".. he might as well have just grabbed the dsl guy's hand and skipped away into the sunset with him he was so happy.