Pacifier In My Pocket

Movin' On Up!

2010-03-22T12:40:00.001-04:00

We've moved! Come check out all the Binky goodness at www.pacifierinmypocket.com! Don't forget to update your Google readers, bookmarks, etc. We'll see you there! Go now!

Photo Friday & What Did You Get Right?

2010-03-19T11:45:00.000-04:00

From looking at my pictures, you'd think we spend all our time at the park. I wish! This is one of my favorite shots from our spontaneous playground visit this week.

I'm not exactly sure what is it about this one...maybe the funky lighting...maybe that it seems to really capture Bink's personality (always busy being in other people's business). For whatever reason, this shot of two of the boys I love most in life makes me smile.

I promise next week I'll go for a non park shot! It's just so hard when the weather is this pretty!

Two weeks ago I started asking What Did You Get Right? I love hearing your answers and it helps me to have to stop and thinking of what I got right each week. Especially this week with all the silly mistakes at once.

This week I took a little time for myself. I always feel guilty if I'm off work sending Bink to daycare. I feel like I already miss so much time with him being at work that I'm not there, I should be soaking up the time with Bink. And I should. But sometimes its nice to remember what life was like pre-Bink. You know...eat a meal with two hands, waste time on the internet, try on clothes without dancing a stroller in circles to keep the baby happy, pee without someone sitting on my lap. I almost felt like me again, not "just" a mommy.

Hosted by Cecily

Comedy of Errors, Part Two

2010-03-17T14:43:00.000-04:00

You'll be happy to hear that the rest of my Tuesday was MUCH better than the expected, given the ridiculous start to the day. I did spend about four hours total in Panera getting all the photos off my phone (and eating soup!). I was slightly annoyed at spending so much time doing that, but then I got caught up looking at all the great pictures of Bink I've taken over the past nine and half months. I also managed to max out a "Mobile Uploads" folder on Facebook. Impressive.

If you'd like to see the pictures that ate my morning they are here and here. (And you might as well become a fan of Pacifier In My Pocket while you're on Facebook anyway!)

Luckily, after all that preemptive work, the speaker on my phone magically began to work again. Apparently it just needed to dry out from all the drool before it was functional again.

Before picking up Bink from daycare I was determined to accomplish one thing off of my to-do list for the day. I managed to pop into Goodwill (yup, I'm cool like that) and pick up a pair of Liz Claiborne jeans, a grey cardigan, and a board book of Good Night, Moon for $12. So at least now I won't smell like fish oil. Blech.

Since its one of the first few nice days we've had in the Mid-Atlantic this year, I decided to take Bink on a walk before heading home. We parking along a great bike and walking trail that runs for miles and miles around here. Bink and I strolled along listening to country music from my iPod for a while and just enjoying being outside.

On the way home, I got what was actually my best idea of the day. I called Hubby and told him to blow off grocery shopping for dinner. Instead we picked up the kids and took them to the playground for a while. K was happy to get to run around a bit and climb on things, even though she's a little too big for this particular playground. We took turns pushing Bink on the swings and let him crawl back and forth though a tunnel I picked up a pizza on the way home for dinner.

I felt guilty for not actually cooking dinner. Not that I often do the cooking, but I'd offered this time. But, sometimes you need to just throw some pizza on the table and spend that time doing something more important...like playing at the park.

Comedy of Errors

2010-03-16T12:07:00.001-04:00

Uh, it's only 10 a.m. and I should probably just start today over. Here's a little back story... I'm off of work this week for Spring Break (one of the advantages of working at a University). I decided to spend most of the week with Bink, instead of sending him to daycare, but to also spend a half-day or two child-free.

Yesterday I kept Bink with me so we could go to his 9 month check up. Today was supposed to be at least partially baby-free so that I could accomplish a long list of important things. Like blogging. And uploading home videos to YouTube. And buying new jeans (since my favorite pair lost a battle to a fish oil vitamin last week...they still smell like a wharf).

Last night I realized there was some breast milk in the refrigerator. My mommy brain thought, oh, better freeze that. It won't keep until next week when Bink goes back to daycare. Next week? Hey there, Brain. How about tomorrow? Now, thawing out milk isn't a big deal, but once its been thawed it needs to be used within 24 hours. I try no to thaw it out unless I know we'll use it. That meant I'd need to pump in the morning.

This morning started off pretty smoothly. Hubby took baby duty last night so I'd had a mostly full night of sleep. Bink got back in bed with me around 6:30 a.m., nursed, snuggled, and watched the Today Show until he was ready for a little morning nap.

We got back up, got dressed, and went downstairs so I could start pumping. At this point I have had no Diet Coke, no coffee, no breakfast, no nothing. I brilliantly decide to let Bink play on the floor while I pump since he hates being couped up in his exersaucer now. I rationalize this by thinking we have baby proofed pretty well and there is nothing out that he couldn't play with.

I sit down to pump, hook everything up, and then start a constant loop of "No, no, Bink" and "Bink, put that down, want this?" The problem with pumping is that it takes a while for your milk to let down. And once it does, you really shouldn't detach and stop to chase after 9 month old babies. Any stopping in the process slows down the milk, thereby delaying my diet coke, coffee, breakfast, and getting Bink's butt to daycare so I can have 10 minutes of peace.

Bink headed straight for my basket of books and magazines, grabbing firmly onto a paperback that my Mom lent me. In order to save the paperback's life, I leapt up (still attached to the pump) and snagged it from Bink. I offered him my cell phone instead. He happily went to chewing and slobbering on that for a few minutes. That is until he found my new issue of Working Mother magazine. I justified letting him rip a few pages out of it...until he started to eat the paper. I pretty sure he actually swallowed a small bite or two before I got the subscription card out of his mouth.

Noticing the tower fan across the room, he took off crawling for it and tried to pull himself up. The fan wobbled back and forth precariously for a minute before he gave up. In order to lure him back closer to me I offered him...my shoe. Don't judge me. I was out of toys, paper products, and expensive electronics to bribe him with.

Amazingly, Bink had no interest in my flip-flop and promptly took off for the side table. He snagged a pile of important paperwork from the contractor who is going to fix the snow-pocolypse damage to the house. Knowing I'd been beat, I unplugged the pump bag (though I was still attached to the pump parts) and ran across the room. I balanced the pump parts on my boobs with one arm and scooped Bink up with the other.

You can imagine how well that went. While I did salvage the paperwork from Binky's grubby paws, that is about all I managed. In the process of setting Bink back down, I dumped breast milk all over myself...the pump bag...and my only clean pair of jeans.

At that point, I gave up. I put Bink in his high chair with some puffs. I put the pump bag on the kitchen counter to deal with later. I wipe myself off, made Bink's bottle with what milk was left, and fed him a bowl of cereal.

I dropped Bink off at daycare and started off in search of breakfast and, more importantly, caffeine. I called Hubby for his "package delivery confirmation" (we always call after dropping Bink at daycare) and started chatting away at him. Instead of responding to my witty recounting of the milk debacle, he says "Honey? Honey? Are you there? I can't hear you!"

I hang up and call him back. I can hear him. He can't hear me. I repeat this process a few more times (I'm not easily deterred by failure) before giving up, slapping some mascara on in the Panera Bread parking lot, and going to get my breakfast.

Iced coffee and bagel with peanut butter in hand I hunker down in a comfy chair for some free wi-fi. I google "LG Dare speaker problems" and try to figure out a solution. The first option is to remove the battery and let it sit for a few minutes. When I take the back of the phone off, the inside is COVERED with baby slobber. No wonder the speaker won't work, I'm amazing the phone is still turning on!

I dried the area off with my sleeve (resourceful, aren't I?) and let the battery sit for a few minutes before trying to call Hubby a few more times. Still no luck. Now I'm still sitting in Panera an hour and half later texting all my pictures and video to my facebook page since I'm pretty sure the Verizon store is going to want to restore the factory defaults on my phone.

I woke up this morning thinking I was going to have a relaxing day to myself. Ah, the best laid plans...

Review--Boon Squirt Baby Food Dispensing Spoon

2010-03-15T20:43:00.000-04:00

Boon's tagline is "Innovations for Modern Parents" and they do seem to have some adorable and innovative baby products (like their grass theme drying rack).

I first saw the Boon Squirt Baby Food Dispensing Spoon at Target. Target actually carries a few of Boon's baby feeding products (and lots of their other goodies online). I stood in the aisle at Target a few times debating it with Hubby and the consensus was we didn't need it. He was right, we didn't need it, but it did look like fun!

Want to know what I thought of it? Head over to Pacifier Party, my review and giveaways blog, to find out!

Busy Ball Poppin' Fun

2010-03-15T12:18:00.000-04:00

My mom bought Bink a Busy Ball Popper for Christmas. For those you without one, it was described to me as baby crack. He LOVES the thing, but hasn't quite hit the age where he knows how to work it. Mostly he climbs on it and tries to take the balls out the eat them.

He, K, and Hubby have worked out a system though. K chases the balls after the spray across the room (and squeals about it). Hubby pushes the control button with his foot. Bink steals the balls to eat them and giggles at how goofy his sister is. Me? I take video for posterity.

Photo Friday & What Did You Get Right?

2010-03-12T10:19:00.002-05:00

Bink and I visit Grandma every Wednesday night. Its actually a tradition that pre-dates him by a few years. First we'd just go shopping each week. It's amazing how much time we can kill in a Target with a Starbucks. Or any Target really. Then for a while we planned my wedding...making buttonaires, ironing "Team Groom" onto shirts for Hubby's friends, hot gluing sea shells to raffia. Later we took up knitting, called it Stitch and Bitch, and added another friend to the mix. And a lot more wine.

Shortly after the transition to Stitch and Bitch, I found out I was pregnant with Bink. Out with the wine for me and in with lots and lots of hand knitted baby booties (that he never wears because they don't stay on his feet for even three short seconds). Every week I'd update whoever would listen to me about which vegetable Bink was closest to in size that week. He's a sweet pea this week. This week he's a banana. That seems so big. That's big, right? It's only blahdy-blah-blah more weeks/days/seconds until he's due.

Amazingly, since Bink was born I've only managed to knit twice. Once at Hubby's parents house for a few days when he was very small and content to be held by Grandma and Grandpa. And once at work because the students wanted to knit during a club meeting. So not so much stitching going on at Stitch and Bitch anymore, but we seem to still manage to fill the time! Maybe with a little bitching...but mostly with laughing, wine, and video games. We're quite good at Rock Band and Wii Resort.

This week I was able to get to Grandma's earlier than I normally do and it just happened to be one of the few nice days we've had this year so far. Seriously, there is still some snow left from the big storm over a month ago. Instead of just chatting we took Bink to the park. He was thrilled to be outside and LOVED the swings. It makes me happy just thinking of all the swings in our future this Spring. If only it were 30 degrees warming and not raining. Or snowing. Or gusting at 30 mph. One day, I'm sure of it.

Last Friday I introduced the idea of What Did You Get Right?. I got lots of comments from you all about your triumphs for the week, so I think we should play again.

This week I slowed down a little while I was nursing Bink. Normally I use that time (the ONLY time he is still-ish anymore) to check email, catch up on tv, chat with Hubby and K, open junk mail, whatever I can do with one hand while seated. On Tuesday I took Bink up to our bed to nurse him before he went to sleep and instead of trying cram in twelve other things, I just watched him for a few minutes. I thought about what it was like with him those first few weeks when he got home from the hospital. I stroked his hair and sung to him. I just enjoyed his company. When he was finished he rolled over and gave me a little content sigh. I think he enjoyed our quiet time together too.

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Exciting News

2010-03-10T14:12:00.000-05:00

Over the next few weeks there be some major bloggy changes going on 'round these parts! A few days ago Hubby purchased my domain name for me and is starting the process of building me a site there (don't bother going there, there is nothing to see yet).

I'm a little nervous at the prospect of changing my blogging platform (blogger to wordpress) and using iWeb to design the site. It will be great in the end, but I always hate the first few days/weeks/months of learning a new technology like that. I always mutter to myself about how if I was just doing it the old way, I'd be done by now.

So...keep your eyes peeled for the big unveiling! I'll let you know when there is actually something to be seen over there!

And also, here's a random picture of Bink. Just in case you thought I forgot your daily dose. Strange lightening, but I kind of like it.

And It Keeps Getting Better

2010-03-10T10:21:00.065-05:00

A few of my favorite blogs have been talking about the best advice they could give to newlyweds. It got me thinking about the best advice about marriage that I had been given.

During our first year of marriage there were some forces outside of our control that added immense amounts of stress to our relationship. Those of you with blended families will likely understand immediately what I'm talking about. Those of you who are not should know that step-families are challenging even in the best circumstances and when everyone has all their oars in the water. (At some point I will do a post on step-families in general so you understand where I'm coming from with this.)

I tried for months to bite my tongue on an issue that I felt like I needed to let Hubby handle on his own. I didn't want to nag him. I didn't want to fight. But I also didn't want to be angry and resentful and that was the road I was heading down.

I went to my mom for advice..and maybe to bitch and complain and be told that I was right. My mother has raised four children. She's survived the step-family dynamics. And she and my step-dad have been married for almost 20 years.

There are a few things you should know about my mom. She's no nonsense. She doesn't put up with pity parties. And she will not tell you that you're right just to make you feel better. She also has the kind of marriage that try to model my own after.

She and my step-dad got married in the height of their children's obnoxious years. Their newlywed stage coincided with teens, tweens, and overall brattiness on behalf of me and my brothers. I'm sure we didn't make it easy for them. Blending two families is never easy. Except they made it look that way.

They made it look like everything was easy. And I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean that it was apparent then, and it still is now, that they love each immensely, they love all of us children immensely, and that they could weather anything because of that.

Looking back now through the lens of my own step-family experience, I'm sure it wasn't easy. I'm sure there were lots of things in my self-centered youth that I missed and took for granted and just generally had no clue about. But more than anything, what I remember about that time is how obvious it was that they were in love.

As simple as that sounds, you don't always see that in parents (your own, your friends, strangers on the street). It was so obvious that we used to tease them and I was complain about how "gross" it was that they held hands when we went to the mall. Because there is nothing more embarrassing to a teenager than having to admit you have parents at all...let alone parents who would dare to hold hands. IN PUBLIC!

The reason I'm telling you all this is so that you understand why I would put so much faith in my mother's advice (outside of her being my mother and all).

So I went to visit her and complained. Poor me. Hubby won't do it my way. Hubby won't do EVERYTHING my way. If it were me, I would do it this way. Why didn't he just KNOW to do it this way?

And she may have (gently) pointed out that I had never mentioned any of this to Hubby. I'd just expected him to know how I would do it and do it that way. Wasn't that what it mean to be married? You just knew what the other person wanted. Right? Right? Oh. I see.

Not only did I have to be willing to tell Hubby what I was thinking, I had to be OK with disagreements. I had this idea in my head that couples who were right for each other never fought. Now I know that couldn't have been further from the truth. Couples who really care about each other and their relationship don't just disagree from time to time, sometimes they flat out argue or fight. Sometimes they do it in a mature way. Sometimes they do it in, ahem, less mature ways (like storming out the house and going to Target to hide).

Couples who really care, care enough enough to disagree with each other. They care enough to speak up when something isn't right. They care enough not to let things slide that will eat away at them later. They care enough to fight because sometimes fighting is the harder thing to do. They care enough about the marriage to constantly strive to make it stronger and to not just take the easy way out.

I went back to Hubby later and told him what I really thought. And we argued about it. And eventually we reached a solution that worked for us. Was it comfortable and easy? No. I'd have rather just come home pretended everything was fine and watched a movie. Was it the right thing to do for our marriage? Absolutely.

We were able to take a situation that could make or break a young marriage and use it to make our relationship stronger. And we really are a better team for it.

I try to remember that advice when the big things creep up. I'm not talking about the pile of clothes on the floor instead of in the hamper. Oh wait, those are mine. I'm talking about the BIG stuff. The stuff that eventually defines a marriage. The stuff that you know you won't sleep that night if you don't do the right way. Those are the things not to short change your marriage with by at least trying to talk it out.

Do I get it right every time? Not even close. But I keep trying... because I want to have the kind of marriage where my children complain about how gross and in love their parents are too.

Tuesday Treats

2010-03-09T07:57:00.000-05:00

Need some fun or crafty ideas to try out this Tuesday? I've got you covered!

Some adorable nursery decor ideas from Baby Cheapskate. I really want to try these!
Rookie Moms' post on how to make a toddler playlist to help kids unwind before naptime. I wonder if this would work with a nine month old?
Monthly photos to take with baby, again from Rookie Moms. I'm totally going to do these with our next little-y one. So cute!
A great perspective on how its OK that motherhood is hard sometimes. My Mom Genes is a great site for lots of reasons, but this particular post really spoke to me.

And just in case you thought I'd forgotten...an adorable picture of the Bink! I'm not sure why he is praying to the ceiling fan, but he appears to be.

Also for those of you keeping track from Friday's post, I was down a total of 1.2 pounds in my first WW week. I'll keep you posted on my progress this week!

Creating a Nursery on a Budget

2010-03-08T07:37:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday! Head over to Baby Cheapskate for my guest post on putting together a nursery on a budget!

Plus there are fun pictures of Bink's nursery! In fact, here's a cute picture of Bink in his nursery to get you motivated. So go already!

Photo Friday With A Twist

2010-03-05T05:41:00.001-05:00

I took this photo last weekend while I was learning all the settings on my new camera (hence the blue coloring). I love this picture because it really captures Bink's personality...always curious and looking for something to get into...and adorable. It helps his case that he's adorable.

Now here's the twist...in the mornings I listen to a great country station on my way to work. Every Friday the DJ asks listeners to call in and talk about what they got right that week. At first I thought it was really cheesy, but as I listened to people sharing things they were proud of (even really small things), it grew on me. I tried to think of something I'd gotten right this week. I could come up with a huge list of things I did wrong.

I called the baby by the dog's name (and our dog's name isn't even a human name...it's Buttons). I lost my temper with K over something stupid she hadn't done the way I wanted. I hadn't spent enough time with my husband, instead trying to cram a few hours of sleep in during the evenings before the Bink gets up at 1:30 a.m. like clockwork. Unreturned emails and phone calls. A to do list with nothing crossed off.

It was really easy to come up with things I didn't do well. It was a lot harder to come up with things I did right. So I'm going to ask you all each week, what did you get right? It doesn't matter how small, sometimes you need to celebrate putting your shoes on the right feet or remembering to brush your hair before you leave for work (or maybe its just me).

Here's what I got right...This week I started back on Weight Watchers. I've spent the last nine months hoping that the baby weight would come off with me just eating junk food and not exercising. Surprisingly, it hasn't. So, Monday morning I weighed myself, cringed a little, and wrote it down in a notebook. I've tracked everything I've eaten this week and while I haven't been perfect I've been pretty good. And I'm down a pound so far. I'll weigh in again Monday and I'm hoping for continued success.

So leave a comment and tell me what you got right this week! Or tell me how adorable Bink is getting into trouble in the picture above, I'll take either!

Hosted by Cecily and Kelli

Upgrade

2010-03-04T09:42:00.000-05:00

The Bink recently gave up his infant carrier to the relaxing, luxury of his big boy car seat. You can see him here testing out the new accommodations. I think the internal dialogue went something like this:

Why am I in this silly seat with only my shoe to play with?

Seriously? My shoe? Maybe Mommy doesn't realize this isn't a toy.

Ugh! And the paparazzi are back! I'm just sitting, nothing to see here!

Mooommy! I'm still in this seat and we're not even going anywhere. And I have no binky. And my overalls are too short.

Yawn. Well, if she is going to leave me here, I may as well get comfortable.

Things I Learned Today

2010-03-03T15:57:00.000-05:00

Bink's daycare was closed today, so I took the day off to stay home with him. Here's what I learned today:

Cat toys, especially jingly feathered ones, appeal to both cats and babies.
A naked baby, left undiapered for only a few moments while a bath is drawn will pee all over your clean sheets. If the sheets are dirty, he won't even notice his diaper is off.
If you spontaneously decide to give the baby a bath off his regular schedule, he will reward you trying to eat the plastic shower liner.
Once you rediaper the clean baby, he will poop before you can even snap his onsie on.
A baby can get his socks off before you even finish buckeling him in the car seat. If the socks miraculously make it until after you start the car, it's only because he was waiting until you were distracted by driving to try to eat them.
Nothing is more entertaining to a baby than his reflection in a dressing room mirror.
The best entertainment for a baby in a high chair is a few empty plastic sauce cups. He will spend most of lunch playing with them and throwing them on the floor instead of eating his baby food. Until...
He realizes whatever you are eating for lunch is infinitely more appealing than both the plastic cups and his own baby food. Even if its only vegetables, beans, and rice.
A baby can be cranky and screaming at his mommy, but if a stranger says hello he will light up and beam an adorable smile at them. When the passer-by is gone, its back to crank pot behavior.
When a baby is being carried, all he wants is to get down. When he's down, all he wants is to be picked up.
That one time you pick him up and he snuggles into, wraps his little baby arms around your neck, and gives you a slobbery, toothy kiss makes all the rest of it worthwhile.

Nine Months!

2010-03-02T12:58:00.000-05:00

Dear Emerson,

You are nine months old today. It seems like that can't be, I swear I just brought you home from the hospital. I remember being so worried about you when you wouldn't gain weight fast enough. You had little tiny chicken legs and I thought they'd never plump up. Just look at you now! Mommy can hardly lift you, you are so heavy and tall!

You are turning into such a big boy and it's both wonderful and heartbreaking to watch you change so quickly. Gone are the days when you were content to cuddle with your Mommy on the couch for hours. Gone are the days I can even change your diaper without it feeling like I'm wrestling an alligator.

I'm so proud of the boy you are becoming. You are so curious and independent. You crawl all over the house like you own the place. You'd crawl anywhere we let you like that. You want to touch everything, put it in your mouth, teeth on it a little for good measure. You love to cruise along the couch, seeing what fun you can find. And you find fun and joy in everything, even crumpling up junk mail. And you make my life more fun simply because of your smile.

You babble and laugh all the time and you are FULL of opinions. You so expressive and its amazing to watch you find new sounds and noises to try out. You giggle to yourself when Daddy tickles you and you laugh out loud when Sissy plays with you. You so full of love and happiness every day.

You have your Daddy's handsome smile and beautiful blue eyes. And you love to share that smiles and bat those baby blues at anyone who comes near you. Grandma pointed out that people stare at you when we go places and they do. People stop me to tell me how handsome and cute and sweet and happy you are every time I take you anywhere. You seem to brighten people's days with your adorable little gummy grin.

You love to feed yourself and will stuff whole handfuls of rice in your little mouth. You do a happy dance in your high chair when you like your food or are feeling silly.

My favorite time of day is just before bed. You've had your dinner, taken a bath, gotten into snuggly pajamas...and then its just me and you. We cuddle up in the big bed and you nurse until you fall asleep. You make the sweetest little noises when you are sleepy and sometimes I snuggle with you for a while longer after you've fallen asleep. Then Daddy moves you to your comfy crib to sleep the night away (or at least until one a.m. when you need your midnight snack).

One day I'll look back on these middle of the night feedings and miss them, I think. I like having the quiet time with you, just the two of us. At four a.m. it's just you and me, buddy!

You changed my world nine months ago. I was not prepared for how much it was possible to love someone so tiny! Now that you're growing so much bigger, my love for you is growing too. I love you even more today than I did then. And I will love you more tomorrow. I will love you always.

Love,
Mommy

Two Truths and A Lie

2010-02-27T13:14:00.003-05:00

Have you ever played this game? If not, don't worry, I'll explain.

I work for an University and we play this game often as an ice breaker (you remember, those silly activities people make you do at a conference or something to get things started). Here's how you play....

Think about all the cool facts about yourself. Decide on your favorite two. Then, pick out some wildly crazy made up fact (maybe something you wish was true, maybe something that's almost true).

The goal of the game is to share all three facts as if they were true. Everyone else guesses which ones are true and which one is the lie. I've learned some really interesting (and random!) facts about my students through this game.

Want to play with me?

Here are my facts:

1. I've been scuba diving or snorkeling with eight different species of sharks.
2. One of my first jobs was dressing up as a mascot in a puffin suit at an aquarium.
3. I spent a summer cleaning the octopus and piranha tanks at a different aquarium in college.

Hubby and I on a boat in Jamaica on our Honeymoon.

Did we snorkel? Were there sharks?

Do you know which one is the lie? Take a guess in the comments!

Want to play along? Do a post on this and leave a link below so we can visit your blog and guess!

HappyBaby Giveaway Winner

2010-02-26T12:20:00.000-05:00

Did you win? Head over to Pacifier Party to find out!

Photo Friday

2010-02-26T09:35:00.001-05:00

Bink as Granddad walked in the room...

Hosted by Cecily and ???

Picture Perfect

2010-02-25T18:31:00.002-05:00

I'm kind of obsessed with pictures. I'll pause here and let my family and friends chuckle to themselves for a minute. Done? Ok. But it's true, I am.

There is nothing more I love than doing a photo shoot with the kids or even Hubby and I. I've done a handful of them at home and they've turned out better than the ones I've had done at the mall portrait studio. My mom did our engagement photos and pregnancy photos and they all turned out great. One day maybe I'll get them uploaded so I can show them to you.

But I think the real reason that I'm so obsessed with pictures is to have them to look back on later. There are pictures of the Bink when he was wee-tiny--you know, because he's so big now--that bring tears to my eyes. I feel like this is especially important in the first year, and even more in the first few months, because babies change to much, even just week to week.

I have eleventy-bajillion pictures of the Bink, especially since I've learned to use the "burst" mode on the camera when it just keeps taking pictures until I take my finger off the button. I would have more pictures of K, but often when I pull out the camera in a public place I hear "You're embarrassing me!"

Can you hear it? Make sure it's full of a mix of tween sass and exasperation.

I was lucky enough to receive an amazing camera for my birthday and I haven't put it down since. I had been wanting to learn how to use a digital SLR camera (the big kind with all the fancy lenses and manual adjustments) for a long time. I used to love a old film based one (Film? Who uses film?) in high school and would get such a kick of doing the focusing myself and trying out special filters. So basically, I'm going to drive you all nuts with pictures because I took at least two hundred yesterday alone.

While I'm super excited for my new toy, you don't need to have a fancy camera to take great pictures. Before Bink was born I knew I wanted to do a newborn photo shoot with him, but I had never done one myself (although I was quite good at that point at telling my mom how I wanted her to take pictures of me!).

I did a lot of research online, mostly browsing photography sites (google newborn portraits, adorable!) and finding ones that I liked. I kept a file of those and jotted down ideas as they came to me. Then, one afternoon when Binky was just three weeks old we found ourselves with nothing to do. Hubby was playing video games, K was playing outside, and Bink and I were just sitting on the couch staring at each other. So I decided now was the time!

I grabbed anything around the house that I thought might be a good prop, a white blanket, and my camera (not the new fancy one, an older one Hubby had since before I married him). I opened up all the blinds, covered the couch with the blanket, and plopped Bink down. The results are below:

Emerson Portraits

Are they perfect? No. I could have used better lighting. I could have used more experience. I could have used a real backdrop. Lots of things could have made the shots better. But are they pretty good? I think so. Especially for not having any experience and doing it all by myself. But the best part? That afternoon is one of my favorite memories with Bink. And I use the pictures ALL THE TIME. You'll see them all over my site, they are the ones I used to create many of the banners and buttons. I've made countless photo gifts for my family with them. Now and then I still watch the slide show just to make me smile at how much personality Bink already had at three weeks old.

Find a few minutes and take pictures of the people you love. They can be posed, like my "formal" photo shoots, or candid shots while you've sitting around the living room. Do it often, even if it doesn't seem like its important at the time. You'll want the memories later.

The pictures through out this post are of Bink on a random Wednesday morning right before we left the house to start our day. He was in a silly mood, using his crib mattress as a trampoline and I couldn't help stopping what I was doing to take a few shots. Its one of the "everyday moments" that I don't always remember to capture and I'm working on doing more often.

I have used pretty much every site I can find to create photo gifts. There are a few that I go back to again and again, but I will also try any site that is having a good sale or giving away freebies. Look for a series of posts soon on Pacifier Party, my review and giveaway blog, all about photo sites.

Tuesday Treats

2010-02-23T10:35:00.000-05:00

Here's an adorable picture of the Bink to start your day off right...

And here's a collection of fun, random things I found to pass along to you! I'll try to do this every week. I find a lot of cool things and this will save my poor husband's eye from glazing over having to listen to all 487 of them.

Tips for traveling long distances with kids-- This is on my mind since we just booked our summer vacation rental in Myrtle Beach. I'm looking forward to the sun and sand...just not the 8+ hours in the car with two kiddos.
Photo Op for Almost Walkers--So cute! I'm going to try it with Bink this week and I'll post pictures when we do. I love any reason to take pictures. (If you want more great ideas like this, Rookie Moms published an awesome book that is full of fun activities)
Need a Laugh?--Confessions of a Young Married Couple is definitely worth reading every day, but sometimes it just makes me laugh out loud
Crafty Homemade Crayons--My tween has asking for the Crayola color swirl-y crayons every time we go to Target. I saw this post on how to make similar ones in the oven and it looks like fun. Now to find the time to actually do it. Hmm...

And also, today is my birthday! I'm entering into my last year of my twenties, a fact that is amusing the Hubby to no end. We're off for a child-free date!

I'm a Sucker For a Cute Baby

2010-02-22T22:46:00.001-05:00

Over the past few weeks I've realized that its a really good thing that the Bink is cute. Otherwise, I might just have had to return him.

Last week we had grumpy Bink. He was sleeping decently and only (ha, ha) getting up once or twice a night. But he was just...off. He screamed. He cried. He kicked. He flailed. He head butted me in the face and split my lip open. I'm 95% sure it was an accident, but you never know with these babies...always up to something.

We finally realized that the problem was that his two little bottom chompers had just poked through the surface. Once we knew the source of the drama, we orajeled, we tylenoled, we shoved teething rings in his general direction whenever possible.

Then one day he was suddenly in a better mood. I'm not sure what switch flipped, but all of a sudden we had happy Bink. However, happy Bink doesn't feel the need for sleep. We're still playing the "get up to watch the Olympics" game at least four times a night, which is slowly killing me (or at least making me loopy and unproductive with the sleep depravation).

At 5:15 this morning, after getting up at 2:15...and 3:30...and 4, I begged Hubby to take over when Bink decided he was rested and ready to start his day. I snuck in a half hour more sleep and got ready for work, muttering about making Binky sleep on the roof if he kept this up. I'm not sure why the roof, it seemed like a fitting punishment.

The Bink must have known he was on thin ice with me. So in his sneaky baby ways, he waited until I was completely burned out to bring on the cuteness. As I was dropping him at daycare this morning, he brought out the big guns.

He was sitting on his daycare provider's lap and I kissed him goodbye. I waved good-bye to him and he said "Mama!" and reached out his arms for me to pick him up.

I guess I won't make him sleep on the roof after all. I'm such a sucker.

HappyBaby Gift Pack Giveaway

2010-02-20T00:14:00.002-05:00

Want to win this yummy HappyBaby gift pack for your little one? Enter at my review and giveaway blog, Pacifier Party!

Photo Friday

2010-02-19T11:22:00.002-05:00

Lots of other great sites I read do this and I think its a fun tradition. I always have photos I love that don't go with my posts.

Because it doesn't get cuter than this...

Olympic Dreams

2010-02-18T13:31:00.001-05:00

Actually, most of my dreams lately are about the distant possibility of sleeeeeep. Instead of sleep most of the last week, Bink and I have been watching the Olympics. Thankfully NBC runs coverage into the wee hours. I've been able to see some really great moments that I wouldn't have seen if I were busy doing other things (like sleeping, for example).

I have always loved the Olympics, but this one feels particularly special. I think it's the contrast with the 2008 Summer Olympics. Besides the obvious Winter-Summer thing, my life has changed SO MUCH since those days.

Living in Maryland, everyone was obsessed with Michael Phelps and the gold medal quest. Hubby and I stayed up late to watch his races, back when I could do frivolous things, like stay up until midnight on a weeknight (er, any night).

That was also just before we could out that the Bink was on his way. Hubby and I had been trying to get pregnant for a few months and I remember being so upset in August when I got my period. And then my whole world changed in September when I didn't. I tend to mark time in my head as pre-Bink, pregnant with Bink, and post-Bink.

Now the Olympics are here again and I've got my own little Olympic athlete. Right now, he's competing in the Pulling Up Using Unstable Objects, Stuffing Puffs In Your Pants, and Crawling Over Hurdles events. And he's kicking the rest of our butts at them. He's also won gold every night this week at the Wake Up Mommy at 3 a.m....and 4 a.m....and 5 a.m.. events. Shame he couldn't be a little more of an under-achiever.

This morning in particular Bink seemed not only focused on his own gold medal, but also on seeing Shaun White take home snowboarding gold. He woke up at 3 a.m., nursed for a while, realized it was just figure skating on, and decided to take a quick nap to save his energy for the half-pipe.

Right around 4:30 his little eye plinked back open and he actually sat up in his crib, held onto the rails (like in a little baby jail), and wailed his baby cries at me.

Moooommy! Mooooommy! Hurry! We're going to miss it! There are only three more snowboarders left! Moooommy! We can't miss the Double McTwist 1260!

(See, he's a genius! He already knows his snow boarding lingo!)

I dragged my sleepy self out of bed, snagged him, and plunked us both on the couch. He happily nursed, watched the end of the snowboarding competition, and promptly fell asleep two seconds after Shaun White's second run. He knew. I'm sure he knew.

Back to bed we went (again!) but as soon I put him down he started to cry again. Mooooommy! I was just resting my eyes. We can't sleep now! Lindsay Vonn is getting her gold medal. Don't you want to see?

So back to the Olympics we went. I'm all caught up on exciting Olympic news (including the US Speed Skating qualifying run). Hopefully there aren't any super important Olympic moments being replayed tonight. I'm not sure who gave this kid the TV Guide (or how he's reading it for that matter), but either way...

Mommy needs some sleep.

Daydreams and Boobies

2010-02-16T11:25:00.002-05:00

I mentioned before my promise to myself to breastfeed the Binker for a year. ALL the baby books (you'll quickly notice my obsession with baby books, there are 487 of them on my nightstand) say to breastfeed for a year. The baby will be healthier, he'll be smarter, he'll be more connected to his mama.

While these things may or may not be true, long before Bink was even a twinkle in his Daddy's eye, I knew I was going to breastfeed. My mom had breastfed me and it was one of those strange parenting decisions that I made way before I really thought it through. I would breastfeed. That's just how it was going to be.

Now I've been breastfeeding for 259 days (not that I'm counting or anything). It hasn't always been easy (which will someday be a post of its own), but now I'm 106 days away from my goal. I'm two-thirds of the way there! And I'm just losing steam.

When I talked about my goal to breastfeed for a year pretty much everyone said "well, just do it until one of you doesn't want to anymore." And I would smile at them and think to myself, sure, but we're going to do it for a year...and THEN if someone doesn't want to, we'll quit. But, we're GOING to do it for a year.

The problem is...*sigh* recently I've started fantasizing about the day I get my boobs back.

A day when they don't get pinched by tiny baby hands with saber sharp claws leaving purple polka dots all over my chest. A day when when they don't get bitten, chewed on, or clamped in the death vice of baby gums pulling away from me. A day when they shrink back to a normal, less hot-air balloon-like size and when they fit into normal bras instead of nursing bras.

A day when I won't feel like a middle of the night all-you-can-drink milk buffet. A day when I don't have to say "Now, Bink, not everyone wants to see Mommy's boobies" twelve times while I try to nurse him under a cover and simultaneously eat dinner in a restaurant booth*.

Mommy said boobies, that means dinner is around here somewhere, right?

Ah, one day...at least I can dream.

*If you think I'm kidding, you should see the list of crazy places this poor boy has eaten.

Win A Pair of Express Sandals!

2010-02-12T13:52:00.000-05:00

Savvy Housewife is hosting a great giveaway for a super cute pair of Express Sandals! You'll love them!

For more details check out my reviews and giveaways blog, Pacifier Party.

Eggless Baby Cereal Cookies

2010-02-12T13:50:00.001-05:00

My little dude has become obsessed with feeding himself. He likes to "eat" puffs, Cheerios, small pieces of bread, rice husks, and teething biscuits. He also likes to chew on both ends of his spoon.

I've been making almost all of his baby food myself (part of my organic baby stuff obsession), so I decided to try my hand at making teething biscuits.

I found a great recipe on wholesomebabyfood.com (scroll down a little to find it). Since I had all three (!) ingredients on hand to make it, I dove right in tonight (in between watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, of course).

See the rest of this post at my baby food blog The Pacifier Cafe...

Dear Seventeen Magazine, Thank You for the Heart Attack.

2010-02-11T18:18:00.000-05:00

My tween love, love, LOVES Seventeen Magazine. I mean Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers, Taylor Lautner, L-U-V loves Seventeen Magazine. Her love affair began a few months ago in the waiting room of her doctor's office. She spotted the magazine with Taylor Swift on the cover and practically pounced on the table to snatch it up. She poured over the pages, taking in all the glossy ads and reading me random facts about Taylor.

Did you know that Taylor Swift likes being single? I mean, she likes it. Why would she like it? Did you know that she used to date a Jonas Brother. A Jonas Brother! Did you know her new boyfriend's name is also Taylor? He's in the Twilight movie. Can I see Twilight?

On..and on...and on with the Taylor Swift facts. The other thing about tween girls is that the is no "off" switch. They talk and talk like it's their jobs. I suppose it kind of is.

At the next visit to the doctor's office she found the same old issue and picked it up again like it was brand new. This time instead of telling me Taylor Swift's life story, she asked for a subscription. I tried to explain that Miss Swift was not on EVERY issue of the magazine, though I'm not sure she believed me.

I paged through the magazine quickly and didn't see anything too out of place for a tween girl...lip gloss, lists of what's "in" and "out", booooooys. Le swoon. So I ordered her a subscription for her birthday.

Once a month it arrives in the mail. Once a month she follows me through the house telling me all about the cover girl or whatever else she finds interesting.

This past month, I came downstairs early one morning and found the magazine on the counter with a few pages dog-eared. When I opened it up, I found a few page article on S-E-X. Blaaaaarg. I hadn't even had my Diet Coke yet.

The good news is that everything that was in the article was the right message (at least in my opinion). It talked about how not everybody is doing it, how boys will be ok with not doing it, how to talk with your parents before doing it. All the right info. But a little over the head of my ten year old.

Later that morning I asked her if there were things she wanted to talk about in the magazine. She told me that she didn't really understand those pages. Soooo...we hunkered down on the couch and I did my best to explain them to her and infuse a little more of our family values into the message. Her dad sat a few feet away, mostly looking like he'd rather be having a root canal, but I feel like I need to jump on the teachable moments when they come.

Sure, ten years old is probably a little young for some of the birds and bees business. But not all of it. I don't want her to ever feel like she can't come talk with me about something (even if I'm screaming at the awkwardness on the inside).

Talking about the magazine also gave us a good jumping off point for when I want to talk about things. (Remember when we were talking about that article, well, blah, blah, blah also goes along with that). It also opened the door for a conversation about "sexting" after a story on the Today Show.

How do you talk about sex with your daughters? Does it get easier or less awkward?

Temper Tantrums and Cabin Fever

2010-02-10T15:17:00.002-05:00

The Blizzard of 2010 has been over for less than five days and the Mid-Atlantic is under siege by snow yet again. Our area has already gotten over 70 inches of snow this season--about half of that from this storm--and the norm here is only 18 inches. We have more snow here than they do in Vancouver for the flippin Winter Olympics!

Yes, that's right. My son is eating snow. Don't laugh, it kept him entertained for a full five minutes. That's like three hours with an eight month old.

Schools have been closed since last Friday. That means I've been home with the kiddos since Friday afternoon. Daddy has been home with us for most of that, but even he got to escape to work for a little while yesterday. Since Friday, I've left the house twice. Once on Friday morning to run some silly errands with Bink and last night to have dinner with the hubby and kids.

Otherwise known as dear God, I can't take anymore snow or being stuck in this stinkin house anymore, so let's go to Pizza Hut and Target. Cause we're cool like that.

Since we've been imprisoned, the Bink has learned a few new tricks. He can now pull himself up in his crib, on his exersaucer (which is not heavy enough to hold him and sometimes falls over...on him), and on the couch.

He has also learned to SCREAM LIKE HE IS ON FIRE! I'm not sure where this little discovery has come from on his part, but he is LOUD. Like it's the end of the world, someone must be dead, the sky is falling loud. It's the kind of scream that adults would reserve for being chased by an axe murderer in a dark ally...or probably anywhere since there is a murderous axe-wielding person involved.

He expanded on that trick to scream DIRECTLY IN MY FACE. Whenever he finds the opportunity.

Perhaps I displeased him by suggesting his fussiness may be caused my his morning-long lack of napping. Perhaps because I removed the laptop power cord from his grubby little grasp as it was headed for his gummy little mouth. Perhaps its because I wouldn't let him pull on my hair while he was nursing. Yes, surely it must have been that.

He's only eight months (and one week) old. That seems young to me for this level of opinion, determination, and 'tude. Am I wrong? Are other babies this age as bossy as my little dude?

Snow-pocalypse

2010-02-07T19:38:00.001-05:00

In case you haven't seen a news report in the last week, the Baltimore-Washington area got ROCKED by a blizzard to end all blizzards this weekend. It's being lovingly refered to as snow-pocalypse and snow-maggeden around these parts.

Since the hype surrounding this storm started super early, we had time to prepare. Well, by prepare I mean we had time to cram into the grocery store with every other fool in the state and stock up on essentials...bread, milk (well Soy Silk Almond Milk in my case), toilet paper...and junk food.

Yes, you read that right. That says 31.5 inches of snow on our deck.

The problem with being snowed in is not the initial snowing-in part. I love a day that we CAN'T leave the house. We stayed in our PJ's. We watched bad tv. We snuggled on the couch.

We were even kind of productive and did massive loads of laundry, changed sheets, moved some furniture around to add a rug to the dining room.

We bundled up the baby and took him outside to see the SECOND major snow storm of his young life.

He looks pleased about it, doesn't he?

It made a little nostalgic to think that the last time we got this much snow (in December, mind you), Emerson couldn't crawl yet. Now...now there is no stopping him.

I made black bean soup in the crock pot and baked chocolate chip cookies. I stayed up late to finish a smutty book I started the day before.

The problem with being snowed in starts on the second day. The day when your husband and children look at you like, well, now what? The day when you wake up with a little cabin fever already, want to go out and do something, anything, out of the house. And then you remember that is still looks like THIS outside...

Instead

2010-02-05T16:40:00.004-05:00

"Hubby, could you watch Emerson for a few minutes? I want to write a post real quick."

"Sure, Sweetie. No problem.

"Ok, Mommy's busy. Dad? Dad?"

"Dad, what's that over there?"

"Dad? Dad? Hmm, ESPN is on. If I'm very sneaky, no one will notice I'm missing."

"I'm almost there, so close. I can't believe he hasn't noticed I'm gone yet!"

"Just a few more seconds and I can get my hands on Winnie...or the extra wipes...or the Diaper Genie. So many choices!"

"Oh no! Daddy caught me."

"Daddy! Don't tickle me! We're supposed to be quiet. Mommy is busy."

"Hehehe. Ok, tickle me some more. Hehehe."

"Mommy! Mommy! Are you busy? What's with all that typing? Can I slobber kiss your leg?"

"Mom! Mom! I have this cool green ball!"

"Don't you want to play with us?"

"Look how cute I am! How can you resist me?"

"And look at Daddy. He's pretty cute too! Stop that and play with us!"

"MOOOOOOOOOMMY!"

"Ok, Binky. You win. Mommy will come play."

"Did you hear that, Dad? We won! She didn't stand a chance!"

Keeping Up With The New Age

2010-02-03T12:13:00.001-05:00

How old do you have to be before you are officially old? I'm less than 20 days away from turning 29 and most of the time I don't give much thought to my age. My perception of what that word means has changed so much over the years...becoming progressively older the older I became (haha). The problem is that I work with college students and they never get any older!

It's kind of like that gross Matthew McConaughey comment about high school girls from Dazed and Confused..."I get older, they stay the same age"

Most of the time it's fine. Most of the time I can ignore the fact that they are closer in age to my 10 year old daughter.

10 going on 18

Most of the time I can get over the fact that they were almost all born in the 1990's.

And that even though they are only two years or so older they complain about how the incoming class of freshmen is so young that they will hardly remember how cool the 90's were...I was there, I don't remember the 90's being all that damn cool...maybe its because I was a geeky high school student eating her lunch in the Chemistry lab at the time. Oh yeah, that.

My point being that most of the time, I'm ok with them looking at me like the 10 years that divide is really about 100 years. Most of the time I actually prefer it, it can make my life a lot easier.

This morning, however, was a different story. I'd been in my office for maybe 10 minutes. I was still settling in, checking email, preparing for my day. A student walked in, took one look at my computer which was on my Pandora* radio station page, and said "Oh, Pandora. Keeping up with the new age. Good for you."

Um, exactly how old does she think I am? Am I too old to be listening to the RADIO? I know it's a fancy version, but still. There are PLENTY of things that I'm too old for, I'm aware of that.

Those teeny curtain looking things that college girls seem to call skirts these days. Worn bare legged. In February. With SNOW on the ground. And put a damn coat on while you're at it!

But I can't be too old for the radio. Good thing I'd taken off my fake Ugg boots and changed into my work shoes before she'd arrived or her head might have exploded.

Uh oh, am I too old for knock-off Uggs?

Oh well, I can't start worrying about that on top of this radio debacle this morning or my head might explode

I will console myself in the fact that my 8 month old (Blargh! How did that happen?!) doesn't seem to know his mommy isn't cool yet.

At least this guy thinks I'm the bees knees.

Er, better quit while I'm ahead.

What about you? Ever had one of those moments? Ever done something even if you were too "old" for it?

*Sidenote: Pandora is awesome and amazing and wonderful and glorious. I was skeptical when these crazy college kids were talking about it and sure that I didn't need it. I mean, I was already so hip, I had an iPod, I listened to regular radio stations on my computer, I was light years away from girl I was in my first job out of college when I listed to a CD Player for Pete's sake! I decided to give it a try one day and I haven't looked back. I leave it on ALL day in my office, I listen to it at home, I listen to it on my iPod. Go there right now, enter some artists or songs you like, and enjoy the personalized radio station of goodness you get.

Why I'm Here

2010-02-01T19:44:00.001-05:00

I went back to work in August when Emerson was 10 weeks old. One of the hardest parts about this transition (besides, obviously, leaving him with someone else all day), was getting used to all the pumping.

THE HOURS AND HOURS OF PUMPING, OH MY GOD.

I promised myself before Emerson was born that I would try to breastfeed for a year. It's been a long, bumpy road over the past eight months, but that's a discussion for another post. The point is, if you are breastfeeding and working, you quickly realize how much time in your day goes into pumping (for me, it's at least an hour, sometimes an hour and a half).

The other maddeningly frustrating part of pumping that is that, at best, you have one hand free. Unless you have one of these amazing devices, but since I don't, I'm stuck balancing one side of the pumping stuff on my desk and the other in my hand.

Sometimes, if work is really busy, I use that one hand to clumsily type emails or do whatever work I can without full use of my hands. It's annoying...and slow...and did I mention annoying?

Right around the time I went back to work, a friend turned me onto Google Reader. I was skeptical, figuring that I didn't really read enough blogs to need something like this. Let's face it, I only read Perez Hilton and a few random personal blogs written by my girlfriends. Luckily, a few days later I got an email from The Bump with their Mommy Blog Awards.

I always love something new to read, so tried out EVERY SINGLE ONE that was nominated. I read a post or two on every site and added the ones I liked to my new friend, Google Reader. I figured I needed something to read while I pumped away at work every day.

Then, as someone mentioned a blog they loved, like The Pioneer Woman that everyone is so obsessed with (with good reason!), or someone linked to a blog post that looked interesting on Facebook (how I first came to love Smitten Kitchen), I added them too. I kept perfecting my reading lists, testing out new blogs, keeping the ones that really spoke to me and unsubscribing from the rest (even Perez eventually got the boot).

Eventually, I started really looking forward to my Google Reader time. It was like opening a little present in the morning and it made the pumping time a little less frustrating. At least I was entertained while I was held captive at my desk feeling like an overloaded milk cow.

Quite the visual, huh?

There were a few sites that really captivated me. I think some of it has to do with the fact that they are all moms, but more of it has to do with the fact that they seem like genuine, funny, beautiful, honest, inspiring people. The kind of women that I'd like to be friends with. The kind of mommy friends that are hard to find in real life.

That's not to say that I don't have great mommy friends outside my computer, I do. But being a few months apart in baby time means going through really different things. It's nice to go through the same "stages" with people, knowing that others are dealing with the same baby gems like teething, colds, sitting up...it can do a lot for morale.

It's because of these women and their blogs that I started this little corner of the internet for myself. I'm not the kind of person who chimes in often on blogs, usually I just read posts, smile to myself, maybe star something to enjoy again later, and move on with my day...and my hours and hours of pumping. I don't often comment or take part in the "community" and I wanted to change that.

I wanted to say thank you to those people who brighten up my morning by sharing their lives, their marriages, their beautiful babies. But also for sharing their mistakes, embarrassing stories, and rough patches.

I'd like to share with you my two very favorite blogs so that you can enjoy their blog-y goodness too. And if either of them ever stumble onto this site, THANK YOU!

Confessions of a Young Married Couple
Katie's posts are always funny, honest, and poignant. Plus her little Bean is adorable and her pictures are gorgeous! I'm saving up to buy the camera she uses.

The Glamorous Life of a Housewife
Whitney's site is great. I love watching her little Weebie in all his stylish duds. I wish I had her homemaking skills.

There are other great sites that I love. If you need something new to read, check out the recommendations on my sidebar. Or if you know of something great, leave it in the comments.

Also, in case you were wondering, these pictures have nothing to do with this post really. I just happen to love these shots of my little Bink when he was only three weeks old. The fact that he's eight months old, never sits still anymore, and just pulled up to standing while I was typing this has made me a little nostalgic.