Playing catch-up

So, as I sit here right now...there's a mound of dishes on the counter that need to be washed (including about 7 bottles, which I'm pretty sure will be the death of me), the whole house needs to be vacuumed since we decorated for Christmas yesterday and there's little bits of sparkles, needles, styrofoam, dog/cat hair, etc EVERYwhere, and there's probably 3/4 loads of laundry that should be washed.  

But, for probably one of the first times ever, I'm saying 'screw it.'  I want to blog.  I need to blog.  

I have all of these thoughts/ideas swirling around in my head, and if I don't get them all out, I'm going to forget it all (ya know, because I have absolutely NO short-term memory.  Seriously.)  And, I feel like I'm in one of those cycles where if I don't just get back into the swing of things (aka blogging more often), I'm never going to do it.  

I DO NOT want that to happen.  Honestly.  I know my lack of blogging may make you think otherwise, but, I do miss it.  Like, a lot.

So, I'm going to sit here stressing out and try not to think about the 39022 things that need to be done around the house.  Because, let's face it, that's what I normally do (stress out, I mean.)  I feel like I can't do anything for myself, until all those other chores are done.  And, I feel like I have to get it all done while Isabella is napping, because I feel guilty doing it while she's awake and wasting precious time we should be spending together.  

ANYways...now that I've written a book already, let's get to my actual blog post, shall we?  ;-)  This is the part where I just spew out random thoughts and hopefully not bore you to tears.  

~  Guys, my baby is going to be 9 months old next week.  9 months!  She's almost been here as long as she was in my belly.  That just seems insane.  Mainly because, the 9 months I was pregnant seemed to go on for. ev. er.  And, these past 9 months with my baby girl, have gone by in the blink of eye.  For reals.  I don't get that.  And, I would really appreciate it if time would stop going by SO quickly.  K?  Thanks. (And, I know I still need to do an 8 month post, but this slacker over here waited too long to do it (mommy fail), so I'm just going to do a 8/9 month post together...sometime next week.)

~  Thanksgiving has come and gone, and it's finally {officially} Christmas-time!!  I've been DYING to decorate for weeks now, but, of course the hubs wouldn't allow that.  So, we finally decorated last night!  We were busy all afternoon/early evening, so we ended up doing most of the decorating after Isabella went to sleep.  I can't wait for her to see the tree all lit up tonight and see what she thinks of it!  Here's our pretty tree:

~  Did anyone brave the craziness out there and go Black Friday shopping the other night/day??  I did!...for the first time, EVER.  I was so proud of myself.  :P  I think it helps that most of the stores open up at 12am now, because getting up at 3/4am to get there in time for the good deals was NOT my thing.  (Hello...so not a morning person over here.)  

So, my friend and I headed to Target a little before midnight (where there were already hundreds of people in line.  IN-sane.) and only ended up waiting about 15 minutes or so outside before it was our turn to go in.  Not bad at all!  But, I guess if you were trying to snatch up one of the good TV/electronic deals or something like that, it would've been necessary to be there hours in advance.  Not worth it to me, but, to each their own.  

I was going there for just one thing, and if I didn't get it, I didn't really care because I knew I could just order it online for the same price.  It was mainly for the experience.  But, I was lucky, and  got Isabella one of her big Christmas gifts for a great deal!  

I can't wait for her to play with it!  I'm hoping she really likes it.  We also hit up Express, Victorias Secret, and Old Navy.  I got some awesome deals at Old Navy!  I'm pretty psyched about that....even though the worst part about the whole experience was the slowest. moving. line. ever. there, it was still worth it. 

~  We're taking Isabella to Santa next week, and I'm so excited/nervous at the same time.  I'm praying she isn't in that 'absolutely terrified of Santa' stage yet, and we actually get a decent picture.  We'll see!  And, I got her this adorable little sweater dress from The Children's Place the other day for the picture.  And, the best part, it was on sale for $9.99!  Score for mom. 

 

~  Oh!  I almost forgot!  I wasn't going to share this until I did Isabella's 8/9 month post, but, I'm just too excited NOT to share.  

Finally, after 8 1/2 long months...my baby is sleeping UN-swaddled!!  :::does happy dance:::  Hallelujah!!  I honestly thought I'd be swaddling my child in her college dorm room.  Kidding.  Not really.  

And?  The best part?  Is that she's sleeping even better than she was before!  GO Bella!  :-)

~  Oh yeah, and the reason we actually got her to sleep un-swaddled?  Unfortunately, it was because she was pretty sick last weekend.  :-(  My poor baby got her first real sickness after 8 1/2 months.  Honestly, I'm grateful she's been so healthy for this long, but, that doesn't make seeing her sick any easier.  It was so sad.  But, she was just so tired/worn out, that as soon as we put her down in her crib, she was OUT.  And, it's been that way ever since.

I picked her up from daycare last Friday and she just looked so sick.  You know the look.  Sad, watery, red eyes.  Whining/whimpering because she just felt so awful.  I felt so bad for her.  And, she had her first temperature, too.  I immediately called her Dr. and got an appointment that night.  Turned out, she had a double ear infection!  I couldn't believe it.  

And, for the record, she didn't show any signs of an ear infection.  No pulling on her ears, no crying/pain when she laid down on either side to nurse, nothing.  The only thing she had was a runny nose a little bit of a cough.  That's it.  

Needless to say, the next time she has even as much as a sniffle, I'll be making an appointment to have her ears checked.  You just never know!

Ok, that's all from me for today.  Phew!  That was a long one.  My little peanut is babbling to herself in her crib right now, so that's my cue that nap-time is over and it's time to get up! 

And, just because it's been a while...here's a funny pic that I snapped the other night.  Her dad was changing her and getting her read for the bed the other night, and I walk in her room to find this:

My poor child!  haha  She looks so miserable!  

Happy Sunday!! 

Easy Canvas Prints review!

I was contacted by Easy Canvas Prints a few weeks ago to review their product, and I'm SO excited that I did!  ECP will turn your photos to canvas, and they seriously do such a great job!  I LOVE the canvas print I had made.  And, they're super easy to work with, their site is very user-friendly, and they're fast!  My canvas was at my door within a week of me ordering it.  Now that's my kind of service.  :-)

Here's my canvas that I had made:

It's going to be the perfect addition to my photo wall, once it's all set up.  And, I plan on getting a few more, too, since we don't have any good professional pictures printed from our engagement or wedding photos.  I can't wait to spruce our house up with these prints!

And, as an added bonus for my favorite ladies...if you go 'Like' their  Facebook page, you'll automatically receive 50% off your next order AND free shipping!  You can't beat that deal! 

So, what are you waiting for?  Go check them out! I promise you won't be disappointed.  :-)

Disclaimer:  I was provided one canvas print in return for a review.  All opinions/thoughts on the product are my own.

Happy {belated} Halloween!!

Um, how is it November already??  Where did 2011 go?!  Seriously.  

This Halloween weekend was actually pretty low key for us.  I started getting sick on Saturday night, and felt like death pretty much all day on Sunday, so we did a whole lotta nothin' really.  (Oh yeah, and, we had a freak autumn snowstorm with about 6 inches of snow on Saturday.  Yeah.  That was fun.)

 

Of course we got Isabella all dressed up in her costumes (yes, she had two) on Monday, though, and brought her over to see my mom and Hubs' mom.  I may be biased, but, I'm pretty sure she was the cutest lil kitty and ladybug I've ever seen. 

I also had a few different Halloween/fall-ish outfits that she wore to school (aka daycare) every day last week.  She was so festive!  I can't imagine what I'll be like when it gets closer to Christmas, though.  She's going to have a different Christmas outfit to wear for the whole month!  Kidding.  Not really. 

Anyway, here's what really matters.  Cuteness overload.  :-)

(Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics in the first few)

Hiiii, Mom!!

Cutest lil pumkin bum!

Poor baby was SO tired and over it at this point

I hope everyone else had a great Halloween weekend!  :-)

I can't handle the cuteness...

Now, if this doesn't make you smile, or brighten up your day just a little bit...then you have problems.  Just sayin.  ;-)  

(Make sure your volume is turned up!)

Not-so-thoughtless Thursday

Once again, I have a bunch of random crap swirling around in my head.  Sooo, enjoy my word-vomit. 

*  Isabella has her first TOOFER coming in!!  My lil baby is growing up too fast!  Waaaaah.

*  It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is on tonight!  Have I mentioned that I'm a huge fan of all things Snoopy and Peanuts??  Oh yes, obsessed.  

*  It still really bothers me that one of my really good friends didn't come visit me or see Isabella until a month after she was born.  Every other mutual friend that we have...she's either gone to the hospital or their house within the first week to see them.  It really makes me sad.  And, it brings up all my 'friend issues' again.  *sigh*  I used to feel this way all the time in high school (left out, kind of like an outsider, and that if I wasn't their friend, it wouldn't really make a difference to them)....I just thought it was a teenager thing.  Guess I was wrong.  Blaaaah.  (Sorry to be a Debbie Downer.  Sometimes it makes me feel better to just let it out.)

*  On a MUCH happier note...my SIL had her baby yesterday!!  Another baby boy!  And, guys....I got some serious baby fever last night holding that squishy little newborn.  Like whoa.  I honestly don't even remember Isabella being that tiny.  It made me so sad, and made me want another one just a liiiitle sooner than I originally thought.  Ohhh boy!

*  Um, the forecast for tonight is snow.  Snow?!  Are you freaking kidding me?  It's October, people.  Ugh.

*  I *finally* found some Pumpkin Spice K-cups at Target last night.  I've been searching for weeks!  So delicious...especially on this COLD, rainy day.  Mmmm.

*  Oooh, I just started watching the new show American Horror Story the other night, after hearing tons of people talk about it.  Creeee-py!!  And?  I love it.  Especially since it has Connie Britton as the main character.  Love her. 

*  Wanna know a random fact about me?  Well, I'm going to tell you anways... 

I have the. absolute. worst. short-term memory.  It's so bad.  Like, someone at work will tell me I need to call someone back, and I will literally forget that they told me within 30 seconds, or, as soon as I start to work on something else.  Or?  Someone will text me...I'll read it...and if I don't write back right away, I'll forget about their text until HOURS later. 

If I don't write EVERYthing down on a sticky note, I will not remember it.  I cannot stand it.  For this blog post, I had to make bullet points in the notepad on my computer to remember everything I wanted to write about.  Ha.  I'm an 80 year old woman stuck in a 30 year old's body. 

*  So, I think I've mentioned this recently, but, I'm dying to get a blog makeover.  Like, I think about what I want my new design to look like way more than necessary.  Yeah.  But?  I just cannot justify spending $$ on it right now.  If I could find a good deal somewhere in blog-land, I'd totally do it.  But, to spend $50+ on a new look....not so much.  Booo.  (Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations for a reasonable designer??  I'd love to hear about them!)

And that's enough rambling from me today.  Tomorrow is FRIDAY!  Woop woop!  Happy Thursday, ya'll!  <----- Teehee...I love that word.

7 months!

(I know, I'm a little late...again.  Oops!)

I cannot believe that in a week in a half, my baby is going to be 8 months old already!  I've actually had people tell me that I need to start thinking about her 1st birthday party already!  Um, excuse me??  I didn't hear you correctly.  Yes, I'm in denial.  

Thankfully, month 7 hasn't been much different from month 6.  My baby is still a baby...and, I'm OK with that.  ;-)

~  Still in size 3 dipes during the day, and now she's in size 4's at night.  Man, babygirl can PEE!  

~  I'm actually not sure exactly how much she weighs right now.  We'll be going back to the pediatrician for her 8 month appointment in a few weeks, so we'll see then.  But, we did weigh her a week or so ago on the home scale, and she was a little over 15 pounds.  My little peanut!  

~  Speaking of peanut, I have this song that I made up for her (coincidentally called 'Peanut'.  Original, I know.) that she LOVES.  Every time I start singing it, she starts rocking back and forth and dancing.  It's A-DOR-ABLE.  And, in case you're wondering, it's to the tune of 'La Cucaracha'  Yep...NO clue where that came from.  I just started singing it one day.  Hey, I told you I was weird.  :P

~  She's tried a bunch of different solids now....bananas, avocado (still hates them), pears, sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, applesauce, prunes, and oatmeal.  She loves everything except the avocado!  My little piggy...takes after her mama.  Yeeeah, buddy.  ;-)

~  She's sitting up like a champ now!  She's so strong and steady.  I love it.  Now we can finally sit on the floor and play with her toys together.  She looks like such a big girl, too!  :::sniff sniff:::

~  Still no crawling yet  thank God!  I'm SO not ready for a mobile baby yet...especially baby-proofing the whole house.  

~  Since she's been eating solids, naturally, her poops are finally solid now, too!  Hallelujah!  (Yes, I'm excited about poop.  Welcome to my world.)  I'm SO glad the days of blowouts are over now (for the most part.)  And, speaking of pooping, Bella does this really cute thing while she's pushing and always grabs the side of her face/her ear.  You can always tells it's going to be a good one if she does that.  ;-)  (Another pooping side note:  Bella actually woke me up this morning because she was pushing so hard.  Poor thing!  I definitely giggled to myself, though.  Mom-of-the-year, over here.)

~  Ok, enough of the poop talk.  Sorry.  It comes with the territory.

~  She's such a little chatterbox these days!  It's so. stinkin. cute.  She says dada, gaga, baba, yaya, and a few other things that I don't know how to spell.  It's her own little language.  :-)  Still no mama, though.  We're working SO hard!  Hopefully soon.  :::sigh:::

~  Bella's still in her infant carseat, but, I know the day is coming soon when she'll have to be transferred to a convertible carseat.  So, we're finally the proud owners of these two beasts:

For my car

For Hubs' car

~  She's SO close to waving.  It's SO cute!  Her tiny little hand goes back and forth kind of like a beauty queen.  She knows what's up.  ;-)

~  If she's in the sitting position, she can pull herself up to standing by holding on to our hands.  Pretty soon she'll be pulling up on everything herself!  

 v  tgygfgtrfdfcf  (Bella just typed that.  She wanted to add her own comments.) 

~  Oh yeah, and, she's still swaddled.  I swear I'm going to be swaddling this kid when she goes to college.  

~  She still loves her jumperoo, and can jump like a crazy woman now.  It's so fun to watch her.  And, we finally took the changing table/infant seat out of her pack n play, so she can sit in there with all of her toys, too.  She really enjoys that, too.  It's like toy heaven in there!  

See?

 (Please ignore the towel.  I have to cover the whole thing at night so the stupid cat doesn't jump in and cover all her toys in cat fur.  Grrr.)

Isabella Grace,

Mommy and Daddy love you SO so much.  You are the highlight of our lives and you make every day so special.  I honestly don't know what our lives were like without you here.  You are such a happy/content baby, and you rarely every cry.  I don't know how we got SO lucky.  I love watching you grown and learn each and every day.  You really are our little miracle.  We love you to the moon and back.

xoxo,

Mama and Dada

Her new fun trick  :-(

 'Here Ma, I don't need this anymore'

Random thoughts...

I don't have a whole lot of energy in me right now, but, I really want to blog...sooo, here's a mish-mosh of random stuff swirling around in my head.  Enjoy. 

~  I would give ANYthing to be a stay-at-home mom and be with my baby girl every day.  Like, it literally hurts my heart to leave her every single day and sit my butt at a desk for 9 hours a day, at a job that I could care less about.  :-/ 

~  Speaking of the jobby job...I've been going into work super early for the past couple of months (aka - the buttcrack of dawn, aka - 6am), and I am a zombie by the time 5pm rolls around.  I literally have to force myself to do the dishes/laundry/etc.  I feel like such a waste of life sometimes.  Blaaah. 

~  We're getting professional pics taken of Isabella in a few weeks, and I've been having such a hard time trying to figure out what she's' going to wear!  Normally, I have absolutely NO problem finding clothes for her, but for some reason I haven't been able to find a thing that I like.  Not one thing.  That is, until I went into Gymboree today!  I walked out with all of this:

 

I'm definitely going to have her wear the black long-sleeved tee and tutu for one part of the pictures....but, I haven't decided if I want her to wear the cream striped sweater or the brown sweater dress for the 2nd outfit.  Such a tough decision!  ;)


~  I actually made my first dinner from Pinterest the other night!  I think it was a success, if I may say so myself.  :)  It was this delicious (and super fatty) Tator Tot Casserole.  Yuuuum!  I tried taking pictures of my masterpiece, too, but of course my camera was being a PIA and they didn't come out good. 

~  Anyone else super excited for the drama-filled craziness that the Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion is going to be?!  OMG, I can't wait.  #Imaddictedtorealitytv  #Iknowthisisnottwitter  #Whatev

Annnnd, time to take the laundry out of the dryer, and then fall into my bed.

Goodnight!!  :)

**Sorry for all the weird spacing in between the clothes.  Blogger's being a PIA, too!