Summer Wardrobe

Since Mr. Shawn's birthday is on Monday, we've been going out this weekend to try to buy him some new jeans and things, since he's always complaining about all his clothes being old and worn, that his shirts have holes in them, and that he feels like a schmuck next to me. After reminding him that I like the way he dresses, I suggested getting some new clothes for his birthday this year.

It turns out, he's rather picky when it comes to clothes shopping. We left Macys, Nodstroms, Gap, JCPenny, Target, and Kohls empty-handed. Well, he left empty handed. I, on the other hand, left Target with a sackful of delicious new outfits for Miss Violet to wear this summer.

Now, I've been working on my bargain hunting habits. Just recently, I was able to get a brand new jogging stroller online (as it happens, through Target as well), that, to my good fortune, started out on sale, and after doing an internet search for "Target promo codes" was able to find a coupon code that took off an additional $5, PLUS free shipping. Shipping on the stroller was a whopping $23, so that's a nice big win. In the end, I got a stroller that is roughly $110 retail for just over $80. Sweet! (p.s., I highly recommend doing a search for coupons or promo codes + the name of whichever online retailer you're shopping before placing an order there. I found a great website, RetailMeNot, that seems to have lots of great coupons and codes for a whole slew of big name stores, and you never know what kind of little known or secret promotions a store is running. You may not find anything, but it never hurts to check!)

Which is why, when I walked past the kids clothes section at Target and saw that all these delightful little pieces were all less than $10 each, I was in hipster heaven.

First of all, you don't get much cuter than kids in rompers. And these ones are just so off the charts adorable with their sunny summer colors and little girlie decals, it was too much to resist. The flowered dress is also a charmer. As much as a part of me hates to be matchy-matchy, I also can't stop buying purple clothes for Violet. Soon she'll be dressing herself and probably taking after her father and wearing black and whatnot, so I'm taking advantage of all the girlie stuff I can until then.

I've been waiting for her to be old enough to wear a tutu since before she was born. And this one was $5. That's Five. Dollars. There was also a smashing lime green option, but, again, with the purple thing. It looks more pink in the picture, sadly. The matching top was also a steal at $5. The rompers were $8 a piece. I mean really, I only wish they made them in my size for that price. 

We're still working on what to get Shawn, it's entirely possible that he will end up with a video game instead, and the same old jeans he's been wearing for 12 years. Do boys have it easier or harder than us? Sometimes I can't tell.  

Milestones

All of a sudden, we've reached two pretty big milestones in the last week.

The first is that we've come to the end of our breastfeeding relationship. I had been thinking for a while that it was going to be time soon to taper off. We were already down to only 1-2 feedings a day, usually in the middle of the night and possibly right before bed. But that last few times, I found myself getting annoyed with it, and her, during the nursing, and basically not being into it any more. It had started to feel weird. And yet, it wasn't a conscious decision to stop nursing her; it occurred to me one day last week that I had not breastfed her for almost three days. And that was it. I was sad about it, for a while. I had a moment when I really wanted to nurse her one last time, to relieve the milk that had built up over the last few days. But then I realized that there was 3 days worth of coffee, a beer or two, and some wine, all mixed up in there, and I'd have to pump it out. So that idea was out. So even though I was ready to be done, and she seems to have been as well, I was still sort of sad about it for a while, more sad than I really wanted to talk about at the time. I've been denying the fact that she's not a "baby" any more, so phasing out this aspect of babyhood so suddenly and irreversibly was kind of a shock.

Secondly, last night, Little Miss went to bed at about 8:30pm, as usual, and slept without a single peep and narry a rustle until 6:45am. That, in case you were not aware, is in fact from bedtime to morning-time. The whole way. In fact, mommy's alarm woke her up before the baby did. That hasn't happened since March 2011 (yes, that would be before going on maternity leave). Of course, we'll see if she can manage a repeat performance tonight. But the fact is, she's been consistently giving me almost a full night for 2-3 weeks now, with just one wake up around 4am for a bottle and then immediately back to sleep again. And she no longer needs me to rock her until she's almost asleep, or stand there rubbing her back until she passes out. Now she has her bottle and can pretty much be laid down with her blankie to settle herself in and go to sleep. Of course, I still do rock her and rub her back and stuff, because it's our routine and I like doing it. But now it's more for the routine and less because it's the only way she will go to sleep.

Now, if I could just take my butt to bed at a decent hour, I might be able to take advantage of this sleep.

And you know what's funny? As happy as I am that she's reached these milestones, and as glad as I am to have my bed back, I just want her to stay a little baby forever. And if that meant being woken up every night  for nursing I would totally take it.

Speaking of sleep, please enjoy some photos in my ongoing "Sleeping Baby" series.

Superhero baby

with blankie

Now, if you followed me on Instagram, you'd have seen pics like this already.

I mean, seriously. Right?

Chicks

When I was younger, say, in my earlier twenties, I spent a lot of time being jealous of other women. Even after I lost a bunch of weight, I often didn't feel very confident in my size, and it was difficult for me to interact with "skinny chicks" without hating on them in my head. As if being thinner than me was something they were doing on purpose to be bitches.

Miss Kitten DiVyne

But we all know something like that feeling, right? Hating those biatches who seem to be so freakin' perfect and have it all together, while we feel like hot messes who could stand to lose a few pounds and who probably should have done something cuter with our hair that day.

Even while I was dancing in the burlesque troupe, performing routines in which I ended up in panties and pasties in front of a bar-full of people, I still didn't think I was as thin or in shape as I should have been. And I still spent a lot of time hating other women who I thought were or had what I wanted.

Of course, all this bad juju did was make me a more miserable person than I needed to be, and it didn't change any of the things I didn't like about myself. And after gaining 60 pounds while pregnant, and starting the work of losing it again, I saw myself differently in the pictures from those pre-baby years. I realized, frankly, that I was a hot piece, and that all that energy I'd spent on wanting to be someone else was wasted, because I was that girl, in great shape and cute and dressed up.

On top of that, now that I spend most of my free time with baby and Mister and family, it's so much more important to me to spend the quality time with my girls that I took for granted before. And, along with that, to actually have those quality female relationships that I disdained before, because I was so wrapped up in being jealous of other women.

When I got past my own petty issues, and realized, after experiencing a bit more life, that everyone has similar issues no matter how perfect their life might look on the outside, I saw how many great friendships I'd been missing out on, and what great bonding time I could have been having.

here's a bunch of us gals at LJ's wedding. Loved her dress!

Now, rather than being jealous of my BFF LJ, who has a great career, a beautiful family, and a thriving blog, I am inspired by her. I let her success propel me to make big steps of my own, to get back to my own blogging and keep it active, to take steps to move my career forward in a way that fulfills me, to be as fabulous and happy as I want to be.

Pinterest Baby

I. Haaa-love. Pinterest.

I spend a lot of time there. Pinning. You know.

I've found so many great baby things on Pinterest I think it's time to share some of my internet treasures. If you aren't following me on Pinterest, you should be.

1. Wiley Valentine - Toddler Lunch Tray idea from another super duper blog.
This is one of the coolest, why didn't I think of that, ideas. What a great way to set a toddler up with munchies and let them feed themselves!

2. RuffleButts -- Stinkin' cute clothes for girls and boys.

To be fair, I was aware of this company before Pinterest, but they have so much cute stuff I pretty much had to pin it all. Whether I get around to purchasing any of it before she's too old to wear it is another story.

3. Wanelo.com -- mustache pacifiers

There's actually all kinds of cool random stuff on this site, and it's another great place to go for gifts you'd never thought of before. When I saw these, I gagged on the cuteness. 

4. Cute baby in a guitar t-shirt.

5. Kitsel.com Mod Sunglasses Dress. 

The book nerd in me loves this dress, and so does the Burlesque dancer. It's so nerdy and vintage at once, I must dress my child in this.

6. Delicious Monkey Baby.

I don't know where this baby picture came from, but I have a hard time trying not to eat the screen because he is so freakin' adorable!!

It's on Sunday, people!

It’s Wednesday. 

Mother’s Day is on Sunday. 

You’d think, as a mom, I would have remembered before now that I need to figure out some way to acknowledge my own mom. But I did not. My bestie and fellow mom-blogger LJ put together a nice little post on gift ideas for the upcoming holiday, but I’ve left myself with no time to order any of those adorable things (especially that apron...are you kidding me? LOOVE it!!). And since, if you’re reading this post now, there’s a chance that you have procrastinated on finding a token of appreciation for all of Mom's hard work as well, I thought I would do all of us slackers a favor and compile a list of things to do for mom that can be hastily prepared at the 11^th hour and still come out looking like you remembered this weeks ago.

1.      Buy her a card. This one is easy and you should probably do this even if you did plan ahead and buy her a gift. Anyone can take a few minutes to find a cute card and pen a personal message inside, which lets Mom know that you actually did put a modicum of thought into this thing, rather than letting Hallmark say it for you. If you’re really running that late, and brunch is starting without you and she's opening her gifts and looking at you and wondering why you aren't handing her anything...you can always pretend to go pee and write something in the bathroom. Drink a lot of coffee at brunch to cover for this eventuality.

2.      Make her breakfast in bed. You still have plenty of time to assemble the makings of a grand breakfast feast, and even enough time to shoot out to Target or somewhere and buy a cute little breakfast tray to serve it up on. If you live in the vicinity of a garden, borrow a stem or two and lay them next to the breakfast dish on the tray, or arrange them in a little vase if you’ve got one. Then present the whole lovely display to her with much pomp and circumstance. Just be sure to choose a meal you're reasonably sure you can prepare without burning or poisoning.

www.target.com

3.      Take her out to breakfast. If the mom you’re celebrating doesn’t live in your house, making her breakfast is probably ruled out. But you can always take mom out, for any meal that day really. Brunch is always nice if your mom, like me, isn’t much of a morning person. Now, this might pose a challenge if you’re wanting to take her to a popular eatery, as most places probably filled up with reservations for Mother’s Day a while ago. If you get creative though, you can find a spot that might not be a traditional Mother's Day hot spot, but one that's meaningful for the two of you, or silly, or random, and make some new memories. What's her favorite food? Take her some where that serves it up special. My mom loves Swedish Fish -- perhaps I shall take her to a candy store and make a meal of them!

www.blaircandy.com

4. Get out. Nothing says "I love you, Mom/Mother of my children" better than a whole day, or at least an afternoon, completely to herself. No kids. No one begging for her attention. Just Mom, some Swedish Fish, and the Bravo Network. Maybe a glass of wine. Mmm. Nice.

Party in the Park

Saturday was my nephew Aidan's 5th birthday party. I remember going to his 3rd birthday party when I'd first started dating Shawn, and making semi-jokes about what we would name our kids -- I believe Van was the name we thought of for a boy. So now his parties are a kind of milestone for me, something that I use to mark the time that I've been with Shawn, since it's all been flying by so quickly.

This year, of course, we had a real baby to bring to the party with us (last year too, but she was just a little bundle then, and not as hilarious as she was this year). Being the youngest one there, she garnered quite a bit of attention for herself. And despite being in the sun all afternoon, we managed to keep her from turning into a lobster baby. That SPF 70 baby sunscreen must really do the trick.

I couldn't resist buying her a new summery dress for the occasion. Gotta love the bargains at Old Navy! I absolutely love getting to dress her in actual outfits. So often at home and during the week, she just hangs out in onesies since they're so much easier, and really, she's a baby, she doesn't care. But any kind of social event clearly calls for getting dolled up in our very best.

She loved running around on the open grass, and we eventually took off her sandals so she could go barefoot on the grass, which took some getting used to. She had a blast just wandering the park with either Grammie, below, following her around, or Daddy or one of her aunties and uncles. She even shared one of the birthday cupcakes with me, which was delicious. I must find out where SIL got them from. 

She also spent a lot of time on her butt as she tried to navigate the uneven park terrain. It's so funny to watch babies just plop on their butts over and over again, and get back up and keep on running. I suppose there's a lesson in there somewhere for us big kids, but I won't get too deep in this post.