She is...

Realizing that I am so far behind on this blog thing, Sophie turns five months tomorrow and I still haven't recorded her four month progress. Aye, aye aye! So without further delay...

She is...

She is consistently sleeping through the night.

She is kicking her legs all the time. I've come to calling her Thumper.

She is recognizing Mommy, Daddy and Mason.

She is eating solid food.

Oatmeal is the best.

6-8 tablespoons at time.

She is finally on a schedule and we are establishing a routine.

She is discovering her fingers and toes.

And sucks on them whenever possible.

She is a happy baby in the morning. Always smiles.

She is giggling, though few and far between.

She is loving her big brother.

She is fascinated with anything he is doing.

Immediately smiling when we walks in the room.

The only one able to calm her down,

Mason sings to her.

Twinkle, Twinkle little star.

She is this close to rolling over.

She is trying so hard to sit up she does "sit ups" when lying down, in her car seat or swing.

She is verbally expressive ALL THE TIME.

Her squeals, and chatter a welcome relief.

She is standing. While being held.

She is taking about three naps a day.

One long 2-3 hour and few short.

She is moving slowly like an inch worm when on her stomach.

She is trying hard to crawl.

She is 17 pounds.

She is in the 99th percentile.

She is also growing equally big in height.

She is wearing 6 month clothes already.

She is making me want to stop using the infant car seat.

Can we say heavy?

She is a good sport in the bath.

She is getting eczema like her brother.

She is a new experience.

She is a joy.

She is four months old.

She is my only daughter.

She is as sweet as can be.

Spice up your life

I recently decided I needed a little funk in my style. So I shook things up a bit when I visited the hair salon last night and added a little spice to my life.

It's subtle but definitely a change. A little Auburn, a little lighter and darker blonde and viola. I'm not the stereotypical frumpy soccer mom with the mini van. Mom's got some style. It might not be as dramatic as some would have expected but I love it.

This is a close up of what it looked like before my shower this morning. I tried to get some stylish, artsy, dramatic photos of my new do but alas I don't have a professional photographer on staff so my tripod and self timer had to suffice.

No longer stuck in a rut, and boring for me. To steal a line from James Brown. Watch out. Momma's got brand new bag.

Corolla, North Carolina

Finally, it's here. The blog entry about our beach trip. It's been a busy, busy Fall this year. Weekend after weekend it's something else. A little bit stressful and hectic but I making priceless memories for and with my children and husband. You can't beat that. So here it is.

September 5th:

We woke up early, having been proactive and packed up most of the car the night before, we only needed to pack up the essentials put them in the car and head out on the road. We meet The Beadle's and Trevor for breakfast at McDonalds in Manassas before heading out on the road for our very long trip. How long we, we didn't expect. Heading into Norfolk to meet the Smith's for lunch we ran into major traffic. Took us and hour or two just to go 4 miles. I was getting restless and so were the kids but over all they handled the long car ride pretty well. I was impressed. 6pm, we finally arrived in Corolla, North Carolina at the big blue beach house. Unpacked the cars, got the kids settled and the girls hit Harris Teeter for a massive grocery run for the week. By 9:30pm all the kids were asleep (or at least in bed) and we hit the hot tub. A nightly ritual that I have missed since arriving back home. We even spent one night in the hot tub in the rain. Hey we were wet anyway!

September 6th:

Every morning after the kids got up and we all had breakfast we'd go for a walk along the beach. Sophie in wrap. Mason, fearless running in the waves and playing ball with Chiquita. It was one of my favorite moments of the trip. So peaceful and calm.

After lunch we played in the pool. The water was FREEZING. The kids didn't seem to care. Mason learned to kick his feet and blow bubbles in the water.

Finally we packed up all our gear, and there is a lot of gear when you have kids. And walked the short distance to the pier to get over the dunes and down to the beach. It was an eventful first day. The girls and the kids hung out on the beach, Mason playing in the sand with the dump truck, pail and shovels I found at Harris Teeter the night before. The boys were out in the water giving their boogie boards they got really cheap a try. Then some commotion was going on by the water and one of the guys came up and said to me and Dani that our husbands were in trouble. What?! I looked up and saw a two life guards standing by the beach, one lifeguard in the water with Trevor and My husband and Beadle still out there with the boogie boards. Then I see another lifeguard jeep come speeding up the beach and stopping right where we all were standing. At this point the whole beach has stopped to stare at our husbands out in the water. The lifeguards calling them to come back in, and then running into the water after them. I of course was worried but didn't want to miss my chance to document this moment.

I ran for my camera. By the time I got it, they were mostly out of danger being dragged in by the lifeguard. They reached the beach smiling and laughing, assuring us, their wives, that they were really in no danger. It was a rip tide and they were swimming fine, and even able to stand at most parts but just kept getting pulled back out with the tide. Needless to say they were limited to beach after that.

The rest of the day we spent flying kites, and playing in the sand and looking for seashells before packing it up and heading back to the house. Fred taught me to fly his stunt kite and I was doing good. For a while. I'm sure by our fifth year at the beach I'll get it.

One thing we learned, other than the obvious of when there is a red flag flying with "NO SWIMMING" written on it (which we noticed after the rip tide incident) don't go in the water, was that we need to get a house on the beach next year. Carrying all this gear sucks. We learned to load up the truck and then the rest of us walk while the gear was driven to the pier then unloaded.

September 7th:

It was a rainy day so we headed to the aquarium on Roanoke Island. The best part was getting to touch stingrays. They are soft and slippery not at all what I expected. But totally cool!

September 8th:

It was rainy once again so we took the day to do some local shopping for useless souvenirs. Typical of any vacation. You can't come home without at least a few things that say OBX. We bought the boys matching t-shirts. So cute.

Most nights we also played board games. And I learned that our group, and O.K. I admit it me too, are very competitive. So there babe, I said it out loud. I am competitive. Are you happy? But it's only cause I live with you and you're competitive too. Well not all because of you. Anyway, moving on. Typical of our group we also found the time to have some fun, when the rain stopped, with water balloons and a sling shot.

September 9th:

Finally a nice day. Despite the wind. We head off to the Currituck Lighthouse. Mason fell asleep on the way over and we debated letting him sleep to waking him up. We woke him up and he wanted Fred to carry him. I was afraid he'd have to carry Mason all the way up the lighthouse. They waited for everyone else to go first and took up the rear. But as always my son surpasses my expectations and surprised me by climbing ALL 214 steps to the top, never stopping for a break and showing no fear. It was incredibly windy on top so after taking a quick look Sophie and I went back inside and waited for everyone to climb back down.

Then we headed out to the 4x4 beach. We hitched a ride with the Beadle's in their truck. With this crew there is never a dull moment. As if getting saved by lifeguards was not enough adventure for the week the Smith's car got stuck in the sand. Like REALLY stuck. It took them probably a half hour, Beadle's truck pulling, the guys pushing and lots of digging to free the sucker. Oh the memories. After that we parked where we were, set up the tent and had a picnic. It was pretty windy and saw no horses but it was fun anyway.

September 10th:

We decided to go back to the 4x4 beach to search for horses. This time we got brave and ventured over the dunes into the housing area. After much searching and following where we saw the tour bus and other jeep rentals going we hit the jackpot. And it was cool. They got really close to us at one point. Mason loved seeing them and riding in the back of the truck. Still to this day he keeps talking about Mr. Mike's blue truck. And picked a blue truck from the stash after getting 10 stones. I enjoyed the ride in the truck too. Cruising the streets. Beadle was on a conference call for part of it and not paying attention and started to drive while everyone in the back was still standing and heard them screaming obscenities at him. It was classic.

That night it was our one night to go out to eat. We went to the Sunset Grill. Excited that they had karaoke and with the amount of alcohol we knew would be consumed it would get interesting. Unfortunately when we arrived, we realized the karaoke wasn't until 10pm. With kids that would be difficult. I was bummed cause Mason said he'd do the karaoke with me. Oh well. Next time.

Dinner was great. I had oysters for the first time. I liked them. Fred and Beadle had a drinking contest. They constantly had to compete at something on this trip. *Sigh* Boys. We got home and took pictures of our adorable little boys in their matching t-shirts. They were so freaking cute. Not that I'm biased but I feel that our group of friends produces the cutest, best-looking kids on the planet.

September 11th:

Our last day at the beach. It was the most perfect day. Sunny, but not too hot. Not windy. Gorgeous. No rip tide and some pretty nice waves. We took turns boogie boarding and I found it so much fun. Mason was cracking me up. He was playing in the sand when at one point Trevor told him he was funny. At the same time Dani had some animal crackers. Mason, being the character he is, would run over to Dani, get an animal cracker, run over to me throw his hand up in the air and yell, "I'm funny." I'd then say, "you're funny" and he proceed to run up the dune and over to Dani and repeat it. Over and over.

September 12th:

The drive home was long. We had left before the Smith's and Beadle's. Having packed up mostly the night before and being up early. Plus they told us to go. I was glad to leave, cause it was getting hectic with all the whining, busyness of packing and wanted to get home at a reasonable hour. We stopped at a McDonalds to grab some lunch. We had tried to stop at an earlier exit but missed it. This is funny because after coming out of the bathroom after having changed both kids diapers/pull ups I heard and saw Beadle standing there. They had stopped at the same McDonalds we did. What are the chances?

Once home, I was exhausted. This was our first trip to the beach since our honeymoon and the first time with kids. So many memories. I’ll never forget Fred, Beadle and Trevor being saved by lifeguards the first day after getting caught in a rip tide, Mike’s SUV getting stuck in the sand on the 4x4 beach, and Mason climbing all 214 steps of the Currituck Lighthouse. Sophie slept 10 hours every night for the first time and I never laughed or smiled so much in a long while. Despite the excruciating long car ride and not being much of a beach person (which I'd say has now changed), I’m looking forward to doing it again next year.

Day out with Thomas

This past weekend we spent the day with Thomas the tank engine. I think my mom and I were just as excited if not more than Mason. We drove up the night before and spent the night in a hotel in Lancaster. Had breakfast at Cracker Barrel then drove the few miles to Ronks, home of The Strausburg Railroad.


We arrived an hour and 45 min. early so we decided to check out the museum on site to kill time before our 11:45am ride time. In all honesty I think we all thought the museum was the highlight of the day. No offense Thomas. We got to see some pretty cool engines and even got to walk through and sit in a few. Fred talked to employee of the museum and we learned that trains had a "dead man's pedal." It controlled the emergency break and you had to have your foot on the pedal at all times. If you fell asleep and your foot came off, all breaks slammed on. Then you'd have to wait for everything to cycle through before you could start again. We also learned that before wooden ties, iron rails on stone sleepers were the only track construction. The Pullman Sleeper Car was pretty cool. In the 1920's, the Pullman Company was the largest hotel operator in the world. I find the whole idea of traveling by train so romantic. Not the love kind of romantic. Call it geeky, nostalgic, whatever. But I am fascinated by all things old and historic. Life in the early 1900's is always romanticized in movies, books and memories. I wonder if our kids will look back at the 21st century and feel the same way?


Heading across the street we look up and point excitedly. Mason look! Whose that puffing down the track? It's Thomas! Hello Thomas!

We probably hyped it up more than we should because it felt a bit like a let down. But still fun. The coach was beautiful but the windows only opened part way so it was hard to see out them. We moved at the pace of a quick crawl. The ride only consisted of us moving backwards, passed barns, cornfields and the Red Caboose Motel; stopping and then moving forward returning to the station. We were expecting a little bit more, like maybe a ride around something instead of back and forth. They did play Thomas music during the ride and Mason got to hand the ticket stubs to the conductor. It was short but sweet, and still fun. About all a three year old could handle I think.

We then had some lunch and did some shopping for Thomas merchandise. Mason is all set for his birthday and Christmas. All in all the Thomas, Hero of the Rails Tour was a success. After all we did get our picture taken with Thomas, and that is all that matters right? As I saw all the other little boys having major meltdowns all around us, I was so thankful to have the wonderful kids I do. Tired and ready to be home we packed up and headed out.

Wonder if we will be making the trip next year for Sophie. Girls can be into Thomas too. Only seems inevitable with all the train and car paraphernalia in the house that she'd take after her big brother.

Stay tuned for my post about our trip to the Outer Banks. A lot happened so there is a lot to write about. Also this is the busiest time for us. An event just about every weekend. Keep reading, I promise I'll be up to date soon.

Beach here we come

New bathing suit that was too expensive but makes me look hot. Check. Crunches every night so I don't feel so bad about my post baby body. Check. Ready for the beach with two kids under 3 years old. Ummm...check?

Ready or not here we go.

three months

I can't believe you are three months old already. How the time seems to fly. Not too much has changed since last month but here are a few thing about you now.

We are so thankful that you are well on your way to sleeping through the night. THANK YOU! Most nights you have seemed to get anywhere between 6-10 hours of sleep. After filling up your tummy with a whopping 40 ounces, you pass out. This usually occurs between 9 and 10pm. We then delicately change your diaper and put you in the sleep sack, being oh so careful not to wake you up. Sometimes we put on the airplane mobile, hand me down from your brother, but you have really gotten into it lately. Daddy is thrilled. Keep it up, you will fit in perfect with this family.

You are growing at increasing speed. Wearing anything from 3 to 12 months. Depending on the clothing brand, some run smaller/bigger than others. Curious, I decided to measure your weight myself. Not realizing you don't see the doctor again until 4 months. Can't wait that long to see if you have doubled your birth weight. You have. Using the rudimentary tool of weighing myself, then again while holding you, and subtracting the two. You weigh 14.5 pounds. That is about two pounds in one month. If you continue at this rate, I might have to research if weight watchers has a program for babies.

Seeing as you are growing out of your clothes at an alarming rate, we are running out of them. Taking advantage of the current sales, I might have gone a little overboard. Of course I had to get the Little Sister outfit to match Mason's Big Brother shirt. Note to self: get picture of them in outfits while on vacation. And those capris...oh and those shorts would look adorable with this top...and yes, something that isn't pink. NOT a big fan of the color, it is disturbing to see an ocean of it in every store. Do they not think girls can where anything other than PINK? However, I have sucked it up because us Seaman woman look good in pink. Ugh. Mason really gets into it, taking after his Mommy I suppose. Constantly running through the aisles and racks of clothes picking out dresses, onesies and exclaiming with such delight, "this is a cute one. Look at this one Mommy." Or if I am holding up an ensemble, "yeah, yeah. That one is soooo cute." Oh how I LOVE IT! The other day he picked out a pink bear lovie, and stated that you HAD to have it. Begging me to bring it home. So it now sits next to the other one in your room. I figure he decided you needed two lovies, just like him.

It is such a joy to hear you react when I, or anyone, talks to you. The cute gurgles, sighs, and other random noises that emerge as you try to "talk" are a welcome relief to your normal ear piercing screams; that honestly could break glass or my ear drums. You are also smiling a lot more. To see your face light up when you see my face is definitely a proud momma moment. You recognize me. Mason is another person who manages to get some of the most precious, big smiles out of you. He has taken his role as Big Brother to heart. Always concerned when you cry. Quick to jump up and comfort you by singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star or giving you a hug. Sometimes he is a little too affectionate and I have to remind him to be gentle. It is all out of Love though. My favorite is how excited he gets, when you smile or talk to him. "She's smiling. Mommy look, she's smiling." So proud.

It is amazing how much you resemble your brother at this age. So much, that Mason sees photos of himself as a baby and thinks it is you. I have to correct him, and honestly if I didn't know it as him I probably would have said those photos were of you too.

We continue to work on "tummy time", though I know you aren't getting enough attention to encourage development of these skills. I find it more difficult than I imagined, having two kids at home. Each one competing for my attention. Leaving me feeling as if I am failing as a parent. Unable to properly nourish my children's mind, body and soul. However, I am trying to give myself the benefit of the doubt. Knowing that there is an adjustment period and I'm not sure we have exited that phase just yet. Every day we get closer to a routine and life gets easier.

As nervous as I was about having a girl, you have seriously worked your way into my heart. I look forward to the coming months; when you will learn to sit up, crawl and eat solid food.

Sweet baby girl, know that you are so very much loved.

Sorry, I can't sell this to you. What? Really?: Worst Company 2009

I had a recent unfortunate incident at Michaels. That would be Michaels Arts and Crafts store. More specifically the one in Leesburg, Virginia. I used to shop at this store a lot. Mostly when I lived in Leesburg now its either that one or the one is Sterling. Anyway, that is beside the point. The point is I WILL NEVER SHOP MICHAELS EVER AGAIN! (Unless I get some major ass kissing on their part). And the following is the reason why.

My family is getting ready to go to the beach this weekend. In preparation, I have been doing major laundry and lots of shopping for essentials and must haves for the trip. Not being big beach goers, the last time was on our honeymoon four years ago, we don't have some of the obvious. Most notably a sand pail and sand shovels. Why is this important? Because we have a toddler who has recently discovered the wonders of sand and would love to be able to make sand castles, dig in the sand and collect shells. CAN'T DO THAT IF YOU DON'T HAVE A PAIL AND SHOVELS. So this week I ventured on my journey to find them. Realizing that I probably waited to late to shop for summer items, seeing that Halloween and Christmas items are already out in stores, I had hopes I might find something on clearance. After failing at Target I thought, Michaels. They sometimes have things like this in those bins that are usually like $1-$5. So I hoped in the car and drove across the street on the chance they might have something left. And HALLELUJAH they did! I thought I'd just hit the jack pot and our trip was saved. I was the cool mom who found the shovels that seemed to be evading us. So in the cart they went. Little did I know, what was waiting for us at the register.

Totally relieved that I finally found the beach shovels (three to be exact. One spade, one with holes, and one scoop) I placed them at the register. The lady rung them up and then all of a sudden she voids it all out turns to me and says, "I can't sell you these." Uh, whaa,whaa...What? She takes them away to the other side of the counter. I'm looking at her totally confused and just dumbfounded. "Excuse me. Why?" "They are under a certain dollar amount and we have a rule that anything under a certain dollar amount I can't sell to you." WHAT!? I'm thinking at this point that she is just full of shit and making no sense at all. Why would they not sell me something? The shovels were sitting in the freaking bins ready to be bought! She repeats the excuse. And I'm just like, this reason is so bogus. I could understand if the price was wrong and they needed to sell it at a different price. But to say that it's too cheap so I can't sell it to you. That's complete and utter BULL SHIT! Sorry for the foul language but I am PISSED OFF. I have been searching for these damn things and finally find it and she won't sell it to me. I tell her, "If it has to be like $1 a piece or something I'll pay that. I don't care. I WANT THESE SHOVELS." She refuses. "I'm sorry, I can't sell them to you." She then calls the manager, which I'm like THANK GOD someone who will make some sense. But then she flags down another associate and gives her the shovels and tells her to take all the other ones off the shelf before I even get to argue with the manager about selling them to me. She tells me the manager is going to tell me the same thing. She can't sell them to me, but I could try Toys R US. She is sure they would have it. At this point it's been like 20 minutes. The manager is nowhere to be seen, my kids are getting antsy, it's getting late, we've been out all morning. A few more minutes go by and I've had enough waiting. I leave the store. COMPLETELY IRATE.

At this point I've got the kids back in the car and I'm on my iPhone searching for Michaels corporate headquarters phone number. I'm logging a complaint and it ain't gonna be pretty. They would rather lose my business they sell me three beach shovels. HOW FUCKING RIDICULOUS IS THAT? So the rest of the day I am just fuming over this incident. Stupid Bitch. I keep saying over and over as each store I go to in desperation just looks at me like I'm retarded asking for beach stuff. Of course we don't have it, we have Halloween merchandise out now. But you could try..... Yeah, Yeah been there, done that. Hopeless. By the time I get home I am so frustrated, upset, confused and sad for Mason that I just want to cry.

Fred arrives home and I repeat the story to him. He then does what he does best and tracks down the complaint number and then dials it for me. I lodge my complaint. Even the lady at the complaint center has no idea what I'm saying. SEE. IT'S THAT STUPID. YOUR OWN COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT DOESN'T EVEN BELIEVE IT. She says she's filing my complaint with the district manager and he should be giving me a call. Of course I know deep down that he isn't going to call. Because that's just how these corporations are. They could care less about their consumers.

How do I explain to my son that he can't have the shovels because of some STUPID IDIOT lady at the evil corporation called Michaels? He was really disappointed and clearly didn't understand why we couldn't buy them. Though, he didn't have the tantrum I was expecting. He sulked about it, was sad and then carried on in the car about how stupid it was. "And the lady said we couldn't buy them. Why she do that? Stupid lady. Stupid store." That's right buddy. You got your momma's back.

I'm still baffled by the whole thing. Still irate. Still sad. Still fuming. STILL WANTING MY DAMN SHOVELS! So disappointed in the system. It failed. I honestly don't understand the issue. Just let me pay for the damn things and call it a day. Seriously. What was the harm? Now they've lost my business. Being a big scrapbooker (and hoarder of scrapbooking supplies) and crafter, that's a chunk of revenue you ain't gonna be getting anymore. I really should have stopped shopping there after the brilliant minds of the executives decided to close Recollections. A thriving, very active and popular scrapbooking store. Should have known they were stupid back then. Well won't make that mistake twice. Now we are heading to the beach in four days with no shovels for our beach pail.

Thanks Michaels. FOR NOTHING. My review of your company: YOU FAIL. MISERABLY. I know I don't have much clout because I'm not famous like Dooce (check out her blog for her Maytag experience) but I thought I'd try to use the power of Twitter, Facebook and my Blog to reach out to consumers and inform them of really crappy business practices of companies they might frequent. It's all I got and I need some sort of happy ending to this ridiculous story.