We headed to Houston for Thanksgiving with my family this year. Gigi had a full house with my Aunt Terri and two cousins, Elle & Cassie, from Indiana also joining in the fun. We had several generations represented and naturally chaos ensued. Yet we managed to get out to eat once (table for 9 adults, 3 high chairs, and one infant sling, please!), play a few games, watch Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, demolish a 19 pound turkey, and do a little black Friday shopping. It was a successful and fun week. Here's a few pictures from the fun:
My beautiful cousin, Elle, with Cutie Pie: Big cousins with baby cousins:
My Aunt Terri with the girls:
On Friday my Godparents came for a lasagna dinner...no turkey leftovers were stuck in! Bob was a natural with Cutie Pie. Gigi did a fabulous job of hosting the huge group.
Cutie Pie's one month birthday came and went but luckily we did snap a picture:
She has grown! She weighed in at 9 pounds, 1 ounce for her 1 month checkup. She is also sleeping 4 or 5 hour chunks in the night which makes Mommy oh so happy! She is still a cuddle bug who prefers to be held all day long. She loves her sister and looks towards her when she hears her voice.
Rounding out the Grandparent visits in early Nov. was Nana's trip. She came on the airplane with homemade bread, chocolate chip cookies and several other grocery items for making meals while she was here. She was like a traveling chef!
While she was here we went to a school carnival. Cupcake got to do a cake walk and she won. It was only our family and Nana doing the walk but that's just a small detail. She, of course, picked cupcakes. The rest of the weekend we relaxed at home.
It was great to have the extra help and some more meals made for us. Here is cutie pie's first visit with Nana:
3.5 yrs ago when my time working in the fashion industry was drawing to a close I promised myself that I would not lose touch with the trends. At the time I could have told you the colors, textures, and trends that would hit the market in 6 months to a year. I was always a few steps ahead and was able to find great deals before everyone was buying something. I also LOVED giving gifts because often the recipient wouldn't know what to think only to be amazed a few months later when they were right on trend. I promised myself I would not lose touch.
I continue to do lots of the same things I did back then...I scour the internet, I flip through magazines, I watch movie trailers, I get daily fashion emails, and so on. But somehow the perspective from which I'm doing those has shifted enough that I'm losing it. How do I know?
Next week I'll be seeing my youngest cousins. They are still in high school. Not only that, these teens were forced to get flu shots when they normally don't in order to be around Cutie Pie. I haven't lost it enough to know that in teen world if someone told me to get a shot that wasn't "mandatory" because some "mom" was worried about her baby I'd be a little annoyed. So I decided I owed them a thank you.
That's when it hit. I had NO IDEA where to start when it came to a fun gift for teens. Eep! I jumped online assuming it was just the lack of sleep fog. It wasn't. My palms got sweaty. I went back to things I've been pinning (LOVE YOU PINTREST). Gasp....it's been stuff for my littles not teens or recipes but that's another post. I put the baby down and decided to "focus." Still nothing to be confident about. Tears. Big ugly tears. Went upstairs to put on some earrings and lipstick. Maybe if I got out of Mom mode a little....nothing.
I took a deep breath and went to Etsy. Surely someone on Etsy knows how to craft for teens. Then I find Frillychili. I fall in love with her scrabble piece necklace pendants. If I love them, will my cousin? She loves to sing and has a fabulous voice. So when I found this little songbird I decided I may still be losing it but at least found something to be excited about:
The belly of the songbird is sheet music. Sigh. I love little details.
Will she like it? Who knows? Have I lost it? Probably. But am I giving up and heading to Sears for Mom jeans and comfort shoes? HECK NO. I just need to scour a little more and broaden my pinning when it comes to Pintrest.
In the meantime if you too find yourself at a lost for a gift: Frillychili to the rescue! Check out her other cuteness here. I can't decide which one to buy next....not because I've lost it but because they are all so fun!
It's a funny thing about life stages...people both want to jump ahead for you and "help" you by anticipating the worst. How does this play out?
When I started dating the hubs....people asked if we were serious. When I finally would acknowledge the severity of my burning love for him....people asked when we'd get engaged (as if I knew?!). Once engaged...when we'd get married. Once married....when we'd have kids. It's always been a little pet peeve of mine. I'm not adverse to goals but I do like to enjoy the moment and savor each stage. There were some beautiful things about just dating the hubs. Of course in hindsight it would be devastating had we stalled out there. But in those moments it was nice to just enjoy dating. Flash forward to the postpartum nurse that took me into care just hours after Cutie Pie's birth. She first asked me "Are you going to have a 3rd to try for a boy?" People are always jumping ahead. They want to be in the know about what is next. I've had to deal with knowing that as soon as we hit a life stage, someone would be asking about the next.
The other side of that is people want to "help" you by anticipating the worst. Now I don't think anyone is assuming the worst or wishing the worst on you. In fact I think in some crazy way they really believe they are "helping." If you somehow anticipate the worst case scenario then you'll endure the hard parts better. Surely you know the old ball and chain warning the minute a man puts a ring on gals finger? Or when pregnant for the first time we got the enjoy every last moment BEFORE the baby comes and you suffer social suicide. And finally, the most recent: Your first born is going to have a really hard time with the second. Be prepared for hatred, jealousy, acting out, and so forth.
I think both of these tendencies really do stem from a place of care. We get excited for what is next in people's life and we want to prepare them for the hard things so that it won't discourage them. However, I just don't really like either. I'd prefer to enjoy the moment I am in. I'd also prefer to focus on all the great things about what is to come. I don't want to waste time planning for a worst case scenario that may not happen.
Perfect example: my firstborn. There has been no hatred. There has been no acting out. Jealousy has not reared an ugly head yet. Maybe at 5 short weeks into the second born's life I am naive and deceived but for all the worry that people shoved my way about even these first 5 weeks it ended up being a waste. Cupcake has been fabulous. She's loving. She's helpful. She's curious. She's observant. She's patient. She's independent when I need her to be. She's still cuddly and sweet when I have the space on my lap. She's patient. She's proud. I have fallen in love all over again with my Cupcake as I've watched her take on her new role as a big sister.
I was prepared for all kinds of ugliness based on the warnings of others. Shame on me. I slipped into the stereo types and underestimated her. I'm sorry, Cupcake. I should have known that you'd embrace Cutie Pie like you do everything with grace, flexibility, optimism, and an outpouring of love. I'm snapping pictures of your luscious curls and ridiculous long eye lashes today and thinking of how thankful I am that your Daddy doesn't feel like he's wearing a ball and chain, how you did not create social suicide for us, and how having a second child did not awaken a monster within you. I am continuously in awe of and deeply in love with you my precious girl.
Behind on blogging, thank you note writing, laundry, grocery shopping, call returning, picture uploading, sleep and if I'm honest...showering. I am not however behind in newborn snuggles, tea parties, dress up, or princess play. While I navigate the balance of two it's the first list I'm wiling to let slip. So hang in with me on the learning curve.
Going back to the week leading up to Halloween... Grandma and Grandpa came at the end of October to meet Cutie Pie and help out. Help out is an understatement! Grandpa completed a list I had of things around the house that did not get done before Cutie Pie's arrival. This included ceiling fan installation, winterizing the house, running some errands and more. Grandma meanwhile managed the kitchen. By managaged the kitchen I mean I did not cook, grocery shop, clean, load a dishwasher, or unload a dishwasher for a week. It was such a treat. Not to mention that each meal was fantastic. Grandma does have a gift in the kitchen!! There were nights after dinner when the hubs and I would literally sit on the couch with our feet up holding the baby while they finsihed cleaning the kitchen and putting food away. It was so nice to have a week to just soak up Cutie Pie and know that we had the help and support around us to do that. Grandma and Grandpa also mananged to get plenty of playtime in with Cupcake. I was impressed that Grandpa climbed the highest slide at the park with Cupcake and also took her to storytime by himself. They had a great time and Cupcake still talks about taking her shoes off on the slide with Grandpa.
As I mentioned before we are so blessed to have so much love and support around us. When we watched Grandma and Grandpa pull out I seriously wondered how we'd survive! Thanks for a great week and all of your help!
A couple of Cupcake's sweet friends joined us for trick or treating. Either the girls are getting older or we're getting better with the camera because here are the three girls all looking at the camera! Aren't they precious?!?
Cupcake was thrilled they went trick or treating with us. She even told several people of homes we went to that these were her friends. It was really sweet.
Grandma and Grandpa were in town to meet Cutie Pie and gave us a really sweet gift! They stayed back at our house to hand out candy so that we could trick or treat as a family. It was really selfless of them to offer to miss out on the door to door part so that we could do it together as a family and know that our house would still be fun for our neighbors to visit. They even raided our costume box and set up on the front porch. They are so fun, check out their costumes:
We also managed to get a group shot before heading out. Sorry Cutie Pie...I didn't hold you up high enough.
Here's an action shot. Cupcake really understood the concept of trick or treating this year. She knew to knock and say trick or treat and she rarely missed a thank you after candy was dropped in her pumpkin. She's asked everyday since if she could go trick or treating again!
One cute quote from Cupcake: She had tripped at one house and spilled some candy. I helped her up and put the candy back in her pumpkin. A few houses later she tripped again. This time she picked herself and the candy up. Then she looked at the hubs and I and with complete dismay said: " I just keep falling." It was so funny!
Today we're packing away Halloween and moving on to Thanksgiving....just like that we head into the holidays! Wow!
On Friday my Godparents came for a lasagna dinner...no turkey leftovers were stuck in! Bob was a natural with Cutie Pie. Gigi did a fabulous job of hosting the huge group.
