Top 2 Tuesday- Splurges

 

This weeks topic for Top 2 Tuesday hosted by Taylor over at The Undomestic Momma is Splurges.

Here are mine:

1. ANYTHING for Ethan. My husband says I have a problem buying baby stuff. Its true I do. Clothes, toys, food (ha!) really pretty much anything for him. Currently it is stuff for his 1st birthday party. 

2. This is more of an "us" splurge. But our boat. We got it together right before Scott proposed (June 2008) and in general everything about having a boat is expensive-- maintenance, gas, wakeboard and tubing supplies, etc, etc. We love it though!

Here are some pictures of my 2 favorite splurges together this past weekend: 

If it looks like the pictures are on land not water it's because they are. Scott was washing the boat and E and I were playing in his baby pool when he decided he wanted to help.

Other splurges that almost made the list:
3. My SUV (Volvo XC90) -- love it!
4. Getting my hair done- my dad has always said I am paying my hair stylists' kids college education.
5. Target -- all of it in general
6. Comforters and sheets-- I just love the way it can change the look of a whole room!

What are your favorite splurges? Link up over at The Undomestic Momma!

Top 2 Tuesday- Favorite Things About Summer!

So I have been wanting to join this blog link up for a while now and even though I am a day late I am going to do it anyway because I am looking forward to summer big time! This Top 2 Tuesday is Favorite Things About Summer!

Mine are...

1. Being out on the boat!! Last summer I was pregnant/had a new born so I did no boat trips! I am going to order Ethan a little life vest and I bet he will love to be on the water! And oh yea, since I am no longer with child I will definitely be enjoying some tubing!

2. Time with Ethan and his FIRST BIRTHDAY (and party) because during the summer, school will be out I will get to cut back my hours and spend more time doing fun things with this little ball of energy. His birthday party is SURE to be quite the extravaganza. I mean you only turn 1 once!! I am thinking of a sailboat theme with red navy light blue and white. But not totally decided yet. More to come on that!

What are your favorite things about summer? Head on over to Taylor's blog to link up! =)

First Trip to the Zoo! or not

I must have lost my mind...but I decided that today was a GREAT day to take my little man to the zoo. Now let's just clarify that he is 9 months old (tomorrow) and I know that he will not know or understand the concept. But he LOVES staring/chasing the dog so I assumed that an elephant or a monkey would be triple as cool. So, I call up my friend Katie (who is still on maternity leave) and since I am on spring break (oh the joys of working for the school system) and see if her and baby Chase would like to join me on this adventure. She says of course because she would love to get out of the house, walk around and let the baby see the outside world. So off we go.. mind you it is about an hour and a half drive.. but the kids did awesome! They both napped and we chatted and we were like oh this is going to be so easy right!?

WRONG.

We get there 30 minutes after the zoo opens because of all the traffic from the Cherry Blossom festival.. and all parking lots are FULL and there are people with small children walking in front of cars without looking everywhere. At this point baby Chase is hungry and starts to cry and Ethan looks at him and tries to talk to him and even threw gave him a toy. So w are pretty desperate and we look for spots to parallel or a garage and there are nothing within a 10 block radius. Ethan is now upset because his friend is so upset. I make Chase a bottle and feed it to him from the front seat and I give Ethan a sippy cup. This keeps them content for about 15 minutes. In the mean time we decide we are just going to go get some lunch and walk around a bit so we can at least get something out of the trip. Which we finally do another 30 minutes later with highly pissed upset kids. That 45 minute drive through DC  (after the 1.5 hours it took to get there) where many people honked at us, we almost hit a few pedestrians, our children screamed, and we didn't even get to go to the zoo took a few years off my life

Alls well that ends well. Katie and I had yummy crab cakes for lunch and I got a new shirt from Ann Taylor Loft and Ethan enjoyed riding in his stroller outside and people watching.. which was close enough to a zoo within itself.

Me Time

I may or may not have taken an 1.5 hour bubble bath in my mom's jacuzzi tub complete with diet coke, iTunes, and watching the snow fall outside.

Hey.. us Mommy's need some ME time too!

Snow (again) and a list.

So we are currently in the midst of a blizzard.. or Snowpocalypse 2010 as they are calling it. Apparently, we could have over 2 feet by the time its over.. or more considering there was already snow on the ground that hadn't melted yet.

This is Maryland not Alaska.. and I need to move back to South Carolina STAT.

Since all this snow is damaging my brain.. this blog will have to be in list form.

1. E has an ear infection from teething.. poor baby.
2. I have a sinus infection from working with snotty kids all day.. poor momma.
3. Where is spring/summer? I want to break out my fav J.Crew shorts (yellow with navy anchors, duh) and the sundresses. Mostly because I was prego all last spring/most of summer so I miss those clothes  as maternity clothes are just not quite as cute!
4. My 2 boys are currently napping together and I love seeing them together sleeping or playing - I am truly blessed to have such an amazing husband and father to my baby boy.
5. Speaking of prego and baby boys. I have baby fever lately. and I am not too sure why. Scott and I always wanted to have our kids close together (by close i mean 2 or 3 years.. not 9 months) so it might just be something we are putting on our radar for this fall.
6. We will not be having more children until our house situation progresses some more. Hard to build a house with 3 feet of snow on the ground.. UGH.
7. I love spaghetti!
8. I miss Clemson and all my girlfriends in the south! Shout out to you bitches! Love you all!
9. My dog is hilarious in all of this snow. -- pictures to follow for sure.
10. This might have been the most random post ever.

I don't do... Children's Clothing with Characters Edition

You might remember my post about how I don't do cats and the many reasons why

In that post I promised to right about another thing that I don't do which is characters on childrens' clothing. Now let's just keep in mind that my baby is just about 7 months old.. so he still wears what mommy tells him. But I just do not do character clothing. I can't! and I won't! My inner fashionista will not allow it! In the next few years I am sure we will do battle over Handy Manny shoes or a Backyardigans shirt. But fear not Mommy's of the world. I have a compromise. He can wear any sort of character pajamas and have any sort of character toys!

Don't get me wrong my son wears tons of cutesy clothes and I want him to be comfortable. So, I don't get him dressed up in button up shirts and ties everyday. He does not however need to have any cartoon characters faces plastered across is shirt.There are a few exceptions.. in Disney World he can character it up.. if we were going to a Go Deigo Go! show -- of course he can get/wear a shirt.

Lets just be honest. Baby E looks much cuter in preppy clothes from places like the Children's Place or Old Navy or Carter's which are perfect for us because I refuse to spend gazillions of dollars on his clothes since he only wears them once or twice  but I would be lying if I said he didn't have some fabulous customized clothing like Christmas overalls with his name on them or some pricier brands like Ralph Lauren..

Because WHO can resist a 2 week old baby in a Ralph Lauren one piece outfit!

too much work too little play

 I worked 65.5 hours last week and my grad school classes started back.

I = brain dead.

More soon. Promise.

I have to tell you...

about this fabulous giveaway that my in real life friend (but annoymous-ish blogger) is hosting on her page!

Head over to Working Mommy's Lessons Learned to get the details. If you aren't following her blog already you probably should because she is HILARIOUS! I can actually picture the stories she tells happening to her. We were pregnant at the same time (our little ones are just a few days apart!) and she is just fabulous.

Anyway back to the giveaway she is giving away not one but two! of these super cute Pumpkin Sacks from Knotted Wear. They are not only cute but functional too!

I don't know why I am blogging about this because I want to win one! My big little man (who has 2 teeth, is crawling, and sitting up on his own BTW) will probably be too big but I just know that they will make a great gift! Especially for my bestest friend who is about to pop out a baby boy any day now. Or my precious 2 month old niece!

Anyway head over to Working Mommy's blog and check it out!!

scary times in the Tennyson household..

So baby E got strep throat right after Christmas. We  took him to the pedi and since he had it once before he gave him a stronger antibiotic.. Augmentin. This was on a Monday. By Thursday and Friday he was still acting as if he was in pain and he was not sleeping or eating. The previous time he had it they put him on Amoxicillian and he felt better the next day. On Saturday (New Years Day) we decided to take him to an urgent care (at St. Mary's Hospital) just to get his prescription switched because his pedi was out of town and the pedi on call wouldn't return my phone call (after I had been calling him since Thursday to change it). So the Dr. there put him back on Amoxicillian stating that the Augmentin (which is a combo of amoxiciallian and another drug) was probably messing up his stomach because that is common.

All hunky dory right?

WRONG. The next morning I go to change Ethan's diaper and he is broken out in hives in all of his creases (armpits, neck, etc.) At this point I am freaking out because I don't think it can possibly be an allergic reaction since he has been on the amoxicillian before and because the augmentin had amoxicillian in it. Off to the ER we go. I always think the worst but I mean this was bad the hives were spreading fast and I was afriad they would get in his mouth and throat.

So we go to the ER and a Physicians Assistant comes in (DOES NOT EVEN TAKE OFF HIS ONSIE to see the whole outbreak) and says he is allergic to the Amoxicillian.. switches his prescription.. tells us we can't give him anything for the hives because he is too little.. and sends us on our way. He was in the room for MAYBE 3 minutes. The nurse comes in to discharge us and warns us its going to get worse before it gets better and to take him to the pedi Monday morning. EXCUSE ME? its going to get worse but we can't give him anything. I think I was in so much shock I didn't know what to say. And my inner bitch that comes out quite often just could not make it out.

Ethan did not sleep all night (I don't know if they were painful or itchy) because he was so miserable. My poor baby was one big hive. I stared at him for most of the night because I was so scared his breathing was going to get shallow. We made it through the night somehow and took him to his pedi who proceeded to tell us it was one of the worst allergic reaction hive breakouts he has ever seen. He had to put my poor baby on steroids and on anti inflammatories. He said that his hives were so bad he was close to bruising.

MORAL OF THE STORY: St. Mary's Hospital and ER doctors SUCK! and I will be raising some serious hell with some big wigs at the hosptial.

I realize that it could have been worse and if it was any worse I would have killed everyone of them however they should have done something so it did not get to the point that it did! I wish I would have taken pictures of him to show how bad it got but I worried about the present and was not thinking that far in advance.

Ethan is fine now.. 5 days of heavy medication later. He is perfectly and healthy-- Thanks to his fabulous pedi.

2009 = blur

2009 was a huge blur for me!

In picture form it went like this:

Married and a beautiful baby boy all in one year -- and I could not be more happier!

I don't think 2010 can top this year!

Picture Taking.. or lack there of

I have never been good at taking pictures in my life. There are many events that I wish I had taken more pictures at.. thank god for the miracle of facebook + sorority sisters (esp. ones we affectionately nicknamed paparazzi) or I wouldn't have pictures of some of the best times of my life. When I found out I was pregnant I promised myself I would take more pictures of my little one. I even asked my parents for a video camera for Christmas that year so that I could take videos of him. At first I did awesome. I have so many pictures of the first 3 or 4 months of his life. Then when I went back to work they got slowly less and less. Oh yea that video camera that I asked for.. I have a whopping total of 5 minutes of video. 3 videos in 6 months. It was just Ethan's first Christmas.. guess how many pictures I took? Maybe 10. So I will rely on family members again.

I used to think it was because I didn't have anything to do with the pictures except store them on the computer. But then I decided to take up scrapbooking one random day in college. Armed with my debit card I went to Michael's and Hobby Lobby (man I miss that place!) and bought more scrapbooking stuff than I knew what to do with. I laid out the whole book and put little post its on all the pages it would contain.. football games.. halloween..christmas..formals and date parties from the previous year and I even made my first page of pictures of a guy I dated in college and I and on the day we started dating (what was I thinking?) That is as far as it got. All that stuff is in a tupperware in my parents basement.

Then I thought it was because I felt awkward asking people to take my picture or if I could take their picture. But nope, lets be honest-- I'm not embarassed by much.

 It doesn't help that my husband HATES pictures. It was like pulling teeth to get him to take family pictures this year. They came out really good though! I will post some tomorrow. It was part of the baby plan that I signed up for at one of my fav. photography places. They take pictures at newborn, 3 months, 6 months, 9, months, and 1 year old. Too bad my 3 month turned into like 4/5 month pictures. Ooops.

The obvious trend here is that I don't know what to do with pictures and I rely on others to take them for me. All in all I just need to get over it all and take more pictures before my son grows up before my eyes and I do not have any pictures to remember it by. Does anyone else suck at life in the picture taking department?

True Life: Sometimes I am a bad blogger..

Well, well, well bloggy world, long time no see! No worries all is well here in the Tennyson household. and by the way Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas! I have much enjoyed catching up with everyone over my holiday break.

You see what happened was- that part time..flexible hours job I wrote about over a month here on this very blog has turned into a full time (often overtime) I still LOVE but it takes up much more of my time then originally anticipated which means much less time for family, friends and blogging. I cannot complain though because I am lucky to have a extremely supportive husband, a great daycare provider for the love of my life (baby Ethan - who is now almost 6 months old!!!!) and a job that I am excited to go to daily-- and let's be real in this economy that is a huge accomplishment.

Anyway this semester is over for me and while next semester I may or may not be taking 3 classes (wtf I am thinking?!?!)  I am announcing my official bloggy return!  Look forward to posts on the holidays (obviously), updates on baby Ethan (obviously again), thoughts on my new car!, job related shenanigans, and so much more!!!

oh blog I missed you!

Back to work..

So last week was like a whirl wind.. but I have a new job that I LOVE.  I will be working with children that have autism. And it is pretty close to my dream job right now. I get to help children AND it is only part-time so I still get to spend plenty of time with my baby boy.

Today will be the first day that he goes to day care! I am nervous but only a little because Scott's best friend's Mom will be doing his daycare. She also watched Scott when he was little so he grew up with her son, Vince. Vince and Scott are still best friends and he was Scott's best man and Scott was his best man. Vince and his wife are expecting a baby boy in March so hopefully they will get to grow up together and be just as close!

The worst part about this whole thing is that on days like today I will drop him off at 12:30 and I won't see him until 8 because Scott will pick him up and I will go straight from work to class. Luckily my schedule every week won't be exactly the same so hopefully I will be able to avoid days like today.

Wish me luck!!

holy chicken

So I am making dinner.. and yes I make dinner at 12:51pm because when you have a baby boy that requires much of this SAHM (stay at home moms) attention and a HUGE test in your graduate school class tonight.. and a husband that is hungry for dinner as soon as he gets home from work at approximately 3:30pm that is what you do..

anyway.. I am trimming chicken breast when I pull out of the package no joke the biggest peice chicken you have ever seen. And I think to myself did I buy a whole chicken? are there 2 peices stuck together? no and no. This chicken breast is no joke the size of my baby when he was first born (9lbs to be exact) and all I can think of is the fact that my husband said OMG babe he is huge! as the first words when he saw our beautiful newborn son. because that is exactly what I thought when I saw this piece of chicken.

And ok.. it was a joke the peice of chicken really wasn't 9 lbs. that would probably be a world record though.

Fall shoes..

I love Uggs. I used to have a love/hate relationship with them.. but they feel like you are walking on clouds. and last winter I was prego and had awful morning sickness so that was pretty much all I wore.. unless I had to meet with clients and dress up for work.

However, I need to expand my horizons. I need a good pair of leather boots possibly of the riding-type variety and also a cute pair of flats. I have tons of shoes/boots with heels that I love for fall and wear on occassion but lets be real how practical is it to walk around in stillettos pushing a stroller or carrying a baby.

So I am on the shoe prowl.. look out world.

Diets Suck!

The title says it all. There is no beating around the bush. I love food. and hate dieting.

I have embarked on my Weight Watchers journey.

One would think having a 9 lb baby would make you lose a lot of pounds when you only gain 25-30 pounds when pregnant. And it did.. approx 15 of them. but it did not make me lose the weight I wanted to lose before I got pregnant -- or the 15 pounds having the baby didn't make me lose. boooo!

good thing I didn't gain more weight like the docs kept telling me I needed to.. ugh..

So Ta - Ta baby weight and extra pre-prego weight. I will see you never..



okay fine. maybe i will see you next time I have a baby.

Happy Birthday to Me!

My birthday was Saturday. I personally am not a huge fan of birthdays.. mostly because I don't like surprises and I am not good at faking things that I don't like.

Husband and I actually fought quite a bit over this said birthday. We are saving money so we can get a bunch of new furniture for our new house.. so I really didn't want a big to-do. He finally realized that I was serious and didn't make a big deal out of it.

I did get to get a pedicure with my mom (a true treat when you have a 3 month old) and hubby planned and all day date for us. and he got me an Oreo Pie from Brusters (aka heaven!!) So all in all the big 2-4 wasn't bad at all. and I got lots of gift cards so I didn't have to do the fake smile and pretend I liked gifts that I really didn't

In other thoughts..

bad news first: I will be starting weight watchers this week to kick this baby weight in the a** big time
good news: Ethan's 3 month pics are this week so expect some cuteness from my baby boy
good news x2: Girl weekend this weekend with Nellie (Scott's sister), Jessie, and Jenny (Scott's cousins) woo hoo!! I am so lucky to have married into a family that I L-O-V-E! =)

I don't do..

There are certain things in life that you have rules against... Some people don't do certain foods, or certains types of clothing or certain types of alcohol usually after a bad experience...

For me it is cats.. I just don't like them. Anything that has 4 legs needs to go to the bathroom outside. End of discussion. No, I don't care that they go in a litter box.. you still have to clean it up.. it might as well be a diaper. And I change enough of those for my son. At least he will one day be potty trained and in the mean time we have a diaper genie to contain the smell. Cats just do their business in a glorified open top cardboard box. gross.


I also don't like that they hiss and scratch and they have beady little eyes. AND the fact that they climb all over everything.. cats on the kitchen counter? hello unsanitary.

and let's all be honest here.. they don't do anything.. you can't take them for a walk or a run.. you can't play fetch with them.. they don't sit, shake, or roll over.



No I haven't ever had a true bad expeirence revolving around cats.. and even my in-laws and my best friend own cats.. doesn't matter.


Basically DOGS > CATS. and in my house:


There are other things I don't do.. but those are posts for another day.. but in true preview style.. children's clothing with characters on them.. and yes there are some exceptions.

October!!

October brings lots of exciting things this year!! (and most years!)
In honor of one of my favorite months I have Halloweened out my blog! What do you think??

Things I LOVE about this month:

• My Birthday (10/10 easy to remember so don't forget!)
• My mom and both of my sister-in-laws birthdays
• My baby boy will be 3 months old! -- thats 1/4 of a year!
• More Clemson and Giants football

Which brings me to something really exciting!! The day after tomorrow many of my favorite girls from Clemson will be in Maryland for the Clemson vs MD game and mucho tailgating and catching up and I CANNOT WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! eeeeeeeeeeeekkkk!

back to my list..

• Cool fall air and the clothing it brings (sweaters and boots!)
• Ethan's first Halloween!!!!
  

Which brings me to something else! I cannot for the life of my decide what he should be.. his first Halloween is a big deal!! We were thinking maybe a dinosaur since we call him Stink-a-sorous. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

back to my list again..

• Candy Corn, Pumpkins, & Halloween decorations
• Heck, Halloween in general!

Ahhhhh, life is good. In other news..

A fab sorority sister of mine mentioned Thankful Thursdays in her blog.. and I love the idea especially in honor of fall.. so..

I am so THANKFUL that it looks like we will be in our brand new house that is OUR's by Christmas! Homeownership feels so good and we havent even finished signing on the dotted line yet!

What do you love about October/fall?

GIANTS

You can find me in front of the TV at my parents house watching my G-men with my family! Enjoying some yummy food cooked by my Daddy! And hoping that the Redskins lose to the Lions even if they are my husbands favorite team