An Important Read

I'm here today to introduce you to someone I hold very dear in my heart.  I have known Christophe since we were in first grade.  I had a huge crush on him in 6th grade {which I'm not actually sure he ever knew about}.  We were close friends in high school and I even took him as my date to my freshman year semi.

So why am I telling you all this?  Christophe has suffer from a rare degenerative muscle disease called Myofribullar Myopathy his whole life.  Only 100 people in the entire country have been diagnosed with it.  He has had several organ transplants and many other medical procedures done.  He is 28.

Christophe has the greatest heart and will to live that I have ever seen.  He has started his own blog to start to spread awareness about both his disease and organ donation.  Please head on over there and give your support to him and continually send him your prayers.  If anyone can come up with research or a cure for this disease, it's him!

Baby Monitors? I've Tried Them All

There's a little known fact about me that I've decided to finally share with you all.  I'm a baby monitor expert.  Seriously.  It was never a life-long dream of mine, but somehow it just evolved that way. 

Want to know how I have become such an expert?  It's simple.  I'VE OWNED 6 MONITORS IN THE PAST THREE YEARS .  Yup, you heard that right...SIX.  How is that even possiblewhen Emmy is not yet four?  I'll give you the break down.

When I was first registering for my baby shower when I was pregnant with Emmy, I got just an audio monitor.{monitor #1}  We had nothing for the baby and I felt like a video monitor was an extravegance.  I can't find a picture of the one we had online, no can I remember the brand, but it was total crap so I don't think anyone wants to buy it anyway.

The base went in the baby's room, and we had two receivers we could listen too.  The whole thing stopped working when Emmy was only a few months old.  So we just went out and bought a copy of the same one {monitor #2}
When Emmy was just a little older than one, I wrote this post, which prompted my dad to go out and get us our very first video monitor. {monitor #3}

It is the Infant Summer monitor.  Sure the monitor part is a little bulky, but this thing was AWESOME.  It was sooo great getting to see Emmy on there.  It worked for a long time {and still does actually!}

But the I got pregnant.  Emmy was still little enough to need some watching over in her room, so Skip and I wanted a monitor that could use two cameras, so we could see both girls.

Since we'd had such luck with our Summer Infant model, we decided to stick with the same company and just upgrade.  So we got the Sleek and Secure Multiview Color Video Monitor {monitor #4}

It was AWESOME.  Your could switch between both rooms, carry the monitor with you everywhere, and even talk into it! {made is easy to just tell Emmy to go to bed without actually going in there}  The screen was super tiny, but that was our only complaint. 

Until a few months in when it stopped working.  Not good.  But after hounding Summer Infant, they sent a replacement for free! {monitor #5}

All was well until a few weeks ago when it quit working AGAIN.  So Skip and I headed over to Buy Buy Baby to pick up another monitor.  We decided not to go with a Summer one again after all the problems and instead settled on the Motorola Digital Video Baby Monitor {monitor #6}

Now let me tell you people, I am in LOVE. Seriously.  The screen is huge, I can flip between both cameras, it gives you the temperature in the room, you can talk into it, it can play lullabies, you can move the camera from the monitor, and the screen is HUGE. 

We've only had it a few weeks, so I'm not sure about longevity yet, but it is certainly my favorite so far.  Now let's hope it's also my last!!

What is your favorite monitor?

Girl Behind the Blog Video Link-Up!

Okay, so I ramble on a bit past the 2-3 min mark and I say ummm waay too much..but here it is!  My very first vlog link-up with Ashley!!

Popping my Puking Cherry

I've been hiding a secret from all of you.  One I was too afraid to mention for fear of massive repercussions.  Until this past Saturday, I had gone 3 1/2 years of motherhood without a single puking incident.

Sure we had our fair share of projectile breast milk and formula from each of the girls when they were babies, but that was it.  And that's hardly a big deal in my book.  I knew one day the stomach flu or something similar would eventually end up in our lives, but I rode out the puke-free wave as long as I could.{I also think I got to live without puke for so long since I had more than my fair share during my pregnancies}

Enter Saturday.  The day of my sister's wedding rehearsal and dinner.  Skip, the girls, and I are all dressed up and ON TIME.  Something I used to pride myself on and something that rarely happens with two kids.  I had a huge diaper bag filled with everything I thought we'd need.  We hit the road and begin our hours drive. 

Charlie was pretty screamy the whole time, but that's just about par for the course these days.  Girl has never really been a fan of the car.  So we just crank up the music a little bit and deal as usual.

In no time at all we were pulling into the wedding venue, still on time! Skip parked the car and I opened up Charlie's door to get her out.  And then it happened.  My poor sweet baby girl projectile vomited everywhere.  On her, the car seat, the seat behind her, me, her paci.  It was awesome.  And did I tell you about the part that she was throwing up fruit and veggie yogurt melts?  That were red.  So it looked like she was puking up blood.  Even more awesome.

As I stood there with puke on my hands I realized that I: A:only had a few wipes with me, and B: did not bring a change of clothes for either girl.  Total Mom Fail.

So I quick grabbed her out of the seat and with the few wipes I had and a bathroom run, I was able to clean both of us off enough to make it through the rehearsal and dinner with only a faint smell of baby puke.

But during all this time a discussion started making its way between Skip and I and my family.  Charlie was not sick and puked, she had no fever and was totally happy the whole time. So we realized it must have been motion sickness  that caused her to throw up.  Now sure, it was an hour's drive, but it was mostly highway and barely any turns.  So if she puked on this trip, the likely hood that it would happen again was pretty high.

So the puking combined with the fact that the girl screams in the car pretty much every time we put her into it, we decided to front face her that day.

Now I'm not ignorant.  I know the research that rear-facing for up to two years is what is encouraged these days.  Emmy was rear-facing until 22 months, and I had planned on doing the same for Charlie.  And yes, I would much rather clean up kid puke every day than have something horrific happen to my kid...trust me when I say I really struggled with this decision.  But Skip, my mom, and I all came to the conclusion that front facing would be better overall.  The risk of her choking on vomit was not a safe one either, and it's getting to the point where her screaming in the car is not safe for me as a driver either. 

So at just over a year and almost 22 lbs, my Charlie bear is now forward facing.  And girl is loving it!  We have had no more puking or screaming incidents yet {though I'm sure there will still be times she screams} and everyone is much happier.  And don't worry, I bought three changes of clothes to the wedding, just in case;-)

What a Wonderful Wedding!!

This weekend will go down as one of the best of my life.  My baby sister is now married!!!! I've been sitting here for a good half an hour now trying to think of the perfect words to describe what this weekend meant to me, but some things are just indescribable and can only be felt, not articulated into words.  So instead I'll leave you with the few I Phone pics I snapped yesterday.  At the end is the Matron of Honor speech I made for the happy couple. 

Bridesmaid dress

Hair and make-up

My sweet flower girls #1

Sweet flower girl #2

Cocktail hour with my cousin

My bestie J who came {and was a HUGE help} with the girls!

They're married!!!!!

Her dress was very Kate Middleton {though my sis was way prettier and more radiant than Kate}

Dancing with our dad to "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban.....commence tears and sobbing

Dancing the day away!

Me and my MARRIED sister! {let it be known I'm standing on my tippy toes in this pick...I'm the really short on in the family}

Love her!!

Sir Winston Churchill once said "Where does the family start? It starts with a young man falling in love with a girl - no superior alternative has yet been found."


And that is why we are all gathered here today. K fell in love with E, and she with him, and today we are here to celebrate the beginning of their own little family.


As one of E’s older sisters, I could not be happier to stand before you all and give my congratulations to our bride and groom. I knew from the very beginning of E and K’s relationship that they were meant for each other. When you see them together, they just make sense. The compliment and challenge each other in the most beautiful ways. I cannot wait to see where life takes them together.


Now, I’d like to impart a little advice for the two of you. I’ve paraphrased this from the movie The Vow.


"I hope you both help each other love life, hold each other with tenderness and have the patience that love demands. Speak when words are needed and share the silence when they are not. To live within the warmth of each other’s hearts and always call it home. I wish for you both to fiercely love each other in all your forms, now and forever and to never forget that this is a once in a lifetime love."

 K, I am so proud and honored to now call you my brother, and E, new last name or not, you will always be the Mary Kate to my Ashley. I love you both. Congratulations.

Going to the Chapel.....

I'm going to be MIA on here, Twitter, Facebook, etc for the next few days for a VERY important reason.

After a beautiful shower

A fabulous bachelorette party

These two, my baby sister and her fiance, will be getting MARRIED on Sunday.

I cannot WAIT, with both tears and laughter to celebrate these two as they start their lives together!

Finaly Party Post, I Promise!

In cased you missed it, I blogged about all the decorations/food for Charlie's birthday yesterday.  We kept the guest list very small...just immediate family {hardly any of our friends have kids and we don't think it's fair to subject them to a one-year-old's birthday} 

It was a very relaxed party.  No one blinked an eye when Emmy and her cousin needed to run off some energy outside or when Charlie needed an impromptu bath after cake time.  We ate, opened gifts, and made some nice memories for Charlie Bear!

We had a mini photo shoot before everyone got there

I *love* when she scrunches her nose!

The sibling picture was not working out so well

Opening some gifts

Had to steal this one from my sis...Skip took NO pictures during the cake!

Girl loves her sweets!

My crazy girls

This Year Flew By...a Butterfly Party!

When Emmy turned one, we gave her an Elmo birthday party {quick rant, why do people hate giving their kids character parties?  Isn't the party supposed to be for the kid and what they want?} but since Charlie hasn't shown any real prefence to characters, I decided to go with a butterfly theme.  I'll be breaking her party recap into two posts...today is all about the theme and decorations!

I actually picked out this theme MONTHS ago and have been grabbing butterflies every where I saw them.  This actually made it really easy and helped spread out the cost!  Now with the invention of Pinterest and having photo evidence of these parties for centuries to come, my desire to throw the 'perfect' party is always in full force.  But as a SAHM with a mortgage and two kids, extra money for expensive party invitations and personalized labels is rarely in the budget.  So I have to get a little more creative on things.

Most of the things I bought for this party were from Dollar Tree.  Seriously.  The plates, cups, napkins, centerpieces, banner, invitations, table cloth, all from the Dollar Tree.  I love getting party stuff there!  The rest of the stuff I mainly got at Michaels.  Just little butterflies I'd see here and there.  I got a few blank paper and wooden butterflies as well and just colored them in myself!

The poms are left over from the bridal shower I threw...I just added some clip on butterflies!

To cut down on food costs, we did an afternoon party, from 1:30-4:00, so I didn't have to prepare a whole meal.  I made some spinach dip and hummus, both with chips.  I made the butterfly cake myself, along with some butterfly sugar cookies {which looked terrible, but whatever.} We also did an ice cream bar which was a HUGE hit.  I got three kinds of ice cream, a bunch of cones, and several toppings.  It was definitely the highlight of the party and fun for both kids and adults!

Containers for toppings

See, terrible...and no icing either

I got the idea from this blog

For favors I did a candy bar, which I also had used at the bridal shower.  I had a lot of the candy left over from a few weeks ago, so that saved money.  And the all the vases I got were again, from Dollar Tree!

So there you go.  That's how I throw a semi-fabulous birthday party on the cheap!