B's 2nd Birthday and Mother's Day

Egg hunt

The last month has been a lot of fun at our house! We had baby girl's second birthday party at the end of April and a great Mother's Day weekend visiting our family and friends back home.

B had a Toy Story extravanganza for her second birthday party.  Her birthday also fell on Easter weekend so we had a few egg hunts thrown in there.  Mimi, Papa and my sister came up to spend the weekend with us.  Saturday morning was spend at our church egg hung followed by nap time and then a small birthday party with some little friends of B's and our Roanoke family.

The child is nuts about Toy Story so I order her this adorable shirt and matching hair bow from Etsy and I made a tutu to match for a few pics ;).  She sported a jean skirt instead of the tutu for the party.

Birthday fun

Fast forward to Mother's Day weekend we decided to make a quick whirlwind trip home.  Friday was spent visiting family and taking my mom out for Mother's Day dinner at our favorite place, 316 Oyster Bar.  Saturday we spent the morning at a fundraiser at our home church visiting with folks we hadn't seen in a long time.

That afternoon we attended a wedding reception for one of my good friends from college.  Unfortunatley, we didn't get to stay the whole time because we had to make the four trip back home that night so my hubby could be at church to preach Sunday morning.

 All it all it was a fast but great weekend!

My big 2 year old!

A little girl, a fall and a couple of staples

Last Wednesday night was an eventful night in our house. We go to church every Wednesday for dinner and bible study and get home close to bedtime.  So, last Wednesday I had to give baths to both kids while my hubby ran home from church grabbed a bag to begin a three hour drive to an out-of-town conference. Things were just a little hectic with baths and telling Daddy bye.

Waiting

My daughter got her bath first and as I was helping my son get his bath my daughter comes in, slips on some water on the floor and nails the trim around the floor with her head. OMG!! I just knew when I picked her up there would be lots of blood and a nasty cut. She cried while I checked but I didn't see anything. Whew! She stopped crying, I got my son out of the tub and sent him to put is PJ's on and took her to her room. I layed her on the changing table to put on her diaper and PJ bottoms, sat her up and there it was, BLOOD!

Now, for a little background. I do not do blood. I can handle little scrapes but that 's about it.  A few months ago I accidentally busted my lip playing with the hubs and kids and I almost passed out.

So, I'm home alone with what I now see is a small gash on her head and blood matted in her hair. Yikes! Now, I must do the brave thing and part the hair to see exactly how bad it is. Fortunately, my mommy adrenaline is going and I'm not swooning.  She isn't crying but she does not want me messing with her. All I can make out is where it is but I can't tell how deep.  Luckily, my husband had left about 10 minutes earlier so he wasn't too far away. I called him and he came home to help me judge the severity. 

The staples

On his way home he called a friend of ours to meet us there who is a trained EMT (I think) to help us out. My hubs get there first and we are standing in the kitchen so he could take a look. It's like my brain said, "He's here now so you can fall out." While I'm holding my daughter I turn green, feel faint, pass her off to my husband and go sit down.

Long story short since she seemed okay I send my husband on his way, I take her to the ER and our friend stays with my son and his wife meets me at the ER to help.  This entire time my daughter is just tired and could care less.  We get to the hospital and are waiting to go back and my daughter is playing and having a good time. Asking to go to the store for donuts and suckers.

We find out she needs two staples and, get this, the nurse tries to convince me to go ahead and do it instead of waiting the 40 minutes for the numbing cream to work.  "She'll cry either way." She was crazy! We waited for the cream to work and she didn't feel a thing and she didn't cry.  The only time she cried was when the nurse was cleaning it.

After the trip our friend bought her a bag of donuts for being so brave!

Today, we had the staples removed. Painless. So it's over. I survived. She survived and the first thing she did when we got home was climb on the dining room table. Geez!

Trying to get the job done

As you can probably tell from my lack of posting our life has been HECTIC since I started my job a few weeks ago and my blog has suffered.

How does if feel to be a part-time working mom and part-time SAHM? Awesome! I've really missed working so I feel like my brain is actually getting a workout now! My co-workers are great and the work I do keeps me busy. I work two days a week so I am able to be home with my kiddos too. I just can't procrastinate. The time management has taken some getting used to with my duties at work and at home but I'm getting there.

We also celebrated my son's 5th birthday! I can't believe my baby boy is 5! I'm starting to wig out over all the school stuff and other "I'm a child not a toddler/baby anymore" changes. He is starting to get the silly little boy attitude that others find annoying but since I'm his mom I think he is funny! We had a birthday week celebation instead of just one party. We had family come in the weekend before and after his actual birthday and of course we celebrated on the actual big day which fell on a weekday.  He had three cakes and lots of love from our firends and family!

My daughter has done a great job with her sitter since I started back to work. She loves staying at Weez's house (Louise) and playing with her dog Face (Faith). She starts yelling, "Weez and Face, Weez and Face!" when we pull into her neighborhood.  It makes things so much easier when your kids like their sitters/school and enjoy going instead of clinging to your legs as you try to get our of the door every morning.

Sweet Baby Tutus is still just as busy (part of the reason things are hectic). I've had a lot of custom orders recently and I hope to post some pics of them soon.

Winner

The winner of the hair accessories giveaway is...

SNOW!

Congratulations!

Thank you to everyone who participated!

GIVEAWAY TIME!

ENTRIES ACCEPTED NOW THROUGH MARCH 4TH

Alright, it's time for another giveaway! This giveaway is for a very cute hairbow set from Sweet Baby Tutus.

The winner will receive one pink stretchy crochet headband with a matching pink flower clip and two boutique style hairbows in the color(s) of your choice. All hairbows are attached to a covered alligator clip. 

These are great for little girls of all ages! The flower is a 4" daisy and the boutique style bows are approximately 3".

 The winner can pick from pink, black, lavender, yellow and pink with chocolate polka dots.

HOW TO ENTER

Very simple! Leave a comment under this post. You may earn additional entries by becoming a Facebook Fan and a follower of this blog. For each entry leave an additional comment. Ex: "I became a FB fan too!" I will check to make sure the additional entries are valid. This gives you a total of three chances to win!! The giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada.

The last day for entries will be Friday, March 4th (midnite EST). The winner will be announced Monday March 7th using Random.org. The hairbows will be shipped via USPS within 5 business days of contacting the winner. If I have not heard from the winner within 48 hours of contacting them I will select another winner.

Feel free to tweet, post on FB or blog about this contest!

This Mommy Needs a Break!

I've reached that point.

Every mom has it. It's the day your husband walks in the door and you head out without much of an explanation, just "I need a break!" You drive around, head to a local retail store to walk around aimlessly, maybe a book store to grab a cup of coffee. Not really caring how your husband is doing without you, just that you don't have to deal with bath time, story time, pajama struggles and sibling fighting for that night.



This is my "I've had it!" face



I have started thinking of how long it's been since I've been away from my kids for longer than nap time. I think it was a few weeks ago for a church dinner. Then I started to think about the last time I went out alone. Running to the post office or market doesn't count. Just a mommy only shopping venture, Hmmmm, it's been months. Yes, months!



For some reason this weekend has been tough with the kids. Not listening, fighting, walking out in the middle of church to discipline my son who was talking loudly and not being a "good listener." Then laying down to catch a short nap only to have my son wake up from a very short nap and tap my every five minutes for something, even after I turned on his favorite movie and told him mommy needed a nap too. That didn't happen.

This week I go back to work. It will be for two days a week. I've been worried about how I will handle leaving my daughter who is with me ALL the time (my son attends preschool three days a week). I think this trying weekend has been God's way of preparing me and showing me this job will be a good change. Maybe I will get some of my sanity back.

Not everyone is made to be a SAHM. I've enjoyed the time home with my kids but have known it wasn't a permanent gig for me. I think becoming a part-time working mom will be good for me. Hopefully it will help me find patience again.

I Hate Shopping but... I LOVE Deals!

Okay, I don't actually hate shopping. I just hate it when I don't have the money to buy what I want. Since we're on a tight budget at the moment, I currently hate shopping.

However, I LOVE the end of season sales and today I found some awesome buys at GAP and Macy's.  I must first say that my hubby and I went shopping last weekend and got some pretty great deals too on clothes for my daughter and I found a cute dress.

I headed to the mall today because I received an email from GAP about an extra 40% off their sale items. I purchased $189.50 worth of clothing for $30.50!

Here is what I got:

Gray Cord jacket - originally 59.50 - sale 11.99

Vintage Flare jeans in dark wash - originally $69.50 - sale 12.59

black top with tie and keyhole opening in back - originally 29.50 - sale 2.98

gray tank with beads - originally 29.50 - sale 2.98

I was so excited about the jeans!  I am tall so finding jeans that actually fit is tough. GAP jeans have always fit me well but at $70.00 a pop they are not usually in this SAHM's budget.  Also, I do not buy clothes just because they are cheap! I tried them on, made sure they fit and flattered me. So what if a top is $2.00 and you never wear it! That's two bucks you wasted! The fit of the black shirt was so cute and looked great with the jeans! Yay!

Next I headed over to Macy's. This is where my husband and I found some great deals last weekend so I went to see what was left.  They had an extra 50% some of their sale racks.  This is what I purchased:

3 piece Clavin Klein outfit with vest, shirt and pants sz 2T - originally 66.00 - sale 7.48

two Quicksilver t-shirts - originally 16.00 each - sale 2.48 each

sweater vest - originally 17.99 - sale 2.48

cardigan - originally 19.99 - sale 2.48

All together I purchased around $135.00 worth of clothes at Macy's for 17.40!

All of the items from Macy's were for my son and daughter. I bought the next size up for my daughter so she could wear them next fall. I purchased the short sleeved shirts for my son for the spring and summer.

So, there you have it! A very successful day shopping for me :)