When life hands you lemons .. part 2

"When life hands you lemons... add vodka. Always add vodka." ... errr, something like that.

So none of these stories are actually 'lemons' but I think the 'lemonade' is y'all getting to laugh at my expense. 

I drove us home, and, with an elbow to the ribs every few minutes, Dan stayed awake to keep me company. Olivia slept the entire way home. Of. Course.

After almost three hours of sleep, we started our Sunday. It was a beautiful day and we were able to spend some time at the pool.

After the pool my hair dryer caught on fire. I'm currently taking suggestions, as I'm now in the market for a new one.

We had wonderful plans of going to bed early. Even the best laid plans can be trumped by a DVR full of trashy TV.

At 10 pm the power goes out.

I don't know if you've been in Charlotte in July, but I can tell you it's pretty warm. Air conditioning is usually nice.

Also, I sleep with white noise, so, that was clearly missing.

Also, the storms were so loud. 

Also, despite our all-nighter and a wonderful attempt from Trader Joe's chewable melatonin, we did not sleep.

It wasn't until halfway into my first meeting on Monday that I actually woke up. My co-workers noticed. Good morning, Kelley, nice of you to join us.

When life hands you lemons .. part 1

"When life hands you lemons... stick them down your shirt to make your boobs look bigger." ... errr, something like that.

So none of these stories are actually 'lemons' but I think the 'lemonade' is y'all getting to laugh at my expense. 

I had to work Saturday morning, but we went to Greenville in the evening for dinner and catching up with some wonderful friends. We stayed with Blair and Brett (and Blair's parents were in town for a wedding). Dinner was at Kylie and Justin's. The boys all went out to dinner and downtown, and left the girls to hang. Kylie did make your own pizza, which was SUCH a good idea for a group of people. Small crusts, tons of toppings, everyone leaves happy and crazy full. After Olivia ate her body weight in baby cheetos, she took a fist full of toppings off of my pizza and shoved them in her mouth. Girl really knows the best part of pizza!

We had a wonderful time and I could go on and on, but that's not the point in this post.

We put Olivia down in her pack and play in a room at Kylie's, and at 1 am I woke her up to transfer her to Blair's house.  She cried because she was sleeping so well. I told her that  sometimes I cry when she wakes up at 5 am and I am sleeping so well.

In the process of saying goodbye, heading back, setting up the pack and play at Blair's, Olivia was wide awake. She had had about 5 hours of sleep and was ready to party. 

We tried doing her whole bed time routine, but the minute I put her down, she started screaming.

This wouldn't have been much of a problem if we weren't sharing a wall with Blair's parents. They had gone to bed around 11 and it was 2 am. I knew all she needed was to scream for a few minutes to tire herself out and she would settle fine in her pack and play. But I wasn't going to put Blair's parents through it. 

I brought Olivia into our bed and she immediately started banging the headboard against the wall, which sounded super appropriate for house guests. 

We decided we had to head home. At 2:45am. Woof.

So, to avoid waking Blair's parents up, we headed out, and proceeded to set off the alarm waking the entire house up, and dispatching the police. 

Worst. Guests. Ever.

We got back to Charlotte around 4:45 am and got almost a solid three hours of sleep before Olivia was up for the day. 

Seven on Saturday

Missed the whole Five on Friday thing - and I'm sure I can come up with two more.

1. When we went out to dinner last week, I dressed Olivia and I as twins. Really, she was dressed super cute, so I tried to match her. Even the shoes. 

2. D: Who sings this? Is it Adele?

K: I'll Shazam it.

K: One republic. That's that boy band of 16 year olds from England.

D: That's One Direction.

K: Oh.

We're going to be such hip parents. 

Olivia shut the door and locked him out.

3. I have a decorative bowl of silver pine cones and Olivia was playing with them. I asked her, can you put a pinecone in the bowl - and she put one in. I said can you take one out, and she took one out. I said, can you take another one out, and she dumped the entire bowl upside down. She looked at me like, 'you clown, if you wanted multiple out, dumping it was much more efficient.'

4. This is how she eats these days. No time for sitting. Sometimes clothed.

5. Dan let Olivia pick out her lunch for daycare. She chose breastmilk and pears. Good choice! Also, she loves playing in the freezer.

6. We invested in a high chair last weekend and it is has been the best thing ever. The bumbo worked, but she was always trying to escape and always within arms reach of our wine glasses, which, as you can imagine, never ended well. She will sit in her high chair for half an hour eating with us - it is the best thing ever. Hello family dinners again! We went with the ikea blames. 

7. Olivia climbed the stairs all the way to the top last week. With supervision, of course.

Five on Friday

1. I forgot to mention Dan's birthday. We had about twelve people over for kabobs, pinterest water, and a Jack Daniels station.

What man birthday is complete without a Jack Daniels station?

Olivia wore gold on gold on gold. But I've already mentioned that.

2. Last weekend we had five couples over. We were up until 1 am. Olivia woke up for the first time since she was itty bitty at 5 am. By 930, Dan and I had eaten breakfast and lunch...and taken a nap! 

For pictures, she wore this:

3. Chicka loves to wave.

We don't know what she thinks waving is. She waves at trees. Computer screens. Cash registers. Paper. And the mirror. Always the mirror. I wish I knew what was going through that little head. What triggers waving in her mind?

4. Starbucks. Who doesn't love it? Good thing she can't drink through a straw yet.

5. She's been holding her left pointer finger up wherever she goes, with a serious look on her face. It make's us laugh and we keep calling her "#1 Baby." 

Olivia - Nine Months

Height: 28.5 inches (80%)
Weight: 17.5 pounds (40%)

Sleep: She is still sleeping 7-7ish. She naps around 9-11 (weekends, not at daycare) and then 2-4/5. She reads books before bed and goes down so well.

Eating: She has 5 bottles (6+ ounces each) and then 2 meals of solids. We're supposed to start 3 meals now. She doesn't love baby food. She loves fruit and anything we're eating. So I've started feeding her mozzarella tomato salad, portobello mushrooms, peaches and cottage cheese, corn on the cob, etc. She still would much rather play than eat, though. 

Milestones: She is pulling up on everything and cruising all the furniture. She can also go from standing to sitting (something that you wouldn't think takes time to learn!) She can stand by herself for a few seconds, but only when she doesn't notice. When she notices, she panics and sits down. I think we've still got a while until she's walking (Dan was walking at nine months).

Clothes / Diapers: Still size 3 diapers, and mostly true to size in clothes. She's a skinny little thing, so pants can be pretty big in the waist. 

Best Moment of the Month: Olivia learning to clap. It's so uncoordinated and cute. When she would learn to sit, she would fall kind of hard so I would clap to keep her from crying. Now every time she sits she claps for herself. 

Parent of the Month Award: This goes to Dan for eating Olivia's food. For whatever reason, he loves fruit purees. He eats the ones that are applesauce packets - the same packets that baby food now comes in. These preferences will serve him well when he is 90 and has the same number of teeth as Olivia. Anyway, I keep catching him stealing bites of her food 'to entice her' (his excuse) and finishing up what she doesn't eat. If Olivia is hungry, we know who the culprit is. 

Favorites: Mostly just pulling up and cruising furniture. She doesn't like to sit down. She really likes door knobs now. But since she can't reach them, we have to pull up a chair for her to stand on while she plays with the door knob. She cries when we take it away. She is loving books too. Maybe it's because she knows it stalls bed time and nap time, but she lights up whenever we bring out a book. We are all loving the pool. It really entertains Olivia (and wears her out) and we have been going every chance we can. 

As far as products, we love these baby spoons (and have tried a couple) and Olivia loves this table. Other than that, we really aren't using many baby products. Olivia mostly loves the furniture and anything that isn't a toy. She's pretty low maintenance at this age. 

We had trouble with the pictures this month - Olivia is too busy for the paparazzi these days. I had to give her my lens cap so she would sit still for a minute.

Five on Friday

1. I declared this week 'freezer' week - where everything we eat has to come from the freezer (or the fresh veggies I got from the farmer guy) - we have been eating an interesting array of foods. But I'm finally making a dent in the freezer, so I'm not complaining.

2. Thanks to my parents, we joined the pool about two weeks ago. That means so much of this ruffle butt.

3. Strawberries.

4. "Dad - can we go outside? Pwease."

5. I decided its time for Olivia to start eating what we eat and made her some caprese salad and corn on the cob like we were having -- huge hit! Peas? No thanks. Caprese salad with fresh mozzarella and balsamic vinegar? Yes please. She has expensive taste.

Maternity Favorites

I wanted to put this together before I forgot all of my favorite maternity items. These are things I could not have been pregnant without.

Starting with clothes. I'm no fashion blogger, so these are just the clothing essentials.

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One. Blanqui. This is the best thing ever. It's a little pricey (I got mine back when Target was doing 'deals of the day' but it's still worth full price). This tank goes under your bra so you wear your normal bra. It's like spanx everywhere except the belly. Bye bye back fat. It holds your pants up better than any belly band anything. And, in the last trimester when that belly is heavy and you wish someone was literally holding it up for you - the blanqui does. It got rid of my back pain while wearing it. If I could buy only one pregnancy item, this is it. Apparently you can workout in it too. Workout ... that's funny.

Two. Maxi dresses. Any and all. They are comfy. Long enough to cover any swollen ankles. You don't have to match a top and a bottom. I lived in these in the summer.

Three. Liz Lange V-Neck Tees. These are long and stretchy and thick. You can wear them not pregnant and up until the very last day. At less than $10, stock up. I wore them with sweat pants and under suit jackets for work. They change colors seasonally. Just read the reviews, they are the best t-shirts.

Four. Liz Lange Tanks. Along the same lines, these are thick and long. I wore them at 39 weeks and have worn them since having Olivia. Under suit jackets and to work out. Great for layering.

Five. Belly Band. These are great to have. They sort of hold your pants up - the Blanqui works better. I would usually use a rubber band (or paperclip for clip pants) and layered this on top to hide the fact that my pants were unbuttoned. These are great for shirts that are getting just too short. I used them more early on.


Next up, what I am considering the health essentials. Things sort of health related that I couldn't live without.

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One. Luna Protein Bars. I was hungry all the time, and these taste like candy bars, which is all you really want to eat while pregnant anyway. Plus, they have protein. Score.

Two. Water Bottle. Any kind. You have to drink so much water while pregnant, that having a water bottle that holds a lot and you enjoy drinking from is essential.

Three. Lucky Legs. If you watched the episode of the Kardashians where Kim accidentally referred to her lotion as 'lizard legs' - this was the stuff. I bought it with a 20% off coupon and thought I got jipped when it came. It was lotion with some shimmer that smelled like toothpaste. Really? But when I put it on, in less than a minute, my legs felt awesome. No longer felt swollen, heavy, or tired. It was so crazy. I'm not sure what 'new and improved' means on the website, but I still have my first bottle and will save that for the next time around.

Four. The Snoogle. I refused this. Refused. For so long. It's huge. Did we really need another person sleeping in our bed? No. Dan got it for me for my birthday (so about 6 weeks before Olivia was born), and I don't know how I slept without it. Necessary. Dan thought it was so comfortable, he almost bought one for himself.

Five. Mint Chapstick. Your skin is really dry, so you need chapstick. Since 90% of the chapstick gets eaten (gross) - all natural is must for me, especially while pregnant. And, since I couldn't handle most smells - mint was perfect. This is the best all natural chapstick brand I have ever used (and I've tried a LOT).

Six. Gilligan & O'Malley Sleep Shirts. These are made from the most comfortable fabric, I sleep in them all the time. But while pregnant, your belly itches, and you aren't sleeping well, so you need something extra comfortable. They are very stretchy and loose (don't be fooled by the model in the picture) and will fit the whole pregnancy. 

Lastly, the morning sickness essentials. These are necessary because I lived with these for over half my pregnancy. You can even find some in my purse still today.

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One. Peppermints. A little sugar, and something that settles your stomach. I kept these in my purse for nine months. If you are in a work meeting, it's not too weird to be eating a peppermint.

Two. Oyster Crackers. Sometimes the nausea comes from being hungry. Unfortunately you don't want to eat anything. I'd eat 4-5 of these and feel a lot better. I kept them by my bed to eat in the morning before vitamins. I also kept a stash in my purse.

Three. Lemon Drops. Same as the peppermints, these were always in my purse and the lemon smell and taste was one of the few things that I could handle.

Four. Ginger Candies. I hate ginger. Hate real ginger. Yuck. BUT for some reason, it really did settle my stomach better than anything else I tried. I just had to handle eating one ginger candy - which wasn't always possible. These stayed in my purse as well.

Five. Gummy Vitamins. It only takes throwing up your vitamin a few times before you try something new. These are like adult fruit snacks. Once the morning sickness was over, I looked forward to waking up, just so I could eat my vitamins. They don't have iron in them, which makes them lighter on your stomach, but you'll need to iron from something else.

Lastly, I have to add Dan's maternity essential. 

Dude, You're Gonna be a Dad. Dan was laughing through this entire book. I think he enjoyed reading it, more than the informative it gave him. It is semi informative. When you tell him you have to pee a million times a day, he believes you because the book confirmed it is a legitimate thing. We'll be gifting copies to any newly pregnant friends.

That just about sums it up. Do you guys agree? Did I miss any key essentials? 

Five on Friday

1. Olivia just started sitting long enough to read a book without trying to chew it. We can get through Goodnight Moon 1.5 times, which is about 38 seconds of her sitting still - but it makes my night. When I pull the book out, she lights up and smiles huge.

2. For months now, it is impossible to change Olivia's diaper. I thought for sure it was a phase, but nope. I start to change her, grab her feet, and she flips right over - before I know it, I'm wheelbarrowing her naked butt across the room. Does this ever end? I kind of imagine it only getting worse.

3. About a month back Olivia started growling. I'm not sure why. She would look at us and go rawrrrrrr. Then. She decided to use the same voice to say mama. It comes out as this exorcist style 'mama' thats the creepiest thing we have ever heard. Dan and I laughed because we felt so uncomfortable. Olivia thought, 'that went over incredibly well. they love it. i will continue the growl mama.' Great. 

4. For Dan's birthday party, Olivia wore gold on gold on gold. I'm obsessed.

5.  Watch out roads, Dan and I have a new DD.