Obsessed!

All I've done this week is text pictures of  kids in adorable costumes to my sisters. No lie. I just can't stand the Halloween cuteness. Every time I check my Instagram feed, there's another sweet, smiling babe in a brilliantly creative costume. 

This year our sweet, smiling babe is MinnIe Mouse. 

While not as creative as some of the ensembles I've seen this year, in my humble opinion, a true classic when it comes to cuteness. 

Halloween's not even over and I'm already looking ahead to next years costumes. In fact, I've already started pinning ideas. You see, next year they'll be TWO kids to dresss up. Double the fun! Sophia and her little brother!! 

The possibilities are endless! Cinderella and a baby pumpkin? Peter Pan and Tinkerbell? I can't wait! 

Blue chair

I present to you the ugliest glider known to man kind.

Sadly, it lives in my house.

It's technically not mine. It's my parents.  But still, it's in MY house. And I hate it. 

When we first moved to Maryland and were living with my parents it was the comfiest place to nurse and rock Buttercup to sleep.  We spent entire naps on that chair. So we decided to bring it along when we moved into our own place. And while there are sweet, loving memories associated with this chair it also has a dark side. 

Rocking BC to sleep in this chair became the bane of my existence. You can read more about our sleep and rocking journey here but to sum it up we went through A LOT to break the association of rocking to sleep. 

Somehow we were able to break the association. (Not that sleep has gotten that much easier for us, but more on that later) But I still held on to  the chair. Despite it being clunky and not going with a single thing in my house, it's really comfortable. And it became part of the bedtime routine to read books siting in that chair. Somewhere along the line, BC began to refer to it simply as the "blue chair."

I really wanted a new glider, kinda felt I DESERVED a new glider all the hours we logged in that thing. I wanted something sleek and modern but realized something pretty and modern plus comfortable  = more than we wanted to spend at the time so it was put on the back burner. 

Besides we had other things to deal with. Like BC's sleep issues. Technically, I shouldn't say BC has sleep issues. She sleeps great, sleeps like a champ really. It's just getting her to fall asleep that's the challenge.  Also, the fact that in order for her to stay asleep and sleep through the night I need to be physically next to her.  Le sigh!

I'm not sure where things went wrong. It's hard to believe at one point that we were able stick her in the crib and walk out of the room and she'd fall asleep on her own. Around here we call it the golden age but the golden age didn't last long. Despite all the set backs and struggles I was all about channeling Frozen and was all "turn away and slam the door" when it came to that blue chair. I refused to go back to rocking BC to sleep. REFUSED.

Until a few weeks ago. Lesson learned, never say never. 

I blame my husband.

 It was nap time and no surprise, I was struggling to get BC to take a nap. I was getting increasingly frustrated and she was getting increasingly crankier.

Daddy-o to the rescue. He swept in and picked her up and sat in the chair. At this point I'm too tired/frustrated to object and literally by the time he got through one "twinkle, twinkle little star" she was out like a light. 

WTF, does the chair have magical powers?!!?? I know I said I wouldn't  go back but the time it takes her to fall asleep went from 45 minutes to an hour to 20 minutes. It's been a game changer. 

And so ladies and gentleman, she's baaaackk.

Potty Diaries

It seems like every mom out there with a two-year-old is in the throes of potty training. And I'm all like, "What's the big rush?" Sure, changing diapers isn't exactly my idea of a good time and yes, I'm tired of spending money on diapers but seriously ya'll, potty training scares the bejesus out of me. 

Even the whole lingo associated with these bodily functions offends me greatly and I can't figure out what words to teach Buttercup. I cannot stand the word pee pee or pee.  Potty is ok, so is poop but what do you call number 1? Will calling it number one and number 2 confuse her when it comes to counting?

I felt like these were things I needed to sort out before embarking on this journey. Except I never really had the chance. I had been talking about going potty and how she's too big for diapers. We've been reading books, watching cartoons and I guess it sunk in. One evening out on a walk, BC declared with great gusto and authority, "no more diapers!" And I felt like I couldn't really pass up on this possible momentum. 

So there I was, like all the other moms of two-year-olds, barricaded inside the house with a bare-bottomed toddler. The first day wasn't fun, that's for sure. I almost broke my back when I ran into the bathroom and slipped on a puddle of "number 1." (I ain't writing out the word pee again, sorry; except wait, I just did) It's gotten better and dare I say, it wasn't that bad and BC seems to have number 1 down. I'll spare you the details of number 2.

But even so, as a mom of a semi potty-trained toddler, I'm here to declare that I don't think being out of diapers is all it's cracked up to be. As if I don't think I nag and repeat myself enough, now I get to add, "do you need to go to the potty?" to my list of "constant things I repeat over and over all day long"

And I swear my kid can go forever without going to the potty if we are at home. The second we are in a situation that involves a foreign toilet she's got to go.right.now. 

I personally avoid public restrooms at all costs. I have visited more public restrooms these past few weeks than I'm really comfortable with. And what is up with their need to touch everything?!  It's like their brains hear you screaming, "don't touch anything!" But they interpret it as, "touch all the things, touch all the things in this public germ fest!!!!"

I know I'll get through this and it's not like I could've kept her in diapers forever but sometimes diapers don't look so bad.

Hostess with the Mostess

Have you heard? WE ARE GETTING MARRIED!!!! Ok, correction. It's not really MY wedding but my sister is getting hitched which is almost the same thing.

A few weeks ago we threw Katalina her bridal shower. In my house. Like I hosted. And this is what I learned--hostess with the mostess.... I AM NOT.  The party started at 2 o'clock and the first guest rang the doorbell (on time) and I was in my pajamas. It was pretty shameful. But I managed to recover and the party was a success despite the rocky start and I'm pretty darn proud.  After weeks of pinning ideas from Pinterest and laboring over such fine details like what cupcake toppers to use we pulled it off. "We" as in my entire family because it takes a village, literally, especially when I decide that I want to craft and DIY decorations when I've never even held a glue gun in my hand before planning this party.

Katalina will be a May bride, as in, holy cow the wedding is less two weekends away!  So our theme was "April Showers bring May Brides."

And it wouldn't be a party without some kind of photo booth set up. Which after a lot of trial and tribulation we were able to pull off! It was probably 15 minutes before the party was about to start when Chris (my other sister) and I were this close to just nixing the idea. But it turned out great and was a big hit.

 Here a few detail shots.

The adorable "I do" cake toppers were from this etsy shop.

And this adorable print came from the lovely Jessica at it's Just my Type

I didn't get a good picture of it framed but it was a sweet touch, especially since Kathy and Jessica are friends and used to work together. 

Now any ideas what I can do with 15 strings of colorful rain drops?  Because I cannot bring myself to throw them away. Not after everyone in my family spent nights cutting out rain drops and I burned myself a zillion times using that damn hot glue gun.

Mama and the Baby

I wish I was one of those blogger moms that did monthly updates on their kids--documenting every milestone and tooth. Heck, forget the whole blogging factor, I wish I had at least kept up with a baby album for the first year. The other day, I was trying to remember when Buttercup started walking and I had to dig through all my old I-phone videos to find the video of her taking her first baby steps. Thank God for digital time stamps.

Point is, everything she does is amazing and a bit mind blowing. Call it "first-time-mom" syndrome or "can-you-tell-she's-the-only-child" disease but it's true.  I wish I had done a better job of documenting all the details but sometimes Buttercup and I share a moment and it just tickles my fancy and as corny as it sounds, I'm humbled that I get to be her mom and all I can do is tell my heart to hold on to this moment for it will be gone all too soon.

Tonight I had one of those moments.

It was bedtime and I told myself I had to be better about reading to her at night and giving her a chance to really wind down  before going to sleep. I asked BC to pick out what book she wanted me to read. She pulled out "Are You My Mother?" It's not so easy to get through books these days. Every page BC asks "what's that, what's that?" And she points out the most random things from the pictures.

If you aren't familiar with the book, a baby bird goes in search for his mother. He meets a bunch of animals along the way and asks each of them if they are his mother. At the end he is reunited with his mom.

As I read the last line in the book, Buttercup pointed to the picture and repeated, "baby bird and momma bird" then she looked at me and said, "momma and the baby" and pointed to herself. The way she made the connection that just like the momma bird and baby bird were a pair, we were too just melted my heart and pulled at my heart strings. Her face was priceless. It's like she was genuinely happy at that moment to be with me and I wanted to remember it forever. So what did I do? Whipped out my I-phone and took a baby and momma selfie, of course! And then blogged about it.

This moment to be treasured when BC is 15 and can't stand me!