I am outta here!

 

And tonight I am doing it. I hopped a train to the city:) To hang out with a good friend from high school.  I even painted my nails all fancy-like...

 

 

Ok. They are just pink. But that is pretty fancy for me!

 

 I get to stay all night. (Thanks Joe!) Every once in a while a girl has to do this kind of thing. Or in my case every 5.5 months or so.

 

Its gonna be great. I just know it.

 

Admittedly I do feel bad ditching Joe and the kids as this is his first full free weekend in a long time. But not too bad. We will just call it a crash course in reintegration to life for him. I hope he enjoys being the Dance Dad tomorrow morning. Should be good interesting:) 

I am off!  To do whatever it is fun young people do in the city on a Friday night. I don't exactly know what that is, but I imagine it isn't reading a parenting book...I promise to tuck that away until my train ride home tomorrow.

How did I sleep last night?

Well thank you for asking! Honestly? Like crap. Let me give you Exhibit A:

^That is a pretty accurate representation of how we slept. Or more accurately how we tried to sleep last night. 

Except...

*In the first picture Hannah was much higher in our bed. Like between our heads. Not pleasant. Not pleasant at all. 

*Oh and add Charlotte to my side of the bed in both of those pictures because she was there too. Her and her intermittent whining. About what?! I have no idea. All the baby kicks to the head made it impossible to focus on anything else. 

*Unlike the mom pictured above I did NOT have a wardrobe change. Who has time for that?

*Lastly, the second picture was rare. I would have welcomed that position gladly in comparison to the other. But no dice. 

I really shouldn't complain. Because we usually have 3 great sleepers. As in we put them to bed at 8pm and don't hear from them until 7am. (Well except Isaiah...while he is in bed at 8...he takes a loooong time to fall asleep. I digress.) My point? Not sure there is one. I guess I am just always shocked when we have a night like this. But want to know what is not shocking? These nights ALWAYS correspond to the nights before Joe has a big test. Without fail. Like clock work. It's like the kids have a sixth sense about important nights or something. 

Ok. I am done ranting and rambling. Time to crack open my Pepsi and get started on my 4 day overdue laundry! So much for putting myself on a housework schedule:)

I seriously have no idea how Joe is going to study all day at the library. I personally would find a quiet corner and a comfortable chair and nap. Good thing he's more studious than me:)

Update: 

He is awake and studying...

We found him after storytime at the library:)

Which means I have not started the laundry. Oops. 

Last day of surgery!!!!

I am sorry was my excitement level not clear enough there? A few more explanation points next time? Ok. 

TODAY IS MY HUSBAND'S LAST DAY OF HIS 8 WEEK SURGERY ROTATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And we all survived! Thrived? Maybe:) I am so so so excited. These last 16 weeks have been tough (8 weeks IM + 8 weeks surgery) but they are now D.O.N.E. Never ever to be repeated. (Unless of course he decides to become a surgeon...but we aren't going there just now.) 

Internal medicine and surgery are notoriously the hardest 3rd year rotations. So the rest of the year should be a cake walk, right?! Ok. Maybe not a cake walk but less daunting for sure! 

This might sound trite to those who have never gone through medical school, but the phrase 'We can do hard things' is ringing very true to me these days. While I realize it is an amazing opportunity (that most people don't get) - it is HARD. For our entire family. Medical school is an all encompassing beast. But we are getting there...slowly but surely. 

I have gotten off track. The point is, we made it through one more hurdle. We are doing this thing. Today is worthy of celebrating. So tonight we will! That's all. Just a little pat on our backs so to speak:)

I know these little people will be happy to have their dad around a little more this coming month (and I sure hope I am not jinxing us)...

*Oh and normally I probably would have just sent Joe a "Yay we made it!" text today. BUT his phone is not working and hasn't been for over a week now:( So instead I am declaring my excitement to the world. 

Shameless Plug

I entered Hannah into a cute baby contest. I have never done anything like this before...honestly. This is my third baby and while I think they are all adorable this is the first time I have ever done anything like this....

Sooooo here it is my shameless plug asking for your VOTE.  Ok. Ok.  Maybe it is a little shameful:)  But nonetheless I am doing it. So if you simply want to vote click HERE. Its easy. I promiise. I already did it...otherwise she would have 0 votes. (Oh if you can't find her picture keep scrolling down. You might have to click the 'Load More' button.)

And because brevity is NOT my forte, here is the background on the picture and the photo contest and all that jazz.

Last summer when I was HUGELY pregnant with Hannah I saw a friend's newborn pictures on facebook.  Her darling baby was in a lacy romper. It was the girliest thing I had ever seen on such a teeny little baby. I immediately fell IN LOVE! I fell hard. I wanted to buy one right then and there. But I convinced myself that was a bad plan for many reasons: 1. I didn't know the gender of our in-utero babe and a boy would look pretty silly in one:) 2. I had no idea where to get one and I was sure they were SUPER expensive. 3. I already had newborn picture outfits planned for either a girl or a boy.  So alas I did not buy one.

And look Hannah did look adorable in her newborn pictures....

in the ruffle bum diaper cover my mom and I created:) For free. 

Fast forward a year. As we were getting ready to take family pictures...you know the ones and if you don't just scroll up or check out 'Meet the Fam':) I was planning and replanning and replanning our outfits like a mad woman. I was struggling to find something for Hannah that would compliment Charlotte's dress without clashing. My goal was to not spend any money and just use what we already owned. One week before the pictures we were set to go. And then it happened. I saw another FB picture of a girl in a lacy romper. And again I wanted one. But I still didn't know exactly what it was and how to get one.

So I googled, "little girl lace romper" and from there I discovered Girls Crochet Headbands and their VERY reasonably priced lace rompers! I was ecstatic.  So of course I just had to buy one for Hannah in mint for $8.99!  Seriously $8.99. That's cheap. After I ordered it, I was worried it wouldn't come in time for the pictures. It did.  And I was worried that it would look really cheap. It doesn't. And I was worried it would be terribly scratchy and uncomfortable. It isn't. It is so soft and comfy. Hannah has worn it it numerous times in fact. I think it might have been the best $8.99 I have spent in a long time. So worth it. 

See?

Photos by Emily Danielle

Which finally leads me to the photo contest.  Girls Crochet Headbands sent me an e-mail announcing their cute baby contest for little girls wearing their products. And it just so happens that I have a cute little girl AND a great picture of her wearing one of their rompers. So I just had to enter the contest. I had no choice:)

Whats in it for me? The joy of knowing other people think my baby is cute:) And the chance to win money towards more purchases at GCH.  Whats in it for you? Well not much. Other than feeling good about helping me...that and you get to look at cute girls in cute outfits. Oh and if you are having a baby girl soon maybe I will use my prize money to get you a little something:) And I realize the competition is tough! There are some really cute girls in this contest and if you choose one of them instead of Hannah well I wouldn't hold it against you. Not too much. So if you want to vote, click HERE. Or if you just want to shop, click there too.  Girls Crochet Headbands has some amazing stuff at amazing prices.  Rompers, headbands, hair clips and leg warmers to name a few. Seriously, check them out. You won't be disappointed.  (They are not paying me to say this. I wish they would though...)

Much thanks faithful friends and readers...if you choose to vote for my baby.  She is pretty cute:) Says the biased mom.

PS - When you vote it will say it wants to log in with FB but you can actually skip that step. No worries.

 

 

Feeling the love!

Hannah is quite the affectionate girl these days. She hugs and kisses on command:) Which of course is adorable! She is even learning to kiss with her mouth CLOSED. We all appreciate that. 

Clearly her siblings are smitten with her too!

 

And this is what happens when one of her parents has the audacity to leave her outside of the bathroom for a mere 60 seconds...

  Total meltdown! Charlotte was a little perplexed by her sister's drama. Funny. Because Charlotte has quite a bit of drama herself these days...

See they really do love each other! And the candy I bribed them with. Yeah, that helped too:)

 

Speaking of meltdowns and drama. (That is the only way I can think to make this somewhat cohesive:) I have been a mess today. It has just been one of those days. On the way home from a park playdate Charlotte accused Isaiah of drinking all the water. Isaiah adamantly denied it - there were a few drops of water left in it! Details shmetails. In attempt to peacefully resolve the disagreement, I reassured the kids that we had a sink at home FULL of water to refill the bottle. This then lead to a heated argument over the exact number of sinks we have in our home. Charlotte was sure we have 2. While Isaiah felt very strongly that we have 3. It was becoming a vicious cycle of "No Chaaarlotte you are wrong. I know!" And "Isaiah Michael stop!". So I stopped it. I declared the van a no talking zone! There is just no reasoning with those small opinionated people:) 

I wish I could say that I became more reasonable once home. But that would be a lie. The baby woke up from nap way too early! And Isaiah came out of rest time way too early as well. He was hungry. I graciously fed him a PB&J.  But then like the crazy lunatic that I was I declared his chewing "too loud" and sent him to the play room to eat! See? Crazy lunatic! But really too loud chewing is a real thing. I swear. He must have inherited it from his father. Joe has been reprimanded many, many times in the past decade for that very thing! Poor kid probably wishes he had school today and that it wasn't a holiday:)

Oh by the way, we have 4 sinks in our home. So there kids! Take that.

Its a good thing this kind of crazy only comes around once a month:)