Bouncing Baby Boy

Last night, we went to the house of my friend, Diane. It was to make up for our missed St. Patty's Day dinner. Her son, Rowan, has been very sick with a virus for awhile, but he's finally better. We had a great evening, and the Ohio State Buckeyes won....all around, a good time.

Diane and Tim have this bouncy seat thing that hangs in a doorway. We put Nicholas in it, and he went NUTS. Nuts in a GOOD way, I should clarify. He was a bouncing fool. It was hysterical to watch him bouncing and spinning around and loving every second of it. We'll definitely be buying one of these for Nicholas as soon as possible.

They also have one of those rolling walker things. Rowan was in it for a little while, but he seems to get upset when he gets stuck. We tried Nicholas in it, but he only wanted to go backwards. I think he'll need a little more practice....something else to add to our shopping list. And something else I'll eventually be selling on craigslist.com!

Formula Breath

Formula breath is pretty bad. How is it that those cute little things can produce smells that are so foul?? When my little one does a formula burp......oh my GOD, it's usually not pleasant. He's still a cutie.....



Fortunately, most things about baby smell good.....I love the smell of his skin, especially after a bath. And Taylor, one of his sisters, loves the smell of his banana baby food. It reminds me of the Baby Alive food......ick.

I had one of those dolls, and I only fed her once after all the food that went IN suddenly came OUT....much to my shock! My mom found this very amusing and asked me, "Well, where did you think it would go?" Hmmm....I never thought about it, but I guess it couldn't stay inside of her and rot. Gross. So, my poor Baby Alive only got to eat once, but I didn't want to clean up the mess!

Seems the Baby Alive doll didn't do a very good job of preparing me for motherhood! But Nick Knack is well fed, and I am no longer shocked that what goes in must come OUT.....and I've gotten over my issues with cleaning up the mess....as stinky and gross as it might be at times.

Psycho Bird

On Friday, a crazy bird started bashing itself against our front window.....I kid you not.....this freak of nature bird is still at it....and it's now Monday. This bird is seriously insane.....

From what I can tell, the freak bird is a Robin. A crazy, psycho, weird Robin.....

Now, it's hanging around the sliding glass doors that lead out to our deck. It's like the bird is looking inside to see if we're there! Do we owe it money???!?!?!??

It's making the window look all nasty and gross by bashing it's dirty body against the glass.

Freak bird.

Silly Baby

So, Nick Knack turns 7 months in two days. And he's changed a lot over the months [which, of course, is supposed to happen!]. I thought I would strip the poor thing down to his nappy and take some fun photos....partly, because my mom has been demanding them and partly because I needed some new shots for the Web site. And it was a nice, warm day, so I knew he wouldn't get chilled being half naked.

Well....let me tell you WHAT! I got some great shots! I just started snapping away and let Nick be Nick. What a little character....he's going to be such a riot when he starts talking! I can't wait to hear what comes out of his silly brain.

These two photos are from our informal "photo shoot." Two of my favorites. And YES, I immediately sent several to my mom, so she could print them out for the fridge. I, on the other hand, have added the Mr. Flirty shot above to my computer as the wallpaper. Now, if I'm having a bad day, I can minimize all my programs and laugh at that precious face. Either that, or I'll head to youtube.com and watch his videos.

Speaking of videos.....I have one of an insane Robin bashing itself against one of our windows for hours. I kid you not. This STUPID bird start flying into one of our large picture windows around 8:00 a.m. By 9:00, I was filming it. I couldn't believe the thing was still at it!! I filmed it off and on for about 45 minutes! The entire time, it's alternating between flying into the window and sitting on a tree limb, staring at the window. No idea why this bird would even want to slam into the window over and over.......did we owe it money or something? Seriously, what the HELL?

Finally, around 11:00, it had slowed down to a crash into the window every fifteen minutes. At this point, I had to run into work and then pick up our tax documents. This took several hours since I had Nicholas in tow, and he was very popular with the ladies. When I got back, that freak of a bird was STILL sitting in the tree right outside this window. And sure enough....I got into the house and heard a little bird mass slam against the window.

And no, I am not some sick, inhumane person.....I did go out several times and try to "shoo" away this blasted bird. It really was.....thump......getting annoying.....thump.....hearing this bird slam......thump, thump......itself against the.....thump......window.......

Didn't work. It kept coming back.

In fact, another Robin flew over, and the two of them went at it. I can only imagine what the new Robin was thinking....you know, if it was capable of complex thought.....Hey, dumb ass.....quit slamming into that window. You look like an idiot! And you're making Robins look bad....

FINALLY, the bird took off when it started to rain. We shall see if this crazy creature returns tomorrow for another day of window thumping.

Free iPod -- it's TRUE!

So, my hubby's free iPod arrived recently. He was hinting around about wanting one before the holidays. The 8 GB one ain't cheap, so I thought I would try one of those "answer this survey for a free iPod" deals.

Well, it's not ONE survey, of course....and then you have to participate in all these deals. At the first level, everything was free or maybe $1. At the next level, I joined a cook book club and a coffee of the month deal. I do love my cook books, and the biscotti that came with the coffee was damn good. We got a free coffee maker, too, and I sold that at work for the cost of the club -- not too shabby, huh? So, it was really free for the coffee and biscotti, because I cancelled after my initial sign-up purchase.

Anywho, level three, the final level, required a little more skin in the game. I had to join a pricey wine club and apply for a Discover card. We did get 12 bottles of wine for something like $125, so I guess that isn't too bad.

However, I got declined for the Discover card at first and thought, "WTF? Oh, so THIS is how they screw you out of the iPod!!!" I did everything else but got dinged on this. And I have very good credit, so this seemed a little fishy.....

A call to Discover cleared things up, thankfully -- they were reading my credit report wrong. Hello! I got my card, and all worked out.

Unfortunately, the hubby got a wrapped box with nothing more than a note card that said "Your new iPod is on its way...." And on February 26, the note card came true. It was a serious pain in the BUTT....I probably should have ponied up the $250 in the first place and saved myself the hassle of completing all these offers.....

Ohhhh......and after only having this new iPod for a few weeks......POOF.....it disappears. Hubby can't find it anywhere. I'm about to kill him. And then I remember that he left his wallet in his pants a few weeks prior and it went through the wash....so, maybe.....just maybe.......ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! Luckily, I found the iPod before the pants went off to the dry cleaner, never to be seen again, I'm sure.....

Goodbye Working from Home.....

Up until now, I have been very fortunate. My current employer has allowed me to work from home on Wednesdays and Fridays. It's been GREAT. I obviously get that extra time with my son, but it also saves us money. Most importantly, I get that extra time with my son.... if it wasn't for working from home, then I would have missed my son rolling over for the first time!

Anyway, for various reasons, we can no longer work from home on a regular or scheduled basis. That means, my poor baby will spend five days a week in day care. I suppose it could be worse. I'm glad I did have the time to "ease" him into a full time schedule versus dumping him into full time day care at three months.

When I talked to the day care about putting Nick in full time, they mentioned that the numbers worked out well, because another mom was putting her son in part time. I think it's Nick's little friend, Leo. His mom mentioned working part time -- lucky her!

Fun With Video

No time to write. I've been playing around with making videos all weekend! We've been having a lot of fun....at my poor baby's expense! Of course, we haven't done anything to hurt or harm him.....but he has definitely been the subject of our fun....

Nicholas Having Fun

Lord, I Miss Hawaii

I was up early with the baby. Had he not pooped his diaper something fierce, I'm sure he would have slept longer, but that's how it goes. So, I got him cleaned up, fed him a bottle and now he's asleep again! Meanwhile, Mommy is wide awake.....

Not much on at 6:11 a.m., so I switched over to the HBO channels and stumbled upon "Blue Hawaii." Now, I am not an Elvis fan, but I decided to watch just for the shots of Hawaii. I'm guessing this was filmed on Oahu versus Maui or another island. Even still -- it really makes me want to go back and soon! I'll put up with some horrible acting for the shots of the ocean....although, I really think Elvis needs to let the bitchy blond drown herself!

Today is St. Patty's Day. We have plans with a friend of mine. She was my Maid of Honor, and she delivered eleven hours after I did in the same hospital. We have that cool bond and always will. I'm hoping our boys grow up to be friends, especially since they can say they knew each other from birth -- literally!

I'm not sure if we'll do any green beer -- maybe some green wine! Should be a fun time. Seems as though we never go out or do anything anymore.....we just go to work and then work on got baby! I'm not really complaining, because I'm afraid I'd have Cafepress withdrawal after awhile....

My brackets are tanking. Unfortunately, Yahoo! isn't doing a very good job of keeping them updated! So, I'm not totally sure how I'm doing. I started out at the top of the family pool, but I keep losing ground.....however, my dad, sis-in-law and I all have OSU and Kansas in the final two, so this could get interesting....

Happy St. Patty's....I Guess

I was a little late coming up with some St. Patty's Day designs. I ADMIT IT. I really should have had them out on my site several weeks ago, but I haven't had much luck with the seasonal designs. I don't know why. I sell a few Christmas/Winter items, but that's about it.

Well, I was trolling the Cafepress forums and came across a discussion regarding March sales. For the love of GOD.....one shopkeeper was cleaning UP! He'll probably make more in March than I will all year. And from what I could tell, it was all St. Pat's stuff.

That got me thinking....hmmmm....maybe I should add some Irish and St. Patrick's Day designs. So, I did. I tried to be all creative and use Gaelic for some.....not a single sale. I have sold a couple of my "O'Baby, We've Got a Wee One on the Way" which is kinda St. Pat-ish, but that was it. And I really thought some of them were pretty good!

So, what is the lesson for today, kiddies? Either (a) skip holiday/seasonal designs or (b) get your designs out EARLY. I suppose I'll give it one more try next year, but if nothing sells again, then I am going cold turkey on the holiday stuff....

Happy Birthday, Hubby!

Yesterday was my husband's birthday. I won't mention his age -- he'll appreciate that! We didn't really celebrate. We'll do that tonight with the kids. I did buy two very nice bottles of wine and gave Andy his pick between a Merlot or Cab. As I expected, he picked the Merlot. We can save the Cab for another time...

Dinner was nothing special, but we'll make up for it tonight when we dine at Buca di Beppo! We love that place, although you do come out el stink-o! I think it's from the garlic. Your clothes really reek the next morning....

Whenever we go to Buca di Beppo, we try to get the table in the kitchen. That's our favorite. There's only one, and you get to be a part of the kitchen action. The girls love it, and sometimes they will give you free meatballs. The girls love that, too, especially since the meatballs are the size of tennis balls!

My favorite dish is the Chicken Marsala, but it's all good. Andy loves this Shrimp Arrabiata or something like that....it's spicy, and they don't have it very often. Maybe he'll be in luck tonight! The girls love the pasta dishes, especially the cheese Tortelloni. And everybody loves the big dessert with cake and ice cream......like I said, it's all good! I might just skip lunch in preparation.....

Irregular

I am becoming irregular with my posts....and I swore I would post every day. Yeah, so I didn't swear that to anyone but myself, but that counts for something. I think a blog should be posted to daily unless you are on vacation or without Internet access or something like that...

So, I tried posting to the Cafepress forums. It just seems to me that lots of people are more interested in wishing each other Happy Birthday and praying for donots [which means "sales"]. I was hoping for some decent feedback, and I only really got that from 1-2 people.....oh well, I guess I won't be posting to the forums again. Too bad, because I enjoyed posting and trying to interact.....just wish I had more feedback.

Nick Knack is waking up, so I must prepare the bedtime bottle....more later.

Handy Andy

My husband, Andy, is a very handy man to have around. He's an incredibly talented carpenter and good at fixing things. For the most part, he does a great job.

In his last house, he attempted to do some plumbing work that involved soldering....and well, it didn't go all that well. I remember it used to drip. I guess he never quite got it sealed.

We're in a new house now, and he's been busy working on his shop in the unfinished part of the basement. He put in walls and built shelves. His new workbench is very nice. He's very, very detail oriented and puts a lot of effort into his work.....which sometimes frustrates the HELL out of me. It sometimes seems like it takes him three times longer to do things than it should.....but that's another story.

So, he's busy working on his workshop.....which has been taking months. In his defense, he doesn't get to work on it every weekend. Now, he's decided to move a pipe to make way for some paint booth. Good Lord.....I'm not so sure this is such a good idea.....and HE agrees! He's reminded me several times about the dripping pipe at his other house....thanks, HONEY, but I didn't need any reminding.

At this moment, he's waiting for the dishwasher to finish, so he can shut off the water to the house. Again, Good Lord......may the Force be with him. I hope his second attempt at soldering a pipe is a big success! And that the words, "oh no" don't get uttered during this project....