unsolicited advice

Today after church we went to Target for a few things.
While Ryan went to another part of the store, I took the kids towards the checkout area...
Granted the kids were tired and fussy and Addie was crying.
One woman came up to me and commented how sweet a baby's cry is and how I should enjoy even these moments cause they are gone before you know it, sharing that her 'baby' is now 18 and asking for gas money. It was encouraging and I plodded along with Dylan helping me push the cart and negotiate around the clothing racks enroute to the checkout area.
Then another woman approached us. She came up quickly and asked in a panic if everything was ok with my baby. Asked if I was SURE the baby was ok and told me she was 'very concerned with her crying' as if I was a 12 year old who had no clue what I was doing with a crying baby in a store. It's not like Addie had been crying for 30 minutes. It had been about 5 minutes and she was just tired.
I tried to be polite to that second woman, but my patience was clearly running low. I finally told her through clenched teeth that yes, my baby was fine. And when she pushed me on the issue, I nearly lost my cool. Nearly. But I was in Target and my baby was tired, and I was tired, and I really didn't have time to deal with that silly woman.
What is it with people and unsolicited advice? UGH!

New Car

We got a new car. Long story, but in the end, we decided to trade in my car (2001 VW Passat) for this one.
Went with the magnetic gray metallic exterior and black leather interior.
It's lovely. We fight over who gets to drive. And a bonus, we all comfortably fit in the car together now!

Baby Girl Stuff

Mary Jane Socks
Hats and more hats
Leg Warmers (also in Purple)
One-piece Sunsuit outfits (for 3-6 and 6-9 months)
Rompers (short sleeves for summer and long for winter months)
Overall outfits
And on a side note: I know pink is the usual choice "girl" color, but I love reds and soft greens too!

And of course, I'm thinking I should hold off on buying anything myself for a while. But online window-shopping sure is fun!

p.s. I have started to feel her move now. And while most people say I don't even look pregnant yet, my non-pregnancy pants don't fit anymore! Time to bust out the maternity pants.

Deck the Halls!

We ventured out on a mission today as a family: Find a new tree. We found one. But only after 6 hours of wading through store upon store, trying to find what tree went with what box and what price tag.
We settled on this one at good 'ol Target. Love that place. I should have known better and not bothered with Home Depot, Walmart, and Kmart with the holiday shopping frenzy out there.
Dylan had fun in the stores, touching all the trees with us as we felt for one that wasn't too 'fake' feeling (he copies everything we do). And we found a couple little gifts to wrap and put under the new tree for him, which will be fun to add later tonight once it's 'trimmed'.
And he even went down for a nap without a fuss once promised that the "tree would be up and ready to decorate together" once he was up from his nap! He smiled and said, "ok, mommy!"

Dee-bah-det!!

I remember Ryan and I crouched on the floor in St. Louis before Dylan was born, fighting about how to put together the crib we were borrowing from some friends, just a few weeks before Dylan was born. It was memorable.
And this time was similar, except Dylan was fighting with us, wanting to put all the screws and screwdrivers into the holes. But in the end, we had this cutie bed all ready for our little boy. His first EVER 'big boy bed'. And boy is he proud of it.
It even is sporting new bedding from his favorite story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar!

What the heck?

The Babykeeper. It seems like a "good enough idea" but I can just imagine Dylan hanging there, kicking the door (bang bang bang), screaming at me whilst I pee.

Not for us.

But I can only guess that some moms are actually going to try this out. What ever happened to keeping them in the stroller and using the handicapped stall? That's my plan. At least until he's 12. Oh wait, maybe that's a bit too extreme. How about 10 then? (she chuckles to herself)

you say TEN?

Ok. So with the second bout of the stomach flu in the past month, I can safely say that my appetite has dwindled to near nothing (nausea really does a number on my appetite). On an ordinary day I'd be glad that I'm not hungry, but after stepping on the scale this afternoon and realizing that I've lost about 10 pounds in the past two months or so, this is ridiculous. I forced myself to eat a little something for lunch after work today. Hopefully it stays down....

Anyhow on a happier note, Dylan has finally gotten some new socks. He was busting out of the old ones. His morning with daddy (while I was at work, trying to see my patients and get home as quickly as possible) consisted of a trip to Target and the store. Ryan reports that Dylan had a meltdown in the grocery store, which I can imagine was NOT pleasant, but I'm glad they got out. And I'm very excited about those new socks. (can you tell that my expectations for good news has shifted?)... and in my own defense, Ryan seemed pretty excited about the new socks too.

Dylan is in love with his blankie now. He always seemed to like a couple of them, but recently (like in the past week or so) he's attached himself to one in particular. He chews on the soft, cushy fabric and snuggles it at bedtime. I figured out that he really liked it this past week when he saw me take it out of his crib to put it in the big-bad-washing-machine. I had to work some distractable mommy skills there to keep him from a full meltdown. "Hey, there's another blankie here. How about a train or your bear? Or how about helping mommy fold some laundry over here?" And, boy oh boy, was he excited when that beloved blankie returned the next day in his crib. I guess this one is a keeper.

Lastly, Dylan got a haircut recently. It is a little shorter than planned, but precious nevertheless. Kinda reminds Daddy of Jim Carrey a bit...