The world ends when we walk out of the door...

I started working at Gymboree tonight as a "new line" employee, basically I work 1-2 Sunday nights a month and I get paid minimum wage (yuck) but get 40% off at the store (score) and 20% off at the outlet (score).  I had fun, the people were great, the work was easy, and I got to see all the new halloween and fall stuff coming out.  This transient employment with them may be more damaging than good for my bank account! lol

I was gone a mere 5 hours and my husband freaked the hell out when I was back 20 minutes later than I told him.  He managed to mess up the kitchen I spent all morning cleaning, forgot to let the dog out so the dog literally peed on my food in the doorway when I came in (gross), and Mimi was of course, awake, in mis-matched jammies and overtired and crying.  What a freakin' mess.

Sometimes my husband says in conversation to people that he wouldn't mind being a stay-at-home dad, and I almost gasp and laugh out loud.  He can't even handle her on short intervals without freakin out or trashing this place.  He has no idea the level of patience and multi tasking required to be at home fulltime with a toddler.

Ugh.

Mimi was so overtired I had to lay in bed with her for like 20 minutes calming her down telling her we're going on a trip to see Sophia tomorrow.  Now that she's asleep, I am going to let out the dog and pack our stuff for tomorrow so it doesn't take us all freakin' day to get out of here.

Copycat Babygap Dress Without a Pattern

So I went to the Children's museum with my friend the other day (again I know) and she has twin girls a little younger than Mimi.  They had on the most adorable dresses, and to be perfectly honest, I couldn't tell they were homemade until I examined them really closely.  I was impressed.  I have been sewing for a little while now, and my technique has improved (just ask my friends who got homemade gifts from me last Christmas!).  I want to be able to make Mimi adorable dresses, for a cheap price, that people won't really look at and say "nice homemade dress" but say "where did you buy it?"

Mimi has this friggin adorable denim babygap jumper dress that I got off of ebay for $3.99.  I love her in it.  Sadly, my treelike toddler is growing so quickly her little bum peeks out of the bottom a little bit more than I'd like, and it will soon be retired to the "give to a friend" or "save for baby Olive" pile.  (Olive is the girl name we like for our next potential girl child if you're wondering).

I looked at the dress and thought, I can copy this.  I made myself a pattern by tracing the dress and adding 1/2 inch all the way around as a seam allowance.  I added and extra 1 1/2 inch to the bottom to prevent bum peekage, and dug through my box of fabric I have on hand.  The dress is fully lined also.  The front is gathered at the yolk, but the back is not.  Next time I think I may make a fabric flower or some funky buttons on the shoulders to add some spunk.

Take a look at what I ended up with......all done in 2 hours.

It came out a little slimmer than the denim dress, but the fit in the chest and the length are exactly like I wanted.  My husband says the zipper is tacky, but I was trying to use what I had on hand, next time I"ll use an invisible zipper.  Don't mind the hem folded up, the dress needs to be washed and ironed.

Courtney, if you're reading this, you'll see that Mimi has claimed the pink fish bow for herself, I hope Soph likes the orange one!

Holy Empty Hardrive

Each year, I make a photo book for Mimi on my Iphoto account, exquisitely detailing all the events and adorable moments of her year.  As we have just passed Year 2, I have finished Mimi's book (all 100 pages) and sent it off for printing and binding.  My poor hardrive looks forward to this day.  After the book is printed I archive the libraries of photos onto dvd disks and pack them away safely.  Then, I'm able to clean them off my hardrive and let my poor computer breath a little easier.  30 gigs easier to be exact.  One year of Mimi's life in photos amounts to 30 gigs of memory.  Wow.  Considering my dear macbook only has 100 gigs total and is loaded with applications as well, you can see why little cookie (that's my macbook's name) looks forward to this.  

I feel like I have a new computer. EVERYTHING runs faster.  This Macbook has been my sidekick now for 5 years I think.  It has lasted unbelievably well with no real issues and one optional software upgrade.  If you haven't already, do yourself a favor and buy yourself a Mac computer.  Unless of course you're a mac hater, in which case you can't read my blog anymore.

Kidding.

But seriously, buy one. You'll love it.

Ignorance

Do you ever get frustrated with people for being ignorant?  Now when you call someone ignorant, you're not calling them stupid, you are saying that they lack knowledge, or intelligence on a specific subject, that they are unaware or uninformed.

To tell you the truth I don't know why I waste my time even commenting on this girl's videos.  She can be ignorant, intolerant, abrasive, aggressively rude with her replies.  I really cannot fathom why she has so many loyal followers.   From the snippets of her life you gather from her videos, objectively she seems like a great mother.   Not that I'm any sort of judge of what is great parenting.  But her attitude on certain subjects can be so aggressively closed-minded. If you dare say something to question her opinion, she becomes instantly defensive and rude, and throws back at you comments with giant capitalized letters as if to emphasize her aggressiveness.  Really uncalled for.

In her last few videos she has made many comments about "I could not take my healthy newborn to a hospital filled with sick people for her hearing test!"  "Why take my HEALTHY newborn to a doctors office full of sick people!?" and yet she takes her newborns to all kinds of other outings like a children's museum.  I dare to say I could culture some pretty nasty germs from swabbing the exhibits at a children's museum in a city, not to mention the amount of kids in the place.  

My one friend put in nicely that it's ironic that she thinks denying your child healthcare keeps them healthier.

You can see from my comments, that I was not rude, nor aggressive.  I was trying to point out that if she washes her hands often and keeps her child covered (as it appears she does) she shouldn't be so afraid.  Not rude.   I'm not ignorant of infectious disease people.  I worked for an emerging pathogens department and I've had microbiology, neither of which I bet she could claim.

And when I pointed out that nephrologists, cardiologists, and orthopedics aren't full of infectious people I wasn't talking about taking her newborn there (obviously), I was pointing out that Hospitals and Doctors offices aren't all full of sick people, they are full of people seeking medical attention or advice, and that the world is not full of people with leprosy, cholera, or MRSA trying to cough and lick her and her newborn.  Nobody is out to get her, and some simple hand washing goes a LONG way.

And of course my comments have to do with objective debate! Why else would I have commented? To give you flattery on your videos? Is that the only reason you make videos? So people tell you things to inflate your ego?  As much as I post comments about InformationMommy, at least she welcomes debate, and will comment back to you (even if she disagrees) with tact and intelligence.

Why am I even talking about his Lucy? Because I was pointing out that you were over generalizing and that your fear of doctors office was somewhat irrational.  I know, I know, silly me, you can't admit that anybody might have a point but you......Debating with you Lucy, is a lost cause.

Austin Children's Museum

Warning! Photo Heavy Post!

on the metrorail

I bought a season pass for a place I'd never been to. Stupid right?  Well I had heard many testimonials from the park moms, and read their yelp.  What convinced me was the quantitative value of this pass.  The pass was $75 for 12 months.  It allows 4 people (including guests) to come each visit on the pass.  I calculated, based on normal admission rates, if I brought 1 extra adult and child with me each time, I only needed to go 4 times in 12 months and the pass pays for itself. Awesome.  Not to mention the metrorail stops 3.5 blocks away from the museum for $1 (instead of $10 to park and the gas and traffic).

We left at 10ish (after I ran 2 miles!!! Go me) and got to the museum at 11am.  It was kind of crowded in the main room, but all of the side areas were pretty quiet with only a few kids.  Mimi ran in without hesitation and started playing.  They had play kitchens, a play grocery store, animal exhibits (like milking a fake cow), train station exhibits, miniature play houses, craft areas, building areas, etc.   Great for Mimi's age, but maybe boring for a child over 5.

Playing on the train table

Cooking some steaks

After 1.5 hrs, we grabbed our strollers and headed over to PF Chang's for lunch.  Mimi ate half of my meal and was SO well behaved (compared to other restaurant experiences) and we were back on the train at 2:15, and home in bed by 3pm.

Can't wait to go again, especially with this heat!

All in all the museum was a great experience and a great value.  One tuesday of every month they don't allow large groups, so my friend and I decided to mark that date on our calendars and head downtown on that day.

So happy this mess is at the museum and not at my house.....

Playing at the dollhouse with Allison and her momma

Playing in the playhouse

Splash Away

With this heat, outdoor activities almost have to be by water, or in water, preferable icy water lol.  When Courtney lured  convinced me to move to Texas, I don't think she mentioned that the sun is so hot it will bake your skin off.....Thanks Court! :-)

Anyway....it seems to be the consensus of the group of moms I hang with that we should congregate near water.  Today we met up at a splash pad near downtown.  Mimi is the only one of the bunch that LOVES to run head first through these sprinklers. Observe the evidence below....

They had a pretty nice little playground too but the slides and climbing areas get so hot it burns the kids skin, for real.  After 1.5 hours, we packed up our soggy red-faced children and stopped at the Whole Foods Flagship Market downtown for lunch.  Their lunch bar(s) are AMAZING.  Good think I hate going through the traffic to get there or I'd spend my "Whole" paycheck there....hahahaha nice pun right?  Okay anyway......on the roof above the store they have a shaded area to eat and a playground.  We ate our lunches and let the kids play until they literally told us they were tired and wanted to go home. Nice.  

Mimi is down for her nap and I am going to grab a shower and do some dissertatin' (redneck for dissertation).  Cheers

Night Night Time

Do you watch your kid(s) sleep? I totally do.  Every night.  Some nights I have to resist crawling in bed with her and snuggling, or worse waking her up and bringing her in bed with me just to snuggle.  My little snuggle bug.  

I wouldn't give up this bug for anything.  I hug and kiss her all day long and tell her she's the most amazing thing I ever did.  She says the most precious things to me without being prodded to now.  She holds my face delicately and says "I love you mama."  She kisses my boos boos better, and gives the best squeeze hugs in the world.  Thank heaven for this little girl.

 See the sippy cup? she holds it like a security object.  Don't worry, it's just water...with ice...if you forget the ice she tells you so!

Papa's eyelashes.  So beautiful.