Mother’s Day Surprise

When I first booked our trip to Puerto Rico,  Mother’s Day never even crossed my mind.  I planned for Adam, Aiden and I flying down together, Adam returning a few days later and Aiden and I staying a bit longer after Adam’s departure.  After everything was booked, it was then that it hit me that Adam would not be with me for my first Mother’s day and although I was very happy to spend Mother’s Day together with my mother and son, I must admit I was sad to not have my husband present.  My husband promised me that he would make it up to me and that he would celebrate Mother’s  Day with me upon my return. 

After almost two weeks in Puerto Rico, I was ready to come home but I was not looking forward of going through the airport hassle with a three month all baby all alone. I was even more disillusioned when Adam told me he couldn't  pick me up at the airport and I was going to have to take a cab.  After a long day of traveling and lugging baby and luggage all by myself, I finally made it home, exhausted but relieved to be back. 

Imagine my surprise when I found this big note waiting for me right when I walked in the door. 

“Lissette, Since Adam couldn’t be here he asked me to make sure you are comfortable since you just flew all the way from “The Spooked Island” (For my Puerto Rican friends “la isla del espanto”). I’ve done my best to arrange the house for you. There are index cards around the house marking comfort items. I hope you can rest until Adam comes home to take care of you. I’ve done my best I can considering the lack of thumbs and how short in the pants I am. Love Wrinkles”.  Wrinkles is the dog in the pic. :) 

As I made my way through the house I found these:

“Comfortable pants so you dont have to unpack to find some”

On the couch I found these:

• “Reading Materials” over a stack of new tabloid magazines. My guilty pleasure.
• “Caution: it says it is intense” over my favorite chocolate.
• “2 clean outfits, 1 blanket, 1 burp clothes” for Aiden so I dont have to search the house to change him after a long flight.
• “Watch Tv – If  you want PPV, The Switch, How do you Know", or Morning Glory are new and sound like you might light them”. :) Movie listings
• “Pizza in Freezer – Quattro Formagi with Chorizo and tomato basil sauce” – Dinner ready

As I made my way to the kitchen to make my pizza, this is what I found:

• “ Unlike Winger, Ratt, and Poison, these hairbands are new” on top of new hairbands since I had lost mine.
• “Coasters not part of this – Just sitting here” – :)
• “For your sniffles” on top of allergy medicine since I had been miserable with allergies during my entire trip.
• “new soda” – over a case of caffeine free soda so I dont make our child crazy when I breast feed. :)
• “2 cans in fridge” :)

I then continued to the counter in order to make the pizza and found these:

• “Probably not 100% natural nor organic (10% real tiger")” over a Tigger marshmallow pop.
• “100% Natural, 95% organic. Must be 5% Unicorn and Leprechaun” over a new lip balm. Gotta love my husbands sense of humor.
• “how do Pringles climb the ladder” = :)

He also left me everything ready for my pizza:

Cooking instructions for my pizza

Wax paper on the cutting board for the pizza and a Chinese take out menu in case I didnt want pizza.

Everything I need to make the frozen pizza he actually made for me with real pizza dough. 

He even left me an extra napkin out since I have a tendency to always stain my shirt. :)

I then made my way up the stairs to change and found these:

I wonder what happens Wednesday.

Dinner and theater. :)

Yay! I am getting an IPhone!

Maceo Parker and Spa day….can it possibly get better?

The gift of the arts. :)

Adam and I spend a lot of time together. We call it “togetherness” as a joke. :)

I just learned how to play Risk. :)

Addictive little game.

Love me some United States of Tara!

He didnt watch any of our recorded shows so we can watch them together. :)

and…

I can finally make it to one of my high school reunions or maybe to one of my old friends holiday parties! I haven't been to one since I left PR over 10 years ago. :)

 

Yay!!! New nightstands!!! I hate my nightstands right now.

OH MY GOD…any new mother knows how valuable this other coupon is…

These don’t even need an explanation.

Have you seen my car????? 

I wonder where we should go on vacation next. Maybe I will do one of those Disney cruises my friend Kerry keeps talking to me about.

Yay! I think I have him convinced to build our next home. 

Anybody that knows me knows that while I was taking all of these pictures, I was crying because I was so touched.  This one really did it for me.

Mandy I have babysitter and a Nail coupon…you down for Wednesday???

I have never seen the Nationals play in the new stadium.  :)

:) He cracks me up.

He even left stuff ready so I can feed Aiden.

Words cannot express how truly lucky I feel to have a hubby that would spend hours planning this for me. I came home, put on  my comfy new pants, baked my personal pizza and sat on the couch to relax, all with no effort. 

Thank you Adam…you never cease to amaze me. I love you.

Children’s Consignment Sales

I have frequented yard sales and estate sales with my mom for years. I still remember the first time I went to an estate sale and saw my mom rummaging through some poor old dead lady's linen drawer. I was shocked at the invasion of privacy.  Poor old lady who probably cherished her things more than anything in the world.  That is, of course, until I saw a complete Mikasa china set for less than $50 and then it was "to hell with the old lady".  There is nothing like a good deal at a good estate sale. 

It is absolutely amazing what people will do for a good deal.  Black Fridays are a good example. People who complain about having to wake up early to beat rush hour on a daily basis actually wake up at 3AM so they can buy a toaster for a dollar.  Then I have friends, (one in particular and you know who you are) who once a year gets together with other shopping hungry women and spend the entire day (yes, the entire day) shopping. They are at Ikea before it opens and they end their day at a Walmart that closes at midnight. Before baby I would have probably said that I would rather clean port-a-potties but now that I am a mom I think of the great parking space I could get at Ikea at 9AM.  

This is what happens...baby pops out and you need to go shopping...its like an itch.   

So I have weathered Black Fridays, Cyber Mondays, Yard sales, Garage sales, estate sales, auctions, clearance sales, you name it...but nothing had prepared me for a children's consignment sale.  

Back in the fall of last year, my friend Jenny had mentioned this consignment sale (they do them twice a year) but since I was only pregnant (no baby yet) I didn't make it there until 12:50 and it ended at 1PM so there was nothing left (remember no baby, no deep rooted urge to go shopping).  Last weekend, however, was the spring consignment sale and Jenny and I made plans to attend this one together.  She had mentioned that I should bring bags and get there early but she failed to mention that madness and chaos that was about to ensue within the walls of this normally peaceful little church.   

Sale goes from 8AM to 1PM.  Jenny had told me to be there early so I woke up (ha ha ha...woke up...ha ha ha....like I get any sleep to begin with) let me rephrase that, so I handed the rug-rat to hubby, picked up Starbucks at the crack of dawn and was at the church by 7:30AM.  Obviously there were already a million people there waiting in line like they are handing out money. I, however, was prepared...I had my coffee, I had my bags. I was good, until the doors opened. 

Everyone pushed their way in to this crammed up little room full of racks of clothes and tables covered in toys and here I am holding a darn cup of coffee (freaking Starbucks addiction) when I needed both hands TO GRAB EVERYTHING I COULD AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.  People were pushing each other to make it to the shoe bin. Women were screaming at their husbands to grab as many games as possible.  It was absolutely chaos.  I gulped my coffee and joined the madness pushing and shoving my way through the crowd to make it to the 0-3 month old boy's clothes rack. I am still sore from having wire hangers and elbows shoved into me.  I managed to make my way downstairs where the "big ticket items" are.  In baby world these are strollers, play pens, bouncers, walkers, and swings.  Sigh... I remember when big ticket items at sale were Coach bags at 70% off.  

So how did I make out? I bought about $400 worth of stuff for about $60 bucks. $60 BUCKS!!!! YES AIDEN, YOUR MOTHER ROCKS!

 

I must say that now I am hooked and for those of you who have never attended a children's consignment sale,  here are a few tips:

1) Be there early. There is no need to be there at 4AM, but be there by opening time.  Most people who attend consignment sales are experts and know exactly what the good deals are. If you are late you wont find crap. 

2) Free your hands. Dont bring coffees, phone, wallets, or anything that you have to actively hold in your hands.  If you cant slip your cash in your bra like I do, then bring a purse you can sling over your neck. Leave your hands for the grabbin.

3) Bring empty bags.  They can be supermarket bags or if you are on a green kick, canvas bags, but for the love of God, bring a bag.  Some sales do not provide bags and you can buy more things if you have a way of carrying them.

4) Dont bring kids. They are annoying in these sales plus it could be dangerous. People are like savages in these sales so having little kids running around is not very safe.  If you must bring a kid, keep a good grip on them.  I personally would not want my kid in that chaos. 

5) Head to the big ticket items first, buy what you need, take it to the car, then come for the small ticket items like clothes and small toys.  It is hard to walk around while carrying a bouncer. I made the mistake of starting with clothes when I really wanted a jogging stroller. By the time I made it downstairs, all the jogging strollers were gone. :(

6) Park by the exit not the entrance (if they are different).  When I got to the sale I noticed all the spots at the entrance were empty. I thought I made out until I came out of the sale lugging all my stuff and had to walk half a mile to make it to my car.  

7) Bring cash.  Some places may take checks but dont risk it.  Only bring checks as a back up

If you have kids these consignment sales are definitely a good way to stock up on the kiddie items. Things are cheap and in good shape. I will warn you, however, that they can be stressful especially if you dont have the "I just had a baby shopping gene" I mentioned earlier.  My husband would divorce me in a heartbeat if I forced him to come to these things.  Below are some pictures I found online of consignment sales just to show you the massiveness of it all.  

   

Now if after all of this, you still want to brave a children’s consignment sale, check out the following links.  I bet I beat you to it.

http://www.kidsconsignmentsales.com/

http://www.classykidsconsignment.com/

http://www.our-kids.com/static/?f=dcspringconsignment

From wine tastings to diaper blow outs, this is my life

So Aiden turns two months on Friday and thankfully things are starting to get easier. He has become a black belt six sigma breast feeding machine and I have become a swift ninja diaper changer. As far as I am concerned, the kid is still alive and he has grown out of almost every outfit I have bought him so we must be doing something right. I guess it could be worse.

I must say, however, these past 8 weeks have been quite a learning experience. In this short period of time, we beat jaundice, survived vaccines, fought nipple confusion, battled gas, went to war with the masses at a children's consignment sale, and made it through a Gymboree class without being freaked out by Gymbo the clown of death.  

You know what this means??? I am officially a mom.  Yes, it has happened

I went from watching National Geographic to being National Geographic. I no longer see boobs as a private part of my body. They are now baby burger kings open 24 hours a day.

Additionally, in an effort to help me increase milk production, my husband encourages a high protein diet by feeding me hard boiled eggs everyday.  I swear I feel like a farm animal on growth hormones. I will never look at an egg or a boob the same way again. 

I also went from "miss, do you have this in my size?" to "lady, I saw that damn toy before you did, now hand it over or I will smack you".  Seriously.  I have never liked shopping and now that I am a mom, I actually chose to wake up at the crack of dawn to stand in line with 100 crazy mothers (just like me) who are all waiting to get into a consignment sale so we can buy a $5 dollar toy for one buck. 

As soon as the doors open, we all push and shove our way inside to then yank things off the racks like our lives depended on it.  For a second I actually thought about shoving some old lady so I can get the set of LINCOLN LOGS  THAT HAD MY NAME ALL OVER THEM BECAUSE I WOKE UP EARLY AND STOOD IN THE DAMN LINE.  Sorry..got caught in the emotion.

I also went from “honey, let’s go to the theater tonight" to "honey, make sure you put enough diaper cream in his butt crack".

Diaper changes are quite an event at my household.  If the kid is not screaming his guts out he is peeing all over the place.  It doesn't fail, as soon as we change his diaper, he poops twenty times. I'm serious…he should be the spokesbaby for Charmin or Metamucil. I have never seen a healthier excretory system.

I still don't understand, however, how its possible that after a diaper change there is diaper cream everywhere, including my hair, but none on his little butt.  How does that happen?   

So life has definitely changed for this executive mom and although I do sometimes miss the freedom that comes from not having children, having Aiden has really given me a deeper perspective of this great big thing we call life.  The breastfeeding, the consignment sales, the diaper cream…they are all signs of how much I love this kid and how I am willing to do anything for him. Even with all of the diaper blow outs and leaky boobs, I enjoy being a mom….much more than I ever enjoyed being an executive. 

How things have changed…

As many of you know, our little boy is now a week old and in an effort to take advantage of how much he sleeps during the day (please note that I said he, not us since he is up all night crying), my mom decided to invite Adam, Aiden and I to dinner. 

Picking a restaurant was easy since all I really wanted were raw oysters (a big no no when you are pregnant), so we ended up at McCormick and Schmicks.  Back in my working days, Adam and I often visited McCormick and Schmicks for Happy Hour, where we ordered a bottle of wine and talked shop all night.
This visit to McCormick and Schmicks was a little different. We first had to make sure baby was very well fed so he would sleep through dinner.  Easier said than done when you are breastfeeding but I will spare you the details.  Then we had to make sure we knew what to pack in a diaper bag since this was the first time we were leaving the house for longer than 1/2 an hour (not that baby needed anything since I stuffed him so full of milk he was passed out for hours). Then we had to make sure I had taken all of my pain medication so I would not pass out while at the restaurant.  After all the preparations, we were off.

When we arrived at the restaurant, we parked in the underground parking garage which forces you to walk into the restaurant via the bar area.  As we walked through the suited crowd of businessmen/women seated at the bar, my husband carrying our newborn child and me wearing my maternity clothes and flat Ugg Shoes, I realized how much my life had changed.  Not that long ago, I was one of those suits sitting at the bar with no rush to get home.

As we were leaving the restaurant, my family walked ahead of me and I took my sweet time walking through the bar.  I looked at people's faces and tried to pick up their voices as I walked by. Then it hit me. I did not feel sad about the life I was leaving behind. I was not jealous of the lack of responsibility some of these people had.  Instead, I felt a sense of comfort, a sense of fulfillment by the life I knew I was walking into. It bought a smile to my face for I knew I had been there, done that, and was now on to the next one. 

Im ready for this phase or better said....I am going to embrace this new phase of motherhood with open arms and an open heart. I already know that it will be much more fulfilling than any life I left behind. 

The Nursery

As some of you may know, our little boy, Aiden Tyler gave us a surprise by arriving three weeks earlier than expected.  On Tuesday early morning, my water unexpectedly broke and after 17 hours of labor and failure to progress, our little one arrived via C-section at 7:55 PM. 

Today we were finally discharged and are now at home trying to settle in from this very eventful week.  Since things have happened unexpectedly, I have not had enough time to write a post about our baby nursery.  So although baby is here already, I will take a minute to show everybody our finished nursery and I promise to write more about Aiden’s arrival over the weekend. 

	This room used to be my husband’s tool room. Funny how things change after marriage. :)  Here is Adam and his dad installing flooring in the Nursery.
	Once the floor was installed, deciding on paint color was a bit of a challenge since we were still waiting on our custom paintings.
	Experts now believe that ceiling fans significantly decrease the risks of SIDS so my dear hubby and father in law decided it was best to install a fan in the room.
	Adam then installed these roll out shelves in the closet which have turned out to be worth their weight in gold.  I have all of our baby clothes all neatly folded and we still have tons of space.
	This little monkey was waiting for Aiden for a long time.

After weeks of preparation, our room was finally finished and we could not possibly be happier with the end results.  We are more happy that we were able to finish the nursery before baby got here.  It took a lot of work, but we did it! 

It turns out my hubby has a knack for placing wall decals. He put up the trunk of the tree, and I spent the following day putting up all the little leaves.  Even something as simple as putting up leaves can be quite a task for an 8 month pregnant lady.  Even harder was hanging the letters, but I could not resist the temptation to do so. :)

The painting on the wall was a custom made piece by Brian Cantwell from the Cantwell Studio. He is the husband of a dear friend of mine and was kind enough to paint these pictures at my request with very little notice. He is very talented. 

I used to use the bamboo as a decorating piece in my living room only to find out a year later that my hubby hated it. I decided to keep them in case I could come up with another use for them.  Never thought they would be used in a nursery.  :) Finding bedding that matched all of the color motifs was also a challenge but we availed! 

These shelves were also repurposed from a different place in the house. We bought the dresser at Kohls.com. It is made by Graco and must say, it is not a well built dresser. My husband used some of his own tools and materials to reinforce it, but I strongly recommend not buying Graco furniture. 

My In Laws got us both the Christopher Robin plaque and the room blessing on the wall. 

 

 

Our little animal friends all looking at the crib.

The finishing touches

 

The Finished Product