Blathering Vlog (that's really a post)

Well, I'm about a day late and a dollar short on this one but that's the way I roll these days. Some of The Blathering ladies posted vlogs so we could all hear each other's voices before we meet this weekend and some ladies answered questions in a post format instead. I'm of the latter category because taking a video of myself sounds complicated and unflattering. And since I'm late posting this anyway, I've probably already met everyone - ha! - so this really serves no purpose at all. At least my sister will enjoy reading it, so here goes:


Why did you start blogging?
A co-worker friend shared her pregnancy blog with me some three years ago and I discovered the fabulous world of reading intimate details about other people's lives on the Internet. I was hooked and thought I'd write my own blog to chronicle my life and share every tiny detail about myself. You should know I like to have my opinions heard.

2. What’s your favorite TV show?
It used to be How I Met Your Mother, back in the pre-kid days when we had cable and I had the energy to watch television in the evening. These days, we're pretty hooked on Gossip Girl through Netflix when we get around to watching something.

3. What’s your favorite adult beverage?
I love a glass of red wine. Or beer when I'm feeling casual. Not a big fan of cocktails because I get drunk too fast, although I prefer using the word cocktail in reference to drinking because it sounds way fancier than "wanna meet for beers later?" (Like I have the opportunity to meet anyone for beers these days).

4. Who are you leaving at home?
My adorable little Tory Bean and my husband, Andi. They'll be fine together, right? RIGHT?

5. What are your holiday plans?
My advent calendar list of activities indicates I'll be doing lots of baking and crafting.

6. Where were you born?
Nebraska - the good life.

7. Best vacation you’ve ever taken?
Ooh, toughy. My husband and I have been on some pretty dynamite vacations. Panama is right up there, along with our trip to Paris. I should say our honeymoon in Thailand by default, but half of it was spent in a hotel room while my husband nearly died from food poisoning.

8. Are you better in large or small groups?
I'm best in groups where I know all the people, so good thing I've been stalking all the attendees on Twitter for months and studied their bios on the plane. (ha ha, just kidding). (Not really).

9. Three things attendees might not know about you:
It's hard to think of three things people don't know about me that I haven't already shared on the Internet.

1) My husband and I communicate through my blog and iPhone calendar updates. It's 2012, there's nothing wrong with that, right?

2) I have a hard time coordinating clothing accessories, so I probably won't be a wearing any bling this weekend. Sorry 'bout that.

3) I tend to be a little on the naive side of things, so if someone invites me to a party and it's actually a prostitute looking for a good time, feel free to step in and interject. I need the help.

10. What book are you going to read on the plane?
The Fault in Our Stars is on my Kindle right now, but I keep falling asleep at night when I read it. Or better yet, maybe I'll just close my eyes and take a little snooze in peace.

Out of my comfort zone

As you read this, I'm aboard an airplane in route to New Orleans. The Blathering weekend is finally here and my stomach is in knots over it. I left my baby girl for the first time today. Well, that's not true. I left her for an overnight work trip to Chicago last spring and our anniversary trip to Vail in July. But still! It feels like I'm leaving her for the first time and it hurts just the same. I know Tory will be fine with Andi all weekend and I know she's probably too young to realize how long I'm away from her but GULP, I'm missing out on three days of my baby's life!

On the reverse, I'm also reeeally excited to have an entire weekend all to myself. To meet my e-BFFs in the real live flesh. To drink fancy cocktails and eat beignets and sleep late if I want to (although I doubt we'll be doing much of that). I don't think I've ever been on an official girl's weekend away, at least to somewhere fancier than Des Moines, and it's going to be lovely to recharge myself. Plus, I've never been to New Orleans so I'm excited to go sightseeing and for the craziness of Bourbon Street. That said, I not a big fan of crowds and stupid, drunk people so maybe I'm not so excited for Bourbon Street? Everyone should see it once, right? I'm excited for that part.

I'm a jeans and a t-shirt kind of girl, so wardrobe choices for this trip were stressing me out big time. All the talk on Twitter was of sparkly heels, sequins and jewelry - things I do not own and wish not to purchase. I attempted to go shopping at Mall of America on Monday but with Andi traveling this week, I had to take Tory with me. You can imagine how much fun I had trying on clothes while body-blocking my toddler from escaping underneath the dressing room walls. I walked away with a few dresses from Old Navy (essentially every single one that's featured on their website cover, oops. Hope no one else had the same idea or that'll be awkward)! The weather's suppose to be 75 and beautiful, but my brain has already transitioned to winter wear so that's a bit of a challenge as well. I packed a blazer and jeans and I'll probably be sweating to death, but oh well. It is what it is and I'm already packed. DONE. (I did throw in a sequin Express tank from 2002 so at least I'll have some sparkly back-up if push comes to shove. I knew there was a reason I hung on to that for the last ten years).

Andi seems to think we'll all be boozy and wild this weekend. Mothers cut loose on vacation, he says. Maybe that'll be the case. Maybe not. I have been working to increase my drinking tolerance to two glasses of wine in preparation. I keep repeating the same mantra to myself: Do not be hungover. Step out of your comfort zone. Talk to people! Do not appear snotty. HAVE FUN.

Here I go!

A Season of Celebrating

Now that Halloween's over, I'm diving head-first into the Christmas season. I think it's because last year as a new mom, I felt so overwhelmed by the holidays. I basically threw up the bare minimum of holiday decorations around my house and hardly baked a thing. I just didn't feel like myself. This year though, life with Tory is much simpler. She's growing into an age where she likes to make crafts and help in the kitchen. I even bought her a tiny little apron and I can't wait for her to wear it!

Last year, my in-laws gifted me this advent calendar for Christmas and I'm dying to fill it with holiday activities for our family this December. Tory might be too young to truly appreciate each daily activity, but soon she'll remember the traditions we've created and the memories shared together as a family every Christmas season. Of course I'll try to document each day's activities here, so someday she'll be able to look back at all the fun we had together.

After scouring Pinterest and blogs for ideas, I've come up with my own list of December advent calendar activities. Most of them aren't anything original, just a mix of age-appropriate toddler activities, some of my own favorite childhood memories and a few new traditions I'd like to start. Here's my list, enjoy!

December 2012
1 - Bake Christmas cookies
2 - Host a Christmas Cookie Exchange for friends and family
3 - Decorate a felt Christmas tree (I better get to making it, ha!)
4 - Make cinnamon applesauce ornaments
5 - Make homemade Chex Mix
6 - Make lefse with Grandma Janie and Auntie Lindsay
7 - Deliver holiday treats to the neighbors
8 - Go to the Holidazzle Parade and Macy's Christmas Santaland display in downtown Minneapolis
9 - Go see a live nativity scene
10 - Decorate a gingerbread house
11 - Attend Wonder Pets! Save the Nutcracker at Mall of America
12 - Take a picture with Santa Claus
13 - Open a special Christmas gift (snowflake pajamas)
14 - Drive around with hot chocolate and look at Christmas lights
15 - Have a picnic dinner under the glow of the Christmas tree
16 - Go ice skating in St. Paul's Rice Park
17 - Make Christmas construction paper garland
18 - Sing Christmas carols
19 - Open a special Christmas gift (a Christmas children's book - Target is featuring some in their $1 Hot Spot right now)
20 - Choose a toy and donate it to a needy child
21 - Read a Christmas story together
22 - Eat a special holiday breakfast with Nana and Papa
23 - Color a Christmas picture
24 - Make reindeer food to sprinkle in the yard
25 - Celebrate Jesus' birthday

Pest Magnet

I'm going completely nuts in my own house these days. I have a hard time falling asleep. I wear socks at all times. I'm constantly scanning surfaces for any trace of them.

We have a mouse in the house.

Okay, we have more than one but I'm refusing to admit it to myself because oh my lord, the word MICE makes my skin crawl. *Shudder.* I'm fairly certain there's more than one because we've caught six already. La la la, I didn't just see myself type that on the computer screen.

I have no idea why they're invading our house this year. I clean all the time, I swear! I don't have piles of junk or containers of open food laying around. We have a dog! Why the heck doesn't she scare them away? It probably has nothing to do with the fact that my husband leaves the door wide open when he runs out to get the mail. Or the fact that I leave the door connecting our garage to the house open when Tory falls asleep in the car. I'm sure it has nothing to do with those reasons at all.

To make matters worse, Andi doesn't seem to be affected. He sets out traps and dumps the dead little mouse bodies into the trash. And repeat. I beg him to call a pest control company and he rolls eyes his at me like I'm a crazy lady. It's just this time of year, he says. Easy for him to say! I'm a prisoner in my own home! The fact that we've caught (cough, cough) more than one of them is a good sign, he says. The poison is working! Yay for dead mice littering my floors.

For some reason, pests just love us. At our old house in the city, it was pigeons and raccoons. Our old backyard was covered in bird poop and one night we awoke to the thump of a raccoon falling off our roof. At the cabin, we have a infestation of bees. I swat them like no big deal, but Andi screams like a little girl every time one flies near him. I guess we all have our own little critter weakness.

For the first time ever, I'm actually excited for a deep freeze in Minnesota because maybe the cold will stop these pests once and for all. Until then, we're living in a sea of mouse traps and high-tech LED ultrasonic pest repellers. Does anyone else think the childhood game of Mouse Trap wasn't so fun after all? DISGUSTING.

Blame it on no sleep

My little family of three spent the remainder of the weekend at our lake cabin. After a busy Saturday of working (for me) and solo-parenting (for Andi), getting there felt like a bit of a hassle but we're committed to using the cabin as much as we can this winter. Plus, Andi's work schedule is about to become crazy-busy so getting to the lake, even for one day, seems worth it.

For the last 15 minutes of our drive, I rode in the backseat with Tory to avoid a melt-down screaming session and oh man, was that a bad idea. I was so nauseous by the time we arrived! The older I get, the more car sick I become sitting in the back row of moving vehicles and it doesn't help the last few miles to the cabin are full of curvy roads. I felt progressively worse throughout the evening and finally went to sleep around 9pm.

To top it off, Tory slept like garbage Saturday night. I'm not sure if it was sleeping in a new place or her one-year molar just about to poke through her gums, but we finally brought her to bed with us around 3am (which was actually 2am with the end of Daylight Savings Time) and endured jabs to our faces from little arms and legs for the remainder of the night. At 6am, Andi and I finally got up because none of us were sleeping anyway. Our little Tory Bean was so grumpy Sunday morning. At age 14 months, she's learned how to throw a toddler tantrum and spent most of the morning rolling around on the ground and whining relentlessly.

Tory and I kept ourselves occupied in the house while Andi went outside to rake up the massive pile of leaves around the lake house. We spent most of our time on the stairs as she perfected the skill of going up and down. At home, we have stairs that are gated most of the time so when we're at the cabin, she loves to go up and down, up and down, up and down. My lack of sleep the night before made this game feel endless and no matter how many times I tried to distract her with another activity, we always found ourselves back on the stairs. So this is where we sat, for three hours.

Meanwhile, Andi was in his own personal hell, tackling the massive leaves situation outdoors. Score one point in the Do Not Own Your Own Cabin category: lawn maintenance for two properties really stinks. By the time he finished, we decided to pack up our things after lunch and head home with the hopes Tory would take her afternoon nap during the drive. Andi is not a lover of manly-men projects so he in a foul mood having finished the leaves task. I just wanted five minutes of quiet with no toddler whining. GAH.

Not a very fun-filled weekend at the cabin, unfortunately. I think we were all relieved to crawl into our beds last night and put another Daylight Savings Time behind us. That day always feels like the loooongest day of the year.

Daddy Daycare

It was a daddy/daughter day for Andi and Tory as I worked another football game on Saturday. While I performed the ever-important job of directing drunk fans to available cash registers in the beer garden, here's how they spent their day:

7:00am
Wake-up time! Tory seems pleased with Daddy's greeting. She is such a little bear-cub in the morning. When I was little, my grandpa bought be a t-shirt that said "I don't do mornings" and unfortunately, our little Tory Bean is the same way.

Now breakfast is something she can get behind! Tory eats a pretty big meal in the mornings. Today, she's having strawberries and waffles. Andi sends me a picture text message to my phone and I'm sad I'm missing a quiet, relaxing morning at home with them.

Clean-up time. Andi said Tory "helped" him by putting my boots in the dishwasher while he tried to load up the dishes. He cleaned Tory's hands and face up too, and then changed her very poopy diaper.

Really going for the Mr. Mom award, they decide to make banana bread. Andi let Tory dump the sugar and flour into the mixer and carry an egg across the kitchen. It doesn't end well. She cracked the egg into her hands, which resulted in another clean-up session.

Nap-time for Tory. She seems to be melting down by this point in the picture-sequence.

Andi put Tory to sleep in her nursery and then finished baking the banana bread and packing up the car for our cabin trip later in the afternoon.

Tory Bean's awake and they get ready to leave for a play date with Andi's friend Josh and his little boy Charlie (10 months). Out of hands - one of the many struggles of solo-parenting.

Playtime with Charlie! Andi says Tory is a maniac checking out all the new toys to play with. Andi brought lunch for the crew and fed Tory at Josh's house.

Next, Tory and Andi head to Grandma Marion's house for cousin Connor's 1st birthday party. Here's a shot of all three babies born in the last year in Andi's family -- Tory (14 months), Connor (12 months), Jaxson (9 months)

I met Andi and Tory over at the birthday party after the football game, and we drove to the cabin for the remainder of the weekend. Looks like Tory and Daddy had a very fun day together.

Family Photos

Our lovely friends Justin and Jessica from Bees Knees Photography agreed to snap some family photos for us this fall. Originally, I intended the shoot to be Tory's one year photos, but time has a way of escaping and when we finally coordinated schedules, she was already 13 months. (Close enough, I say).

I wanted to share a few of my favorites. Like always, there's about a million to choose from and they're almost all delightful. Is there really anything better than catching a glimpse of your life through a camera lens? 

Someone recently told me to enjoy moments like these now for when a second baby enters into the picture (no, I'm not expecting, I feel like I've had to clarify that fact a lot lately), there will be no time for fun things like family pictures anymore. 

I'd like to believe that's won't be the case. No matter the cost in time or dollars, photographs are worth a million bucks.  On this fall day, we shared some laughs and pure exhaustion from wrangling a very active toddler in the park. I think we captured the essence of our little family of three, don't you?