i wish for

my birthday is coming up very soon!  i love birthday's.  mine and others.  i love giving gifts, and i love getting gifts.  who doesn't?  some people always have a hard time knowing what they want for their birthday- i am not one of those people.  i always have some kind of running list going of books and other things i want.  here are my top wishes for this year...

clothes from ann taylor loft.  so yes, i shouldn't buy all my clothes from one place, but i can afford them.  they fit.  they're cute.  i love this place.  i love it!

the get outta town shoe from seychelles.  i saw these shoes about a week ago, and i am absolutely in love.  i know there are lots of knock offs around- payless has a pair, and someone at my next door neighbors house on saturday had a pair sitting outside their our door.  it took all my willpower not to steal them- but then i remembered poor carrie at the baby shower on satc. 

gone with the wind 70th anniversary edition.  i love this movie.  i could watch it a million times.  i already own a copy, but not this copy. 

i am in love with this vintage style cake tin.  it gives me the inspiration to bake a thousand cakes, just so i can show up with them in this tin!!

chance chanel by chanel.  i am in love with the way this smells.

this mixer will be on my wishlist until the end of time i get it.  sorry husband.  unfortunately, this color has been discontinued and people think it's cool to sell it for $700.  supply and demand, baby.

 

i would love another pair of havaianas. 

hopefully i will get lucky!!  have a happy tuesday!!

mommy reads! book review- all this and heaven too

if you know anything about me at all, you know i love classic movies.  in fact, i prefer them to new movies.  maybe it's because we don't go to the theater a lot.  who knows.  but i'd much rather see a movie on tcm than anything new.  drives husband crazy.

 

so i had seen the movie all this, and heaven too a few years ago.  i don't remember much about it now (i know i really enjoyed it), but i remember that the acting was good, and the story was very compelling.  it features bette davis, charles boyer and barbara o'neil. it was through watching the movie that i found out it was based on a book.

i actually received the book from husband well over a year ago, but it got packed away in the move and forgotten.  i came across it recently and decided i would give it a read.  what i found upon reading was much more interesting.

all this, and heaven too is a fictionalized account of actual events.  the author, rachel field, was the great niece of the heroine, henriette deluzy-desportes, and although her great aunt died before she was even born, her story compelled her enough to write about it.  the basis of the story is- mademoiselle d leaves england to return to her native france to become a nanny for the duc and duchesse de praslin.  the duchesse is obsessively in love with her husband, almost to the neglect of her children, and the duc does not return her love.  mademoiselle d and the duc are drawn to each other, but can obviously never be together.  their friendship becomes tabloid fodder, the duchesse ends up murdered and henriette has to plead her case in order to be set free.  this was one of the most notorious murder trials in all of france's history and led to the fall of the monarchy.   

i had a really hard time getting into this book.  it probably took me 3 months to get 100 pages in, but once i hit my stride, i found it easy to keep going, and was able to finish the rest of the book in about 2 weeks.  it definitely made me wish i knew french because i would've had a lot easier of a time trying to pronounce words and names.   once i got really into the book the story was quite compelling, and i had a hard time putting the book down.  i thought that the story ended quite well- and what you thought was going to be a murder mystery ended up being the story of a beautiful romance.  i wish the author had known more about mademoiselle desportes' life, but the way she tells it, you would hardly forget it was fictionalized.  i only wish i could know what had become of the praslin children, but i'm sure mademoiselle desportes and ms. field do as well.  

i'd definitely recommend this if you're into murder mysteries, classic movies, french history, american history, or romance.  not my new favorite book, but i'd probably read it again.

2.5 stars out of 5

yay for friends

in just a few short hours some friends of ours will be making the drive up from atlanta!  a of all:  yay for friends!  b of all:  it's nice to have some company other than baby.  not that he isn't sweet.  but hanging with a baby all day is pretty crazy!

can't wait to see the la-bassett's! 

sick of being sick

being sick is never fun.  being sick when you're pregnant or have a newborn at home is even more not fun.  i was sick once when i was pregnant (i'm talking a cold) and i seriously thought i was going to die.  i thought i had strep, my ob's office was worried i had swine flu.  it was bad.  i had to go to urgent care, where the lady who checked me in asked me a million questions, when it was very clear that I HAD NO VOICE.  luckily, it was just laryngitis and pharyngitis and a mess of yuckiness.  i got excused from work for a week- and i spent that week wallowing in misery in my bed.  you can't really take much when you're pregnant.  i had a list of "approved medicines" but every time i would grab something and take it up to the pharmacy counter, the poor girl working behind it would just shake her head no at me. 

then i got sick after i had ian.  dave's gma has been very sick for a while, so we made several trips to see her at the nursing home she is in.  nursing homes are full of sick people.  and sick people are full of germs.  i got sick, ian got sick.  it was a disaster.  i was also a new mom.  much of this sickness involved me calling my husband at work crying and telling him how miserable i was taking care of a crying baby while about to die, and he was "living it up" at work.  there's also not much you can take while breastfeeding, but it's more than you can take while pregnant.  i popped a zicam swab up my nose every 4 hours, and luckily was feeling better in a few days.  my husband got the cold a few days later, but unlike me, he got to leave work and come home and sleep all day.  who takes care of mama when she's sick?!

now i'm sick again.  you would seriously think that these pre-natal vitamins i've been taking for let's say, oh, a year would be protecting me from the icky.  but no.  i spend my days and nights hacking up a lung and thinking i have tuberculosis or the whooping cough.  pretty sure i don't have either, but then i heard a commerical on tv about whooping cough and how 83% of infants who get it, get it from family and that it can be fatal for infants under the age of 1.  of course, even if i wanted to visit my dr. now, i can't because ge's new health plan, which i like to compare to fear mongering prevents me from going to the dr. because if you go to the dr. and you're sick.  you have to PAY.  all my lung hacking has also somehow injured my hip.  seriously, how old am i?  80?

my advice for how to handle your life and being sick while having a baby. 

-get plenty of rest.  sleep when your baby sleeps- at night, naps, etc.  it really does make a difference because i am cranky when i don't get sleep.  and cranky + no sleep + baby crying + sick = awful. 

-hot showers or baths.  not sure they do much, but they feel nice.  sometimes as a mom it's hard to get a shower or a bath- make time!

-drink lots of liquids.  i like to alternate between hot and cold.  i try to drink lots of super cold ice water for hydration and then have lots of hot tea (i prefer mint) with honey in it.  this really does help.  hot water with lemon juice and honey helps too. 

-take whatever meds you can.  there are many things you can take while pregnant and breastfeeding from natural remedies (echinacea, garlic, vitamin c, homeopathic remedies) to otc meds (delsym, robitussin).  i usually take ibuprofin, a zinc dissolvable tablet and  cough drops (be sure not to overdo it with zinc and menthol cough drops as they can cause a drop in milk). 

-wash your hands as much as possible.  duh.

i'm looking to be at the end of my cold, as my husband is now officially sick (he seems to be about a week behind me).  here's hoping that you and your family are staying healthy!

sources for safe meds: KellyMom

tra la, it's may (well, it was)

man, i love late spring/early summer.  there's always so much to do, and may didn't disappoint.  although it was crazier for us because of ian- and balancing schedules, we are just loving including him in the things we do in our lives!!

may is always the time for the mcfadden birthday blowout extravaganza!  we celebrate the birthday's in may (dave and his sister april), june (dave's sister shannon and me), father's day and mother's day.  everyone got their own cake this year (dave's mom makes everyone's favorite).  and i had a piece of each...  dirt cake, chocolate eclair cake, cheesecake and german chocolate cake (mmmm, now guess which cake is mine)

it's german chocolate!!!

as i had mentioned before, ian is in cloth diapers now, and he's in his crib!  his ability to move around has got him sleeping in some funny positions!

my family came up from georgia for memorial day weekend!  we had a really nice time with them, and they always enjoy seeing ian, of course!

we took a trip to the zoo

this guy was my favorite.  i sat by this exhibit for 10 minutes waiting on this, and he didn't disappoint!

we also had a family baby dedication for ian, and my niece, annabella.  it was really nice to share this great day with shannon and willie.  we also found out in may that shannon is expecting... again!  she is due in november... again!  1 year apart (or less).  i just couldn't do it!

we also introduced ian to the pool.  we're going to have to try that one again later...

on memorial day, we went to a little gem my sister in law kept telling me about, cantigny.  cantigny is 10 places in 1!  museums, botanical gardens, grilling and picnic areas, concerts, movies..  it was beautiful.  it definitely won't be the last trip we make there!  plus we have a new place to take guests that isn't a trek into the city.  we didn't even see half of it in the day we spent there!  i'm really glad we chose this place though because they have an amazing museum- the first division museum that goes through american history war by war.  i couldn't think of a better way to spend memorial day!

this flag was hanging in the stairwell of the museum.  i liked it because it has some familiar places stitched into it (notice kennesaw is incorrectly spelled)!

 

one of the many beautiful gardens of cantigny

i can only guess june is going to be just as spectacular as may was!!!

crying it out

cry it out is an interesting thing.

crying it out is the method in which a parent leaves their baby in their bed to cry for a specific period of time, before offering comfort- without picking them up.  the reason for implementing this method of sleep training is to help train your baby to fall asleep on his or her own without using "crutch" ie: rocking, patting.


you can start with cio as early as 4 months- dave and i didn't know this in the beginning, so we tried it the first couple weeks until we found out we needed to wait- oh, i felt terrible.  now we are at 4 months, and we have just started implementing it again.  we didn't really need it at first- but with the turmoil of the current wonder week- it has been a necessity.


why do i think cio is a good idea?  it's a good idea because i feel you need to teach your baby to self-soothe.  i just don't think it's a good idea to go and pick your baby up every time they cry- why?  i mean, sure, you have the ability to say, "my baby is so good, he/she never cries" but of course they won't when you are picking them up every time they cry.  giving into them will only make things harder when they are older- because babies are smart!  if i leave ian in the room and he is cooing and content he starts to cry the second the door closes, but the second my hand touches the knob to come back in, a hush falls over the room.  he knows.

it's also the toughest thing in the world.  it's the toughest thing in the world because nobody wants to hear their baby cry- it just tears you up- you want to go and run in and rescue them- hold them and rock them to sleep, but you've got to be strong!  i like to do necessary daily tasks during that time to keep me occupied- ie: eat breakfast or lunch, take a quick shower (all within earshot or view of my baby monitor).

crying it out has really started working for us.  5 minutes is usually my first check in.  after i put ian down for a nap or bedtime, i give him 5 minutes- if he's still fussing i go in and assess the situation:  is he wet?  has he spit up?  is he gassy?  has he lost the pacifier?  is it too hot/cold?  has he pulled mr. bear over his face?  i check into these things, flip him back over (he's been flipping to his tummy to sleep lately, and i find it easier to get him to sleep if i "start him over again" on his back).  i talk to him and reassure him, re-wind his lamb or mobile, give him a few pats and i'm out again.  this time i extend the time from 7-10 minutes.  lately, i  haven't needed to do this, and sometimes lately i haven't even needed the first check.

there have been other times though that after all the check-ins; the crying just won't stop.  and those times have ended baby in my arms both of us fast asleep in my bed.  and that's ok too.  sometimes baby just needs mama, and mama just needs baby.

what are your methods in getting baby to sleep with ease or to self-soothe?

boo

the family is gone, and i'm full of crankiness.  i think it's better that i hold off on blogging until i'm back to normal.

so until then