steppin' out saturday- st. patty's day

one of the things i dreaded most when we were planning to move up here was the weather.  i don't really like anything under 60- and it gets cold here fast and stays cold.  this past week has been a pleasant surprise- highs of 80 all week- shorts, dresses, sandals & tank tops.  ah.  my favorite- and it's march?!  it's been one of the warmest spd weekends in years.  we spent the entire day out & about- we started the morning at our favorite pub for kegs n eggs: beer (mimosas for me), corned beef hash, eggs, potatoes & sausage.  we left breakfast and headed for the parade- we were early, so we had to wait a while, and ian wasn't pleased with that.  he would've preferred running in the streets to sitting in his stroller- but we're good parents, so we made him sit in the stroller.  the parade was small- there were plenty of girl scouts, politicians, cheap candy, horses & bagpipe bands.  i'm not sure if i get all the scottish-ness of st. patrick's day, but everyone in chicago is apparently irish anyway (unless they're polish).  they were having an adult big wheel race afterwards, but we decided to take ian back home for a nap since we had a birthday.  after the nap we headed to a 1st birthday party and then back home for corned beef & guinness cake with bailey's frosting.  yummy.  now... what we wore... green of course!

 on ian:  romper- carter's- bought at consignment sale

 earrings- american eagle

tank top- old navy

shorts- modcloth

sandals- seychelles

nail color- essie- ole caliente

cardigan (shown later)- shop ruche 

i found a new hair tutorial on pinterest (hold your surprise) & tried that out.  since i work out every day of the week- i have to wash my hair daily, sadly, the weekend has become my  hair's "rest period."  i love the way my reverse braided bun turned out!  woo hoo!

did you party it up in green this weekend?

linking up here...

my first consignment sale

after some nudging from my friend kristen last week, i decided i would join her for a consignment sale adventure.  this was one of those serious sales that started at the ungodly hour of 7:30 and had a limited time frame.  i somehow managed to pull myself out of bed at a quarter to 6 and get myself looking halfway decent for kristen's arrival at 6:30.  we're both not morning people- but get a little starbucks in us and we're not so bad.  the sale was crazy when we arrived- it's at the dupage county fairgrounds- and they have several sales going on all at once spread out through the buildings.  we tried to hit up one sale to start with, but could barely squeeze in the door- so we moved on to the big sale.

right away we wanted to grab a couple big items- a new baby gate (that isn't made of wood and barely holding on) for both of us- then we quickly perused the toys (i found a goody on the way to the toys).  i found this cute little combo baseball/football/basketball toy- and i dropped that off with my gate to be held.  then it was on to the big show- clothes.  i decided to skip over most of the 2t (maybe foolish) and head straight for the 24 month stuff to procure more summer clothing (we got started at his birthday, and i just wanted to flesh the wardrobe out a bit).  basically you find a clear spot to nudge in, put your laundry basket on the floor by your foot and start flipping through clothes- you find something you like, you toss it at your feet. when you finish with that pile, you scoot your basket and keep moving.  once you've grabbed what you can (doesn't take long for boys- there just aren't as many options)- you head to a sorting area and sort- where you can get the opinions of other moms and maybe pass long what you don't want to them!  after sorting, we stood in line for 30-40 minutes, but i found myself something else + it didn't seem like the line took so long- they're pretty efficient.  fun times.

here's my haul:

 - plastic swing baby gate (sadly not wide enough for where i want it)

- sports toy

- 7 pairs of summer pjs

- 1 swimsuit/t-shirt combo (looked brand new)

- 1 l/s shirt (cookie monster)!

- 4 pairs of shorts

- 9 outfits (8 rompers b\c i love rompers on little boys and this is the last summer for them & 1 dress outfit)

- this dress

yeah, you saw that.  someone put a forever 21 dress in the girls size 16 dress section- you'd be crazy to think i wasn't going to be all over that action.  it's loose and comfy and perfect for 80 degree days (like TODAY)!!! 

so i got all that goodness for only $60!!!  so awesome!  but that's not all.  i got one additional "big ticket" item.  it's something i had been wanting for a while, but definitely couldn't afford!  

i got this bag, which normally retails for almost $200 for only $60!!  yippee!!  it holds stuff more comfortably than my old diaper bag, plus you can wear it as a backpack.  it's a super cute bag!  

the consignment sale was definitely a success- i spent a little more than i was expecting to, but got a lot of great steals, plus ian is outfitted for the summer (minus sandals)!  i'd definitely do it again.  

have you shopped or sold at a consignment sale?  successes?  horror stories?

Weeks 3 and 4- now with pictures!

yes, I am behind. baby will actually be 4 weeks tomorrow, which starts week 5, so i am way, way behind. i'm tired people.

plus we're behind on putting pictures up, so I don't have anything to put with this post! if you see this and there are no pictures, check back later b\c we have some really good ones from the last couple weeks!

things have been crazy around here. saturday we celebrated valentine's day. dave's friend chuck gave us tickets to see the thrashers (atlanta's hockey team) play the blackhawks (the local team). we had thai food, and headed to the game- the thrashers stink, so they lost (although they should've won, and they lost in a shoot out). back to the thai food- i have been craving it for quite some time, but we didn't know of a good one around here- dave found one however, and it was delicious. i also discovered that i could have drink without having to "pump & dump" (look at me, all speaking mom-ese), so i decided one drink would be ok. or not.

1. if you haven't drank in over 10 months, you should probably have something light- like a wine cooler. i however love margaritas, and i wanted one. i ordered one, and i was hammered half way through dinner and the drink wasn't even half gone. this reminds me of the time we went with our friends Jess and Jay to this yummy place (you should go if you live in Atlanta because i can't) and had margaritas (just one) while waiting on dinner. also, hammered half way through dinner. can you tell i'm a lightweight who doesn't drink very often...

2. apparently you can have a hangover before you even go to sleep. i had one by the time we left the restaurant. it stayed with me during the entire hockey game...

we had fun on our little date- i cried when we left Ian at my in laws, but it was nice to be just us, although we were ready to get back to him!

sunday was even crazier- Dave's gma is very sick, so we went to see her after Dave's hockey game (they won!)- it was a 2.5 hour drive down to Lincoln. we were exhausted, baby slept the entire time- it works out that way!

week 3 & 4 have been thrilling! Ian is showing more and more alertness during his wake time, he is holding his head up during tummy time, AND....

he smiled at us (i cried, imagine that)! he's been a very serious baby so far (i guess they all are), but when he finally smiled at us, it just melted my heart. he smiled at Dave and me separately, so at least we know he likes both of us...

he has finally outgrown his preemie clothes, but we are still in newborn clothes, and still being swallowed in some of them!

he's also giving me a little trouble at nap time. not wanting to go down to sleep so easily anymore. nights are ok, it's just daytime naps. this is just a phase...

next week is ian's one month appointment- i'm predicting a weight around 8 lbs. we'll see.

meeting great-grandma Eloise for the first time. this is the first of my 3 great-grandma's that i've met.

not enjoying being taken out of my warm bath!!

not so sure i like bathtime

this is what happens when daddy is around at picture time

Week 1

Week 1- You made it! Mommy was only in labor for 16 hours (I was induced) with only 2.5 hours of actual pushing. I didn't think I could do it- I had been dreading it for a long time- and you know what- it was so easy! I forgot any pain I had felt the moment Dr. Uma placed you on my belly for the first time! Dad was the best coach ever- mommy couldn't have done it without him! He is amazing! I loved it so much in fact, I could share every detail, but some people just don't want to hear that! Here you are not too long after birth laying in your little bed. You were so quiet- of course you've learned to cry this week- that's for sure. You were 6 lbs, 12 oz and 20.5 inches long- in other words, you are tall and skinny!! You did so well for all your tests and shots, and you didn't even cry during your circumcision!! You are feeding well for the most part- we are taking it one day at a time! You are too small for almost all your newborn clothes, but when daddy & I bought you preemie clothes, you were too long for all of them!!! I guess you're stuck in no mans land for the time being! You had lots of visitors and you let them all hold you without complaining! I can't believe you are a week old already!!! Stop growing so fast!!

so much to do, and so little time

well, i may now be officially about to blow a gasket. the fact that my induction is more than likely 3 weeks from tomorrow is exciting and terrifying. mostly terrifying. not in the fact that i'm worried about being a mom- afterall, i was a nanny for a while, and a nanny to a newborn at that- i feel like the baby part will be ok, it's the getting ready for the baby part that I'm mostly worried about.

today is December 7th. so i have 23 days to go. 18 days of work left (at most). i feel like i have a pretty long list of things to still do...

1. finish Christmas shopping. we're almost finished, but we have both sets of parents, 2 brother in laws, and a sister in law left.

2. find a tree, buy said tree, put up tree. decorate house.

3. finish our regular house decorations as well.

4. unpack all our shower gifts in baby's room

5. put together remaining baby items

6. wash baby clothes

7. NAME BABY

8. get baby bedding ordered

9. finish decorating baby's room

10. celebrate Christmas

11. pack for hospital

12.... i'm sure there's more

my main goal right now is trying to prevent being so stressed out (it's not good for the baby, you know). if i can at least accomplish some of these tasks this week with the help of my darling husband (who of course, is preparing for finals right now) when he can- we might actually get this stuff accomplished!!