easter weekend

we spent our 3rd easter week in atlanta in a few weeks ago and we had a blast, per usual.  our drive down went pretty well- it was actually the best ian has ever done on one of our trips.  there was minimal crying & screaming.  he was pretty content watching his movies ("monsers" (monsters, inc), "cool cars" (cars), "twains" (the little engine that could), gabba & george).  we made it in about 13 hours with 2 big stops, and ian took 2 really good naps.  on our last big stop, we turned off the dvd player, got him a little snack & told him it was time to rest & he could listen to the brothers and rest.  he actually fell asleep for a few hours- if it weren't for a stop for gas, he probably would've slept until we were at my mom & dad's house.

i was really excited to visit with my grandparents while we were in town.  they were hoping to make it up to visit us at my parent's house, but my grandmother ended up having to have surgery a couple weeks before and she was staying in a rehabilitation house.  ian was excited to see his "pop & gigi" too, although he had a hard time b\c he wasn't allowed to just run around and do whatever he wanted.

 ian and gigi (look at that sweet face)

 mommy, ian, pop & gigi

frustrated mommy, crying baby, pop & gigi.  my face is so full of concern.


that evening we took ian to see the easter bunny.  the photo speaks for itself.

ian likes the idea of the easter bunny- in fact, every time he sees the picture he gets all excited and says "bunny!!"  the bunny himself, not so much.

then we met friends for dinner at gladys & ron's chicken n waffles.  omg- delish.

love you heatha 4eva!

jacket: loft
top: modcloth bonbon voyage top
jeans: old navy rockstar jeggings (love them)
sandals: seychelles

since i already talked about coloring eggs and the hours of throwing the football, i'll skip right ahead to easter.  the easter bunny came to visit our family, and we headed to church at the horsepark for an easter egg hunt and the easter service.  

easter is so fun... but exhausting.

 little easter stud!

lots of easter egg hunting fun!

family photo time- notice how everyone is looking in the full family photo- it's an easter miracle!

 ian's easter outfit:  blazer, polo, pants, tie- target.  sandals- old navy

my outfit (i love, love, love this dress):  dress- modcloth (swapped).  belt- forever 21. wedges- seychelles

fun with uncles

my dad set the backyard on fire in the middle of the last round of the masters, much to everyone's dismay.  luckily, it went to a playoff and we didn't miss anything.

ian tried to learn how to escape from the packnplay.  he didn't.  thank goodness.  i'll have none of that back at home. 

there's always time for coffee, donuts, and wedding talk with a friend!

whew, atlanta trips are fun.. but exhausting.  we got back & were home for less than 24 hours before we were off on our next adventure... more on that to come later!

i resolve... august

not to make stupid resolutions this year that i will have forgotten about by... yesterday.

instead.  my "resolution" is to make a short list of attainable goals each month- and to share them with you.  sometimes later in the month than expected...

my july goals:

•  finish big item on list + at least 1 more  boom!  ran a triathlon (#12), 30th bday bash (#7)
• 2 date nights (1 in, 1 out)
• keep going to bed early it's really amazing how well-rested i feel...
• finish the book i've been reading for 2 months.  done- finally
• pick a new race!  done.  need to sign up.
• mail scarf to swap buddy.  finally
• write back to pen pal (yes, i have a pen pal, no, they're not in prison).  haven't done this yet.  boo

goals for august:

• 2 date nights (in/out)
• finish the book i'm reading + another book
• lose 3 lbs to get me down to highest pre-baby weight
• write back to pen pal
• meet a new friend!
• have an awesome time planned for our friends that are coming to visit
• finish 30 day shred
• sign up for above race

please forgive me!

it's a little backwards, but ps.  darn you blogger- i thought i had published this one post last week, and it's sitting in my posts as a draft.  arghhhhhhhh.  i'll show you.

excuse me for my lack of posting lately!  we have been super busy and only to get busier!  this past weekend we enjoyed a 30th birthday party and a 1st birthday party- and that pretty much sums up how we will celebrate most of 2011.  everyone is either turning 30 or 1!  we had a blast leaving ian with the grandparents and heading into the city to dance and drink and celebrate with friends.  it was the best time i've had all year, and now i can't wait to plan a fun 30th celebration for dave & myself!

i've also been busy with work.  besides my out-of-the-house job that i work 2 evenings a week, I also work from home for my in-laws.  they own a counseling practice and i am my father-in-law's assistant.  i do all of the bill paying and important stuff like that- the beginning of the year is crazy- throw a 1 year old into the mix and it's just insanity.

i've also been busy working out.  dave & i vowed to work out this year, we have a membership through our local parks & rec department and we are busy getting ready to knock the big one off my 30 before thirty list (you won't find it on the list though....)  ;)

i promise to be better.  i don't know how some of you do it with jobs and babes.  i think i just have really poor time management skills...

1st Birthday Party!

i originally wasn't sure if i was going to do a theme for ian's birthday party- but i found the perfect invitations and it all fell into place!  i think things turned out splendidly!  lucky little guy had not 1, but 2 1st birthday parties!  first we celebrate with our friends and family in georgia, and then we celelbrated with our friends and family here in illniois!

enjoy!

invites from paperheart press- etsy!

baseball themed party fare- top (l-r) popcorn, chocolate and vanilla "ice cream" funfetti cupcakes, peanuts, animal crackers & goldfish.  bottom (l-r) ice cream cupcake, ian's baseball smash cake (with homemade banana frosting), cracker jack. we also grilled hotdogs!

atlanta party:

a few of our party friends, including my buddy ryan, opening gifts with mommy & daddy, and then checking them out for myself.  ian's first birthday cake- he definitely wasn't sure about it.  birthday crown from betterthannormal - etsy!

ian was supposed to have a raglan baseball tee with his name and "1" on the back, but it's so difficult to find infant-sized baseball shirts.  it just wasn't meant to be.  

chicago party:

photos (click collage to enlarge) top (l to r) daddy & ian w\ cousins jason & christian, checking out presents, face full of frosting, reading a book upside down.  middle (l to r) grammy trying to entertain me as i get restless, more frosting face, riding in my brand new wagon w\ jason, my party baby friends!  bottom (l to r) checking out gifts w\ jason, opening gifts with mommy & daddy.

embroidered birthday bib: ginghambunny - etsy!

happy birthday!

baby's first christmas

we spent ian's first christmas at my mom & dad's house in georgia.  it snowed there and everyone was acting like Jesus had been born again!  i guess it was meant to be for ian to have a white christmas regardless- b\c we knew it would happen in illinois.  i mean, we had a white thanksgiving, white new year, and we'll probably have a white valentine's day and a white st. patty's day... ::sigh::

ian made me so happy to have given birth to him by managing to scream 7 out of the 15 excruciating hours that it took us to get to georgia...  including a 3.5 hour non-stop sesh.  bravo kid.  nice lungs.  needless to say he was exhausted when we arrived, so everyone was able to get some much-needed rest.  we celebrated his birthday w\ our ga friends/family the next day, where he was an absolute delight (more on that after his real birthday). 

the next day after the party my dad started feeling sick, but no one thought much of it....  then as i was getting ready for church on christmas eve, i got ian up from his nap, and we were playing  and i tossed him into the air a few times...  it wasn't long before he threw up all over me... 3 times.  luckily i wasn't dressed for church yet- but he did puke on the slimming tank- so it was muffin top for christmas eve... oh well.  we thought it was maybe my tossing him that caused him to "toss his cookies", so we headed to church- where he did well, and sat relatively still throughout the service, but i fed him as soon as we got to dinner (mexican for christmas eve- love that tradition) and he couldn't keep it down, or anything else we gave him.  after i became the jerk that paged the pediatrician on christmas eve, and several attempts to get pedialyte into him, we gave up and put him to bed, and he slept it off.  he was out of it most of christmas day, but luckily he won't remember any of it.  unfortunately, my mom will remember that she was so sick, she had to spend the entire day in bed, and my uncle & brother's gf will remember the 27th, as will my husband, who by the divine will of God was able to drive us home before sucumbing to the nasty that was going around.  it wasn't just limited to us- my poor 4 y/o nephew spend 3 days in the hospitl w\ dehydration.  luckily everyone is back to feeling 100%!

ian was a lucky boy for christmas- we decided to stay small.  we chose to get him a few tops, a pair of pj's, a few books, one small toy, a push walker and we took a baby tent that we had used once, bought a pack of balls and made him a "ball pit" (it's probably his favorite thing).  between christmas and his birthday, he got so many toys, and a ton of clothes- he's still too small for a lot of them, but i'll probably just move him up b\c he needs to start wearing them!  this was just in ga- we still had illinois christmas on new year's day and his bday in a few weeks!  lucky guy!  here are some photos from the festivities!

 celebrating christmas at our house before leaving for ga

 one of the few christmas morning smiles, and opening a present with daddy's help

 ready to go back to bed- and he did- and he slept and slept!

kisses for my sweet boy

 trying out his walking toy, and standing with granddaddy's help

testing out one of my toys

i haven't uploaded any pictures from his other christmas, but he was just as uninterested in gifts then too!

the one where i win wife of the year and possibly go mia for a while...

we have been busy.  this past weekend started a month-long stretch of weekends totally packed full of junk!  this past weekend dave's gma was in town, so we had the entire mcfamily get together.  there are 15 of us- and one on the way.  you think that's insane, you should be @ dave's gma's house @ christmas.  there are 40 of us total (and 2 on the way).  it's a bit much, especially considering my entire extended family totals 12 on one side and 14 on the other.  this weekend we have the summer picnic for my office- i'm pretty excited about swimming, i am not exciting about buying my first post-baby swimsuit, and then wearing it.  boo.  the next few weekends i will detail more below, and then we hope to wrap things up with a visit to the beach in michigan.  we decide to forgo a vacation this year because 1.  we are poor, and 2.  we are broke.  dave's parents however are going to stay @ family friend doc's lake house, and we are all invited to stay a few days!!  yippppeeeeee!

so, as i've said already our next few weeks are going to be jam-packed and it all started several months ago- and it's almost here!  background story:  my husband studied international business and german in college- he's made a few trips to deutschland over the years, his last trip in 2004 for his internship.  while there, he made some good friends, and he has kept in touch w\ those friends since said trip.  the aforementioned friends were a couple while dave was over there, but split up while i was pregnant, much to the heartbreak of one of the friends.  we have both tried really hard to cheer up friend, but it seems they've fallen into a bit of a funk.  friend was looking for a place to vacation, and husband told him that he should come visit us here in the good ol' u.s. of a. 

he thought about it, and said, yes, i think i will come visit your family.  how long can i stay?

husband says, as long as you'd like.

friend replies via email- here is my flight itinerary. 

husband forwards flight itinerary to me- am i reading this right, he asks.

i reply, yes, husband, friend is staying with us for 3 weeks.  3 WEEKS?!

first of all, i am jealous that americans don't get 3 weeks of vacation- we're too overworked as it is.  don't even get me started on european maternity leave vs. american.  second, stay as long as you'd like in american means different to an american... BUT..

we're pretty excited.  i don't think he reads my blog, but if you do- don't get us wrong, we are soooo thrilled for you to be here.  we are now over our initial shock.  we have been hard at work on an end all be all list of things to do while he is visiting- places to go, things to see, food to eat (i'm most excited about that, as you and my scale surely know).  i have great plans to become fluent in german, and to have ian, who can't even talk yet, to be fluent in german...  i'm excited to meet someone new, and dave is excited to see a friend that he hasn't seen in years. 

i win wife of the year because i think most women would laugh in their husband's faces if they said someone was taking up residence in their home for 3 weeks, so here is my issue- where do we put our friend?  here's our situation...

2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths (our atlanta house had 3 bedrooms, but that is neither here nor there, and going on about it, won't take me back there).  we obviously occupy 1 room, and ian occupies the other.  both bedrooms have the full bath IN the room.  we obviously want our friend to feel at home, and have some privacy, but we have no extra bed- so he would have to sleep on either the couch or a blow up mattress.  and there's the issue with ian.  do we move him back into our room for 3 weeks (sleeping in his pack n play)- disrupting his sleep space, and giving us no privacy (he naps throughout the day, and goes to bed early, so we would have no where to go).  this is a tricky situation, but i think it can be worked out to where everyone benefits... help...

polishing my award until sunday....

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! 

what a difference a year makes

this week marks a very different week in our lives than what it held in 2009.  it amazes me that a year can make such a difference.  this was different in a way i could never imagine. 

what was i doing may 6-10, 2009.

the ultimate act of rebellion.  husband says if i loved him enough to have lovebirds tattooed on my foot that i should've loved him enough to have his name tattooed with the birds.  oh, please.

(omg, please forgive my ghettoes- my husband says there isn't room for pedicures in the budget.  grr)

saying goodbye to friends

(we learned on this night that nick & mandy (to our left) were expecting.  little did we know...)

joel's wife was expecting as well.  she was home "sick" ;)

we also said goodbye to this place

good riddance.  how you've broken our hearts.

and we packed up everything in the place and moved away.  far, far away.

here's husband recreating a moment from Over the Top 

this weekend was filled with lots of laughter, and far more tears.  it found us fighting over what made it onto the truck, and what got trashed.  everything became a sentimental item.  it found me sitting in my empty closet, in my empty room crying my eyes out over a place that we didn't love that would later bring us nothing but heartache.  as husband said, it was our house, but it wasn't our home.  we started the 2 day trip on saturday, may 9, and spent the bulk of sunday, may 10, making the rest of the trip.  sunday, may 10, 2009.  mother's day.  also, my husband's birthday.  the first mother's day i spent without my mother, and as my husband says, the worst birthday he can ever remember having.  

it would be another week before our lives were changed forever.

fast forward to 2010.  i'll say it again.  what a difference a year makes.  no, i don't love it here.  i'm not even sure i like it here, but it's been quite a year.  with highest highs and some lows as well, but i can tell you there's someone who's made our lives so different.  so how does this weekend end?  with husband's birthday of course.  the best husband/daddy ever, of course.  happy birthday, husband!  we love you!

more birthday fun later!!

week 11 photos

i failed to mention in the week 11 update that we took ian to see the easter bunny. as you can tell, he did really well. he's wearing an outfit with bunny feet. i'm not even sure he knows that he's being held by a giant bunny. he was too worried about perfecting his "blue steel" look. did i mention that i'm the one who cried?

"the pregnancy pact"
brittany & navey, rebecca & olivia, mandy & ryan, wendy & "mav", me & ian, christi & landon

dad time
ryan & landon, joel & olivia, kenny & "the mav", nick & ryan, jason & navey, dave & ian

my mom and ian. that's a pretty interesting position he's in!

my dad and ian. my dad is probably telling ian he should be wearing something georgia

easter sunday. my parents yard was the perfect setting for pictures

handsome boy in his easter vest

the varsity, of course!

one cool dude cheering on the braves!