She Wore An Itsy Bitsy, Teeny Weeny...

So the Gap and Old Navy were out of the swim suits that we wanted so Kendall wore this daring off the shoulder number today in her first swim lesson. She wanted to wear the pink cowgirl boots with it but she & I decided that it might impede her kicking. She kicked, splashed, attempted to blow bubbles and even jumped through pink hula hoops. All that hard work tuckered her out and she had a good little nap afterwards.

Shake Your Groove Thing

Here is Kendall trying to fly. Actually, this is her new favorite activity....Shaking her arms. She does this to toys and she does it when she dances. I think that she gets this from her dad, he only moves his arms when he dances too. I love these little tights, they were on clearance at the GAP for $3. They are size 12-18 months but I can't resist putting her in them anyway.




Here she is playing with her two favorite toys. Toy a) (between her feet) is her lotion, toy b) (in her hand) is her Altoid tin filled with beads. I even bought her a cute little tambourine that jingles when you shake it but she prefers my homemade inventions.

This final picture is in the gym nursery. She was happily playing by herself in their Exersaucer until she saw me. Glad to see you too honey.

Kendall Warhol

Thanks Lorie, I love this! This is a nod to Andy Warhol, a fascinating artist. While Monet (one of my favorites) would paint the same building over and over to pick up the differences in light depending on the day (Rouen Cathedral-my very favorites of all time) Warhol studied sameness. He had started as a commercial illustrator and his paintings are much like mass advertising. I also LOVE that he was okay with the imperfections that happened in screen printing...coloring outside the lines. I could go on and on linking him to other artist I like but I'll spare you the art history lesson. I just love creative people and I could find something that I like about any creative person.

Nothing a White Chocolate Mocha Can't Fix

Today started off disastrous, Kendall had an emergency bath and a total of three different outfits due to #3 problems (is this an effect of the ear infection medicine?). She was really fussy and I knew we had to get out of the house because a) she is happy in the carseat b) I was near tears. However, a trip to Starbucks and a grande decaf White Chocolate Mocha made me feel MUCH better! The new jeans that Brian bought me didn't hurt either, thank you honey. (I delayed getting one of my Christmas presents and I decided today was a good day to cash it in).

I made this little album for a friend that just had twins and tonight Lorie and I are taking it and dinner over to her. These are just a couple of the pages that I did. I made the album and everything (out of mat board). Lorie helped, actually it was her idea because I

couldn't find the album that I wanted to use.

I love these kids

Just looking through some pictures and missing my family.
Kelly and Patrick, you aren't supposed to grow up when I'm not there to witness it!

Musings

February will be a great month!

Reason number one: Kendall will be working this hot little number starting next week at her first swim lesson at the YMCA. Every girl needs a two piece though so she may have a little polka dot action happening in the coming weeks. (Can't you just picture her little pot belly in this?)


Reason number two: Brown County 2006 or as the boys like to refer to it BC2g6. Three nights spent here with three of the most fun couples I know. I'm hoping to have a repeat of the BC2g4 smackdown the gals gave the guys in Catch Phrase. Note to Brian: it's 'sea plane' not 'seap lane' sheesh what did you learn at Harvard Business School anyway?

Reason number three: The Paper Chick's second fun & funky scrap night. I'm excited to hang out with a bunch of other chicks that enjoy being creative.

On a completely unrelated note, have you ever wondered why so many nursery rhymes are so violent?

Rock-a-bye-baby: What mother would put a cradle in a treetop?
Humpty Dumpty dies
Jack and Jill fall down a hill
Little Miss Muffet was practically attacked by a spider
London Bridge falls down
I think I heard that in Ring a Round the Rosies the "ashes ashes" part has something to do with cremation?!
Seriously who thinks up these things and why do we sing them to our children?!?

One Sick Puppy

Our little munchkin has her first ear infection. I knew something was wrong because she had a couple really sad nights where she only wanted to be cuddled. I hate knowing she doesn't feel well!

I love this picture, she looks so sweet and cuddly and I think it's funny that my face is hidden.

I'm organizing another night time scrappin' session and I think we're going to have a big turn out. Luckily for Brian he'll be out of town when his house if full of all that estrogen, ha.

A Puff of Fruit

"Darn all these chins they just collect stuff"


I had the best birthday present today, Kendall said Ma ma ma ma!! She also stood on her own for about 5 seconds!

Brian and I had a nice night out too. It was great to just have an adult night with great food and good conversation.

I'm actually exhausted from all the festivities so I'm going to write a letter to my nephew in boot camp and then go to bed.

A Cow Says, "bah, bah, bah, bah"

So Kendall has a new favorite noise, she loves to say 'bah, bah, bah, bah.' Even when she isn't making the noise she likes to move her lips/mouth as though she is making the noise (we call it her fish face). This weekend I bought her a little stuffed animal that is the cutest gray sheep you have ever seen, I handed it to her and said, "what does a sheep say?" Of course she responded with, 'bah, bah, bah' and of course I said, "You are so smart!!!"

Today Kendall and I went to story time at our library. She was by far the youngest one there but I could tell she was having fun. At the end of every book the kids would clap and Kendall would look around and smile because she just knew they were actually all clapping for her. We did the hokey pokey, sang the Wheels on the Bus song and listened to a few books being read. One of the books had lots of animals in it and the reader would ask after each animal, "What does a snake say? What does a lion say?" and all the kids would make the appropriate sound. However, according to Kendall every animal says, 'bah, bah, bah.' The lady never did ask what a sheep says.

"Oh, She's Eating Cheerios!"

So I've been wanting to give Kendall these "Fruit Puffs" that dissolve in the mouth. On the label it says that a baby isn't ready for them until they are crawling though so I've been holding off. Tonight when I picked Kendall up at the gym nursery she was swinging happily in their swing surrounded by wholesome goodness, yep the non-dissolving Cheerios. Evidently she likes them and the mess on her shirt gives evidence that she is able to gum them into a goo like substance, so I guess she can handle them.

Blog Slacking

I've been a big slacker with the whole blogging thing lately. Here is a quick catch up.

The meeting went extremely well and the lady led me to believe that I would have an order for 5-6 ALBUMS (I charge per single page). She said that she was meeting with her client the next day and that she would let me know either way...still no word. I've sent my "Thank-you for meeting with me" email and called (but she was out of the office. I am bummed that it turned out this way but extremely peeved at her lack of consideration.

Kendall rocks, she has cut her first tooth and said her first word "hi". I've had a wicked cold and one of the 8,527,624 times that I went into the bathroom to blow my nose Kendall waved at herself in the mirror and said 'hiiiiiiii' too cute. She still has absolutely NO interest whatsoever in crawling or even playing patty cake, which really is a stupid game anyway if you ask me maybe she just doesn't want to look silly :)

Brian has an interview next week in Atlanta, an exploratory interview here, some GE guy in Puerto Rico calling him and some other job here that he MAY consider. My one wish is that he just finds something that he LOVES doing.

Wednesday is my birthday and my Oh So Sweet Husband arranged a babysitter and made dinner reservations at the restaurant where we had our rehearsal dinner.

What's Your Dream?

I like to dream, I'm always appreciative of what I have and where I am but dreaming motivates me to get up and do something. Growing up my dream was to have my own family, to be a wife and a mom. I wanted to have art projects spread out on the kitchen table and to sit on the floor and color or play with legos with my kids. I have that, well actually now I sit on the floor and play with quacking ducks
but we're getting there.

I've found that when one dream comes true you just have to find another one. I have a couple different ideas, I either want The Paper Chick to take off just enough that I'm working but not too busy or I want to own a little shop. Growing up I wanted to own a bookstore (think Shop Around the Corner in You've Got Mail) but places like Barnes & Noble kind of changed that (again think Shop Around the Corner in You've Got Mail). So now I'm thinking a little shop that sells local artist's work or unique gifts. I can really see myself designing displays and ordering product. Just a little dream.

Speaking of which, today I have a meeting with Louisville Concierge to show my work. Actually, I'm not nervous, I think that my work will sell itself, it's just if my style is what their client is looking for or not. Appointment is at 4:30 I'll keep you posted.

Tag, I'm It

I got tagged by Erin AKA 'the knotty girl' so here it goes:

4 jobs I've had in the past:
Gap employee
waitress
Scrapbook instructor
Mommy

4 movies I could watch over and over:
You've Got Mail
sadly, I'm drawing a blank. I do love movies I just happen to be married to the anti-movie king himself.

4 places I've lived:
Pensacola, FL
Cambridge, MA
Everett, WA
Louisville, KY

4 places I've been on vacation:
Alaska
Nantucket
NYC
Ocean City (ummm, this coming summer)

4 Websites I visit daily
2 peas
Jenn's blog
Ali Edwards blog
Heidi Swapp's blog

4 foods that I love:
cookies
Mashed Potatoes
Steak
ice cream

4 places I would rather be right now:
Actually today I would just like to be here at home in my comfy clothes alternating between playing with my scrapbook stuff and cuddling with my family.

4 bloggers I'm tagging:
Actually I'm just going to do two:
Jenn
Lorie
With the disclaimer that you don't have to do this if you don't want, I'm kind of iffy about the whole thing myself because it feels a bit like a chain letter which I absolutely despise

Well Mannered Frivolity

Lorie and I went to see Harry Potter tonight, loved it! What a wonderfully imaginative story/series that is. One of my favorite lines was when Professor McGonagal is talking about the ball and calls it 'well mannered frivolity.' I did find some of the creatures extremely disturbing. The mermaids were awful and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was pretty hideous as well. It was 2.5 hours long but they still cut out a lot of the book which kind of stinks. I'm ready for the next book and movie to come out!!!

Great day

I had a one-on-one session at the gym today. They have this super cool computer system that you sign into and it tells you how many reps to do on each machine & it keeps track of calories burned, weight lifted, and ensures that you get the full range of motion... I'm just doing one set of 8-12 reps on 7 different machines but by the end of the day I lifted 3,010 lbs!!! That is really cool.

Another 'wicked' thing that happened today (I just started saying this and I've been away from Boston for about nine months) is that I was contacted by Louisville Concierge. They got my contact information from our local scrapbook store (who has my business card) and they have a client that wants to have some scrapbooking done. I gave them my prices and they are going to talk to their client and get back to me. Yipee, what fun! Hope it works out!

Jelly Knees

I just got home from the gym and I have major jelly knees! I have been wanting to 'love' working out for a long time and I think that I finally do. I've noticed a big difference in my moods on days that I work out I'm a happier person. I've also noticed that on days that I eat poorly I'm grumpier.

Kendall tried to drive me batty today, she was incredibly clingy. I would put her on the floor, give her a ton of toys, and sit down right next to her and she would squirm and fuss until she had maneuvered herself into my lap. It did get a little old but I would just think about how it won't be long before I won't be able to convince her to sit on my lap.

Are we moving?

I have had a really good coupla nights. Last night Lorie and Karin came over and we scrapbooked until 2 in the morning. We had a lot of fun just goofing off and I acutally got a few pages for Kendall's book done. Tonight our friends Nicole & Brian came over for dinner & we had a good time talking with them. We really like them, I think that we have a lot in common. However, in the past just when I start to hang out with someone or have a new friendship we move so I'm thinking that Brian's job hunt may lead us to another town. Hmmm

Giggle Fit

I've been kicking butt at the gym. Two consecutive days, whoo hoo. I think I'm going to start training for the mini marathon in April.

I can NOT stop laughing. I met Lorie and Karin at the gym tonight and we took a "Pump & Abs" class and the lady in front of me FELL OFF OF HER FITNESS BALL!!! I completely got the giggles. It's hard enough to do crunches on those things but try doing them while trying not to laugh, it is just about impossible. Darn mirrors everywhere so everyone could see that I was about to lose it. Just when I thought I had it under control I would picture her legs flying up in the air or I would hear Karin next to me giggling and I would lose control all over again. This was over three hours ago and I still keep laughing. It's just so funny because I know that it is going to happen to me.

Here is the cutest picture of Kendall. Love it! She's been such a good girl lately, sleeping later, napping longer and being a trooper at the gym nursery.

On another note, I'm loving my Jack Johnson CD I got for Christmas (thanks Mike). I'm working on convincing Kendall that it is better then Baby Mozart CD's so we can jam together in the car.

Kendall

I haven't been blogging because I'm really into a book, "Vanishing Acts" by my favorite author, Jodi Picoult. Here is a line that I really like and relate to:

When you're pregnant, you can think of nothing but having your own body to
yourself again; yet after giving birth you realize that the biggest part of
you is now somehow external, subject to all sorts of dangers and
disappearance, so you spend the rest of your life trying to figure out how to
keep her close enough for comfort.

Brian weighed Kendall yesterday and we were worried that she hadn't gained enough weight so I made an appointment with her doctor today. Brian also wanted to talk to her about Kendall's sleeping habits (short naps, still waking in the night). Turns out she is maintaining her tenth percentile in weight so no worries there but she said I shouldn't feed her in the night when she wakes. Sadness. Teaching her to sleep independently is the hardest thing I've had to do as a mother, quite possibly the hardest thing I've ever done!

Back to my book now.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Well Kendall has officially had her first Christmas. Here is just a sampling of the pictures taken (130ish total!). We had such a wonderful time with each of our families. Kendall did really well in the car, amazing considering she spent about 35 hours in her carseat. She is all set for new toys now so she'll be occupied for some time. Nights were a little rough and I'm happy to have her back at home in her own bed with the hope of that returning to normal.

In Pensacola Kendall was fascinated by watching her cousins Kelly and Patrick. I like to imagine them playing together as they get older. I think that Kelly will be able to teach Kendall some new tricks and they'll certainly be able to expand her vocabulary :)

In Ohio she never lacked for kisses!! She was able to get lots of love from her Great Gram, Gram and Pop as well as her aunts and uncles. She was a good baby and loved showing off tricks of her own. Only one time did she decide to have a bit of a temper tantrum and her poor Gram and Aunt Kim were stuck in the backseat feeling helpless.

I'm trying to get things back to normal here with the suitcases unpacked and laundry already going. My studio is a bit of a mess but in the good way that I love. Gram gave me lots of her old ribbons and scrapbooking things that she won't be using and my mom also passed on some cute old buttons and trims so I am going to be doing some organizing over the next couple of days.

10 hours!

We made the ten hour car ride with Kendall and are having fun in Pensacola. It's in the 50's and they keep complaining that it is cold, sheesh. Kendall is loving her Memaw and the small black doggy that pays her absolutely no attention. Off to brave the Target madness now.

Merry Christmas

Signing out until after the holidays. Have a safe and blessed Christmas!
Ashley

I love...my soft bed

I feel I have been a poor blogger lately and tonight will not be an improvement, ha. I'm exhausted I cleaned all day, finished decorating my Christmas cookies with Alex (lots of fun), cooked dinner, and prepared for my Bible Study tomorrow. My bed is calling my name or maybe that is Brian.

I love:
*Gingerbread men that wear ties (see far right cookie)
*That all I have to do is LOOK at Kendall and she laughs
*The anticipation of visiting family
*Wrapping presents

There are so many more things but I just can't think clearly at the moment. Must...go...to...bed

Christmas album

Kendall and I did some running around today. I bought some yarn so that I can knit during our drive to Florida. I also picked up a few Christmas gifts for Kendall, it is easy to shop for her at this age she actually played with the toy as we shopped and by the time she opens it for Christmas she will have forgotten all about it! Tonight I did a little work on her first Christmas album, these pictures are of the outside cover and the first page. The first page has the picture of her on Santa's lap but the photo lifts to reveal the journaling.

All I Want for Christmas....

Saturday Fun

I had a fun night. Alex and I started some Christmas baking! We have sugar cookie dough made for tomorrow and we made a really yummy peanut butter cheesecake with a graham cracker crust. Tonight Lorie, Dani, Alex, and I all went to see the movie "Yours, Mine and Ours" it was really cute. I could definitely see some parallels between Brian and I (minus the 18 kids). He was the structured one that made schedules and liked the bathroom sink perfectly clean and she was the artsy, messy one that squeezed the toothpaste in the middle.

Come Play Scrapbook with Me

Okay, something new here at the Paper Chick. This is going to be fun, I want you to play scrapbooking with me! There is a new website where you can take virtual classes for a fee but they are offering a free class since it is new. Go to this site, click on "classes and workshops" scroll to the bottom where it says "Give Us A Try" and click on the words "Virtual classroom". You can download a supply list & step by step instructions on how to make a little tin accordion album about you! I'm going to do it, hope you join me.

http://bigpicturescrapbooking.com/

New Haircut

So I like it! Really, it's kind of hard to tell until I can get in there and play with it myself so I'll know better tomorrow morning how much I really like it. Brian is still learning the fine art of complimenting his wife but there has been an improvement. He did say it was "cutie" (after a lot of probing) but then he had to add that it "wasn't great before" since it was at an in between stage. Thanks honey, a whole lot. Kendall got to spend the afternoon with her faux grandma (Lorie) and her gang and she'll get a repeat of the evening on Friday when we go to Brian's work Christmas party (think I'll look silly if I take the camera, ya probably).

For some reason I couldn't post the pictures last night, so here they are. I styled it myself this morning and I made it a little more "flippy" in the back. I don't think that I gave Brian enough credit last night he did tell me that he liked it. :) Kendall had a rough morning we were up so early that I have already showered, had breakfast, washed clothes, folded laundry, and have Kendall down for her first nap. Poor little thing had an upset belly this morning, evidently that is what happens when you hold your #2 for a week! The doctor says not to worry though he thinks it is normal, she isn't fussy until it comes out and then she wants that diaper OFF!

We're supposed to have up to 7" of snow today so we are going to stick around the house. I'm actually looking forward to it. I have my day's to do list that includes both housework and fun stuff. I have supplies to make Kendall a little "First Christmas" accordion album. I'm going to put the album together now and then just add the pictures from all the season's events. I also borrowed the first season of Lost since I have never seen it. People are talking about it a lot lately and I want to know what all this fuss is about.

Maybe peas are an acquired taste.

Look, a Cute Binky!

Here are a couple pics from Sunday morning. I pulled out one of the old binkies to see if Kendall would take it and amazingly she did (for a very short while). Actually, I think that it is too short because it keeps popping out of her mouth. She even sported a stylish ponytail for a little while!

I have a haircut appointment tomorrow and I'm one of those people that gets really excited over haircuts. The anticipation gets my blood flowing and when I get home I like people (Brian) to make a big deal out of it (hint, hint honey). My least favorite comment is, "I can't tell you got it cut." That comment is right up there with, "Don't you have another pair of shoes (or purse) just like that?"

Office Envy

I'm really wanting to organize my studio. I've been browsing the 2peas website looking at other peoples space and I have to keep chanting to myself, "Do not covet your neighbors studio space, do not covet your neighbors studio space." Note: in Boston after I would park my car and start the one mile trek through the three feet of snow to our apartment I would have to chant, "Do not covet your neighbor's driveway." But, back to studio spaces. Here is one that I really love...
http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=696960
However, my husband doesn't want to paint the walls or put in a nail for a shelf so I think that this won't be a possibility. I've given him until Christmas (well really until we know for sure that we won't be moving) and then I am going to start painting.

I'm so exhausted, Kendall has had two bad sleeping nights so I have been a complete grump today. Tomorrow will be crazy busy with lots of errands to run but hopefully we'll have a good nights rest tonight to prepare for the mayhem, ha.

Love that hasn't Faded

Today is the anniversary of my dad's death. I stayed busy today so I didn't really think of it but tonight as I was nursing Kendall before putting her to bed thoughts of him kept going through my mind. I was thirteen when he died and I realized tonight that when I think of him it's almost like photographs in my mind and I can't remember many "videos". I sometimes wonder what he would think of me as an adult. How would he and Brian like one another, would he sing "Hound Dog in the Window" to Kendall, would he be proud of the adult that I have become? I think that when you are young your parents are just these adult figures in your life and you don't really know them. I hate that I didn't get to know him from an adult standpoint. I do know that he was very hardworking, strong, and he was proud. I remember that he loved steak, he loved big glasses of ice water, that his feet were really smelly (maybe Kendall takes after him a little), that he told the same joke every time we passed a round building and the one memory that always makes me smile is that anytime that "Faded Love" or "The Tennessee Waltz" was playing he would pull my mom out to dance.

So the next time you see a round building think of this...."Did you know someone died in that building? He ran himself to death trying to find a corner to pee in. ha, ha, ha" And he ALWAYS laughed at his own jokes.

Friday Fun

I had a great day today. The Bible Study gals (almost all of them)came over to make cards and we had a blast just creating and chatting. Here are a couple pictures from the day...
Afterwards I was really exhausted but we had a yummy dinner, I took a hot bath, and then I curled up on the couch with a nice mug of hot tea and watched one of my favorite movies with Brian, "You've Got Mail." I have two favorite lines from this movie and they both come from Joe Fox played by Tom Hanks. The first is in the very beginning of the movie when Joe and Kathleen are exchanging emails, Joe writes: "Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address." I think this appeals to me because of my love of school supplies but it just creates this vivid picture in my mind of long, yellow pencils that are tied together with a beautiful ribbon. The second line that I really really love is at the very end of the movie when Joe and Kathleen have become friends and she is about to go to the park to meet NY152 and he is telling her how he wishes they had met under different circumstances and says, "I would have asked for your phone number and I wouldn't have been able to wait 24 hours before calling and asking, "How about coffee, drinks, dinner, a movie (pauses) for as long as we both shall live?" How sweet is that? It's just so honest, maybe I like it because saying that makes him vulnerable. I imagine him thinking about how hurt he could come out of this situation but he knows that if he doesn't say it he may always wonder, what if??

Big day of art fairing tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Zippy

Just one really quick post. Remember how I wished I had gotten the one sock wonder picture...well after nap time we were running out to do some errands and I caught this:



Also, I just received these pictures today, they are from last February at the cabin. Guess which one of us isn't pregnant :) Hard to tell, huh?

Have to go watch Survivor now.

Sense of Wonder

This is the first time in a very long time that I took a picture that I can not wait to scrapbook (however, it's going to have to wait until after this weekend).

I was nursing Kendall in her room and I happened to glance out the window and see all of this snow! We ran downstairs grabbed the camera (luckily Brian charged the battery last night) and plopped her on the front porch. This was her very first time seeing snow and I caught it on film! So excited. What you don't see is that one of her socks had fallen off in the crib so she has one bare foot...I wish I had taken a picture of that too. Now it's less than an hour later and all the snow has melted. What a special moment!