The little things...

After waking up Friday to ankles swollen past the point of kankles, and my face and hands resembling that of the Michelin Man, I headed to the walk in clinic and got checked out. I am still not sure what exactly happened at this point, but I am back to my normal "fluffy but not quite so Pillsbury Dough Boy-esque" self. I had to call in to work on Friday and ended up sleeping off and on from about 6 p.m. to 3 p.m. the next day. It was like Christmas and my birthday all at once. I was a big fan of sleep before Monkey came along (I used to say it was the cheapest hobby you can have), and it's even more treasured now. So anyway, I emerge from my coma to a smiling Hubs, who said, "Did you see what I did for you?" Keep in mind I am trying to remember what day it is, if I missed the bus for school, etc...I am not at my most observant. After several feeble guesses, he took me and showed me my closet. Yes, some women get flowers, some women get jewelery...I got my closet organized. And I loved it! I once told my sister (poor kiddo, being 11 years younger than me, she gets a lot of words of wisdom) that if you expect big, grandiose signs of affections, you might be disappointed, but if you appreciate the little things (like making the bed because they know how much better you sleep in organized sheets), you'll rarely be disappointed. Yep, I have a pretty big crush on the Hubs :).

I am trying to get Monkey used to sleeping in his crib in his room. I think Monkey will do just fine, I think we might need to replace the carpet in the hall as I walk back and forth to make sure he's okay. After a couple of "pick up screaming baby, console baby, put drowsy baby back in bed," he was out! And I laid down thinking, "okay, I have his monitor set so loud I could hear his stomach gurgle, I can handle this." Since we normally have the door closed to keep the cats out of our room, the cats were having seizures of joy that our door was open. They climbed Mount Hubs, tried to sleep on my head, etc. But sure enough, about 15 minutes in, they started meowing. Not just cute little meowing, but more like sitting at the foot of the bed with a bullhorn, Ty Pennington style, screetching, "MEEEOOOOOW ("Good morning Bryan family!)!! MEEEEEOOOOOOWW ("We're going to let you guys get up and feed us now!"). No one was going to get sleep that way. So out went the cats and in came Monkey to his Pack-n-Play. He did get a nap in his crib today...baby steps (for me more than him) :)!

Oh my goodness, it's April already :)???

A whole lot of misc...

The last few days have been a little hectic, here is a little update in case you'd like to know:

TUESDSAY: The Hubs called in sick. Since I am pretty sure they will never close the hospital on account of snow, The Hubs staying home sick is the adult equivalent of a snow day for me (we call them Snick Days). We get to spend time together, and most importantly, we get to let each other take naps. I also met up with my friend Jenny for a Costco & a Churro date. Let me tell you, a good friend will offer to hold your kid. A GREAT friend will pluck up your kid, plop them in their purse and carry them around like a priceless accessory. The churro comes in a close second to time spent with Jenny, she is hilarious :).

WEDNESDAY: Monkey had his 6 month pictures in Topeka, so we got to take our first Mommy and Me road trip. How I treasure these days when he hasn't yet realized how terribly I sing. I bought an oldies CD to listen to, my slow transition to The Wiggles, Backyardigans, etc. I have the Oldies station on during the day when we are at home and shock my mother in law with my musical knowledge. Anyway, I was excited because of the song "Calender Girl," a catchy favorite of mine. However, I have a bone to pick with Mr. Neil Sedaka. February gets to be his little Valentines, July is his little firecracker. What does April, my birth month, get? "You're the Easter Bunny when you smile." First of all, this is the mental picture that the Easter Bunny brings me (sad, I know), and the only other thing I can think of is that he thinks I am either hairy, chubby, or have buck teeth.

THURSDAY: Monkey had his 6 month appt on Monday and is greater than 97% for head circumference. Yes, my baby is growing quite a melon (just like his daddy, trying to find a fitted hat for a man with a size 8 noggin is no walk in the park!). Our doc sent us to get an ultrasound just to be on the safe side and sure enough, everything is fine. Monkey was a little disgusted that they messed up his hair with the ultrasound goop, but he had a bottle and was right with the world again. Tonight I went with my friend Michelle to a Just Between Friends consignment sale, translation: huge garage sale full of kids clothes, toys, furniture, etc. Overall it was great, although when they opened the gates to the public (we got to shop early), it was a little like the running of the bulls. Some of the shoppers are hard core, I was a little greatful I had my stroller (and Monkey) to allow myself some room to move. I have learned that there is too much of a good thing and scheduling two big outings in one day is a little much for a little Monkey. Oh well, we'll all sleep good tonight. Take care!

WFMW

I am a habitual gift giver and a firm believer in "is better to give than to receive." But it isn't all selfless giving, I get a little happy buzz from seeing the expression on someone's face when you have taken the time, even with something small, to remember them. Here are some of my gift giving tips:

• I have a plastic tote of gift bags, tissue paper, ribbon, and fun padded mailers that I keep filled from things I get on sale. Usually after holidays, there will be tons of solid color or pattern bags on sale for 50% off. Bath and Body Works also has awesome and unique gift containers and bags that they mark down a few times a year. Wal-Mart always has print and solid colored bags for $1 in several sizes and Target usually has padded mailers in bright colors and patterns. Michaels sells a box of 50 cards made with fun, scrapbooking cardstock that can be used for any occasion. Plus you can dress them up or make them specific to a holiday or birthday with scrapbooking material in no time.
  

• Some great sites to check out for personality specific or personalized gifts are Zazzle, Gifts.com, Personalization Mall, Wal-Mart (Personalized gifts are under the gifts and flowers section), Walgreens Photo, and Shutterfly.

• Since I am trying to declutter around my house, I have been trying to give my family things that they can use and enjoy, but not have to find a place to keep it. For the ladies in my family, I like to give candles, Tastefully Simple, and gift cards for things like manicures and pedicures. I even bought a gift card for a massage for The Hubs and set the appointment so he would go. He came home and asked when he can go again :). Guys are always a little more difficult, but sports tickets, car wash booklets, and Borders or Barnes and Noble gift cards for books and music work well for me. Also, several of us chipped in and got my dad golf lessons for his birthday, which is something I thought he really enjoyed. Magazine subscriptions also work great for almost everyone.
  

• A family my parents and sister are friends with recently had a child who has been hospitalized for several months. My mom got four $5 gift cards to places like McDonalds, Subway, Chipotle, etc and gave them to them so that they could get a meal while they were traveling to and from the hospital or to give to their other children, who were at home and attending school. I learn gift giving from the best :).
  

Hopefully these are some ideas you can use, for more ideas, check out Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in my Dryer!

My Two Easters

So I am driving home from work on Easter Sunday morning, psyching myself up by saying "You are wide awake! You could run a marathon! You don't need sleep, sleep is for the weak!" and pondering if the amount of caffeine in a Viverin could be matched by just eating an entire package of sugar packed Peeps (much tastier). I got home and for the first time in my life I was too tired to take a shower...I had to take a 30 minute power nap to muster up the energy :).

We left to see our other Bryans and had a great time. My sister in law actually played matchmaker for me and the Hubs, so it's awesome having your friend as your sister in law. Monkey and his cousin, whom I will call Blue Eyes until a snappier code name is found, are almost the same size and the first time we laid them side by side, they reached up and grabbed each others hand and simultaneously stuck their other hands in their mouths. The Hubs's cousin brought over her newborn and we got a picture of all the boys together. My niece, Goose, is the only girl for now, but I have a feeling she will have those boys following her lead :). We had a great meal, lots of baby holding, and socializing...all in all a pretty great day :).

My second Easter was in Indy with my family. After getting off the phone with my mom and my sister, my mom "cloned" me and they brought me along to all the Hupp events. I got smooches from my sister, hugs from the Easter Bunny, and at one point, my niece, Mare-Bear, took me in the bathroom, covered me in toilet paper and announced that I had pooped. Luckily we will be seeing them soon, but the pictures made my day :).

Hope you had a good Easter, I am off to find Peeps on sale. Omm nom nom nom....

Carboholic

Whoever said "Man cannot live by bread alone, " had either never met me or never been to Panera. Being Catholic, we don't eat meat on Fridays during Lent (the 40 days before Easter) and it is the only time of year that I, a true bread junkie, have the excuse for having bread as a meal. So where is all of the carb-loading conversation coming from? I found the absolute, be-all-end-all recipe for banana bread that I am going to pass along to you (click here for the recipe). I had to share with the neighbors so we didn't eat all 4 loaves ourselves :).

We are heading to the see the other Bryans for Easter, I think my niece will clean up on the Easter egg hunt since the only two other kids are 6 months and 4 months :). I finally realized one of the perks of parenthood: buying candy for the kids and having a little yourself. Since we don't make each other easter baskets, we each put into Monkey's Easter basket what we really wanted. For The Hubs, it is Cadberry Cream Eggs, for me, it's Peeps, and both of us will share the Reece's Peanut Butter Cup eggs. I am sure Monkey would rather us eat the candy now and get him fresh candy when he is able to have it rather than put this years basket away for a year. Plus he has a few things in there he can enjoy now, so I don't feel quite so guilty.

For my fellow K-State fans, how about that game last night?? Here is a little something to tide us over until football season, click here :).

Dare I say it??

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!! I think at this point if Mother Nature delivers yet another sucker punch of snow after a 70 degree day, I will be okay. Today was beautiful and as Monkey and I headed to pick up the Hubs from work, it was great to see the park full of kids, people out walking, and driving with the windows down. I was a little afraid at this point that Monkey would never get to spend more than 2 minutes outside and be scared to death of the sun (aka Big Shiney), but he is adjusting nicely. The Hubs has been working hard trying to get our lawn looking a little nicer this year and Monkey tagged along as we walked around the yard, getting landscaping ideas. I printed out 8X10 pictures of 4 angles of the house as my own personal coloring pages to try out some landscape ideas on. I am ready to get my hands dirty!

One more random topic to touch on and then I really need to get to sleep (darn WFMW for keeping me up so late!). My friends Sara and Jenny and I were so excited about our Girls Night Out to see my favorite comedian Mike Birbiglia. He is well versed in the silly stupid humor I like, as opposed to the aggressive, mean, or "make a rock star blush"comedy varieties. So as we counted down the days, debated whether or not to make custom T-Shirts at Zazzle, and debated how early to show up for the show, I was hit with a e-mail letting me know the show was cancelled. Was he sick? Did he decide to trade his career for something in advertising? Was he going on sabatical? No, our dear little Birbiglebug is going big time...he had to cancel his show to film the pilot of his new TV series based on his Secret Public Journal. And although I wish him the best, I feel a little cheated that he broke our date via e-mail, I mean, he could have at least called. Oh well, if you truly love something (or appreciate it's humor) you'll let it go, right :)?

Nighty night, kiddos!

Works for Me Wednesday

Thanks to my friend Michelle, I happened across a great blog called Rocks In My Dryer. Every Wednesday, readers post tips they've learned on any (G-rated) topic--anything that has "worked for them" in making their life easier. Snaps to this site for the countless great tips and websites I have been referred to, slaps for the hours I have spent looking things up instead of sleeping :). This is my first time posting a tip, so here goes:

I have never been accused of being anal retentive, but I do have certain things that have to be done a certain way. One of these is that I keep my closet in color order. The perk of this is I always know exactly where the item I am looking for is and have a good idea of when I am getting low and need to step it up on the laundry :). This really doesn't take much time, just come up with a system that makes sense to you (I have mine arranged from darkest to lightest, shirts on the top bar and pants on the bottom, and if I am really in an organizing mood, I sort each color so it goes from tanks/camis, short sleeve, 3/4 sleeve, and long sleeve). Even if you have a hectic week, it doesn't take much time to get things back in order. Also, when I was pregnant, I took everything out of my closet that I couldn't wear and put it in a plastic tub I the corner of my closet. Again, it saved time because I knew anything in the closet was something I could wear and feel comfortable in. I have kept this going as I work to lose the baby weight, and since the tub is in the closet, I can easily pack up "too big" clothes and switch them out for "slightly smaller" clothes.

As for keeping my son's closet organized, I love these plastic dividers that you can put between sizes so you can see exactly what you have for them to grow in to. The basic ones (plain yellow plastic, blank for you to customize) can be found here . A cuter version of the same thing can be found here.

Check out Rocks in My Dryer for more WFMW!