All posts in pure prattle

Busy Moms Choose Coffee

by Erin on November 28, 2011 in geekness, holidays, pure prattle with Comments Off

And don’t try to tell me they don’t. Ok, well, I’ll accept some form of caffeine, but I’m telling you, that’s a consolation prize. Coffee is where it’s at.

It’s been 5 months since I became a mom to two. I think—keyword *I*—I’m doing a pretty decent job thus far. I imagine it’s easier for someone to go to two/three/four kids while the kiddos are still young and you’re not out of diapers for quite a few years or set in your ways with various other aspects (like sleeping through the night). However, I will say that this here cutie pie to the left has been sleeping through the night for the past two or three months now. *phew* She even goes to bed on her own! That’s right, she lays down in her crib while awake and goes to sleep. AWESOME. And the best part—knocking heavily on wood—is that she goes to bed about 9:30/10:00 and sleeps until about 8:00/9:00. Yep. That’s right. Now you can see why *I* think I’m doing a pretty decent job so far.

Now, one would think that since I’ve got a ten-year-old and a five-month-old who both sleep through the night I’m functioning at 100% or even better during the day. Au contraire, mon frere (well, mes amis, actually). Half the time it’s like the walking dead around here, and believe when I tell you that’s not so big a compliment for zombies.

I think I’ve just been super swamped since August. We had something every weekend in October and November was pretty packed as well. Funny enough, we’ve only got one thing planned in December.

We did manage to squeeze in buying a new tree this year. Our current/old one is 9 years old and one of the ones you have to put each branch on one-by-one by color codes. No lights either. Pain in the butt. Christmas shopping is just about finished as well. And thanks to our annual trip to Hershey, the baby made out like a bandit with winter clothes.

Unfortunately our dryer is on it’s last leg. It’s not heating up all the time. I called the repair place and they suggested taking the vent tube off and running a cycle without anything on it. I did that and nothing but cold air shooting out. Broken. So it became a game of buy a new one or fix this one (5 years old). We chose to buy a new one. Only, we bought a dryer and a washer, lol. But you can’t beat 50% off! So now I’ll have one of the fancy front loaders with all the buttons and bells and whistles. Geek heaven. Too bad it won’t arrive for 4-7 days. So we’re looking at Wednesday the earliest.

AND I was just told that we’re in charge of crafts for the holiday party. I’ve got something up my sleeve and will be sure to share once I work it out. :)

Now, where’s that 4th cup of coffee?!

Love Thyself

by Erin on November 2, 2011 in geekness, photography, pure prattle with 3 Comments

Over the years my self-esteem has plummeted. Of course that goes hand-in-hand with my fight with weight gain (thanks to two kids!). But I’m slowly coming to love the person I am.

Yes, I’ve got weight to lose. But that’s not the sum of me. I’m a great mom to a kid who sometimes could make Mother Theresa run for the hills. I’m great at my job. I can multitask like no one: feeding the baby while instant messaging and answering emails. I love my hair (not in the above photos, lol) and have great fingernails. I’m loyal and do unto others (even though they don’t do unto me). I know, how could anyone not love me? *snicker*

Seriously though, if I can come up with some self-likes that easily, why do I find it so hard to think that others can’t see past my weight?

So my goal for (at least) the rest of the year is to post twice a week about something I like about myself, be it something I accomplished at work or how well I handled something at home.

Wish me luck!

Spooooky

by Erin on October 5, 2011 in holidays, pure prattle with 1 Comment

It’s so that time of year that I oh so love: fall. Or autumn. Whichever you prefer. Makes no difference to me, as they mean the same thing—pumpkin!

I love pumpkin. Matter of fact, my fall started September 6th this year. That’s the day, for those who are unfamiliar, that the Pumpkin Spice Latte hit Starbucks once again. Yum. Something about pumpkin just puts me in the fall mood. I’ve been buying anything pumpkin I can find and have only been disappointed in one item: pumpkin spice hot chocolate. :/

So with the arrival of pumpkin in early September, I was tempted to get my fall/Halloween decorations but I held out until now.

As you can tell I’m big into Halloween decorating but not the scary kind. Heck, I don’t watch horror movies. My big Halloween movie-fest includes Disney’s Halloweentown movies and Hocus Pocus. *Ü*

We’ve got a busy month with something scheduled each weekend day. Birthday parties, baptism class, apple picking, the great pumpkin train, and meeting up with friends. Oh, and the dentist. (That I’ll admit I’m not looking forward to.)

Today I have the foot doctor (words of advice: don’t ever do something to the ball of your foot) and then I need to head to Michael’s for some “stuff” for my Halloween cards. I have an idea in mind…. I just need to figure out how to incorporate both kids into it, lol.

Have a spooktacular day!

Addison has two moms.

by Erin on September 4, 2011 in pure prattle with 3 Comments

Yep, that’s right. TWO moms. Me and the dog.

That’s right… the dog. We were (and still are) leery about the dog around the baby. You always hear horror stories, like the one where the dog chewed the babies toes off. So we’re always watchful and don’t leave the baby alone where the dog can get to her. She’s a loving dog, but you never know what will set an animal off (maybe the baby accidentally kicks her, etc.).

So from the moment we brought the baby home we’ve been watchful. Especially so when the baby cries. When she was a newborn I swear her cry sounded like some kind of animal cry and I could only imagine what it sounded like to the dog. I mean, here’s this tiny creature that wasn’t here before, making all this flipping noise. We’d let the dog near her to get used to her, she’d lick and study her, and then we’d tell her to go back to her bed.

But what we didn’t expect was how very watchful the dog would be of the baby! If the baby was crying and I didn’t get to her soon enough (in the dog’s eyes) then the dog would come over to me and look at me as if to say, “Hey lady, your baby is crying, do something about it!”

Well last night was a rough one for Miss Addison. She screamed for a good while. I tried walking, changing positions, talking, singing, feeding, changing… nothing. Finally Lola came over and sat in front of me and looked at the baby screaming. Then she went to lick her feet. I’m thinking “ew” because I hate the feeling of dog tongues, lol, but then thought, “hey, if it works, I’ve got the next million dollar idea!” so I let her lick. She licked both feet, her hands and her face (one quick lick on each, which I thought was sweet). The baby stopped crying—until I decided to wipe the dog germs off her. ;) But it did calm her down tremendously.

Now if only the dog was able to make a bottle and get Addison in and out of her crib, it would be a perfect partnership!

Four Random Words

by Erin on August 23, 2011 in holidays, pure prattle with 4 Comments

corner
kiss
cream
creeper

These are the 4 random words that I am to write about. Hmmm… lol. Let’s see if I can pull this off.

Corner: This one is actually an easy one. I sit sort of facing the left of my desk. Behind the left part of my desk is the corner of the wall (well, there is about a foot-and-a-half from the desk to the left wall) and I’m constantly looking at that corner. It’s dull. I need to come up with something to put in that corner while keeping it simple as I’ve got photos on the wall directly above/behind the desk. Can’t clash. I’ll probably hit up Pinterest or Etsy for some ideas.

Kiss: Another easy one… nothing better than a baby kiss! The baby is growing like a weed and it’s amazing watching her grow and expand on her personality. She’s definitely a baby that likes to make her presence known, whether it’s via soft coos or loud, raspy screams. But give her a big old smooch on the cheek and she’ll melt in your arms and try to kiss you back. Pure love.

Cream: This one made me think for a bit because I see ‘cream’ and immediately think of the color. And I’ve got nothing. BUT while I was walking past my entertainment center I spotted my newest Halloween additions:

That got me to thinking about Halloween and the fall and bam! pumpkin spice creamer. ;) So now I’m on a hunt for it. And Starbucks should be putting out their Pumpkin Spice Latte soon as well!

Finally, creeper. This one I am stumped on. My immediate thought is creeper = someone who creeps around. Which makes me think of the kiddo creeping over to the baby and trying to pick her up after I’ve told him not to. ;) But then I’m not so sure that’s what creeper is. But this is my ‘game’ and I’m sticking with someone who creeps. ;)

And now I’m off to inspect the house for damage from the earthquake (I highly doubt there is any; while it was felt, it was minor). My first one ever. And I did not like it. :/