Fetish Friday!!!

Due to all the royal wedding festivities... my all time love of hats has been reborn! My Meme (Grandma) and I use to go to the hat section of department stores all the time when I was growing up and try on hats. She would mostly throw all of them on me instead of trying any on herself... and she would swoon over each one saying "you look so beautiful in hats, not everyone can pull them off, but you have the perfect face for them!" I feel all warm and fuzzy remembering those carefree moments in my life. And so... I want to share a few of my favorites at the moment... some from Royal Wedding guest fashions, and some scattered around online shops.

SWOON!

Classic yet so stylish!

This one has the potential of taking someone's eye out... but still GLAM!

Who doesn't like flowers??

oh so romantic!!

This one's got flair!

can't go wrong with a classic

something I probably tried on years ago :)

Happy Friday!

The best part...

of my day...
seeing two smiling faces as I pull up to my Sunshine's nanny's house. Audrey and her bff (nanny's daughter).
Today has been a relatively good day. I'm feeling a bit more motivated lately to jump on the fitness/diet train. It's been a rough few years. From just a great amount of stress, to being pregnant, to then juggling the love of spending time with my daughter... and giving up time that I could be working on the large amount of weight that I've packed on. But today someone actually made note of the results of all my recent hard work... SCORE!!!! Talk about a motivation booster!!!

Plus, I have some pretty great friends that share my love of laughter. They can make any day feel brighter... especially on cruddy rainy days such as the ones that have dropped anchor. Thankfully though... they are sailing away tonight and leaving sunny skies tomorrow... I can't wait to enjoy the much needed sunlight!!

life in hiatus

So it has been a whole month since I last wrote a single thought in the blogging world. Life can be quite complicated at times to say the least.

To even try and explain the last few months in detail turns my mind to mush. "Good night mush... and good night to the old lady whispering, hush" And that is about all the words I can produce these days... words that I read in one of few bed time stories my sunshine has. Sunlight has been just barely shining through the clouds the last month but I'm hopeful that the warmth and colors of Spring trying to make it's way around the corner will somehow make everything a bit clearer for me.

People tell you having kids is difficult, but they don't really tell you that it's as though your heart and soul are walking around outside of your body and you are unable to keep them safe 24/7. My sweet girl is determined to cause a lifetime of injuries to herself before the age of five it seems. A broken arm, dislocated elbow, and a few weeks ago she chipped her two front teeth! She's been sick on and off the last couple weeks, and today it appears as though she is cutting three new teeth, one with a big blister over it! If only I could just wrap her up in my arms and keep her safe at any given moment, it would at least make me feel better.
.

The little things that get me through...

Thursday always seems to be the day that I take a breath and know that the week is almost over... once I make it to Thursday the weekend no longer seems so far away. It's one of those little things that seems to make a person feel better, and maybe it's only me... most people will only feel that relief when it is officially Friday, but I find that I'm really not too hard to please.

Here is a list of the other little things that make a world of difference and gets me through each day.

• The first day, after a long winter, that you leave work and you can still see the sun in the sky and it's just warm enough to roll the windows down on the drive home to breathe the amazing fresh air... (counting on no yucky trucks in front of you polluting your wonderful air)

and.........

• The first evening that it's warm enough to keep your bedroom windows open... listening to the night sounds and feeling the breeze on your face as you fall asleep.

• My sweet girl leaning toward me to give me kisses over and over again as I read her a bedtime story. (My evening last night... got a kiss with each new page of the book I read... I went to sleep hardly feeling the weight of what had been a horrible day... Mommy's aren't the only ones with magical kisses!)

• A buy 1 get 1 sale for something that you actually went to the store for.

• A smoothie on a cloudy day = sunshine in a cup!

• Random acts of kindness that are acknowledged (when you slow your car down to let someone turn into your lane... and they wave to thank you, or the other way around. Thanking someone for their kindness makes me feel good... and when someone thanks me for my kindness it makes me want to do more... PAY IT FORWARD PEOPLE!) :)

• Getting something other than bills or junk in the mail when you least expect it! -- Like pretty magnets with hummingbirds from my Meme for Valentines Day <3

• laughing with friends...
  

It's the little things that matter the most sometimes...

Valentine

Our Valentine's day was mostly uneventful, I wouldn't want much more than that. Chocolate's from the hubby, and an attempt at getting me an amazing piece of raspberry chocolate cake which really turned out to be terrible... it's the thought that counts and it made me feel special.

My sweet sunshine was cute as ever last night and every day I'm reminded in some way how fast she is growing before my eyes! She quickly crawls right up the stairs, runs down the hall and into our room so I can change after work. When I'm done she follows me back down the hall, lays down on her tummy at the top of the stairs and scoots down all on her own (with my supervision less than a foot behind her of course.) She babbles with so much character, it makes you question sometimes what she's attempting to say or question... and I love every single nonsensical word!!!

I don't have much info on the subject quite yet, but I'm attempting to go back to school. It's still in the very beginning process and it makes me really nervous, it's a big step and I want to take it very seriously... if I make this choice, there is no turning back, no giving up... I'm in it until I succeed! I'm sure I will have more to write once I actually decide... to give more detail right now would only get my hopes up and I need to stay focused and make the best decision for my current situation as well as everyone that it would effect... especially my amazing Audrey who I don't have enough time with as it is.

Another obstacle that I'm attempting to get through is losing about 50lbs of post baby weight... 15 months after giving birth, I should not look like I just gave birth. This would entail a complete life style change and I'm not sure my husband is going to be on board, but if he's not, I'm not sure how I will keep from falling off.

Where is that "easy button" when you need it. It could be useful for so much more than office supplies!
.

The love of family...

While I have been one of the worst bloggers... I have also been stressing over far too many things, so sorry for the lack of all things happy and sunny!

As to not have to go into all of the stupid stressful drama that is life, I will just do a recap of the highlights from the last two months or so.

OMG... MY SUNSHINE IS A YEAR OLD!!!!!!!!!! Her birthday party was a hit! I was actually glad when it was over, nothing else to plan or organize... just day to day stuff... back to normal life. Not even a week after her birthday, my sweet girl officially gave up crawling!

Thanksgiving was wonderful. We spent it at my Aunt's house and spent the rest of the time hanging out at home... and I was spoiled with lots of one on one time with Audrey... it was the best!

About two weeks after Thanksgiving, Audrey decided that she was done with walking and wanted to run... evidently her little legs were not ready and she fell in just the right way that as she tried to catch her fall, she fractured her right arm just below her shoulder, and busted her lip a bit. Poor baby! She is so good and so happy that I didn't know that anything was truly wrong until the next day when she was not using her right arm and would cry if she was sitting or laying down because she wasn't able to push herself to a standing position. We took her to the ER and they put a splint on her arm. At first she was so smiley and laid back that I think the nurses and doctor thought I was full of it and being an overly obsessive mommy, cause boy did their demeanor change after her xrays! The following Monday we followed up an Orthopedic (who I hated, but I won't even get into that). They took off the splint the ER had put on, and then wrapped her arm to her body saying that it would heal just fine. OY! She has a check up on Monday and at this point is all healed up. Though, every time she walks too fast and/or slips and falls, our hearts stop for a second and we hold our breathe... so far so good for now...


CHRISTMAS WAS WONDERFUL SPENT IN TOLEDO, OHIO!!! I LOVE my grandparents more than I can even put into words. They are two of the absolute most important people in my life. We took Audrey out there for her second Christmas... (the first Christmas that she was actually aware of everything going on) and I'm so happy we did. My Meme and Grandpa both has smiles on their faces every time they watched my sweet sunshine... and she did the same. She did so many things while we were there that I use to do at her age in that very same house, and I felt like my heart could just explode at any moment. It wasn't even Christmas that made Christmas so wonderful, it was being surrounded by what I grew up knowing to be the safest four walls in the world! And held within those walls were most of my best memories from my childhood... and to see Audrey running around, stealing magnets off the fridge, laughing, playing with the tupperware on the floor of the kitchen, and being mesmerized by the suncatchers on the windows... it was all just too much, I didn't want to leave! I'm sad that I can't just jump in my car at any moment and see my grandparents. Maybe it's actually better this way because I would never be at my own house... I would basically only need a small one room apartment to sleep and shower in... but Toledo is not a place that I want Audrey growing up within... I wish that I could just drag my grandparents home with me instead... along with their whole condo! One of my other favorite things is how they treat my husband and how he treats them, it's like he's been part of our family all along.


My mom came home with us, planning to stay about a week and that's going well so far. I love that she has more of an opportunity to bond with her little "Angel Face" as she calls Audrey. There are no real plans for New Years and I think I like it that way. I will say that I wish I was at home right now instead of having to work this week. Joe is off work this week, Mom is in town, and Audrey is at home with them both... seems a bit unfair since I am more addicted to my sunshine than either one of them... oh and it would be nice to spend time with them too, ha ha!


Well, until I get kicked in the butt to blog again... HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Where to begin?

Well, I must admit that I've been a bad blogger the last month... such a slacker! Audrey had a great time at the zoo... and her photos came back better than I imagined. I also discovered about a week later that she had an ear infection. I'm glad that I decided to go with my gut feeling and take her to the doctor even though most everyone was saying that she was just bothered by teething effects. Well... that just wasn't so. Within two days of finishing her antibiotics and finally looking like herself again, she got a cold... another week of a congested runny little nose... and she is finally looking happy and healthy again! And only three weeks until her first birthday!

I have to admit, while I am beyond excited for her first birthday party, and my sweet girl growing up and doing more and more amazing things ever day and becoming more of a tiny person that's full of personality... I'm a little sad to see the end of her infant days.

After having a miscarriage a little over two years ago, I can hardly believe that my sunshine is really here and mine some days. Time is going by so fast, my pregnancy now seems like more of a blur of time... and giving birth was only last week... how is my sweet tiny girl already on the verge of taking her first steps??? I do my best to soak up every single moment I have with her and never take anything for granted... I just can't believe that time is going by so fast!

Her party is going to be crazy. I've never invited so many people over for anything before, I think my limit was about 10 or 12 people for drinking parties on Halloween or New Years and not everyone ever came. For my sunshine's first birthday, I have invited about 45 people over! Thankfully we are having it in our neighborhood clubhouse which can hold about 75. I'm kind of stressing over it a little actually... I've never thrown this kind of party before, for this many people... boy am I nervous. I doesn't help that I'm a complete OCD control freak when it comes to this stuff... so I'm obsessing a little more over everything than any other "normal" person would. First task... get everything needed for the party... lets see how that goes first...
.