b mine, all mine. ..

Happy V-day.

After a little trip to the beach, it was so great to come home and prepare for a quiet little v-day dinner. B had left little valentines out for the boys, from him, and some little treats sent from Nana barb.


The boys ended up having popcorn balls for lunch, which was totally okay with me.

I made fondue, and had bought a whole crab, which the boys thought was so freakin cool. We made v-day brownie cupcakes and had a nice special dinner with our little family.

Much drama happened over the last week. Drama my already chaotic life doesn't need, I over-reacted, but what can you do... It sucked, all it did was make me appreciate my loving, caring, supportive, understanding husband even more. It made me so thankful for who I choose to surround myself with, and made me realize not everyone has to like me. and that is okay.

florence = freakin beautiful

Me and the boys spent the last part of the week hangin with my brothers family in their new little town. John (bro) got a promotion and got moved to the beach, Florence, Or. west of Eugene..... They are seriously lucky ducks. Their house is Gorgeous, huge windows, beautiful landscaping, and a great open layout. The beach is only 2 blocks away and is awesome.

The beach was like my little men's playground dream... huge sand dunes, washed up driftwood, and a long jetty... so freakin cool.

It was a great place to take photos.

We had a nice visit, a little stressful, the boys had just gotten over colds, and I was stressed and not sleeping well. It was fun though. Nicole and john had just moved last week, so they are still adjusting.

Baby emma is now 3.5 months old, at the hard stage when they want to nurse allot and not sleep so much, max was the same way, he wanted mom and only mom. Emma is right there, which can be so hard on a mama. Max and Ollie both really love baby emma, makes me excited for when (of if) we add another to our clan.

bangin my head against a wall....

so, I got the samples out. packed up and shipped overnight..

than realized I didn't photograph the line, well I realized it before, but being short on time, i just made an executive decision not to think about it.

Stupid me.

I talked with the showroom today and need to get them a photo line sheet by the end of February. Wouldn't be a problem at all if I would have just taken the dumb photos.

They also want another set of samples. greeeaaattt...

Maybe this getting bigger thing wasn't my best idea.

saved.. .

Last week was a week from h*ll.

Two sick boys, and bordering on getting sick myself, many teary phone calls to sisters and friends in other states.....

Trying to resist the urge to sleep all day long, the motivation of a garden slug.

To go with my mama blues I had 3 sets of samples to finish dyeing, sewing, printing, and tagging, that were due on the 1st. Got an extension till the 10th, and still am finishing the tags today... to get overnighted to L.A... all to make it there by the 10th....arghhhh

Being a stay at home mom, trying to get anything done, not kid focused is hard? Sometimes it is next to impossible but when the kids are sick and whiney... my oh my, I just wanted to go to bed and not get up to my life for almost the entire week. It was a week that I had so much to do, that I didn't know where to start and couldn't focus on a thing.

After a week of frantically working while boys napped, praying to the nap gods that naps would be extra long, and not feeling like I made any progress at all.... My sister Jo came to my rescue.

On Saturday morning me and jo were supposed to go for a walk, she showed up at 10am. I was finishing up dyeing some shirts, the boys were still in their jammies, and eating breakfast on a table I set up in my work area. I was spent, had been up till 3:30 am working on samples, and was up bright and early to work more, before the little men woke up and B took off for work. Jo took a look around and than said "okay boys, lets get dressed and packed and get out of here."

She took the boys to my moms...

Not only for the day...

but for the entire night....

I worked all day long, I moved my sewing machine and screenprinter upstairs and watched HGTV all day....

I took a bath, i had time to actually shave my legs, and I plucked my eyebrows that were in need of much attention.

I could breath, without feeling like two sweet little men were sucking the breath out of me.

I got to go to dinner at a favorite thai restaurant, with my favorite man, that is not kid friendly.

I got to walk around downtown portland at night with my husband.

I got to wake up and lay around in bed.

I got to go to the cute little breakfast joint that is way to crammed, and always has way to long of a wait for the us as a family to go there.

I got to feel like a human again.

Than B gave me Sunday afternoon off too..I am a lucky girl. He took the boys home, and me, my mom, and jo went to lunch and a really girlie movie... he's just not that into you... which was hilarious... of course not the best movie ever, but being a girl.... it was really funny!

This morning I am finishing up some work, have to get to the post office, the bank, and the tax man.... but man do I feel better than I did last week. Thank God for those that love us, and when we are really in need, can swoop in without us having to say a word.

preschool...

I have been going back and forth on what we are going to do with Ollie regarding preschool. I have gone and looked at a couple, but just don't feel like the expense is worth it.
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I am home right now, and will be for the next couple of years, it would be awesome to have a little time to myself, but it just doesn't feel right. In my research, I found these preschool packets through the school district, thought some other mama's might find it helpful.
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I figured I would give it a couple of months, see how we do working at home, and than re-asses from there.

4

On the first, Oliver Benedict turned 4! I can't believe it.

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I am daily amazed at my little Oliver bean, We had a party for him on Saturday and I will post more on that later. On his actual b-day we spent a low key day at home. I sat with him at the computer and we went over a bunch of his pictures, I am not very organized, and at that moment I really wished I had a baby book for him. Maybe it will motivate me to get on that, I am only 4 years behind.

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It made me experience that horrible first 3 months of his life all over again. Ollie was born at 29 weeks, the doctors don't know why. I stopped feeling him move one day, went in to get monitored, and the next day had a 3 lb baby! It was a crazy 48 hours.

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B and I were not prepared at all, at the time we were living in a tiny studio off of 23rd (i still miss that place), and were scheduled to move in one month. I had done no packing or cleaning, and had to squeeze it all in, while going to the hospital everyday, and carrying around a huge breast pump everywhere I went. Ollie spent the first 12 weeks of his life in St. Vincents NICU. It was the loneliest and hardest part of my life to date.

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But it was well worth it! Ollie is one of the little miracles of our lives, and he daily shows me that.

thanks for joining the party...

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09115.html

a little late in the game, but I am happy none the less. The CPSC finally joined the party and congress realized they made a very big mistake.

Glad they admitted it.