It's time for *THE* party

Yup, the annual L'Arbre Croche Lobster Party is upon us this weekend.  I have been blessed to attend this awesome event for the last 5 years and I am super excited to be able to introduce SYT this year.  Well, you all know about the drinks we'll be having, and the pants he'll be wearing (lobster pants every year until they fall apart), but what about me??

I'll be wearing the Cormick dress from LP as seen below

My MIL bought it for me as a gift after SYT's birth.  A great gift for a newly postpartum mom- easy to nurse in, and not tight around the waist.  Love it!  I have needlepointed lobster sandals that will make their annual appearance as well. 

SYT has a darling Petit Bateau outfit in all white that he is going to wear.  Hopefully we'll get a few decent pictures while we are there that I can post next week.  My mom is going to come pick up the buddy from the party at around 7ish so that we can enjoy the rest of the night eating, drinking, and dancing.  Plus, this will get him to bed in good time and keep him on his schedule. 

I'll try to compile enough Lobster party attire from the other guests in attendance to highlight here as well.  We'll see how stealth I can be in that!  Hopefully you all have great weeknd plans as well.  Can you believe it's already AUGUST!  My goodness time has flown by this summer!

Suggestions needed

B, SYT, and I are going on our first family vacation getaway over Labor Day weekend and we need your help.  Due to some family confusion last year, we ended up with plane tickets to Charleston, SC that we never used and, since it would cost over $300 to change the tickets, we've decided to take a long weekend getaway.  We have free plane tickets, a free hotel room (thank you, AmEx and Hilton Honors!), and now we need things to do and places to eat!

So, how many of you have been to Charleston?  What are the "must dos"?  And what were your favorite places to eat?  Remember, we will have a 3 1/2 month old with us, so nothing too fancy or loud if possible.  We'll probably eat dinner relatively early in order to keep him on some semblance of a schedule, but I doubt any 5 star restaurant is going to want a little guy as the entertainment of the evening (no matter how entertaining he is!)

We would love any advice you have!!  Thanks in advance!

Long weekend

B's parents, oldest brother and his three kids came here for the weekend.  The arrived Friday afternoon and were all here when I got home from work.  We hung out here for awhile and then went to dinner up at the Bostwick Lake Inn (darling restaurant that we have now been to twice in three weeks!).  We all had a good time.  Saturday morning we woke up, I went to get my eyebrows waxed (seriously, they were beyond gross), and when I got home B said he didn't feel well.  Within an hour of that he was deathly ill (the GI tract kind of ill).  He ended up spending almost all day in bed.  So, I ended up entertaining his family for the rest of the day, including cooking dinner for 9 all while also taking care of SYT.  It was a long, long day.  Luckily, everyone enjoyed the meal, so I was happy about that.  B was finally able to keep down advil and some water about 10 p.m. last night.  SYT slept in his pack and play on the main floor and I slept on the couch next to him.  I was completely paranoid about Spence getting horrid diarrhea and having to go to the hospital for dehydration, so I wanted him as far away as possible from the germs. 

This a.m. we all woke up and had a big breakfast of waffles and pancakes and within 2 hours one of the nieces and the nephew were also sick.  Both of them threw up multiple times today.  It wasn't food poisoning since it was being passed around, so it must have been just a 24 hour bug.  Finally, almost everyone is in bed, and no one is still getting sick.  I've been washing my hands a ton and just praying that SYT and I are still healthy tomorrow. 

Ugggggg........................I'm actually excited to go back to work tomorrow, only to get away from the germs.  I have cleaned our bedding, bedroom and bathroom today and will do the rest of the sheets tomorrow night after everyone leaves in the morning.  I did a lot of catching up this afternoon- we ordered pizza for dinner for those who were eating!  I'm hoping I got enough done today to be organized for the week ahead. 

Winner!

Thank you all so much for entering my giveaway!!  I had B pick a number between 1 and 20 (total number of entries), and he picked 4.  Apparently it's his favorite number????  The things you learn about your husband after two years of marriage and 5 years of dating prior to that!!

So, the winner is.........

JMK (of Life, Lobsters, and the Law)!!!!!!!

Congratulations!  Andy has sailed the Chicago to Mac before, so you're pretty much the perfect winner!  Shoot me an email at aeobows at hotmail dot com, and I'll get all your information to Andy so that you and he can figure everything out! 

Hope you all had great weekends!

The most exciting part of my day?

How much milk I was able to pump at work.  Yup, that's what I've become- The crazy ounce counter.  It was a good day though- 16 oz.  That's exactly what SYT takes while at daycare, so I was able to match him completely.  Honestly, as a new working mom, this is a really good feeling.  Being dairy free is going pretty well.  I honestly miss cheese WAY more than I miss ice cream!  Tacos without cheese just taste weird.

SYT seems to be doing well at daycare.  He's not taking great naps (I think it's probably too loud and he's just not used to that yet), but the teachers seem to like him, and he always smiles at me as soon as I walk in the door.  In my heart of hearts I wish I were home with him, but, for our current situation, I'm glad I trust them to take care of him.  I do really love what I do, and I know I make a difference in the lives of people, so being at work isn't at all bad.  I just wish I could do it with Spencer in the Ergo carrier!

Okay, I absolutely have to get to bed.  I'm so exhausted this week, and I still have to organize SYT and I for the a.m. and take a shower.  Sorry- I know I'm going to be a slacker when it comes to posting over the next week or two. 

**Don't forget to enter my giveaway!!  Entry deadline is Sunday.  And a little birdie told me there might be a Gybe-ho baseball cap coming the way of the winner as well!!**

Giveaway Time!

Remember my post where we had pictures on the boat as we were going out to dinner?  Remember how I said this pic looks like a Ralph Lauren ad?

Well, friends, I would like to introduce you to my friend Andy.  We've been friends since we were 5, and he's one of the sweetest guys you'll ever meet.  He's an elementary teacher, a sailor, a husband, a bulldog owner (TPP- Tilly would LOVE Ruby their dog!), and a small businessman. 

He has offered to do a giveaway in order to introduce you all to his small business, and I know that you all will love it!  Andy has designed a logo and created a company called Gybe-Ho.  He did men's and woman's for awhile (and for sure needs to bring back at least the adult baseball hats b/c they are awesome and EVERYONE I know who has one loves them!) but right now he is focusing strictly on babies and kids.  He has offered any item of your choosing off his website to one of my readers.  This could be for your child, for a gift to give away at a baby shower, for a new niece or nephew, or for your best friend's 3 year old who has a birthday coming up. 

A few of my favorite products are:

The lemon onsies with the blue sailboat

which has this on the back.......

 (too cute huh??)

The light blue infant tee with the red sail

The perfect shirt for the little sailor's 4th of July next year!

(Oh and this one is on sale!!)

The navy toddler tee

And the green toddler tee

(because it's never too early to start them in pink and green or put them on their first sailboat!)

So, if you know a little one who would look just adorable as all get out in their Gybe Ho clothing, enter this giveaway!  Here are the rules:

1.  Go to Gybe Ho's website, pick out your favorite product, and leave me a comment for one entry

2.  Become a follower (or let me know you already are one) for entry number 2

3.  Become a fan of Gybe Ho's facebook page.

(You must leave separate comments for each please!!)

I'll pick a winner Sunday night, so you have 5 days to get an entry in.  I know the kiddo in your life would look simply darling in one of these little shirts!!  Also, if you have any ideas for other products you would love to have with from this line (baby sun hats, toddler shorts, etc), let me know in the comments as well!

Oh, and you also must go look at the gallery page.  My besties twins are on it and they are sooo cute!!!!  The curls at the end of their hair are making us all swoon this summer!

Bottle labels?

Quick post......

I need to find a way to label SYT's bottles for daycare.  Something a little cuter and more durable than athletic tape and sharpie marker please!!  Any ideas for me?  Of course this would come up less than 12 hours before I take him for the first time!!

Please pray for me today............
Pray that I don't lose it too many times at work.
Pray that my son will take a few good naps without B or me putting him down. 
Pray that the providers in his infant room are careful with him and kind to him.
Pray that I made the right choice.
Pray that my heart will ache less someday than it does right now!

Just stuff........

Lots of randomness in this post

1.  We found a daycare!!!  It's the daycare that is associated with my work, and I walked into one of the infant rooms and immediately knew this was where SYT was supposed to be (since being at home in my arms isn't an option).  The two teachers are wonderful and the other little ones in the room were darling and so curious about SYT.  One of the little girls came over and gave him a kiss- it was too cute.  Apparently she just loves "babies" (funny, because she's only 13 months- just a baby herself!).  SYT starts Monday a.m.  I know he'll be fine, but I'm still slightly nervous that he'll have a bad day (or week) and will get all off schedule.  Ugggg.....hopefully it won't affect his nighttime sleep.

2.  Last night my aunt, uncle, and three cousins had dinner here with us before heading up north for their vacation.  It was wonderful to see them.  Loud, crazy, and so much fun.  We did bone in chicken breasts on the grill, pasta with pesto (our basil is out of control!  Yea!), sauteed zucchini and squash, corn and tomato salad, and angel food cake with lemon curd and strawberries for dessert.  YUM!

3.  We picked our first tomato from our garden.  It was a big one!  We threw it into the corn and tomato salad and it tasted wonderful!  Not at all mealy or soft. 

4.  Did I tell you we have raspberry bushes?  We do and they are HUGE producers.  Last week I made a raspberry pie and though the crust wasn't perfect, the raspberries were great.  I had to make the pie with shortening instead of butter as I normall do.  The crust was amazingly flakey, but shrunk in the oven and just not as perfect as I would have hoped.  I'll try it again soon.  Tomorrow night we have dinner club, and the theme is "Farm Fresh Flavors" (basically locally grown food).  We're going to use the raspberries from our backyard to make a homemade raspberry vinagrette.  I'll post a few recipes next week for various summer foods we've been enjoying.

5.  B's parents were here all last week while I went back to work for the beginning of the week.  We had an area in our backyard where we had ripped out yew bushes and it was just sitting empty until we figured out what full sun plant we wanted to place there.  Well, B's dad ended up weeding the whole thing and filling it in with 7 hydrangea bushes and then mulched all around it.  It looks amazing.  I'll take pics to show you all soon.  He did a fantastic job, and we're so appreciative. 

6.  B worked 2 1/2 days last week (the 2 1/2 days I didn't work).  He is really liking his new job and it's keeping him very busy.  I'm SO happy!!  He seems to be doing really well there and has already found a few things to change in order to fix a few of the problems they've been having.  I'm really proud of him, and he's so excited to be using his brain again.

7.  I am NOT ready for my maternity leave to be over.  While I love my job and liked going back last week (I felt so productive!), I'm really just not ready to leave Spence.  Plus, how am I supposed to get everything done (groceries, work outs, errands, etc) now that I'm working 5 days a week and will want to come immediately home after work in order to get at least 3 hours in with my buddy before he goes down?  Honestly, it's going to be a hard transition.  We'll make it work, but it's going to be eye-opening!

8.  I have over 400 unread items in my blogger.  I hate feeling so behind.  I have a feeling this is going to be a chronic problem between full-time work and mommyhood. 

9.  Tacos are a little weird without cheese!  Other than that, dairy free is going pretty well this week :)

Wordless Wednesday- Family pics

(With results like this, getting a family Christmas card is going to be next to impossible!)

(SYT rockin a popped collar- accidentally :)!)

2 months old!

Spencer turned 2 months last week, but today was our drs apt, so I was able to get his stats.  Today he weighed 13 lbs 13 oz, was 23 inches long, and his head circumference was 16 inches.  He's a big boy with his weight in the 87th percentile!  He's meeting all his developmental milestones, and our pediatrician was quite impressed with his head control and how high he could lift his head when he was on his tummy. 

He adores his tummy time, so it wasn't surprising to me that he did so well for her!  He did have to have his shots today- NOT fun.  I bought some generic tylenol in case he is crabby tonight or tomorrow.  I feel bad for having to go to work tomorrow- I pray he doesn't hurt too badly.

Spencer had a "rough" afternoon today per my in-laws who are here this week helping B while I am back at work.  I'm not shocked as this is the first time he has been without me for more than 5 hours.  B also had a meeting this afternoon for his new job, so they watched him for about 2 hours and he was pretty fussy apparently.  I feel so sad for him as I'm sure he was missing either me, my smell, or nursing (really, probably a combo of all of them).  I'm glad B is home all day tomorrow so he can help him through his fussy time. 

(Okay, he looks so hysterically funny in this pic I just had to post it.  I have no idea what is going on with his lips, but it's awful and funny at the same time!)

We have looked at a few daycare centers this week and I'll be looking at one more on Thursday.  Pray for us in making this decision.  It's ROUGH!  I'm praying about it as much as I can and trying to make myself know that many people do this all the time and that the people at day care will be wonderful to him, right??

SYT is cooing and smiling all the time.  He'll even pull off the breast just to interact with me.  I love, love, love it.  He has rolled over from tummy to back 4 times now.  He is starting to look at his toys and realize there is life beyond Mommy and Daddy's faces.  He really likes his music before bedtime, and he loves his baths.  He also goes to bed totally awake and falls asleep on his own (at nighttime, not for naps)- it's a miracle, really!

So, that's my buddy this month.  Full of smiles, bright eyes, and sugar!!