Tooooooo cute!

If you aren't a member of Totsy, you need to join today!! Seriously, I don't think there is anything much cuter than the outfits below.

Infant and toddler dress

Matching diaper cover (I die!!!)

Perfect for sibs and pictures on the beach. 

Aren't they all just screaming for a monogram?

Also, Zulily has Rosalina on sale today and they have some darling smocked outfits (for little boys too!!)  Happy Friday Shopping, Ladies!!

Happy, happy birthday!

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Happy Birthday, my amazing husband!  Thank you so much for loving me and being the BEST dad Spencer could ever hope for.  We're both really blessed!

 I hope your presentations and meetings go well today, and I can't wait for our date tonight!  I'm praying you will love your gift :)  I am also praying that this year continues to be good to you!  I love you, B!!

I'm still obsessed

The Superbowl brings hundreds of new commercials into our lives.  My favorites this year were the E*Trade baby (as always), two of the VW commercials, and this..............................



Living in Michigan, it obviously got tons and tons of hype and is still being shown on a lot of airways.  It is SO good though.  It deserves all the acolades it has gotten.  If the Chrysler 200 was big enough to fit three carseats (nope, not pregnant again, just hoping that someday I'll need that many!), I would be at the dealership tomorrow!  Way to go, Chrysler.  I'm seriously impressed. 

Could it be?

In the past two weeks, I've had the pleasure of hearing birds chirping in the mornings.

The sun is still out on my p.m. commute.

 and it was

50

degrees two days last week!!

Could it be that spring is coming soon? 

If so, I need to be ordering from here

doing more of these

and buying an outfit like this!!

The fact that we have gotten 5 inches of snow in the past 6 hours up here in the tundra leads me to believe that I've still got time to prepare for the coming of spring and the moments it brings. 

Are you as ready as I am?

Proust Tag

Proust?  I thought he was an author???  Evidently it's also a recurring interview in Vanity Fair that asks famous people a bunch of questions.  While I"m totally with MCW and have zero desire to be famous (I would be awful at it!), I'll play along with the tag since I adore her!

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Spending "the season" (ie- 8 weeks) up north in the summer with my kids (with B coming up every Thursday- Sunday and two full weeks- one in July and one in August).  Each morning would be spent getting the kids to club, a nice run or bike ride for me, and getting lunch ready.  The afternoon would be spent at the beach- gossiping on the beach with my friends, watching the kids in swim lessons and tennis, and reading my "summer reads".  The evenings would be spent making and cleaning up dinner, bathtime (I adore bathtime!), reading stories, and lots of snuggles (at least while they're little).  Sundays, ahhhhh Sundays, would culminate with the weekly Vesper Concert.  My little slice of musical heaven, and mommy's date night with herself!
What is your greatest fear?
That we will face a serious health concern in my family. 

Which figures do you most identify with?
Hourglass ones :)  (Those dang long-legged girls!!!)

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
I often don't know when to be quiet, and I can be really judgemental (I am really trying to work on this)

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Arrogance, mean-spiritedness

What do you most value in your friends?
Loyalty, consistency, the ability to just be comfortable together

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Ummm..., like, love it!
What is your favorite journey?
So far, motherhood

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Sternness (based on this list).  My favorite two are faithfulness and industriousness.

What is your favorite occupation?
I love being a nurse practitioner.  I feel very blessed to have been called into healthcare- it's perfect for me.  I could definitely see myself as a college professor for nursing as well.

What do you dislike most about your appearance?
My legs, my ears

What is your greatest regret?
Not studying abroad, moments of unkindness in my past

What or who is the greatest love of your life?
Without a doubt, my husband.

When and where were you happiest?
Moments up north with friends and family, at La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, drinking cava with B on top of our honeymoon house, watching Spencer develop new skills and learn new things, our after-Christmas dinners at McGinny and Hal's house, and at our pink and green parties (while playing croquet with drink in hand, natch!)

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I'd be kinder (and I'd have those long legs!)
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Working full-time, getting my master's degree and planning my wedding all at the same time.  Seriously, it was time management perfected!!

What is your most treasured possession?
This is hard for me.  My husband's hair?  My smile?  Spencer's, well, everything?  I guess if it had to be a thing, it would be my wedding ring, the monogrammed Bonannos I wore to my reception, and my external hard drive that holds all my pictures!

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Remembering mistakes I've made over and over and over again without ever being able to correct them.

Where would you like to live?
In my house!!  Otherwise, in Petoskey, Denver, or, for a few years, abroad.

What is your most marked characteristic?
My smile, my loudness, my ability to talk to a wall

What is your greatest extravagance?
My grocery bill.  We love to cook, bake, and eat well.
What are the qualities you most like in a man?
Strength, humor, intelligence, devotion, a good cook :)
Who are your favorite writers?
Daniel Silva, JK Rowling, Robert Ludlum, Jodi Picoult
How would you like to die?
Very, very old age surrounded by my family and friends

Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
Hermione- devoted, loyal, smart as a whip
Scarlett- fiercely protective, tenacious, strong
Gabriel Allon- thorough, thoughtful, intelligent

Who are your heroes in real life?
My Gram

What is your motto?
I don't think I have one.  Sorry to end on that note!!

This was fun.  I'd love, love, love to see what you have to say about these answers, so tag yourself or just give me a few answers in the comments!

9 months

Spencer Young, you are NINE months old!!  I love you more each day, and I cannot believe that is even possible. 

(I am a baby on a mission!)

You are still nursing, though your intake has dropped in the last few weeks.  You don't mind nursing, but you are really starting to hate your bottles at daycare.  You definitely prefer to drink out of cups instead.  You used to take 15 or so ounces while at daycare, and you are now only taking 11-12 oz on a good day.  You are nursing when you wake up and when you go to bed.  You love, love, love to eat (you are your mommy and daddy's child!).  You are eating pretty much anything we give you, and you don't seem to have favorites or dislike anything completely.  You will still eat your baby food, but you are starting to prefer to feed yourself, and you really like "real" food. 

You are saying mamamama and dadadadada all the time.  You are recently starting to do a hard "g" sound and just this weekend at two in the morning (joy oh joy) you were babbling and I heard a hard "t" sound multiple times.  I can't believe how fast you are progressing with your sounds over the last month. 

You are a pretty easy baby, and you always have been.  You cry with diaper changes, getting into the car seat (you really hate this!), and sometimes at the end of the day if we've kept you up past your bedtime.  You have a very easy smile, and you'll go to people pretty quickly.  That's so nice for us, and you're such a charmer that people love holding you and playing with you.  Currently your favorite people are your Uncle Nick (you LOVE his beard), your Grandma, and Miss Eve at daycare. 

(Cheesing it up for the camera) (And yes, I know this child desperately needs a haircut, but B is not ready for it yet)

You are sleeping through the night from 7p- 5 or 6 a.m.  It's hard for daddy and I b/c we don't get to spend much time with you after work, but, if we keep you up later, you get a little crabby with us!  On the weekends, we will pull you into our bed, let you nurse at 5 when you wake up, and then we'll all sleep in until 8 or so.  It's definitely heaven!!  (This doesn't always happen, but when it does, it's seriously the BEST!)

(Going, going, gone!)

You are definitely mobile.  You crawl everywhere, pull to stand on everything, and can even get up the step in between the family room and the kitchen.  You are starting to give full open mouth kisses (kind of gross but very sweet) and currently you are liking to chew on mommy and daddy's jaws (weird).  Our new favorite thing is that when we pick you up and pat you on the back, you will pat us on the back too.  It is SO sweet!! 

You are currently 21 lbs and 12 ozs and 28  in long.  That makes you in the 56th percentile for wt and the 48th  percentile for height.  You were in the 90th percentile at birth- you're shrinking on us!!  You definitely aren't as vigorous an eater as you were earlier on in life.  I think it's because you are too inquisitive now- nursing is boring!  Even when you are in the highchair, you get bored with eating and want to go play.  Since you are about equal in wt and ht, I'm not worried about you (but I am hoping you fit into your cute 18 month stuff this summer that I've picked up already!)  You've had your fair share of illnesses this winter with multiple ear infections and lingering colds, but we're all getting through it.  It's hard to know that being in daycare causes most of the illnesses and definitely shoots my mommy guilt through the roof.  I pray for your health a lot, and I also know how lucky we are that it is just ear infections and colds rather than something major like a heart defect, cancer, cystic fibrosis, or any of the other numerous scary things that I see regularly at work

Spencer, Your daddy and I love you with all our hearts and all our cells!!  We're so happy God blessed us with you, little buddy!

The knees of a crawler

SYT's knees are so red all the time from crawling everywhere.  It doesn't seem to bother him at all, but I kind of want to put knee pads on him to protect him anyway! 

(And yes, he has chunky monkey legs!!)

Oh, and the cute tush of one too!!

Happy Tuesday!

L-O-V-E!

We went up north to see my mom this weekend and we were able to get in a great day of skiing while she watched The Spence.  It was sunny and even the little bit of wind couldn't detract from the gorgeous blue skies or the nice powder that was all over the slopes.  E&J and another one of our dinner club couples also came up and went skiing with us and then we all had dinner together.  J did an awesome seafood boil and we each got a lobster, plus there were scallops, shrimp and mussels to be devoured in the pot.  We brought wine and a flourless chocolate cake with triple berry coulis.  It was sooo much fun.

 B and I have been together for 8 years this week.  Tonight we are having our traditional Valentine-versary meal of Penne with Vodka Sauce.  YUM!  Usually we also make molton chocolate cakes and have champagne, but my guess is tonight we may just have ice cream!  The flourless chocolate cake this weekend was enough for us. 

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you out there and to my two special boys! I love you both!!  Have a wonderful Monday!

Weekend (and beginning of the week) update

What a great weekend!  I wish I had pictures to share of all the activities, but I didn't pull out my camera once :( 

Firday night we came home after work, put Spence to bed and made a dinner of skirt steak with chimichurri sauce (I'll post it soon) and a bottle of wine- seriously YUM!!  Saturday we were BUSY from morning to night.  We worked out, grocery shopped, shoveled (and shoveled and shoveled) the driveway and walkway, found a new toilet and paint at the big HD, and spent the rest of the day in the kitchen getting prepped for our Sunday luncheon.

Sunday we had the entire college group/young adult group from church over after service/christian formation class.  You never know how many people are going to come, but this week it ended up being about 20 kids.  Yowzers!  They were an awesome group and we had so much fun with them.  We made my Gram's mac and cheese, a Carolina style (vinegar based) pulled pork, a veggie tray with dip, red velvet heart shaped whoopie pie cookies, and boston cream pie whoopie pies.  They loved everything, and they were all SO good with Spence!!  They were at our house from 1-4 and then B&J ended up coming over that night to watch the Super Bowl with us b/c their cable wasn't working.  It was nice catching up with them- we hadn't seen them in a few weeks. 

Overall it was a wonderful weekend!  Tonight I had a JL mtg and instead of it being a true mtg, it was a 50 min workout (two different 25 min classes) with just short updates at the end.  LOVED it.  Getting out of the house for a mtg and a workout all in 1.5 hours???  Perfect for this momma!  God, I miss the gym.  Please, please, please someone figure out how I can get there more often!! 

In other news, I'm watching Glee right now and am sooooo happy with this episode.  It's just too funny!  Does anyone else out there think that Blaine is way hot?  And are you also drooling over the Warblers blazers?  Please discuss...........

Horse races? Spring vacation? Exploring a Costal City?

If any of these events are in your future in the next few months, then you absolutely must order this hat! 

The rim comes in lime, orange, black, hot pink, brick, and turquoise.  The monogramming is free and the price is only $29.99.  Hello, perfect, most wonderful hat ever!!

Each of you should buy one of these from here and while you're there, you should check out this scarf too!!  I've already got three things in my shopping cart!

Snow Day!

We got about 14 inches of snow today!  B (and the rest of Western Michigan) got to stay home for a snow day, but I had to go into the hospital to round.  B was kind enough to spend 2 hours shoveling our drive so that I could get out- and I still got stuck at the end of our street!!!  Luckily a motorist stopped and helped me get out (my snow angel!).  I was able to leave the hospital early and was home around 2 o'clock to spend time with B and SYT. 

Our house!  You can't tell from the shadowing, but the non-drifted areas were about 14 inches and the drifted areas were even more.  The big mound you see at the front of the frame is from shoveling early this a.m.  I shoveled even more once I got home, and then our shovel broke!!  Since our street still hadn't been plowed, there was no getting a new shovel.  B is going to do it over his lunch hour tomorrow. 

Here you can really see the snow (and how much work B had to do to shovel at 6 this a.m.!!)

The snow at our front door after Junie had plowed through it a few times.

So deep! 

Spence enjoyed the snow day from inside!  He loved having mom and dad around all day and he took two great, great, great naps which allowed us to get some things done. 

Even though the snow made the world stop for a day, it is gorgeous and fun and I wouldn't trade it!  I adore living in the land of four seasons.  Are you loving or hating the winter wonderland right now??  How many inches total did you get and did you get an adult snow day??

(Though the new Lilly collection is making me dream about summer coming sooner than later!  Soooo many gorgeous things.  Hmmmmm.....post on that soon, AEOT!)

New friends out there??

I've noticed that I've had quite a few more followers lately.  Apparently the massive amount of snow that has covered the US in the past few weeks has allowed bloggers some time to find new blogs, one of them being mine :)  Well, welcome!!  I appreciate the interest, and I'm interested in you too, so tell me........

1.  How did you find me?
2.  Do you have a blog I should be reading?
3.  Where are you located (specific city or general part of the country is cool)?
4.  What's your favorite snack food?
5.  Did you get any snow today???? 

Have a great one!