Snow on May 1st

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The weather here has been so neurotic lately.  It actually snowed on May 1st.  Today it is bright and sunny and 60 something degrees outside with just a light breeze.  Ahhhh….

The girls and I went outside this morning to enjoy the delicious day.

Alethea was thrilled to explore the backyard and push Baby Doll in the swing.

Lydia was content to sit in her carrier and watch the tree branches swaying above her and Alethea running by periodically.

What did I do?  Well, besides being photographer, I also pulled on some thick rubber gloves and did some landscaping clean-up in our back planting bed.  After removing lots of thorny nettles, other weeds, a rather large and scary looking brown beetle and random debris, we went from this:

To this:

All that’s left is a pink Bleeding Heart and six Hostas that I discovered hiding underneath the nettles.  What to do with it next….  hmmm…

A Polka Dot Birthday Party

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Saturday was Alethea’s polka-dot cupcake birthday party.

I had so much fun putting together the decor including my homemade happy birthday sign and table confetti:

And my doorway streamers with polka-dot header:

Of course, cutting out so many circles took some time.  Good thing I had endless Royal Wedding coverage to keep me distracted from Thursday night into the wee hours of Friday morning.  I now know more about Kate Middleton than any reasonable person ought to.

When Saturday arrived, Alethea donned her polka-dot party dress.  I know I’m biased but I think she looked smashing!

This was the first present type event where Alethea enthusiastically got into the opening of gifts:

She liked the gardening tools she got from her Great Grandpa Jim and Great Grandma Ruth:

We lost her for a little bit after she opened up a doll-sized stroller from Mom and Dad.  She had to take it out for a test run around and around the house:

We only convinced her to come back and finish opening her gifts by telling her there was more stuff for her baby dolls in the remaining packages.  She ended up with a fantastic assortment of new accessories including a feeding set, two potty chairs and a bathtub!  Alethea was positively in heaven!

With so many new toys around, Alethea declined any interest in eating lunch, even though we had pizza, her favorite food.  She did consent to take a break from playing long enough to blow out her birthday candles.

The cake turned out cute, although I naturally had visions of grandeur in my head when I was planning it.  Despite the fact that it was more ‘homespun’ than I had originally hoped, it seemed like everyone thought it tasted good:

Where was Lydia while all this was happening?  Upstairs asleep in her bed.  Toward the end of the party she finally woke up to greet everyone in her own polka-dot dress:

All in all, I’d say the party was a success.  Alethea seemed to have a happy birthday, and so apparently did Baby Doll:

Can’t believe how old she sounds when she talks!  Yikes!  I’m the mother of a two year old!

To view more BobbleHeadBaby celebrations, visit my Parties Page!

Happy Birthday, Alethea!

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I’ve got sunshine, on a cloudy day.
When it’s cold outside, I’ve got the month of May.

I guess, you’ll say, what can make me feel this way?

My Girl,

My Girl,

My Girl,

Talkin’ ’bout My Girl,

My Girl!

I’ve got so much honey, the bees envy me.
I’ve got a sweeter song, than the birds in the trees.

I guess, you’ll say, what can make me feel this way?

My Girl,

My Girl,

My Girl,

Talkin’ ’bout My Girl,

My Girl!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Alethea Margaret!

We love you so much!

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

The Final Selection

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I’ve got my shoes!  I went to Herberger’s to try on this pair:

Unfortunately, the color was very different in person.  The part that looked almost white on the website actually had a very yellow undertone that I didn’t like at all.

But as long as I was there I went ahead and tried on the Bandolino from my first post and what do you know, they were even cuter in person and reasonably comfortable too!  So now this is my official outfit:

Only problem is I have yet to locate a flower hair accessory that I like.  Tried Target.  Where else to go?  Walmart? Ulta?

Yet Another Shoe Post

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Sorry for so many shoe posts lately, but I just found another pair on Herberger’s website that is too cute!

I think I like this shoe best yet, but wondering how comfortable they would be:

I definitely need to go try them on!

And the (Possible) Winner Is…

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I went to DSW looking for the Seychelles Stella Wedge Pump from my previous post, but it turns out that it was on clearance in the store and they didn’t have my size anymore.  Plus I found a pair not in my size just to look at and I didn’t like them as well in person anyway.

However, I did browse through the store and located this shoe instead:

Impo Granduer Wedge Sandal in Taupe

Not as dressy as I was originally trying for, but they are super duper comfy and I love the taupe color.  Also, I think it’s a shoe that I would wear a lot with jeans and other things.

After buying the shoes I went to a couple stores searching for jewelry and ended up getting two necklaces at the Limited, a shorter one and a longer one that look cool layered together.

I’m also thinking about getting a cute fabric flower for my hair.  So my complete outfit would be this:

So now my only question is, is the shoe too casual for the dress?  I’m not worried that it’s too casual for the wedding, it being a day time affair with a block party style outdoor reception following, I think it will be fairly laid-back.  But can you wear a cork wedge with a black sheath?

Please tell me if you think this look works or not, because I still have time to go shoe shopping again if I need to, but I’d rather do it now than at the last minute!

Potty Training Stats

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I’ve been having Alethea sit on the potty chair every morning when she gets up and every afternoon before her nap for the past couple weeks, just trying to get her in a routine of sitting on the potty, without any real expectation that she’d actually use it.

So today I decided that I would try a little harder to get her onto the potty at times she actually had to go.  Here’s how our morning went, by the numbers:

Trips into the bathroom: 3

Total time Alethea voluntarily spent in the bathroom not wearing a diaper: 115 minutes

Number of M&Ms promised to Alethea for successfully peeing in the potty: 5

Number of times Alethea peed on the floor: 2

Number of times Alethea peed in the potty: 0

Number of frustrated Mommies: 1

So now my dilemma is how to handle the fact that even if I time our trips to the bathroom at moments when she needs to go, she holds it until she either a) gets back into a diaper, or b) is allowed to stand up.

Trying to look on the bright side, once we do get her potty trained, it doesn’t appear that she will have any trouble ‘holding it’ when we’re out and about.  Because she really will be potty trained someday, right?!?!?

Accessorizing a Little Black Dress

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So, I’m getting ready to go to a friend’s wedding in Philadelphia in May and after a review of all of the dresses in my closet, I realized that I was going to have to buy something new because nothing I currently have fits my ‘still need to lose a few baby pounds’ body.

Yesterday I was out and about and I went past a Dress Barn.  Now, I haven’t shopped there in ages, but I figured they’d have a whole bunch of stuff to chose from.  So I went in.

I really wanted something colorful and springy and fun, but after trying on a whole slew of dresses, I ended up selecting a simple black sheath dress.  Not what I was looking for, but it looks like a million bucks and it only cost me $24.

So now I’m on the hunt for fabulous accessories to make this dress more fun:

First up, shoes.  After a brief online search, these are my favorites:

Seychelles Stella Wedge Pump at DSW
$59.95

Apt. 9 Peep-Toe High Heels at Kohls
Regularly $49.99 on sale for $28.99

Bandolino Pliskin Slingback Peep-Toe Pump at Herberger’s
Regularly $69.99 on sale for $59.99

Opinions anyone?

Potpourri

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Sunday is my “reflect back on the past week/mentally prepare for the week ahead” day.  This normally creates something of a potpourri effect in my brain on Sunday evening since I have so many different subjects rattling around in my head.  Here’s a bit of tonight’s jumble:

Some friends from church gave us a crib that they were no longer using.  This is definitely a good thing since I think we’ll need to transition Lydia from the bassinet to a crib fairly soon and I wasn’t feeling like Alethea was really ready to be loose in her room all night long.  However, when Alethea went to bed tonight she was accompanied by five puppies, two baby dolls, a kangaroo, three nuks, a pillow, two blankets and a wet wipe.  We might have to get her a big girl bed just to accommodate her growing collection of bedfellows.

Alethea likes to climb on her crib, but fortunately she hasn't learned how to climb out of it

Alethea likes to climb on her crib, but fortunately she hasn't learned how to climb out of it

Looking ahead over my calendar is a little daunting right now.  The next five weeks hold Easter, my sister’s birthday, Alethea’s birthday, Peter’s birthday, a trip to Philly for a wedding, Mother’s Day, my studio piano recital, a bridal shower and a smattering of church related meetings/events.  At the moment I am not feeling confident in my ability to accomplish everything that needs to happen for all of these events.  I should probably start a to-do list this week and begin getting stuff done.

Tonight I put Lydia down next to the window in Alethea’s room with the thought that Lydia might enjoy looking at the pretty colors of the beaded curtain.  I suppose it may cost me my mother of the year award when I admit that despite the fact that the curtain is both a choking and strangulation hazard (and came with a warning label saying it was for ages 13 and up), I was extremely pleased when Lydia kept reaching out for the ribbons, grabbing them in her chubby little fist and waving them around.  It’s so exciting to see her start to gain control of her hands and arms and you could tell she was having a blast exercising her new found skills.

Lydia and Mommy - A self portrait

I sure hope we have nice weather this week.  My neighbor and I have decided to start walking together because I need to lose a couple more pounds of baby weight and she is training for a breast cancer three-day walk.  It’s great to have someone to walk with because I have such a hard time getting my rear in gear when it comes to exercising on a regular basis and also because we don’t have a double stroller yet, so I can’t take the girls with me when I walk by myself.  (If anyone has a double stroller recommendation, please let me know!)

There’s a whole lot of other stuff in my brain right now, but none of it seems blog worthy, so I’ll end my post here.  Happy Sunday night!