Author: Melissa

So Colin has started projectile vomiting all over the place several times a day. I’m a little concerned. Not for his health – Grace did this too when she was a baby. It was just reflex, no big deal. He’ll be fine. Especially since he is HUGE and is CLEARLY not in danger of losing too much weight.
I’m concerned for our wardrobes. Last night he got me straight on. I had to change my sweatshirt, my t-shirt, my pants, my bra AND my underwear. That is how soaked I was. (Say it with me… EWWWWWWW!!)  What am I going to do when he does this in public? I’m going to have to start carrying a duffel bag with complete changes of clothes for the whole family. And clothes for any unfortunate bystanders. Can you imagine? What if he gets a total stranger in the grocery store? I. Would. DIE.
Maybe we’ll just stay home until he outgrows this.
Don’t YOU want to sit next to us in church this Sunday?

Yesterday, while cleaning out my closet, I made an interesting discovery.
Look at this:

Not a great picture, but let me tell you what this is.
11 black sweaters
3 short sleeved black t-shirts
6 long sleeved black t-shirts
3 black dresses
I didn’t include the pants, skirts or maternity clothes in this picture. Since CLEARLY you can get the idea, since you can no longer see my couch under all the black tops.

This tells me two things:
1. I really need to wear OTHER colors. Not branching out into charcoal grey, but some actual colors. Like pink. Or blue. Or ANYTHING that is not black, white or grey, which is really just both.
2. I am a perfect example of American excess.

I have been justifying this discovery to myself. Saying things like “Some of these shirts and sweaters I have had since college!” and “But all of the sweaters are different! There’s the long-sleeved crewneck, and the long-sleeved v-neck, and the cable knit one and the turtleneck and the turtleneck with short-sleeves…” Because I obviously NEED all ELEVEN black sweaters. Besides what if there was some sort of emergency crisis and I could not do laundry for 20 days and we HAD to wear ONLY black tops??  WHAT on EARTH would I do THEN??? Huh??

And I admit – I love clothes. I love shopping for clothes, trying on clothes, reading up on the latest trends, watching tv shows about fashion, picking out what I’m going to wear (although not lately with the whole 6-weeks-post-baby-body). Except ironing clothes. I hate that.

But, as I’m trying to justify it to myself… I’m realizing I’m ashamed. It is completely ridiculous that I own as many clothes as I do period. Nevermind this many of the same thing in exactly the same color. Is this really the best investment of my resources?  Just yesterday – while cleaning my excessively full closet – I was talking to a woman in my Bible Study who told me she was saving up to pay the registration fee. Of $25. (Can you imagine not being able to scrape together $25 to join a Bible Study? I am so paying for her to go in scholarship.)  I’m remembering the people I saw in India, who owned one or two changes of clothing.  I came home determined to live more simply and to cut down on excess in our lives. And, less than 6 months later, I’ve lost it.

I know I didn’t go buy all these shirts in the last month. (That is years of hard work on that couch!)  But it serves as a symbol to me about my ‘wants’ and ‘needs.’ About how I’m spending money. About perspective. About what is important. And about what isn’t.

First, let us all give a shout out, no round of applause, no STANDING OVATION to my boy Colin. Who slept SIX hours last night!! IN A ROW!!!!

Mama feels like a new woman!
**********
So today I spent almost all day cleaning my closet. Yes, it was that cluttered.
And by “cluttered” I mean “complete and total disaster.”
I could no longer walk in to my walk-in closet. I had all of my spring and summer and fall clothes that I wore last year. Then I had all of my maternity clothes. Then I had the non-maternity winter clothes that I have been pulling out of the storage containers as the maternity clothes are too big, but the remaining summer/fall clothes are too small. 
So, now the winher and maternity clothes are packed away, the cute spring clothes are ready to be worn, the pants-I-cannot-quite-zip-up-yet-but-I’m-hopeful are hanging neatly and the shoes are straightened. As a bonus, while cleaning my closet I found:
* a basketball (Since we all know how sporty I am. Ahem.)
* oven mitts (???)
* hot pink platform flip flops (score!)
* approximately eleventy-jillion coat hangers
* a roll of Christmas wrapping paper with cute little snowmen (quite smushed and wrinkled)
* a black 11×13 picture frame with a white 8×10 mat (Nice!)
* the baby blanket I began knitting when pregnant with Ellie (Who is now FIVE) (By “began” I mean it is still about 5 inches long)
* a Toys R Us gift card that I thought I lost (good thing, since it has like $80 on it!)

Maybe I should clean under my bed…. Who knows what I’ll find under there!

At least there wasn’t much blood this time. Husband likes to take his life insurance policy out for a spin every week.
He usually comes home looking like this. He’ll knock on the slider door and wave, grinning, very proud of his rugged manly muddiness.
Then I open the slider and hear the dramatic story of how he fought the gigantic rock that leaped into the bike path and attacked him, flipping him over the handle bars and into the mud puddle.
Then I say something like, “Don’t even THINK of coming in the house like that. Go in the mud room, strip and put everything DIRECTLY into the washing machine.”
Then he usually makes some sort of snarky comment involving a raised eyebrow because I used the word “strip.”
Then I return with a raised eyebrow and equally snarky comment like “Whatever. Try not to touch anything on your way to the shower. Thanks for not killing yourself.” 
And so another biking season begins.

As you may have noticed, this week has kicked my butt. Despite sick kiddos, I did get a lot of things done.

• Like finally submitting receipts to our flex-spending-medical-account-thing… for the first time since last JUNE. 
• Like cleaning the house like crazy, because looking at the mess was making my eye twitch. (But – my ipod is working again! Its a MIRACLE! So I’ve been cleaning while shaking my bon-bon and counting it as exercise. Multitasking!)
• Like paying bills. Again. (Wasn’t it just the end of the month a few days ago? How is it that time again? Good news is I paid everything this month. Unlike last month, when I forgot to pay the Mastercard. Um, whoops. Luckily, the customer service lady was also a new mom and very understanding.)
• Like doing some planning for the reopening of Eliza Grace (Which I am so excited for. Let me just tell you. Four words: New. Spring. Fabric. Collections. Be still my heart.) AND the launch of another business I’m heading up. You know, in my spare time.

Anyways… I’m taking the weekend off of everything, getting some extra rest and hopefully will be back in full swing on Monday, gearing up for the last two weeks of school and the thousands of extra activities that entails. Ellie has like 3 graduation ceremonies. Seriously? Its only preschool, people!! She’s not winning the Nobel Prize or something!

See what happens? I say I’m done blogging and then I suddenly have stuff to say. I’m done… now.
No, now.
I mean it…..

Now.

[wpvideo 0EkbP48l w=400]

Its not all stomach bugs and sleepless nights over here. There is a lot of sweetness too.

to ensure that I get as little sleep as possible.

Seriously. Last night Gracie had croup. She woke us up at around 12:15 with her awful coughing and she was having trouble breathing. We gave her an abuterol treatment, then got her back to sleep in our bed.  Of course, neither of us slept, since she was breathing so loud and coughing. Then at 3:30 she was up again. Then we called the doctor, who told us to bring her to the ER. So, Husband left with her but came back around 4:30, saying she got better while they were driving there. So we got to sleep around 5am.

Then Colin woke up at 6:30.

Ugh. So she’s on new steriods that will hopefully solve this whole breathing problem. And Husband and I are awake thanks to large amounts of caffeine.

Lets all pray for a nap this afternoon, shall we?

From Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundry

Where is your cell phone?  In my purse, I think. Or possibly in my coat pocket. And I will probably drive myself crazy because I will keep forgetting to put it back in my purse for several days.
Your significant other?  Is fun, smart, handsome, easy to live with and a great dad. And lucky for me, he is amazingly tolerant of my craziness.
Your hair? is in the process of growing out. I’ll probably grow it all summer and cut it off in the fall. I’m thinking of a bob, longer in front, kind of like Posh, but not quite so funky.
Your mother?  my best friend
Your father?  annoying
Your favorite thing?  I have too many to list – my family, dark chocolate, hot coffee with half and half, laying on the beach with a good book, my ipod, sleeping, ice cream cones, cooking
Your dream last night? That would have involved sleeping for long periods of time, which did not happen last night.  
Your favorite drink?Cherry Coke Zero, McDonalds coffee, Mocha Frappachinos, really cold ice water
Your dream/goal?  To turn my business into a real part-time job when my kids get older, to lose the baby weight
The room are you in?  Family room
Your ex?  Was annoying
Your fear?  Something horrible happening to my kids or husband
Where do you want to be in 6 years?  Closer to God, even more in love with my husband, with happy, healthy kids
Where were you last night?  at home, attempting to sleep
What are you not?  patient, outdoorsy, good with names
Muffins? Um, yes?
One of your wish list items?  a new sewing machine.
Where you grew up?  Connecticut, California, New Hampshire, and Ohio.
The last thing you did?  Told my girls to cut it out and took away the stuffed horse they were fighting over.
What are you wearing? yoga pants, t-shirt and sweater.
Your TV?  is turned to Food Network
Your pets? Two goldfish, Ariel and Cinderella.
Your computer? A Sony Vaio laptop and my sister’s old Dell desktop. Both are on borrowed time.
Your life?  is very busy, but incredibly blessed.
Your mood?  Annoyed (at my kids for fighting)
Missing someone? My family, who all live far away
Your car?  A 2004 Toyota Sienna.
Something you are not wearing?  Shoes. I hate wearing shoes in the house.
Favorite store? Target. All the way, baby!!
Your summer?  is already looking busy.
Like someone? My husband 😉
Your favorite color?  Pink
When is the last time you laughed?  At my kids in the car on the way home from school, as they sang me a song they are learning for their concert this Sunday
Last time you cried?  Yesterday. While watching Juno. (SOOO good! Watch it!)
Who will repost this?  Whoever wants to!!  Let me know if you played along.

I took a nice, long nap on Saturday. And woke up with the stomach bug. Or food poisoning. Whatever it was, it was the worst stomach-thingy I’ve ever had. Because I like you, I will spare the details.

So Sunday was spent in bed, recovering. After going through that while nursing , I was a tad dehydrated. I don’t know if my body was just worn out and needed a day in bed or what, but it could have just asked me politely. I would have happily complied and skipped over all the sickness part.

Just like my sister-in-law, I can now say I’ve done the “lose 4 pounds in 1 day” diet. I do NOT recommend it. Even if you’re desperate. Cause I still feel like crap.