A New Love in My Life

So part of the reason I have fallen a little slow in blogging lately (besides a slow down in projects being done) is that Pinterest has taken over.... my life.

It is such a great place for inspiration, to keep track of all your dreams, and also stumble onto some fabulous sites you would have never found if not for someone else having pinned that something wonderful... tonight for me it is this site:

http://www.schoolhouseelectric.com/

And this is what I want - no let's clarify - what I need in my house.  Umm yes it is an arrow.

And it totally belongs in my hallway in my 1950-60's Rambler of a house... see I have a very long hallway and I believe this is well worth the $20 that I will never see again.

And yes, I could probably find a wood plaque and paint an arrow on it but it wouldn't be the saaaaaaaaaaaaame (said in my 3 year old voice).

I am so in love with this site and also this chair:

I love the stripes, the lines the colors - - - so inspired right now.  Just wish I had the money to go along with that inspiration!

Don't worry I am still brainstorming on how to become famous for nothing so I can afford all the makeovers my house sooo desires!!!

And I am thinking I need these numbers - maybe to hang over B & I's bed - maybe get all sweet on him and do our anniversary date - or maybe all the dates of our birthdays so something likes this:

03 07 11 12

So yeah... I hope you have as much fun on this site as I am having now!!! 

P.S. Life is good, work is good.  I am Emily's new favorite and dad is now second best (I use to pick her up from daycare with her screaming "NOT YOOOOOOOOOOOU.... DADDY PICK ME UP"  so I do know how it feels) but it does feel good every now and then to be on the top!

Eli is good - still spitting up on me every chance he gets - but he is smiling the whole time - so I guess it is okay?

Other than that we are golden!  Hope you are as well!

Turkey, Cowboys and Bunnies

So last week was Thanksgiving/Black Friday...  (I say slash BF because I am known for not cooking so this really isn't my holiday...however, shopping is a different story).

We had Thanksgiving this year at my Aunt's house.  My mom, dad, grandpa and grandma came up and it was lovely...  My dad had a great time teasing Emily which she loved/hated.  But that is my dad....

Grandma Mimis was a huge hit though... she brought gifts... warm gifts!

How cute are these?!?!  Mom scored these snow boots at a sample sale at her work (sometimes it is know people who work in retail esp. Lands End)... Emily also scored a fuzzy pink winter jacket as well with a cute knitted hat...

Eli on the other hand had to share his gift with Bryan:

Yes, my mother found a lovely lady at her work who can knit up a storm and requested a Cowboys helmet be made for Eli* (Disclaimer:  My mother is not and will never be a Cowboys Fan... She is a Vikings Fan - even though they seem to always disappoint... I just choose to root for the team always playing against the two... or the underdog... I am always a fan of the underdog). 

Needless to say, Bryan was super excited and thrilled with the gift... I think it is pretty cute too!

Grandma Mimis also was a super help last weekend too, allowing me to go spy on all the crazy people standing inline for Target, Wal-Mart and Best Buy at midnight on Black Friday....

Those people are go-getters I must say... Wal-Mart - yikes... to say the least.  Target at least everyone seemed to be in good spirits and ready to get their shopping on in an orderly and systematic way... same for Best Buy... I was glad to see people enjoying themselves!

Grandma also let us take advantage of her by leaving the kids with her to go pick up/cut down our two Christmas Trees!  Normally we do this with the kids - but both were down with coughs and Grnadma was down with the flu....

 Proof That I in fact DID water the tree... Please note the spilled water over the tree stand...I may have forgotten to do this last year, and Bryan may have come back from TX to a dead tree and a pile of needles... maybe... it is a rumor that Bryan does hang over my head time to time...

And this is my new strategy... instead of buying one huge tree that doesn't fit inside my home, I decided to get two trees that actually do fit...  I am not sure if I would actually do it again ... but I like it as of right now!

And that there is the piano I want to paint yellow again a dark blue wall.... sigh - still working on that!

But I am currently working on a project for Eli's room... I just need a few more screws and I should be good to go... will update when done!

My Opinion on Co-Sleeping (Take it or Leave it)

So I know it has been a while,  I have been managing Black Friday Ads, Black Friday offers... two kids, two cats and a husband....

Now taking a deep breath, I am back to blogging with fabulous parental advice on Co-sleeping.

My advice. Don't do it.  And not for the reasoning you think... I honestly could care less how you choose to raise your kids and how you choose to sleep with them (mind you you take all the precautions on making it safe as possible - and not just a pillow wall).

My caution aka. warning is simple.

KIDS PUKE. 

And when kids share a bed with you and puke in the bed... you are most likely going to wake up in a puddle of puke.  And unless your kid eats rose petals and perfume... it will stink to high heaven.

A perfect example of this was last night in the Vargas household.

I would love it if Emily would remain in her own big girl bed... but she has figured out that if she sneaks in on dad's side of the bed, he will let her up and in for a snuggle... while mom gets kicked in the back and ousted from the bed.

So like any other night... Emily sneaks in around 11 pm. Around 11:58 pm I awake to yucky stuff on my back and promptly wake Bryan up (secretly hoping he would man up and clean the mess by himself while I went back to sleep).  It was a two person job.  Puke in hair. Puke in bed. Puke everywhere.

Poor Em was humiliated - cause what kid really wants to puke - much less be covered in puke.

So we stripped the bed... laid a sheet over the bare mattress and Bryan and Em went back to bed once the mess and Emily were cleaned up.

I went to sleep in Em's room.  Alone.  And slept much better than I have in a long time.

So there is my parenting lesson of the day.

(oh p.s. when you kid tells you that her tummy hurts - not a great idea to feed your kid pizza, Swedish Fish and gum... learned the hard way by Bryan).

Parenting is Awesome.

But today is not.

Hoolllllly Hell.  So I have been MIA since having Eli.... and yes two is more than one and I would like to return one as of right now....

Emily has found a fabulous new strategy on avoiding medicine.  She just spits it up all over her face when I try to give it to her which equals sticky face, sticky hair, sticky hands and sticky mom.

I am impressed with the strategy but not amused as of right now (check back in the morning).

Sigh.

Oh and did I mention if one cries the other cries?  yup that is my night.

But I still love them  go figure.

So back to catching you up on all things fabulous and not so fabulous... I am back to work and back to finding cheap-o projects...

The living room has yet to be painted (mainly because I cannot decide on a dark green or a dark blue) leaning more to dark blue with a yellow piano - but the hubby has completely nixed the piano idea... I can never win with him....

However, the purple desk has been put to good use...  Bryan got a promotion which allows him to work at a bit at home, and since I re-purposed our office desk into a purple desk for Emily's room, Bryan has found himself clocking in hours on the oh so feminine desk.... he is thrilled with me.

My garden in the back is growing strong and has found a few more additions - a few pink bleeding hearts and pink pom pom like flower mounds - love them and the fact that they were on sale.

So life is still trying to find some balance between two kids, a full time job, a husband and a house that begs for a make over daily...

Someday I will have it all together!!!

so after the paci party

we are trying to conquer the sleeping in the big girl bed... yeah daddy is not helping that situation (you would think it would be backwards but it is not).
 
So tonight I put Emily in Eli's crib. Whoa did not sit well with her.  She was mortified by it.

She is a girl. As she explained it to me. Not a boy. So therefore she should not be in  a boy's room nor a boy's crib.  Logic at its best.

So after she chose to sleep in the big girl bed, hysterics ensued.  This is the point in which I encourage others to live their single lives to the fullest... cause I am trying to sleep through "it's not my fault ...it's not my fault.... mommy ..... mommy...." without feeling like a shit parent.

Those lovey mother and child pictures all over facebooks... yeah full of shit.  FYI.  It is a bunch of people trying to pretend that they have a picture perfect life with kids... no they are not going to take pictures of their trashed house with Lucky Charms all over their floors or Crayons all over their walls... so please if you feel envious of their lives please know they are envious of yours times 10.

Esp. after sleepless nights.

Even if their kids are cute as hell.

I promise.

So go to 1 too many concerts and get shit face 1 too many times .... cause it will all be worth it when the kids come.

And yes you will love them no matter what.... but do take advantage of your time while you have it.

Meanwhile ... back to "It is not my fault" aka you are a horrible parent.....

Took a Break from Life

Okay so I am back, kind of.

Sigh, I have had a good bout with the baby blues hence going back to work early... I know, this seems like the reverse thing to do... but I needed to get back to a routine, I needed grown up contact, I needed a project and to be busy with the world.

I also needed a little bit of help from some "happy pills" for full disclosure.  I am not going to lie, and pretend that I can handle this solely on my own... thank god for my mom and her ability to just listen to my rants and raves and just to come and save the day every now and then. And to clean my house when I have given up for the whole week.

Bryan has been wonderful, even though he has no clue what the hell baby blues are and what he can do to help - he just tries to be lighthearted about it and bring out the funny in the situation - which I really do appreciate...

So back to work I am.  I have a new manager and a new merchant which I am really excited about.  My role has slightly changed (in a good way) and I am try to change and adjust to the new norm... slower than I would like but I will catch up soon!  I have a lot of good people backing me and I feel good about it all.

Emily is being an awesome good big sister, and we are trying to get rid of the Paci.  We are on day 2 night 3... Yesterday we had a "No More Paci Party". 

The deal was, I forgot the Paci at daycare Monday night - uh oh - so I quickly took advantage of the situation and told Emily that if she went to bed without Paci, and did daycare without Paci she could have a party with a cake... Well she did awesome, and Tuesday I went and bought a huge butterfly balloon, a muffin sized cupcake and decorated her room with tulle and sparkle beads...

Party was a huge success, we danced with stuffed animals, cheered about no more paci, and how Emily was a big girl....she loved it.

Then came bedtime.

Big meltdown.  The "I hate you mom" kind of meltdown.  She even tried to negotiate for her Paci back.  She told me to take down the decorations, take back the balloon and give her back the Paci.  I was actually really impressed by her logic.  But no dice.

I think I spent a good hour listening to her rant and rave.  If Bryan had been there, he would have caved.  But I have a heart of stone ;) and want to be done with the Paci.  We shall see how tonight goes!

Eli is great, starting to smile and that makes my ego go through the roof... I am pretty sure he thinks I am the best looking mom he has ever seen!

T-O - Double Dizzle aka. Todd the cat is doing well... we still know the odds there but feel good about being able to give him a good kitty life however long or short it is.

Thomas the man cat is not thrilled with this.  Not at all.

Otherwise, life is almost into a groove but more like a manageable chaos... just the way the Vargas family likes it!

You Are Worth It

I use to buy shoes all the time.  Great shoes. Unique shoes.

Now I am a mom. Of two. 

And now my hobby of collecting shoes has slowed.  BIG TIME. 

And with that so has the general up keep of myself.

And so today, it took my mother to remind me that I am worth it, I do deserve it and I should not feel guilty about taking care of myself.  Bobbie Brown Cosmetics now considers me a "good" customer.

I have been surviving on the bare minimum, living in sweats the last two months and today was my day.  I think mothers sometimes equate sacrifice and taking care of everyone else first with love... and yes in some cases it does, I am not saying sacrificing a liver to save a life does not equal love...but what I am saying is that mom's need to take care of themselves too.  And value themselves so that they remain happy enough to make that dinner at night, or be okay with scrubbing off that crayon off the hardwood floors.

Now don't get me wrong - I know my value and I am greatly underpaid!!!! ha.  But it really did take my mother giving me a "talk" on the way home so I didn't hyperventilate from the amount of money I spent on makeup.   But tomorrow is back to work day and I needed a little pick me up since not all my clothes fit yet.

So yes, Grandma's visit was much needed. Esp last night.  Emily got super super sick (like puke in mom and dad's bed multiple times sick) and of course right in the middle of that Eli decided he totally needed in on the attention -sigh.  I felt my mental state slowly slipping into insanity but then Grandma Mimi stepped in to save the day and handled Eli (meaning she threw herself in front of the baby spit up and took one for the team).  So we were extremely lucky to have a grandma in the house.

And to top it all off, the office is somewhat an office - minus a desk (finding the right one) but we can totally walk into and out of the room and I am proud enough to leave the doors open!!! SUCCESS!!!

And all the laundry is done (again kudos to mom) including the puke-y bedding and towels.

Now I must start to pick out tomorrow's outfits, pack Eli & Emily's daycare bags and mentally prepare for my morning of chaos.

Might throw a bubble bath in there somewhere too!

Happy Labor Day Everyone!