Every time someone says, "I wish it would snow!" I want to punch them in the face and say, "NO! No you don't! Take it back!"
I have the travel bug. I want to go somewhere, do something. We've planned our beach trip but that's in July and I need something sooner to look forward to.
I finally updated my iPhone and now I'm cranky that things are different. I swear I'm an old lady when it comes to technology. Just leave things alone people!
I've decided to start working on my craft room. It's time to finish unpacking the last of the boxes. I don't know how long it's going to take me though. I have to remove wallpaper, take down the closet doors, re-shelve the closet, paint, change the ceiling fan, and I'd love to put up crown molding. (Obviously I will be enlisting the help of the hubs here)
I got my hair cut and while nothing really happened drastically with the majority of it (still long with some layers), I got bangs! After a weekend of freaking out that I made a huge mistake, I'm totally loving them.
The Saturday before Christmas I decided I had to have a Santa picture of Quinn. Nothing like waiting until the last minute, right? Lucky for me, the hubs was willing to indulge in my last minute need. We packed up and headed to Haywood Mall in Greenville {I had heard they had a really cute Santa}.
Luckily the wait in line was only 20 minutes or so and the hubs was able to keep Quinn happy with some cheerios. When it was our turn the hubs and I braced ourselves for the inevitable melt down.
He did not disappoint ha!
Some say it's mean, but I say it's a right of passage. The crying Santa picture is just a part of growing up. I'm sure next year he'll still be upset, and possibly even the year after that, but eventually {I hope} Quinn will be so excited to go see Santa and sit on his lap before Christmas. We'll capture the memories every year with a picture, happy or sad hehe.
This year my best friend Shannon and her boyfriend Brian came up from Atlanta to spend the long weekend with us and ring in the new year. I was especially excited for her visit, not just to spend time with her, but also because Brian had a surprise up his sleeve.
He had been calling and texting me the weeks before and he planned on proposing! With a little help from me and the hubs, this is how it all panned out.
I had Shannon help me give Quinn his bath as a distraction while the boys did the set up in the back yard. She thought they were just goofing off together in the garage, but really they were taking strings of Christmas lights and spelling out "will u marry me."
After Quinn was out for the night the boys said they wanted to go play with some fireworks outside before dinner. Totally normal for our two! She didn't suspect anything even when I busted out the video camera.
Brian told Shannon that she needed to set off a bottle rocket, so she complied and held it as it shot off it's 10 different rockets. He told her "ok, one more" and after some fussing, Shannon complied again, but this time as he handed her the lit rocket, he had also slipped her ring around the middle of it.
I wish I had the video edited so I could post it because he reaction was priceless. She started yelling "Oh my God! Oh my God! Brian what are you doing? Oh my God!" Of course the best part was that she had to continue to hold the bottle rocket until it was done shooting off. There were tears and hugs, kisses and smiles, and of course she said yes.
There were so many things that I wanted to do on Christmas that just didn't happen so I'm already thinking of how I can squeeze them in next year ha!
I cannot get Bruno Mars' Locked Out of Heaven out of my head. It's just too dang catchy and driving me crazy!
I finally purchased a couple pairs of new jeans. They are two sizes smaller than my pre-pregnancy ones and instead of doing a happy dance all I can think is "damn vanity sizing."
I think I am ready to start tackling the craft room/office. The hubs had to clean it up so we could put a blow up mattress in there. Once I saw how much is in there is didn't feel as overwhelming. I need my creative space back!
For Christmas eve dinner, we ate in the formal dining room, sitting in our new chairs, around our gorgeous table, with our fancy Spode Woodland Hunting Dog china. I wish I had the energy to have dinner like that every night. {Did I mention we were all in our Christmas pjs? Perfection.}
Quinn helping daddy assemble the new dining room chairs
I adore receiving Christmas cards in the mail. Let's be honest, who doesn't? It's so wonderful to see a hand addressed envelope mixed in with the standard stack of junk and bills. I would say my love for snail mail really stems from my grandparents. When they vacationed in Florida during the spring they would always send a postcard.
I wrote them letters all the time, even though we lived less than 10 miles apart, and when we moved down south, I continued to write them at least once a month. Of course I could always pick up the telephone, but something about a card in the mail meant so much more. This is probably why I sent out 80 Christmas cards. I just can't stop myself.
I used to hand stamp my cards, but that was before the baby. Unfortunately I just don't have that kind of time. I was crazy enough to hand address my cards with a fancy twist which still took 3 different lunch breaks to complete {curse you Pinterest for giving me the idea}.
Last year instead of giving something up for Lent, I decided to send mail to 40 different people. I think I'll do it again this year. Cards don't have to be reserved for only Christmas!
This past weekend the hubs and I finished putting up the rest of our outside Christmas decorations. A small part of me wonders what the neighbors must think. Are they shaking their heads and questioning, "Who in the world moved in next door, the Griswolds?"
But a bigger part of me remembers. I remember sitting in the car with my parents as a child, driving through neighborhoods looking for Christmas lights. The more a house had, the more ooooos and ahhhhhs we gave it. I remember being so excited when we would find "a good one," the kind that you can see from miles away. I want my house to be one of those houses. So let the neighbors call me crazy, but I bet you a five-year-old will say it's awesome.
Hopefully as Quinn gets older, he'll be proud of his house and not embarrassed by it. I know it makes my heart happy.
Well this past weekend was quite...interesting. We had lots of fun things planned and lots of surprises thrown in as well.
On Friday I took the day off of work to go Christmas shopping. I created my plan of attack days before, mapping out what I wanted to get everybody and where I wanted to go. I was so excited to have the day to myself, no husband, no baby. The only baby I saw happened to be this cutie.
I met up with my friend Jessica and her daughter Parker for lunch at Panera. It was nice to catch up a little before heading back out for more marathon shopping. While crossing the parking lot I spotted this and couldn't stop giggling.
Unfortunately, around 3 o'clock I received a call from the daycare saying Quinn had an allergic reaction to a raisin cake they gave him and he was covered in hives. Cue mama panic attack. I was 45 minutes away and there was no one closer. Luckily his breathing was never hindered and by the time I got there the hives were already receding. By nightfall I had my happy boy again.
After I put the baby to bed I noticed Shiloh kept chewing on her paw {a horrible habit she's done since she was a pup} except this time she had made her pad bright red and raw. So out came the bag balm, baby socks, and electrical tape. She may hate me for it, but it's the only way we can ever get her pad to heal and keep her from chewing on it even more.
Saturday morning I decided to make us all pancakes while the hubs got in the shower. He came to me in the kitchen and exclaimed, "I think I need to go to urgent care." The poor thing was covered in a rash with hives and his hands and face were starting to swell. Four hours later, the doctor didn't know what caused the reaction but he gave the hubs a cortisone shot and some steroid pills. The hubs then napped the rest of the day while Quinn and I played.
My parents came later that afternoon. My company Christmas party was that night and they were going to stay with the baby while the hubs and I went. Around 5 o'clock I woke up the hubs and he decided he felt better enough to go {who can say no to an open bar, right?}.
I'm glad we did end up going because I won two round trip flights to anywhere in the US, Mexico, or Canada! Besides winning the great door prize, it was nice to enjoy a night out with great food, a little booze, and some dancing.
Sunday the hubs had to work in Charlotte so he left around 1pm and wouldn't be home until around 1 in the morning. My parents and I took the baby to a paint your own pottery place to make some memories.
After my parents headed home and the baby was down for the night, I started to not feel so well. I quickly finished cleaning up and crawled into bed around 8:30 thinking I would just sleep off the yucky feeling. Ha! I ended up with a stomach bug that kept me in the bathroom all night. Around 11pm I managed to text "ginger ale" to the hubs. It was pretty awful and I stayed home from work Monday.
Thank goodness it was only a 24 hour thing and not the full blow flu. I was weak but feeling much better by Monday evening and after a hot shower even felt human again. At 4:30 this morning the bug hit the hubs. Poor thing is now in bed himself. I pray over and over that the baby won't be the next victim. My mom already let me know that my dad has fallen pray. Hooray for spreading the love!
So I'm taking this weekend as a big old shot from God to slow down! How was your weekend?
