Visiting the Fam

Ingrid has been super clingy and whiny, have I mentioned??  Yesterday early in the morning she had already driven me up a wall, so I decided to make an impromptu visit to my sister's house.  She lives 2 1/2 hours away and I feel that is not too far for a day trip.  Brendan thinks I'm crazy but who cares.  Ingrid does relatively well on that car trip, so I packed some bags and the dvd player and off we went.  My sister was having a family gathering for my neice's and her birthdays, and we hadn't thought we would make it, but I'm so glad we did!

Ingrid was asleep when we got there, thus waking her up to a strange place and two eager cousins in her face was a bit much to take.  She cried huge alligator tears for twenty minutes before finally warming up.  But warm up she did.  Her cousins just love her!

She played outside a lot, they have a swingset set in a huge pile of sand.  And I loved it because I could sit inside on the couch and watch from the back porch instead of having to be cold and sit out there with her.  Lazy much? 

When Gramma got there, Ingrid was beside herself, along with all the other cousins, too.  She is a big hit!!

After a few hours of much socializing and sugary foods, Ingrid started to get upset again, waving bye bye to everyone and begging to be held.  She slept most of the way home and then we sang songs and recited books we know by heart the rest of the way.  It was a great day.

Added bonus:  Corie has a ton of kid's toys her kids have outgrown, so Ingrid gets to use them now!  We took home a kitchen set and a bin full of toy dishes and food.  It was going to be a Christmas present, but she was so excited about it, and I was so tired from lack of sleep the past few weeks, that I just let her go to town this morning while I drank coffee.  She loves it!

A Trip to the Thrift Store

And we got so much fun stuff!  I found a couple long sleeve shirts to get me through the winter, a pair of pants and skirt for Ingrid, and the greatest Christmas gift ever.

She had to try it out before her nap.  She seems to like it, right?

This will look so cute under the tree on Christmas morning :)

This Morning's Walk

Another trip to the lake today with Cody.  It was way colder than I thought it was going to be!  I can definitely tell it's getting that cold nip in the air of November.  Still hard to believe it's November already!!  Only one tree is still holding on, the others have lost all their leaves.

Ingrid wore her pixie hat and looked adorable.  She is really into rocks at the moment, so she took her time browsing through all the stones in the gravel road.

It has been another wonderful day with my girl!

Ahhh, This is the Life!

I am so thankful for being able to be a stay at home mom. This is what my day is like:
Wake up to a babbling, happy child. Drink coffee and eat breakfast.
Color with Ingrid.

Take the dog to the park.
Naptime. Get some sewing done if I'm lucky.


Lunch time.

Bake some things. Eat some things.

Play with stuffed animals.

Walk by the lake. Make dinner. Bath and bedtime. Enjoy quiet time with husband (when he's not sick.)

Good Things.

Good things around here:

A happy girl with her "cool dude" sunglasses. She thinks she is hot stuff with these on!


More birthday crowns done, with fabric covering the elastic. Looks cute and uses up those scraps.



A grown up bed again! Kind of. We lost a wheel to our bed frame in the move and have been sleeping on a mattress on the floor. Yesterday Ingrid and I saw someone was throwing their frame away so I grabbed a wheel and took it home. It wouldn't stay in, though, so I was crafty and used some of Ingrid's play dough to make it stick. So, adult bed in that is has real bedding and an actual frame, not so adult because it's stuffed with play dough...


An etsy sale from someone I DON'T EVEN KNOW!! It's always exciting to sell something, but this is my first sale to someone random! How cool that they liked something I made that they would even pay money for it. Yay.

Go Away, Sickness!!

Not much going on this weekend. Brendan's still sick so we've just hung out. He watches football, I read books to Ingrid. It's gorgeous out and no one feels like getting outside. I did get some sewing done this morning, a dress for the daughter of an old friend. They live in Florida, so she'll be able to wear it without tights and a turtleneck!! Although it's been so warm here, Ingrid got to wear it that way, too. I baked some pumpkin bread last night and it's already almost gone. Lethargy reigns. I gotta get outside...

A Better Day

Yep, today was way better! Ingrid woke up happy and even let Brendan play with her for an hour while I slept in. The past couple days she cried when he looked at her, so that's an improvement.

After her nap we ventured out and had the best afternoon. We went and got lunch, which she devoured. Another good sign that her appetite is back. Then we wandered around Walgreens and got new sunglasses and toy keys. Of course we forgot the one thing I needed to get there--soap! And then we went to the bookstore and looked at books and played with the train set. It was relaxing and just felt so good to get out of the house!!



When we got home she was tired again, so she took another little nap, woke up hungry, ate her food, and by 6pm was begging to rock. We didn't have any hot water for some reason, so bathtime was nixed and we just put on pjs and read about 14 books. I was trying so hard to keep her up but the poor thing was just rubbing her eyes and yawning so she was in bed and asleep by 6:30. Another good sign she's on the mend, catching up on her sleep.

A Hard Day to Be a Mom...

Today Ingrid was finally over her fever. However, she was still not feeling well and was SO WHINY and SO CLINGY!! It was driving me nuts. This was her face most of the day:


She would hand me a book and I'd ask her if she wanted to read it. She'd say yes, I'd sit down to read it and then she'd burst into tears because I didn't sit in the chair/on the couch/on the floor. She wanted her crayons but when I went to open the box she burst into tears. She wanted something to drink but not orange juice. Not milk. Not water. No wait, maybe milk. No, not milk.


AAAAHHHHH!!! What a frustrating day! She wouldn't take a nap all day long, but at 5pm begged to be put in her bed. For real, kid, you're killing me.

But she looked super cute today, even with the tears and tantrums. There is a giveaway over at Take Time to Smell the Rose and when I went to the website of Happy Green Bee I fell in love. Organic clothes that are cute and stripey and the best shade of green! I got her tights and a couple shirts and I'm so in love with them!

It's Officially Swine Flu

We took Ingrid to the doctor today. She and Brendan both have swine flu, hooray! The doctor said Ingrid looked fine other than her fever, which is a good thing, her body fighting off the infection. She's hydrated and just needs Tylenol and sleep. Brendan's on the mend, as well, his fever is down and he's a bit more coherent than he was this weekend. Cross your fingers I don't get it, I've been super achy and my head hurts but I have a feeling that's just because I've been wearing myself out taking care of the sick ones and getting up with Ingrid at night.

Book Sharing Monday (cough cough, sniff sniff)

Not doing too much better around here. Brendan at least made it to work this morning, although he's going to take a half day I think. Ingrid woke up at 4:30am with a 103 degree fever. I called the oncall nurse and she asked me a bunch of questions and it made me feel better. Ingrid's definitely fighting something, but she doesn't have a rash or seizures or anything, thank god! We're off to see the doctor at 1:30 this afternoon. Right now Ingrid is sleeping, which is SO GOOD, as she was up a lot last night and then this morning she wouldn't let me put her down at all. Have you ever tried to pee with a toddler in your lap?

Anyway, hopefully this will all pass and I will get nothing more than a headache and being sleep deprived, because I'm sure no one will take care of me if I do get sick. Boohoo, yeah I know. Quit complaining...(I already did that here.) I just hope Ingrid is okay.

On to book sharing. We got this book from our great friend Michelle for Ingrid's birthday. It's called Bedtime for Tad, by Adam Nicely. It's all about an imaginative little bunny getting ready for bed and all the ideas he has in his head. It has great pictures and Ingrid loves to look at them. The mommy bunny asks Tad if he knows what time it is and Tad answers with questions like "Is it time to be a space pirate?" Ingrid loves to answer those questions with a big drawn out noooooo and a shake of her head.