A Day In Our Life

I sometimes participate in A Day In The Life, which is a weekly photography project where you (try to) photograph your day as you go. I made a real effort to do this weeks (which was Monday, I think). I missed some chunks of the day, but I really tried!!

Click on the pictures for the full size, I let Blogger made them smaller to not mess up my template.

Life Goes On

Been a few days. Life has been busy! I FINALLY got to do Therron's newborn portraits yesterday. They turned out very nice, at least Eleni was pleased. I wasn't thrilled with some of the results, there were a few that I cut off feet or were framed funky. Oh well. It's not like I was charging for them! It was fun to do, and Eleni swears they look like studio portraits, so I will take the compliment!

I've also been cooking up a storm. I managed to trick Haley into eating and enjoying zucchini! Woohoo! That is an achievement. I made zucchini fries in the oven and they were really good. Young zucchini cut into strips, coated in a combination of crushed corn flakes, grated parmesan cheese, garlic, and seasoning salt. Baked for about 10-15 minutes at 375. SO GOOD. I made them last night and tonight because I had a lot of zucchini and it would have been too much for one batch. I think I will make some bread tomorrow.

We went to the local farmer's market on Tuesday, and I picked up some local honey. I am hoping that it will help us all with some seasonal allergies, they say that eating local honey is supposed to help somehow. I also bought some really good organic onions too, they're teeny tiny but very good.

Savino and the sleep. Man. I totally jinxed myself. He's been going through this thing lately where he seems like he's asleep, but you lay him down and he instantly wakes right up and wants to play and talk. Tonight it took me TWO HOURS to put him to bed. He's exhausted when he goes to bed, he's tired and rubbing his eyes and everything, I KNOW he's tired, but he just wakes right up. I would pick him up, and he'd fall back asleep, lay him down, rinse, repeat. I just hope that since he took so long to get to sleep, that means he will skip waking up in the middle of the night. I am TIRED yo. At least Tim helped me out with it last night and got up with him at 1am when I had been struggling with him for an hour. I was so tired I couldn't keep my eyes open, and thankfully he just went back to sleep after Tim gave him a bottle and laid him down and rubbed his back until he fell and stayed asleep.

In two weeks we will be on vacation! We will be having three days of fun filled, well, fun! Three days is not much of a vacation, but Tim is off for almost two weeks, so having him home and around will ROCK. He has a three day weekend this weekend, but he has to work at the Little House tomorrow and then he's on call Saturday and Sunday. Next weekend he has another three day weekend. I am praying praying he can get this stupid house DONE. It needs to be done already.

I want a brownie. Don't ask me why! We don't have any junk food in the house either, I have cleaned it all out. Tim thinks that he is already seeing results from dieting, it's been... a week? Not very long to get results, but I am happy for him if it is really making a difference already. We always feel better overall when we eat super healthy, I've noticed that I seem to have a little more energy in general. But, I still miss the junk food.

I enjoyed not going anywhere today. It was nice to just chill out and have a nice day at home. Eleni came over and I printed out some of her pictures and made us lunch and we just hung out. It was nice and chill and relaxed. Just how I like it!

Pictures! Just a few, I ended up with over 400, but lost about 20 due to blur and a lot were just duplicates of the same pose or shot, just to make sure I got the shot. (Just for the record, in case anyone was wondering, this is my nephew, my neice/best friend's son, who is just a month old.)









I really want to get a new backdrop. I think that will be my next purchase because I can get a lot of mileage out of having a few different backdrops. I want a black or mottled grey one, something that is very classic and will be really versatile.

OK, it's late. I am OUT!

Yes, another food entry. We did grocery shopping today and I am really working on using more fresh foods/produce, so my fridge is overflowing with vegetables and freshness. Yay! Dinner was nothing special tonight, Tim grilled brats and we had strawberries and salad and mashed potatoes. But dessert was great, I made Marguerites that I saw on FoodGawker. They weren't as good as the ones on FoodGawker because 1) I only had 4 marshmellows and 2) They were stale and didn't really melt right. But they were still good! They will be better the next time I make them. They were super super easy. They took literally 1 minute to make from start to finish. Yay for a gas broiler! FoodGawker inspires me to try new things, I just love looking at all the food.

Savino had a HORRIFIC night last night. Oh man. I totally cursed myself. It was BAD. He woke up at 2am, and I had been up until 1am due to a combination of getting engrossed in my book and Tim. So I had an hour of sleep at that point, I got up and nursed him, gave him a bottle, and he was having a really hard time settling back down. I laid him down in his crib thinking he would just lay down and go back to sleep. Um, no. NO. I was up and down with him until 3am at which point I just laid down and Savino stood in his crib and talked and talked and then started yelling "DADADA" so Tim got up and tried to get him to go to sleep. He changed him, gave him another bottle, and after 20 minutes put him back in the crib. He was STILL awake and started crying, so I had to get back up again (and I couldn't sleep through Tim trying to settle him because Tim kept talking to Savino and Savino kept talking back). I nursed Savino AGAIN and gave him the rest of the bottle Tim made and finally at 4am he fell back asleep.

Except now at that point, I was completely awake. I laid there for a little bit and started thinking about what bills were due to be paid and got all paranoid that I forgot to pay the electric bill and so I got up at 4am and came downstairs and checked (it wasn't due until today) and paid it. Then I went back to bed and tossed and turned until 5am. Savino was up and wide awake at 7am. *sighs* I managed to keep him happy by letting him nurse off and on for an hour, between nursing he would crawl all over me while I held onto the back of his pj's so he wouldn't crawl off the bed. I let him play in his crib for about 20 minutes and he was happy as long as he had a bunch of stuff that I wouldn't ordinarily let him play with (the diaper rash cream, a book, my cell phone). I dozed off and on because I literally couldn't hold my eyes open. I was dying, I was so tired. Playing in the crib didn't last long though, and he was back in bed with me nursing AGAIN. Finally around 9 or so (I think) he fell back asleep because it was about time for a morning nap. He slept in bed with me on my arm and we slept until 10:30. Which is ridiculously late for us, really, but I couldn't function, literally, I had not gotten enough sleep being up all night. So it worked, and I was able to get up when he woke up, even though it threw our schedule off by about two hours for the rest of the day.

So yeah, sleep drama. I could do without it! Hopefully tonight will be a little easier. If he wakes up, hopefully he will go right back to sleep after eating. He was pretty tired when I put him to bed, so fingers crossed and knock on wood and all that.

I tried to do DITL today, I really did. I kept forgetting I was supposed to be taking pictures and then I realized that I suffer from anxiety about taking pictures in public. I felt REALLY self conscious about the few pictures I took, even though I just had my little point and shoot. *shrugs* I forgot about the time we were doing dinner and then I didn't do much of anything after dinner so there aren't many pictures there. I'll tackle editting pictures tomorrow or whenever.

I organized all my scrapbooking supplies tonight into that cart I was talking about that I bought at Lowe's. Um, yeah. I have too much stuff. I could have easily filled another cart. I didn't realize I had that much stuff! It made me really wish I could sit down and just go at it, I really wanted to. But I had too much other stuff to do. I am just trying to get all this stuff organized and put away. I have lots of pretty papers and stickers and things to play with when I do get time though! I also have lots of blank photo albums, I discovered. I have a lot of pictures, so I don't have any excuses other than no time.

Tomorrow, the pool. Again! We are all getting pretty tan with going out to the pool all the time. Savino is still pretty pale because I keep him slathered in sunscreen, but he has that gorgeous Italian skin that just tans right up no matter what you do so even he has a little colour, mostly on his legs where the sun hits them in the car. I wish I had that sort of skin, Haley has it and she tans instantly, I don't think I've ever seen her with a sunburn. Lucky them, at least they didn't inherit my pale burn-peel-burn-peel skin. I do tan, but very very slowly. Haley is itching to get back to the pool. It's been a few days.

Alright, I am going to force myself to bed and to sleep before 11:30 tonight. I need the sleep.

First off, if you are as bummed as I am about the Tastespotting blog, have no fear, Food Gawker is here. I almost cried when I saw Tastespotting had shut down, I was literally about to send Tim the link because I had fallen in love with the website. A little Googling found me a suitable replacement for my mid-day food window shopping. I swear, I get so hungry just LOOKING, but it is so satisfying. So, go and be satisfied as well.

I can't believe how much it has cooled off today. I think it barely got into the 70's at all. It was a nice break from the oppressive heat. I managed to get the lawn mowed and raked, all in the same day, which is rare. I usually mow and then am too tired to rake it all up, but it was so cool out that mowing wasn't the usual exhaustion that it is. Anyway.

I took Haley to Walmart to spend her gift cards that she got and she was beside herself with happiness at picking out just what she wanted. She has also thanked me over and over for buying her an Ipod Shuffle for her birthday. She loves it. I am glad it was such a big hit. I hope she takes good care of it! I am sure that she will. She is such a big help with her brother, I am so glad that I can rely on her to keep an eye on him while he is playing and in a good mood so that I can manage to get things done. I am so paranoid about something happening that I am super careful about what sort of situations I leave her in charge of, only when he is in a safe area and contained either in his play yard or high chair, but she is very good about keeping him happy and entertained. She is such a big help.

We got Haley all signed up for the summer reading program and she is already halfway to finishing all the books, she is such a fast reader! She really loves it. She is so excited because this year she is old enough to participate in a lot of workshops and activities they have planned at the library. She already signed up for an art workshop about bugs, and there is a cooking class in July that she is excited about, and there is also another workshop next week on bees put on by the local university.

It was way too cold to swim today, that sucks! It also was very grey and cloudy at times as well. I don't think it will be warm enough to swim tomorrow either, but we will see. We are getting our money's worth out of this pool pass!

Man, I feel so boring. All I do all day long is baby, work, house, kids, baby, work, sleep. I know it's just how it is when you have a little kid, and that's how it will be for the next few years, but I do kinda miss being creative, and feeling creative. I think that is what bothers me the most, I don't even FEEL creative anymore. I miss writing poetry and having meaningful things to say. I miss painting and having that urge inside me to make something. The photography definitely helps, it is something that I can manage to squeeze in sometimes, but it's not quite the same.

On the other hand, I love having a baby right now. He is so expressive and curious and so eager to try and try and try. He wants to explore everything. Tim followed him around the house while I cooked dinner this evening and Savino was just so excited to go from room to room and slap the floor with his hands and touch the walls and turn around and go in different directions. Babyhood is such a brief period in their lives, it goes by so quickly, I want to soak every bit of it up right now!

We were sitting in the library in a rocking chair (Savino and I, he was in the sling on my lap) while Haley colored, and the baby was just looking around and looking around at all the kids who were in the children's area and then without any prompting or anything, he gave a loud screech and laughed and leaned in and gave me a huge kiss right on the lips, all sloppy and wet and slobbery. It was so. sweet. He makes me melt when he just surprises me with a kiss or puts his head down on my shoulder or leans his body into mine and rubs his head against my chest. He is growing up so fast and I am trying so hard to cherish every second, I constantly have to remind myself to be in the moment, not to be always thinking about the future or what I "should" be doing. The more we live in the moment, the better the memories will be for the kids, and that is what is important. I am so much more focused on making sure that what we do is memorable, I want them to be able to look back on their childhood and remember the picnics and the fun and that we seized the moment all the time.

I really can't believe that Haley is 9 years old. I mean, I know, I know, kids grow up but still... how did the time go by so quickly? I've grown so much as a parent, from wondering how in the world I could do it, and not knowing enough, to realizing that you just have to decide what is important and let the rest go. I think it helped that I was so involved in Laila and Chyron and Jaden's lives too, and how fast they grew up from babies to little people. I just don't want to miss even a single moment of these kids childhoods because I was worried about something else.

I think overall, I've mellowed out a little since I had Savino, just in general. I am still way too paranoid and overprotective of Savino, and I still imagine all the bad things that could happen which makes me a little more anxious than I would like to be, but I think in general, going from two to one has meant for me that I have let go of some of the things I had a really tight grip on. Maybe I am just too tired to care!

In any case, I am feeling really good about where things are, so I better knock on some wood. I just want to maintain where we are at right now, that is all I care about. We have it really good right now, I want to keep it good.

9 Years Ago

In a few short minutes it will be exactly 9 years ago that my beautiful Haley Dallas came into the world, complete with drama right from the start.




6 lbs. 2 oz., born at 6:16pm on 6/16/1999. It seems like forever ago, and yesterday, all at the same time. She was so tiny, with the longest arms and legs. I was so unprepared, and awed, and scared.




But what a ridiculous amount of joy she brought into our family. She gave me and Tim so much love, and made everyone smile with her smile.




Always the drama queen, always the center of attention, and the biggest Daddy's Girl. She knew how to get him to do whatever she wanted from the beginning and she still knows how to work it!




She has always loved art, and music, and drawing, and creating, and singing. Anything artistic makes her happy. She will still spend an hour creating or crafting, just happily. She is amazing.




Happy birthday, my beautiful girl. Halfway to being an adult, and it seems like it was just yesterday that they put you into my arms.

The littlest Fillon addition, Eleni's son Therron. He is almost 4 weeks old (3 weeks in this picture)


He is so so tiny. He was 5 lbs. 13 oz. at birth and about 6 lbs. in these pictures. Savino was never this little!


My foxglove that is growing in the front flowerbed. The blooms are so strikingly beautiful. The ones toward the bottom of the plant are the lavendar/purplish and the ones at the top are a very light cream with dark red spotting. Do you see the spider? I didn't until I was editing these!


Foxglove is a perennial, so I can't wait to see what it will look like next year!


The boy! Making all sorts of faces, as usual!


This one is blurry, but I love the look on his face because this is typical him, smiling and flailing!


I have to get a better picture of his hair, it is getting so curly! It will definitely be curlier than Haley's is.


Baby bath blackmail! He is looking at the drain switch and thinking how he can reach it and flip it before I intervene, hence the mischevious smile.


Attack! He loves to beat the side of the tub and yell all through his bath. It must be a boy thing!


Now that's out of the way...

Lucky Tim gets to spend his day out at the Little House tearing up the entire kitchen floor. How fun. The more he pulled up from where the leak in the water pipe rotted out the floor under the sink, the more he discovered it just needed replaced. God only know how old that floor was, but there was a leak under the dishwasher as well, Tim discovered a dead rat laying across some wiring so it must have been chewing holes in the hoses and gotten electrocuted. How lovely. So we are just going to completely replace the floor and be done with it. I don't know if peel and stick tile will be easier or getting sheet linoleum instead. Tim suggested carpet and I just gave him The Look. Carpet in a kitchen = teh wrong. It will take something like 11 boxes of peel and stick tile if there is 20 sq. feet to a box. I have to go to Lowe's and price things. We will have to buy plywood for subflooring, but we have enough floor studs. Tim is doing his best to get the floor pulled up today so he can start laying down the studs and then the plywood. Once we have all that done, the plumbing can go back in, we'll put down whatever new flooring we pick out and then the appliances and sink cabinet can go back in as well. Then maybe our poor renter can move in. Oh well.

I have done exactly zero shopping for either Father's Day or Haley's birthday. I guess I know what I will be doing tonight after the kids are in bed. I was going to try and go out while Tim was at the Little House and Chantal had Haley, but Savino had other plans. He was too tired and fussy, we just came home and he fell asleep and now it is time to eat. I doubt we will make it out before Chantal gets back. It's alright, I will just do what I can, and deal with it. Tim has to help Jay install ceiling fans this evening after he gets back from the little house, so I don't even think I can just leave the kids with him and go do it, unless I let him take Haley over to the house and keep Savino with me. That might work.

I have discovered that Diet Pepsi Max makes me sick. I think it must be the sort of ginseng they use in it, or the amount of caffeine. I drank some the other night before I started feeling sick, and then I had some this afternoon and almost immediately started feeling the same slight nausea and unsettled stomach feelings. Suck. Guess Tim gets it all to himself.

I am looking forward to not having to shuttle Haley around to a million different places next week. So far we don't have anything lined up for next week, we might actually be able to just relax for a little bit! Maybe I can convince Tim to put the trampoline up so she can jump on it. Oh, I do have to go to Eleni's to do Therron's newborn portraits though. I guess I have more to do than I thought.

Savino is a standing up boy now. He has started pulling himself up to a standing position on everything, his crib, the couch, everywhere. Soon the cruising will start, and from there it's a hop to walking. They get big so fast!

On that note, he is screaming, it is time for his lunch. Laters.

Edited to add pictures...

I am trying to squeeze in an entry before my son starts flipping out again. He has had exactly 0 naps today, just a brief nod off while he was nursing before dinner. We have been on the run all day, and he was up early and had an extremely extremely restless night. So he is running on Empty. He screamed through dinner over and over "Na na na na" and only paused in the screaming to eat most of a banana (maybe that is what he meant?) and half a peice of bread, and screamed through most of what he ate of his oatmeal, carrots and sweet potatoes and chicken. *sighs* He refused all bottles all day and just wanted to nurse and he nursed FOUR TIMES last night, starting at 12:40, then at 2, then at 3:40 and then at 5am. I was exhausted. I AM exhausted. I am just so used to being tired that I don't really feel it anymore.

Yesterday Savino started pulling himself up to a standing position all by himself! Eep! He is getting too big too fast! He also started repeating "Bye bye!" when you prompt him to say it, but only when he wants to. It is beyond cute! Haley insisted that Savino said "No" in the Gap today when we were at the mall, but I didn't hear it. He is just achieving milestones left and right. He is 9 months old! Where did the time go?


Haley's swimming lesson went well again. I didn't hang out and watch this time, she just took off and then I went to Eleni and Jay's to sit for half an hour.

Eleni finally ventured out with the baby for the first time. We went to the mall and walked around and shopped and it was really nice. I got Savino a new rash guard for the pool, a long sleeved one that is pretty much too big. It will probably fit better next year. I got Haley a really cute outfit from Old Navy, a skort and a t-shirt that matched with 3/4 length sleeves. She looked very cute in it. It's going to be one of her vacation outfits.

I had to break down and tell Haley all about our plans for vacation, we have been keeping it a surprise, so that she will really try to work harder at her swimming lessons. She needs to learn how to swim well to fully enjoy herself at the water park when we go. She was so incredibly excited to hear all the plans. She is beside herself with anticipation. Thank goodness there is only a month until we go, I only have to hear about it for four weeks.

We tried to go to the pool this afternoon but the rain and thunder started up as soon as we got there. Haley got in about ten or fifteen minutes of swimming before we called it quits and left. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Despite slathering baby sunscreen on him, Savino is starting to tan up a little bit. He has skin like Tim and Haley, it must be the Italian/Greek in him, they all tan instantly and it takes a bit for them to burn. Haley always gets very tan during the summer, and their hair starts to lighten up and get blonde. Of course, Savino's hair is already pretty blonde, so it is getting almost silvery.

I think I have almost picked all the strawberries out of our patch for this first crop. There are a few more that haven't ripened yet, and the chipmunks or birds have discovered the strawberries and I lost probably fifteen or twenty to them before I went out and picked this evening, but overall I picked out quite a bit before they got to them! I am really pleased with the yeild this year. We even got some that could be considered "Goliath"-ish, they were pretty big. Everything I've read says the yeild goes down year after year, but I haven't experienced that yet. I just hope that the second crop is half as good as the first. We have enjoyed eating our fresh strawberries. They taste so good! There is a lot more flavor in them than the ones you buy in the store.

I bought Tim's father his Father's Day present today, an Ohio State hammer. Don't ask me. Tim wanted to get it for him for Christmas and they sold out of them before we could buy one. I saw one for sale in the mall today and bought it. At least I don't have to worry about that anymore. Father's Day shopping done. At least for Tim's father. I need to get Tim a card and figure out some sort of cute craft to give him from the kids. Haley made this totally adorable book that she printed out from some website and it has this really cute poem in it and places for her to color pictures and she did a really good job on it. She made it all by herself without any help from me! I almost started crying looking at it. She is so grown up! I am sure I can find some cute Father's Day craft for us to do for him.

I almost bought Tim a new wedding ring today, but managed to restrain myself. I HAVE to buy Haley's birthday presents before I buy anything for Tim. Our local Zales has a kick ass sale going on for pre-owned jewelry and Tim has tried this wedding band on before, and it even fits. I just hope no one buys it before I can. They also have a really nice men's titanium and diamond bracelet that I think he would like too. I managed to walk away without buying it, but it was a close thing.

OK, time to get the boy in the bath and then bed. Hopefully he sleeps well tonight!

I put on a documentary about Hiroshima and Nagasaki and I can't handle it. I have become such a wuss. I get too emotional. It's the pictures and video of the little kids and babies burned and dead and injured, it got to me. Anyone who thinks that war is no big deal needs to watch this documentary. It's pretty horrific.

Poor Tim. He was on call for restraints this weekend, if a kid was restrained he has to go in within an hour and do a physical on them. He was on call 8am to 8pm Saturday and today, and he did 22 physicals. TWENTY TWO. Insane. He was so frustrated by the end of the day today. They even called him at almost 9pm tonight after he was not on call anymore, so the madness is STILL going on. At least he gets paid per incident, so he made quite a bit, but still, he was gone the entire weekend practically. He had to help Jay install their new hot water heater too, so he was gone all today from 8am until almost 8pm.

I bit the bullet and got my hair cut on Saturday. I didn't get anything too drastic done, just half an inch off the ends and then I had long bangs cut in. I haven't had bangs in like 15 years. But I felt like I needed a change and have been thinking about it. I like the result, but I will have to straighten them every day for it to look right, because they look a little crazy curly. At least it only takes like a minute to do. I gave the hairdresser a huge tip because I made her flat iron my hair and it took her like an hour to do and she was 8 months pregnant. I figured since I go like 7 years between haircuts, I can afford to give a big tip when I get it done. I really like the result, but I don't think I will go back anytime soon.

We went to this Father's Day cookout on Saturday at Tim's mom and dad's. Don't get me started on why the father's day cookout is like a week from Father's Day. We got there an hour late because Tim was, of course, at the hospital, and we left after 45 minutes because, of course, Tim got called back into work. It was alright, nothing exciting. Tim's brother had some chick there, but he didn't introduce us to her and she didn't introduce herself and I didn't get a chance to sit down and talk to her because I was wrangling Savino and then eating and then we had to leave. So I have no idea who she was.

Today Haley and Savino and I went to the pool again, and Savino got in the big pool for the first time. I got them both inflatable pool things, just a plain ring for Haley and a baby float seat for Savino. He loved being in the big pool! We were in for about half an hour just floating around and he was splashing and babbling and enjoying himself. We got out when the adult swim time started and dried off and reapplied sunscreen and later he played in the baby pool, standing up at the side and splashing his hands in the water on the concrete. He seemed to really enjoy himself! We stayed at the pool for three hours, Haley was in heaven. She didn't even complain when it was time to leave, which was nice. Her swimming lessons start tomorrow morning, hopefully she will have a good time and not be grumpy.

Savino has yet to sleep through the night again, and I am so tired. I just keep reminding myself that it will happen, he's done it before, he will do it again. I am hoping that he has a very restful night because he played hard at the pool and didn't take an afternoon nap at all.

Tomorrow we have to go grocery shopping and order Haley's cake for her birthday. Tim's mom said she assumed we were having a party for Haley on Father's Day. I want to wring her neck. NO! We are having a party for Haley on her birthday! Not on Father's Day! I am not trying to have people over to my house, yet again. I really wanted to just have a low key thing with just our little family. I didn't want to have everyone over, much less cook for them. I am very disgruntled with Tim's mom. This will be the THIRD time in like a month and a half that someone has suggested that we have something at our house. Whatever.

I have yet to buy Haley any birthday presents either. Suck. I will have to go shopping one night after putting the baby to bed. I know what she wants, I just need to get out there and get it.

It wasn't much of a weekend, if you ask me. Tim wasn't around, and we didn't really do anything weekend-ish. I had a good time at the pool with the kids, but we're going to be at the pool a LOT this summer, so it's hardly anything to get excited about. Tim said he might ask for Friday off, that would be nice, but I am sure he will end up working on the little house, because he didn't get out there at ALL this weekend. Oh well. It is what it is.

Chantal borrowed more money off us this weekend, to pay us back on Friday or next weekend or whatever. I just kept my mouth shut. If you don't have anything nice to say, right?

I can't wait to go on vacation. I am so. ready.