Stuffy Reflections

Liz and I are both fighting allergies right now. Neither of us have been sleeping well and last night at 3 am we had a little party in her room. She woke up crying for me, sobbing for mommy in that sleepy voice of hers that I love so much. I went in and sat beside her bed trying to figure out which ailment was bothering her... from the obvious dripping nose I figured it was that. So I grabbed a few tissues, some more meds and a story and we cuddled and talked for awhile until I saw her getting sleepy again. For almost an hour it was just her and I... it felt like we were the only one's awake in the whole world. Just listening to her tell me about her minnie's, and blankies... watching her eyes light up as she found her favorite one's in the semi dark room. I realized that this time is passing so quickly. Before I know it I'll have someone else needing my attention at 3 am... someone else stealing my heart in those quiet moments of the night. But it also made me smile. In my wildest dreams I can't imagine possibly loving anyone as much as I do my Lizzy, but after I went back to bed around 4, Maddy woke up and was moving all around as if letting me know that she's going to want some late night fun too before long. And once again I felt my heart stretching.

In a few minutes we're leaving to go pumpkin picking. I love these fall moments (with my kid in shorts and sandals) :P It doesn't *feel* like fall outside, but spending time with Jay and Lizzy doing fun activities like hay rides, petting zoo's and pumpkin picking is enough fall for me. :)

My husband has been spoiling me lately. My back has been really sore for about a week now, our pillow top mattress was once much loved... and now it just drives me crazy b/c it's SO bad for my back. So he stopped in at Babies R Us the other day and picked up a Mother's Snuggly Pillow for me. I've had 2 great nights of sleep, where I've actually been able to go more than an hour or two without tossing and turning/peeing/waking up for some other reason. The night before last I slept for 5 hours straight! And last night even with Lizzy and I's little escapade I still knocked out from 4-9 this morning! :D Anyway, that's just one of the sweet things he's done for me lately. Just had to throw that out there... I'm blessed. :)

Anyway, we're leaving in 20 minutes and I need to finish getting ready. Just thought I'd share my little stuffy reflection. ;)

Woot Woot!

Okay, I'm super excited, I'm working on my website for Tailored Tots and for the next 10 days while we're working on it we have a new temp address.



(once we finish it it'll be shortened to either tailoredtots.com or something similar) but for now, y'all can see what I've been up to over there. I put the whole thing together myself so it's probably got a million spelling errors, but I'm working out the kinks. I'm slowly updating the product list so bear with me... but please please please let me know if you have the time to peek around... if you see anything that needs changed or updated definately say something! Y'all know me and grammer don't mix well. :P Let alone spelling. But I've had several people asking me to make bows for their girls in the last few days, so I'm trying to get this all together so I can do it right (aka legally) so it's a legit business. Anyway, y'all are my closest buddies... be honest please!

Love you all, thanks for all the encouragement and support. You guys are fantastic. :)

Christmas List

(For those who read my blog, this is entirely boring and unrelated to daily life.)

Okay, I needed a place to keep my Christmas list where Jay wouldn't happen across it, and this was the first thing that popped in my mind as he never reads my blog.

So here we are. It's that time of year again and I need to start making out lists for Liz, Jay, Madeline (yes I'll do some shopping for her too since she'll be here so soon after the holidays), my family, Jay's family, and then a few friends. Whew. That's a long list. Usually by this time of year I'm almost finished... or at least have a good start. Uh, yeah, not this year. I have about 3 things for Lizzy and that's it, haven't even started on anyone else yet.

(I'll probably update this and change it 30 million times but I like having it in front of me where at least I can get a start)

The stuff that has a (*) are things I've already purchased.
Here goes:

Elizabeth:
*Red and Black scottie dog outfit
*Jumbo sidewalk chalk (for stocking)
*Look and Find Nemo book
FP Little People - Time to learn Preschool http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2299121
Small Table and Chairs for her playroom http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2309217
FP Little People - Learning zoo. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3985040
Meet the Robinsons DVD
The Jungle Book DVD
And probably a few more clothes things including some panties as I'm deterimined to have this child potty trained before Maddy arrives.
I'm going to do a Little People stocking for Liz this year, they have lots of little sets so I'll add some of those into her stocking, bubble bath, character washcloth, etc.

Jay:
Clothes. My husband needs clothes and this is something he loves getting for Christmas so there you have it. Mostly clothes for him.
Harbor Freight gift card for his stocking.
A new Watch.
Armani Mania
A new movie (though I have no idea what)
and maybe a board game, idk, he loves board games but we have a bunch of them... i need to figure out something fun though. I hate to make it an all clothes/accessories christmas... even though he likes it, it's not all that fun, and he's a fun guy... I'll think on this one.

Madeline:
*Blankets
Her name in wooden letters to go above her crib.
Something special but simple... not sure what yet but it'll hit me.

And I just realized, pretty much everyone else on my list has access to my myspace which has a link to this, so I guess I'll save my extended family and friend's list on the computer. Off to work on it...

(What a pitiful list this turned out to be... I've got to get thinking of what I can do for Jay and Maddy! AHHHHH) For those of you who were bored enough to read this... any suggestions for something Fun for Jay and something special for the baby?

Loooong Night.

I realized last night, about 1:30 in the morning... I'm not as ready as I thought I was for Madeline. Seriously. Lizzy has a cold/allergies and was up every hour on the hour from 7 until 1:30 this morning... we used the snot sucker thingy, but she was absolutely dripping from the nose - the poor kid soaked through her blankie, her pillow and sheet within 3 hours... (and I'm not talking about pee) between the drool b/c she couldn't breathe out her nose and the drippings from her nose she was miserable. My poor baby would cry and cry and I felt so awful. I didn't want to give her any Benedryl since we weren't positive it was allergies and I didn't want to cover up any other symptoms... but in those 5 1/2 hours I realized... I am not ready for Madeline yet. I went to bed around 8 and then the two of us were up until close to 2 am by the time I got her back to sleep that last time... And my body felt almost numb, I was sooooo tired. I cannot even begin to imagine Maddy getting up several times a night and then Lizzy getting up if she's sick too? Lord in heavens shoot me now. Fortunately this is rare... a call into the nurse at midnight said it was okay to give her one dose of Benedryl the next time she woke up - so when she went down at 2, she was able to sleep until 9 this morning. However, Jay got up at 6 for work so I was up with him for awhile. I went back to bed a little after 7, and then woke up at 8:30 and couldn't get back to sleep. Liz had soaked her diaper (sheets, blankets, etc) when she got up this morning, but she was in good spirits. Dried snot all over her face, neck, hair and PJ's... but all smiles all the same. LOL

So on top of the full load of laundry I have just from the last 12 hours of my daughters life, I also realized that I'm not quite as ready for this baby as I thought. What if they both get sick? What if all 4 of us get sick?! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH. That is a scary thought.

Anyway, they *promised* my car would be ready tonight (though I have to drop it off again this weekend to get the AC fixed) but at least this way I'll have something to drive... but until then, Liz and I are having a house day. Which works for me. The last few days have been crazy. I'm ready for a break. So that's the most recent update. I hope Liz takes a long nap today... it's only 10 am and I could use one. *yawn*

Tailored Tots

I'm trying the name on for size - nothings been ordered yet, but I really like this one best so far.

Oh and for those I haven't told yet, I started a small business of boutique style bows. Originally I was only going to do bows, but the business has grown so now in addition to our Boutique Bows, we offer Confetti Bows, Pinwheel Bows, Headbands, Personalized Accessory Organizers, Baby Blankets and coming soon: Our new line of A-line dresses for girls, and pantall's for boys and girls.

The link is to the left.

I've only got pictures of a few bows up so far as we're having some professional shots done of the PAO's, baby blankets and clothing. (Not to mention the clothing is a very small line thus far so I'm trying to build up my inventory right now as well.) Once I finish these next 2 dresses and set of pantall's I'll put them all online.

Anyway... so this is what I've been busy with. What do y'all think of the name? Tailored Tots fits better than Bizzy Lizzy Boutique both on clothing tags but also because we offer several boy lines (blankets and pants) BLB sounded too girly for me. We've got a few other names we're thinking of... but this is it for now. :)

Take a peek around my website and let me know what you think of my new line of bows! There are several I haven't had a chance to upload yet but this is sort of a brief overview of what we've got so far. Hope y'all like it!

20 Weeks Today!

Wow. It's official guys... we're half way there!!!! Scary. And exciting. Mostly scary though. LOL A couple pregnancy updates... the worst being I'm having horrible horrible, gut wrenching, wake up with tears streaming down my face nightmares... every. single. night. Sometimes multiple times a night. :( From most of my mommytobe friends I've been chatting with that are about the same in weeks, it's started for them also, so I don't think it's anything abnormal, so much as terribly scary. I hate falling asleep right now, even naps bring on dreams of Lizzy being kidnapped, Jay being shot, Maddy having issues... it's awful. I think it also has alot to do with the stress I've been under so I'm really going to try and take it easy this week. Jay's going to make a point of leaving business stress at the door, and I'm going to try to keep Lizzy's day to day learnings (aka pushing mommy's buttons) at the door and really try to see the bright side this week. I'll hopefully have my car back by Wednesday or Thursday, and Jay's mom is lending me her car so I can get to Tiff's in the morning to watch the kiddo's for her... that'll be an extra $30 which always helps as well.

Okay, enough of the Debby Downer. On an upside, Madeline has been kicking up a storm lately... it's funny because every time she does - I respond outloud with "Well, Hi baby!" And now Lizzy will see me stop suddenly and put my hand on my tummy, and she'll say "Hi baby!" even before I do. LOL It's so cute. She thinks my dad is having a baby. Hahaha. Daddy told me the other night, "I guess I need to work on my diet a little more as my grandaughter is convinced I'm going to have a baby soon." Too cute. After my big vent thread the other day, things have started looking up again on all fronts. The stress is still there, but I've got a good handle on it. I don't feel so frustrated with life, Liz or Jay - let alone bills, business or our cars. I've learned a valuable lesson through all of this... Life happens. And when life happens - be it good or bad, having friends who are there to offer hugs or a kind word make all the differance in the world... what once felt unbearable, is now tolerable. And I love y'all dearly for that. So anyways... life isn't so bad, it's just... life.

On the upside... the Bizzy Lizzy Boutique is doing quite well, though I'm thinking of renaming it. I took on a line of boy's pant and shortall's and it sounds a little too girly for boy stuff. So Jay and I are working on another name... I sort of just want something fun, unrelated to clothes etc. I had an idea this morning but the more I said it outloud I didn't like it... so anyways, once we rename it we can get our new website up. The current one is a freebie and has a funky address. But it works. I picked up some fabric today for a couple new dresses for Liz, and I've started making some new types of bows - so that's fun too. I've long wanted to make these but haven't taken the time to learn how - well now I have so tomorrow I'm going to put together some fall and christmas one's to see how it turns out... I'll post pics when I'm done.

So far I have regular bows, head bands, these new confetti bows, A-line dresses for babies and toddlers, Smock overcoats for toddler girls, pantall's for boys and baby blankets in various sizes. I can't wait to get our good website up and going... it'll feel more real then. I really need to get on a new name... once I get that done I can get my cards, clothing tags and website finished and then we'll be ready to go. Right now it's just word of mouth and local mom friends who buy my bows. I'm anxious to start selling the clothing as well as the blanket's and new bows.

I put together 4 new set's of christmas bows today and 3 new Halloween/Fall style sets. It took me about an hour to do all 7 sets. Not bad for time in front of the TV. ;)

So anyway, that's what's new. I'm half way there... somewhat scared of life with 2 kids. But also excited to see how it all works out. It hit me today at lunch that this time next year, I'll have one in a high chair and one running around the booth... lunch without Jay will cease to happen. LOL And even then, I have a feeling I'm going to be pretty worn out here soon. But, on the other hand... meeting Madeline and watching our family grow will be well worth the tiredness of learning how to do it all. I'm glad Jay likes to help out with Liz. If it wasn't for him - I'd be one foot in the grave right now - Maddy doesn't let me sleep well except on my left side, which I have a hard time staying on... all. night. long.

Everyone keep their fingers crossed that the nightmares subside a bit this week... hopefully if I take it a bit easier and try to only think of the positives in our life the dreams will ease up. Here's hoping! I'm off to bed... it's way past my bedtime, but putting off the inevitable just means I'm going to need a nap ever moreso tomorrow. LOL

Long but Fun Day.

Yesterday morning Lizzy, Jay and I all woke up pretty early... Jay had a ton of work to do but took pity on me and Liz and offerred to drive us to the Charleston Mommies Day out in downtown Charleston since my car is *still* in the shop and he had a bid to do downtown anyways. So off we go! He dropped us off at 10am at the pineapple fountain where I met up with Ashley and her 9 month old Emery:

Kay and her 9 month old Abby:

And Shannon and her 11 week old Riley:

We spent alot of time just playing around, chatting and letting the kids crawl/run around. I was proud of Lizzy, she's doing really well with being gentle around babies... she loved helping miss Emery keep her paci in, and they all shared some snacks. :)

After awhile we all walked over to T-Bonz where after much confusion with finding places for all the strollers, high chairs, boosters, etc, we had a nice lunch. A good time was had by all and before long we all said our goodbyes....

Liz and I decided to stay awhile (since daddy was busy over in Mt. P working) so we walked down King Street, browsed some shops for Christmas shopping... I got some ideas for Jay for Christmas, and then she and I walked to the Calhoun park and played around with the leaves, watched some doggies and enjoyed each other's company. About 30 minutes after we got there some CofC kids walked up and started tossing a football, Liz was all eyes... she *loves* watching people throw balls... everytime they'd throw the ball she'd clasp her hands and squeal "Fooball! Fooball!" It was really cute to watch. The kids got a laugh too watching her get so excited, so when they decided to take a break one of the guys walked over to his backpack and pulled out an extra football and brought it over to her so she could play for awhile too! That just made her day, she was glowing as she said "Thank you!!!" So we worked on "catch" (aka... mommy tosses it and it hits her in the tummy, rolls right off her arms and she giggles) LOL And throwing... aka... running at mommy, dropping the ball and then running away as fast as she could. She loved it. We played for nearly an hour back and forth, back and forth... eventually she was looking REALLY sleepy (technically she should have been home napping an hour ago, but we were trying not to rush daddy so we were just pushing through) so we returned the ball... (she tossed it at the kid and he caught it, making her grin from ear to ear as she said thank you again...) Then I spread out a couple of her blankets I brought along (since it was chilly when we went first got there) and we layed down and stared at the sky for awhile, she'd close her eyes and lay there for awhile while I scratched her back and then she'd perk up, run a few laps around the tree we were sitting under and then come back and lay down again. LOL Cutie pie.

Running around the tree:

Sweet smiles for mommy:

Blue eyes... ;)

Daddy finally called around 3 and we met up with him, loaded Liz up and she was out cold before we'd left downtown. LOL She napped for about 20 minutes on the way home and then when *I* was ready to nap after we got home, she was wide awake. *sigh* No such luck. LOL So instead we ran around, paid some bills, picked up dessert for home group and dropped Liz off at my parents (they left for Hawaii for 10 days today so they offered to watch her while we were at small goup, which I appreciated... it's hard to enjoy the group when I'm constantly worried about Liz getting into stuff at other peoples houses, or worrying about her and the group leaders 2 year old getting into it over a toy or something) Anyways... picked up a cherry cheeecake pie (YUM) from Publix and off we went. We didn't leave group until after 10pm and when we went to pick up Liz, she was still wide awake playing with Pawpaw... so after no nap, and staying out later than she has in months... my kiddo went straight to bed when we got home and slept until 8:30 this morning.

So that was our long but fun day. Hopefully Jay won't work to late today so we can do something later on... although it's noon and I admit, I'm still in my PJ's and enjoying not having to be anywhere right now. ;)