What a Year!

On July 23, 2011, I started my 365 photo challenge.   A picture a day for a year.  I was 33 years old.  I was a mother of one.  I was living in Virginia.  What a difference a year makes!  I am now 34.  I am  a mother of two.  I am living in the Pitty.  All things that I had no idea would change in 365 days.  This project has become so much more than I originally planned.  It started off as a way to encourage myself to learn to use my new camera.  It ended up being a place for me to share my thoughts, use my creativity, and chronicle my families memories.  I think I only missed about 10 days total throughout the year.  With all I have had going on this year, I am pretty proud of my self.  I have also found that this blog has become a great way to stay in touch with our family and friends.  They can check in and see what we are really up too.   Most importantly for me it has become a place that I can see my highs and lows.  I can smile and laugh and cry as I look back over the last year.  And although I can't promise to get a picture in every day, I am going to continue using my camera and the 365 formant to continue recording our mundane life!  Hope you will keep coming back to visit!
Here is the last picture of my 33rd year.  It is Doodle and I blowing out my birthday candels.  I was not really in the mood to celebrate, but  she insisted that I have a cake, we sing (even though she hate the birthday song and plugs her ears whenever it is sung) and that I have the first piece of cake.  We managed to find the tiniest cake at the store just so she could make sure I celebrated in style.  I have mentioned that I love that kid!  Unfortunately Sadie was already in bed and didn't get to participate in the festivities.

July 22 (365/365)

Tucked Tails and Feathered Nests

I have come to the time to discuss the move, and farewells.  I had this image of a picture of the girls sitting on the steps in front of our house.  I imagined pictures of the boxes with a baby sleeping on top.  I wanted to remember the move for the girls, and I wanted that time to be sappy for my self.  Well, pre-eclampsia had another thing in mind.  I totally missed the packing phase of moving.  In fact, I didn't even come home to my own house after leaving the hospital.  We all took up residence at Sisterwife's house.  She and the fam were out of town, so we had plenty of space.  I was to exhausted to tromp the girls down the hill to take my nastolgic picture.  In fact, I was so wiped out that I pretty much bypassed saying good bye to everyone.  Truth be told, I am glad Sisterwife and the fam were out of town and that we missed out on saying good bye.  I would have lost it.  I know I would have lost it because this is how my conversation with Landlord went

Me: I'm coming by to drop of the keys and give you a hug, but I can't do a real goodbye
LL: I'll be prepared
Me: (while hugging LL and crying like a baby) Thanks for being our VA family!  We love you guys!
LL: (unable to talk through tears so just hugs me tighter)
Me: If we don't stop hugging the neighbors will think we are lesbians
LL: (laughing while wiping tears from her face)
Me: by the way since you are no longer our landlord, your offical blog name will be Speed Racer
LL: Okay
And with that I walked back to the car and lost it.  I sobbed out loud.  I don't think I could have done that twice.  I also don't think I could have kept my cool in front of Doodle.  This way she wasn't present for my blubbering goodbye.   After my quick escape, I looked at this picture I took of Doodle at her last day of dance and it pretty much summed up my cowardly goodbyes.  I tucked my tail and ran!

July 16 (362/365)

So now that I have shown you how I failed at goodbye, I do have a deep thought to share.  It's a bit of a story, so bear with me.  When Sisterwife lived next door to us, each spring a bird would build a nest on the wreath on their front door.  I know it wasn't the same bird each year (because frankly what bird would be dumb enough to build their house on a door that is frequently opened year after year) but I liked knowing that each spring, I would need to be warry of the protective mama bird if I went to Sisterwife's front door.  It was a little strange this spring when there wasn't a nest on the door.  There was a nest in a nearby tree, but it just wasn't the same.  Anyway, while we were staying at Sisterwife's house, I happened to look up in the corner of the front porch and saw this

July 23 (1/365)

It made me think of the bird on the front door.  And that reminded me that home is truely where ever you are.  If you can "feather your nest" with the people you love most in the world, home can be anywhere.  I am reminding myself that if I choose to be positive about the Pitty, then hopefully I will come to think of it as another home.  I have to make our nest a happy, positive place for our girls.  Doodle will look to me and her daddy to see how to handle this giant change in our lives, and I want her to see the postive side of moving and not be too heart broken.  It is challenging and it is hard, but I have my family and that is all that matters right now!

So This Is Why People Have Husbands!

My Favoritest had an entire week off before he went to Pixburb.  I was equal parts excited to have him around and spend time with him, and dreading having him throw me off my routine when I had lots to do!  Usually when he is home he is a bad influence on both Doodle and I.  We don't get moving till late in the day.  We end up taking the long way around to get anything done.  Things just don't happen when he is around.  Well, this week, I must eat my words.  He was super productive.  He cleaned out my car, scrubbed the mats, cleaned out his car, cleaned the front porch, changed light bulbs,  took Doodle to Little Gym, and dealt with a whiney strep infected 3 year old.  It was pretty awesome if I do say so myself.  Sisterwife and I always laugh that we can totally understand how it would be nice to have a second wife around, but that you couldn't pay either of us to have a second husband! Well, if I had someone this helpful home all the time, I might consider it!
Here's a picture of Doodle helping My Favoritest replace a light bulb.  She was so excited that Daddy asked her to help him!

June 29 (344/365)

The only thing My Favoritest didn't do all week was shave:)  Here's my bearded man!

June 28 (343/365)

Really Ready! Really!

So while Doodle and My Favoritest enjoyed a date at Chick-a-Way, I enjoyed my own night out. My night involved actually acting like we are going to have a second child moving into our house in less than a month (at the time of the picture).  I hit the Target and gathered all the things I could think of that needed to be replaced.  The best part of the story is that I took the money from the garage sale and only spent about $20 out of the checking account!  Love it when that happens!

June 17 (332/365)

Along the same lines I finally made Doodle a calendar to help her keep up with everyone's comings and goings.  It was getting a little confusing to her to keep up with the time line in relation to Sadie and Pixburb. 

June 23 (338/365)

And, just to make everyone else more comfortable, I actually packed a hospital bag.  When I was pregnant with Doodle, I was in such denial that I was going to have a baby that my dear friends JJ and Maimie had to come and pack a bag for me, seriously!  They will both be glad to know it is packed, and yes JJ, I got the important stuff:)

June 27 (342/365)

Apparently I am not the only one who decided a little last minute planning was in order.  I took a few minutes to look over "What to Expect the First Year".  I left the book on the couch and ever since Doodle has been enjoying reading the book about "taking care of baby Sadie".  At least one of us will know what is going on!

June 30 (345/365)

Daddy Date Night

While sitting in The Little Gym one day an employee of the Chick-Fil-A at the mall brought in some flyers about a Daddy Daughter Date night.  I was excited for Doodle to have a date with her daddy.  I was even more excited for me to have a date by myself.  They had a great time and she loved having a date with Daddy all by herself!  I dropped her off at My Favoritest's office and forced them both into letting me take some pictures of them together.

June 15 (330/365)

Still Life

So life definitely not been boring of late, but I haven't always had my camera on had.  So, I have ended up taking some still life shots.  Not anything ground breaking, but it has been fun to play around!

Reflection of door knob in dog's water bowl

June 12 (327/365)

 Hole filled leaf against the dusky sky.  Love the color combinations of this!

June 16 (331/365)

Obviously I enjoy reflections.  This is a reflection of the pillow behind a lamp.  The pillow says "Home Sweet Home" and just in front of the pillow is a snow globe of downtown Pittsburgh.  I promise, I didn't place it there.  Maybe it is God's way of reminding me that home will be where we make it!

June 21 (336/365)

 My attempt at capturing the shadows of the leaves outside our window.  It looked a little bit like lace in real life.  In the picture, it looks much more like a dark night sky and the moon peaking out of the corner. 

June 25 (340/365)

Pirate Picnic

In the midst of our swimming struggles, I promised Doodle a dinner picnic at the pool.  My Favoritest was on call and it was a perfect night for a picnic dinner.  Doodle napped (which was part of the deal), and as she watched a little TV, I gathered dinner supplies.  I was wrapping the hotdogs as the show was ending.  My timing was perfect.  I told Doodle I was heading upstairs to put on my "baking suit" (thats what we wear to the pool and if you correct my kid before kindergarten I will hurt you) and I'd call her when I was ready to help her get ready.  I got upstairs, pulled on my baking suit bottom and heard a quiet little snap.  And the night went down hill.  The elastic in my one and only maternity bathing suit snapped.  No pool for us.  Now to explain this to a uber excited 3 year old!  As I told her what happened she threw herself across a chair and said "but Mommy I was soooo excited to go to the pool"and then she started crying.  It broke my heart.  I had to think quickly.  Then I remember My Favoritest had taped Muppet Treasure Island for Doodle.  I quickly came up with a plan for a Pirate Picnic.  I threw the picnic blanket over a table, put the food out, turned on the movie, and had a happy kid:) 

June 14(329/365)

Missing fish

 Last summer, when I started really working on this blog, Doodle was in swimming lessons.  Well, we came full circle and she is back at it.  I must admit, I was a little sad to see that my fish had lost her fins over the winter.  Totally my fault, I didn't take advantage of the indoor pool available to us.  But, hind sight is 20/20 and hopefully I will be a better swim mamma this winter.  We decided to go the laid back route this year.  The YMCA has recently taken over management of our local pool, so we gave it a try. The first few classes were great and I thought we were making progress.  

June 13 (328/365)

Then it wasn't so great and I am confident we regressed.  Doodle was terrified of the water.  She even lied to get out of her turn!  Even worse, she was trying to teach Jayburb how to get out of floating on his back!  We were heading down hill quickly!

June 19 (334/365)
Notice how relaxed she looks!

And this is the trick she was trying to teach Jayburb... If you reach around with your arms you can hold on the the teacher and she can't let go of you!

 I was wondering if more of the same or something different was what we needed.  It broke my heart to see her fearful of something she truly wanted to enjoy.  Truth be told she would be happy floating around on her noodle all day long!  Low and behold, the end of lessons arrived and we had made enough progress to get back where we started from!  Which was really no where.  I was disappointed, but determined.  
And by determined I mean obsessed with making her like the pool again.  So Sunday afternoon we took a family trip to the pool.  We packed a picnic lunch and met our friends.  My Favoritest even graced us with his presence, which is how I got these pictures of the fish transformation!  She jumped off the stairs and went underwater.  She jumped off the side without me holding her hands.  My little fish was back!

She was having so much fun, she wouldn't eat lunch, only wanted to swim.  Which is when the tragedy happened.  The whistle blew.... 20 minutes early.  Why?  It starts with a P and and ends with a P and this one was not a floater!  More importantly it was not left by anyone in our crew (although almost all the kids have closed a pool at sometime in their short lives).  It did however close the pool and break my daughters heart.  We loaded a crying and pouting kid into the stroller and headed home.

June 24 (339/365)

And just in case you were wondering, here is a picture of me and Sadie and the big sister to be:)

37 wks 1 day

Eye Of The Dog

Anyone who says animals don't have feelings or emotions, didn't have pets!  I don't care what kind of a pet you have, if you love it and care for it you learn to read its emotions.  With our pup-pups one look into their eyes can tell you so much.  With Lo-Lo the eyes almost always tell you that he is hungry or looking for trouble:)  Zoe is a little older and wiser and projects deeper thoughts through her eyes.  I can often tell that she is worried, happy, or curious with one look at her face.  That being said, these pictures aren't really a fair glimpse into their minds.  They were both taken later in the evening when the dogs were sleepy and still.  

May 14 (298/365)

May 15 (299/365)

So now that I have shared my oldest children at their calmest, here's a little pic of them at their wildest.

May 19 (303/365)

Zoe was my first child.  She was my companion before My Favoritest came into my life.  She was the first Big Sister when we got the beagle.  And then she became protector over Doodle.  I can remember (even before I was pregnant with Doodle) worrying that Zoe would die before I had kids, or that she would die before my imaginary children would remember her  as their childhood dog.  I know it sounds crazy, but she has been my constant for 12 years (I got her just after graduation), and the thought that I would have children who didn't remember her broke my heart.  So on nights when the pups are playing and rough housing my heart sings along with the joyous song of Doodle squealing and giggling in perfect harmony with barks and playful growls.  

I know that Doodle will have memories of her Zoe Girl and Lo-Lo.  And I know she will think of them as her childhood pup-pups! Now, we just have to keep them both healthy and happy so Sadie can join in the song!

Twice as Nice

Mother's Day... The day we should tell our mothers how important and special they are.  A day when mom gets a break.  A day to spend together as a family.  These are all the things I think of.  None of them happened on Mother's Day.  My Favoritest (who was not my favorite person that day) slept until 9:00 then napped from about 10:00-11:45.  I was so angry.  He was so oblivious.  I attempted to storm out and take Doodle to the arts and craft show in the park, but by the time I got to the top of the hill I was tired and hot and lost all my steam.  We came home.  My Favoritest offered to take us to lunch.  I made the mistake of mentioning a new restaurant with a playground to Doodle.  That was where we ended up.  It was not so great.  I came home and cooked dinner.  All in all a craptastic Mother's Day.   All I can say is at least Doodle enjoyed the playground.

May 13 (297/365)

Flash forward to the following Sunday.  My Favoritest (who was once again my favorite person) decided to try and make up for his epic fail the week before.  He took us out to lunch at one of our favorite placed Devil's Backbone.  We had a yummy lunch.  Doodle enjoyed being outside.  We even got to watch a helicopter take off.  We spent the day together as a family.  It was great!  

Doodle checking out the fish pond

With both my girls:)  32 Weeks

May 20 (304/365)
Doodle climbing on the rocks

Watching the helicopter take off! 

My Little Mess!

When I describe Doodle, I often say she is a mess.  It is a description that matches her physically at times, and almost always matches her personality.   Here are just a few examples of my mess.


She must be the only child who can eat an icy pop and manage to get syrup on her leg!  Like I said.... a mess!

May 1 (285/365)

Lucky for me she is willing to help in the task of cleaning up.  She is obsessed with helping with the laundry.  Always has been.  Recently she has been obsessed with using the stool to be able to reach and help me do more and more things.  Now she can really help with the laundry.

May 3 (287/365)

She amazes me at the level of excitement she can create around something so boring!  For example, new shoes.  My friend Kate sent me a box of clothes and shoes that her daughter had outgrown.  We have slowly been working our way through the box for the last 2 years.  Amongst the shoes, there were a pair of purple crocs.  They have fit Doodle for a while now, but we haven't been able to wear them because of the weather.  I pulled them out the other day because they matched her outfit perfectly.  She was so excited!  She told me they helped her to jump "the biggest jump you ever seen"!

May 4 (288/365)

When Bubbie was here, she bought Doodle some outdoor toys.  Among them was a medium size yellow ball.  A couple of weeks ago, our neighbors dog got ahold of the yellow ball and it no longer exists.  They were so sorry and apologetic.  They replaced the ball, but couldn't find a medium sized one.  So instead, Doodle is the proud owner of a big green ball.  That now lives inside.  That has become her main entertainment source.  She is constantly rolling around on it trying to figure out new tricks to try!

May 5 (289/365)

And while she may be to busy getting into messes to stop for  a hug or a kiss, she is always willing to slow down and share some zert (dessert) with her daddy:)

May 6 (290/365)

Preparing for Baby

We are slowly getting ready for the arrival of Sadie Jane.  Since we have already been there and done that, there isn't much that we need to do.  Between the bulk of thinks we have left over from Doodle and the impending move the instinct to nest has been put on the back burner.  There are a couple of things that we needed to get ready for number two.  One was a stroller to hold both girls.  I know, Doodle is going to be 4 in october, but remember she has short legs and they tire easily.  Besides, as I learned from my dear friend Matt Saw Abear you aren't done with strollers until one collapses on you going up the curb:)  So, we purchased a new stroller that can be a single or a double.  Here is Doodle modeling her new ride.  She loves it because she can climb in by herself!  We will see how much she likes it when she is on the bottom!

April 27 (281/365)

Bonus Belly Pic 29 weeks

Because there are a few other odds and ends that we need to get, I emptied my friend the piggy bank!  We don't spend change in our house, it all goes into a piggy bank I painted years ago during a visit with  my younger more fun mom:)  It's missing an ear, but still holds a ton of change!  My plan is to take that bag of money to the coinstar machine, get an amazon gift card and finish picking up the odds and ends that we need.

April 30 (284/365)

Bubbie Does It Better

Most mornings Doodle asks for cereal for breakfast.  We are super health conscious at our house and she has a limited choice of cereal..... froot loops, coco puffs, cheerios (honey nut of course) and just do we don't go into sugar overload checks.  Like I said, we are healthy.  Well a few weeks ago as we were coming down stairs Doodle asks if we can have fried moxah.  I know, you have no idea what I am talking about.  Don't worry, neither did I.  She repeated herself about 3 times. When I still didn't understand what she wanted she added "fired moxah like Bubbie makes".  And then I realized she was talking about fried matzah.  A full 4 weeks after Passover.  Since we had all the ingredients, I was happy to oblige.  She helped me make it and was very excited to sit down to breakfast.  About 3 bites in, she looks at me and says "Mommy, Bubbie makes this better!"  I had to agree with her.  There are somethings you mommy always makes better!

April 16 (270/365)

But I'm Just Too Little

I have posted before about Doodle being small.  She is 3.5 years old and weighs 24 pounds and is 34in tall (I think).  We are constantly walking a fine line between encouraging her to be independent despite her lack of height, and making sure she stays safe.  She is just starting to be aware that she is smaller than other people.  Sometimes it is in relation to us "mommy, you are taller than me", and sometimes it is in relation to her friends "mommy I am smaller than Jayburb".  Up until recently it has just been a statement of fact.  She hadn't realized that her height affected what she could and could not do.
During Doodle's spring break we spent a fun filled day at the Harrisonburg children's museum.  We went with a couple of our neighbors and the kids had a great day.  While we were there, I took this picture of Doodle.  She climbed up on the shelf, and because she is the size she is, she fit.  I remember thinking when I took it, "good thing you aren't much bigger".

April 12 (267/365)

That night as she was getting ready for bed, I was chaining her diaper (I know, we will get there someday) and she was chatting away. I can't remember what she was talking about, but she told me she couldn't do it because she was too little.  It was the first time I remember her realizing her height was limiting her abilities. It broke my heart just a little bit.  And the image of her sitting on the shelf popped in my head.  And I immediately started telling her that she could learn to do whatever it was she was talking about.  

I don't mean to sound melodramatic.  Being short is not the end of the world.  In fact it has it's advantages sometimes.  But, she is starting to realize that kids her age will probably be faster, stronger, taller, and bigger.  All kids are going to have their stumbling blocks and challenges, she is just discovering one of hers early in life.  Having been there, done that, I don't ever want Doodle to use it as an excuse.  I want her to be confident and strong and assertive.  I want her to problem solve and use her creativity to figure out how to get what she wants no matter how high above her head it is.   Those desires for my little Doodle force me to watch her struggle to climb in a chair, give me the patience to encourage her to pull the stool all over the kitchen so she can help me do chores, cause me to slow my steps so her little legs can keep up, and remind me to breath when she tries something a little dangerous and scary for the first time.  

Random Recall

And once again, life has gotten in the way of blogging. We have been chugging along (at a slightly slower preggo pace) trying to get all our ducks in a row.  So here I sit in Starbucks ready to get busy blogging and I realize that I don't have my you know what together.  I don't have pictures downloaded where they need to be.  Oh well.  I guess one post is better than none!  There is not much theme to what I've got here, and there are some good stories in the middle.  so I'm just going to post some random pictures out of order and save the good stories for individual posts!

April 10 (265/365)

April 11 (266/365)

We enjoyed a lovely family dinner out and discovered that fries make a great dessert... when they are made of funnel cake, topped with ice cream and whip cream, and served with 3 spoons! 

April 13 (268/365)

I attempted to get a good shot of the juice droplets on the cucumber.  Notice I said attempted.  It didn't work.  My intention was good.  When I took this picture, I remember thinking of summer time.  Not sure why, but that was where my brain was.

April 14 (269/365)

Here's a shot of Landlord's Youngest and Doodle being silly!  We spent a lovely, hot morning at the elementary school playground.

April 15 (270/365)