I'm a Baby Wearer..get over it

I can recall the exact responses and looks I got when I told family and friends that I was planning on wearing my baby. Sometimes I got blank looks, other said "Oh! How neat!" and MANY other said "Ohhhhh---kaaaay," as if I were crazy. But, since I'm an individual, I forged ahead. I researched every type of sling and wrap I could find information on. I looked at name brand ones, home made ones, ones made with plain fabric, ones made with patters, carriers, ring slings, pouch slings, wraps..the list went on and on and on. How was I ever going to decide? I just about drove myself nuts with all the choices. Since I live in very rural Ohio, there wasn't a store I could go to and see all the choices. I had to run on instinct alone. Then, like a shining beacon, I saw Our Life Upstate . I don't remember how I stumbled upon her and her blog, but guess what?! She wore her baby! And blogged about it! How fabulous! I took lots of tips from her. Then my friend Gwenn said she was planning on getting some different types of carriers for her baby. Even better! After tons and tons of research and discussions with these two, and other, baby wearers I picked the Moby. I mostly decided on the Moby because it looked easy enough to make at home! I didn't want to pay full price, mostly because I'm just cheap and I knew I could make one cheaper. So, that was my plan. I put off buying the material because, even though I'm getting craftier, I wasn't sure I was willing to tackle the Moby just yet. Then, one day, I found a Moby at a garage sale! YAHOO!!! I was dying to try it out!
When Brinna was born, I took it to the hospital with me. I'm not ashamed to admit it, I wanted to put that tiny baby in that Moby so bad! I never did use it at the hospital though! No reason really, I just didn't. Once I did get around to putting her in it, my life completely changed. It really did!
I was amazed at how comfortable the Moby is. It's a lot, and I do mean A LOT of material, but it's not hard, once you get the hang of it. I wear my Moby all the time, even if there's not a baby in it! :) If I'm going somewhere, whether it's a quick trip to the post office or a long trip to the grocery, I put on my Moby. I like to put mine on before I leave the house and wear it in the car. Then when I get to my destination, I take Brinna out of her carseat, pop her in the Moby, get Adelae and we're off! I wear Brinna at home too. If I have dishes to do and she's being fussy, I put her in the Moby. She falls asleep almost instantly. She'll sleep in the Moby for hours. It's great! She's all warm, snuggly and very happy. I can get things done and she gets a nice long nap in. The best of both worlds!

Fall is here!

Small Talk Six is back! Well, I guess it never really left, I just abandoned it for a few weeks. But, I'm back and ready to tackle it again this week! This weeks topic is "6 Things You Love or Hate About Autumn." I love fall, it's my favorite season, so this one is easy for me.

1. FOOTBALL!!!! I love football! I'm so glad that Ben finally has weekends off so we can watch the games together. I am, however, very sad that we don't have cable, so the amount of games we get to watch is very limited.

2. I love it when the leaves change colors. It always looks pretty. It's really cool to look at the small woods behind out house and see all the beautiful colors.

3. I love fall clothes. I love wearing jeans, long sleeved t-shirts and hoodies. I always feel so cozy when I'm all bundled up.

4. I love the moderate temperatures. Warm in the day, cool at night. (Not that it's really been that hot this summer.)

5. The smell of the air is totally different in the fall. Maybe I notice it more since I live in the country, but the air gets crisper with just a tiny bite of cold. Add that to the smell of leaves and it's perfect! Almost as good as fresh mowed grass, but not quite.

6. I hate that winter is right around the corner. I do not like winter.

What do you love or hate about fall?

Wordless Wednesday

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2 Years and Counting

Today is Ben and I's two year wedding anniversary! It seems so crazy to me that it's only been two years. I feel like we've been married for so much longer! I think that's mostly because things have always been so easy with Ben. I'm not saying we don't fight, because we do! Boy do we! :) But after it's all said and done, he's still the one I want to spend the rest of my life with. I never once had any second thoughts about marrying him. I knew, and still know, that he's my soul mate.

I always wanted Prince Charming to sweep me off my feet. If you know Ben, he's not the sweep you off your feet kind of guy. He's more like the "Puke on your head and not call you the next day cause he's hanging out with his ex-girlfriend" kind of guy. Yeah...all you that know the story, take a minute and have a good laugh. If you don't know the story..well..if you beg hard enough, I'll tell it to you some day.

I find myself, on our anniversary, not reliving our wedding day, but our first date. (No, not the one where he puked on my head, but our first real date.) It was awful and wonderful at the same time. My car wouldn't start (turns out it wasn't in Park all the way..I'm kind of an idiot that way), he had bought strawberry daiquiri mix but didn't have a blender and he rented the worst movie I've ever seen (The Fog). But it all worked out. My car eventually started (must put in PARK first...duh!), we scrapped the idea of daiquiris (I'm more of a beer girl anyway) and laughed our way through The Fog. (Seriously, it's horrible..don't ever watch it.) We also went to dinner which went really well until I asked him if he wanted kids and he almost choked on his Chicken Bryan. (Little did he know I'd wind up pregnant three months later! HA!)
We've had a tough few years. We've dealt with stresses lots of couples never even have to deal with and have managed to come out on the other side. I know now why people say marriage is work. It is, but it's worth every penny. I know it's worth it cause he still makes my heart beat fast, I still think he's the sexiest man alive, and I still want to spend every waking moment with him.

Leave my dog alone!

I have the sweetest neighbors, for the most part. The only downfall I can see is that they love my dog. Ordinarily, not a problem! But, they seem to think that she is their dog too! When Annie first started making trips to their house, we would call her back and scold her for leaving the yard. Since I couldn't be outside all the time, I asked them to call me if she wandered over to their house, so I could call Annie back home. I specifically asked them not to feed her. Well, the dog still went over there and they never called me. Then I found out that they were feeding her dog treats all the time! No wonder Annie wanted to be over there! I would too! So, I asked them, again, to please not feed her anything. Well, it didn't work..they still fed her. So, I sort of conceded, not much I can really do. Like I said, I can't be outside all the time to keep an eye on the dog. But, we did continue to call her home and discipline her when she ran across the street.
Not too long after the treat incident, I found out that they were letting Annie in their house! I was furious! I could not, and still can't, understand why you would let someone elses dog in your house! I asked them to please not let Annie in the house, or the garage, or any other building because I wanted to her come home when I called. At this time, I reiterated my plea to "Please NOT feed my dog." I'm pretty sure they didn't listen...again.
Then the other day, Annie was penned up for the night and she was barking. Pretty soon, the phone rings. It's the neighbor. She says "Can you please check on Annie? We can hear her barking and we're getting worried." Um...she's MY dog! Don't you think if I thought something was wrong, I'd go check on her? Kind of overstepping the bounds there Mrs. G! Then a couple days later, the phone rings again. It's the neighbor again. This time she says "Is Annie ok? Mr. G saw her at the road the other day and he called her over to our house, but she didn't come. We thought maybe you had done something." Hmm...wait..did you just say that you CALLED MY DOG OVER TO YOUR HOUSE? ACROSS THE ROAD? After I've asked you not to, several times? Ugh! Frustrating! It turns out, the reason Annie isn't leaving the yard is because the cat had another litter of kittens and, once again, Annie has adopted them.
I know we're lucky to have neighbors that love our dog. Most people would probably be furious that the neighbor's dog was in their yard. If they lived next to us, it wouldn't be such a big deal, but they live across the street. I'm so afraid Annie is going to run out in front of a car or tractor and get hit. I've tried asking them nicely, I've tried calling the dog back and scolding her where they can see, I've even gone over to their house and gotten the dog. I can't kennel Annie all the time, that's just mean, and we can't afford and electric fence. My understanding is that you have to manually activate a shock collar, and that seems cruel like tasing my kid or something, so that's not an option I'm too big on. Any other suggestions? We just want Annie to stay in our yard so that she doesn't get squished on the road.

Wordless Wednesday...sort of

We were lucky enough to have my friend Ashley and her family come visit us this past weekend. She has a little boy, Hayden, that is Adelae's age (literally, they're a day a apart). We knew the kids would have a good time and we were right! They made a mess of the toy room, ran around in circles (A LOT!), and had deep conversations only they could understand. Ashley and I got to catch up and I finally got to meet her husband. It was a fabulous day and we can't wait to do it again!






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Someone had a rough day

Do ever have one of those days where it seems like you're tripping and falling all the time? Adelae frequently has days like that. This past weekend was a prime example. First, she ran headfirst into a wall. That resulted in a really nice goose egg on her forehead.

Then Adelae and my niece, Morgan, were playing and they collided. Morgan was fine, but Adelae got a fat lip when she fell.
As if that weren't enough, the play house toppled over (rumor has it that the kids were actually trying to tip it over). Adelae got smacked in the head with the door, in the same exact spot where she smacked her head on the wall. Somehow she also managed to get a black eye and a mysterious spot on her cheek. I would say it was a pretty bad day!