vitaleSWEETS

Facebook-less

2012-03-01T20:10:00.001-05:00

My excessive use of my phone as more than my phone is increasingly bothering me, especially after the MIAddison moment.

I am not knocking the iPhone for all of its fabulous and instant capabilities and I'm aware that the reality is a phone just isn't a phone anymore but why should we drastically change our priorities just because our phones can plug us into Facebook all day, everyday.

My goal is to try to focus on the simplicities of life, I think we forget that it's okay not to keep people updated on our every move and, instead, enjoy moments for ourselves. I order to do this I am trying to, not limit myself, but free myself from ...

1) Using my phone to its extent throughout the day while Addison is awake by checking emails and texts under 5 times, or not at all until she is in bed

2) My twitter and Facebook apps. let's face it, there is no reason we need to be on there in our free time and with a two year old free time doesn't exist until she is asleep and so.. I've deleted the apps!

3) Internet browsing until after she is in bed

Benefits: I actually finished a book I've been reading forever. Addison and I played together much more. I felt less stressed because normally I am trying to text someone or read an article on FB and Addison serves as an interruption and seems to nag but, obviously, she just wants and needs my attention and involvement which she deserves. Giving that to her most of the day was great. The moments I had to read my book were guilt free because I was doing something worthwhile and Addison was able to do her alone activity- coloring and such.

I'm not sure how long I can make this last and I fully intend to give myself Internet time at night when she's in bed but as for right now, this hasn't been difficult at all. Who would of thought zeroing in on what matters would make life less complicated.

PS- I WILL be blogging as usual. You may even get a video soon :O

deep breath

2012-02-29T20:59:00.001-05:00

Let me say ... I just pondered over several fabulous post titles (choked up, aaaaaahhhhh!!!, panic roomed, etc) but nothing could describe this event better than the action of taking a deeper than the ocean breath, especially since I took a million at the beginning, during, end, after the fact and currently ...

You see the photo attached to this post? This is not a good photo, reflection, lighting, cropping. That is a photo of one of many beautiful antique dollhouses on display at the fantastic Strong Museum of Play in Rochester. I recently told my mother in law all about them because I can't wait for her to see. This photo was for her and never reached her. Why? Because I was busy waving my freak flag in an attempt to find my 2 year old!!!!!! *deep breath*

Play by play :
1)We are in a Victorian modeled playroom with limited exits and I am holding my iPhone camera up to take this photograph.

2)I say to my friend, "I just want to take this for my mother in law."

3)At this point I actually turn my head to Addison with an actual expectation that she might do one of her take off sprints. I wanted to see where she was.... thinking I'd spot her, take the picture and then go after her before she lifted a foot (because I'm like crouching tiger, hidden dragon and make such gallant, swift strides).

4) Snap the photo, turn and she is gone.

*deep breath*

Now there were four main directions she could go, all very open : left towards comic stuff/stairs, straight to kids stage, right towards play tables or the Wizard of Ox closed off room. My instinct was to go to the stairs where we didnt go yet but much to my relief a young staff member said she went to Oz when I immediately asked if she saw a little girl in a blue shirt.

After literally going in circles around that room I knew I was screwed because that same girl came in and with a very sorry expression told me she was sorry but was likely wrong about what she said. I'm pretty much losing my sanity because I know I've wasted a few crucial minutes in that room and that whichever way she went I can't catch up. A nice lady working on some display was nice enough to call out to me that if I tell a staff member they will immediately put the place on lockdown and notify the rest of staff. I told my friend that I didn't fun her as I made my way to a staff member who I had met previously.

I definitely got teary (and if you're now thinking, "how dramatic she is" you are correct.I am a proud, self proclaimed drama mama!!!) and quickly gathered myself, entrusted the staff and held onto my throat to avoid crying. I'm not sure if I was actually suffocating myself with how tightly my hands were wound around my throat or if I was choking with fear and using my hands to loosen my neck. Nonetheless, I felt like I couldn't get air. At every turn I followed "my staff member" and noticed every uniformed person bending down looking for my 2 year old with a bright turquoise tee and neon pink sweats.

*DEEP BREATH*

I don't think I was hearing anything from the moment I told the staff member to when I heard her say something like, "okay we will be there in a minute.."

I think I was just like, "Wait, did they find her??" She told me she thought so and as we turned the corner there Addison was on the stair landing with staff and my friend. I did my tear free share of "omgs" and hugs while Addison looked at me as if I totally ruined her arcade time. The staff seemed to just branch out as if they see this all the time with the same happy ending and they know how thankful parents are thus branching out without a chance for me to thank anyone. We took the kids to a quiet CLOSED area where I could then have my complete meltdown of relief and all the feelings I can't explain that I felt while we looked for her. By the way, she was missing for probably under 10 minutes but I felt like I had survived a month of despair, my goodness.

I've read before that mother's who temporarily lose their kids are overcome with guilt, etc and, although it is not good or pleasant, it DOES happen. You just can't beat yourself up about it. Ask your parents, it's likely they lost you once, too. :)

What I can leave you with :

ALWAYS note what your child has on when you go to public places like museums or malls, etc that you plan on visiting. Try to put your kids in similar bright and plain clothes, easier to spot. Honestly, I probably wouldn't remember what she had on except that we went last week, she had dark clothes on and was super fast making it hard to spot her quickly which is why I dressed her in bright, plain clothes this time.

If it has been about 1 minute and you haven't spotted your little one notify staff immediately so they can put the place on lockdown and begin looking, chances are you'll be reunited within minutes.

Stay calm as long as you can. It was easier said than done but by some miracle your instincts seem to kick in so you can focus on finding your child. After that you can cry all you want - YAy!

Last but not least - turn your phones and cams off. They are a distraction. It was truly ONE SECOND. I already had my phone cam open, I already had my pic framed up, I already looked and SAW my daughter and the one second I took to turn around and press a button completely was not worth the minutes without knowing where she was. If you want a picture of something, grab your kids and have them hold your hand or whatever. Take the 5 minutes to gather and frustrate them and if the photo isn't worth the trouble then don't take it.

I was truly impressed by how cheery the lady/staff member walking around to find Addison with me was. She really kept me in check because, obviously, I was consumed with worry and her "it will be A-okay" attitude kept me in check. I know it doesn't always work out as smoothly but boy am I glad to have to cut this post so I can tell A not to pull the cat's tail and, of course, tell her I love her.

(PS it's easy to not tell your spouse and stress them out but you should. You may prevent the situation happening again. It's worth the, "WHAT!?!" you'll get piled into your ear from the other line .... *deep breath*)

Get Busted

2012-02-19T08:56:00.001-05:00

I think we all need to embrace the sometimes busted lips of our children and act accordingly. Last night A and I were la-dee-da-ing on the floor. She reached up for a string setting on top of her kitchen unbeknownst to me. All of a sudden I hear a screamless crash. I look over, she's covered in that age old face of shock and then the wrath of toddler.

Screaming. Flinching. High pitch screaming. Jerking. Frustration. Immediately I pick her up to see blood coating her teeth and lips and beginning to make its way out. I rush her to the kitchen.

At this point I'm mostly thinking of anyone who may look to our kitchen window and seemingly see me gag my child with a towel. Not the case. I was getting a little anxious since A wasn't letting me look in her mouth. Has she knocked a tooth out!? Do we need stitches!?! Aaa ahhh! I soaked a washcloth in cold water and basically told her to suck. It absorbed tons of blood and allowed me to see where the source was. Upper lip-minor cut. THANK you!

I tossed her a freeze pop and she was good.

As for me. At this point my emotions have caught up with me. Fear, anxiety, relief. I had a 2 second mini meltdown just from being overwhelmed that she was okay. Then I felt kind of nauseous to the point where I wanted to lay down. We went upstairs around 830pm and played in her room until we passed out. I got 12 hours of MUCH needed sleep. I basically am going to rock Sunday!

On the Homestretch : Part 1

2012-02-16T16:23:00.001-05:00

We did it! We found our first house ... and then we volunteered to let it go. Let's go back to the end of November ....

We had the conversation about if we really wanted to commit to seriously looking at houses because, let's face it, I'm a girl who can envision an interior decor heaven while staring at a blank wall. I wasn't about to casually jump into looking at houses. If we were going to do it, it was going to be with the goal of purchasing in the near future. Having not a clue as to what we were doing we began by online shopping via Zillow and Trulia. I began "collecting" potential houses with no real idea of what the heck I was looking for. One day a house really struck a chord with me so I went ahead and clicked the automated message to an agent to set up an appointment.

*BIG MOMENT*

Enters Karen. The dream agent. Why? One thing - honesty. She spoke right up about things that could be an issue down the road with certain houses and advised us on what to stay away from and so on and so forth. This was very close to falling in love again because we knew we could always count on her. We continued to look at houses, realizing quickly that what you see in photos is not always what you see in person. Micah and I also found out we were totally on opposite pages for what we were looking for - colonial? capes? OH MY! We sat down and sorted out key things we each would like to get an overall idea which really helped our searches. We saw some beauties, we saw some dumps and I even fell in love with the second house only to find it was beyond what we wanted OR needed having seen it a second time but we were finally getting somewhere and choosing houses to view that we actually began to have long running interest in.

In the meantime, Karen offered up two lenders to speak to that she spoke highly of and them of her. We decided to move forward with one of them and he provided information on great programs and broke down what sort of costs we were looking at and what we could afford. We decided to enroll in the First Home Buyers Club (FHBC) which you need to be eligible for depending on your annual income. It was January and we went with a $157 deposit each month for 12 months at the end of which the bank would give us $4 for every $1 we put in which would leave us with almost 10k after a year. This is a great cushion to have in case we don't find anything in the next 10 months. At least if we find a house after that time we don't have to worry about closing costs or owing closing costs as the FHBC would provide that.

So there we were with everything set except for a house and then there she was - the house we both knew could be it for us. We loved it and looked at a few other houses to compare and then we looked at it again. After sleeping on it we decided to move forward with the offer. There were a few requests from the sellers and we came back with a few of our own to find that they had accepted our terms. There we were this morning - a few hours away from signing off on a house, becoming homeowners ...

and we decided not to go through with it. (WHAT?!?!?)

It turns out we really did not think the closings costs through and, although we could have managed it, it would have been tight and we were not willing to do that to ourselves. As far as we were concerned we (and all of our friends and family members) had prayed on it knowing that God would take us down our path.

That's that and we are houseless but not homeless! We do NOT own a home but we have a fabulous apartment that we are happy to hang on to for a while longer and in the meantime we keep pressing forward. Of course, I literally went through emotional ups and down for a few hours this morning (think Rapunzel in the movie Tangled after she left her tower for the first time and her guilt over what it would do to her "mother" vs. her excitement to be out) and I really know in my heart we did right by ourselves. We are taking a few days to recuperate and then we will resume our search. This gives us room to familiarize ourselves with other neighborhoods with a focus on taxes for certain areas - ONWARD!

Here are some excerpts from Jesus Calling that literally lifted me out of worry yesterday :

"..Recall that I am able to do immeasurably more than all you ask or imagine. Instead of trying to direct Me to do this and that, seek to attune yourself to what I am already doing.
When anxiety attempts to wedge its way into your thoughts, remind yourself that I am your Shepherd. The bottom line is that I am taking care of you; therefore, you needn't be afraid of anything. Rather than trying to maintain control over your life, abandon yourself to My will. Though this may feel frightening-even dangerous, the safest place to be is in My will."

OK Go : 3 Primary Colors Song

2012-02-12T13:37:00.001-05:00

YOU NEED THESE TIDBITS

2012-02-01T22:41:00.001-05:00

Oh my blog! There is not much to say except that I've been collecting these little ideas from magazines and email forwards and word of mouth for the past several month and each time I am about to blog about them I come across a ton more. I've compiled the best of the best and organized them, in my motherly fashion, for your use and enjoyment. Trust me - you will be using these if you are a parent or parent to be or grandparent or grandparent to be or aunt or uncle or nanny and so on and so forth ..... hallelujah!!!!

CRAFTING :

Paper Rolls (toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, etc) : great for making owls and can be used to transport children's artwork by rolling the artwork up and sliding into the roll
Silverware holders can be used to sort hair accessories like mini brushes, hair ties, barrettes and so on. They can also be used to sort any other craft materials
A cookie sheet is a great way to keep sets of small pieces together. For example, Addison has a huge set of beads that we pour onto a cookie sheet so they stay somewhat together.
Laminate an uncolored page of a coloring book or your own sketch and use as a placemat AND something to paint on. It's a great idea that we use so that Addison can use dry erase markers or watercolors on and we can wash it right off when she's done! Easy to clean as a placemat, as well.
Freeze fingerpaints for summer use! Use 1 tsp tempera paint in each tray hollow and fill up with water. Stir with a toothpick, let stand for 10 minutes, stir again and then freeze.
Flip book art! Have TONS of paintings, drawings, colorings that have overwhelmed your fridge?? Purchase an affordable blank scrapbook, notebook/sleeves and store artwork in them to flip through easily
Muffin pan for paints or a craft caddy
Egg cartons to store small craft materials or Christmas ornaments

FOOD

Place a marshmallow in the bottom of an ice cream cone as a stopper for leaky ice cream and as a surprise treat!
If your kids do not like bread ends just make a sandwich with the ends side facing each other, they won't know the difference!
Upside down frisbees for plates. Keeps the food IN the plate for little ones!
Pancake strips. Pour your pancakes in strips for small hands to pick up easily
Measuring cups are great snack holders for little ones
Bake cupcakes in ice cream cones (with flat bottoms). Place the ice cream cones in the muffin tray and pour cupcake mix into the cones and bake as usual.

HOME IMPROVEMENT (relative to kids of course!)

Pool Noodles : They can serve as protection from sharp edges of say a fireplace or table, wrap around the chains on swings, place under your couch to prevent toys from getting lost underneath, along the edge of a tub ... easy and affordable to cut and use!
Store stuffed animals in a bean bag (remove insides first, of course!) makes for great storage and a cushy seat in one
Set your baby wipe container on its side or upside down to prevent bottom wipes from being sopping wet once you reach them
Nonskid shelf liner for children's placemat. Helps prevent dishes and cups from sliding everywhere!
Use empty wipes container to store plastic bags or crafts
Place a velcro strip on your wall and the velcro onto stuffed animals for easy cleanup
Have a soap dispenser that dispenses way to much with one pump? Wrap a rubber band around the neck to stop it where desired
When you purchase a puzzle label the box with a single number or letter and label the pieces with that same character for easy cleanup
Turn diaper boxes into decorative bins with wrapping paper
Shoe rack as a toy holder
Place bed linens IN their matching pillowcases for easy retrieval

RANDOM

Tube socks can be transformed into knee pads for toddlers by cutting off the bottoms
Use a small foldable pool as a travel tub, ball pit, sand box
Use children's plastic links to hand toys inside of the car
Place an iPod or iPhone, etc in a bowl to amplify sound
Baby powder is great in your beach bag as it easily removes sand
Freeze aloe vera in ice cube trays for instant relief when using

YOUR WELCOME!

Gentlemen Prefer Curves

2012-01-29T21:00:00.002-05:00

I am sure many of you have seen the Marilyn vs. Skinny Model images or hopefully it has crossed your mind each and every time you see an image of today's models that they could use a bit (or 20-30 pounds) of Marilyn in them.

Not since the likes of Ali Landry, (I'm aware that Ali Landry's Dorito commercials aren't that old but women with a little more than a ribcage to show off have been to few and far between, no?) has a celebrity caught my attention. Margot Robbie is one of the starts of the new series Pan Am and she delights me each Sunday evening. She is a beautiful, tall blonde (purely coincidence ..) with wide shoulders and quite a figure. I'm aware of the controversy that full figured women have with full figure models that don't seem full figured at all but that is not what this is about. I'm talking about women like Margot Robbie compared to women like Shenae Grimes, for those young ladies out there who know of Ms. Grimes. Margot Robbie fills her clothes graciously and lights up the screen with a fuller face, as opposed to sullen cheeks. Her hips, those legs, and dare I say it - BOOBS! I can't imagine a single [respectable] man who wouldn't agree she's "hot". I hope her name begins to become regular in the "hollywood" circuit and for the right reasons, classic beauty, elegance and talent!

My Coastal Life...

2012-01-25T22:31:00.000-05:00

... is relatively, well, completely non-existent .....

until this evening ...

Yes, tonight after tucking my sweetums in bed I decided to venture for the first time in years to Fiji. Oh, it was beautiful! The water was so blue and cool. The perfect temperature on a warm breezy day of 85 degrees. I stayed in a bungalow above the water with an open door policy. To be laying in bed with a breeze pouring in is something to experience for yourself as I certainly can not put it into words. I decided to take a boat over to the island I was renting. Ah the memories to be made there. I didn't mind dragging in some white sand. To top off my little escape I hit up a nude beach and let me tell you, nude beaches take people watching to a whole new level. Am I a raving lunatic? Not exactly... Do I have a subscription to Coastal Living from mom Vitale ... I do ...

This my friends was the experience of my first real bath in literally years (like before Addison was born). The closest I had to a bath before this was my screaming in pain during labor on the floor of a hospital shower while my mom ran around trying to catch the shower head WHILE water was rushing out of it ... yeeeeeah. I figured, I had scrubbed the tub the other day and I had no reason not to. I committed by agreeing with myself that I would lay there and finish the 2/3's of my Coastal Living magazine I had left. Let it be known that I did complete the magazine and did not touch the drain until reaching the little black box on the last article. All I can say is treat yourself ... I literally feel somewhat nauseated (dehydrated much?!) from my hot tub hot bath filled with honey salts that I probably stayed too long in. But it is the best nausea I have ever felt and it's slowly fading as I drift back into normalcy. I didn't even feel woozy during the bath (and no alcohol was involved btw) but the change in temperature while getting out was like a transition from my paradise adventure back into January in Upstate New York, I'm a mommy, I'm a wife and my body is in no way close to dawning a bikini.

I even debated writing this 1)because I was afraid it would cut short my relaxation experience 2)because getting dressed would probably be smarter ... but alas here I am in my towel with a little towel pulling my hair up feeling like I just came inside from tanning all day. I mean, I just had to share the moment with it at its freshest in my mind. So I bid you goodnight and thank you for spending a little time in the sand with me this evening ...

3 Hit Gifts from Christmas 2011

2012-01-18T15:26:00.000-05:00

For those of you still circulating older toys for newer ones in your child's main play area, you are probably noticing the surprise gifts that your little one can't seem to get enough of. Addison certainly enjoys the age old gift of playdough and her tea sets which was to be expected but a few of her new toys really stuck with her as she seems to always revert back to them and spend endless amounts of time with them, some even benefitting me ... and our living room!

1. Classic Playtime Grand Kitchen Set from Hayneedle

I must first mention that I discovered this gem on PlayKitchens which is a Godsend in itself. It is a compilation of play kitchen sets from a variety of companies. I was looking for a great deal on a wooden, more natural looking kitchen as opposed to a chunky, plastic one. Since purchasing, I've really come to appreciate Hayneedle. They have fabulous products and really great specials! Definitely worth a peek. As for the kitchen itself, I put it together myself over a few nights. Tedious but won't kill you. It serves as a HUGE storage unit which I love. It is double sided and we have all of her tea sets, coloring books, trains, books, playdough, you name it stocked in here. I also saved our own grocery packaging to stock her kitchen with. WIN!

2. Melissa and Doug Cutlery Set

Now this was gift gold. Addison received this from her Aunt 'Nee and Uncle "Cobb" (Renee and Jacob). This is a cutting board and knife and fruits/veggies all made of wood. The pieces velcro together so when "cut" make a very authentic sound. Addison absolutely LOVES to chop up her food and her friends really enjoy the toy as well. Definitely indulge your child's inner Emeril.

3. Play, Draw, Create Trucks

This was the most random, best purchase ever. One of my besties, Auntie Tessa, gave Addison a $20 gift card for Kohls and so I popped online to see what we could get for A. This "book" is fantastic A)because it is made of recycled materials, even the marker ink is eco friendly B)It's a 3 in one deal! The left side is a magnet board complete with tons of truck magnets, including pieces you can put together to make your own trucks. This side also doubles as a dry erase board. The right side is a notebook with tons of activities like numbers, alphabet, a truck to color in, an ID to color in and write on and more. Obviously, you can erase all the marker so it's endless fun. If this things ever wears out I would happily purchase a new one because Addison spends a great deal of time "working" on this.

These all make great gifts for Toddlers so if you have a toddler birthday party to attend or for your own, these are some win-win ideas!

Can we live each month like it's January??

2012-01-17T15:15:00.000-05:00

You may be asking, "What's so special about January?!"

Once the New Year hustle and bustle died out and the holiday decor was boxed up I began to realize what goal oriented and goal succession the month of January is! In the first week alone many of us commit and follow through with getting the decoration set aside. With a fresh start we begin goals like eating better and keeping up with our devotionals. January is a month of refreshments, a new start for the new year.

On the downside, we all know February (March for the strong) to be our dwindling month. We begin slacking and allowing ourselves to procrastinate.

"Oh crap ... I just ate a pint of ice cream. It's okay, I'll just make today my junk food day and tomorrow I will eat fruits galore and have a small dinner with nothing after 7pm."

Yeeeeeah, you know what I am talking about and you know who you are. I certainly know that has me written ALL over it. So what shifts do we experience between January and February that cause this?

Is it money? Do our wallets seem fuller having not spent on lavish meals and gifts as we did the months prior? All of the new gadgets? Our minds may be on reset with the new "toys" we've collected over the holiday. So how can we keep that refreshment and carry it into June, July straight into November when the family holidays are kicking into gear again. I mean we are really looking at March through October as our months to work on.

SOLUTION : I think around Valentine's Day we look straight through spring and into the fall and think to ourselves that we need to start prepping. Immediately we have programmed ourselves to stress out about the holidays without having recovered from or enjoyed the time between! How do we make each months like the first after a new year? Let's take a favorite refreshing drink. I could never pass up a classic glass of lemonade on a sweltering day with some sweetener and ice cubes. I always seem to pound that first glass and what then? We refresh, of course! You top off your drink and toss in a few new ice cubes and perhaps even a nice slice of lemon. How to apply this in life ... can we not refresh each month, as well?? Top off your great month of January by setting aside a day or two in February for a nice dinner, or an out of the ordinary trip. Go out of your way to celebrate a holiday from another country to both educate yourselves and your children about other cultures and as a way to spruce up the month! Try out a new activity and so on. I live in NY so each season has tons of "refreshers" to experience. You want another glass of lemonade? Make one and ENJOY the heck out of it and then do it any time you need a boost. Even something as simple as inviting family over for dinner one random night or dressing up and drinking out of your fancier glasses .... it's like you have all the lemons you need so use them :)

2012 and The Blessings to Come

2012-01-04T17:12:00.000-05:00

I had a whole idea in my head of what I would post today and I told myself multiple times throughout the day to jot my idea down but I figured, "I couldn't possibly forget this 'right on' idea." Well, I've forgotten but, thankfully, it is the New Year and I can default to a post about that :)

I hope you had a safe and cuddly Christmas and New Year and are quickly settling back into the swing. I myself took down our Christmas decorations the day after in haste. Let's face it, I have a 2 year old who had a birthday and Christmas within a week and I wasn't about to unload her mass amounts of toys into our Christmas wonderland of a home. After days of playing with her toys I decided she could wait while mommy made Christmas go bye-bye. And that it did. Once the apartment was cleared of all joy - holiday joy that is! - we brought on the TOY JOY!

Blocks over there! Choo-choo's over here! Playdough about there! *sigh* what fun. I can proudly say Addison keeps herself pretty busy throughout each day going from one activity to the next. I will post some pictures of some of the "best of" toys she received this year because we all know the importance of a good toy!

As a family we are looking forward to some more house hunting, preferably permanent. I'd love to expand our little family but a house would help that. I also have neglected to lose the 2 year old pregnancy weight I depended on breastfeeding to diminish. I feel like God is holding off on blessing us with #2 until I can get into a healthy mode to be pregnant again. The reality is - my current weight just won't cut it if I top it off with a baby in the oven so onward with the weight loss. I am down to my lowest weight at this moment than I've been in Lord knows how long so WOOHOO!

Two quick events we are looking forward to this year are Fresh Beat Band tour that my bestie and I are taking our girls to and Women of Faith retreat in September! If you are able to be in the Rochester area and want in with our Women of Faith group please contact me for details, I have very few tickets left to hold!!

Blessings to all this New Year!

How to Forgive Men Mishaps

2011-12-03T21:03:00.000-05:00

You do just that - forgive them. This is how it works ...

You live with someone for a year and things are new and fresh - not so noticeable. A few more years go by and you begin to notice the age old "left up" toilet seat or the pair of dirty white socks sitting DIRECTLY in front of the hamper. Or perhaps you are familiar with dirty dishes on the opposite side of the kitchen from the sink. Little things that could have been simply paid a few more seconds of attention to.

Okay, okay. You tell yourself it's fine, guys do this and I can handle bending over and picking up the socks to drop them into the hamper. You may just throw it out there to that special (in oh so many ways!) man of yours just so he may think twice before leaving the glass by the microwave rather than taking 5 steps to the kitchen sink (not even to wash it by the way, but just to set it in the sink!).

A few repetitions of this scenario go by and you being thinking, if I can put the toilet seat down he can put this toilet seat down, why am I putting the toilet seat down?! Eventually a blowout ensues where you end up describing in grave detail the extreme importance of your love to take an extra moment to do "the right thing."

Voila. Things get preeeeetty perfect around the house. Theeeeen about 72 hours go by and gradually it all seems to fall back into place .. the socks, the dirty dish, the toilet seat ... well the toilet seat stops falling and stays upright yet again.

The moment of truth has come - you can continue to relive the former for the rest of your days with probably even bigger blowouts when the "blowout ensues" scenario kicks in
OR
You can forgive. You can take on that choose your battles attitude and I have found that the best thing to do is keep things friendly. When you see one of those dreadful mishaps think "forgive" before anything else. Forgive the fact that the mishap has taken place and from there gauge your attitude. It might be a fabulous day and he hasn't pulled this in weeks so, ahhh, what the heck! I've got it under control honey! But on those "are you freaking kidding me" days or the times in the middle of the night you drowsily plop onto a cold dewy toilet forgive that what is done is done and let yourself cool off. But Al, it's been happening regularly again and I have to say something!!! Okay-so say something BUT make sure you've cooled off first and just talk about it friendly, that's all it takes. "Heeeey, you've been slacking .. hehehehe, no but really don't forget to put that toilet seat down because what I experienced at 4am was ... well let's never speak of it again (cue some more giggles).

You got it out of your system and hopefully you've spared yourself a few weeks of torture from Men Mishaps.

PS. After being in this situation for the bazillionth time and discussing it in a friendly manner the other morning, my dear husband came home and set his wine glass on the floor (yes on the beige carpet that I repeatedly ask him to keep drinks off of since he's spilled many a red wine liquids all over it!) and, surely, it spilled AS he set it down and I kept my composure and "offered" to clean it up while he watched the Syracuse game so it IS possible.

Oh, and by "offered" I mean he wouldn't have the slightest idea how to clean it and there's no way I'd give him a shot at it.

By Far the Grossest Day In My Parenthood History

2011-11-23T13:13:00.000-05:00

Hot off the press and I must share!

Addison had just eaten a cheesestick and a whole cup of milk. We were playing and relaxing for a bit and noon came pretty quickly so, of course, lunch!!

We've been enjoying semi gourmet sandwiches lately so I was throwing together mayo, tomato, ham, avocado, sprouts and lettuce into some wheat bread for us to split. We are at the table munching away when ... Ohhh NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Addison just begins puking a little bit. I rush over and tilt her head forward while instinctively catching the puke in my hand. (because it's so important to reduce the amount of post puje cleanup!!!?) I, again because who would want to waste half a sandwich?, took her sandwich off of her plate with a clean hand and dumped puke on the plate from my now goopy hand. Thinking it's over I begin to figure in my head what to do next. Wash hands?? Take her up to brush her mouth out?? Throw up myself??

Unfortunately, she began Niagara Falling-it out again. Basically everything she ate or drank the past few hours made their debut! Hello curdled cheese! Oh lettuce-I feel like I just saw you! And milk- look at you flow.... *sigh*

Did I mention A was semi crying and freaking out with her hands. At this point my hands served no purpose so the had it running down her chest and all in her booster seat which she was not at all impressed by.

Cue in beeline to the bathtub. A is flipping out, I stand her in the tub and turn the water on to get it going while I strip her down. We gently pull her onesie off so I don't have a ranking puke nest in her hair - CLEAR! Then off came her flip diaper. Having changed her diaper prior to lunch, you can imagine my surprise when a poo came tumbling out into the tub. Asddison starts gagging! I'm talking a whole lotta - are you KIDDInG ME?!! I pick up the pop, toss it in the diaper and throw the onesie in the sink. Relief?? Heck NO!! All of a sudden I see lil poo particles in the water. I move Addison and sure enough there is some caked onto her behind!! AHHHH. I begin draining the water and tried to make her stand up so could rinse the tub out *gag*. She refused to stand so I shoved her to the back of the tub and in her mind she thought I teased her with bathtubs. So she's screaming while I'm shooing away the poo. Tub begins refilling and I begin rinsing the onesie and diaper insert when A suddenly decides she's over her bath and tries to get out. I distract her and have her brush her teeth while I quickly finished.

So there she is part brushing, part crying until I finally finish, grab her towel and quickly dry her off. I throw fleece pants and a top on her realizing that gray days like these beg for comfort. I put her on the couch and proceeded to, remember?, the puke filled plate and booster seat. On went the garbage disposal and hot water as I rinsed those off and finished them with a nice coat of disinfectant.

Here we are, Addison in her fleece, with her Mimi (security toy) and covered Ina fleece blanket. Her head is resting in the curve is my arm. Ok, we can breath now and never forget, this will probably happen to you if you have any future plans that will include children. And it probably will happen more than once. Well, I feel better!!!

This is NOT a recap

2011-10-14T23:31:00.000-04:00

Yeah ... I definitely will not attempt to recap the past 2 and a half months in detail but I will quick a brief overview!

Betty Jane & Co. is really taking off after years of figuring it all out! I have finally opened my Etsy Shop and I've made one sale but hope to make a few more with the upcoming holiday season! I've completed some logo and website work as well which I'm pumped about. I'm trying to focus on building more marketing material and working on my packaging of shipments. My website is also lacking an artist profile and with the projects I have been working on it's time to add on a portfolio!

Micah, Addison and I are fabulous! We have so many upcoming events that I can post about as they come along. Addison is almost 2 years old so I've got to get working on birthday theme ideas.

That's all I've got for now - uneventful, I know. We'll be having fun this weekend into Tuesday so I'll post again later in the week!

Rochester's Museum of AWESOME

2011-08-04T21:58:00.001-04:00

We went with our new Rochester friends, Aimee and Gaius, to Rochester's National Museum of Play and WHAT A TIME WE HAD! Seriously, I don't think we even made it through a quarter of this place in the 3 hours, YEAH, that we spent there! Addison had such a wonderful time.

The parts of the facility we did explore were clean, not overwhelming as I initially expected and I could easily sit back from time to time and watch her knowing that this tunnel ended here or that room stopped there. I really can't begin to explain everything the kids have access too. From coloring to computers to mock up Wegman's stores and an early 1900s kitchen .. I could go on forever!

As far as pricing, my friend is a member and since Addison is under 2 years old she was free and I paid $11, as opposed to $12 without my friend. She has a year long membership which cost her $90. This completely amazes me since I worked at an tiny, in comparison to this museum, indoor activity space in Chicago and I'm almost positive their charges were through the roof. You definitely couldn't get a year long membership to visit anytime with that affordability. They also offer tons of events which I believe cost you extra but, believe me, you may not even have time. It must take weeks to explore this entire place. There was an upstairs that we reserved for our next visit. They have a food court which served us well when it was time to refuel.

We will be getting a membership soon and visiting often!

KALE CHIPS!

2011-07-02T17:30:00.000-04:00

My latest experiment has been a success! I heard about Kale chips a while ago on Ellen and never did anything about it, forgot it eventually. Well, we were grocery shopping the other day and I saw some kale and thought, "Why not!?"

I googled the recipe and it's cake. Tear the kale leaves in bite size pieces off of the stem and lay on a baking sheet. Drizzle with seasoning and olive oil and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. Voila!

The more I got thinking about seasonings the idea of possibly using those shakers for popcorn came into mind. I haven't tried it yet but sounds like a good idea for different tastes - no pun!

Vitale Farms, Auburn, NY 2011

2011-07-02T17:25:00.001-04:00

A few more interior shots for u!

2011-07-02T17:24:00.001-04:00

Irondequoit Bay Visit

2011-07-02T17:22:00.001-04:00

A look back?

2011-06-25T14:53:00.001-04:00

I have recently updated my YouTube Channel and if you're seeking pregnancy tips check out my vlog from when I was pregnant. I loaded each week with tons of info!

ROMP Sale (thanks for the info Kelsey!)

2011-06-23T13:21:00.001-04:00

Check out some great buys at a discounted price!

Some of Our Townhouse

2011-06-23T12:24:00.001-04:00

Fruits and Veggies!

2011-06-23T09:45:00.001-04:00

I've put a great deal of emphasis on making healthy purchases at the grocery store lately. Our fridge is chock full of goodness - healthy goodness and today I woke up with the determination to stick to a healthy regimen. I won't look ahead, it's easy to get lost and discouraged that way so for today I vow to eat well and do some like working out!

2 weeks without shampoo :)

2011-06-22T17:56:00.000-04:00

So here you have it! 2 days ago I did the "no 'poo" rinse as follows:

mixed honey and brown sugar and rubbed into scalp to remove buildup

mixed 1tbsp baking soda and 1cup water and used as shampoo sub

mixed 1tbsp apple cider vinegar, a pinch of lemon juice and one cup of water as conditioner sub

rinsed

The past two days I've used rice flour to supplement not washing my hair. I even worked out last night and, HONEST, my hair is not oily, my scalp is not itchy. Things are good!

Be Optimistic!

2011-06-22T11:45:00.002-04:00

I remember well the little scene from Anywhere But Here where Natalie Portman's character goes to an audition for the sake of her mother's dream for her child and sarcastically sings, "Be optimistic, dontcha be a grumpy. When the road gets bumpy, just smile, SMILE, smile BE HAPPY!"

In a completely non sarcastic way I woke up with this motto in my mind. To be the best I can be today and not think about yesterday or tomorrow. Sounds like a great day to me :) Ironically enough, it happens to be a disgustingly humid, rainy day. What a test to see if I can keep this attitude on such a day!

No 'Poo, Day 2

2011-06-19T12:49:00.000-04:00

So this is my first day using rice flour to supplement for not washing it. The idea is that it absorbs the oils that would normally torment your head on a wash free day. Now, I should tell you my scalp usually does get very oily without a shower but it really seems to be working. You'd think it would be messy but I put a quarter amount of rice flour in my hand at a time and just worked it into my roots with no problem. It falls right through to your scalp. I let it sit for about 10 minutes and brushed my hair with a bristle brush afterwards. I'm truly enjoying this and excited to pass this knowledge on to Addison one day, she can lead such a satisfying life knowing she won't have to buy shampoo - unless she wants to, of course :)

No 'Poo Method!

2011-06-18T16:27:00.003-04:00

If you check out my previous blog you'll notice the link to an article on going without 'poo, aka shampoo. Well, I've bought my ingredients and this is how I plan to begin ..

Once a week I will rinse with water and baking soda and then apple cider vinegar with lime juice. Every other day or every 2 days I will be rinsing with an all natural bar soap. On the no rinse days I will supplement with the rice flour and brush out. When necessary I will use the brown sugar scrub with honey. I still need to buy some lavender essential oil to make a spray mist.

For those who think this is a horrendous idea please read the article first. The remind yourself that shampoo does in fact strip your hair of its natural ability to look shiny and feel soft and, most importantly, be healthy! Don't rob your hair of that! You must need patience as well, this isn't something you try for a week and end up with luxurious hair. You need to ween yourself out of shampoo. I've been using natural bar soap for 4 days instead of shampoo and my hair is much shinier and softer, honest! But I need to begin cutting down washing altogether which is my next step. You may be jumping to conclusions and worrying about your scalp and how it will feel oily and gross .. that's where the rice flour comes in to absorb or other options like cornstarch or store bought dry shampoo. If you really read the process I believe you will understand how this can work and be successful! I'll continue to post pics of my progress with it!

Sweet Finds

2011-06-18T11:51:00.012-04:00

I have to give a quick thanks to my old college roommate Kelsey for sharing these links on facebook, they were so wonderful I had to share them as well!! Thanks Kels!

How to Go "No 'Poo" in 5 Easy Steps

Safer Bath Toys, Happier Moms

DIY Braided Hex Nut Bracelet

Instagram!

2011-05-19T14:39:00.002-04:00

I've been terrible about posting photos but if you have a smartphone try to download the Instagram App and search for me (vitale61309) to view daily photos of our days!!

Still BLAH Out

2011-05-18T10:23:00.001-04:00

Not sure what our plans for today are. It looks iffy out - maybe rain, maybe shine? Who can say! We do have to make a trip to the pet store today to pick up some supplies so depending on the weather we may run over to Crandall Park, otherwise we can always play outdoors at home. There is beautiful property here :) I hope to make a video soon, too .. maybe if it IS raining, that's something we can do :) Happy Mid Week everyone!

Swimming Lessons

2011-05-17T14:35:00.002-04:00

Addison had a successful first run at swimming today! Her lesson was a 30 minute class with several other toddlers including her good friend Justin. She had a great time kicking and splashing. At first she seemed a little nervous while I held her in the water but in no time she was unwilling to even sit on the edge of the pool. Literally, she would stiffen her body so that I could not seat her. That's my peanut! The teacher encouraged the kids to blow bubbles in the water and stick there face in too if they wanted to try holding their breath. As soon as Addison saw this she began putting her face in the water. The instructor and I were very impressed. Hehe. She was the youngest in the group but doing just as well. So proud of her! I'm hoping that Micah can attend one of the lessons and shoot video and/or take pictures next time.

Hello!

2011-05-16T13:56:00.002-04:00

It's been far too long ... Hope everyone enjoyed there Easter weekend a few weeks back AND Mother's Day of course! We were just in our hometown over the weekend to celebrate my best friend's graduation from nursing school. I'm so proud of Sue and we had a wonderful time! Micah and I attended her graduation while Addison stayed with my parents and afterwards we went to the Legion in Sylvan Beach to celebrate. Addison had so much fun with all the big kids. I couldn't believe the energy she had.

Tomorrow Addison will begin swimming lessons so I will share more when we get back tomorrow afternoon!!

Parents Magazine March 2011 : A Second Life for Baby Stuff

2011-04-15T12:21:00.002-04:00

I have so many articles to share with you all! This particular article was fantastic. We all have items that we probably don't need use for anymore, like your little one's favorite blanket as an infant, early toddler that they may have already give up but you don't really want it laying in a box somewhere in the attic for the next 20 years .. so what do ya do?? Well, this article has the wonderful suggestion of framing them with embroidery hoops! The hoops will hardly make a dent in your wallet and it's a nice way to "hang on" to memorable cloth pieces like blankies, themed bed sheets and so on.

We all know that many cribs with the pull down side are being discontinued. A great way to reuse (so you're also being green!) a part of your crib is take down that side and set it vertically against a wall to hang towels or blankies on. This was such a contemporary idea, with no assembly required and can be used in any room! In a guest room to hang extra blankets, sheets, in a bathroom for towels, hand towels, washcloths, endless possibilities!

Have a cute diaper caddy you are about to throw away? Have you considered turning it into a craft or school supply holder?? Use all those pockets and sleeves, etc for paper, markers, sequins.

Hope these ideas were helpful. I definitely plan on using the crib side idea as soon as we no longer need the crib!!

Our Trip Back "Home" : Chicago Style

2011-03-16T20:29:00.021-04:00

This was a four day trip from Monday, February 28th through Thursday March 3rd. We woke up dark and early at 3am to leave my in laws house and head to LaGuardia airport. Addison found it quite amusing that she was actually allowed to be up and dressed at such an hour. She slept for a few minutes in the car but we had to wake her up when we got to the airport. She did very well on the flight and slept on and off throughout. When she was away she just hung out, snacked, looked around. No biggie - that's my girl!

We were picked up from Midway Airport by my dear friend who I used to nanny for. I was with her for about 5 years and we're very close with her and her family. Big thanks to everything she did for us on this trip. Literally, as we're nearing the city I was overwhelmed with

that feeling of having never left! The apartment was right

next to the Chicago River/Trump Building. The views were fantastic and it didn't take us long to get used to (and to want to live there forever! hehe).

Day 1 : After settling in we spent much of the day bopping around town! We took a cab down to

The Third Coast and visited with dear friends and I met with more friends at The Artist's Cafe in the South Loop. Addison sure enjoyed those cab rides free of carseats and sitting on mommy and daddy's lap! We spent the rest of the night just enjoying the company of our

friends at the apartment.

Day 2 : We decided not to push it Tuesday morning and we laid low at the apartment until the afternoon. Finally once we all had some sort of energy (oh yes, I forgot to mention that Addison's sleep was completely messed up from the traveling and she woke up and played/cried from about 10pm-3am!) We went to Wow Bao to meet another dear friend for a late lunch. It was a short walk from the apartment - very convenient. We, again, spent the rest of the evening with friends at the apartment and Addison slept MUCH better - phew!

Day 3 :

We planned on leaving the

apartment around 1:30pm to spend our last evening with the family I used to nanny for. In the morning we hung out at the Third Coast again. I was pretty emotional knowing we wouldn't be there again for a while. I missed being able to drop into my favorite restaurant in my favorite city whenever I wanted. We were so excited to spend time with our Chicago Family,

though! We surprised the kids and they just adored Addison. I was happy for her to finally have time with other children. All afternoon she played. We got another surprise that evenin

g as the rest of the

extended family came to meet Addison and see us. Heartwarming

to see all those familiar faces. Addison slept well again this evening.

Day 4 : The trip back began with a 5am

wakeup in order to be ready for our car around 6am. Everything went smoothly and we were happy to get back into a routine but, obviously, pretty bummed to leave the city. *tears*

Overall, a fantastic trip, as expected and all that's left to say is ... bring on baseball season - GO CUBBIES!

MORE PICS of just laying low at the apartment :

Video clips, photos and fun oh my!

2011-02-24T17:50:00.003-05:00

The day she figured out how to climb!

I trained her well in setting up her tea set! I was so excited to see she remembered!

I use our pantry as a distraction while I get dressed for the day.

Fun Filled Weekend of Visitors!

2011-02-15T21:45:00.002-05:00

Great way to start the week ...

Saturday :
Sue and Lola paid us a visit. We had such a nice time with them. They stayed most of the day so there was lots of playtime for the girls. Micah took the day off so it was nice for him, Sue and I to catch up. It got a little crazy as you can see from the video clip below but that is to be expected with our grouping, hehe.

Sunday :

Mom Vitale came out to visit with us on Sunday. We had a wonderful time yet again! I got to have a girls day and went out with my friends MiJung and Karina baby free! It was so nice to get together with my fellow moms and do non mom things! MiJung and I also had our nails done prior. Can't beat some primping and free time! Micah took Addison with him to meet some friends in Saratoga. Back home, we shared lots of laughs during the Grammy's, especially when Micah came out in his Gaga wear. By that I mean he came into the living room "dressed" in toilet paper much to the amusement of Mom and I. It was pee your pants funny.

Monday :

Christopher joined the gang on Monday before Mom left. We hung out at the apartment for a bit before Mom and Chris went out. After mom left Christopher stayed for the 'Cuse game which we WON, FINALLY! That was, obviously, a fantastic evening.

Tuesday :
Micah went back to work today but MJ and Justin came to visit Addison and I. Justin's pretty nervous around Addison since she traumatized him some time ago with her shrieking. Not crying, just loud and scary to some, haha. It takes him about 30 minutes to an hour to come around and get used to her but she's very much amused by the entire thing. Anyway, MiJung and I always love to see one another and Justin won't be scared of Addison forever, let's hope!

NEW VIDEO

2011-02-07T21:41:00.000-05:00

Addison and I found time over the weekend to make a video so check out my YouTube Channel to view it! There's a link to the right as well. Enjoy!

TERRIBLE HORRIBLE BLOGGER

2011-02-04T21:08:00.002-05:00

I've been so bad at updating!! Time certainly flies when you're chasing a toddler around all day. I've been busy with much else as well such as staying warm and working on greeting cards. We've also recently established that we're Christians. I've always been curious and interested in religion but never felt an urge to be too involved. Ever since I met my mother in law I did lean towards educating myself more about Christianity. She was never pushy or preachy but was so kind in giving me this book of proverbs and a daily devotional in the past which I truly committed myself to. Still, I had floating views on all sorts of subjects and though I agreed with aspects of the Bible I had many ideas about other religions as well. Recently Micah and I took a 40 day journey with the Purpose Driven Life and that really confirmed to me who I was and how I wanted to think and since then I've just been on this Christian high, if you will. Micah and I both have truly embraced our Christianity and with friends and family to share that with we're just moving forward and it's fantastic. Another result of all of this is a new blog my friend and I started committing ourselves to seminars and sharing thoughts and reading suggestions as well as discussions. I'd love for you all to check it out and follow along if you will! http://18withus.blogspot.com. We recently began a charity venture to help those in my mother's home province of Pangasinan, Asingan, Philippines. There is much you can do to help and it's very simple. Please check us out!

Taking it seriously ...

2011-01-15T22:03:00.002-05:00

Took a few steps in a certain direction this week. That direction being seeing what's out there for Addison. This all kind of started with TheCuteKid.com. I had entered a few of Addison's photos in their galleries last year (As if you don't remember the constant postings and links directing, or perhaps demanding, you to vote for Addison) and decided to research the site more to free myself of scam worries. Thank goodness it's legit! From there I went ahead and submitted two of Addison's photos into their monthly contest. This costs $19.95 per photo. Each month a winner is selected by a panel of judges that are professional agents, etc. The winner for each month wins $5000 in prizes as well as automatic entry into the 2011 Cute Kid Contest. The annual contest awards $25,000 scholarship, 3 day shoot in LA, modeling contract and much, much more. The website is loaded with info on the women responsible for creating it as well as information on finding agents, promoting your child, detecting scams. One thing I love is the testimonials. They speak for themselves as you see countless praise from mothers as well as the children themselves and print ads they've done, commercials, etc.

Now you can add your photos to any of the galleries for free and win prizes but the voting is based on votes YOU retrieve while the photos you submit at a cost are judged by professionals. Either way, it's fun and you get to see tons of cutie pies! When you do submit at a cost you are given some freebies for magazine subscriptions, canvas portrait as well as a 30 day trial to their VIP Kids Club where you create a profile for your child that agents can view and you may use as a promotional tool. I believe once the 30 days are up it's $9.95/month unless you choose to cancel. Along with the VIP Kids Club membership is LOAAAADS of detailed info on finding legitmate agencies to represent your child as well as MANY other tips. The best part is, agencies use this website often to seek the right look for a client they need child models for. SO-whether you enter galleries at no cost or submit photo at a cost your little one still has a shot at being noticed!

THAT SAID -

I followed the advice given and searched for local agencies as they are smaller and your child could stand out more. I found a fairly new agency created by a well known in the model and talent industry as a model, photographer, speaker and author. He went ahead and said they would represent Addison which basically means if a client comes to him looking for a child with her characteristics we will be contacted. Either way - kinda cool.

Check out her profile! http://vip.thecutekid.com/addisonmalilayvitale

You don't have to do anything after that. Just by checking her profile out you increase her search rankings aka when an agent's looking for a toddler with Addison's characteristics she will be more likely to come up on top.

Thanks everyone!!!

Winter Wonderland-ing

2011-01-10T12:11:00.003-05:00

Here We Go Again!

2011-01-09T10:56:00.003-05:00

Well, I've come up with some updates for the Betty Jane & Co. site so I've got a TON on my plate right now. I'll have some video clips and photos up probably tonight or tomorrow. Addison played in the snow yesterday for the first time. I took her out once before and she was not into it at all. This time she met a friend and also took to crawling around! Check back later for more on that!

Sketchtacular! Sketchtacular!

2011-01-06T21:58:00.002-05:00

I created another blog strictly for my artwork so if you'd like to check it out just go to :

http://sketchtacular-sketchtacular.blogspot.com/

Enjoy :)

Finally a YouTube update!

2011-01-05T21:11:00.000-05:00

After days of slaving over this video I finally have it completed! This is Addison's Year 1 video with tons of clips from her first haircut, 1st birthday, Christmas and other fun times. As usual it is also loaded with photographs and great tunes. I mention in the video that we will no longer be making them regularly, or once a month, but when we have time which I'm sure will be every few months. Either way, I WILL be posting clips here and there on the blog so this is the place to be :)

Digital Photos :

Don't take this too hard but I'm leaving digital photography behind for a while. At least I think I am. I recently acquired a Diana Mini and a Holga and am EXTREMELY excited to get to work using them. It's about time to go back to shooting film, don't you think? I have waaaay too many digital photos sitting on my external harddrive just begging to be printed and placed into a scrapbook one day. And by one day I mean I have photos that date back to 2005 that need to be printed - Yes thousands! I think what I will try is to shoot a bunch of rolls of film per month and the last week of each month I will have them printed and, of course, share with everyone through some time spent scanning and posting. I would never do away with taking video of Addison, though, so I will be using our digital camera for home video purposes until I save up for the new 3M camcorder with shoot and share capabilities - it projects anywhere directly from the camera! hehe. Anywho - check in about 30 minutes on for the new youtube video! It will be posted on my channel which is linked to your right. Take care everyone and hope you all are enjoying the New Year!

Special K TIME!

2011-01-04T12:14:00.001-05:00

So I have begun the Special K diet. It was kind of on a whim. I saw that they had an app so I checked it out and figured I'd buy some of the products. We went ahead and bought cereal, cereal bars, shakes, meal bars and snack bars to work with from their brand. The app called for savory herb crackers of any brand which we bought and they have a bunch of great recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and vegetarians. You are allowed one meal a day to make on your own and you have two Special K snacks a day and two Special K "meals" meaning a protein bar, cereal or a shake. They are loaded with fiber and protein that help keep you full throughout the day and so far so good. I'm on day 3, have lost about 2 pounds and don't feel deprived at all. What's nice is that the app is set to 2 weeks so each day you just rate how you did on the app. There's no pressure about reaching a certain goal weight or plugging in your weight anywhere. That's a load of for me. I can focus on just eating healthy. You're also allowed all the fruits and veggies you can eat. I don't feel like I'm struggling to get through the days and I'm really enjoying this "diet." Hopefully I can keep it up. I'll keep everyone posted. By the way, they have a few different plans. I believe I chose the 'On the Go' plan so the options for foods may vary. I recommend it, though!!

Haaaaaappy New Year! ... well almost!

2010-12-31T19:42:00.000-05:00

2010 : family.exhaustion.beer.diapers.tantrums(from baby of course!).milk.spills.coffeestains.baking.back pains.migraines.coughs.sniffles.love.reese's.manager.web surfing.clapping.sid the science kid.moving.landlords.late nights.early,early mornings.old friends. new friends.blogs.youtube.christmas.birthdays.thoughts of chicago.cubbies.'cuse.football.dvr.sold!.travels.candles.mamas.dadas.crawling.singing.dancing. restaurant food.fast food.sleep.sleepy.energy drinks.

it's been a long but fulfilling year. I don't think I have a resolution - they never seem to work out for me and today I'm feeling pretty content. I have a beautiful family and caring friends. There isn't much else I would like to improve right now. Of course, there are lots of specifics I could get into that would be wonderful if they were to get better but just generally, for the most part - we're so blessed and grateful for all that we have. Hope you all enjoy ringing in the New Year :)

Life's Unfair - In a good way :)

2010-12-30T21:16:00.000-05:00

I came to a realization today that, well, life is extremely unfair. When I say in a good a way I don't necessarily mean that it's fantastic that life's unfair but more so that if it were fair and perfect then there would not be much to learn or any excitement really, you know? For example, you work all day long and come home and all you need to do is relax but when you've got a little one that really is not an option at times. You're basically, overtired, overwhelmed, physically in pain and truly, you need to sleep and relax and unfortunately, when you walk in the door and your child is need of care your single option is to, no matter what, take care of your baby ahead of yourself. This is extremely unfair to you. When I try to picture day after day being perfect with no error. A happy baby 24/7 who, when she needs something just happily points and we fulfill the request much to their continued happiness and at 7pm you lay them to bed-TA DA!-they fall right asleep and you sit down with the rest of your evening knowing she won't wake up until 9am. Oh how wonderful! But you know what-I've gotten through a lot of tough days/nights that I didn't think I had in me. Talk about finding your inner strength, tolerance, patience. Areas of your character you never gauged. And here you are - SUPERPARENT! I'd say that's a wonderfully unfair life!

Success!

2010-12-28T22:11:00.000-05:00

The only good thing about appointments where Addison receives shots is that they are a wonderful reminder of how tough she is! Micah isn't too fond at all of the process and refuses to look - understandably. I don't mind needles and I'm convinced she forgets it even happened the minute the nurse leaves the room so literally she got her three shots, screamed at the nurse in her usual loud screech and before we made it to the check out desk all had been forgotten and she was playing. Nonetheless-it's nice to have that over with! She's doing quite well and is back on the curve with weight. She fell off the map at her last visit due to low weight but she looked fine to me so I think it was mostly due to her just being a petite little thing. All is well now, though, and it's almost time to ring in the new year. How about that?! Goes much too fast for me!

I haven't mentioned A Purpose Driven Life lately. If you're just tuning in, Micah and I are 16 days in at this point of the 40 day journey. We both signed the opening as a commitment. Unfortunately, with Addison's birthday and the holidays we did miss days here and there but we would make sure to catch up and just read 2 chapters another day. I didn't like to do that because I think there's enough to think about in one chapter for one day but it was important to keep up so we would just space out our readings and make sure to discuss.

We had our best discussion yet last night. Micah asked me how exactly Jesus made a sacrifice for us. As I started to try and explain my understanding I realized I didn't have a solid grasp so I kind of "talked it out" I guess you could say until we both understood. I began with the basic, Jesus sacrificed his life so that we could be forgiven ... well, why did he do that? Jesus could have very easily avoided being placed on the cross but he would have to go against his belief in God. So he should throw himself into self sacrifice instead? Well no but would not deny God and in loving God, he trusted that God would take care of him no matter what. Jesus was ridiculed while on the cross because to those sitting by watching/taunting, if he had such a close relationship with God well then God should save him? Perhaps this crossed Jesus' mind as well but we must realize that we don't always understand God's choices, we just have to trust them and he did. In a time such as that of Noah's when many were self centered and not putting much time into worship, God must have felt very betrayed but Jesus changed that. Jesus believed and stood by his belief in God despite all of his pain and suffering and this made God see that there were faithful people left, including all of us, that deserve forgiveness.

We really look forward to a new chapter each day and they really set the tone for my days, it's really a book I recommend :)

Merry Christmas

2010-12-26T21:17:00.000-05:00

Chop Chop!

2010-12-23T21:26:00.000-05:00

The Bunny Turns 1!

2010-12-23T21:20:00.000-05:00

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

2010-12-22T21:42:00.000-05:00

A new beginning, the bunny is now a year old! Lots of changes. First and foremost - I've made this blog public! As many of you know I have both a YouTube Channel as well as a Facebook page. I intend to make videos whenever we have time but not as consistently and frequently as in the past. It's just no longer feasible, what can I say!? As far as the Facebook page, I will continue to use that for photo updates and well as a ticker of sorts giving you small bits of info more frequently using the status. Other than that I want to start using this here blog more regularly. This will be my primary thing as opposed to YouTube before! As you can see I've given the ol' blog a new look and I'll be posting more later!! Just wanted to fill you in on the changes!

PREP

2010-12-17T21:10:00.000-05:00

We've been doing LOTS of preparing for Addison's party! I have a huge tote in the dining room stuffed with candy (for guests not babies!), to go containers (for the candy!), cups, bowls, markers, paper slips, signs, etc, etc, etc. Tomorrow morning is baking day! I am so excited to reveal what her "cake" will be like but, no can do until after the party! Tomorrow afternoon Mom and Dad Vitale will be here and I've got to finish shopping for some stocking stuffers and get some prizes. The 'Cuse game is on tomorrow night so I'm sure we'll wind down with that. Sunday morning we are having an early Christmas with Mom and Dad Tuttle and my brother. Mom's going to be in the Philippines on Christmas, hence the early celebration. We'll do gifts and what not and then around noon off to the brewery to set up for Addison's Party! I'll keep ya'll posted :)

Teamwork!

2010-12-13T21:52:00.000-05:00

Key word of the week!

Micah and I are prepping for Addison's party on Sunday. I've got a game to work out, a "cake" to make, some prizes to purchase. Of course we need to prepare for the ton of family and friends coming in for the occasion. We're so excited to see everyone. Aside from that Micah and I began reading The Purpose Driven Life together. It's nice to have something that fits into your schedule and forces you to just sit, relax and spend a few minutes a day in thought. We discuss what we read and share thoughts so it's nice to have a moment each day where we can do that. We began our holiday film festival too. Each December we watch the same holidays movies give or take a few. We kicked things off with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation last night while enjoying some Vermont Sharp White Cheddar Cheese and some delicious crackers Micah found. Next up - Elf!

Slowly But Surely ..

2010-12-11T20:54:00.000-05:00

Well folks,
We are finally beginning to catch up with our lives give or take a box here or some clutter there. THAT'S RIGHT! We're pretty settled into the new place. I love, love, LOVE having office space ... now only to find time to use it :) Addison enjoys having free reign of her baby safe bedroom. Her OWN bedroom. Yes. AWAY from OUR bedroom. It is quite the pleasure at night to not have to tip toe into the bedroom making sure to shut the door just right and stepping on the correct floor boards as to not by chance wake up the baby. We can just mosey on in nowadays. As soon as we're a bit more cleaned up I'll post some photos. Other than that I've been working on a video that I'm almost finished with. As far as videos go I don't think we'll be making them as consistently as before after her 1 year video. I just did the 11 month one, a few weeks late, and once you watch it you'll understand the difficulty in finding a moment to make the darn things. Of course, we will make videos at random when we have time. What else?! Ah yes, birthday planning and Christmas. Being an organizational nut, Christmas was taken care of last month. Throughout each year I write down ideas and items I overhear from family members that I can purchase towards the end of the year. I did all of my shopping in Oct/Nov and everything is currently wrapped and under the tree. I think I completed wrapping sometime in early November. I wasn't sure why I was in such a rush but now thank goodness for that being completed. My focus is solely on Addison's party. I have a great "cake" idea that I can't wait to create and you can all keep your fingers crossed that it works out. I'll give details AFTER the party along with photos. Her birthday party will be Dec. 19th at the Brewery where Micah works. Unconvential 1 year party at a Brewery?! YOU BETCHA! :) We're doing a vintage Mickey Mouse theme. I like Vintage, Addison loves Mickey and Davidson Brothers Brewery has a vintage feel so VOILA.

As for me - I'm still trying to lose weight with not much success. I created a plan for myself to use for the next month. I'll give you details in my next post and let you know how it goes. Gotta lose this weight now or never!!!

CIAO!

We're Moving!

2010-11-20T20:20:00.000-05:00

My dream has come true ... well I have other dreams but they're not necessary right now and will come later but for now my dream was to have more space and sure enough, fate had us in store for greatness. I hadn't done the CraigsList apartment search in a while. In the past I had come across "scam" postings and became discouraged about looking around. Then last Monday I thought I'd browse and I found what I almost thought to be another scam as it was too good to be true. A 3 bedroom for $50 more than what we pay currently with heat/water included in rent as well as many other amenities. So I gave the place a call after checking out their short and sweet website. I set up an appointment for Thursday morning which I was disappointed about as that would leave 2 days for people to pick up the place. There was no way around this, though, as we had plans to go down state for Tues/Wed. Thursday morning arrives and I can't seem to get ahold of this woman. I begin to think I was once again fooled but we went anyway for our appointment to see the apartment. Turns out, there was a couple who were going to take it but they never came back with the applications. Sure enough we saw the place and it was certainly worth applying for. Come to find out, they're running a special for applicants of this week only to have a free first month so all we needed to pay was the deposit. As if it couldn't get better she said she'd draw up the lease for Dec. 15th but would give us the keys for the 6th so we could get out of our place in time to rent it out so we wouldn't be paying for 2 apartments in December. We set up a date to sign the lease and that was done with - HOORAY.

Then came the semi-stressful portion. It was Thursday the 18th and I needed to find a renter by December 6th. I am required to give 30 days notice on moving out so if I could not find someone to pay the rent at the latest day it is due (Dec. 8th) then we'd owe for Dec. 8-18th. This would be in addition to our security deposit in the new apartment. I began my search for a renter by placing an ad on CraigsList. Before I knew it I had several appointments booked for people to see the apartment. At this point you would think our luck had run out .. but oh no! The first girl to come see the apartment yesterday morning (10am) loved it and we contacted the manager, she filled out an application and put down a security deposit of $700!

Truly couldn't be happier. Addison in her own room. Mommy with a home office. And daddy with a happy mommy and baby to greet him when he comes home from work! YAY!

Been so long ...

2010-11-15T20:52:00.000-05:00

It's been a while. As usual, I'm not very good at updating this. The videos are down to once a month now (the last few weeks of each month is when I post). She is also slowly becoming a toddler which means I have less and less time to myself during the day. Nothing wrong with that, though. I love seeing my little girl grow! I'll do my best to update at least once a month, if not twice. Currently - we're prepping for Addison's birthday party, getting the guest list RSVPs, etc. We've got a concert to go to tomorrow night, Bob Dylan, so Addison will stay with Grammie for a few hours while we're gone. She certainly can't complain about that, Addison or Grammie! I have so many photos and videos that I haven't even taken off of my camera yet but I'll update ya'll soon!

Birthday Prep and Updating BabyCenter

2010-11-07T14:36:00.000-05:00

What a weekend - I've begun preparations for the little ones first birthday. I was inspired by the many wonderful mommy and baby blogs out there that I've recently discovered. You wouldn't believe what's out there. I found brand new blogs and long running blogs some loaded with simple thoughts, others loaded with product reviews, fashion reviews, tips, advice, very personal and very impersonal - EVERYTHING! Anywho - reading all of these got me excited and motivated to get her birthday party planning going. Invites are going out tomorrow and everything else is set I just have to do the work - make the cake when the time comes, get some party games, prizes, other together. The usual 1st birthday fun stuff! I also got around to updating my BabyCenter. I realized I hadn't signed in for a looong time AND my profile hadn't been updated since I was pregnant. Whoops! I loaded photos and info, all that jazz...

little one calls, gotta run!!

Addison's First Halloween!

2010-11-02T21:14:00.000-04:00

Wasn't as exciting as maybe it should be. Haha. We went into it thinking I'd take her out for a while and that changed to sitting on the porch to hand out candy and when that fell through we so oh what the heck. Take some photos and get back into regular clothes so we can visit daddy at work! OH WELL! heheh

Crandall Park Photos

2010-10-22T21:45:00.001-04:00

Some photographs I took of Addison over 2 days at the local park which is a beautiful park!

10 Months old today!

2010-10-22T21:14:00.000-04:00

We went to the doctor for her checkup and she's not doing so hot on the weight check BUT they tested for anemia and the doctor was happy that nothing appears to be wrong other than that she's just petite. Normal head growth and she's a bright kiddo just needs some more meat on the bones, I suppose. Even her height is fine ... Anywho - she had her flu shot and lead test, did great as usual.

Here she is at 10 months

Still no crawling but I'm still not complaining. She doesn't seem to have interest in getting anywhere by crawling but she does pull herself up on things when possible so perhaps she'll go right to walking one day. I didn't want until after a year and if she saves me that trouble I'd be honored, hehe. The weather's getting terribly cold which stinks as far as no more laid back walks. Lots of being stuck inside but luckily I have friends nearby to keep Addison and I company. With the holidays coming up it's not like we'll be too lonely!

Happy Birthday to Cousin Lily!!!

Now I'm IT!

2010-10-10T20:55:00.000-04:00

Well, my last post was about Addison being sick and sure enough .. this one is about ME being sick. The worst part about this is that we had to miss library and church this weekend. I can't stand for Addison to miss out on things like that especially on MY account. Luckily, Mom Vitale saved the day and stayed with us this weekend so that I could rest up and it seems to have worked. It's Sunday evening and I'm feeling MUCH better. More importantly, Addison had a great weekend with Grammie.

Tomorrow Grandma (Lola in Tagalog) and Grandpa Tuttle are coming to visit us! Unfortunately, Micah will be working most of the afternoon/night tomorrow but he should be able to see everyone in the early afternoon when they get here. Addison always enjoys visitors, especially her grandparents so she'll love it I'm sure.

Also, I just want to let everyone know that my stationery business is under way finally! The website is www.BettyJaneandCompany.com and there is a link under the contact tab to our Facebook and Twitter page as well! Please check it out and pass the news on to friends.

I'm working on a new layout for Addison Videos. I'm only going to have time for one a month from here on out as well. Look for a new video at the end of this month!!

Hope everyone is well and enjoying this beautiful fall!!

Runny Nose Taking Over

2010-09-19T22:50:00.000-04:00

Yes, Addison has had the misfortune of getting a stuffy/runny nose for the past 4 days. I'm hoping it goes away in the next few days. The poor dear has a sore nose from all the wiping (I'm using the most gentle tissue out there but even that isn't a savior). She's constantly rubbing her face and getting good old snot everywhere in the process. She now knows what it means when she sees tissue, the sucker thingy and the nasal spray and let me tell you - NOT A FAN! Today I seized using all the spray and vapor rub (which gave her a rash-ugh!) and she seems to be getting better. I still used the sucker thingy, no clue what it's called, and she hates it but it helps I think.

She did great this morning, though! We went to church for our second week at Christ Church United Methodist. She loves it there. The people, the singing, she just smiles through it all. In all honestly, with how chaotic it is to have a baby in a church I actually feel very relaxed there amidst pulling out random toys left and right to distract her and popping sippie cups and snacks in her mouth. She loves when all the Sunday School kids sit up front before going to "school". We sit up there with them and listen nicely. And anytime we stand up to sing she enjoys watching everyone. Those at the church also have a ball with her. I'll catch her smiling or "playing" by moving her head around and realize that she's "chatting" with someone around us. Micah really enjoys the church as well, he came with us last week and was sorry to have to work this week. In about a month we'll discuss baptizing Addison with the pastor. By that time she'll probably be 10 months old! Where does all that time go!?

Mommy's super busy working on save the dates, birthday invites and baby announcements but busy is good. It's nice to supplement Micah's income for once after all this time. I'm loving the workload!!

I need some rest for now, though, everyone have a great week!!

What a week!!

2010-09-01T21:04:00.000-04:00

We've been busy as usual this week.

We all went to my friend MJ's place earlier in the week for dinner. IT WAS GREAT! She is from Korea and made Korean BBQ. It was the most fun/interactive dinner. She started with this salad that had a sesame dressing and there were tons of plates of food on the table like sweet pickled garlic, spicy cabbage, potsticker type things, red spicy sauce and plates of rice. After our salads she whips out this table griddle thing that she cooks up pork and beef on and pulls our two large bowls of lettuce. Basically we were told to grab a piece of lettuce and fill it with anything on the table, wrap it up and eat it! Micah learned to use chopsticks and he learned this game called Ladder Ball that he played after dinner. Addison did great and hung out all night!

Micah and I both worked our butts off this week - Micah at work, me at home. I FINALLY finished my website -www.bettyjaneandcompany.com - now I just need to work on cards!

Over the past few days my mother in law has been here at a nearby campsite at Lake Moreau. We've been visiting each day. Yesterday morning we spent at the beach and today Mom, Addison and I were there all morning and afternoon. What a great time and again, Addison did wonderful! She LOVED the water.

This weekend we're just getting excited to pull through and after next week Micah starts his job as Manager at Davidson Brothers Brewery.

PHOTOS TO COME!

As usual - never a dull moment!

2010-08-25T16:24:00.000-04:00

Addison is getting through some firsts -

She got through her first whole day without us a few weeks ago when she stayed with my parents. Hooray! We also went with my in laws to a restaurant for the first time with the lil bugger. She exceeded our expectations yet again. Crawling is a negative as is standing. She's just soo teeny tiny I don't think she could hold herself up even if she wanted too. Lord loves her for trying, though. She puts forth a lot of effort to crawl but gets tired and frustrated after a few minutes. I'm working in a video to bring everyone up to speed so look for it in the next few days :)

BUSY BUNNIES!

2010-08-13T11:21:00.000-04:00

I say bunnies because that is Addison's nickname - Bunny. I think Micah and I have formed the habit of referring to one another as "bear". Okay, enough funny stuff!

We have quite the weekend ahead. I'll go over some quick milestones first of all. Addison has begun creeping, I suppose that's a precursor to crawling. She does a lot of faceplanting in the process but you've gotta learn somehow-am I right?! Not sure if I mentioned before but she eats small pieces of bread and jarred meats now, yay! She still chatters away but can also play peek a boo, dance, clap and shake her rattle toys. As far as the weekend - BIG milestone for mommy and daddy - we're leaving her for the day/night! Not overnight but she'll be asleep long before we get home. We have a wedding to go to so Grandma and Grandpa Tuttle will be doing the honors of watching her. Luckily they have plenty to keep her busy. They're taking her to my Aunt's memorial and some festivities afterwards. She'll be leaving in the morning. It certainly is bittersweet. I'm SO SO SO excited to have a day off but I'll certainly miss her and I'm feeling a bit of that guilt of leaving the little one behind but I know it's the best thing for all of us!! We all need this break :)

We'll be off to the wedding of Micah's high school friend Kara and her fiance Paul and be on our way back home sometime Sunday. Very exciting, I'll be sure to post photos from our night off as soon as possible. Take care!

6 Month Appt - A little late

2010-07-22T13:06:00.000-04:00

So Addison had her 6 month appointment yesterday but she's actually about 7 months now. We had to reschedule the appointment due to a schedule conflict with Micah's work - ANYWHO - She did great! She received 3 shots which she got through without shedding a tear. We're so proud. Everything's looking great. The doctor said we're doing a wonderful job, always a pleasure to hear. Her ears, skin, hair, weight, height all seem to be just fine. She's 12.5lbs which is only double her birth weight but she isn't wasting away just petite is all! She's 25" tall and her head circumference is in the 75% so all's well there. She smiled and "talked" with her doctor and played a bit. As for now, the weather is cooling down significantly especially with the lessened humidity so LOTS of walks for us!

7 Month Photos

2010-07-22T13:03:00.001-04:00

Addison is 7 Months today!

Excuse me ..? Do you have my free time?

2010-07-18T20:37:00.000-04:00

Boy, the older Addison gets the less time I have for my dear computer. How I miss you blog!

I'd like to take a moment and Congratulate Erica and Ryan on their new addition, Baby William! We received his beautiful baby announcement recently. Also, congrats to Lily on all of her milestones. I hope Addison can accomplish what Lily was able to in her 7th and 8th months. I'm always so impressed reading about her!

As for Addison - girl is keeping me busy, busy! She's sitting up like a pro, using her sippie cup and mesh paci's like never before, increasingly chatty and just happy as can be. Her feet have grown considerably. I put socks on her that were huge a few weeks ago and are now falling off because they're so tiny on her. I'm excited for her to hopefully start crawling in the months ahead. And if not, I still look forward to any surprise milestones. She's been eating more of a variety of foods in phase 2 as well as my continuous homemade food. She's still breastfeeding for those who may wonder and it's going great. She's just a joy and we continue to have so much fun with her. Oh! As of right now she also has her two bottom teeth, yay!! They haven't seemed to bother her for the most part. With the first one we used the Tylenol here and there at night time only but we stopped and she's been fine with the 2nd tooth that's coming in.

Addison has an appointment (6 month overdue!) on Tuesday so I'll write soon to fill you in on that and on Thursday she'll be 7 months! HOLY COW!

Latest photos and a silly video as well!

2010-07-18T20:29:00.000-04:00

Sooo hot out!

2010-07-05T21:36:00.000-04:00

Well folks. Excuse my absence. As I've said before, Addison growing up gives me way less time for this. She naps less and less and she's much more active now. It's fantastic. I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July. My in laws were here visiting. We went for a nice walk and in the morning they watched Addison so we can try out a few rides at six flags. The heat was the drag of the day though. A few more days of it!!! Thank goodness micah's been off all weekend. His help during this heatwave has been crucial!!!

Halfway Point!

2010-06-22T12:52:00.000-04:00

Addison is 6 months old and progressing with flying colors!

We're constantly fascinated with her ever growing abilities. She's putting the spoon up to her mouth as well as her sippie cup, although she doesn't really know what to do with them from that point, hehe. She can sit up for small spurts of time. Her chatter has increased quite a bit as well as smiles and giggles. We've watched her grow a little taller as we raised her chair up one notch a few weeks ago.

I'm really looking forward to what the next 6 months will bring and Lord knows there's no stopping them, they just grow, grow, grow!!

5 Months Old and Baby Lap Time

2010-05-23T14:44:00.000-04:00

Addison has reached her 5 Month point, very exciting. She continues to progress as always, she sits up on her own for a few seconds at a time which is huge to us. We're trying to get her to use a sippie cup so that we can skip the whole bottle process altogether. She can use the snack pacifier thingy's on her own. She's more content with our friends and family. This seems to be going smoothly!

Baby Lap Time at the Library is a wonderful thing. We went to two Saturday sessions and just registered for all of the Saturday's this summer. Yay! We're very excited. Addison loves observing the other babies and listening to the stories and songs we sing together. So far she seems to take it very seriously with some smiles here and there. As opposed to be very excited she just seems to want to absorb it all, haha, very focused. Micah was able to come with us this past Saturday and took many photos!

Ranked 202, keep voting please!!

2010-05-18T09:19:00.001-04:00

Addison is ranked #202 out of, I believe, thousands so
PLEASE KEEP VOTING DAILY
so she can become
become one of Parents.com weekly Reader’s Choice finalists! The photo
with the most votes this week will go into their semi-final Reader’s
Choice round for a chance to travel to New York City for the Parents
Cover Contest P...hoto Shoot.Vote daily!
Voting ends 05/23/2010.

http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/id/7/w/20/y/2010?page=202&esrc=nwphotofaves4

THANKS EVERYONE FOR VOTING!!!!

VOTE FOR ADDISON DAILY!

2010-05-17T20:05:00.001-04:00

Parents Mag Photo Cover Contest

2010-05-17T15:56:00.000-04:00

Addison's photo is currently in the running to become one of Parents.com weekly Reader’s Choice finalists! The photo with the most votes this week will go into their semi-final Reader’s Choice round for a chance to travel to New York City for the Parents Cover Contest Photo Shoot.

Vote daily! Voting ends 05/23/2010.
http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/photo/291778

I miss spare time!

2010-05-14T13:18:00.000-04:00

I've been terrible about updating. Rest assure things are well. Addison has been experimenting with many foods - apples,bananas,carrots,peas,squash and sweet potatoes. Thanks to the food mill Mom Vitale got me Addison gets to feel the textures of different food which she loves. Micah has been working hard at his new job and it is paying off. We just got our own family plan with iPhones and we love them. They are convenient for our daily activity. Now we are planning on a house one day and a new car soon! I have been rid of my post partum issues which is great. I am allowed to work out now so Addison and I walk almost 3 hours a day. I am working on a new video so hang tight!

5 months old in two weeks - whew!

2010-05-04T12:22:00.000-04:00

It still amazes me how fast the time goes. Addison can FINALLY reach her toes to her new toy! She's also been eating like a champ. Micah and I are just getting into the new schedules with his new job ... eventually things should settle down again. Mother's Day is coming, yay! Hope everyone has a great weekend :)

Nap Training

2010-04-30T12:28:00.000-04:00

As you know, Addison's a pretty great sleeper through the night BUT naps have always been in my arms rocking. Well, I've come to the realization that this has to stop if I'm ever going to have freetime in the future during her naps to do this and that SO today we started nap training in her crib! I put her down at about noon with the idea that I'd soothe her a bit and leave and check on her every 5 minutes. I checked on only twice and the last time I stayed with her a little longer and just talked calmly to her and left. After these 5 minute intervals I was going to start with 10 minute intervals BUT SHE FELL ASLEEP!! In just 20 minutes she fell asleep in her crib. I'm so excited!!

It's been too long!

2010-04-28T20:48:00.001-04:00

I haven't written in a while. Too much has gone by in time that goes by much too fast. I'm proud to announce (if I haven't yet already) that I'm healing wonderfully. Called me healed, in fact. Also, Addison has started eating 'food'. She did her first run with rice cereal yesterday and today, rice cereal AND green peas. Mmmm. Her 4 month appointment went very well. She took to her shots as usual, fearless! She fell asleep shortly after and we made the quick decision to drive to Congers Monday after her shots. She was fast asleep so we pulled in the driveway and I stayed in the car as Micah gathered all the items we went over for a night's stay. We were on our way. Addison did great on the drive down. We had such a great evening being able to see Grammie and Grampie Vitale, Uncle Jake, Uncle Christopher and Aunt Renee. Addison really took to Jake which was so cute to see. She was always looking for him when she heard his voice. I fell asleep shortly after Addison early Monday night. I was pooped and so was she. We had wonderful sleep and just being in a house made me yearn for our own house one day even more. Addison slept wonderfully with non creaky floors and a house that wasn't flooded with noises from loud neighbors. Soon enough we'll find ourselves a home! We had a nice morning/afternoon at the Vitale's and made our way home Tuesday afternoon. Addison did just as well on the ride home. As for now .. I'm working on a new video and wishing I had more time to work on the family tree ... as of now .. there is no time, though!

From waitstaff to SUPERVISOR!

2010-04-14T16:50:00.003-04:00

Well, unfortunately I won't be online much in the next 2 weeks BUT for good reason! Micah got a new job! He will be a supervisor of banquets for Six Flags. He put in his 2 week notice at the Marriott so he will be shuffling both jobs through next week. As a result, I get more one on one time with Addison and certainly less computer which is never a bad thing. I've also had my checkup and things are progressing. I'm allowed to work out finally so I'm thinking of beginning a weight loss blog starting next week, we will see!!

Addison Making Us Smile!

2010-04-07T09:10:00.002-04:00

Cubs?? Butler???

2010-04-06T14:34:00.000-04:00

Bad day for the teams we were rooting for yesterday but at least we have a whole season of baseball to cheer on. Nothing like being a Cubs fan and expecting disappointment! We decked Addison out in her Cubs gear, obviously.

The Butler loss I sort of felt coming. I;m not a fan of Duke so I promptly went to bed after they won to avoid their celebration.

Addison: I'm happy to announce she only wakes up once a night now around 3-4am. Thank goodness, after a few months of sleeping through the night we had a rough time in March with her getting up every few hours. She's on a better schedule now and getting less fussy. She'll be 4 months old soon! Where has the time gone!?

Micah and I : We're doing great. Each day we're amazed by Addison's growth and changes. Micah's working hard at his job and I'm working hard at home. I'm constantly stimulating Addison's senses with reading, music, textures, colors, sounds. I think we'd both agree we have everything we could want for now. We're so happy with our life as a family.

Happy Easter :)

2010-04-04T12:17:00.002-04:00

Hello All - I hope everyone has a blessed day!

Quick Update : All is great here. Micah's been working hard at work and home. He's had to help me a ton with Addison because walking around with her is getting painful post surgery. Even sitting, standing, getting up from the floor is a pain but hopefully that will end soon. Micah and Addison have been taking long walks with this beautiful weather and Addison and I often sit on the porch outside! Here are some of her latest pictures!

Health, Wising Up

2010-04-02T10:44:00.000-04:00

It's about time I start focusing on my health. I think I eat pretty healthily for the most part but there are changes to be made. Micah got me in the habit of eating right before bed between 8-10pm which is no good! No time to burn it off so it piles on as weight gain. I need to start eating before 7pm preferably. I'm also looking forward to my next appointment to see if I'm healed so I can work out. I'm so eager to! Micah, Addison and I have been taking walks but their starting to take a toll - I'm pretty sore so I'm going to take it easy until I find out more about how I'm healing. I want to do a photo diary like with my pregnancy so I'll begin that on Tuesday (the day of the week Addison was born!). I'll be logging my weight daily as well. I'll do the weekly photo/log every Tuesday via this blog!

Getting Back on Track

2010-03-29T17:39:00.000-04:00

Well! It's been a crazy few weeks, that's for sure! I did make a new youtube video which you can view on my youtube channel, featured on the right. It's about time I start getting back into the swing of things more regularly. Where to begin ...

Well, ever since my appointment prior to my surgery (I believe the appointment was the first week of March maybe?) I was prescribed Premarin, a vaginal cream containing estrogen to help soften the cervix and help the surgery. I noticed that around when I began using the cream Addison began waking in the night. The doctor said it shouldn't affect her too much even though I'm breastfeeding as long as I only use it once a day, at night. It's nothing too difficult to handle but I do believe it's the cause of Addison's change in sleep patterns. Luckily, she only wakes up about 3 times and it's only for maybe 15-30 minutes at a time to eat and she falls asleep immediately, phew! I've also heard this could be due to growth spurts, but again, no problem!

Also this month we had MANY visitors : Tessa, Christopher, Aunt Janet, Grammie, Grandma and Bill! I think this has created a little excitement aside from our usual schedule, again influencing her sleep patterns. We also have Great Grandma and Grandpa coming tomorrow with Grammie and Grampie. What a month! She was her wild self when Tessa was here, ONLY when Tessa is here does she get a little out of sorts at night. Both times Tessa's been here she's acted out in a way that I've never seen before, haha. Too much fun must be!

She did pretty well with Christopher here. When Aunt Janet and Grammie were here they got to take her on a few walks and it was wonderful to just have that little break from her! It was wonderful for Aunt Janet to see her again for the first time since the week she was born. She was a little fussy but she always seems to get slightly cranky when visitors are here. I can't wait for her to grow out of that! I'll discuss my mom's visit in the next paragraph.

Bill was just here yesterday. He was on his way back to Maine so he could only stay a few hours but it was great for him to meet Addison. He adored her.

Surgery - March 24th I had my surgery! My mom came that morning and I gave her the rundown on tricks to handle Addison not if but WHEN she gets fussy - let's face it - it's inevitable! We left around 1pm and I went to the OR around 330pm. Everything went smoothly and I was home by about 6pm. Addison did okay, haha. I told Micah in the hospital that I felt more sorry for my mom then Addison. Addison knows her grandparents, she knows she's okay but I think sometimes she just wants mom and dad. It helped that we weren't around and that we were gone for a longer period of time. Addison kind of had to face it that she was with Grandma and mom and dad weren't around. My mom said not to worry, though, she said Addison crying was nothing compared to the older patients she deals with at the hospital! Touche! Anyway, my mom had some cute photos of Addison so I knew she was content at least some of the time and she said Addison napped for about an hour and succumbed to feeding from a bottle after realizing there was no breastfeeding in site. SO - she was probably only fussy for a few hours on and off I'm guessing since we were gone for 5 hours. The best part - when Micah and I walked in she was so, so, SO happy to see us!

Moving forward - I'm just looking forward to the milestones ahead in the next 2 months. Carrying her around is becoming a strain on my back so when she's able to sit up on her own that will be a new form of distraction and play as opposed to carrying her around when she's sick of laying down. She's continuing to progress with playing with her toys, reaching for them and holding them. I've been letting her hold her spoons to get used to it. She's getting stronger during tummy time and holding herself up for longer periods of time. Cousin Lily was nice enough to give us some of her outfits she grew out of. Aunt Janet brought them and we were so grateful. They're adorable! We've been taking advantage of her love for walks. Micah gives me a break when he can and takes Addison for a walk so that I can have some time to myself to clean, nap, talk on the phone, BLOG! She falls asleep instantly and after he's brought her in so it's a nice break for us both. Addison LOVES children shows in the morning, the colors appeal to her and the faces! When they show any character's face up close Addison smiles so wide. It's so sweet!

That's enough for now!

3 Months Old!

2010-03-23T15:07:00.000-04:00

Busy Week!

2010-03-15T13:48:00.001-04:00

Monday : Uncle Chris will be here!
Tuesday : Tessa's coming!
Friday : Aunt Janet and Grammie visit!

Who do you think you are??

2010-03-11T08:25:00.000-05:00

First of all - My apologies for no updates lately! All is well here. Addison is thriving. We heard her first giggle last week which made us both a little emotional - ha! Our growing girl, it's just amazing to see. Over the past few days it's been BEAUTIFUL out so we've taken her for a ride in the car a few times and walked her around the porch while carrying her. She absolutely loves the outdoors like mom and dad. I can't wait for Spring to roll around so we can do it regularly.

Other than that, my free time is consumed by ancestry.com. I watched the show Who Do You Think You Are? which premiered on Friday and I'm addicted to the show and finding my ancestors. I'm going as far as tracing them back to Europe then I'll stop and take my tree and try to find out as much as I can of everyone from the family that lived in the US. So far I've traced as far back as England, Scotland and Ireland. The history goes further into Euro history but as I said, once I've gotten to a relative who was born in Europe and died in the US I use those as my 'ends' for now. I've found out some great info and can hopefully compile a nice scrapbook with my findings!

New Video

2010-03-07T16:56:00.002-05:00

MIA

2010-03-02T13:05:00.001-05:00

Sorry I haven't been posting. It's been busy around here!

Saturday : Micah and I spent most of the evening tidying up for Mom's arrival on Sunday afternoon. We watched the Orange, of course, and that was amazing as usual, No. 1 baby!! Since the game didn't start until 9pm we had a late night but it was definitely fun for all.

Sunday : Micah had to work bright 'n' early as usual and I finished up any cleaning that I could do with Addison in tow. Mom arrived in the afternoon from that point on, minus feedings, I had free arms, yay! Haha. We watched the USA vs. Canada hockey game, it was a loss but we fought 'til the end! Micah felt bummed but what can ya do? We ordered pizza and wings, delicious! That night Micah and I decided to take a trip to Target - our first trip out together without Addison and I don't feel a bit guilty. The way a typical 21 year old feels about going to a bar was the excitement I had for going to Target with my husband and without Addison. It was nice, just the two of us for an hour, hahaha. I was excited to get home and see my baby, though! We bought a new tv stand and a file cabinet. The rest of the night we just enjoyed each others' company.

Monday : The next morning Micah and I went back and bought the bookcase that goes along with the cabinet and when we got home Micah spent a few grueling hours putting together the tv stand. When complete we did some rearranging and we ended up with a nice set up.

At around 2pm we headed to my appointment, the results of which were expected. I DO have to go back to the OR for a short procedure to open up the vaginal opening a bit. I should only have to stay at the hospital for a few hours. Wish me luck!

Addison had a wonderful time with Grammy and did great without mom and dad for the first time!

Micah and I watched Napoleon Dynamite for a few laughs, we had a fun evening as usual.

As for today - Micah put together the bookcase and filing cabinet first thing this morning and I agreed he should go skiing for ALL of his hard work so hear I am enjoying Addison in my arms sleeping, Micah's skiing, we're happy campers. Cheers! As soon as this place is organized I'll post photos!

New Video

2010-02-25T14:38:00.000-05:00

I put up a new video on YouTube today :

It is loaded with great clips/photos of Addison and she sat with me through the video!

Addison's 2 months old as of yesterday!

2010-02-23T10:42:00.000-05:00

Couldn't be more proud!!

2010-02-22T11:10:00.001-05:00

It was my hope that today - the day of Addison's first shots - that she could tough it out like Mommy does. It was better than I'd hoped!

The whole appointment she did not cry! She was so happy through the initial weighing, measuring, etc. Then we waited and waited for the doctor. Here I am expecting her to get impatient and start bawling but she was so patient. When the doctor finally came in she was so impressive. Addison made mommy and daddy SO SO proud. She was laughing with the doctor, smiling, cooing, she showed how she can hold her head up. He was so impressed and saying how bright she is. He couldn't believe she sleeps through the night, especially being breastfed and that she only has one stool a day at only 2 months. He said she has great skin for 2 months as well as her milestones. I could go on forever, today I have those bragging rights, hehe. Her reflexes were great and she showed him how she can track him with her eyes. Just wonderful! After all of that fun we had to wait again for the shots. We waited and waited and again, I was expecting the worse, thinking she'd cry any minute. Well! She started to fall asleep. I almost wished should would start crying instead so I didn't have to watch her go from asleep to screaming with those shots. The nurse came in and we woke her up, she took the oral vaccination with no problem. On to the 2 needles. At this point Micah had to turn away of course, hahaha. Also at this point, we find that Addison has a great tolerance to needles like mom! She screamed just after receiving each shot but once it was done she was absolutely fine! If anything I was the one tearing up because I felt bad but here I am crying, I look down at my baby and she's fast asleep! It's as if it never happened.

Here is a photo before the appointment

and after...

What a tough girl we have!

Take a seat!

2010-02-21T10:41:00.000-05:00

First off - What a game vs. Gtown! Go Orange!

Here she is in all her glory sitting in her chair. I think Addison's using all her neck strength for this photo, hehe.

We had a wonderful visit with Grammy and Grampy Vitale on Friday/Saturday. Micah and Dad went to another Phantoms game - a win! The ladies stayed home. Mom and I had a few laughs while watching Hoarders, America's Funniest Videos, and our all time favorite - Sold! Addison did great and almost finished her bottle this time. She loves to be held by Grampy, she was so at ease with him, just calm and comfortable. She shared many smiles on their Saturday visit.

Sunday - Today is Micah's last day of work before he has Monday and Tuesday off. I'm excited for him to get to relax, he really works so hard, giving 110% always.

Monday - Addison's 2 month appt, vaccinations and all! I think I'm more worried for Micah passing out at the sight of needles than I am for Addison. She'll be fine, my tough girl!

Active week!

2010-02-17T12:32:00.001-05:00

To start, Addison has been continuing to sleep through the night (10pm-8am) which has been wooooooonderful!! Those extra hours a night make a WORLD of a difference. She's been sitting through storytime for up to 30 minutes which I love. She'll look at the images I point to and it's fun just to sit and interact with her. We've been listening to Classical music each day now, too. Her mouth is starting to run off the hook! There's a point in each day where she can't seem to stop 'talking', it's hilarious! Here's a peek :

Bathtime has become something she loves which is, again, nice for me. It's another time of day we can interact. She was pretty exhausted during her bath yesterday, though!

Addison has been sleeping in her pack 'n' play located in our room since we brought her home but I can only keep her in there up to 20lbs. I figured since I'll have to swap her to her crib at some point anyway why not make some changes now. I opted to keep her in our room since I have to wake up numerous times to pop her paci in and I thought with some rearranging I could make her room a temporary office to work on cards! When Micah works morning shifts he also gets dressed in Addison's room as to not wake us up so I thought I might as well move the dresser in her room since there will be tons of space with the crib out of there. Well, I had the itch to get it done last night whi.le Micah was at work. I'd do it while Addison was sleeping or while she was awake and content - I'd sit her in her swing and talk to her while I moved around. In the end I moved my desk, printer stand, and our dresser in the baby room and the crib in our room. As a result BOTH ours and Addison's room are waaay more spacious. In fact, we now have room for a bench my in laws wanted to bring up. I'll post photos later in the week!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T13:00:00.002-05:00

Our First Valentine's Day as Mr. and Mrs. Vitale.

Our First Valentine's Day as parents.

Basically the best Valentine's Day!

Also - GO 'CUSE!!!

An array of photos that speak for themselves ...

2010-02-13T10:29:00.000-05:00

A Laughing Matter

2010-02-11T11:53:00.000-05:00

First off, any of you who follows my tweets knows I went tweet crazy last night during the last 30 seconds of the 'Cuse game. What a win! What a relief!

Second - I don't have much to type today, especially with one hand, especially when Addison's bound to wake up soon but I must share this photo.

This epitomizes each night here. We are constantly laughing to the point of tears. Every morning we try to remember what got us going in the first place. I love every moment, that's for sure!

Bread, Baby and Boheim

2010-02-10T13:48:00.000-05:00

Whew! After working about 8 days in a row my Micah finally has a day off tomorrow. Unfortunately, he's not feeling too hot so he's resting for now.

When mom and dad Vitale were here, mom left us an Amish bread recipe and a 'starter'. I've never seen this starter but basically it's a bag with batter and the recipe goes with it, eventually resulting in a loaf of bread and the creation of other starter bags to hand out to friends and/or family with a copy of the recipe. So far we've done the first few days that ask you to squeeze the bag several times daily. Yesterday we added the milk, flour and sugar and now more squeezing until the next step. Stay tuned in the days to come to hear of our bread progress.

Addison is doing fantastic - the usual. She's really growing up in terms of her temperament. She used to be pretty fussy when not eating or sleeping. She'd be content when awake but only in short spurts and then the waterworks would begin. Now she's more content than fussy when awake. She loves talking with us and reading. She also doesn't need to be rocked or held as much. I can read her to sleep in the afternoons while she lays next to me and she continues to fall asleep on her own when tired enough as opposed to being rocked to sleep BUT I do still rock her as well!

As for tonight - It's rival week for college basketball! Big game for the Orange tonight. It's a great way for Micah to start off today now that he's home from work and off tonight. Our goal is to have a nice relaxed night knowing he doesn't have to be up at 445am. Congrats to Micah, though, he really enjoyed working as a chef and hopes to work more in that position in the future. I've been eating semi healthy. I caved on the no sweets. It didn't help that Micah brought cookies from work and bought coconut cake so I've got to work on that. My meals have been healthy and balanced, though, and I've been doing great with liquids - getting milk, juice and plenty of water daily. I had to stop working out. I did well for a few days but I would start to bleed afterwards. I'm going to hold off until my March 1st appointment so I can continue to heal.

I posted a new video today, enjoy and take care!!

2010-02-08T08:21:00.002-05:00

Addison's Temporary Babysitter