WINNER!

I'm so sorry that it took forever for me to announce this! My son has been sick and I have been MIA from the internet for over a week now (the horror!)

that said, the winner of my Miss SewNSews Giveaway is:

 STACIE! of Love You Always and Forever

CONGRATULATIONS! (applause)

please get in touch with me and give me all of your info and I'll hook you up with Miss SewNSews!

yay!

balancing act

I'm having trouble with that fabled concept of balance. 

When I was training to be a life coach, we learned that seeking balance can actually throw you OUT of balance. It's that age-old truth: when you want something too much you are incapable of finding or creating it. The key in those situations is to just move forward, follow your interests, keep to a schedule, find your own freedom in perseverance and to not waste your years seeking the Fountain of Youth (or in this case, balance). 

It's one of those things I think where once you stop seeking it and obsessing over it, you're able to find it.   

Which i think is why I don't have it in my life. 

I am constantly planning, plotting, figuring, solving, thinking, obsessing. I am forever trying to put the pieces of my life together in the right order so I can create this Balanced Life. 

I want family time, romance, fun, happiness, productivity, exercise, work, organization, relaxation. I want it all. I want to be able to spend productive and quality time with my child, with my husband, with my friends, with my family. I want to make money on things I enjoy. I want to have an organized household. I want to cook and eat healthy, I want to work out and enjoy the world around me. I want to make sure the people who i love know i love them. I want to send cards and gifts in the mail on TIME for the events they're intended. 

I want to do it all. 

So I'm working at figuring it out one step at a time and instead of planning it all out, i'm just DOING it when I can. I find myself squeezing in little bits of things into the spaces in between. If i have a minute or two, I don't sit and veg out on my phone as much anymore, instead i try to write or organize or study. I do what I can when I can and don't beat myself up for it not being more. I'm just taking it a day at a time and I know that the better i get at this the more i'll learn along the way. 

So there's my random thought for the day about balance. Not sure if it's helpful or not but it is what it is.

And for now, I'm going to go spend some time with my little baby who needs hugs and snuggles. 

Giveaway!!!

Welcome to my first GIVEAWAY!!!! (*applause*)

Recently I was lucky enough to work with an amazing etsy seller: 

MissSewNSews (that's http://www.etsy.com/shop/MissSewNSews for the link-phobic) 

I found her when i ordered this photo album for Henry: 

(amazing right? You should totally go order one, only $35 and it's got a pillowed cover, amazing detail, satin ribbon and it's the perfect place to keep all those cute photos you've been snapping of your kid forever and meaning to print out! Click the photo - it takes you right to her shop!)

SO ANYWAY onto the GIVEAWAY!

She and I have collaborated and come up with an amazing giveaway item. She's super talented and has a ton of cool items in her shop so we decided to go with one of her newer products:

An amazingly adorable PERSONALIZED Apron!!

 

seriously, the cuteness is killing me here. Look at those birds! Look at the font the name is written in!?

And it's totally customizable for your child! How perfect is that?? Seriously, this is great for a girl OR a boy - boys get dirty too as we all know hahaha and since it's customizable you can choose your colors/pattern!

So here's how to enter:

* Follow my blog: 1 entry

* Add me to your feed-reader: 1 entry

* Leave me a comment on any post: 1 entry per comment

* Comment here: 1 entry

* Promote this contest on twitter: 2 entries (TWO!)

* Promote this contest on facebook: 2 entries (TWO!)

* Link this on your own blog: 2 entries (TWO!) 

Once you've done any of these things, comment here and let me know (preferably with a link to your promotions) and I will keep track accordingly. 

This contest will run for ONE WEEK and will conclude on April 9th 2011 (Henry's 5 month birthday!) 

So get out there and get promoting and win yourself an ADORABLE customized apron for your son or daughter. Perfect for crafting, water play, cooking with mom and dad, painting and really any of the thousands of things kids do to get dirty lol!!! The winner can be from anywhere, MissSewNSews will be shipping directly to you.

I will choose a winner at random (using a random number generator) at 8:00 PM EST on April 9th 2011. 

YAY! Giveaways!!

Thanks to MissSewNSews!

Smiles are magic

There is nothing in the world as amazing as a smile just for you from your little baby. Seriously. Best feeling in the world. 

I'm so lucky.

see you in Florida...?

Let's just ignore the fact that it's April Fool's Day. I'm so not into it. 

Let's move on to the fact that it is April and it is snowing. Yes, it really is. This would be bad enough if it was just a regular April 1st that was being plagued with snow. but it's not. and No i'm not referring to the fact that it's Opening Day. This is much more personal.

Why? 

Because I was supposed to be in Florida this weekend with my friends (two of whom have great blogs you should check out: www.youaretheroots.com and www.adventuresinmommyhood.net). 

Yes. Florida. Sunshiney, beautiful, WARM Florida. 

But where am I instead?


Sitting here in my drafty livingroom with icy cold feet having to sip tea to keep warm. 

Why am I not on a plane headed off into the sunny Floridian skies? Several reasons...the biggest of which is affectionately known as Husband Paranoia. 

Husband Paranoia is a real thing, it's probably in the process of becoming an official disease recognized by the AMA.  It's categorized by husbands having their own fear of something and then inflicting those fears onto their wives and family members.


So for example, my wonderful husband is tough and strong and not scared of anything. 


Except flying. 


(and whales)

(Yes, whales. But that's a different subject for a different post...)


But anyway, flying. He's afraid of paranoid about flying. It's mostly because flying is one of the only things in the world that he can't control and therefore it stresses him out. There are very few things that can be done in a flight-going-down situation and, well, that's not a good feeling for him (or for anyone). It's a reasonable fear, I understand it (and if I'm going to be 100% honest, I even share this fear with him; although I am willing to overlook my fear of flying when things like going to Florida come up and flying is the only reasonable way of getting there).


Generally my husband is supportive of anything and everything I want to do. But this time I was surprised to find that when i brought up the idea of me going to Florida for the weekend, he bristled at more than just the cost.


See, all of my friends who are going are bringing their babies (all little boys!) and i wanted to bring Henry, too of course! Not to mention that I really just can't responsibly leave Henry at home. He's basically attached to my boob on a regular basis as it is but he also needs me for comfort and nutrition and general peace of mind. He's still a little baby, afterall, he's not even five months old yet.


But when I mentioned this would be a trip for me and Henry, Ryan was adamantly against it.  He pulled out his veto and used it on this one.

Henry flying just sounds like way too much of a bad idea to Ryan. Not only would Ryan not be there with us but this is Flying. Flying! Flying, which is almost as bad as swimming with whales when it comes to things that freak Ryan out. He just wasn't okay with it, just couldn't wrap his head around it. Planes can crash, they have recirculated air, i'd be traveling alone with our son amongst any number of creepers along the way. Ryan's Daddy Radar went off and it went off loud and strong. 

And while I would truly LOVE to be on my way somewhere warm today, there's a little place in my heart that's warm because Ryan cares so much (corny, maybe, but true). We talked the whole thing out and while Ryan is always fine with the idea of me going off on my own to gallivant the countryside, it's just too early in our son's life for Ryan to be comfortable with him taking off to fly the friendly skies. And i'm okay with that, Ryan gets equal say here in our son's safety of course. 

So for now I'll just have to skype my way into Girl's Weekend and be satisfied with that. But next year I'll be on my way for sure.