Tips for a Hassle-Free Car Purchase

1) Be sure to take your two children under the age of two with you to the dealership.

2) Ignore concerned looks of employees and salesmen when you walk in the front doors.

3) Be sure to give your two year old toys that she can throw at the glossy, shiny new cars located inside the dealership. Ignore the fact that most of these toys have plastic edges that don't coexist well with shiny, new auto paint jobs.

4) Be sure (dads, I'm looking at you) to give your two year old a guided tour of the same shiny, new cars while completely ignoring the fact that said two year old's fingers are perpetually sticky. Not to mention the fact that she likes to touch EVERYTHING.

5) To keep said toddler busy during the inevitably long negotiations and needless wait times, be sure to show her the columns upon columns of balloons the dealership has so sweetly provided for her entertainment.

6) Try not to wince every time said toddler yells "Alllooons" at the top of her lungs.

7) Try not to wince every time said toddler pops a balloon-- and then cries because the noise scared her.

8) During negotiations-- and especially while reviewing long, convoluted lists of financing and amortization terms-- make sure your toddler and baby are both crying. This makes concentrating so much easier.

9) To further distract said toddler during negotiations, let toddler play "soccer" with balloons she finds on the floor-- even if her game tends to run through the middle of other people trying to look at or purchase vehicles.

10) Finally, be sure to show your toddler the water cooler that is conveniently just her height. She'll gladly pretend she's playing in the bath tub for 20 minutes while splashing water all over the marble-tiled showroom floor.

Follow these easy tips and I guarantee that car salesmen will rush to ensure that your negotiations run smoothly and you are out of there in no time flat. I think the car salesmen we met last night would have given us a new car to make us leave.

On a happy note, we are the proud, owners of a new Camry. Whoo hoo!!

Check me out

My Baked Southwestern Corn Dip recipe was featured on Tipnut as one of "24 Delicious Dip Recipes." So cool! Seriously, I've never even heard of Tipnut before, and I have no idea how they even found my little, bitty blog. But, hey, I'll take the link any day!

I'm off to get ready for another telephonic job interview. I guess my screaming banshees didn't completely ruin my first interview. Keep your fingers crossed that everyone manages to nap through this interview.

The lunatic is in my head**

I am just having one of those weeks. You know-- the kind where nothing goes right. And I mean absolutely nothing. I have woken up feeling like I have cotton in my temples every morning. Worst of all, I had a headache that was so bad yesterday that I ended up sleeping for two hours after Sean got home from work. I almost missed dinner and that, I tell you, never happens.

I set up a phone interview for a potential job on Tuesday and didn't realize that the interviewer was in a different time zone than me. So, the painstaking planning I did to ensure that the kids would be napping during the interview came to a grinding halt when the interviewer called me an hour before I thought we were scheduled to talk. Surprise! Time for an interview and both kids are not only awake but also screeching like little chimpanzees. I'm sure I got that job.

I've forgotten things left and right, like extra diapers for the trip we took to have lunch with Daddy, and Hadley's swim diapers for the trip to the sprinkler park. Today, we went to the botanic gardens to play in the little wading creek and "rain storm" area, and I completely forgot towels and extra clothes. Poor Hadley had to ride home in her diapie because she was way too wet to ride home in her clothes. I'm sure she loved that. Actually, I take that back. She did love it. She sang the whole way home while she gobbled up Craisins. She's easy to please.

That reminds me-- I was going to give you guys the oh-so-difficult (ha!) popsicle recipe I use for making Hadley little sweet afternoon treats. I knew that we would want to give Hadley cold treats this summer, and when I saw a little popsicle-making kit in the dollar section at Target, I jumped on it. Now, I can make her 8 little popsicles at a time, and she loves them. To make, I just fill each little cup 3/4 full with water and 1/4 of orange juice. Easy, healthy, and free of tons of added sugar and dyes. Since Hadley has never had a real popsicle, she thinks these are the best treats ever. And, while she is eating one, I can buy myself a few minutes to get laundry started or to chop veggies for dinner. Win-win, my friends.

** Extra credit if you can name the song I stole this title from.

Toddler Time

[Warning: excessive whining contained herein. Don't say I didn't warn you.]

So, what exactly do you do with a toddler all day? When Hadley was younger, it was easy. We had our little daily activities, like a playgroup date or Little Gym, and afterwards we would shop a little or go home and play. But now-- now, we have boredom. It's like I live with a teenager already.

We still have daily activities, except now we have upgraded to swimming dates with friends, playgroup dates, kindermusik classes, and storytimes at the local bookstore. But seriously, those don't take up nearly enough time each day. Afterwards, we end up with soooo much wide-open time that I find myself panicking with the thought of trying to fill it with things for us to do. Let's be honest, eating lunch only takes so long. We still have about 3 hours to kill after Hadley's nap before Sean comes home. And let me tell you, just playing or cuddling so does not cut it. At least, that's what I've unceremoniously been told by my little toddler who I can usually find curled in a ball on the floor writhing in boredom by 4:00 each day. Perfect.

Given that I don't especially love seeing Hadley writhing on the floor in boredom, I try to create little activities for us. So far, I have the following (and I warn you, this list is pathetically short):

* Listen to music and dance;
* Read books;
* Play with toys in the playroom;
* Color with markers and coloring books;
* Fingerpaint;
* Play with Play-Doh;
* "Cook" with pots, pans, wooden spoons, and dry pasta;
* "Water" the plants on our back porch;
* Eat popsicles (I'll post my "recipe" later this week) in the backyard;
* Clean the house (seriously, Hadley loves to do laundry and vacuum);
* Make pudding or bake a special treat together

That's all I've got and when you consider that we can do almost all of those things in one afternoon, I can understand why Hadley gets bored. So, dear readers, this is where you come in. What activities/crafts/projects do you do to fill time/entertain/educate your toddler??? I'm desperate for ideas!!

Brynn's Nursery

I had the hardest time deciding how to decorate Brynn's nursery. I knew I wanted it to be different than Hadley's nursery, which is a pretty pink and brown haven. But, I really didn't know what direction I wanted to go. And it seems like your options with girl bedding are a little limited to pink. Okay, a LOT limited. I contemplated orange and violet and then I saw this nursery on Ohdeedoh and thought, AHA!! Turquoise with lots of pinks, greens, and yellows.

Brynn's nursery came together easily after that. I ordered her bedding first, which is the Brooke nursery bedding from Pottery Barn. The bedding has lots of little owls and trees in multiple shades of blues, greens, and pinks on it. That ended up being the inspiration for the room.

We found the wall decals and canvas art at Target and amazingly, the colors and design match the bedding almost perfectly. We also painted the letters for Brynn's name and hung them with ribbon and little TLC.

This Eames-esq lounge chair is by far Sean's favorite part of the room. He found it in the back of a local antique store and was so surprised and excited to see it that he immediately sat in it and snatched the "for sale" tag off. It was a steal at just $130 and is absolutely the most comfortable rocking chair ever.

These pom poms are my favorite part of the room. I made them by following Martha Stewart's instructions. They were so easy and add tons of visual interest to the room. Brynn already loves staring at them as they softly sway and swirl above her changing table.

Here is Brynn's dresser/ changing table. I love doubling the use of a dresser by having it serve as changing table, too, and the IKEA Hemnes works great for both functions. It's hard to tell scale from this photo, but the actual size of the dresser is massive. I was a little freaked out when we put it together and it was literally the size of an elephant. It looks so amazing now that her room is put together, though. And the best part is that it will easily transition to her big girl room, teenage room, and even into adulthood.

We had so much fun designing and decorating Brynn's room and it is perfect for our sunny, sweet little girl.

Favorites

It's been a tough, looong week around these parts, so to lift my spirits a little, I thought I would show you some of my favorite spots around our house. And, stay tuned: I'm planning to post pics of Brynn's nursery a little later this week. It's beautacious (yep, that's a word), if I do say so myself.

This is our foyer, complete with our new front door (!!!). I love how light and airy this room is.

We found this piece at an antique store. It's an original 1950's TV cabinet and had the original (non-functioning) tv and record player in it when we bought it. Sean has since removed both and added a new record player and stereo system. This piece is housed in our "library," or what most people would call their "formal living room." Since we aren't formal, we didn't need one of those. This is the room where we keep all of our books, records, cd's, and games. We spend many hours in here listening to music, dancing, and reading books.

This rug in our library is my favorite rug in the house. It's also one of Hadley's favorite reading spots.

This is the other side of the library, which is wall-to-wall bookshelves. Sean built and installed these with his bare hands. And I love them. They make the room and also provide us a ton of storage space for our collection of books and records.

This is the dining room, which you can see from the library. I love this room in the afternoon light.

And this is one of my favorite pieces in the house. It's a mid-century-modern console that we picked up for a steal at an antique store. I use it to house most of my china. It also has the perfect drawer for organizing photographs and photography supplies.

I guess this option beats the alternative, "Hooter Hiders"

Late yesterday afternoon, we found ourselves out and about so as to allow our contractor time to finish a project at our house without us underfoot. Unfortunately, we ran out of the house without so much as a sippy cup for Hadley or a blanket for Brynn. I think we left our brains at home, too. We didn't have anything planned and ended up just wandering around Target for a little while. Then, out of sheer boredom, we decided to grab an early dinner at a local restaurant.

Everything was going pretty well, i.e., Hadley was having a blast throwing macaroni and cheese on the floor and Sean and I were enjoying a meal without having to worry about mopping afterwards. Then it happened. Brynn decided she was hungry, too. And not just kind of hungry but REALLY FREAKING HUNGRY. She wasn't willing to wait, either, BY GOLLY!! If everyone else was going to eat, she was not going to be left out.

Amazingly, this has not happened to me yet. I am breastfeeding and so far, we have managed to plan things so that I am either home when Brynn is ready to eat or I take a pumped bottle if we are going to be out. But since we rushed out of the house, I didn't even think to grab a bottle. I just figured we would be somewhere breastfeeding friendly when it was time to feed Brynn. And the middle of a restaurant with people all around isn't really all that breastfeeding friendly. Especially since three young children were sitting at the table RIGHT NEXT TO US and had decided to talk to us throughout the meal.

That meant my options for feeding Brynn were really limited. I could breastfeed her at our table in full view of everyone in the tiny restaurant, or I could take her out to the car. I refuse, refuse, refuse to feed a baby in a public bathroom, so that wasn't even an option. As luck would have it, I didn't even have a blanket I could throw over us while I was feeding Brynn. As I said, I think I left my brain at home.

Luckily, the table next to us left pretty quickly. Then, I just bit the bullet and fed Brynn at our table. I had Sean give me his t-shirt (he had on two) to cover us up. And yes, I did get some looks from other patrons and waitstaff, and I think I made the manager a little uncomfortable when he came by to check on us. But, overall, the experience wasn't too bad. It was nowhere near as uncomfortable as the time I breastfed Brynn in the front seat of our car when we were stopped for four hours on the interstate due to a wreck. Feeding Brynn in the car was fine, but the guy who kept getting out of his car in front of us to wave at me was not. Seriously, what was that????

I was still thinking about our interesting meal this morning when I opened my email and saw an offer for a nursing cover gift set from "Udder Covers" for $5. The gift sets are usually $37. I guess the universe was trying to tell me something: "Buy a damned nursing cover already!!! Stop flashing strange men when you forget to pack a blanket!!"

This deal at "Udder Covers" was just too good to pass up. The three-piece nursing cover gift sets include a nursing cover, Milk Bands breastfeeding bracelet, and two pairs of washable breast pads. I ordered the "Maria," which is pretty darn cute. It'll provide a little modesty, too, when I end up feeding Brynn in the middle of Target next time.

*** To get this deal, type "babies" in the "promo code" box at checkout. And nope, I have no affiliation with Udder Covers and was not compensated in any way for mentioning the company or its products in this post.

Hopefully she's going for an encore

Brynn did her typical eat-every-hour routine last night. Except unlike most nights, she started eating at 5:00 p.m. She normally doesn't start this until 7:00 p.m. at the earliest. And she fell asleep for the night at 8:00 p.m. Usually she falls asleep for the night at 10:00 p.m. and sleeps until the next morning at about 7:00. I was sure that since she fell asleep so early she was going to wake up in the middle of the night to eat. I even contemplated waking her to feed her one more time before we went to bed. But, in the end, I was lazy and tired and just went to sleep.

And hallelujah! My child slept until 7:00 this morning. That's 11 whole hours for a 3-month-old!! As Sean just said, "She's utterly delicious!"

MINE!!!

We have apparently entered a new phase in which everything belongs to Hadley. When Hadley wanted a bite of my sandwich at lunch, she yelled, "MINE!!!" When she wanted to kiss Brynn last night, she yelled, "MINE!!!" And, when I went to put on my shoes this morning, she yelled, "MINE!!!" To my utter horror and disbelief, she even exclaimed, "MINE, MINE, MINE!!!" while pointing to my cup of coffee this morning. Uh no. That would be MINE, dear child.

And oddly, it wasn't the fact that Hadley wanted to drink coffee that horrified me so much. It was that she actually used that dreaded two-year-old-having-a-tantrum-phrase that got me. Oh God, kill me now please.

I'm not exactly sure where Hadley picked up this fabulous word -- or its meaning-- but I'm thinking that this little piece of literary magic didn't help:

This little gem is about a dinosaur who snatches up all of the toys and yells, "MINE, MINE, MINE!!!" Sound familiar to anyone? Yeah, Daddy thought it was really cute when he read Hadley this book and she immediately repeated the dreaded phrase. Somehow, it took her months to actually call me "Mommy," but she learned "MINE" in seconds. Figures.

And no, we didn't buy "Mine-o-Saur" for Hadley. She received it as part of a book program our state has initiated in which every child receives a book a month from birth until the child reaches age 5. Child experts in education and psychology choose the books, and it truly is an amazing program. In fact, some of Hadley's favorite books have been ones she received in this program.

But, "Mine-o-Saur" is just too mature for her right now. The moral of the story may be that you are supposed to share, but all Hadley got out of it was, "MINE!!!!!!" Apparently we are going to have to hide this one for a little while. And buy Mommy some ear plugs.

Five Things

Five things I never want to forget:

1) How hard Sean works for our family. He spent most of his Father's Day weekend in a tiny hole in our hot attic prepping it for insulation. We currently have very little insulation on our second floor and that area gets as hot as Hades in the afternoons. Sean had to contort himself into a pretzel and squeeze into a teeny, tiny little space to get the prep work done. He is willing to go to great lengths to accomplish things that make our lives better.

2) How Brynn sucks on two fingers on her left hand right now. It's immensely adorable, but we are nevertheless trying to curb this before she resorts to thumb sucking. I spend most of the day replacing her fingers with her paci. So far, she's not falling for it.

3) How Hadley now calls for "Momma" and "Da-tty" when she wants us. She ran down the hall yesterday afternoon calling "Da-tty," "Da-tty" for Sean. It was heartmelting.

4) How lucky we are to have my family so close. My parents and brother live right around the corner from us and my sister and her family live about 15 minutes away. We also have loads of cousins, aunts, and uncles nearby. Our family spends so much time together on holidays, birthdays, and just for dinners, picnics, and parties. I love that my kids will grow up with lots of family nearby.

5) How sweet my girls are to each other. It is so much fun to watch Hadley with Brynn. She gives her Minnie all of her kisses right now and loves to pat Brynn's back or hand and give her big hugs. And Brynn is fascinated by Hadley, too. Brynn watches Hadley constantly and smiles in her direction. I just love these kids.