Online Shopping

The post is dedicated to Aunt Patty Wallace, who actually does read my blog!  Thank you:)

Couple things happened this weekend...
1) I finally made it out to the stores to do some in-store shopping for the holidays
2) I've reaffirmed myself that I prefer online shopping instead of lines, crowds, and chaos
3) I did more shopping online
4) I did more shopping online
5) I did more shopping online
6) I realized I'm too efficient at shopping online, using coupon codes, and spending enough to get free shipping
7) I then realized that I need to STOP shopping online...

Only good thing that has come out of the weekend is that I'm about 95% complete with holiday shopping... just a couple more small things to grab and have to mail a box to Chicago.  This is a personal best.  I just ordered Christmas cards so if all goes well, they should arrive in everyone's mailboxes the week before Christmas.

Besides my shopping distractions, the week/weekend was relatively low key.  I had a girls night out on Friday for Kassi's 30th.  We got a hotel room downtown and just had a great time!  Lots of laughs, dancing, and drinks!  Ryan and Maeve had a pretty chill evening, however our girl was up around 5ish so I came home to a very tired house.  Fortunately, we didn't have much going on the rest of the weekend.  Ryan went into work and Maeve and I relaxed.  I have a hysterical video of her falling asleep while eating lunch but it's too long to email and post.

Since I just ordered Christmas cards, I'm all up to date on getting pictures from camera to the computer so here is a hodge podge.

Here are some pictures that didn't make the cut for the Christmas card.  She's such a ham these days, so when we could actually catch her smiling and looking straight at the camera, it often looked like this... squinty eyes and her either sticking out her tongue or with something in her mouth or trying to wrap a bell around her neck.

Maeve getting some Daddy back rub love.  This girl loves a good back rub.

 Doing alittle coloring and playing in pajamas on the weekend with alittle bedhead.

Nothing like reading some books in a blanket fort with Daddy.  Yes, the one to the right has both of them in there. 

Here were some snaps from Thanksgiving.   I just loved her dress from Aunt Kerry.

Coloring with Daddy

Post Dinner and the tights are off... let's do a little dancing!

Or hugging with cousin Evan!

As I mentioned, we took Maeve to see Santa and she wasn't much of a fan... even a visit from Mom couldn't calm her down.  Maybe we'll have been luck next year!

 Have a great week!  Kisses from Maeve!!

December... really?

Hard to believe it's already December.  Thanksgiving and the days following were amazingly quiet and low-key.  I was able to continue a long standing tradition of going to a movie with Alicia before the festivities.  It's hit or miss depending on if we are in the same town, but we've been doing it since high school.  We saw Skyfall, which was awesome!  I highly recommend it.  The only issue I had with the whole movie experience is that the Regal Cinemas no longer sell Skittles, which was a huge disappointment.  Looks like I'll be sneaking my Skittles in going forward.

The rest of the day was spent at the Daley's.  Food, drinks, and company were great.  Maeve not only got tons of attention from her cousins, but loved her turkey dinner.  She gobbled up the turkey, mashed potatoes (both white and sweet potatos), green bean casserole, and her favorite was the pecan pie with ice cream.  She doesn't eat sweets too often so I think she takes full advantage when she does.  She and I were suppose to be splitting a piece of pie and I maybe got three bites.  We ended the night with a little dance party with Drew and Evan.  It was probably a combination of the food and all of the excitement because our girl slept in until almost 9 o'clock.  I was up by 7:30 just waiting and waiting and waiting... there's nothing worse.

The rest of the weekend was so relaxing.  We had some fires, lots of playtime, and I got a bunch of Christmas shopping done online.  We did attend the M&T Childrens Holiday Party on Saturday at the Hamburg Fairgrounds.  I had never been, but it took place so close to home and was something to do on the long weekend.  We got there right at the beginning which was perfect as we were in an out within the hour.  It's more age appropriate for older kids, but we rode a little train ride and carousal and even stopped to see/meet Santa.  Classic child pic.... she screamed!  It's on the camera so still have to transfer.  On Monday, I had to do a quick trip to Baltimore and got to have dinner with my parents and spent the night at their house. Quick in and out, but so nice to have conversation without a one year old distracting me.  The rest of the week was a blur of meetings and errands and dinner with some girlfriends.  I did have one eventful evening when in the middle of Maeve's bath, she pooped in the tub... that was a first!  We were winding down as I had already taken out all of her toys (thank goodness!) and she stood up and I noticed her peeing, but was just about to grab her when we sat back down in the water and not a moment later, I had a present.  Nothing like alittle poop in the tub for a reality check.

Hard to believe, but I have very few pics of our little girl from the past couple of weeks.  Well actually I have quite a few pictures, but all are of a blurry little one year old running around the house.  She's up the stairs, down the stairs, in the closet, in the bathroom, in each and every bedroom, in the bathroom drawers, into EVERYTHING!  It's exhausting chasing her, but there is no greater feeling then those few minutes right after she's in bed, house is quiet, and toys are all put away.

Maeveism's include constant chatter as she'll repeat almost everything you say and consistently have these hysterical conversations with herself using a scale of emotion.  She's still having a problem with biting as she just bit another little boy in school today. I appear to be her favorite target at home as I think she's only bit Ryan once.  She is a dancing machine lately.  Sometimes there doesn't even have to be music playing and she'll just bust into a couple moves, particularly an interesting Stevie Wonder impression.  I'm constantly in awe of her joy of life and passionate personality.

The Many Faces of Maeve Daley

So our little girl is forming quite a personality.  It's almost unbelievable how quickly she can shift between instant waterworks for no reason and pure, joyful laughter the next.  The next four pictures were across a matter of about 4 minutes. 

Awe, Drama, Happy, and Serious Faces

Round 2 of Serious and Happy Face

Not only has Maeve been more expressive at home, but her teachers have funny stories on a daily basis about what she's doing or really getting into.  She's been teaching her classmates how to empty the book baskets and sit in them as a chair, pretty much making a mess.  I was picking her up tonight and the teacher stopped a little girl from trying to climb up on the teacher's rocking chair... she mentioned that Maeve's been showing everyone how to climb.  She has now mastered climbing up and off the furniture, climbing up and down the stairs, and climbing all over us.  She likes to find corners to read books and just hang out.  At our house it's usually in the dining room or in the front hall closet.  She'll tuck herself right in and just look out the front door watching everything outside.  She's also been talking alot more.  So far words include: Dada, Mama, Dog, All Done, Roar, Woof, Nana, and Isla.  She just learned Nana and Isla this past weekend, but she says them pretty clearly.  The most amazing thing to me is when she takes a bath now.  So she LOVES the tub.  As soon as you tell her it's time for a tub, she'll run right to the stairs and start heading on up.  Lately she's been getting on all fours and crawling around in the water, even putting her face in the water and trying to blow bubbles.  But now she'll flip over and lay on her back with her head back and just start kicking her feet and laughing.  I'm excited, yet slightly scared for next summer to see if she likes the water as much as she loves her tubs. 

Other than that, just counting down days until Thanksgiving.  Lots to be thankful for this year.  For all of my family and friends who I won't see, have a wonderful day and I hope you all know how thankful I am for all of you!

1 Year Anniversary

Thought this was an appropriate time to reflect on making it through my first year of work as a parent.  It was this week last year that my mom came into town to watch Maeve my first week back.  I remember feeling SO guilty and missing her dearly.  I still miss her dearly every day, but then I try to think of all of the fun and creative things that she gets to do all day and the wonderful people she is around all day and I start feeling better.  The balance is difficult though.  On a weekly basis I read articles debating "Can Women have it all???"... talk about opening a can of worms.  I don't think I personally strive to have it all, just to be fulfilled.  Is it even possible to strike a balance?  Can you be successful as a parent, successful as an employee, and let's not forget successful as a significant other?  Sorry - I've got no answers, but I love discussing the roller coaster ride.

Some weeks I'm at fire on work, crossing stuff off of my list, always being on time with picking up Maeve, being well-rested (= 8 hours of sleep!), and preparing a nice, home-cooked meal on the table by 6:30 (ok - maybe more like 7 ;)) ... and then there are the other weeks.  Weeks where our clothes are pulled out of the laundry basket since nothing was actually put away into the closet and/or drawers.  Weeks where we order out most nights and those we don't eat out we are having turkey sandwiches.  Weeks where I'm lucky I realize I have snots on my cardigan before the end of the day.  And my least fav, weeks where I'm speeding to get to daycare in time so Maeve's not the last kid in the building (yes - that has happened on more than one occasion).  Then let's add in the fact that I have a husband too, who's struggling in his own right to balance work and spending time with his child.  Sitting on the couch with laptops doing work after Maeve falls asleep is more common than not in our household.

So far, I have learned that I desperately need a night out every couple of weeks with Ryan to relax, catch-up on things non-work and even non-Maeve.  Mentally, I think I just get caught up in everything and need those nights out where I can have a glass of wine, a great meal and just take everything in.  Take in how lucky I am.  I have learned that laundry, errands, and cleaning can wait. As much as I stress trying to cross stuff off of my lists, I love playing with Maeve!  I would much prefer to order a pizza some night and have 15 extra minutes of just being silly and dancing to music with her.  I've learned that kids so smart (even 15 month year olds!), which is why I now password protect my phone  hide the iPad from her sight, and try to limit tv time because I don't need more distractions.  I've learned it's not really possible to get work done or sit on a conference call while there is a toddler awake and ready to play.  My hope is to achieve some sort of balance.  I'll try to give 100% of me to what I'm focused on... whatever that may be.

 On to lighter topics... the week's happenings
Maeve had pajama day at school on Wednesday. Here she was before school in her giraffe pjs looking so old!  On Saturday morning we ended up having a breakfast picnic on the floor.  It was fun to mix it up and she loved it.   

One other things that I learned is that I'm not a hair stylist and to take Maeve for a hair cut, not attempt it myself.  Her bangs are alittle bowl-like, but they were just so long and in her eyes, that I couldn't take it any longer. 

Loving to play peek-a-boo!

Catch-up

I am really trying to keep up with the blog, but not doing the best job lately.  In order to make this worthwhile for everyone, I need to do it more often period.  However, Rome wasn't built in a day so I'll attempt to catch up.  Part of the recap is from photos on my camera vs my phone. Most of this is out of order, but all from the last couple of weeks.

Halloween 2012: Maeve came down with a double ear infection the weekend before Halloween so although she was on the mend, she was still out of sorts and not really into wearing a costume.  I put it one for about 15 mins to try to get some pics, but these are the best I got.  Maybe next year will be better!
She's still an adorable pumpkin!

  Ryan and I did a pretty good job on our pumpkins this year.  I'll use a stencil or print-out from now one... much more fun than my typical triangle eyes, circle nose, and goofy smile.

 So Maeve's double ear infection followed her first fever.  We've been so lucky to have a pretty healthy girl.  She's suffered from a bunch of colds, but this really was her first fever ... and boy did this fever knock her out.  She was SO sad, just not her bubbly self.

 She would just lay on the floor with her blanket on and off throughout the day.  At one point, she just laid down and closed her eyes and ended up sleeping about 45 mins.  We went to the doctor on Monday to get some antibiotics for her ears and by Tuesday evening she was on the mend and back to school on Wednesday.

Maeve has formed quite an obsession for the iPad.  Ryan and I use it when we are around the house, but I wouldn't say we are on it that often.  Now, it's practically impossible to get on it with her around as she'll come right over and start whining to play a video.  I've only played a couple videos on You Tube for her, mainly some songs that are about 2 - 3 mins each.  She doesn't have the patience to watch anything longer.  But the minute I take it away after a couple videos, she'll start screaming.  Fortunately it's easy to distract her into something else relatively quick, but it's already amazing how she's learning to use her finger to pick out videos and switch them up.

 The Daleys LOVE their back rubs.  I've been attending family parties for almost 10 years and it would be surprising if I did't see one of the Daley men getting a back rub or back tickle.  It's pretty much almost nightly that I have to scratch Ryan's back even if just for alittle bit.  Well Maeve is taking after her Daddy on this.  It's probably because I'm so used to giving and not receiving, but also because her skin is so darn soft, but I'm always giving her rubs when she's resting on me.  This was early one morning before school... she's partly dressed and just resting enjoying alittle tickle.  Look at that smile!

Earlier in October, we headed to the playground on a warm afternoon.  I was snapping the pictures, while Maeve and Ryan went exploring on the swings, slides, and monkey bars!

 Erin, Sawyer, and Isla came for a visit mid-October and while it was relatively low key, we did have some highlights.  Saturday we headed to get some cider and pumpkins.  I love cousin love!

 Later in the afternoon, we just hung out around the house while the girls took some naps.  Later in the evening, Alicia did some braiding on Sawyer.  She doesn't exactly look like she's enjoying herself, but it came out beautiful.  I love the picture of Erin and Sawyer below.  That is Isla facing the other direction so stinks we couldn't get her in the pic too.  On Sunday morning, Erin and Isla were resting since Isla was up the night before so Ryan, Maeve, Sawyer and I went to Tim Hortons for some coffee and breakfast.  We ran into cousin Brian and Kane & Brady.  Not only did we get to hang out with them, but a guy drove a horse drawn carriage through the drive-through... how cool is that?!  You can see the horse in the picture below.

 After Tim Hortons, we all headed over to Mark & Jennifer's to have a play date with Luke & Aidan.

 Just adorable!

I didn't get the best pictures of Maeve and Isla, but I'm sure we'll have plenty in the future!