Picasa & Photo Collages

Are you digging my photo Collages as much as I am? I tend to take A LOT of photos - often times of the same thing, like Natalie playing on the doormat or Chad and Natalie opening his birthday present - and it's always so hard to choose just one shot from the dozens I've downloaded! The answer to my OCD picture taking ... a collage! But not just any old collage (whatever that means). A collage created using Google's Picasa, the best, most user-friendly and FREE photo editing software out there. To make a collage, you simple select the photos (holding down the Ctrl key allows you select multiple photos) and then click the button at the bottom of the screen at says, "Collage." Magically, wonderfully your photos are blended together into one image and saved to your computer ... viola! You can embed that image in your blog or print it or just gaze at it lovingly on your computer screen ... whatever floats your boat!

Oh, the other fabulous thing about Picasa ... there are like a hundred things I love about this program ... it has a partnership with Blogger. How cool is that?

When I have another minute - when Natalie isn't due to wake up from her morning nap at any minute, I'll try to remember to post more info about Picasa ... it truly is delightful!

Reset, Newly Defined

Reset: verb - to return baby to initial starting place, usually in front of a pile of toys, after said baby has crawled to the other side of the room to play on the dirtiest square yard of floor in the house* This term typically enters a parent's vocabulary when baby masters rolling but becomes more prevalent during crawling. Oh great, Natalie is gnawing on the shoes again; it's your turn to reset her. *Location may vary however on the doormat where shoes track in the greatest amount of dirt and grime tends to be a favorite of our little NHV.

Confessions of a Scaredy Cat

I'm not sure why, but I feel like confessing something, something that is absolutely ridiculous but also 100%, Scout's honor the truth. And I am not entirely sure what it has to do with being a mom, but perhaps if I write about it, a connection will reveal itself.

For the past 23 years, I have jumped into bed each night. I simply cannot stand to leave my feet dangling over the edge of the bed, especially when the lights are out. And so, each night I take a few long strides (not exactly a run) and leap onto my mattress - careful not to expose my tootsies and ankles to the monster I fear is under my bed. If I stand beside my bed for much more than a second or two, I get the hard-core willies. You know shivers up the spine, the hee-bee gee-bees! Each and every time my mind conjures up images of these horrifying, gruesome pale white arms and hands reaching out to grab me and pull be under. My imagination never gets further than that because I will not allow it!

Where does this deep-rooted, crazy fear come from? The answer is simple: Tales from the Darkside. This truly awful, trainwreck of a show that my brother Randy and I used to watch late on Saturday nights. Back in the mid 80s, it was the best and worst 30-minutes of my week.

To be more specific, I think it was the episode called Monsters in my Room, and it starred Seth Green. I can't actually confirm that because after Googling it and finding it on YouTube, I wasn't able to watch it. I tried. I really did. But just a minute or two in, and my heart would race. I just couldn't bring myself to confront those awful pale hands ... seriously, I am so freaked out right now!

And so I am a wife and a mother and a grown woman who jumps into bed each night in an attempt to elude the monster beneath my bed. As a wife, I am glad my husband doesn't complain about the little bed quakes caused by my jumps. As a mom, I imagine being called to five year old's room after she's had a nightmare. I'll want so badly to perch on the side of her bed, to soothe her and ease her fears, but how am I suppose to do that without exposing my feet to the monster beneath her bed!

Puff Daddy

My husband cracks me up ... pretty much everyday. He's such a big kid, which occasionally drives me crazy, but always provides countless opportunities for entertainment, especially when he's talking to our little NHV. The other evening, as I was cooking dinner and daddy was taking care of Natalie's mealtime, I overheard him say, "Yeah, Natalie, you can call me Puff Daddy." And I'm thinking, "What? That's totally random!" ... until I turn my head and notice that he's enthusiastically shaking Gerber's sweet potato puffs onto her highchair tray. Now, in the haze of mommy brain, that's funny :)

A Few of My Favorite Things: Nuby Sippy Cup

Breastfeeding has been a joy. No, seriously, for the most part, I have truly enjoyed being able to provide nourishment for my little NHV sans bottles and formula and what-not. It's a decision that I am happy I made. I've been able to provide a "two-course meal" on demand for the past 9.5 months (and counting). But I do have dreams and aspirations of getting "the girls" back at some point in the near future. It seems kind of silly to reinforce a bottle at this point - Natalie is not overly fond of it - and so we began serious sippy cup training about a month ago.

We started with the Avent sippy cup because that's the brand of bottles I registered for (but used only a handful of times) and someone was kind enough to purchase the sippy cups in addition to the bottles. Anyway, the Avent cup is orange with a weird looking white spout - kind of long and flat - and an inner flap-thing that prevents the liquid from spilling out ... or coming out at all, apparently. Natalie had absolutely no luck with this cup; unless I removed the flap-thing, in which case she ended up drenched and sputtering from the deluge. Sippy cup shower anyone? Needless to say, frustration and amusement ensued.

Thankfully, I have a dear friend in TX with a baby boy almost the same age as Natalie. We shared our pregnancies, and now, a few times each week, we celebrate, commiserate, and trade tips ... which led me out of sippy cup frustration and to the Nuby! The lack of handles caused me to hesitate, but not Natalie, she grabbed on, tipped it up, and happily drank ... like a college kid on spring break :)

And so, at this point, if - in the next three months or so - the booby milk gets replaced by some Similac and the Nuby ... I guess I'm okay with that.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Anyone who knows me knows I love birthdays. And while I love my birthday the most, it can also be a lot of fun to celebrate someone else's ... especially now that we get to watch Natalie's reaction to the festivities. It's like seeing events for the first time through her eyes. Yesterday was Chad's 34th Birthday; how is it possible that we are creeping toward mid-thirties? Can I really say creeping when in actuality it feels more like sprinting? As usual, I digress.

I think the photos capture just how special it was to celebrate Chad's birthday, for the first time since he became a dad. Here's a little collage for your enjoyment.

Natalie was right in there - every step of the gift opening process. Chad was just as interested in watching her as in finding out what was in the box. Thanks to my brother Tyler, Chad got exactly what he wanted for his birthday ... a hang board, used for building upper body strength. And he got to hang it in our family room where he can practice anytime he wants ... as opposed to in the garage where it just would've collected dust, lots and lots of dust. We've decided to refer to it as a sacred Mayan artifact; seems more exotic that way.

But that wasn't Chad's only gift. Natalie got him a bouquet of balloons and a bag of Skor bars - this absolute favorite candy bar. I figured it would be a good idea to start the tradition of getting a gift from Natalie because ... well, that's one more gift I can expect on my birthday :)

The rest of the birthday festivities revolved around food. I made Gene's meatloaf recipe and Margie's Cherry Cheesecake. Both were delicious ... even the meatloaf, a meal that made me cringe in my childhood.

So, Happy 34th, Chad Patrick. Here's to your first birthday as a daddy and many more to come!

You might be a SAHM if ...

... you're spotted pushing your stroller through the neighborhood ... in the middle of the afternoon ... on a weekday ... while sipping your favorite Starbuck's latte.

... you seriously entertain the idea of an afternoon nap at least once each week.

... you use recycled bottles and duct tape to create "homemade" toys ... okay, you may also be a redneck ... and, yes, I actually did this - today, in fact.

... you're cruising through the grocery store aisles at 10 o'clock AM on a Tuesday.

... you have full-on conversations with several grocery store employees during said Tuesday morning shopping trip ... adult interaction can be tough to come by!

... your day planner is inundated with the acronym PD for Play Date.

... you haven't worn anything other than jeans or yoga pants in like months.

Yep, I am most definitely a SAHM ... and most days I thoroughly enjoy myself; other days I am bored silly ... either way I wouldn't trade it for the world ... at least not right this minute while NHV is peacefully taking her morning nap :)