On VACATION

We are leaving mid Saturday morning a few hours down south to some wonderful toasty beaches.  Can't wait to enjoy some quality family time and watch the girls' firsts' with a lot of stuff.  Will be back after the 4th of July!

Hope you have a great week!

Happy 5 Months Avalynn!

Dear Avalynn,

I really can't believe you are already almost 1/2 a year young!!!  Your personality has really started to come through and shine in the past couple weeks.  This is definitely one of my favorite ages/stages with you!  We had your 4 month check-up when you were approx. 4 1/2 months.  Your weighing in at 17lbs 12ozs and 26 1/2 inches long, you are 95%^ for both categories.  The size of an average 7 month old, although to us you seem small with the perfect amount of baby chub and rolls.

We got the go ahead to start you on cereal, fruits and veggies.  You are doing great eating rice cereal, love sweet potatoes, bananas and applesauce.  You were not a fan of squash.  On the menu next week is to try some green beans.  Whenever we are eating our meals and you are sitting watching us, you start smacking your lips together making noises because you want what we have.  It's so cute and funny!  At dinner Thursday night we put some fresh pears in a mesh feeder and you just went to town.  Also, on Father's Day your Great-Grandma gave you a taste of cheese cake, Mommy wasn't too happy about that! The Dr also said your gums are getting thick and wouldn't be surprised if you don't have some teeth by your next appointment.

Your Dr is very impressed with you hitting all of your milestones, even some 6 month ones already!  You now roll yourself where you want to go around the floor, love standing/bouncing in your exercauser,  you like to sit against mommy or daddy, the couch or your bumbo, but can't do it by yourself yet without support.  You continue to put your hands or ours along with any/all toys in your mouth.  Your favorite toys are your Sophie, rattle soft doll, and your Nuby teether.

You are averaging 2 nights a week sleeping through the night from approximately 8-9pm to 7am.  This past week you did it 3 nights in a row but the past two nights you've woken up at 4 and 5am.  I know it's going to happen soon, at least this is what I keep telling myself! You are doing much better with napping and being put to sleep for night.

On Father's Day we went to the mall and got your ears pierced.  You did great and cried for a couple minutes afterwards, we picked out gold flowers with pink centers for you.  They make you look much more girly.  You also have had 2 playdates this month with Hallie, she's crawling and you can tell that you want to follow but have no clue how to.  And you are liking the pool more and more, getting more comfortable in your raft.  I think we might have another water baby on our hands if you are anything like your sissy then we won't be able to get either of you out of the pool.

You are quite the hair pull-er and your Big Sister is always yelling for us to help her, b/c you get quite the hold on hers.  Most times she thinks it funny.  You light up with the biggest smiles when you first see  her.  I love watching your bond grow.  She loves you so much and showers you with lots of kisses, laughs when you go to chomp on her fingers and is always showing you things, singing to you when you are crying and Mommy & Daddy can't get to you right away.

I look forward to seeing what the next month brings for you!

Love,
Mommy

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 19

Today's Prompt - What are 20 of your favorite things?

1. Cuddling - Hubs cuddles me every night before we go to sleep and love to cuddle with the girls'. 
2. Date nights.
3. Catching up with friends.
4. Spring, Summer, Fall
5. Planning parties and events.
6. The Beach.
7. Getting pedicures.
8. Getting lost in a good book.
9. Nap times, esp. when both girls' nap at the same time.
10. Blog comments.
11. Text messages.
12. Being with our families.
13. Taking pictures. 
14. Very hot showers.
15. Vacations.
16. Doing something that makes someone smile. 
17. Laughing.
18. Turkey Hill Iced Tea and their Choc Chip Cookie Dough Frozen Yogurt
19. Cooking/Baking
20. Blog Hopping

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 18

Today's Prompt - What do I collect?

I collect elephants.  Not asian or safari decor ones either.  Figurines, glass, metal, stuffed animals.  It all started back in 2003 when the Hubs and me were on our Senior Week.  There was something about an elephant in Cosmo or something and we made a stuffed elephant animal at a Build-A-Bear type place.  After that it just sort-of stuck.  I try and find one whenever we go on vacation.  Their trunk ends must be up which brings you good luck.  I do not buy and downturned ones.  And if someone buys me one it ends up being donated, although most people know by know about the trunks because I tell them.

The other thing I collect is glassware, like blown glass pieces.  Love the vibrant colors of them.  This is another item I try and buy when on vacation also.  And that pretty much sums up what I like to collect.

Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Baby Girl had a swim date this week.  The girls' kept giving each other big smiles and gabbing their baby talk, it was so cute! 

The girls' when they first got in their floating devices. 

Side by Side shot.

That was one water logged baby.

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 17

Today's Prompt - My Pet Peeves

• Extremely slow drivers, except for on Sunday's. 
• People who go straight in turning lanes only. 
• People who don't use turn signals or fully stop at stop signs. 
• When a plan is set, and then people keep flip flopping back and forth on what's going on.
• When people assume I'll do something and don't really ask. 
• When other parents don't handle situations with their children when out in public, for example I don't want to hear your kid screaming/crying at the table next to me for 20 minutes while eating dinner.  Take them for a walk for a couple minutes and get them calmed down please! 

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 16

Today's Prompt - What is my worse habit?

Two things - I procrastinate like crazy on important things!  Why, I don't know, I always get them done, have been known to pull some all nighter's.  After I do one of those I tell myself that this is ridiculous, I'm not in school anymore am an adult, just do it earlier and get it done before the last minute, literally! And the other thing is I'll get one to check one thing on the computer, get distracted with other things and bam an hour has flown by!  Hate that, amazing how it just sucks you in though.

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 15

Today's Prompt - Bucket List (5 Things) *in no particular order*

1. Travel to 3 new countries, at least once with just The Hubs, and another time with the whole family, last time either or. 
2. Be completely debt free, cars and mortgages too. 
3. Start a business, been tossing around tons of things - some day, some day!
4. Go back to school and get a degree.
5. Go to a blog conference, expand my blog, networking, blog relationships.

What would be 5 things on your bucket list?

Baby Girl got her Ears Pierced!

So, I realized this weekend that she's going to be 5 months old in a week, um - where'd the time go?  I had gotten Little One's ears pierced when she was 2 months old.  So, Sunday morning I asked The Hubs if we could go get them done and he said we could.  I told him though that he'd have to be the one to hold her.  He reluctantly agreed.  It's amazing what a baby in the ear piercing chair does to people.  Three groups/families stopped to watched - it was basically annoying.  Especially since this one Dad was like that's mean to do that to a baby.  Um, she's not your kid so shut up please!  And there were quite a few "Awww's" as well.  It took a good 5 minutes it seemed to get the right pen marks on her ears, she's quite the mover so they kept getting messed up.  We picked out a pair of dainty little gold flowers with a light pink center - can I just say they are A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!!!  Love them and it's like suddenly she looks all girl and more grown up to The Hubs and me.  She did cry a little longer than Little One did, but she was good after a few minutes and some cuddles from me.

Here's a couple pics:

Side view.

And I guess they are a little hard to see in this one, but she's just so adorable with that gummy double dimple smile!

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 14

Today's Prompt - Where I blog.

95% of the time I blog from our living room couch.  I like to scooch myself into a corner, spread out my legs in front, nestle the laptop on my lap and get to typing away.  The other 5% of the time - when it's nice outside, not too hot or cold, but a nice breeze, I'll sit on the front porch and blog from there.  It's been so nice having a laptop again as our previous one died beyond repair and was stuck at a desktop only for a year.

Sex and the City 2 Soundtrack *REVIEW*

End of May, One2One Network, gave me the opportunity to review Sex and the City 2 soundtrack.  I was pretty excited to pop it in my player and take a listen.  The first few songs are arabian like, the destination for the movie so they didn't really get me.  But the rest of the soundtrack was peppy and I enjoyed listening to it, it reminded me of just some good girl music.

You can check out Sex and the City 2 Facebook Page, here.



Here's a list of the tracks on the SATC2 soundtrack.

Tracklisting1. Alicia Keys “Rapture”
2. Dido “Everything to Lose”
3. Cee Lo “Language of Love”
4. Erykah Badu “Window Seat”
5. Natacha Atlas “Kidda”
6. Michael McGregor “Euphrates Dream”
7. Liza Minnelli “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)”
8. Ricki-Lee "Can't Touch It"
9. Alicia Keys "Emire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down"
10. Jennifer Hudson and Leona Lewis "Love Is Your Color"
11. Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim  Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon “I Am Woman”
12. Sex and the City Men’s Choir “If Ever I Would Leave You”
13. Sex and the City Men’s Choir “Sunrise, Sunset”
14. Sex and the City Men’s Choir “Till There Was You”
15.  Shayna Steele, Jordan Ballard, Kamilah Marshall “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”
16.  Liza Minnelli with Billy Stritch “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye”
17.  Cyndi Lauper “True Colors”
18.  Aaron Zigman “Divas and Dunes”




This CD was give to me for free by One 2 One Network to review, the opinions expressed are mine solely, to check out my Disclosure Policy, go here.

Happy Father's Day

to The Hubs.  You are such an amazing father to our daughters.  Hands on, super helpful, playing with them a lot, having just Daddy/Daughter dates.  I love seeing you interact with the girls'.  I hope that one day the girls' will realize just how lucky they are to have a wonderful Daddy like you!

Love you honey - so happy to be on the journey of parenthood with you!

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 13

Today's Prompt - My ideal age.

I'm currently 25 and I love that so much has happened in my 20's, marrying my high school sweetheart, owning our first home, having two wonderful girls'.  I look forward to ending the 20's with our 3rd and last child.  And I can't believe I'm going to be typing this, but I'm looking forward to the 30's.  I'll be glad to be done having babies and hopefully out of the infant/young toddler stage.  I want to get my body back.  Start a business adventure.  Travel. I hear from many people that their 30's are so much better than their 20's and I hope the same is true for me.

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 12

Today's Prompt - If I could change one thing (my biggest regret).

Honestly, I would have to say nothing.  Because if one thing could would have been different then I wouldn't be here where I am today with The Hubs and my wonderful two girls'.  On the other hand, I have done a lot living and learning, it really is true that Mom knows what's best *majority* of the time.  Where I had did something one way and if it happens in the future I'll probably do it different.

Do you have one big regret?  Or are you glad you went through all you have so that you are where you are now?

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 11

Today's Prompt - Where I live!

As your driving up our street, we're the 4th house on the right and it's yellow.  Little One loves our yellow house.  Here's what you'll see from the street.

Come up the stairs and sit and visit for a little.  We're guaranteed to always have some iced tea on hand, that tastes very refreshing on these hot summer days. 

We bought our first house May 2006 and are still happily living in our home that we've made.  This will always be special since it is our first home, where we brought both girls' home, we've done many remodeling projects here and am so happy and proud to call our house a home. 

We live right across the river from our capital Harrisburg.  I love driving home and seeing the activity on the river, all the boats out there during the warm months, fireworks every holiday weekend, which we can see on the road behind our house.  

I love the surrounding area and the how close we are to everything.  We can hop in the car and for a short drive be in Hershey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Lancaster.  I can't imagine living in any other area and am happy to call this place home. 

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 10

Today's Prompt - What I'm afraid of?

Oh boy, here it goes:

- Something horrible happening to one of my kids.
- Having more miscarriages when we try for #3.
- Me not living long enough to see my grandchildren and hopefully great grandchildren.
- Creepy crawlers during the night.
- Scary drivers on the highways.


And that's about it, I just asked the Hubs and alls he could come up with also were my last two items.

What are some things you are afraid of?

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 9

Today's Prompt - My Wedding

We planned our wedding in approximately 2 months time.  We picked 7.2.05 as our wedding date, mostly because July 4th landed on Monday that year, so that meant a long weekend.  And since we were only 20 and both in new jobs we didn't have time to take extra days off.  We decided to have the ceremony and reception at the same place.  Our colors were light purple and yellow.  We went to a local balloon business and they made this pretty awesome balloon canopy that we stood under to get married and also became the dance floor.  The meal we picked out buffet style was a hot turkey meal (pretty much, as if it were Thanksgiving) and we sipped some sparkling juice since we weren't 21 yet.  Lols - although I remember my mom getting me some drinks afterwards.  We'll be celebrating 5 years this year, and I'm hoping at the 10 year mark to renew our vows and I would love to get a wedding gown.  I didn't go through any of that traditional stuff the first time around and we've always said that we'll do it all again some time down the road.

The Hubs and me after the wedding ceremony. 

Being introduced at the reception.

Our first dance to Keith Urban's "Making Memories of Us"

Cutting our yummy cake.  The Hubs was nice to me, but I did get his nose with some icing.

Garter time!

Our decorated ride after the reception.

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 8

Today's prompt - What does romance mean to me?

Romance has definitely changed over the 9 1/2 years I've been with the Hubs. Currently it means the little thoughtful things that the Hubs does for me.  It's him taking care of me, especially when I don't realize that I need it.  He supports me completely in everything and there's nothing to explain that feeling when you know someone is beside you and to back you up on everything.  He knows how to make me laugh in any situation.  When I'm out of dinner ideas or motivation - he'll go in the kitchen and whip up a meal.  He helps me with anything I ask him around the house, what a big help since we get it done faster which means more family time.  He makes sure I get anything I need/want.  He sacrifices a lot for me and the girls' and I can never express how deeply appreciative I am for it all.


*If you read yesterday's post then you can see that I sort-of got off track with these daily theme's, but here's to being back on track!*

Addicted to True Blood Anonymous, Please?

Last fall my pedicurist let me borrow the Sookie Stackhouse series.  I read them all in a weekend, what can I say, the Hubs was working crazy OT and Little One was off to the grandparents.  I fell in love with the book series.  We don't have HBO so I hadn't attempted to even try and find the Tv series to watch.   Mother-in-law's coworker lent her Season 1 and when they were done they lent it to us.  Needless to say, the Hubs and me couldn't wait for nap and bedtimes.  When we finished Season 1 we went online to watch Season 2.  Needless, to say we watched both Seasons in 5 days which led to all free time being gobbled up  (which would explain the lack of blogging/emailing/BBC sub-group/face-a-book time).  It's really interesting to see the differences and similarities between the books and show. We watched Season 3 premiere this morning, only thing is that now we're stuck waiting week to week instead of the instant gratification of being able to go to the next episode.  Anyone else into the show?

New Blog Design Transformation FINALLY Complete

I'm sure you've noticed over the past few months the changes happening around here.  If you read in a reader please swing on by to see the wonderful new transformation of Measuring My Life in Love.




April over @ April Showers did the blog design.  Her custom illustrator Lindsay did a fantastic job with the family, love how adorable she made me look!  Unfortunately, this whole process was QUITE an eye opening and it makes me have second thoughts if I'll ever hire a designer again.  As much as I love the blog design - I didn't love the lack of follow through and communication that I received when working with April.  Let's face it, when you are shelling out the kind of money it costs for a good re-design these are top needs.  My advice is to definitely research who you will be working with and read their Terms.  Hate being negative but really if you know me then you know it takes a lot for me to get to this point and I just want to warn other people so they don't have to go through what I had to.  

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 7

Today's Prompt - Senses, what are your senses sensing right now?

• Sight - Laptop on my lap, the floor cluttered with the girls' toys, the Hubs to my right, and to the left the tv with the video game that the Hubs is playing. 
• Smell - Home. 
• Taste - Iced tea. 
• Sound - The Hubs video game, the game controllers buttons, me typing on the keyboard, some crickets outside, the fans blowing, Baby Girls' monitor ticking. 
• Touch - The breeze from the ceiling fans blowing above, the laptop on my lap, the softness of the couch that I'm lounging on. 

A Sunday Reflection

This past Thursday night I logged onto Face-a-book and read the news that a little girl named Violette had passed away that afternoon.  She was born April 20, 2010 - 3 days after she was born she was diagnosed with Leukemia, she fought for 44 days.  They call her a warrior princess.  Tanya the mom I know from my online mom group from the oldest and to see a fellow mom like her go through all of this was heart wrenching, especially reading the updates of her daughter's fight against this horrible disease.

What a wake up call this was to me regarding my girls'.  I know that there have been times where I've complained when Baby Girl spends the whole day screaming and refuses to sleep for me or Little One is super whiney and exasperating.  But since reading about Violette's battle and especially the past 2 weeks when things started going bad.  Alls I kept thinking is that I will take any of that over having to see one of my babies suffer.  I forget how lucky we are to have healthy girls.  So, I've been snuggling, hugging and kissing each of them more this week, thankful for all that we are blessed with.

Want to share a couple pictures from this weekend of our wonderful blessings.

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 6

Today's Prompt - What are your favorite foods or a go to recipe?

Favorite foods:

• Homemade Chicken Corn Soup with Rivels
• BBQ & Buffalo Sauce Chicken Tacos
• Bold Party Chex Mix
• Turkey Hill, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frozen Yogurt
• The Hubs Tuna Melts
• Grape & Peach Licorice

One of my most requested go to recipes is this yummy vegetable side dish.  Everyone on my side of the family has this recipe and it is a must have at every family gathering.  

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 5

Today's Prompt - Write a list of 10 songs you think your readers should listen to.

Oh - to only narrow it down to 10, these are my top 10 for the moment.

1. Airplanes - BOB feat Hayley Williams 
2. King of Anything - Sara Bareilles
3. Why Don't We Just Dance - Josh Turner
4. Say Hey (I Love You) - Michael Franti 
5. Lucky - Jason Mraz feat Colbie Caillat
6. Hey Soul Sister - Train
7. Unfair - Josh Kelley 
8. Daydreamer - Adele
9. Maybe - Ingrid Michaelson
10. Your Love is My Drug - Ke$ha

Do you have any songs that you'd recommend? 

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 4

Today's prompt is - Write about your favorite Holiday/Vacation.

Definitely hands down Thanksgiving to Christmas.  This is my favorite time of the year.  Thanksgiving is a wonderful day with our families and then the Hubs and me go out every year shopping on Black Friday, yes call me a crazy - but I love finding the best deals, that perfect gift for that special person, and we always have a planned route based off of varying opening times etc.  There's a science to Black Friday shopping I tell ya!  And when we get home, we wrap everything immediately, that way it's done and no fussing with it on Christmas Eve.

In preparation, I love pulling out all of my bins of Christmas stuff, it's the only time the back basement room shelves aren't bursting and are half as full as normal.  I've learned instead of trying to do it all in a weekend to take my time throughout the week doing a section at a time.  Every year I seem to have a new crafty project to try whether it be faux garlands, wreaths, or rag garlands.   As a family we each make our own gingerbread house.  We spend a day with the lady's in the family and bake, bake, bake until we can't anymore.  The Hubs and me have big families with several family Christmas's to go to.  Thankfully we are able to spread Christmas out over 2 or 3 weeks with the families so we are not overwhelmed.

L-o-v-e Christmas Eve service, my favorite part is singing Silent Night while holding our lit candles.  There's nothing more beautiful then seeing everyone's faces in candle light.  When we get home from the service we spread out some reindeer food for Santa and his reindeer to find our house more easily.  And then there's a surprise of new pj's waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs.  That's awfully nice of Santa to make a pit stop.  We get dressed in our new pj's, make up a plate for Santa and read Twas' the Night Before Christmas.

Christmas morning is so much fun.  There's nothing better than seeing Little One's excitement as she walks down the stairs and sees what all is under the tree.  I can't wait to see both girls' reactions this year.  Priceless I have no doubt.  The day is spent opening presents, playing with them and heading to 2 other family Christmas's.  Lesson learned from last year is to open all packages prior to wrapping them, remove any and all twisty ties & rubber bands,  so once they are unwrapped we can go straight to playing instead of having to wait.

I've always loved Christmas and all of the fun activities that we do, but having the girls' has renewed the spirit of it all and brings a completely different joy to it.  And I love making new family traditions that hopefully our girls' will want to do with their families also one day.

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 3

Today's Question is - What are you most proud of?

Ah - this is a tough-y. I would have to say my journey to motherhood and my daughters. It hasn't been easy and over the years I have found many other women who have struggled along the way. I'm beyond blessed to have the two beautiful daughters we have, but along the way I had 4 miscarriages. I was once in an extremely dark place but I've pushed through it all, gone through the grieving process and come out on the other side. I'm so much more appreciative of the girls'. Cherish every moment - even the moments of sleeplessness, screaming, & crying. Because I know that one day I'm going to look back on these days and wish I could snuggle with them one more time like I did when they were babies. Unfortunately, time has a way of slipping by even faster when you have kids and before you know it your baby is gone. Motherhood has been a great learning process for myself and the girls'. I'm constantly learning new things and becoming a Jane of all trades and professions.

One eskimO Review

In May I was given the opportunity to review One eskimO's CD.  Their single "Kandi" has been #1 adult alternative song for consecutive weeks.  You can check out their Facebook here.  They started their tour May 25th and are continuing through June with a couple dates in July & August.

I enjoyed listening their music.  It has a smooth sound and reminds me some of my Jack Johnson CDs.  You can download their song "Astronauts" via Twitter by going here.

This CD was give to me for free by One 2 One Network to review, the opinions expressed are mine solely, to check out my Disclosure Policy, go here.

Check out there HIT SINGLE "Kandi".