Nothin' but vids...

Like I promised yesterday...(if you can't see vids, it's because you're in facebook...gotta go to www.momwithoutaclue.blogspot.com)

This was taken during those huge storms that hit the Pittsburgh area several weeks ago. She was scared at first but then got into it.

The sea lions are one of her favorite things at the zoo (FYI, they have a baby one now, too).

Don't know why exactly, but throwing rocks into water gets her really excited!

This is her Aunt Goo (pianist/violist for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra).

This is during our 3-hour car ride back from NY. She was supposed to sleep. She decided to stay up and say "va-va?" (that's her version of "mom" for those of you not in the know) the entire time instead. And yes, my eyes are on the road...this was taken completely blind, over the shoulders :)

Nothin' but pics...

I had a good day. Wait...let me clarify...baby had a good day today; THEREFORE, mom had a good day :) She was cheerful and fun, without a single tantrum for most of the entire day, only breaking down around dinner/bedtime. I know I complain a lot about her, um, challenging mood sometimes, so I thought I'd dedicate today's blog to recent pics of my happy baby. Next time, it'll be nothing but vids!

This one reminds me of Wilson.

Getting ready for our Father's Day bike ride. It's crazy to think that some day she'll be as tall as he is :)

Enjoying Reese's on our Father's Day picnic.

Making her special face at the play ground.

Throwing rocks into Chautauqua Lake.

Swinging at the Dome.

She could have thrown rocks into the lake all day!

At a Lake Erie beach with Dad, once again throwing rocks.

Holy crap, there's mom!

Wrapping the grandmothers around her finger.

Telling Aunt Goo to put the piano to bed.

Buttering dad up for a car of her own.

Playing dress-up in genuine Indian clothes purchased by one of Chris' Indian co-workers.

How to get pregnant in lightening quick time...

I've figured it out.

About 2-4 weeks before wanting to conceive,

1. Buy a van.

2. Buy the jumbo box of tampons from Costco.

Voila.




(anyone need any tampons?)

Preggers again!

So the baby and I went on vacation this past week without the hubby. While there, I took a pregnancy test (rather, I took THREE pregnancy tests) and discovered three little blue plus signs looking back at me. This was on Tuesday...I had to keep it secret from Chris until he came up to NY Friday night. So hard! A lot of my mom's family was up there, so they all knew...Chris was pretty much the last to find out :) Shortly after arriving in NY, I had Raina give him a present...a present that I told him was a late Father's Day gift. This is what it looked like:



This is what he saw when he opened it:


And of course I got it all on tape :)

Two weeks, people. That's all it took. Six weeks for Raina, two weeks for #2. Like my Mom-in-Law said, either Chris has super sperm or I'm fertile Myrtle. I think it's both!

I'll be back soon with more from my vacation. I just wanted to officially get the Big News out there :)

Good-bye girdle underwear!

I've been wearing my super tall, flatten-the-tummy-fat-as-much-as-possible undies all weekend. That's too long...so long, in fact, that it hurts -- actually physically HURTS -- when I lightly press down on my lower tummy. I swear I gained 10 pounds this weekend! So many cookies and alcohol and Combos...mmmmmm but ug. If you didn't already know, I went to a wedding. I was the Matron of Honor to my last single friend, Michele.

This is Michele and her fiance...um, hubby :)...Eddie

What a great time! The venue was beautiful, the food fantastic, the drink plentiful, and the people fun. I was freaking out a little because of the speech I had to make at the reception, but with the help of a little Inderal (yay to drugs!), I was able to make it through okay. I even made the bride tear up a little :) Double yay! I got to get all painted up, too. We went to Macy's and had our makeup professionally done. I actually let someone touch my face...gasp!

This is us at Macy's...

I even donned fake fingernails for the occasion. Normally I have stubs for nails, but I found some classy-looking fake ones for $5 (yah, I'm a big spender) and decided to give it a go. They came out looking pretty good, but I was unable to function with them on! Everything is so much harder with nails...doing/undoing buttons, picking nose, taking out contacts, etc. And if you check out the pic, you'll see that they weren't even that long (I had cut them down). The only cool thing about them is the good food that gets caught underneath them that you don't discover until hours (or days) later. Anyways, here's a pic of my talons...

This is us with our friend, Jaimee. It's crazy to me that I've been friends with these girls for almost 10 whole years. I don't feel 10 years older...and we certainly don't look 10 years older.

I hope to be friends with this awesome chick for a very long time :)

Supposedly I'm of "superior intelligence"

I resolved earlier in the day to surprise "everyone" out there by posting something intellectual tonight...maybe actually take a stance and have an opinion about something...but instead I'm finding myself unable to stop thinking about the slightly naughty dream I had about Dr. House last night. Until last night, I never found the guy all that special and considered his show only to be rather annoyingly addictive.



Funny how one dream can change that.

Everyone, meet Hugh.
Hugh, meet everyone.

(I just remembered that I took melatonin last night...3 guesses as to whether I'm taking it again tonight ;)

A quick number 2

I bought Raina a potty today...not because we're going to start training now but because (and give me some credit for at least admitting this) a couple other mommies with babies younger than Raina have already started the potty process. I don't think she's ready...but this video shows that she's closer to being ready than Daddy or I ever thought. We had no idea she would do this...I have no idea how Chris didn't laugh!

I'll be back later this weekend. Chris is taking baby away for a 3-day weekend so I can do some uninterrupted spring cleaning. Good times! Not really...but the final result should be super refreshing!!!

Business partner needed

So I sit here this evening alone...Chris is at school and Raina is in bed and the kitties are off puking somewhere in the depths of this black hole that is our house. I just finished reading the blogs of people I know...smart, industrious, put-together people....ya know, the type you wish you could be like, even if it were just for a day 'cause you know that day would be glorious. I'm "supposed" to be working out...the wedding is only a couple weeks away...but instead, I sit here and perseverate on chocolate. Chocolate. In all forms...frozen, melted, dark, white, you name it. And then I start to wonder...Why the hell isn't there a sweets delivery service? There's take-out for everything else but no one to call for my sweet tooth. Why? Has someone tried and it failed? Seems to me like a ticket to a cushy early retirement. Put up flyers in daycares, salons, playgrounds, mall family restrooms...anywhere moms hang out. Shoot, anywhere anyone with fluctuating demon hormones hangs out. Also -- and I can't speak for anywhere other than Pittsburgh...maybe it's just P'burgh-specific -- but ya know how we have flower vendors on every other major corner? I have to think that I could do more business than them if I were out there with a little cooler packed with Reeses, Hersheys, Heathes, etc. And for the mom with children in the car who shouldn't eat sweets, I could sell "carrots"...I could pass out a "menu" list which explains in small print at the bottom that ordering "carrots" will actually get you a brown paper bag of chocolate, but the kids will be none the wiser.

Seriously, does anyone want to fund me in this?!?

Our Memorial Day

Another quick one...

We took the T (that would be "trolley" for you non-Pittsburgh folk) downtown today. It was Raina's first time on the train, and she enjoyed it quite a bit. She particularly liked standing up while the train was moving. Our intention was to go to the Point and have fun at the fountain, but the fountain wasn't running today. Grrrrr! However, we did put our feet in the water and splash around a bit. Here are some pics from today...

Here we are at the T station waiting for our train...

We took her wagon with us, so we heard a lot of "Go go!"

Reading the train schedule...

Notice anything missing?!?

But we had fun splashing anways :)

After some splash time, we found a nice grassy knoll and let her run around for a bit.

The following series of pics highlights the face Raina gives strangers (and us, too, when she's mad!). You can see why I'm forever apologizing to people!

Short one

We went to the aviary today. This video pretty much sums up the trip... "Go Go, Va Va." :)

Here are some pics from our time there, too...

This is on our way out the door.

Getting up close and personal with a birdie of some sort.

This is her throwing a fit and wanting DOWN!