blessing day

We blessed Ava on Sunday. She was a perfect angel and didn't cry once. It was so nice to have my whole family and Sarah and Rachel there. Last time we blessed a baby (Ian), it was a couple days after we found out J-P's dad had terminal cancer. Both Ian and J-P cried through the short (but sweet) blessing, and it was hard to hear what he was saying. This time around I had Ian on my lap and he cried through most of the blessing, so I only caught a few words. Luckily everyone could relay what was said. It was a special day. It has been a wonderful blessing to have this sweet little girl join our family. We love her so much.

p.s. we found a beautiful white dress at an antique store. then we brought it home and realized it was not white, but yellow. and too big. so we braved the post-Christmas craziness at the mall to find a white one that didn't clash with the blanket my mom knitted. and i stayed up the night before making yet another headband so ava would have something pretty to wear on her special day.

virtual cheer

...So I finished my cards early this year. They were ready to go in early December. I loaded them up with j-p to stamp and mail on his way to work and happily crossed off "cards" from my busy holiday to-do list.

A couple weeks later nobody mentioned receiving our card. I called my mom. She didn't get it. I texted my sister-in-law (who lives down the street). She didn't get it. I burst into J-P's office in a mad panic. "Something happened, nobody is getting our cards!", I said. He gave me a puzzled look and mentioned something about how it's a busy time for the USPS. "Um, it doesn't take two weeks for neighbors to receive our mail...it takes one day. Are you sure you put stamps?"

He looked at me with a guilty smile and said "Well, maybe I didn't mail them exactly when you thought I did." I took a REALLY deep breath and said, "ok, when did you mail them?" He flashed me an i'm-sorry-please-don't-kill-me smile and said "today". He explained that he went to the post office and they were really busy, so he left. And then he forgot. For two weeks.

So, here is the virtual version for those that don't receive it in time. I put the birth announcement on the back side to save a stamp. Merry Christmas from Chez Scoville!

follow-up

not pictured:
two suit clad, cranky/nap-deprived boys, two tired parents,
ava's cute red shoes...

joining the ranks

Tomorrow Ava will be joining the ranks of homemade-headband-wearing babies. She is almost two months old and I have never made her a headband. Is that borderline child abuse? She has been gifted headbands, but none of them have matched the outfits she fits into. Every Sunday I sit in church feeling a little guilty that my baby is the only girl baby with a bare head. It's a little embarrassing. The other babies have bracelets, blinged-out pacifiers, hair bows galore, and Ava has...well, a dress. I decided I couldn't let Christmas Sunday come and go without making some effort to accessorize her cute Christmas outfit. I only wish I would have thought about it earlier so I could have made one for myself. Merry Christmas Ava-lu!

vacillating

...So the jury is still out on the whole blog privatization thing. I have never really worried about going private because, to be honest, nobody reads my blog. Four people subscribe to my blog in google reader. One of them is me. I used to have a hit counter and it was rare for my blog traffic to reach double digits.

The other day I was writing a post and noticed that 3 people were following my blog. I recognized two of them. I was HORRIFIED to learn that the third was a perverted would-be child predator who likes "men" and "beautiful little boys"(if you are reading this shoo...stay away from my blog). I didn't sleep all night. I felt like the worst mom in the world for exposing my innocent little family to cyber creeps.

The next day I wanted to pack up and move to an undisclosed location, change my children's names, and hire a bodyguard. I did some more research and discovered that my blog stalker was a high school student in Ohio. How in the world did he find my blog? Seriously?

I'm just wondering how big of a deal having a public blog is. I really appreciate it when people keep their blogs public because I don't have time to check them and instead receive the feed through google reader. And there are certain members of my family that can barely figure out how to check my blog when it is public. I can't decide what to do. Thoughts?

p.s. i can't stop laughing and thinking of this post.

6 weeks

This sweet little lady is six weeks old. I took her with me to my check-up and the doctor didn't believe me that she was only seven pounds at birth. "She's at least double that now," he said. Eating is her favorite thing to do and she is always hungry. Takes after her mother.

p.s. i'm a little wigged out tonight by some things that have come to pass and am thinking i'll probably privatize the blog soon...if you want to keep reading drop me a line at chezscoville(at)yahoo(dot)com (or you can send it to my real email address), or leave a comment with your email address.

in the blink of an eye

In five years I have gone from being a twenty-something single living it up in L.A. to a thirty-something mother of three with a minivan living it up in the suburbs. It happened SO fast. Overnight. Needless to say, my life has changed. A lot.

I sleep a lot less than I used to. I have not had more than 1-2 hours of consecutive sleep since Ava was born. She is not a fan of sleeping. I also have not had a nap since she was born. And it's starting to catch up. Monday I was SO tired. And Ava was really fussy. I spent most of the day sitting on the couch...nursing and jiggling Ava with one arm, and browsing cyber monday deals/designing our Christmas card with the other. I stayed in my pajamas all day and served pillsbury cinnamon rolls for lunch (so gross, i'll never buy those again). I let the boys ransack the house and didn't clean a thing (except for the carton of eggs that Ian broke).

When J-P walked out of his office at the end of the day and saw the disastrous explosion of toddler debris, he said "um, what did you do all day?" I smiled and said "Nothing. This is what our house would look like if I didn't do anything all day long." I think it scared him. He took the baby from my tired arms and loaded everyone into the car to go to In 'n Out for dinner.

I have spent the last two days cleaning. It is safe to say that I will not be taking another vacation from my domestic duties anytime soon. The aftermath is too painful.

Hands Full

I have three children. Three. Did I mention the oldest is three? I have my hands full. Or so I'm told. I have only taken them out by myself once. To the mall. I didn't think it was a big deal. A lot of people go to the mall with three children. And then EVERY single person I made eye contact with said the exact same thing --"wow, you have your hands full". I heard it at least 37 times.

It caught me off guard. I mean, I have three children, not ten. And aside from Ian dumping a cup of water all over himself and Max begging to go buy a treat the whole time, they were fairly well behaved. It took all of my remaining energy to smile graciously to 37 strangers and say "yes, I do." I haven't taken the three of them out together since. Not because I can't handle the kids, but because I can't handle the onslaught of "you have your hands full" comments.

Today I had to get out. We went for a walk. I put the two boys in the stroller and the baby in the carrier. I didn't even make it one block before I ran into a pest control technician who stopped spraying, stared, and said "you sure have your hands full".