finny gets baptized.

billy said he looked like the grandpa in charlie and the chocolate factory.

you know, when he's in bed with the other grandparents in his nightgown.

he was correct.

finn wasn't thrilled with his man dress.  here he is on the way to church, sleeping grumpily:

finn's grandnanny had these gorgeous christening sweater and little booties and cap and blanket crocheted...

but it was so stinkin' hot that i just put the booties on him.

cuteness.

maybe the next one will get baptized in the winter and we'll get to use the whole get up.

once we got to church, finn woke up and was totally enthralled with the stained glass windows.

it was really sweet.

 

at our church the baptisms take place after the sermon.  

i think this is some sort of test to see if you can make it through without having a squawky baby in the middle of church. a mothers worst nightmare! only the strong survive. 

but little finn was a little angel through the whole service!

when it came time for dunkin' he was just as sweet.

excuse the blurry picture... i think finn's grandma was snappin' em so fast the camera didn't have time to focus.

finn was gifted his very own baptism blanket hand sewn by our church's "chatty country quilters". how adorable is that?  it's perfect. 

it was a very special day that we were so happy to share with our family.

and we are so very proud of our sweet little boy.

finn grows up, and a birthday weekend ahead!

yesterday finn was not a happy camper.  after some diet detective work i figured out it may have been some greek yogurt that i've had the past two days for the first time (that i loved ugh!) that upset his belly something fierce.  i'm going to have to cut back on the dairy because i think the finnster is not a fan.  anywho, his hollerin' did make him pretty tired, so i made good on my promise to try and get him to nap in his crib instead of in my arms.

he took two naps yesterday in his crib by himself, one for an hour and a half and one for an hour!  it was definitely a step in the right direction.  then, because apparently he got the hang of it, he slept in his crib for the first time ever last night.  he had been in bed with billy and i up until now < insert your tisk tisk face here >,  which was our favorite thing ever, but i guess not finn's favorite thing ever because he was quite happy to sleep undisturbed in his own bed thankyouverymuch.  billy went in to check on him last night before we went to sleep and came back in our room hanging is head and crying "he doesn't need us anymore!"  i followed that up with a desperate "hold me!" and we were two very pathetic parents.  he still wakes up every three hours like clockwork to eat (finn, not billy..).  i kind of don't mind because it's an excuse to hold him, which i'll take, since he's all grown up now and can sleep by himself and everything.  sheesh

finn's at sandie's house today (our dear babysitter) while i'm at work, so i'm hoping he keeps up the good job and takes a couple good naps for her and his belly is feeling better.  we have an exciting weekend ahead of us!

today is my birthday, and it's funny because this morning my dear friend charity (who just started her own blog) wrote on my facebook wall this morning and it said "happy first birthday that doesn't matter anymore because you have a baby!"  and it's so true.  it's probably the first birthday that i ever woke up and didn't really think much of it.  other than, wow how did my mom push me out without any drugs 27 years ago?  because that i can appreciate now.  thanks mom!  but seriously, i have a feeling that this birthday and the rest of them will have less to do with wearing high heels and having cocktails and more to do with baby snuggling and falling asleep before eleven.  i'll take it :)

we do have some exciting things planned.  sunday especially.  since none of us got rapture captured on the 21st, we thought we'd go ahead and have finn dunked!  that's right, the little dude's getting baptized at our church, st. matthews!  the same place where i got baptized and where we got married!  finn is wearing an extra special christening gown (read dress) that his cousins wore, along with a fancy crocheted little sweater and hat (read bonnet) that his nanny had made for him.  he is going to look like a froo froo frilly girl and i'm really excited about it because i've secretly always wanted to see what he would look like in little girls clothes.  we are taking blackmail pictures to be used if he ever misses curfew in high school.

after finn's baptism, the biggest news of the weekend is my favorite thing ever, the jigger shop opens back up for the summer in mt. gretna!  my favorite place ever.  last summer i got a hole in one on the last hole of mini golf and you better believe that i saved my free game coupon for a whole year and will be cashing it in this weekend!  so excited to spend the day outside in gretna with our family after such a special event!

also, i'm secretly looking forward to this weekend because billy reluctantly agreed to get rid of the yews for me with my dad while i'm at work on saturday!  there is not a more special birthday gift than yard demolition, people!  i hate those shrubs!  we'll see if he can part with them.  billy has a hard time getting rid of things even if they're awful.  i'll be sure to post a picture on monday of him chained to the yews in protest while releasing the stink bugs i've vacuumed up with one hand (you're free! you're free!) and fighting off my dad's chainsaw with the other.  i have to love him for it though, after all, he does hang on to me even when i'm awful :)

and hopefully finn will too.  even though he can sleep like a big boy now.

the best salad ever.

so this week when i went to the grocery store i tried to keep some type of meal plans in the back of my mind so i could be better prepared for dinners.  a lot of times i get overwhelmed at the grocery store and walk in circles and end up buying lots of wheat thins and nothing else.  putting a skinny girl in wegmans is like throwing a four year old in a chuckie cheese.  we love everything so much that we don't even know where to go first so we just end up throwing a tantrum in front of the prize counter.  or cheese counter. whatevs, you get the idea.

anyway, i did successfully come up with a bunch of different dinners with only a few ingredients this week, but one of the things we always end up having for dinner once a week regardless is this:

i call it a la carte dinner.
normally it's just a smorgasbord of different healthy snacks.  it's good when you're a picker.  you can graze around the a la carte dinner all night and enjoy yourself without feeling super full like you would after, say the mashed potatoes and fried chicken i made last night.

a la carte dinner tonight featured hummus and pita chips, strawberries, white cheddar and wheat thins, and my favorite light salmon salad- that i make with a high quality canned salmon that i rinse well and mix with fresh lemon, capers, salt, pepper, and a little german mustard. it's tasty.  sometimes a la carte dinner will have different types of cheeses, olives, carrot sticks and raw veggies (if you're fancy you can call it crudite), other fruits, whatever is on hand.

but i almost always include this salad on the side.

i stole this salad recipe from billy's sisters.
it's possibly the best salad on the planet, and the simplest. i'm addicted to it and i eat it a few times a week.  i love this salad because it doesn't taste like salad.  it's the salad for people who hate salad.

so i thought i'd share the recipe with you.

here it is:
lettuce- i like to use baby butter (crunchier white lettuce) or organic herb greens.  either is great with this salad, it just depends on what you like.
blue cheese crumbles- or feta crumbles if you don't like blue cheese.  but i didn't like blue cheese either before this salad so you might should try it.
craisins- that's right craisins.  any flavor or original.  right now pomegranate is my favorite.
one packet of equal- yeah that highly controversial sugar substitute.  love it or hate it, it's what makes the salad.  just do it, you'll thank me later.
balsamic vinaigrette- billy's sisters make their dressing from scratch.  it's easy to do with balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar or rice vinegar, whatever you like, a little olive oil, maybe whisked up with a little honey, salt and pepper, some lemon zest, whathaveyou... but i like to do it the easy way, which involves only buying a bottle of newman's own at the grocery store.  oh newman, why you makey the dressing so nice?

toss it all together and you have the best salad on the planet.

i'm telling you, try it.
it's sweet and zesty and kinda good for you (pretend you didn't see the equal packet... and the sugary craisins... and the cheese. well at least you're getting your greens, right?).
it tastes like summer.
hope you likey.

i've created a (cuddle) monster.

oopsies.

remember in the early days of baby when i didn't know how to relax?
i was running around town with a two week old and trying to do laundry and breastfeed at the same time.

it took awhile for me to learn to stop and smell the baby around here... especially after going through extreme nesting into 42 weeks of pregnancy.  i just didn't know how to quit.

at around 4 weeks i figured it out.
and now i'm hooked.
and it's kind of a problem.

when i finally scaled back on the ridiculous house projects and started enjoying doing nothing but holding my baby, i was really proud of learning how to sit back and enjoy. no stress, just sweet baby bliss!  it was lovely.

but this friday after work i went to pick little finn up from the babysitter's and she asked me about how he naps at home. "he doesn't sleep by himself here for more than 30 minutes at a time," she said, "he doesn't even like his swing anymore.  i need an extra arm!"
"well that's weird," i thought.  "maybe it's because he doesn't eat as well here? maybe it's the noisy two year old that she watches also?"

and then today, while i was scrolling the internet with my big toe whilst holding a sleeping finn, i realized.

i don't put my baby down.
do i have to?
he's so snuggly!
i may or may not be typing one handed and holding him right now.
oof.

but seriously, i don't really put him down for naps.
on my days home i'll get up and get ready and finn will hang out in his swing or bouncy seat while i get dressed and have breakfast.  (i have been noticing that he is less stoked about this independent time lately.)  then we'll run some errands in the morning... finn does great in his carseat and will normally sleep in it while we're out.
he'll hang out while i put groceries away or switch the wash or vacuum or whatever.  but when he starts to get sleepy and i pick him up and sit down, i start to get sleepy too.  i'm down with an afternoon nap!  why not do it together?

i know that this constant holding is inconvenient for the babysitter twice a week, who has to watch another little boy who's two.  but it's not that inconvenient for me.
i'm kinda hooked.
i finally just learned how to do nothing, and now i have to give it up?

well, i should say now that half way through typing this i got to feeling kind of guilty about spoiling finn so rotten that he was about to start smelling... and went in and laid him down in his crib.
then i went into the kitchen and fixed dinner.
real dinner.
fried chicken and mashed potatoes and buttery green beans (yeah you're allowed to eat like that when you're breastfeeding).
it was kind of liberating having two arms free.  i get it.
i get that i need to give finn more opportunities to sleep on his own so that he can be a more independent baby, and so that the babysitter doesn't throw him at me in a fit of rage for creating a cosleeping monster.

so putting finn down more is something that i'm going to work on.
it's hard when he looks so sweet when he's sleeping that you want to pick him up and bite him!

vacation.

it was absolutely lovely.

we got to celebrate our best friends' wedding!

introduce finn to dear friends and family... and the beach!

eat at bojangles and the basics as much as possible 

(gravy!) 

(biscuits!) 

(grits!) 

(oh my!)

 and spend some quality time together just the two of us, 

since grandma came with us to help out with little finnster.

my favorite part of the trip was definitely when steph had to act out "karmasutra" during a game of charades.

(it would have been your favorite, too)

least favorite was when my boob exploded like a water balloon in the fibbers parking lot.

(billy- "can't you just towel off, babe?"
meg- "my ankles are wet."

billy- *stares uncomfortably at my ankles*
"so we'll see you in a little bit then...")

all in all it was a fantastic time.

and after a few days of playing catch up i'm trying to get back to bloggin'!

xoxo

what's black and white and red all over?

nope, not read all over.  red all over.

among many other sweet things, billy got me a gallon of red paint for mothers day.

because i've always wanted a red front door.

this weekend my folks were up for mothers day, and they are always eager helpers, so we decided to dig out our storm doors from the garage and reattach them so we could make use of the screens this summer.  the only problem is, all of our storm doors look like this:

dad and billy powerwashed them this weekend so they would be ready for a fresh coat of paint.

red paint.

i don't know if i'm going to paint all of the storms around the house red, but we decided we definitely wanted to paint the two front doors red.  

the main front door goes into our kitchen, and that's the door we use every day, but there's another front door that's more prominent because it's in the stone part of the house that sticks out, so we decided to paint that one red as well.

tuck babysat:

yeah, there's a baby in there.

anyway,

what do you think?

we only managed to get one coat on in between mothers day brunch with my family and mothers day dinner with billy's family.  i'm going to try to tackle the second coat tomorrow, but i think you get the idea so far.  

i think the red makes the house look really polished.

ooh and look, they finally put our historical sign up!

neato!

but speaking of mothers day, we had a great one!

it's easy to do when your baby is the sweetest little teletubby you ever did see.

i got the baby i always wanted and the red doors to boot!

hope you all had a great mothers day as well!

xoxo

straight chillin'.

being a mama is pretty neato.

when i look back over the past two months of little finn's life, i have to laugh when i think of how i have evolved so far in the mothering process.

week one of finn's life i was pretty crazy.
somehow i couldn't stop "nesting"... i guess i had been pregnant for so long i just couldn't get out of the cleaning routine and stop and smell the baby that i just had.
if a binky dropped on the ground, i reboiled it.
if his blanket fell out of his carseat, i washed it.
if a stink bug walked into his room i sterilized everything within a 100 meter radius.
i also tried to put my one week old baby on a schedule, which sounds hilarious to me now.

since then i feel like i've done a complete 180 and become like super who cares mom.
i think this started developing a couple of weeks ago when we were visiting our nephews and ty had one grubby mud smeared little paw around a chicken's neck and the other in finn's mouth.
what can you do?

but now, in week eight of finn's life
if a binky falls on the ground, i just wipe it off... sometimes.
if his blanket falls out of his carseat i just... pick it back up.
if a stink bug walks in his room i just scream "i hate you" at it, because that's more normal.
i stopped being the schedule nazi and now finn is falling into a natural schedule on his own.

it's funny because finn has relaxed since i have.
i was at the mall last week and this super stoned out dude bro working at h&m basically described finn's personality best when he said:
"woahhhh.
dude.
he looks like he is straight CHILLIN'...  
hard."

 that's how my baby rolls, brah.

a tisket a tasket.- by finn.

sometimes, after dad's done with yardwork, mom makes us picnics.

i love picnics because dad tells me stories with his crazy spider hand.

it's captivating, i tell you.

he also teaches me how to whistle:

i'm not that good at it yet.

but if you whistle, your puppy comes to see you!

 

he's the best puppy ever.

and i think dad's pretty neat, too.

wegmans, eh?

i was scrolling through local radio stations yesterday when i heard a blurb from one of the dj's, and he was all:
"i don't like telling people i have a blog because everyone has blogs these days and they're mostly about nothing.  like here's my blog, and it says:

...'today i went to jcpenney!'....

and then there's one comment that says....

....'jcpenney, eh?'...."

umm, what what was he talking about?
anyway, here's my blog.  it's called:

...'today i went to wegmans!'....

and then you say...

...'wegmans, eh?'....

i went to wegmans.  do you guys know about wegmans?

outside of the store there's a sign.  

it says "wegmans" and then it says "food" and "pharmacy"

i think they should probably change that so it says "everything" and "amazeballs"

we have a wegmans and i've been there once before but i don't really remember what happened.

this weekend i went and i tried to document my journey so i could recall it at a later date.

going into wegmans, i imagine, is like dying and going to a very busy heaven.

i went to get sushi for dinner.  

i said "i will run into wegmans and get sushi.  they have that there."

but i went in and everything went blurry and there were counters full of everything you could ever want.  like fresh burritos, and homemade gelato, and fried chicken, and sushi, and japanese food, and pizza.  

i didn't know what was going on.  

i forgot why i went in there. 

i looked down and there were crates of grapes and blackberries.  they looked delicious.  

i put them in my cart.  

people kept bumping me and giving me dirty looks.

"where am i?" i thought.

then i looked up and there was a man in a white chef hat and he was behind a glass counter and he was making sushi.  oh yes!  i picked out some sushi.  then i got lost in the produce section and wound up at the sushi again.  i picked out some more.

people didn't like me at wegmans because i was clearly overwhelmed and forgot my plan.

wegmans shoppers all seem to have plans.

they also seem to be timing their shopping trip so as to beat some sort of land/speed record for fastest collection of insanely different multicultural varieties of produce. ever.

also, i kept stopping to take pictures of things.  which is weird and clearly annoying.

but they had books in the wegmans.

lots of books.

i've never seen so many books in a grocery store before.

and then they had tea.

so much tea.

even a whole aisle full of loose leaf tea that you could measure out yourself!

i didn't even buy any tea i just looked at it a lot and got confused.  

then when i was checking out they had chapstick.

my favorite chapstick.

in the aisle! just waiting for me! and saying "here i am, your very favorite chapstick!"

i realize that the combination of books/tea/chapstick has relegated me into full blown spinster status.

i might as well have also mentioned my discovery of a vast array of control top panty hose, or bunion cream.  

i know.

but that chapstick seriously is amazing.

it is like putting a fresh snowfall on your lips when the sun is shining.

but don't make out with your husband afterward because he'll say you taste like cold medicine.

worth it.

in conclusion, wegmans is bananas.

i'm going to keep practicing going back and taking better advantage of what it has to offer without getting overwhelmed, walking in circles, and then taking pictures of everything while people bump into me.

i did manage to bring home the sushi.

 

it was delicious.