gross.

one thing they don't tell you about motherhood is how many different varieties of bodily fluid you are guaranteed to have on your person at any given time.

it's uncanny. 
i'm constantly sporting at least three. minimum.

you know that baby shower game that everyone likes to play where they melt the chocolate candy bars in diapers and you have to guess which candy it is?  and everyone giggles and says "ew gross!"

well, they should change that game to a forensics type black-light CSI crime scene game where you have to positively identify the bodily fluids on your favorite jcrew cardigan. 
because let me tell you, there will never be a time when you open your babies diaper and cry "oooh a snickers bar!", but there most certainly will be a time when you're in the grocery store and you look down at yourself and think "what is that? no seriously, WHAT IS THAT? is it from me? from my baby? which end of my baby?"
and then you inevitably realize, oh shit, that's pee. 
or, oh shit, that's breastmilk. 
or the worst one, oh shit, that's shit.

there's also spit up, snot, and drool, just to name a few. 
i'm just saying, if they changed the baby shower game to a CSI game it would be much handier down the line.  if you can learn to positively identify, on your way out to the grocery store you could look down and say "ehhh, that's just snot, i'm not changing."  or, "that's definitely chunky puke, we're gonna need a wardrobe switch." 
it's an acquired skill.

hey there!

remember when i used to write blogs like all the time?  i kind of do! wow i wrote a lot of them.

the past couple of months have really been a whirlwind!  for more reasons than one.  actually, for two!

1) it's the busiest time of the year at the shop.  this makes work very awesome and fun, but it also leaves very little downtime, i.e. no lunchtime bloggy blogs.
and
2) finn was sick for a month and a half.  this was very not awesome and not fun, but it also left for very little downtime.

i missed you blog! i used to write blogs when i needed mommy advice or a laugh or just a word vomit outlet, but i had to swallow all of that word vomit in the past couple of months because i didn't have time to do normal things like brush my teeth, nevermind write about it. 

the good news is, finn is finally healthy.  the shop is still bonkers, which is also good news, but hopefully a healthy baby will leave me a little bit more free time. 

let me just say that there is officially nothing worse than when your baby feels bad.  for a long time. and your pediatrician acts completely incompetent. 
basically he had an ear infection for a month and a half that didn't go away with amoxicillin but proceeded to get more and more infected, and our doctor called it a "virus" until we ended up in the emergency room after a week of 104.5 fever. 
more on that later. 
oh believe me, there will be an angry mommy blog.

we have had lots of little happy moments amidst the struggles of the past few weeks, including halloween and fun fall festivities! say that three times fast!  i can't wait to post some pictures!  more on that too. less anger involved with that one.

we are also working on some house projects, like putting up storm windows and some fun little decorating things.  the holidays are fast approaching wheee my favorite time of year!

in other exciting news, my little sister, my only sister, is getting married in a few weeks in hawaii and we are throwing her a bridal shower this weekend that i am oh so excited about as well!  lots of happy things going on!

plus thanksgiving is coming, my favorite holiday and a finn first this year! whoopee!

i haven't synced my iphone in like 700 years, so instead of filling this blog with updated photos, i will simply leave you with this vintage classic:

thank you, and goodnight.

isn't it ironic.

when i was little i always hated getting up to go to church on sundays. 
and not really because i wanted to sleep in. 
there were other (more dreadful) reasons than losing sleep.

when i was very little it was mostly because i HATED wearing panty hose, and mom always made me wear them. 
mandy, on the other hand, loved wearing panty hose so much that she wore them to bed under her pajamas.  just looking at her sleeping made me itch. 
i went to bed on saturday nights dreading the suffocation and nonstop tickly twinges that would cover my legs for two grueling hours the following morning.

i think eventually i freaked out enough that mom gave in and let me wear really frilly ankle socks.  (the clear alternative).
and by freak out i mean run out of church whimpering, clawing at my legs, rip my stockings off in the car crying kind of freak out.  not an exaggeration. 

nowadays i don't really mind wearing tights so much. 
but i can still vividly remember just how much i hated them when i was little. 
they just don't feel quite the same way.

as i grew a little bit older and our church grew a little bit less conservative (i could wear pants), i began to dread church for a different reason on sunday mornings. 
this reason was just as unbearable as the pantyhose.

in the car on the way to church, my dad HAD to listen to bluegrass on the radio. 
"stained glass bluegrass" was the special radio program. 
all the songs were old school southern bluegrass hymns.  they all had plenty of twang. 
like over the top twang. 
it was like nails on a chalkboard to me. 
i wanted to bang my head against the side of the car window, claw out my ears, and run home to the sweet sweet comfort of spice girls. 
clearly i was the one who knew what music was all about.

it's funny to me now, just how much i hated and dreaded those five minutes in the car with stained glass bluegrass.  i mean seriously, it was a five minute drive. 
and the reason it's funny is not because it was so silly, but because the older i get the more i... well not just tolerate... not just like... but actually prefer bluegrass music.

it's kind of hilarious.

it was a slow evolution from getting hooked on some of dad's old school records... a little emmy lou harris on vinyl. john prine. johnny cash.
and then billy, with a very heavy willie nelson tendency, lended to the occasion.
the old greats started sneaking in our regular playlist.

and now if i'm scanning the radio i always stop if i hear a banjo or a mandolin.

now i'm hooked on some of the more recent bands, like old crow medicine show, gillian welch, and the devil makes three.  i just love it all.  it's so raw, so organic, so soothing. 

it's like an old sweater i just want to curl up in.
it's my childhood.

funny how some of the things you fight the hardest you end up appreciating the most.

paris in the park.

monday marks two blissful years of marriage for me and the most wonderful husband in the world.
yay!

on our honeymoon, we went to paris, and it was amazing.

the past few weeks finn has been really sick, and the past week he's been so sick that he has been up all night.  there is lots of screaming, crying, snot sucking, saline spraying, standing in bathrooms with hot showers running at 3 a.m, and lots of wishing we could run away to paris.
if for no other reason than to sleep on the plane.

i wasn't expecting to do anything for our anniversary because 1) we are so sleep deprived right now i consider remembering to brush my teeth an accomplishment and 2) the only thing that sounds appealing to me at all is sleep, pillows, pajamas, sleep, naps, and sleep.

but billy surprised me today with a picnic.  he had spent all day saturday scouting this picnic locale, and it was perfect. 

we packed a bag with some of our favorite french things... a delicious bordeaux, a fresh baguette with fromage blanc and raspberry preserves, chocolate croissants... and we spent the entire afternoon on a blanket by the river eating, drinking, and being merry.

eventually we became a little tipsy because of the wine/sleep deprivation combo.
heck, we earned it.

enjoy the pictures.
i love you, billy!