I had a chance to try “imPRESS Press On Manicure" thanks to Influenster. I was seriously imPRESSED! :-)

These went on so incredibly easily, I was shocked! I remember trying press-on nails as a kid and having them fall off in minutes... not these bad boys! They lasted several days before I had one chip and removed them. I'm sure they would have lasted a full week. I only took them off because I wasn't crazy about the color I had (dark red-brown), but they were fantastic. 

I absolutely plan to purchase these in the future... way quicker and cheaper than a manicure! These would be great for a party, or pick a fun pattern just for day to day. I'm a big fan!

www.impressmanicure.com

Adventures resumed!

Now that everyone (knock on wood!) is healthy once again, we were able to get out this weekend and enjoy some fun things as a family! Woohoo!

Saturday we did one of our favorite summer activities - we went to the Bristol Renaissance Faire! It was lovely weather, and we had a delightful time. We love dressing up, and getting the kids into it as well. Definitely a less comfortable experience wearing a bodice while nursing, but worth it! This was our 2nd visit this season and we hope to go 1 or 2 more times.

One of Lava's favorite things to do there is spend a bunch of time with the Fairies. He so enjoyed giving them twigs and leaves. They are so awesome with the kids, he just has a ball. Of course Macaroni just loves watching Lava! This was actually Macaroni's first time in the stroller sitting up like a big boy, and he was very pleased. He loved the view (there are endless things to see at Faire!), and was very comfortable.

Lava also was beyond thrilled to spend some time romping around with his beloved cousin, Bucket! And romp they did....

Such a fun day together. It is so amazing getting to do things like this as a family of four, providing opportunities for our little guys to see such awesome things like the Ren Faire! They love getting out and about, and we love seeing them take it all in!

We're still here!

I feel badly to have been so bad about updating, but it has been a never-ending cycle of sick in this house. First Lava got sick several weeks ago, followed immediately by Macaroni (6 month old + 103 degree fever = scary!), and now I've been sick for the past several days with a horrible cold. So unpleasant, and it has definitely limited our adventures as of late! Boo!

We did have our first brotherly bath event, as evidenced below, which was definitely worth documenting. :)

Hopefully the sickies will stop with me, and we'll be back to our normal fun times in the very near future!

Three day weekend!

It is always such a treat when we get a long weekend to spend together as a family. This weekend was especially needed after Spaz had such crazy work hours the past couple weeks. It was so nice to focus on us and not have him worrying about all the work stuff he had to deal with!

We had a fabulous day on Saturday at a local festival. Lava got an "unlimited ride" wristband so he went on everything! His favorite was the "fun slide"...you know, those super tall slides you sit in a potato sack to ride down. He is too short to go solo, so he sat in Spaz's lap and wanted to go over, and over, and over! It was just too much fun. Another favorite was one of the bounce houses with a slide!

While Lava went from activity to activity, Macaroni napped and snuggled up with me, as per usual.

You can't tell from the photo, but he was wearing the same 4th of July romper that his big brother wore in 2007. So fun to get to re-use these things and see them on Macaroni!

After all the fun and excitement of the rides at the festival, we went back home and got Macaroni to bed. Afterwards, we took Lava to his very first fireworks show (while Grammy & Papa stayed home with Macaroni)! He was a bit apprehensive at first, but soon shouted excitedly and pointed at all the fireworks as they went off. He's been talking about them ever since!

After a mellow Sunday, we decided we needed to figure out a good outlet for Lava to get some energy out that didn't require going out in the 90+ degree heat with little Macaroni. We decided to go to an indoor playground that I had taken Lava to a couple times before. It's a bit of a ride, but Spaz wanted to see what it was all about and Lava just loves it! We spent a good couple hours there Monday afternoon and decided to spring for a 3 month membership so we have a fun place to go during the summer heat.

Lava really enjoyed another opportunity to go down big, fun slides!

Macaroni enjoyed the cool, comfortable air conditioning and playing with his Daddy! All in all an absolutely delightful family weekend!

Lunch with Grammy and Water playdate fun!

One thing I'm really pleased about since re-dedicating myself to blogging is that I'm taking more pictures! Woohoo! I have a great little point and shoot camera in my purse at all times, yet I so rarely even think to use it. Now that I have this blog going again, it's not far from my mind to photo document what I want to write about!

We've had a nice couple of days! Lava went to camp yesterday and then we went to lunch with my lovely mother! Since I'm making a conscious effort to eat well, one of my meals of choice is a gigantic egg white omelette, so we went to a restaurant I enjoy. Next time I'm totally taking a picture of the omelette, too! It's epic. We also have a rare shot of Macaroni content in his bucket seat while we eat!

Lava has always loved eating with his Grammy. Even now when he can eat totally independently, he still insists on her assistance. He just loves it, and it's super cute.

Today we had such a fun time going to a play date with the local mom's group I'm in. They are such a nice group of ladies with darling kids, and Lava had so much fun playing in the water with them. As per usual, Macaroni was happily snoozing away in the Ergo. It is a perfect set-up for when we go out, so I can't complain. I just never get good pictures of him!

It's been a long couple of weeks at work for Spaz with a new launch that went out today. So glad he's going to be less stressed out now that it's done. Definitely looking forward to our long weekend! I think we might hit up Lamb's Farm like we did last Fourth of July weekend. We might also try to get Lava to his first fireworks!

Fun with the cousin!

After not having gone to this particular indoor play/eat establishment in AGES, we decided to meet up with my nephew and sister and let the kids romp and enjoy one another. So off we all went!

Lava and Bucket had a grand old time. It was super duper cute...wherever Lava went, Bucket was soon to follow. They spent a good portion of our time there in this "make believe" area. It's the only place I got decent pictures, to be honest. There are all kinds of fun areas here to explore. They also enjoyed the train table area. Bucket was especially smitten with the "Bee" trains. So cute!

Unfortunately I only got one photo with little Macaroni, but it's super cute with his Titi! Other than this brief moment, Macaroni was very contentedly snuggled up to me in the Ergo. I can't get over how cuddly he is! I just eat it up....

We absolutely had a great time, and have already made plans to come back very soon. It was just the perfect environment for all the boys to play and enjoy themselves and each other. Oh, and the fact that someone else cleans up after all of it? Bonus!

Some changes...

After my friend Erika had some scary stuff go down with her blog a while back she made a list of suggestions on how to protect yourself and your family when you blog. I didn't do this sooner because I was a totally inactive blogger, but now that I am once again making an attempt to do this regularly, I decided it was time to implement her suggestions.

SO! You will now be seeing different names for the members of this family. I'm still Elizabeth, but my hubby is now known as "Spaz", my first little guy is "Lava", and our sweetie baby is "Macaroni". Just thought I'd make a public post explaining this so nobody is confused when all of a sudden there are no longer real names for most of the blog's starring players.

Six months later...

It is so hard for me to believe that six months ago today, this is what I was looking at:

... and six months later I now see this:

Happy six month birthday to my amazing baby boy, I love you with everything that I am.

Another futile attempt, no doubt...

Every so often I get the inclination to actually stick to blogging. I feel like it would be such a good way to chronicle our lives as a family, and really fun to look back on in the future.

Here is another attempt!

Since my last blog, we have added to the flock! Macaroni was born on December 28 and has been an incredible source of joy for us all! Aidan has done an INCREDIBLE job adjusting to having a little brother. It's been amazing to see him blossom into the role of big brother with little to no jealousy issues. The biggest struggle to date was having a brand new baby + potty training Lava. Thankfully that was a relatively short process and he is now bathroom independent and has very very few accidents (knock on wood). Macaroni is a happy, delightful little person. He is very different from his brother in so many ways, but I'm having such a blast with this small person being around.

Unlike Lava as a baby, Macaroni is very snuggly. He loves nothing more than being held (especially by mama) and he is a huge fan of being worn. He is happy as a clam in our Ergo or BabyHawk. One thing he does have in common with Lava is horrible sleep issues. Being our second child, we have done some things differently which has made things a bit easier, but he's still up many times a night at almost 6 months old. I do miss sleeping, but I know how fleeting this part of our lives is, so I try to enjoy every moment with this little guy...even at 3AM!

Ch-ch-changes...

It's been quite a while since my last update...and honestly not too much to report, other than the fact that I'm now over 21 weeks through this pregnancy. Oh, and it's another BOY!!! ;)

I am struggling with the idea of adjusting to being a mom of two. I'm excited and thrilled, please don't get me wrong, but it's a foreign concept to me at the moment. It's the unknown that makes me uneasy. I'm very much looking forward to meeting this spectacular life that will be joining our family in about 18 weeks (I pray). It's hard to imagine I'll ever love another person as much, or the way I love Lava. I know I will, I know I have the capacity to do so, I just can't fathom how that will feel.

I don't want my relationship with Lava to change, or suffer. I know change will happen (as my child runs in the room in footed pajamas with lime green crocs over them, just to be funny). It's just moments like those that I fear will become less appreciated or noticed. I love every second I spend with him, and soon that will be mostly shared time. I'm afraid he'll feel neglected, or replaced. Thankfully he's a mellow kid who has never really displayed major jealousy with me being around other kids, but this will be a different story.

I'm glad Lava is starting pre-school in a few weeks, I think having a regular source of social interaction and structure will be so good for him. I'm also glad it's happening 3.5 months before the baby comes so he doesn't have a negative association. I can't believe he'll be THREE on Saturday!

Ok, so this was a bit of a ramble-fest, but that's the biggest updates. New baby boy, pre-school, Lava's third birthday on Saturday....off to watch True Blood! :)

Movie Attempt

To follow our fun day yesterday, we thought it would be a great idea to take Lava to see his very first movie in a theater. We had no idea how it would go, but have heard that many kids his age do well. We took him to see Up, and we were super excited to share a brand new experience with him.

Turns out he's not ready. Just a little disappointed, but we have to respect where he's at. :) He lasted about an hour, so we'll just have to try again in a while! The movie seemed really cute from what we saw...

Now that we actually have SUMMER WEATHER in Chicago, we've been getting out and doing all kinds of fun things with Lava. It's been a delight! Last weekend we went to a local carnival/food fair called the "Taste of Grayslake" which Lav very much enjoyed. Today Spaz had the day off of work (YAY!) so we had a nice brunch at Cracker Barrel, and went to Lamb's Farm! Lava had a total blast going on the carousel, in the bounce house, on the miniature train, seeing all the animals and going on his very FIRST pony ride! He was SO excited, it was just the cutest thing ever.




We're really hoping he naps tomorrow so we can go to the Northbrook 4th of July fireworks. We think Lava would love seeing them, but only if he's well-rested. Time will tell....

All in all, so much fun with our little love, Lava! :)

News!

As promised, this post is all about our big news....we're expecting our second child!!! Our official due date is 1/2/10, but having had a c-section with Lava, we're looking at the end of 2009 - right after Christmas. We are beyond excited! We know that Lava will be such a wonderful big brother...he already kisses mommy's belly and says "baby!".

Big news coming soon...

OK, so I've totally slacked and failed at updating the blog. I'm going to try and do better!

In about a week I'll post what I hope is a big, happy update.... ;)

Bla bla...

Nothing new to report, really! House is being painted, new window treatments have been ordered...

I won an auction for a Canon Elph camera, so hopefully once that arrives this week and I have a camera that is appropriately sized for my purse there will be a whole lot more bloggin' going on. :)

Grammy, Birthday, and Big Boy Bed...Oh my!

We had a busy, but fun day today! We spend a good bit of the afternoon with Grammy (my mom). Lava loves TONS of different kinds of foods. One of our favorite cuisines to eat when we're with Grammy is Indian food. Lava loves the "yo-err", aka yogurt, aka raita. He also loves the "bo" (bread, aka naan) and rice. Grammy loves to help him eat it all and they are total dining buddies. It's super cute. Then we came back, picked paint colors (we're re-painting almost the entire first floor/entry of the house next week, YAY!), and relaxed for a bit.
Today was a special day for two reasons - first, it's Spaz's 35th birthday! We went to dinner at a restaurant called Yuri of Japan which is about 10ish minutes away. It was a very yummy alternative to one of our favorites, Benihana...and much closer! Lava was totally freaked by the fire show they do, and needed a lot of reassurance during the meal. Lots of snuggling, which we never mind. He loved the food though!



The other reason today was special, is because today is the first day Lava has his new big boy bed! We got him Thomas sheets and wall appliques to make the event more special, and he was thrilled as can be.
Lava was so excited by all the Thomas goodies on his bed and the walls, he just laid right down!
He did roll around for about 20ish minutes, but eventually fell fast asleep with zero incident. I am just HOPING he sleeps as well and has a good night. We'll all be very disappointed if his normal wake time of 8:30 gets earlier!

Fun day!

Yesterday, we had a delightful day with Lava's Aunt, a.k.a "titi". We went to lunch at a fun little joint in the next town over and enjoyed pizza, and then visited our local park for the first time! It was a wee bit chilly, but Lava still loved the opportunity to play outside for a change. Chicago's weather has been a bit of a joke...it's SPRING! Ugh!



Titi and I then went out to our new favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant. It's insanely yummy! Unfortunately, my darling nephew was not part of the equation, and he was missed! Lava loves his little cousin.

I'm in the process of bidding on a new camera to keep in my purse, so I don't need to use my crummy phone one, so hopefully more pictures of high quality will be popping up soon!

Right now I'm still searching for a pre-school for Lava for the fall. I've looked at 2, and have 2 more visits scheduled. I'm especially excited about a Co-Operative school where parents are VERY involved. I love the idea of building a rapport with his teachers and knowing what is going on and how he's doing. So stay tuned!

Just another Sunday

First, I'd like to thank my darling sister for catching my ridiculous typos in the previous blog post. She is the designated editor of this blog! ;)

We had a pretty mellow Sunday, which was nice. We got some stuff we still needed for the house and did some other shopping. Speaking of the house, it is shaping up pretty nicely. Our next order of business is getting the downstairs painted. The house will look really nice with a fresh coat of paint - there are lots of scuffs and dings in the walls. Hopefully that will happen in the coming weeks!

I went to dinner at my sister and brother-in-law's apartment for some awesome homemade Indian food - it was DELISH! Thanks, Jord! Also enjoyed getting to see my cutie pie nephew, who is way to cute and way too much fun!

I'm on the market for a cheap, VERY small, point and shoot camera to keep in my purse. I think I'll do a much better job photo-documenting on this blog if I have one! I love our Canon DSLR, but it's just not portable. So hopefully that will be happening soon, and I have no doubt there will be far more Aidan pictures as a result! :)

Still working on the blog design/layout...it'll get prettier!

Great America!

Today we went to Six Flags Great America for Lava's first visit! Since we moved up North, we decided we would definitely get Season Passes since we're less than 10 minutes away. I have the most wonderful memories going to Six Flags at least 50 times a year with my dad when I was younger. It seriously felt like a second home to me! I was very excited to bring Lava so he could experience it as well. I hope he has as many fond memories as I do! The park is very different than when I was younger. There are many new rides, and so many of my old favorites are missing. I was shocked to see that "Power Dive" was gone, and I also didn't see the Hay Bailer! The bonus is there are a couple new kids areas that Lava got to enjoy.

The first ride Lava went on was little airplanes that go up and down in the Wiggles area. Spaz went with him, and Lava seemed to enjoy himself, but promptly said "Bye bye! Bye bye!" after the ride was over.We weren't able to get any great pictures from that ride, but here you can see Lava on "Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy!". Definitely not his favorite, but this was all so new to him!

After that ride, he went on the Big Red Cars which was his favorite from the Wiggles area! He had fun steering and seeing all the fun sites along the way!
We did some more walking around and happened upon another great kids area, where Lava went on his very first roller coaster! It was Jetsons themed and quite tame, but still it was shocking to see my baby on a coaster...and it also made me proud! It's kind of hard to see Lava in the picture, but it was the best I could get. He's in the third to last row!

We also went on a Scooby Doo bus ride... definitely not his favorite, but it was still fun to go on with him. Maybe as the season progresses he'll get more brave and enjoy the rides more. It was a bit chilly so I don't think that helped, either.
Finally, before leaving, we took a ride on the beautiful two-story carousel. Lava had a blast, saying "Whee!" whenever his boar would go up and down. It was so cute seeing him so happy!


It was a really fun day overall. Before we left I took one last snapshot of the really pretty entry pond with the Superman ride in the background (Spaz went on it while Lava and I walked around...apparently it's pretty crazy!).