Help?!?!?!

Scott's Aunt Linda and Uncle Byron are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary April 26th. They are having a big "To-do" almost like a wedding reception complete with suits and dresses.

I had the perfect gift for them... I was going to use Shutterfly (my obvious favorite) to print a book of their lives together. I thought it would be great, but I informed this morning that their children are making a scrapbook because it will mean more since the grandchildren are helping to make it. Thanks. Makes me feel so great knowing that my professional looking book is 2nd rate because its not handmade. So, I can't do it. Mainly because I now don't have anyone one the inside to help me get pictures.

So... I need help. What do you get people who are in need of nothing, that will mean something?

The 40th wedding anniversary gift is "Ruby" but that's not happening, and I can't find anything I like. I was thinking of making a Memory Lane picture, where you chronologically detail their lives together on a "lane" including various places and street addresses. (This one is the professional version.) I just don't know if I am talented enough to make it. I found this one online, but they start at $450, and since I am unsure how we are paying for our hotel room that weekend... I can guarantee that is out of the question. Any ideas?

An Ode to Erin's Joys...

In this time when the economy is in the toilet, I thought I would spend a little time to focus on the things that make me happy. And I thought it would be easiest to go by days of the week.

Monday: As tired as I usually am, I sort of enjoy going back to work and hearing about everyone's weekend. Mondays usually suck after 10 am at work, it literally becomes a "Case of the Mondays," and then I begin to count the minutes until 430. I also love picking up Weston on Mondays, we are so excited to see each other after our first day apart after the weekend. Other Mondays faves: Heroes, One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, 24 and House.
Tuesday: For the last 3+ years I have spent Tuesday nights at Shannon's house. It started when we would watch Nip/Tuck by phone together when she lived in Iowa City. I even found out I was pregnant on a Tuesday at Shannon's. Now, Weston and I go over and watch TV and have Shannon make us a nice dinner. Or we meet somewhere. The point is, Tuesdays belong to Shannon. Our old faves were House and Nip/Tuck when it used to rock, and of course L&O SVU. I force her to laugh at American Idol with me until she is hooked for the season.
Wednesdays: Wednesdays are my favorite TV day of the week. LOST, and the Bravo Channel. I am addicted to Top Chef. Addicted. And there's Project Runway and I am starting to guiltily enjoy Make Me a Supermodel. It's crazy, I know. But LOST especially makes me happy. I love that show. I only wish someone else watched it too. Scott gets too confused. It annoys him. I get elated. Shivers, giggles, it's my favorite show of the week. Shortly followed by Heroes. I blame this on the X-Files. I love Sci-Fi. and it's Mulder's fault.
Thursday: Shannon generally comes over on Thursdays. We make dinner together and play wit Weston. We yell at Survivor and get angry at the idiocy of Grey's Anatomy (ugh, Izzy! How I hate you!) and Private Practice (why can't Cooper live with Violet? What's wrong with supporting your best friend?)
Friday: It's the beginning of the weekend! It's the best work day. Everyone is generally much more positive. I love Fridays.
Saturday and Sunday: Enough said. It's the weekend. I love being able to bring Weston into bed with us and playing with him. We get to roll around and pass him around. We get to feed him lunch and breakfast... try new things. We get to visit family or places. Or we can hole up on the couch and eat popcorn watching episodes of Alias all day long.
In General: Weston in the mornings. Look at the picture! He's fabulous in the mornings! And he's got one tooth and almost #2. And he ate mushed up pancakes this weekend and broccoli last night. Every day is an adventure with him. He plays now. And we are working on clapping. He loves to make music by hitting blocks together. Last night he banged in time/rhythm to my clapping. He's so smart. I think we'll need a drum set soon. Also... I am very grateful for the generosity of my family, whether it be their time, or the boxes of diapers, wipes and formula that they bring on every visit. It all helps more than they understand.
I hope that in this tough time, that everyone can take a look around and see at least one thing that makes them happy. Even if it's for an hour of Primetime.

Wonderful Times

So, I had a wonderful weekend. Ok, excluding the 6" of snow that we received in just under 8 hours on Friday, we had a wonderful weekend. Weston had so much fun at daycare on Friday. Kris (Weston's daycare provider) sent me a video text Friday afternoon of Weston finger painting with the big kids. It was high-larious! Above are the fruits of his labor! My baby brought hand painted pictures and ornaments home for his parents on Valentine's Day! I have the heart ornament (which looks insanely like a sugar cookie) hanging in my foyer/entryway. And the funny thing, I kept finding pink paint all over Weston. On his ear, in his hair, all over his clothes... and it all washed out.
Scott and I celebrated (if you want to call it that) Valentine's Friday night by making homemade grilled flat bread pizzas and watching an episode of Alias that I slept through on the couch. He literally put me to bed at 9:30pm. (In my defense, I got sick last Monday, and when I finally went into the clinic at 7am on Friday morning, I found out that I have an ear infection and bronchitis. Thank you, Weston, for sharing your germs with Mommy. I'm on big antibiotics and still feeling like poo. I can't hear on the left side. ugh.)
We shoveled out and left for Cedar Rapids on Saturday afternoon to celebrate my Aunt Linda's 60th birthday, which was the 13th. I had a great time. I love their new house/duplex/condo/whatever-you-want-to-call-it. So nice, and so very easy to find. We hung out, ate, ate, ate, watched movies, played with Weston, ate. You get the idea. She kept feeding us, over and over! But it was so much fun. And Weston is such a blast right now!
He got his first tooth (well, it broke through his gums) and is working hard on the 2nd one! I keep telling him that he can't have big-people food until he has teeth... guess he took me literally. :) All weekend he was also sitting up and playing by himself. He loves his toys and plays really well. I just love this age. I love how every time he looks at me, he has this huge smile for me. I love how excited he gets over little things like songs. And I love how brilliant he is. How he can mimic my Aunt Linda and Uncle David hitting blocks together, and then he's got it down for himself. This truly is the best age and it was an amazingly wonderful weekend.

Fabulous finds!!!

Alright... so Anousha (I know that you read this, so just call me already!!!) was very generous this past Christmas/Birthday season. She sent me a gift card to my favorite place (Lane Bryant) and somewhere new (Sephora) which I completely fell in love with. Shannon and I spent almost 2 hours in Sephora Saturday just inhaling the entire store. I left no display un-ogled. I wanted everything. Smokey Eye sets by Sephora, Rocker eyes by Bare Minerals, the Barbie Collection by Stila. But, as Shannon so nicely informed me, I already know the technique, what I need are the new colors. So... I went super shopping!

First thing I found was this fabulous Eye Palette. The Luxe Noir Palette is full of Shimmery colors that can be applied dry for softer look or wet for a bold look. I love the browns on the right. Perfect Shimmery neutrals. I did us the Silver and the Black on the left... Super Rock Star! So much fun. I am in love with this color Palette. I am trying to find a way to experiment with the rose colors... but, trust me, this is FABULOUS.

Onto my other great find... this one really goes to Shannon. Let me explain. Shannon's 25th birthday is Monday, February 23rd. And we always go out for her birthday. This year it is once again girls-only and we are dressing up and starting off the night at Ohana, our favorite Japanese Steakhouse. I found this great shirt/dress at Lane Bryant a couple weeks ago, once again, with Shannon. (Noticing a trend?) It's short sleeve, gray, wide band on the bottom and has rows of sequins, running in 3s, diagonally all down the front (Thanks again, Anousha!) I'm wearing it with black tights and either the black knee boots or heels (totally undecided on shoes), and possibly a long sleeve black tee under it. Kind of '80s. But let's face it, I can totally pull that look off. Anyway, Shannon found this great bag at Sephora to match the dress. It's the Luxe Noir Bling Clutch. Hah! Bling! Love it. Perfect size for $, keys, camera, and phone. The picture's not that great, but trust me, it's adorable. I really have a thing for purses. It's almost getting out of hand. Almost.

So... Thank you to Anousha for totally making my first shopping experience at Sephora a total blast, and for introducing me to my 2nd favorite store in the mall! Sorry that this post seemed to go on forever, but I was out with Shannon from 1030 am until 945 pm on Saturday. Scott very generously stayed home with my poor sick Weston. I actually found a great dress that needs taken in and taken up, but it was $20 and fabulous. So it's mine now. :) Hope you are all having a wonderful day! I'm working on it.

Weston at 6 months

I cannot belive that my baby is 6 months old already! In fact, he's half way to 7 months old! He is sitting up by himself, and when he's a little unsteady he puts his arms out and looks like a bird soaring through the air.

Weston's first (and favorite) toy that he picked out himself when he went shopping with his Aunt Shannon at just a few months old. I love this picture because Weston tends to put everything in his mouth right now. There aren't any teeth in there yet, but he's still trying everything. I know you can't see his mouth, but I love that he is smiling through his eyes.

Weston is standing up! Well, with a little help. He hates being on his tummy, so we are trying to get him to crawl around a bit, but mainly he just scoots across the floor on his face, or runs his head into the corner of the crib in his sleep. I just can't believe all the changes he's made in half a year. I look back at his one week photos... and it's like I can see this little boy in there, but he feels the same as he always has... except longer and heavier. He's a whopping 27" long now and 17.6 pounds.

He's so cute!

So... I was trying to print Valentine's from Weston tonight... and my Kodak printer did not want to print. Then it said it was out of ink. then it shut off. So, I gave up and went to the Walgreen's website. And it was a total pain in the behind. So, I am stopping by Wal-mart sometime in the very near future... like tomorrow. :) I thought Valentines would be fun to send out. And I want them cheap. (Yeah, I know, what else is new?)

This is Weston on his 6 month birthday at the Sioux City Musketeer hockey game. As you can see, he had a fabulous time, and the Muskie won in the last 9 seconds. It was very exciting. Unfortunately, Weston woke up a little under the weather the next morning, and by Monday morning he was running almost a 102 fever. We went to the doctor and he had... wait for it... the local bug. And there was nothing to be done. So Scott and I fought with our jobs, and we stayed home Monday and Wednesday, and the I stayed home again on Friday for Weston's 6 month check up and shots. Where the doctor quickly discovered that Weston's "Local Bug" had grown into a Double Ear Infection and Bronchiolitis (the same nasty thing that put my baby into the ER in Cherokee in November.) So, we are back on antibiotics and the Nebulizer which is a total blast, believe me. But... he seems to be doing better this weekend.

Thanks to everyone who thought of my mom during her medical ordeal. She is much better after a 10 day stay in the hospital, and a fight with an infection while there. Today was her first social visit out of the house for my Great-Aunt Lois' 85th (wow!) birthday party. She sounded great.

I went shopping yesterday (all day) with my sister. We had a blast. I found a fabulous (Maxi) dress for $20 at Torrid, just needs taken in about 4 inches and up about 3 inches. And we spent over an hour in Sephora/ OMG I love that store. I will have to share pics of my fabulous day another time. But since Weston has finally crashed, I am on my way to sleep. Tah-tah for now!