Typical Suburban Family

I have decided to host a My Hello Designs giveaway every month in 2013!

What that means is that every month you will have a new chance to win your choice of products at My Hello Designs.  The giveaway will start on the 1st of every month and will end on the 15th of each month (January is an exception).  The winner will be selected and notified and will have 24 hours to contact me or a new winner will be selected for that month.

What you can win is your choice of a design-only product (up to $15 value), a set of monthly stickers ($14 dollar value), or (2) digital paper packs ($10 value).  The giveaway excludes the professional printing add-on option I offer in my shop.

Entering is easy and there are multiple chances to win.

• Follow Typical Suburban Family via email or RSS feed (both in right sidebar)
• Follow My Hello Designs on twitter
• Become a fan of My Hello Designs on facebook
• Leave a comment on one of my posts on facebook
• Add My Hello Designs Etsy shop to your favorites or add me to your circle (via Etsy)
• Leave a comment here telling me which item you hope to win
• Share this giveaway on your facebook wall daily
• Tweet this giveaway up to 4x per day! Suggested tweet: Win a My Hello Designs item via @myhellodesigns at http://tinyurl.com/agk9qtt #myhellodesigns #giveaway

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Leave a comment for each of the above that you do. Remember that some of them can be done multiple times for additional ways to win!

This months giveaway ends January 31, 2013 at 11:59 pm EST. Random.org will be used to determine a winner who will have 24 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen. Open to US residents only. Good luck!

I must admit, I feel like I’ve lost my mind most days.  Maybe it’s that we are still getting used to all being home.  Or maybe it’s because we don’t have a set routine each day.  Or maybe it’s because I don’t have my computer calendar to keep me organized like I normally do.  Don’t get me wrong, I do put everything into my phone/computer calendar, but the problem is that I’m not looking at it all the time like I normally am at work and therefore when my reminders pop up, I typically don’t see them for several hours past the time we’re supposed to do the task (like library story time).

With all that being said, I am enjoying {almost} every minute of our summer and being on maternity leave.  I would not change that.

Here’s where my mind is getting lost though….

Example One:  Emma has reflux (more details on this later) and takes her medicine twice a day.  For the first week I used the same medicine dispenser.  Then a couple days ago all of a sudden a new dispenser appeared and the old one was nowhere to be found.  I’m not kidding either.  I looked everywhere…. under couches; in cabinets; in bathrooms and bedrooms; in the diaper bag; in the swim bag; in the fridge.  Nope.  Nowhere.  Gone.  Honestly I like the new dispenser better, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s been an unsolved mystery.  Until today that is.  I caught Owen playing with the new dispenser and casually asked him what he did with the old one.  He ran into the toy room and reappeared with the old dispenser proclaiming “It’s right here momma.”.  Thanks bud.  You’ve made me feel insane for 3 days now searching for this darn thing.

Example Two:  I bravely decided to go grocery shopping with three kids today.  Insane, I know.  We were completely out of groceries though and when we used the last drop of milk that was my clue that I couldn’t put it off any longer.  I decided to actually use some coupons I had been saving and plan out a week (or more!) of lunches and dinners.  I spent an hour this morning compiling the recipes and organizing the coupons and making the list.  We were set.  I loaded three kids up in the car with one screaming (have I mentioned that Emma is not fond of the car?!) and off we went.  I get to the grocery store and I’m armed with my coupons and the kids.  Then I realize I forgot the list.  I wanted to cry.  I grabbed the stuff I knew we needed for meatloaf tonight (upon request from Ryan) and made a mad dash up and down aisles with a screaming baby and two boys who were arguing with each other and asking for every.single.item they found on the shelf.  Several hundred dollars later we left and I still have no idea if we have what we need to make dinner tonight and I never did find my list when we got home.

Example Three:  I decided to take the boys to the pool the other day.  They were running around screaming they were so excited to swim.  I decided I wasn’t going to go in the pool this particular day though because Emma was going to need to be nursed and I didn’t want to deal with being in my bathing suit and being wet.  So after about an hour we find all of our swim stuff and get the boys ready to go and load up the car to drive 7 houses down to the clubhouse (yes – we drove and didn’t walk).  We get there and make two trips from the car to the pool with towels, toys, kids and snacks.  We get sunscreen on everywhere and the boys are ready to jump in.  Except that I forgot their life jackets.  There was no way I was going to load everyone back up to go home for them so instead the boys had to stay on the stairs and ledge and play rather than swim.  I have a huge fear of them drowning and with me not being in my suit and in the water there was no way they were going to be the pool with no floatation devices this day.

I hear people comment all the time about pregnancy brain and I feel like I have a delayed case of it.  I know it’s partially exhaustion from my lack of sleep and not getting more than 3 or 3.5 hours of sleep in a row.  I’m tired folks.  I know it’s also partially due to our lack of routine and schedule and no organization to our time and lives right now, but I have to get it together so I can salvage what is left of my poor mind.

Regardless though, I am loving being at home.  I am loving our days spent at the pool and thankfully I have Ryan with me to now constantly remind me about the lifejackets.  He won’t let me forget them again.  Thankfully.

The boys have been attending vacation bible school this week in Big Canoe, GA at grandad and grandmom’s house.

They are loving it!

Every day Ryan asks me what day it is and then responds with “Yes!! That means we still have 4 days (or whatever number it is) left to stay here! Great!”

They have spent mornings at church camp (as we call it) and then afternoons at the pool.

The boys are not the only ones having fun though. Baby sister has enjoyed chilling at the pool as well.

It has been a great week so far! And everyone is exhausted at night making for an easy and quick bedtime since they all just crash.

Simply wonderful….

The bad news was that it was my starter that died and needed to be replaced.

The good news is that it was covered under our extended warranty.  Even luckier news is that the warranty is just about to run out so timing couldn’t have been better for this to happen.  A few more miles and we would have been paying $600+ out of pocket.  No thank you!

I very much dislike car issues and repairs.  They are so unpredictable and are never budgeted for and they stress me out.

We’ve had our fair share of issues with that Odyssey.  You may remember a year ago when I had all the issues with our TPMS light and system? Fun times.  Fun times.

Back to Wednesday though.  Jim called with the bad and good news stated above and then I waited for him to call again and say the repairs were done.

He finally called and said he was on his way to pick me up.  We grabbed the boys from school and off we went to pick up my van.  Another fun night trying to get across Atlanta in rush hour traffic.  Joy.

We arrive at Honda Carland and all pile out of the car.  As we walk toward my mini van Jim opens the door to a minivan parked a few down from mine.  He looks at me and says “Surprise!” and hands me keys to a brand new 2012 Honda Odyssey.

WHAT?!

Yes, that was pretty much my reaction.  You did WHAT?!

He explained his train of thought behind it with all the issues we have had and the warranty expiring and needing a reliable vehicle to haul soon to be three children around.  Plus cheaper insurance and cheaper monthly payments.  He claims it was a no-brainer.

I wasn’t arguing.  I got what he was saying.

Ryan did not though.  He freaked out.  “This is NOT our car!  We CANNOT take this car!  This is NOT my mommy’s car!”

As soon as Jim said we would put his and Owen’s seat in the new car, he was ok with this idea and was excited to ride in the new car.  Prior to that though, he was having no part of a new vehicle.  It’s funny how a kid’s mind works.

I have to admit I was in shock most of the evening, but now that I realize it is our new vehicle to keep, I absolutely LOVE it.

My favorite features so far include the distance to empty gauge; the miles per gallon feature and the XM radio.

If you know me at all, you know I only gas up when my light comes on.  I realize it isn’t the best for my vehicle, but with gas being so expensive I try to wait as long as possible before going into shock at the gas pump.  If you have an Odyssey you already know that when your light comes on you better get gas ASAP.  With my new gauge and light I now realize that the light comes on with 15 miles left on the tank.  WHAT?!  Jim’s Passat comes on at 40 miles.  Mine, 15.  Wow.

Yes, I have already tested this and freaked slightly when it dropped to 6 miles and I still hadn’t found a gas station.  The heart attack came though when I did find a station and gassed up my new van (with a much larger tank) in the heart of Buckhead and paid $4.09 for regular gas.

Gulp.  Almost $80.

I think I need to start gassing up sooner than the light so that I don’t need to mortgage the house each time I have to fill up.

As for the miles per gallon feature?  I love it.  It’s a competition with myself each time I drive to see if I can increase how many miles I get on average.  I think it also makes me a better driver because I’m more aware of my stopping and acceleration.  Plus it’s fun.  Don’t you agree?

Regarding the XM radio there is nothing I dislike more than talking on the radio.  XM solves that problem and still gives a variety of music.  I can listen to whatever type of music I’m in the mood for at that exact moment.  It makes commuting in horrible Atlanta traffic so much better.

The last thing I love about my new Odyssey is that it is CLEAN.  Let’s see how long it stays that way.  So far, so good.

Tuesday started like any other day.  Every typical suburban mom has days like this right?!

5:55am – alarm goes off.  Snooze.

6:03am – alarm goes off again.  Snooze twice.

6:30am – alarm goes off again.  Finally open eyes and turn on the news.  Afterall, we have to know the current pollen count right?

6:35am – both boys come bouncing into our room ready to start their day. Immediately I’m asked a million questions and told a thousand things.

• “Momma.  I’m hungry.”
• “Momma.  I have to go pee-pee.”
•  ”Momma.  Get up pleeeeease.”
• “Momma.  Can I vacuum?”
• “Momma.  Did you make my chore chart yet?”

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6:55am – roll out of bed because I’m now late.

6:55am until 7:35am – get myself ready for work; get the boys ready for school; make lunches; and make breakfast.  Common phrases said numerous times during the 30+ minutes.

• “Hurry!”
• “Yes, you have to change your underwear.  It’s not optional.”
• “Please put your pants on.”
• “Your shirt is backwards.”
• “Why are your pants still not on?”
• “Are you wearing Christmas socks, Ryan?”
• “And are you wearing Halloween socks, Owen?”
• “Seriously, get your pants on please.”

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7:35am – load everyone into the car and head to school

7:55am – finally leave school and start commute to my doctor (OB) appointment on the other side of Atlanta.

9:00am – arrive at doctor appointment.

10:10am – finally see the actual doctor.  I went in for an extra appointment with a doctor I normally don’t see because of some weird pains and uncomfortable baby movements over the last several days.  Basically, I was told that everything is perfectly fine and normal and that I’m carrying this baby completely different than I carried the boys.  This baby is being front carried and sitting extremely low.  She is very active and bouncing on my cervix.  She is also a big baby like the boys were so she doesn’t have a lot of room to move and when she does move her arms and legs she is jabbing me in the exact same spot over and over throughout the day/night.  It’s become painful because it’s basically like poking at a bruise over and over and over.  I was told to drink lots of water; keep my stress low; and my feet elevated as much as possible.  I was also told to be in water as often as I can because it will naturally lift the baby and the pressure she is placing on my cervix.

10:50am – arrive at work.

11:15am – leave for lunch meeting

11:17am – car won’t start.  WHAT THE?!?!?!

11:19am – convince a coworker to drive me to a lunch meeting with the bribe that she will get a free lunch.

2:00pm – leave lunch and stress about whether or not the car will start.

2:15pm – no go on the car starting.

2:15pm until 3:45pm – call hubby; call Honda Carland; call road side assistance.  Attempt jumping the car.  Nope.  Attempt looking at fuses.  Nope.  Attempt user manual.  Nope.

3:45pm – As I stand next to my dead car in the parking lot I receive a call from our credit card fraud department due to suspicious activity on my account.  No worries though because I was the suspicious activity.  I hadn’t used my credit card in quite some time and then purchased a new vacuum cleaner on Monday over lunch during a minor freak out moment when I realized I didn’t have diapers for baby girl arriving in a few short weeks.  I have no idea how a vacuum cleaner purchase came out of the diaper run over lunch, but regardless I spent several hundred dollars on a credit card I had not used in probably over a year.  Thank you for checking to make sure it was legit; timing not so good though and just added to my crazy day, panic and stress level.

4:00pm – I leave to get boys from school using Jim’s car.  Jim stays with the car and waits for tow truck.

4:30pm – tow car to Honda Carland.

5:00pm – get boys and run home to let the dog outside; grab the iPad for a movie in the car; grab a snack for the starving boys.

6:20pm – arrive at Honda Carland.  See Jim car shopping and day dreaming about his next vehicle.  His is old and time to be replaced.  Not today though.

6:40pm – dinner from drive thru McDonald’s.

6:45pm – miss family night at school with pjs, snack and books read by teachers/director.  Bummer.

7:30pm – finally arrive home.

8:00pm – boys in bed and mommy to follow not long afterwards.

I’m pretty sure when the doctor said low-stress he wasn’t referring to a broken down vehicle and rush hour traffic in Atlanta with two hungry kids in the backseat.  Ahhh… the day in the life of a typical suburban family.

You can relate right?

If you don’t follow me on facebook, you probably don’t know how this story ends.  Stay tuned to hear more about this……

Last weekend was so beautiful we thought we would catch up on all things outdoors.  And we did just that.

We loaded the kids into the Passat and headed to Home Depot.  Of all weekends to have my car still loaded down with conference boxes and unusable, I chose this weekend to do our gardening.

We managed just fine though and we were able to get all the dirt, plants, flowers and even a rototiller attachment home safe and sound.

Let the fun begin!

We had to do some weeding first to clean up the garden area and the flower beds, but before long we were making progress.  The boys had fun digging in the dirt and helping haul away the weeds with their little tractors.

Ryan was a huge helper and filled all the pots with dirt for me so I could plant the flowers.

Owen?  Well, he always seems to do his own thing his own way.  He lost interest in helping after about the 2nd scoop of dirt into the pot. 

Oh well.  I still had one helper boy!

After the flowers were planted we stepped back to admire our handy work.  Not too shabby huh?

Daddy had to do the rototiller in the garden so mommy’s big ol’ preggo belly wouldn’t allow for such a chore.

Daddy found the early stages of numerous little green friends from last year.  Ryan did a great job helping collect them to dispose of them far, far away from the garden (aka the trash).

After we prepped the garden area, Ryan and I got busy planting. 

I actually stuck him inside the garden and taught him how to make the rows and place the seeds.  By this point of the day I was getting tired and sore and the baby was kicking like crazy telling me enough is enough.

Ryan didn’t seem to mind though.  He enjoyed being my helper and being inside the garden; an area normally off limits to little children.

This year we planted cauliflower, broccoli, a bunch of tomato plants, cucumbers, onions and peas. 

We have a few more packets of seeds that we want to plant (pumpkins, sweet corn, and carrots).  I also want to pick up some red and green pepper plants for this year.  Now I just need to find an area to plant these additional items.

Since I will be home all summer on maternity leave I figured I might as well have a big garden!  I mean, not that I’ll be bored or anything.  I will be home with a newborn, a 3 year old and a 5 year old and trying to entertain everyone while not losing my mind.  Easy peasy right?!

Where was Delta through all of this you ask? Well, supervising of course!

Between work, the boys, the pregnancy, the holidays (yes, I’m referring back to Christmas and Thanksgiving!), My Hello Designs, and well, life in general, I’ve been MIA lately.

I haven’t visited many blogs and haven’t been as social online as I once was.  I haven’t been blogging much myself either.  I’ve missed birthdays and anniversaries (important ones too!).  Honestly, I haven’t even taken any photos over the last two months.  Anyone who knows me knows that something is going on if I haven’t taken at least 100 photos per month.  I’ve probably taken a total of 20 in the last 3 months and most of those were with my phone.  That’s just not me.

I simply haven’t had time nor energy to do all of it.

But…. I’m ready to get back on track.  My crazy work schedule is over.  I’m not as completely exhausted and ready for bed at 8pm as I was earlier in the pregnancy.  Spring is in the air and the days are longer with sunlight.  My cousin over at It Keeps Getting Better got a new lens for her birthday and has inspired me to start taking more photos again.  Thanks Ashley!

I’m finally feeling it.  I’m ready.

Oh, and I’ve started drinking coffee again which should help.

So, up on the agenda this weekend is… gardening… planting flowers… finish the room transition (except for painting)… finish the office organization (except for painting)… lunch with friends (because we are yet to meet their now 3 month old baby!)… and the Globetrotters!

And if all that wasn’t enough, I also plan on winning the lotto tonight.

Recently I added a new product to the My Hello Designs Etsy store:  Monthly Onesie Stickers for baby boys and girls!

The most popular girl’s design has been the Star design.  They are so cute, colorful and simple not to distract from the subject herself.

The most popular selling design so far for boys has been the Star Wars design based off of my Star Wars birthday invitation.  If you’re a Star Wars fan, you’ll definitely want a set of these!

I will be adding new designs regularly and am looking to all of you to help determine what designs you’d like to see.  Please send me your ideas!

I wish that I would have thought of doing this for each of the boys when they were infants.  I had never heard of or seen these types of photos before, but I cannot wait to do them for our baby girl arriving in May.  Now my biggest dilemma is deciding on which design to use.  They are all so cute!

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not the most patient person.  In addition, I am a planner.  Put these two characteristics together with a pregnancy and you can only imagine how difficult it is for me to wait the normal 18-20 weeks for gender determination.

Add Christmas on top of that with my 18 week ultrasound being scheduled for December 27th.  To me that was unacceptable.  I didn’t want to find out 2 days after Christmas what we were having.  I wanted to be able to share the news on and before Christmas with our loved ones.

I started my research on 2D and 3D ultrasound locations in the Atlanta area and decided to schedule with Stork Vision, Atlanta.  I contacted them to schedule an appointment and the staff was very friendly and quick to respond.  Their location was very convenient in the heart of Buckhead Atlanta (numerous locations across the US).

We decided to bring the boys with us to the ultrasound since they’ve been so excited about the baby.  Ryan asks me daily if the baby is wiggling and moving.  They both hug and kiss the baby all the time.  If they come up and hug me and I say “Thanks buddy.  That was so sweet.” I receive a response such as “Momma.  That hug wasn’t for you.  It’s for our baby.”  Oh, geez.  Sorry boys!

The appointment was scheduled and now we just had to wait impatiently patiently for the day to arrive.

The best part was that we kept the secret from most people that we were finding out early what we were having.  We wanted to make it a surprise for Christmas for the grandparents!  So mum was the word for now.

We arrived the day of the ultrasound with two very excited little boys and a nervous mommy and daddy.  We didn’t care either way what we were having, but it’s always such big news you can’t help but be a little nervous to hear what they say!

The facility was very nice; quiet and comfortable.  The ultrasound room was perfect for the boys with two large couches and a large TV for them to be able to see the baby.  The tech was amazing and super friendly and energetic!  She kept the boys engaged the entire time.

We got a lot of great photos of our new little one.

We listened to the baby’s heartbeat which was strong around 150.  This was Ryan’s favorite part and asked several times to listen to it again (which the tech was kind enough to do for him).

And then came the part we had been waiting for……

To purchase a custom announcement, card or invitation, please visit my Etsy store.

Again, we would have been happy with either a boy or a girl, but how fun to be having a little girl since we already have two boys! Ryan was just as thrilled and said “See I told you it was a sister.” to which Owen responds “No it’s still a brother.”

Owen’s already coming around to the idea of a baby sister though and loves to find things that are pink and girly and will tell me “Here. This is for baby sister.”

We couldn’t wait to share our news, but we had to keep it semi-secret for a bit longer.  I made cute little cards (similar to the one above) and shipped them off to the grandparents.  Most of them also received some pink and/or purple yarn to crochet/knit little blankets and hats and headbands for us.  My mom and Jim’s grandmother always make us the greatest baby blankets which both Ryan and Owen still use. We also gave some yarn and a crocheting needle to Jim’s dad and told him he better learn in the next 5 months!  Of course, we were kidding, but he seemed to get a kick out of the request.

That was our fun way of telling them the news for Christmas.  Of course, my mom called approximately 3 minutes after receiving her package and the news.  She was beyond excited and almost in tears.  She was so surprised to hear since we had told her we wouldn’t know for another few weeks.  The excitement in her voice was worth the wait and the keeping of the secret for as long as we had to.

We’ve already received several little pink outfits and toys from friends and Jim’s co-workers.  It’s been so fun to see pink around the house!  Next up…. the baby room and more clothes shopping!  I can’t wait!

Disclaimer:  I received a complimentary 2D ultrasound in exchange for writing about my experience.  All opinions are my own and I would definitely use them again!

Birthday’s around the holiday season are tough.  Everyone is always so busy with holiday parties, shopping, decorating, family time, Santa visits, etc.  It’s hard to find a perfect time to schedule a birthday party to not conflict with these celebrations.

Ryan doesn’t turn 5 until the 18th, but since that is so close to Christmas, I typically try to schedule his party earlier in the month before too much of the craziness is in full swing.

We had a blast!  The kids swam and played on the slide; they splashed and chased each other in the water.

Some adults (aka daddy) went off the diving board a few times while others enjoyed just hanging in the water.

We sang a little “happy birthday to Ryan”; ate some cupcakes; rehydrated with juice; and then we hit the pool again.

What a great day for a special little 5 year old super hero!

To plan your own Super Hero party you can use some of the ideas from ours! Or you can purchase custom printables (water bottle labels, cupcake toppers) and invitations from my Etsy shop!