Are you KIDDING me?!

Seriously.

The next hundred people I see in real life better tell me my hair looks TO. DIE. FOR.

Because for $130, it better.

I was so completely unprepared for that total to be read to me. Last time, for cut and highlights: $68. (Still more than I wanted to spend, but it was my first polish in a while, so I thought it was money well spent.) This time, for cut and highlights: $117. Wha....huh?

It's just money, and I didn't argue. I'd already cried twice in front of Whitney at the appointment, and I just wanted to leave (another entry for another day).

All's I'm saying is, thank goodness we only had to pay Sara for 3 days this week.

Ugh.

Do pobachennja

This is how we feel about Gramp-e going to the Ukraine for 31 days:

He needs to stay. See? This is much better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, in all seriousness, I know he has to go. I'm just a wuss, and I'm not doing so well with the fact that Dad is going to be in the Ukraine for a month. (Please, please keep him in your thoughts and prayers as he travels and ministers -- he leaves Friday, June 27 [yes, that is tomorrow] and returns Monday, July 28.)

Go to www.eeo.org to learn more about what has called him so far away from hearth and home. It is an incredible story (the Ukraine orphans, in general, but more specifically), how their plight has reshaped Dad's heart. But that is his story to tell. I'll have to come back and post a link to his MySpace page so you can read about it from his perspective.

Anyway, as I said, please keep Seth's "g-bud" (sorry; inside joke!) in the forefront of your mind tomorrow as he travels halfway around the globe.

Love you, Dad. Be safe. xoxoxox

Because we're watching "Just Friends" for the dozenth time...

....I have time to post multiple blogs about random things. =)

Here's some things you may or may not know about me.

A - Attached or Single: Attached
B - Best Friend(s): Jim, my dad
C - Cake or Pie: cake
D - Day of Choice: Friday
E - Essential Item: laptop
F - Favorite Color: red
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: bears
H - Hometown: Toledo
I - Indulgence: dark chocolate, pedicures
J - January or July: Hmmm....September? Okay, okay. January.
K - Kids: Seth, my joy
L - Life is incomplete without: my family, Westgate
M - Marriage Date: 10/8/05
N - Number of Siblings: 2 younger brothers
O - Oranges or Apples: If I don't have to do the peeling/slicing, then apples
P- Phobias or Fears: water
Q - Quote: cannot just pick one, sorry!
R- Ring size: 6?
S - Season: Fall
T- Tag 3 Friends: Daina, Sara, and Mandie
U - Unknown fact about me: It might gross you out. :)
V - Very favorite stores: Target, Hobby Lobby
W - Worst Habit: talking too much
X - Xray or Ultrasound: u/s
Y - Your Favorite Food: Italian
Z - Zodiac: Libra

Seth's BFF

Eeeeee!


I am SO excited to finally be able to post this picture.


Meet Brady, Seth's BFF (yea, Jackson has some competition). Brady belongs to Heather and Cody, friends of ours from Westgate. Brady is also privileged to be cared for by our sitter, Sara. Brady was born November 24 (or was it 25th?). Anyways, he is only about 3 weeks older than Seth, but given the fact the Cody is built like a linebacker, and that Seth was a preemie peanut, you wouldn't know Brady and Seth are so close in age by looking at them. You can't tell from this picture, but Brady is a chunk-a-hunk next to Seth.

The are so opposite in skill and personality, but it is super adorable to watch them together. You can tell that they miss eachother when Heather's hospital nursing schedule allows her to have a day with Brady and Seth becomes "man of the house." And then when they see eachother again, it's like the sun comes out to shine for the first time.


I just had to share these shots and hope they make you smile as much as they do me. Have you ever seen such cute itty bitty guys?!

Jackson is here!!!

Jackson was born Thursday night at 6:02 p.m. He was 7 lbs. 7 oz, 19 1/2 inches (just like Seth), and has dark hair and blue eyes. Nikki had a relatively quick and uncomplicated labor, with 2 hours of pushing. She tore a little, but is feeling okay and elated that nursing seems to be going well.

They are headed home this afternoon.

From what Nikki said she can tell of Jackosn's personality, he and Seth will be two peas in a pod, just like their daddys.

Welcome, Jackson! We love you already.

Business Update

Well, I have two shows under my belt. (whew!) Two down, four to go to meet my New Jeweler Promotion. The remaining shows are all in the next 12 days -- yikes, but yea!

My first home show was a huge success, in no small part due to my wonderful hostess Sara. She obeyed the number one rule of home show parties and over invited, so we ended up with 11 guests, one hostess, five children, one mannequin, and one jeweler (and a partridge in a pear tree!) in a screened-in tent in Sara and Doug's backyard.

My biggest goal...okay, well, TWO goals were accomplished: just get through the presentation to see how it feels to actually fly solo on it, and to ensure that Sara and her friends had a good time -- which, according to the feedback I got, they did. So, success!!! Sales = $387 and still going up ( I have several orders yet to receive).

My second show was an even bigger success in my opinion. I felt a LOT better about the presentation -- I said "um" a WHOLE lot less, and, again, the feedback from the guests was great, so my confidence is pretty bolstered right now. Sales = $295 (not too shabby for 4 guests)

Now....if I could just get some more shows on the calendar for the rest of the summer...

***********************

In other news:

• We had a middle-of-the-night interruption for the first time in a loooong time. It figures -- Nonna and Greg are coming from Florida in a week, so of course, Seth is sick. =( We knew it was coming when Brady got the sniffles. Then Lily. Then Sara and Seth. Poor baby. We heard him start coughing in his sleep -- finally hard enough to wake himself -- around 2:30. Jim was sweet enough to take the first of what we thought would be several (but turned out to be only!) shift, feeding Seth a bottle and rocking him back to sleep. Seth woke up his cheery self this morning, but his typical smile was covered in snot. His cough sounds a little rattly, so if he isn't improving over the weekend, I'll request to move up his well-baby six-month check up from July 1 to early next week. Gotta love these summer colds. Lysol, people. Lysol! (Not you, Sara. You rock, and we so very much appreciate your efforts to keep Seth, Brady and Lillian healthy.)
  
  
• Seth will spend the weekend -- or at least Friday night and some of Saturday with Grandma and Grandpa Gregory so that Jim and I can get some things done at home and enjoy some us time. With my training and shows this week (plus Jim's golf) combined with my shows next week, plus golf and the Soldano/Baptista reunion....we aren't going to see each other basically until the Fourth of July. So, we're hoping to squeeze in a date tonight.
  
  
  
• Work is....well, work. I've felt like something is off lately, but I haven't been able to put my finger on it just yet. Maybe I'm internalizing the "drama" going on with Jim's work...I dunno. But until we figure it out, we're both just plugging along.

Speaking of...lunch is almost over, so I'll close and get this posted.

• Oh -- and one more thing. Our dear, dear friends Jerry and Nikki are getting ready to welcome first child, baby Jackson, into the world this weekend. Today was the due date, but as they're guessing Jackson to be on the larger end of the spectrum, they were going to induce Nikki if he'd not made his arrival by today. Please keep the Powers' in your prayers.

Ah, summer...

To be young again -- when it is socially acceptable to go to a baseball game in nothing but your underwear!


I think he enjoyed himself at his first Mudhens game. He was into everything - namely, our dinner, as we were trying to eat; he didn't seem to mind the noise level, though he was giving some questioning looks to the other fans we were with (namely Matthew!). His hat is still too big, and it was H-O-T, but overall, a good experience. Now onto bigger and better things...Indians, Tigers, Steelers, etc. =)

A taste of what's to come

Danette did such a fantastic job with us on Saturday. This is just the first shot she sent me; I can't wait to see the rest.

Seth actually didn't do so hot with the photo shoot. I didn't anticipate the "movement" factor; we were spoiled with how well he "stayed put" for his 3-month shots, and I didn't think about how mobile he is at six months. When we wanted him to sit, he wanted to lean over to chew on his toes; when we wanted him on his belly, he wanted to be on his back. When we wanted him to look one way, he wanted to lay down and close his eyes; we wanted him to play peek-a-boo with the sheet, he wanted to eat it. You get the gist.

Danette was very patient, and I have no doubt that she got some great shots despite Seth being "uncooperative." After all, you only need a handful of really good photos, and I'm sure we'll have those.

In other news...well, there isn't a whole lot.

Oh yeah; we got this:

We will be bidding farewell to the Miata when our lease is up in August, and to replace it, we have purchased LVISII. Get it? (e)LVIS II, as in the second coming of my first Mustang. It's fun; we took it out for our first drive as a family on Sunday. Seth loves it; he's like a little puppy dog, with his eyes closed, head back, hair whipping in the wind, with a barely-there smile on his face. Just happy as can be.

The weather has finally offered up a brief reprieve. It is an absolutely gorgeous day in Toledo today. Our moms group from work actually went to a brown bag lunch concert on the lawn of the downtown library this afternoon. It was great, and we got our picture taken for the library. And now it's back to the grindstone. (Offer up a quick prayer that I passed my Inland Marine Coverage test that I took earlier today -- not feeling too hot about the outcome, and I really don't want to have to take it again.)

I'm ready, let's GO!!!

Seth is very excited about heading to Swanton for his 6-month photo shoot tomorrow (Mommy is, too!). He's ready to hit the road now!

One of my co-workers always has the most INCREDIBLE photographs of her grandchildren, taken by her daughter-in-law. This stay-at-home mom is uber-talented, and lucky for us consumers, has begun some commercial photography (with great prices, mind you). She and I have been in touch, and I can't wait to have her work her magical shutter on Seth tomorrow.

I was getting excited about getting some outdoor shots -- he hasn't been on the grass yet, and I want to capture what he thinks of that -- but I'm not sure the weather will cooperate. We're pushing the mercury upwards of 90 today, and tomorrow is more of the same with a 30% chance of storms. Boo. We'll just have to see.

On another note -- check out that picture. This was about 3 weeks ago, Jim was getting ready to leave Seth in Gramp-e's hands for a night out, and lo and behold -- flat-footed, upright, and barely holding on. WOW!

He is unpredictably steady -- he stands fine, with something to balance him, but then he remembers, "wait, I know how to bounce!" and then he tries to do THAT, and of course, loses his balance and down on the tush he goes.

Other fairly-recent happenings:

• Sleeping upwards of 10-12 hours at night! (He has been sleeping through the night for a while, but "night" to Seth was 10 pm to 5 am.) I like this new schedule WAY better.
• Introduction to some first foods -- mainly banana so far, which he likes, but no one warned me that it stains. We may have a couple dead onesies on our hands. Oh well. More shopping. ;)
• Extending arms/almost figuring out the "all fours" thing. Once he mastered rolling both directions, he's gone straight to figuring out the wonderful world of crawling. Uh oh. Sara and I are already strategizing for the re-baby proofing of her living room. Seth is almost there, and Brady is "strategically rolling/scooching," so it's only a matter of time....!

Not too much else to report....work is fine, for us both, for the most part. Premier is in limbo, waiting to hold my first shows in the next few weeks. Youth group is not, for us, at least for right now (that's probably a whole 'nother post). Weather...yeah, it's gross. But I'm still glad the pool is gone! =)

Looking forward to a few days off at the end of the month and seeing all of my family in Bellevue for the first (of many, we hope!) Baptista/Soldano reunion.

Until next time....

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Anniversary, MBG and Brad!

Happy First Anniversary!!!

I don't have any pictures of YOU from your wedding, so instead, I'll post the picture of ME that I have from your wedding -- imagine this is me smiling at you today and wishing you a very happy FIRST anniversary! (I'd post a current picture of me smiling at you, but let's face it...I look better in that picture -- even 2 months pregnant and bloated -- than I look after a full day of work, capped off with Seth drool!)

You guys are a great example of how dreams can come true if you let go of your own wants and pursue the dreams given by the Greatest Dreamer of all. I'm so happy He saw fit to finally bring you together.

I love you guys and can't wait to watch your love for each other grow as the years pass. May you be as happy as Jim and I are! XOXOOX