MoTu Recap

Whoa. I haven't posted on either of my blogs in 48 hours. Nice!

Mainly because:

1) we've been boring

and

2) we've been busy (an oxymoron? if only you knew...)

But, the reason why I write on this blog is to remember our day-to-day boring happenings so here I am recounting them (and for you, too, Jenna, since I don't want you to go through withdrawl :0)

Monday Cutie Face had an awesome day...nap-wise. I couldn't figure out who this little sleeper was--certainly not my child! She wouldn't take TWO 1.5 hour naps after sleeping for 12 hours, would she? Turns out, no, she really wouldn't as today (Tuesday) she awoke at 5:30 AM, fought both naps, and ended up going to bed at 6:45!

Regardless, sleeping is boring and not often picture-worthy.

Here are the events from Monday and Tuesday that I did find entertaining enough to photo-document, though:

Besides sitting in the corner and serving as a topic of conversation* every day between Cutie Face and I , the apples we bought way back in October haven't had much play time in our kitchen.

(*the conversation goes like this: CF: "Apple?" Me:"Yes, those are apples". CF: "Apple? Pleese?" "Pleeeessse?" Me: "You've already eaten two apples today, sweetie, you don't need another one" while i'm thinking "...or else you'll poop even more than FOUR times a day".)

The kiddo and I finally decided to put them to good use: we made homemade applesauce in the crockpot!

She helped me eat the apples as i cut, peeled, and quartered--don't worry, that is as close to the knife as she got! We made up our own recipe after reading a few other ones and combining the best aspects that sounded yummy. I took a picture of the apples pre-cooking but the applesauce was completely devoured once it was finished and didn't last long enough for a photo-op. It does mean, however, that it was eaten so quickly that we need to make more so there will be plenty of other opportunities for pics!

Once she woke up from her morning nap, we headed to the park to collect leaves (for the tutorial i still have yet to write!).

She wore a BOW in her HAIR and NOT on a headband for the first time! Check out all the hair she recently grew--seriously it took off the last two days and she can now wear bows in her hair. Its the simple things, people.

Sadly, the bows don't really last as long in her hair as they do on a headband...

Cutie Face really loved kiddo-watching...from the left...

...to the right...she loved checking them out everywhere they went

and that was the end of our pictures from Monday!

I do, however, want to document that Cutie Face walked all the way from the post office to the corner of Virginia & Highland...nearly half a mile! I thought that was impressive for the little tyke. Well done, kiddo!

Today (Tuesday) we had RAIN rain RAIN (side affect from the hurricane...)

Mimi (my mom) had to run an errand downtown at a mall a mere 4 miles away from us so we met her there for lunch. I decided to not bring the stroller so that Cutie Face could walk around the mall and tucker herself out for a good nap. (Turns out that plan backfired but whatevs)

Cutie Face loves visiting my parents' house because she can play in Mimi's makeup drawer

Visiting with Mimi today was no exception as Mimi allowed her to play with her lipstick. She loved it. Cutie Face is going to be one Girly Girl!

We walked around the mall, saw Santa, pointed at him, watched some kids (mainly girls, under the age of 4) cry and scream and some kids sit and share their wishlist. Cutie Face loved pointing at Santa ("hohohoho" as she said) but when we got close to him she said "Noo...? No!"

We wrapped up our mall visit at Nordstrom's shoe rack in the kids' department. They had an excellent place for Cutie Face to color and watch the fish "swimmm-min".

We went home where she fought nap #2 and, sadly, she won. That meant that she got to go to bed at 6:45 PM. Now when she'll wake up tomorrow is a whole 'nother question...

Sunday calls for a Sprinkle...of love!

As you may know, my twin and I are expecting our second daughters 2 months + 1 week apart. She is due in 4 weeks! Crazy!

Lil' Miss was treated to quite a few showers before her arrival. One of the twin's friends and I didn't want Sweet Pea to feel unloved so we threw her a "sprinkle" instead of a "shower". It was a casual, low-key affair with a "sprinkle" of people but it was really fun!

We had cupcakes and punch...but we didn't eat the cake as J and I had a slight mishap with it in the car on the way up to the 'burbs...which is also why you won't see a close-up picture of it!

We also had delicious savory food!

To jump start the party, we had all the attendees paint a onesie for Sweet Pea. I used my freezer paper stencil tutorial and it was a lot of fun! Most of the onesies sported a number stencil--there were numbers 1-9--perfect, I thought, for taking the month-birthday photograph...at least for months 1-9!

There were also flowers, birds, butterflies, and fleur de lis designs:

Painting onesies served as a great way to relax and have fun chatting

Everyone was so creative!

Two of the twin's former students came to her shower, too--so sweet!

After onesie-painting, we retired to the "present room". The theme was polka dots so we had fun polka dot puff balls hanging from the ceiling:

The twin was ready to go!

The girls gave her an awesome gift full of babysitting coupons! So smart!

I promise, we weren't bored!

It was so nice to see a lot of the twin's friends at the party to sprinkle Sweet Pea with some love. We can't wait to meet her in person!

Chomp & Romp & Stomp

Our day dawned early and bright with Cutie Face once again waking up around 6:20 AM. Gone are the days of sleeping in until past 7. Bummer. At least we don't need an alarm!

After her breakfast, we all got ready for our 5k Road Race. J went to break down our jogging stroller and put it in our car and I carried on getting Cutie Face dressed. We were interrupted when J came running back into the apartment to let us know that our car had been stolen (!!!!).

We saw the skid marks and the scrape marks from where someone had towed it off.

J immediately called 911 and reported the theft but they said it was most likely towed...for reasons we have yet to grasp...but, regardless, we determined that YES, the car was towed but, thankfully, not stolen!

That left us with a dilemma--should we try to make it to the race with 18 minutes to spare? Sure, why not, we asked? We ran over to the D family house and they very graciously let us borrow their SUV. Thankfully they have carseats in the car (a very cool Britax Camo design that she didn't mind riding in!) so we plopped Cutie Face in the seat and away we went!

We made it to the race with 5 minutes to spare but, thankfully, they were a little delayed with the start...

You can kind of see J if you look closely--he is the very last person standing on the right with the purple baby jogger. Do you see him? Regardless, make sure you notice the two cops up front:

J decided that, in order to maximize our award potential, he would compete in the stroller division so that i could race solo. Clearly, you can see that I borrowed these photos from MachShots.com but they did say that i could download them! Thank you!

Here I am, around the 2.4 mile marker:

and here is my buff husband, pushing the stroller with ease:

Doesn't he look like a pro? I love that you can see Cutie Face peeking out behind her blanket:

Shortly after both of those pictures were taken, the race was over--the funny part about this race was that I came in at 15:30 ...which is ridiculously fast for a 5k let alone for a 6-month PREGNANT WOMAN to run.

I knew something wasn't right...turns out those two cops we mentioned before MISSED A TURN. Yeah...so we all ran a 4k race instead of a 5k. Can I still claim that time as a PR?

Regardless of the shortened course, J's race strategy paid off--I was the overall woman in the race and he was the overall stroller runner so we both received plaques and gift certificates! Not a bad deal as we definitely got a larger return for our money!

While we waited for the awards ceremony, we played all over the Cabbagetown playground:

Upon returning home, my very kind and generous and sacrificial dad took J to pick up our towed car. They had to make a few stops because that's bureaucracy for ya so we are very thankful to Dad for his patience and willingness to help us!

The race we ran kicked off the annual Chomp and Stomp Chili Fest. For $5 you get a lovely orange spoon:

and all the chili you can eat. Last year, we came late because we had no idea what to expect. This year, our orange spoons were part of the race package so we didn't have to wait in line to buy them. We did, however, cut the start time incredibly close.

J, coming from the towlot, decided it would be faster if I met him at the festival and I was happy to oblige...this plan just meant I had to run back to the location as quickly as possible so we could coincide our arrivals. This also meant that I would be running 2+ miles to Cabbagetown with my hair dried, straightened, while wearing my "street clothes" (jeans and a nice top).

It all worked out and we arrived almost at the same time so it was perfect. I found out on Sunday that one of our church friends saw me booking it in my jeans and nice top while pushing Cutie Face in the jogger so that was a little embarrassing but i got over it. Besides, i also got to add mileage to the day's run so that was a bonus!

The way the chili fest works is that restaurant and individuals enter their chili recipe(s). Everyone makes a large batch (some make more than others) and dish out sample servings to anyone with an orange spoon. You can make the rounds or go back for more of your favorite but you have to be fast because when the chili is gone, the participant flips over their chili pot and leaves it upside down on the table--no more soup for you!

I laughed at this chili table--they gave you antacid tablets!

Look at all that chili!

Ria's was my favorite vegan chili

until i ventured over to the Vortex and sampled their vegan chili...THE BEST!

6-Feet Under still gets mad props for having fun AND for having ALLIGATOR chili AND for having fun and goofing off!

The beer trucks were also hot commodities

and the live music was GREAT!

Despite all those great festival features, Cutie Face LOVED the dog adoption/rescue pups the best! We spent loads of time with all the dogs and it was like a little slice of heaven for her.

As J remarked on our way home, the Chomp and Stomp is his favorite Atlanta festival. It was a great day (despite the car...!) and we were able to end it with J's dad, who read Cutie Face her bedtime story:

We can't wait until next year!

Friday Funday

Today started out the same as the past two Fridays--with a trip to Einstein Bros. Bagels for a FREE BAGEL! Love it!

This morning it was really cold so I dressed Cutie Face in the most adorable pink sweater knit by...are you ready for this...MY Great-Grandma! So Cutie Face's Great-Great-Grandma made this sweater! I love that!

Anyway, it was the last week for Free Bagels so we couldn't miss out--i think Cutie Face thought there'd be a bagel shortage or something as she consumed 1.5 bagels (bread head!).

The light was great in the bagel store so i took quite a few pics with my phone of Cutie Face + the sunburst behind her...SunFlare is a theme this month at iheartfaces so i was practicing:

After bagels, Cutie Face was too revved up to take a nap so we ran a few errands--

namely to the library, Whole Foods, and Petsmart

before making a picnic pit stop at Trader Joe's:

J came home early and we made Cutie Face walk to one of our favorite local kid stores--BlaBla kids (same store that hosted the really fun pre-Halloween party). They were having a ridiculous sample sale and we stocked up on lots of long-sleeve t-shirts, a few handknit sweaters and a simply precious hat!

Thankfully Cutie Face was plumb tuckered out by her 1.5-block walk there and back so she crashed fairly quickly and now it is early to bed for us as we have a race in the morning!

It was just another full Friday funday!

Pink Pig!

This afternoon held a long anticipated event--the grand opening of the Macy's Pink Pig! The twin and I made plans to attend the Grand Opening Preview party more than a month ago (which is really planning when it comes to my calendar!).

Sadly, Cutie Face decided that this would be the day where she did not need to take a nap. She finally fell asleep on our way back downtown. First, though, I had to make a pitstop at Babies 'R' Us...not knowing what to do with my sleeping bambina, I decided to lay down our shopping cart cover and place her into it...like so:

We shopped for 25 minutes with her in the cart like that the whole time. And, she even transferred BACK to the car without waking up--I was impressed!

The Twin and I eventually made it to the Pink Pig where we could hear the festivities from the parking lot.

Time out you say! What is the Macy's Pink Pig?

Well, if you aren't from Atlanta, you may be wondering what could be so exciting about a pink pig at Macy's.

The twin and i, despite spending 11 out of our 28 years in Atlanta, had never experienced the Pink Pig in person. Sure, we had heard about it, but we really had no clue what it was or what it entailed. We decided today would be the perfect time to find out just what the Macy's Pink Pig was since 1) we now had our own kiddos and 2) we had free passes!

Despite not needing to get...

The line for the ride was way past the ticket booth.

and it stretched for ever forward:

Here is sweet Lil' Miss sitting patiently. She was so cute in her PIG-tails (get it?)

We eventually made it outside where we could glimpse some of the balloons:

Cutie Face decided she was still tired...or she was just sick of waiting in line:

The twin and I took turns walking (dragging?!?!) around to keep them occupied

I wish that this event happened a little earlier--there were SO many great "kodak moment" balloon shots available that would have tied in perfectly with this week's I ❤ Faces theme!

As we inched our way forward, we saw what the end of the line held for us:

We also saw Priscilla the {GIANT} pink pig:

45-minutes in line and we've almost made it to the sign...getting closer


Then we made it to the outside of the tent...getting closer, getting closer...

Woohoo! After a 60+ minute wait, we made it inside the CRAZY pink tent...it was next to impossible to get a decent picture due to the crazy colors and lighting:

I can't help but wonder...was the line this long when the Pink Pig looked like this:

The line behind us...still stretching:

almost there chickadees! (they can barely contain their excitement)

WOW! We actually made it on the ride!

The twin and Lil' Miss

the rare photo of me with Cutie Face (thanks sis for this capture!)

After all that hype, I'm glad to say that we rode the pink pig. We got our sticker (which is the coveted souvenir for riders each year) and we have pictures...

I also have a video of the 90-second ride. You tell me if you think it was worth the 60+ minute wait: