Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Sweet sunshiny days.

Wow, it's only Wednesday but this week has been really busy and really good.

Rowan and I worked at the shop together Monday and part of today and it was great.  I have not had Rowan at the shop for an entire shift since she was about 21 months and that was the beginning of the holiday busyness so it got a little tough to run the shop well and be present with Rowan.  That is when I started taking her to Johanna's Country Child Care which is great and she loves it, but it's good to know I that she and I can both handle a day at Pippi's again.  

She loves talking to people and it is so fun to see what she says, there was a lot of "Watch this!" (because she is enjoying showing off her new skills with a ball.)   As well as some great moments where I realize she really listens to everything!  She said to a customer about a sock "oh, that's cute!" and to many customers "Bye" or "Thanks for coming in!"  She also got a little frustrated if a customer left before she got to say bye, there were a few that she yelled after "Wait! I wanted to say good bye to you!" and lucky for us our Pippi customers are so nice they heard her and came back to say bye!

So Pippi's was great, and there are still a lot of people in town on vacation (woot) I hope foot traffic keeps up till summer is in full effect!

And...
We got to play at the park with our friends twice all ready this week!


We went on a nice long walk, (and I noticed that the dreaded pregnant waddle has begun.)


We visited FloBeds and played with Baba, & Uncle Dew.

Also, a HUGE milestone for me and Rowan...
Rowan had her first play date without me there!  Actually first play date not at our house!
She had an amazing time and truthfully I don't think she missed me at all, I think it was harder for me.  I swear as she walked away from Pippi's I had to breath my way through mommy separation anxiety!  But, it was a little easier when I heard her and her little friend start talking about their shoes as they walked off, too cute.






So, a lovely week so far.  I am very thankful to have such a sweet girl, a shop/job I love and supportive family and great friends!
Onward to the rest of this week...
Daddy just drove off, he wont be back until Sunday.  He is headed to Chicago to see his sister defend her thesis.  I am bummed that Rowan and I are not going. Not only are we missing Aunties big event but Daddy's whole family is going to be there, it's always sad to miss an opportunity to spend time with the whole gang.  We just could not afford it this time.  But, I am sure we will see everyone this summer (yeay!)
And we've got music class tomorrow and hopefully lots of sunshine ahead so we can get to the beach this week too.  Now I have to tear myself away from this computer and eat something before it's too late!

Friday, April 22, 2011

The week so far...

We have done a lot this week and it has been great to have Daddy home, I worked a little more in the beginning of the week so I could take advantage of Daddy daycare, and it felt nice to be able to work and take care of all the little things that get pushed down to the bottom of the to do list when my hours at work are so limited. 

We have been busy at Pippi's (woot!) lot's of people in town on spring break, and we have been getting fun spring stuff in. 

(Just got a call from the shop, we got two big orders in today, K-bell and Sock it to Me, yeay!)  I was hoping to get the Country Kids order in this week since it is full of tights and we are out of most of our kids tights, bummer cause everyone needs Easter tights!
But anyway a great fun and productive week.

Here is a little photo re-cap:

Forts with Rowan.

We were are all monsters.


Coffee house with Rowan.

Yum.

I left the room for a few minutes and come back to find Rowan in her doll stroller! 
(Cute picture , but I did make her get out because i was afraid it would collapse on her.)
Easter egg dying, super fun!

This egg rolled off the table...

Which actually made Rowan really happy because she got to eat it,

and peal it, "All by myself."

And then she just  had to have another,  and I quickly put the eggs away after that!

Nap time.

So much, and still two days left till Daddy is back at work. 

I am excited for Rowan's first real Easter egg hunt I think she will be really into it.  My little brother is in town for Easter too, and I look forward to spending a little time with him.
Also Gaga and Baba are taking Rowan to the Circus tomorrow night I can't wait to hear that story from Ro. Mommy and Daddy might try to squeeze in a movie while they are out or maybe we should just take advantage of having the house to ourselves.
 
Rowan and I will be working at Pippi's together on Monday and Wednesday because daycare is still closed and Pops is back at school.  I'm sure we will have blast, she loves going to Pippi's <3.

Happy Earth Day and Happy Easter I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Today in Socks...

Well today has been a nice productive day.  I love it when I feel like I have accomplished something, I got to  put some checks on my never ending  To Do List.  I worked on fixing some of my old links on the website (I'm about 1/2 way through what needs to be updated), then I will take some new photos, woot!
And, we got in new Biella & Nouvella socks today.
More cute baby socks...
These are awesome mostly cotton baby socks that don't bind or leave marks on sweet baby legs. I used them a lot for Rowan and I will used them for Zoey too.  I love the colors and we have matchy ones for mom!!!

Also some Springy socks from Sock Smith, 
I <3 the sunflowers.

I hope the sun sticks around for a few days, I would love to get to the beach this week while daddy is off of work.  It seems like we have a good amount of visitors in town this week too, so woot, I hope they love our socks!


Sunday, April 17, 2011

Precious alone time...

Well yesterday daddy offered me some alone time.  He took Rowan and the dog on a walk/ trike ride and I was alone.

Ahhh...Nice, deep breath, relax, I was able to go to the bathroom alone, and take a nice long shower uninterrupted even put belly oil on my big baby belly (I used to do that daily my first pregnancy!).  Sadly, after that I didn't know what to do!
I wondered how they were doing, and what I was missing. (Does this happen to other moms?  Once you finally have your precious alone time you don't know what to do with yourself?)  So I said to myself  "mommy get a grip!"   Maybe it's because my moments of real alone time are so limited at this point in my life... I spent some time debating; should I start a sewing project, wait maybe painting...I couldn't decide.

So, I did some laundry, did the dishes and worked on a budget so I would feel less overwhelmed by taxes. What do you know, it worked, sitting down and making a plan always helps me feel more in control and prepared (note to self, remember that). Then...

Daddy sent me a video of Rowan at the park.  He knows me well, and he is so sweet to me <3.


So, I enjoyed the video update, had some tea, and even though I didn't start any projects I was able to relax and sort through my head and I felt much more centered when they got home.  Thanks pops!

And, to start my Sunday I got some snuggle time with daddy (yeay!) and then snuggle time with my girl.  While I showered and got ready for work they made us breakfast, which was delish.  Marsh always does my eggs just right.  When I got to the shop I got all my books organized and got tax stuff ready to send.  I feel very productive today, and to top it off  Pippi's was nice and busy today!
I love busy Sundays and happy customers!

I am also really looking forward to this week, daddy has the week off of school so we will have a lot of  family time! I can't wait!

Friday, April 15, 2011

Ugh, taxes...But, yeah baby socks!

Okay, I've got to stop stressing about taxes...so a change of subject to hopefully change my mind.
At Pippi's:

We got some super cute baby stuff in at the shop this week!  Zoey was kicking like crazy as I unpacked these, she must have sensed my excitement.
 
 Ballerina Leggings, love them!!!
 And...

 super sweet Life is Good, baby hat & sock sets.  <3
Cuteness is always a good distraction for me...

On a parenting note, Daddy is wanting to drop Rowan's afternoon nap because she goes to sleep so much easier at night for bedtime, (in like 15 minutes instead of a 45-60 minute process.) But I don't know if I want to because;
1) She gets pretty feisty around 4 pm with no nap.
2) I really appreciate one hour to myself during the day (to nap, snack, read or even tidy up uninterrupted.)
3) I worry that she wont get enough sleep without a nap.
4) And, lastly I think it would be nice if she still napped this summer after baby Zoey arrives.  We could have nice cozy family naps, or some one on one time with Zoey or each other...
So, I don't know, for now I feel the nap is needed but we shall see.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Nine Years, Swimming In Love.

Today on Marshall and my anniversary I feel like refecting on the past nine years.  So here are my thoughts:

Today my sweet husband and I have been together for nine years, (married for four of those years).  It is interesting to think about how our day to day relationship has changed and morphed over these last nine years.  When we met we were both in college, and sure we had "responsibilities" but life was what I like to call "fluffy", we spent hours just daydreaming talking and  focused on creative projects.  Then we finished school and got jobs, and life was still pretty "fluffy" time seemed to move slowly, there was a little more stress trying to figure out what we wanted to do with our lives and pay the few bills we had, but it was just he and I in our little bubble, floating through life, and it was sweet. 

We did figure out what we wanted to do, I wanted a Sock Shop and he wanted to be a teacher, so he helped me open up shop and we focused on that for some time, then he went back to school for his credential.  It turns out that these jobs we love and enjoy take up more time than our previous 40 hour a week retail/service jobs.  And, we inevitably end up bringing work home, but hey, we have passion for what we are doing and we enjoy sharing or work with one another. It was still just he and I in our little bubble... But, I think this is when life started to move more quickly.

And then we decided we needed to share this life we loved with someone new, we wanted to start our family, all we had to do was say the words and bam! I was pregnant.  So, those nine months went by fast, and slow, we had so much time to dream about this baby,  what she might be like, what our lives might be like, cuddles and creative projects and our great jobs all still there as we swam along.

Then we had our sweet little girl.  Man, life started to really move.  Moments seemed slow, like when we just watched her coo and giggle, and cuddled her to sleep.  But, the weeks flew by.  Happy, joyful, stressed, excited, overwhelmed all of it, we were living this full life, not so fluffy, sometimes floating sometimes swimming and sometimes trying not to be swept away. Life was still sweet.

We grew, Ro grew and we wanted another to share this life with so now we are 7 months pregnant with another dear girl on the way.  Life is fast, it sometimes seems as if we don't see each other.  Between working, parenting, and eating and sleeping the moments are short (but sweet).
We spend most of our waking time together as a family after he gets home from work, watching and playing with Rowan, listening to her tell us crazy, silly stories, we laugh a lot.   After we get Rowan to sleep we are lucky if we get two hours alone with each other before one or both of us falls asleep.

Life is fast, moments are fleeting, but when we can breath away the stress from the day and just be with each other, with our little family, that is when I remember why I fell in love with this beautiful caring man.  And why I love him more all the time, our days are busy, but our lives are full. Sometimes we are floating through life, sometimes we are swimming and some times just trying to tread water, but I'm happy to be swimming through this life in love.



Monday, April 11, 2011

Overwhelmed

It's almost tax time and I have sort of just trying to push this out of my mind, but today with computer problems at work (so no book keeping done today) and schedule situations to figure out with Pippi's and day care for Rowan ect.  it just got to me. 

Schedule stuff gets really complicated sometimes in our house because I can't close up shop and run errands or pick up Rowan, and Marshall is a teacher but contrary to popular belief teachers do not get done when school gets out.  And it's not just lesson plans and grading, no they have to spend hours and hours in meetings for all kinds of different things! So when I have to cover the shop outside of my normal days there is a lot of creative scheduling to figure out.  Luckily my mom , who has a pretty full plate herself, understands, and really comes thru for us a lot.  (Thanks mom!)

Anyway, I'm just trying to float along today, and not let this stuff bother me.  Rowan and I get home and I am rocking her for nap time and feeling a little sad that I don't get to be with her tomorrow or most of Wednesday because we are a little short staffed at the moment so I am working, and I just start to cry.  What does my sweet little girl say to me?  "Don't be sad mommy, I will take care of you." Well if that just didn't make me want to cry more, what a sweetheart.  She proceeded to tell me to "Take a deep breath."  What do you know, it worked I did feel a little better.  I thanked her for being so nice and for helping me feel better. We said I love you and she went to sleep. 

So, I am going to try to just keep breathing and float through this week.

On a  happier note, nine more weeks till baby Zoey is due! Yeay! Exciting!  Sadly, I can no longer cross my legs in my chair at work without uncomfortably hitting my belly.  Also, I hope to feel less overwhelmed at work by June and expect to be happily overwhelmed by the new challenge of two children. Plus daddy will be off for the summer so that will be really nice too. 

And a happy socks note, (well socks are always a happy note in my book) we got in some new Life is Good socks today (woot! Snuggle socks!)  Nicole was checking them in when I left, I will post some pictures tomorrow!  There were some really cute socks for the kiddos in those boxes, and I think we should be getting the Life is Good accessories this week too, cute hats for grown-ups and kids!

And the sun came out today! So when Rowan wakes up we might go out to the sidewalk and play with our new super fun sidewalk paint!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

A Day in Pictures

Get up good morning sleepy head.


Socks and green shoes <3 for work.
Took some pictures for our PippiSock website.
Another sunny day in the Bragg...fun day at the shop, great customers and I got a lot done on the website!

After picking Rowan up we both took a little nap...exhausted!

Then Daddy wanted Piacci's for his Birthday so we had some yummy Pizza!

<3








Thursday, April 7, 2011

another day...

Another tough morning.  Both Rowan and I were a little emotional, but the sun came out, we headed to music class and the day turned out to be a really nice day.  We stopped by the shop (the girls had just received a box of new Latico handbags! Can't wait to check them out tomorrow!) then ran a few errands and after Rowan's nap we picked up Pops from work and took a stroll around Mendo.
Taking a stroll with Ro really reminds me to look around and see things I would normally not notice and heck stop and smell the flowers.  I also think it's funny that she remembers where the toys are in every shop we stop in, we all have our priorities.   It looked like the weather might turn so we headed to the golf course and Pops showed Rowan how to hit a ball, so adorable.
 She had tons of fun, (her favorite part might have been putting the balls on the tee...)
This evening my brother came over and babysat so I could take the Hubby out for an early B-day dinner.   Mendo Bistro yum.....we were able to have a real conversation uninterrupted and we even held hands, it was lovely.  Now Baby Zoey is kicking what feels like some important internal organs, I think shes mad that I stuffed myself and left no room for her...10 weeks left till I get to meet this little sweetie<3

This crazy week...

It is only Wednesday (well I guess it's Thursday now) and this week is turning out to be a doozy.  I am not sure why, maybe it's the "terrific twos", maybe it's the change of seasons or maybe it's just me, but Rowan and my mornings have just become a whole lot harder.
Usually Rowan wakes up and comes into our bed and cuddles with me for 15-30 minutes before I start getting ready and she reads books or plays while I do that.  It is a sweet way to wake up and one of my favorite parts of the day, but yeah she's not so much into the cuddling lately...and that's okay, I guess (I hope it's only temporary).
We go downstairs.  She doesn't want to get dressed. doesn't want to have her hair brushed, and has decided that she no longer likes cheerios.  WTF! This girl eats anything and loves food but now she doesn't want breakfast?  Someone must have switched bodies with my baby.  Well, while I breath, try to stay calm, and ponder whose child this could be I also; make getting dressed into a game, let her help me with her hair, talk her into eating...I gather our stuff and look at the clock and oh, we are late again....But we're off!
I drop Rowan of at Johanna's, hugs and kisses, and my sweet heart says from the waving window, "Love you! Have a good day at Pippi's!" and I drive away missing the days (just 6 months ago) when I still brought her to the shop with me,  we had so much fun, sure I was less productive....Anyway I play catch up at work check things off my never ending to do list, get in some cool new socks (Trumpette baby socks, got some cute ones for baby Zoey <3) and work a little longer because my employee got a substitute job this week so she can't come in till 3pm.
I rush to pick Rowan up late, bummer no nap.  Monday night Pippi's store meeting.
Woohoo, Tuesday a Mommy and Ro day, errands, cuddles, books and great day...OMG daddy's birthday is Friday! So birthday planning....Wednesday, another crazy morning.  Sort of an odd day at Pippi's, but good.  Worked long again but I was not worried because it means Rowan goes to bed much quicker than normal.  Unless of course we forgot baby Penny at Johanna's today (yes we did, the baby that she has decided she must sleep with) that was a big bedtime mistake!!! It was a hoorah.  But, Rowan had a good cry and after the meltdown and lots of hugs she fell asleep.
For some reason I decided to start a blog instead of sleeping, but hey sleep is over-rated right?  No that is completely untrue I love sleep.  So off to bed I go.  Tomorrow is a Mommy and Ro day, woohoo,  and Music Together she loves that, I am excited and I hope it does not rain...it just started to hail so.....we shall see.