who i am.

recently i was challenged to write about myself using 25 words or less. kinda like my own, self-describing personnel ad, complete with self-portrait. here was the end result...

cherry coke drinking, crushed ice loving, bike riding, apron wearing, marathon training, surprisingly shy, REAL orange county housewife & mama of 3 with ADD crafting tendencies.

care to play along? i'd love to get to know YOU even better.


step one: take your self portrait. no primping necessary (check me out in all my mountain biking glory... complete with helmet hair & a thin coating of dirt)

step two: describe yourself in 25 words or less

step three: introduce yourself to the world (or at least me), by posting it to your blog. just make sure to leave a comment here, so i can make the blog rounds. or, if you're feeling lazy, just post your 25 word bio in my comment section. either way, i can't wait to get to know you just a wee bit better.

friday five: must-haves for new moms

here's my list of 5 things EVERY new mom needs whether she's having her first or her fifth. the perfect shopping list for yourself, or pick up an item or two for the next shower you are attending...

1. the cuddly wrap: my all-time favorite newborn baby carrier. it may be overwhelming at first (it's one really long piece of fabric), but trust me! after you've practiced tying it on a few times, it will be easy. your baby will love being in it & you'll love that you will be able to get stuff down. unlike other carriers, the cuddly wrap keeps them all bundled up on your chest - i think it reminds them of being inside the womb. the material is like a t-shirt, so it's lightweight & very breathable. i can't tell you how often i am stopped by strangers to give my "cuddly wrap sales pitch." i can't say enough good things, i LOVE it soooo much!

2. ameda gel pads: if you're planning on nursing, then you must buy at least one pair of these. nursing, for me, has always been somewhat of a painful process... sore, cracked, bleeding nipples is pretty standard for me (& yes, i just said nipples). anyway, these gel pads are AMAZING! don't be fooled by other gel pads on the market. i've tried them all, & these ones are by far the best. another nursing favorite is the motherlove nipple cream (there i go saying the word nipple again).

3. oxi clean: stains no more! this is a serious must-have! with spit-up & diaper explosions happening on a fairly regular basis, you need something that you can count on to get those stains out. oxi clean hasn't let me down yet, & i've thrown some pretty hefty stains it's way.

4. aden + anais muslin baby blanket: i absolutely LOVE these blankets. they are lightweight & thin enough that i can stuff them in my purse or baby bag. but, don't let that fool you! they are HUGE in size (47" x 47"), which makes them perfect for swaddling. but that's not all, you can use these blankets as a sheet in a pack-n-play, on the ground for play time, as a nursing cover or draped over a stroller or car seat. there are so many possibilities!

5. benetint blush, dr. pepper lip smakers, and a cute hat or two: you know as well as i do, a new baby means late nights & lots of early mornings. often times, a shower is a luxury. however, i've always found that making a little effort makes me feel better. on days when i don't really have the time (or perhaps the energy) to get ready, i like to throw on some benetint (it provides you with natural, rosy looking cheeks which is an immediate perk-me-up), a little dr. pepper lip smakers (call me crazy, but the dr. pepper flavor has just the perfect hint of color & a nice smell to boot!) & a cute hat to hide that bed-head hair, & you are all set. no one will be the wiser that you haven't slept (or possibly showered) for days.

so now that i've shared, what are some of YOUR favorite must-haves for new moms?

you might think i'm crazy, & i probably am.

but i just couldn't resist. i spotted this beauty & bought it on the spot. i honestly don't know where it's going to go, my house is currently filled to over - capacity already, but i just couldn't pass it up - it was such a steal. i'm tempted to give it a little make over, a la design mom. have you done anything lately that has people questioning your sanity just a wee bit? i think my hubby is ready to ship me off to the funny farm, with this recent purchase. but the piano just captivated me, there was no way i could let it go home with someone else, it was calling out my name. now, i just have to figure out how to get it home.

ready to learn, to get some knowledge.

it's that time of year again. i can't believe it's been an entire year since i wrote you THIS letter, it still echoes the sentiments i'm feeling at this exact moment, to a T. you may have graduated to 3 days a week & seemed to have adjusted well, but i'm secretly wishing you'd rather stay home & play with me. i guess that's the hard part about being a mom... you always feel a bit "left behind."

potty talk.

i quit.  call me a failure. call me lazy. call me anything you want. but honestly, i don't care. sometimes, kids just aren't ready for potty training - and that's my professional opinion. i honestly thought it would be easy, but obviously those were just delusions of a sleep deprived mother. i was excited, i was looking forward to it, it looked so easy on the dvd. unfortunately, owen didn't share my same zeal for the project. one month later, i'm officially hanging up my potty training hat, at least for now. it's just not worth it. & honestly, i don't mind changing diapers all that much. in the mean time, i think i better come up with a better plan of attack. anyone out there got any suggestions for me?

it's all happening so fast...

do you ever wish you could hit "pause" on life?
just to enjoy the moment just a wee bit longer?
charlie's growing up so fast. where has the time gone?

ana, thanks for pushing the pause button on our memories.
even if, it was just for one afternoon.

images by ana brandt.

it's part-tay time!

last night we had a little party.

nothing fancy, just a little shin-ding.

we took silly pictures.

we dined on sweets & treats

there were even party favors.

like father, like son.

child sized helmet: $24.99

trail-a-bike: $230
spending time with dad: priceless

let's talk dirty.

this weekend i did something that made jeffy get all hot & flustered. get your minds out of the gutter, please! it was nothing like that! what i did, probably made him more excited & happy then that ever could... i went mountain biking.

although getting all geared up in my shorts & jersey, helmet & gloves didn't exactly make me feel pretty (or even remotely sexy), jeffy seemed to think i looked pretty hot - or at least that's what he says. i guess it's true what they say... boys like dirty girls.

so there i was, looking totally & completely professional. & yet, i was a jumble of nerves on the inside. the last time i had taken to the hills on my bike, i fell not once, not twice, but three times. & these were full-blown, over-the-handlebars, twisted-up-in-the-bike, dirt-on-your-teeth types of falls. when i realized, just a few days later, that i was pregnant, i decided it was time i hang up the mountain bike, at least momentarily.

this weekend, i decided that it was time for my riding sabbatical to be over. i broke out my riding shoes (classic vans with a rose patch covering the hole from my last bike ride, because i'm way too scared to "clip in" quite yet), strapped on my helmet & straddled the bike. & let me tell you, even with an entire year to work up to this ride, i was still terrified. the feel of the dirt, rocks slip-sliding under the weight of my bike, the fear that at any moment i could (& very possibly would) go flying over the front of the handlebars, made my entire insides shudder with every dip & bump. i did everything i'm not supposed to do, & nothing that i should do. & through it all, i held my breath, & continually prayed that i would make it off the mountain alive.

i did eventually make it off the mountain, but let's just say i descended rather slowly... i don't know if i'll ever be comfortable going fast. give me a hill to climb, any day. but unfortunately, what goes up, must come down. so down i came, grasping the handle bars tight as i can, sticking out my butt as far as i could, with the phrase "i think i can! i think i can!" constantly on the brain.

kid tested, mother approved.

remember those kix treats i was trying to find the recipe, way back when? well, i found the recipe. made them yesterday, & they are just as yummy as ever. so, i now present to you, without any further ado...

katie's mom (becky's) world famous, peanut buttery, butterscotch-ey treats
ingredients:
peanut butter
1 bag (11 oz) butterscotch chips
1 can (12 oz) lightly salted peanuts
1 small box of kix cereal

waxing philosophical.

i guess gavin does listen to me, at least occasionally.

stick a fork in it.

lately, crafting has had to take a back seat to life. i have to admit that i have yet to break out the sewing machine since charlie's been born... there's just too much effort involved. so, when i can come up with a project that is quick & easy, i get a little giddy & go just a tad bit overboard.

recently, i was on the hunt for some vintage (otherwise known as someone else's unwanted junk) spoons, for another project i had in mind. i ended up purchasing a whole bag of vintage forks as well, figuring i'd come up with something to do with them. although i still haven't gotten around to the spoon project, i did manage to make a thing or two, with a couple of the forks... i'm loving my new repurposed (or is it cooler if i call it recycled? or is up-cycled?) fork photo holder & fork easel. the photo holder is perfect for holding little snapshots (or possibly a to-do list) on the fridge, while the easel is now proudly displaying some of my favorite recipes. stick a fork in it... i'm done.

my happily ever after.

once upon a time, in a land so very far away... a girl met a boy. the setting was picturesque, a quaint little ski village nestled away in the mountains.

as the fates would have it, late one afternoon we find both the boy and girl - alone, in this magical winter wonderland. & as if destined to meet, together they rode the last chair lift of the day, to the top of the mountain. just as their journey began, the snow softly started to fall, each little snowflake glistening like diamonds. & the sun was slowly setting, casting a beautiful, soft candle lite glow. and, just like in the fairy-tales... it was love-at-first-sight. by the end of that momentous chair life ride, they had fallen madly in love, each knowing that they had finally met "the one".

okay, so maybe that really isn't exactly how it happened. but we did meet at sundance, & for one of the parties involved there may, or may not, have been a slight inkling of love-at-first sight, although it may have taken the other party a couple of months to notice (let's just say that i am definitely a blonde, & often times can be a bit oblivious. i thought we were just friends). & it definitely was fate, because honestly, i'm really not that good of a snowboarder, & to think that someone actually hired little 'ole me to instruct others in the art of snowboarding? yes! no question about it, it was definitely fate. but, eight years after pledging our eternal love to one another, we are still just as happy, & more in love than ever.

as they say "life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." and together, jeffy & i have had plenty of take your breath away type of moments: we've feed the sharks in bora bora, rocked out at more concerts than i can count, survived the wilds of australia. had two wild & crazy boys, a baby girl (with a boys name) & a pup named gigi. sailed the spanish coast. remodeled our entire house - ourselves. got literally lost in italy (to this day, i'm still amazed we aren't still lost wandering around the italian countryside). went to the winter olympics. surfed in hawaii. cheered for the angels more times than i can count. snowboarded beneath the shadows of the matterhorn (the real one, not the one at disneyland). made it out of canada alive. practically lived at disneyland - we've been so many times. lived like the flintstones in turkey. kissed with the eiffel tower looming overhead. graduated law school. passed the bar exam. kissed the blarney stone. finished my MBA program. scootered around greece. attended the tour de france & to many other adventures to name.

what's even more amazing? it's only been eight long short years. we've still got the rest of our lives ahead of us. i'm not saying our life together has been "practically perfect in every way." we've definitely had our share of ups & downs. but if we've made it this far, i know we can weather every & any storm. i can't wait to see what the future has in store for us. i'm definitely looking forward to continuing to live... happily ever after.

playing swiss family robinson.

maybe i'm crazy, but THIS seems like it could be a fun little vacation. i know my kids would absolutely LOVE it, can you imagine? maybe we will have to head up to oregon next summer. there are so many different choices! i'm not sure which TREE HOUSE is my favorite...

image via out 'n' about

8.15

sorry for the rather quick & sudden disappearance. being a mom to three can sometimes be just a wee bit stressful and overwhelming (but so, totally, totally worth it). so, when life gets crazy & hectic, little things start to drop... the laundry, showering, making dinner, & unfortunately blogging. but i'm back, at least for today.

so, by now, you are probably wondering what today's title means. any guesses? 8.15... is it a date? a measurement of time? perhaps it represents a distance of some sort. actually, it's a measurement of weight: 8 pounds 15 ounces. that's how much charlie weighs today. woot! woot! confused? wondering what all the excitement's about? well, to make a long story short-ish, little baby charlie has what's called "failure to thrive." never heard of it? basically it means that she is having a hard time gaining weight. maybe now, you can better understand, that all-too-sudden & definitely unexpected blog vacay... finding out you're practically starving your baby, tends to leave a mother feeling like a complete & utter failure.

at birth, charlie weighed 7 pounds even. definitely not huge, but she wasn't exactly tiny either. unfortunately, battling an awful case of thrush & taking some heavy-duty antibiotics. (the side effects of which include: nausea, stomach pain, low fever & loss of appetite. all of which charlie experienced on daily basis for about a month, which resulted in one very, very un-happy baby doll.) well, all this drama, caused little charlie to slowly eat less & less, which resulted in me producing less & less milk, unbeknownst to me. so, at 2 1/2 months charlie weighed just 7 pounds, 11 ounces & was taking in only about 1 and 1/2 ounce, of the suggested 4 ounces needed at each feeding. ay crumba! upon learning the news, that not only was charlie teeny tiny for her age, she had completely fallen OFF the growth chart, suddenly we went into survival mode, as you can imagine... feeding her every 2 hours, round the clock (sorry charlie! no more sleeping in for you!), nursing her, & then supplementing her with formula. oh heavens! i feel like all i do is feed this poor child! now, at 3 whole months, charlie weighs a whopping 8 pounds 15 ounces. still really, really small. & i still need to closely monitor her eating & feeding. but, she is once again, back on the growth chart. wahoo! don't believe me? here's the proof.

so, while we aren't completely out of the woods, yet. i can safely say, we are on our way. i hope you don't mind if we celebrate the little weight gains along the way. next week are hoping to cross the 9 pound mark - now that will truly be cause for celebration. one day, i'm sure, little charlie will complain about how hard it is to lose weight. i'll just have to remind her of the days when we were absolutely thrilled to hear she had gained a pound.

devoured.

so, i'm really trying to be good. but, sometimes my diet is so hard, especially when dessert is staring me in the face... at a recent bbq, a friend brought this "cheesecake." at first it was easy to resist, because i don't typically like cheesecake. but then, i took a bite, and then a small slice & i ended up having a second (rather large) helping. when she told me the recipe, i didn't think i'd be able to replicate it. not because it was hard, but because it was one of those play-it-by-ear types of recipes & i'm never good with that. but, i went home & tried it. & amazingly enough it turned out. so i made it again & again. now i'm sharing it with you. it's super-duper easy (even with the play-it-by-ear measurements), although don't be expecting a true cheesecake, because it certainly isn't.

not very cheesecakey, cheesecake
ingredients:
1 graham cracker crust (bought or home-made, there's a great recipe HERE)
3 8-oz packages of cream cheese (i used the lite versions, without a problem)
1 quart of heavy whipping cream
sugar, to taste (i used approximately 2 cups)
fruit (fresh or frozen)

directions:
now, it should be noted that the above ingredients make enough "cheesecake" to fill a 9x13 pan. if you want to make a smaller portion, half the recipe & it will still make enough to fill 2 pie tins.

1. make your crust (or open it) & set aside.
2. using your electric or hand-held mixer, cream the cream cheese & sugar together. (i added sugar about 1/4 cup at a time until i got the sweetness i liked)
3. once the cream cheese & sugar are mixed well, add the whipping cream. continue mixing until the whipping cream "peaks" & is stiff, almost like whipping cream.
4. fold in your fruit by hand (i used frozen raspberries)
5. spread mixture into pan & crust.
6. cover & freeze for about an hour, then store in the refrigerator.

yum! next time i think i might try it in an oreo cookie crust.