a little vintage dress

My grandma brought over a pile of clothes that used to be mine when I was a baby (or toddler). I swear you never know what is going to come out of that woman's closet. She has a tonn of clothes with the tags still on and clothes that are 24 years old!

One of the dresses in particular that she brought over caught my eye. It was a dress that Dani and I wore in a family picture. We were around 2 in the picture. I really shouldn't have added that part, but hey it fits my almost 9 month old daughter. I've decided that with her size its clear that she's going to be either a.) a supermodel or b.) an elite athlete. Ok I've gone off subject...but I do have some pictures of her in the dress.

Oh...and I'm heading to Marquette tomorrow after work. Its graduation weekend, so wish me luck that I will make lots of money.

Auntie Dani knows how to make me smile

Isn't it crazy how old this dress is?!

Round 2 of Pictures

I know how excited you are to have more pictures :). I am too. I'm gonna post them quickly because its really nice out this morning and I want to squeeze in a walk/run before work today. I don't remember if I mentioned before, but I'm travelling up to Marquette on the weekends now to bartend at a place that I used to work (the Upfront). I'm actually looking forward to it...more so for money, but I did love working there. Its graduation weekend so it will be crazy in that place this weekend. More money though right? Liv is gonna stay with her grandma this first weekend because Auntie Dani will be working long hours and I don't want to do that to her. I am planning on bringing Liv with me most weekends though...with the help of some friends I think I can make it happen :). Alright, onto the photos.

Auntie Dani and Liv...I love this picture

Abbie stealing some kisses

One more of Auntie and Liv...Dani thinks Liv looks like her in this picture

sunhats and sunsets

Auntie Dani called me earlier in the week and said "buy a sunhat, I have an idea". So, thats exactly what I did and this is how it turned out...

I have so many pictures that I wanted to break it up into a few posts. There will be more to come this week :)

first steps!

Liv took her first few steps!! It was absolutely perfect because we were skyping with Pat. I'll set the scene: Dani and I were sitting on the floor talking to Pat, Liv was pulling herself up on the recliner and cruising around, Dani went to go get some ice water, which liv is obsessed with....so when Liv saw it we looked up and she had let go and took 3 or 4 steps by herself towards us! I was saying "OMG OMG OMG, Pat did you see that! Those were her first steps!". I couldn't believe it. We have been having her walk between my mom and I, but this is the first time she's ever initiated the walking on her own. Of course I have to document it here...maybe I'll get a video of her taking a few steps in the next few weeks :).

a little adventure

I just had my last work day of the week and it feels good. Dani and Mike will be here in about an hour and I've been really looking forward to this weekend! Since it was my Friday, the day seemed a little better. It was also really nice this morning so I took Liv outside and she did a little exploring and went for a little ride on the john deer.

taking a ride with papa

exploring

Mornings

I have my mornings back with Liv and I'm loving it. We went for another run yesterday and it turned out about as good as the first one. I'm taking today off because I need to go into town to find a white shirt for our "four generation" picture on Friday, and I simply don't have the time to do both because unfortunately Liv won't nap if she takes a nap in the stroller....therefore its a mad dash to get out the door with a cranky child that is sick of sitting in contraptions because her mom needs to shower, do her hair, make-up, dishes, get things ready....ugh. By the time I'm out the door I'm sweating and exhausted. I'm going to try to run before my mom leaves in the morning. I was up early enough this morning but I'm really sore and to be honest, I don't think I need to run everrry day :). Plus, who am I kidding, my "run" isn't all a run and the route that used to take me 30 minutes tops, is now taking me an hour. A woman at work responded with "welcome to mommyhood" when I told them about this. I am however, not going to accept that...mommy's can be in shape too.

Liv is my second work out as of right now. I just put up some corner gaurds for the tables because Liv pulls herself up on them whenever possible. I have to watch her like a hawk. I have a few tricks up my sleeves to entertain her if I need to put her in her walk-around or exersaucer. For example, saltines and her sippy cup. She could spend a good 30 minutes munching on saltines, most of them land on the floor for Lily...but then everybody is happy :). She also has a slight love for yo gabba gabba. I've been playing it from on demand for her when I want to keep her entertained. She won't stop what she's doing and just watch though. For the most part, its background noise and if something catches her attention she might stop for a few seconds. Pat thinks we are going to have our hands full. My response to that was "mine are already full and you owe me, so get back and chase our child around please!". He will be here soon enough, I may start a countdown.

looking all innocent, don't let her fool you...she's plotting a way to make her mom have a mini heart attack. As in, letting go of the chair and taking a little step towards a table!

run with the devil

I started day one of my goal today. Whats that? You didn't know I had a goal? Well I didn't tell anybody just in case I changed my mind about it. I decided to start running again when I started working half days. This was the day and I embarked on a 3 mile "run". I live on a 3 mile block. The road I'm on is a one mile block and is perpendicular to another one mile block. The streets connecting them are half a mile. I was all set, so as soon as I walked out of my driveway I started jogging (yes, a health and fitness management degree should have taught me how crucial warming up is...but i'm lazy). I got maybe 4 minutes into my run and I was DYING. I was a bit embarassed. I kept thinking to myself "who's body is this? because its not mine!! Someone must have stolen mine and replaced it with this rickety old thing"! I won't go into the details, but it was pathetic. I ran probably a mile and a half and then walked the rest. It wasn't a pretty stroll either, I was huffing and puffing and my muscles were burning while I was walking, bent over the stroller, holding on for dear life. I was happy Liv was sleeping and didn't witness the pathetic performance from her mom.



I used to be super active. I played sports through highschool and when that was over I got into long distance running. I ran two marathons with a few 10k's mixed in. I was a personal trainer and now apparently I'm a hypocrite. Pat says "you have to start somewhere"...which I know, but this weekend Dani and Mike are coming to the Soo. The reason for their visit is because Dani and I are participating in an alumni basketball tournament. HA. Dani was teasing me the other day and asked me to please fit in a run before the big day. I made sure to call her with the bad news today....I'll be there on Saturday, but it might be ugly. Eh. K, onto something way cuter than my story. A video of Liv cruisin' around. She may be chubby but I can guarantee she's in better shape than her mom ;).

Another Livi Story

This is my last week of full-time work. I have to move to half-days starting next Monday. I can't really decide how I feel about it. I'm relieved in a way because I'm able to spend more time with Liv but holy does it put a dent in my check! So, I'm contemplating some other things that I could do to supplement my income. Possibly stripping... ;). Anyways, I have a funny little story about Liv. We previously called her "turtle" because the girl wouldn't roll off of her back. She would just cry and thrash around like she couldn't move. She finally got with the program and all hell has broke loose. We immediately lowered her crib because I put her in and she rolled over and started climbing up. While we were doing this, Liv was cruising around her rocking chair and doing non-bedtime things. So when we finally finished she wasn't as tired as when I originally brought her down. I decided to zip her in her sleep sack because even houdini would have a hard time standing up in that thing. After about 15 minutes of being upstairs and listening to her screaming, I went down to get her and she was standing at the end of her crib, crying holding her blankie. She's an expert at pulling herself up in her crib now I guess. I'm not so sure how much I like it but I'm dealing :). In other things new in Liv's life...she got some new bows. I'm much more excited about it than she is. I bought them from an etsy shop. They were having a sale on clippies and sold them with a non-slip foam if requested. I love them. I ordered quite a few and my order was under $25! So, here are some pictures from the weekend and the video of Liv walking with her push-walker (the one from when my brother went on Spring break with the camera, grr.).

Something I Do Well!

Throw a Party!!!! I'm participating in 5 Minute for Mom's 2010 Ultimate Blog Party! I would first like to send you an invitation to join...because what is a party without a lot of fun guests :).



Every good party has a theme, and I like Mexican food and Margaritas so I'm choosing to throw a Fiestaaa! My Fiestaaa wouldn't be complete without my favorite Mexican recipes. I've added a 'Recipes' tab to the blog and as of right now it only features those two recipes: Con Queso and Beergaritas. I highly recommend both for any get-together, sombrero or not.

Next, I would like to introduce my blog and tell a little about myself. This blog was started when I was pregnant with, Liv, my now 8 month old daughter. We have family in Canada and all over the United States so this seemed like the best way to "keep in touch".

My name is Desi, I'm 25 years old mom and the only other cool thing I can think to say about myself is that I'm a twin (Dani is my other half). I met my boyfriend, Pat, while we were both attending Northern Michigan University. He is from Calgary, Alberta and had a full ride to NMU for hockey. We met (thats a story for another post) and started dating at the end of our Freshman year (2004). We've been together ever since. After finishing University, Pat went on to play pro-hockey (echl) and I stayed back to work and start my Masters. Pat spent one year in Stockton, CA where he played for the Stockton Thunder. We made the decision together to do long distance his first year playing pro, and planned to live together the next year wherever he landed. I thought it was my lucky day when Pat told me we were heading to Atlanta, GA! Well, it wasn't quite Atlanta...it was more specifically Buford, but the weather was amazing and I have no complaints. We had a great year living together and Pat and I didn't know going into that year that we would find out that I was pregnant. We had our daughter, Liv, on August, 2nd, 2009. Pat had literally three weeks with his little family until he had to leave for Belfast, Ireland. He played for the Belfast Giants this year. They offered him a great opportunity, which included a year long MBA program from the University of Ulster. It has been a very long year. We visited once at Christmas, which you can read about here, here, here, here, and here. Pat is finished with his hockey season and just has to finish out this last semester of school. His last exam is June 18th and I'm reallyyy hoping time flies. We are both looking forward to reuniting our little family and starting our life together.


In 2005. Our Sophomore year...don't we look young?

Another Sophomore year pic

Me and my other half

The day that changed our lives (we don't look tired or anything).

The center of our worlds...btw, I can't believe that Liv used to be this small!

Also, the Ultimate Blog Party is giving away a ton of prizes and my favorites are:

US23 - a $50 Gift Certificate to Monogrammed-Gifts.com

US85 - $40 Gift Certificate to BeautifulBlooms.etsy.com

More Spring Pics

I did a little sneak preview of Liv's spring pictures from Auntie Dani awhile ago. She just finished the rest of them. I love how they turned out. They really do look like they were taken on the perfect spring day. Hopefully the next time we do a photoshoot, Pat will be in them :). Here are a handful more of the photos Dani took for us.

a little maniac and a lovely little award

My daughter is a maniac. I'm convinced she is crazy and trying to give me a heart attack. Carolyn (Pat's mom) says its "uncanny" how much Liv acts like Pat did, and to be honest...that really scares me! The child pulls herself up, stands and then lets go or does a little patty cake! The letting go isn't so much what is giving me heart palpitations...its when the little gremlin decides she's gonna take a little stroll! Liv can't stroll anywhere. She looks like a drunken sailor. She has taken 3 or 4 steps steadily but by god, she can't walk and definitley not without me closely monitoring so she doesn't hit her head or eye on the corner of the table and have a concussion or loses an eye!!! These are the crazy thoughts that go through my mind. She is driving me to need a xanax...or a few glasses of wine, Gah! I'm determined to get a video this weekend so everyone can feel my pain, but for now I have some pictures.

Oh..and I recieved the One Lovely Blog Award from Jenny over at The Adventures of Two under Two. She has a beautiful little boy, Henry, who is around Liv's age...and she has another boy, Holden, on the way! She's a great writer so go check out her blog :).

I'm gonna tag a few girls for this award too:

-Diana over at Hormonal Imbalances

-Jodi over at Waiting for Baby G

-Krysta over at Arianna Lynn

-Mrs. D over at The Power of the Pink Lines
-t.bird over at look at the birds...



another one of Liv's fav things...this teething ring. She has two of them and is obsessed. As you can see if she drops it she must pick it up because it goes everywhere with her, duh...

testing the waters

A little patty cake

ps. I picked a twitter name ::drumroll please::...........DesiPayment! lol, its quite creative, I know. I have no idea what i'm doing right now though, so it might take me a few weeks, hopefully.

tweet tweet

So...I'm signing up for a twitter account. I decided this when I wanted to enter a giveaway and 2 of the options for entering were to follow the blogger and the product on twitter. I asked Pat about it because I teased him to no end when he signed up for his twitter account and all I knew about twitter was that ashton kutcher and demi moore tweeted a lot. This is how our conversation went:

Me: Hey do you have twitter?

Pat: yeah. How come?

Me: well I'm thinking about getting it, but I think I might be confused. Well because all of my bloggers I read have it and they say "follow me on twitter" and you need it to enter giveaways and such.

Pat: (laughs at me) well I'm on there....and gives me his name (you'll have to be my friend first before you get to him ;))

Pat: well, you can look people up

Me: Like my bloggy friends? and Perez...he wants me to follow him too :) And obviously you, so I can tweet your ear off (I think i'm hilarious)

Pat: I think its a good source of info. (so practical my love is)

Me: I need a name

Pat: Look me up

That leaves me with still needing a name. I know "Desi" is really cool and original, but unfortunately its already being used....so Help with ideas please. I'm not so good with witty little names and such. Oh and today is my last day of spring break ::tear::. Tomorrow is back to work unfortunately...it was good while it lasted.

easter anddddddd.....

First of all, Happy Easter everyone! Secondly, I'm going to be eating my words today...because Liv is crawling. It was clearly intended as my Easter present :). I really thought she would just bypass this step. I was wrong, very wrong. It may be the cutest thing ever to watch because its not coming easily to her right now, but she gets sooo excited when she's up and trying to get to what she wants. Her Easter basket and a crumpled up piece of paper was what we were bribing her with this morning. The easter bunny brought her a few snacks, headbands, easter colored spoons, a new little toy, and some clothes of course. I'd like to think she was impressed more by the gifts than the grass overflowing out of her basket but I'd be lying. I have some pictures of Liv and her easter basket and the most exciting thing of all....a video! Of Liv crawling!!! Happy Easter!!!!!!!

checking out her goodies

easter colored spoons :)

showing us her skills