wedding week: the cutest lil flower girls, and a dress saga.

the minute we got home from the reception, i realized how bad i had epically failed at taking pictures of everyone. it is so hard when you are in the moment to be worried about snapping pictures, isn't it?? but such a regret to come away with very few.

anyway, the girls' flower dresses were soooo gorgeous, so the next day, i had them dress back up in them and i had a little photo shoot with them. they were so darling, and i am so glad i did-- i just wish my little nieces hadn't left that day so we could have gotten some with all four little girls together. oh, the coulda, woulda, shoulda's. anyway. enjoy an excessive amount of darlingness below.

 and my personal favorite:

and now a little dress saga for you, as a reward for putting up with my excessive amount of photos of my girls, who i think are just the dang cutest lil things on the planet.

so the dress i wore for the reception has quite the story. it was a total headache to find -- since almost every formal dress was super short, and that obviously wouldn't work with a growing belly. i was super stressed trying to find something...anything...in the color scheme that Mimi had chosen-- there was literally NOTHING that would work. one beautiful day in the middle of September, i found that gorgeous blush gown at Nordstrom-- ridiculously expensive- but literally the answer to my prayers-- super stretchy, one-size fits all, comfy, and to-the-floor (so it wouldn't be too short with my big belly lifting it up). anyway, we got the dress online, and it came and was literally like 2 feet too long (i guess that's what happens when you buy a "one-size-fits all" dress) so obviously, i had to get it altered.

i went one day-- waited and waited- only for the seamstress to tell me to come back because she didn't think that my size would match what i would be near the wedding (the size of my belly, that is- which affects the length of the dress). she sent me home, to return exactly 2 weeks from when i needed it (so that my belly would measure as close to the size it would be as possible). i understood, but was annoyed because it's not easy to wait with a toddler in a dressing room, you know?

so 2 weeks from the reception date came, and i was there at Nordstrom. i wasn't feeling super good that day, but i figured i'd be fine (and i needed to be fitted THAT day in order to get the dress back in time for the wedding- so i decided i'd just eat my feelings later). so like any good mom does, i set up Alice in the corner of the dressing room with a snack-cup of fishies, fruit snacks, a juice-box, and my phone-- and she got to be my little audience while i got fitted for my dress. such a little cutie.

 

then the seamstress came, and so i wrapped myself up in that beautiful dress, and strapped on these crazy HIGH shoes that my sister got for all of her bridesmaids to wear. like 5-6 inch heels, no joke. i stood up on that pedestal and the cute little Greek Grandma Seamstress starts pinning away at the hem of my dress. i know you can't tell from previous pictures i've posted from the wedding, but it was a very FULL dress- so 30 minutes went by of me standing with perfect posture, and she had only completed pinning about 1/3 of the dress. it was crazy! but she was so cute, talking and admiring little Alice in the corner.

all of a sudden, i started to feel super duper nauseous. like the kind of nauseous that i knew i needed a bucket or a bag or a trash can or a cup....or anything, FAST! i was scanning the room for something, when i started feeling a tingling feeling coming up my legs and realized that i probably just needed to sit down. so i looked at my cute little Greek Grandma friend and told her, "would it be ok if i sat down for just a minute?"

the next thing i knew, i woke up laying on the floor to a whole bunch of commotion. i was seeing twinkly stars for a second, and then i realized that the crazy psychedelic dream i had just been having about hippies and pirates was in fact a dream because i had just fainted!

as in PASSED OUT!
OFF THE PEDESTAL!
ONTO THE FLOOR!

i sat up, and saw 5-6 people circled around me (in a dressing room where there had previously been NO ONE but us) all asking if i was ok. i glanced to the right and saw the cute Greek Grandma with hot tears rolling down her cheeks-- such a cute lil tender soul! she kept saying "are you ok? please tell me you're ok. i am so sorry! are you ok?  you hit your head SO HARD! is your head ok??"

and i felt my head, and there was a huge egg-shaped bump on there already protruding. yeah, it hurt.

apparently i fell off the pedestal into the mirror, and then onto the floor.

and it felt like i had fell into the mirror onto the floor. HARD. like, POUNDING HEADACHE hard.
how does crap like this always happen to me?, was my first thought.

and then i had to see Nordstrom's medic, fill out a report, was given like 6 mini bottles of water, and fussed over for an embarrassingly long amount of time. they tried to scurry me on out of there, but i told them of the fast-approaching-wedding date- and they realized that in spite of my golf-ball bump on my head, i wasn't going anywhere. so they brought in 3 other seamstresses, and i was doted on and fitted like i imagine Kate Middleton (or Sleeping Beauty, maybe?) to be. and they finished in about 10 minutes- and the cute ladies all gave me hugs and kisses on their way out. the Greek Grandma was the last to leave and said, with tears in her eyes, "i'm so glad you're ok! i thought you died! you didn't wake up for so long! God bless you, sweet heart." and then she did the crucifix signal across her heart. such a cute, dramatic lil woman!

and so that was my crazy-dress saga.
oh the things we women do in the name of beauty!
seriously though, why does crap like that always happen to me?
i guess it's a good story to tell.
and heaven knows i like a good story to tell.

xoxo

holga: M's birthday.

last night Alice was up all night.
she's been doing that lately. waking up, and then not going back to sleep.
M takes a turn for a while, but then she just cries and cries for Mama, so i get my lazy butt out of bed and take on the irreplaceable role as Mama, even though i can't stop thinking about my pillow and the dream about sprinkles cupcakes i was just having.
something about being up with a kid who normally sleeps through the night makes me very cranky between the hours of 1 - 4 am. "what is wrong with you!?" often fires through my brain. and "why can't M get his lazy butt out of bed and help?" even though he had just been up with her too. what can i say, i'm not my most rational self in the middle of the night.
so i found myself a pillow and blanket and laid by Alice's crib. i sung to her for a good hour and then got too tired. after that every 5 minutes she'd desperately call, "Mama!?" and i'd say, "i'm right here." and she'd settle back in and try to fall asleep.
it made me sad to think i was mad at her. i mean i don't think she wants to be up in the middle of the night, either. who knows what's going on in that little body.
by about 7 am, i heard some snoring from her crib and we both slept for about an hour, when Ellie found me on the floor and excitedly body slammed me. we all crawled in her bed and i just wanted to be asleep the rest of the day.
that's when my hero steps in.
he told me, i'm taking them for the day. you get some sleep and i'll see you later.

what a guy, i tell you.
my hero really.
that seemingly small gesture means the world to me today.

and while i love my little family- and all the fun we have together (like on that sunny beach day of his birthday), my guy knows when i just need a day off from it all.

so glad i get to keep him forever and ever.

xoxo

strange, somewhat hostile babbles bubbling over.

hi blogosphere.
i woke up in a horrible mood today.

it was 6:45 when i first heard Alice yelling in her bed. and then Ellie three seconds after that. and by 7:00am they were screaming at each other. whhhhhyyyyyyy??, i thought to myself. and i'm still thinking it.

oh and did i mention that Ellie had wet the bed? yeah, changing pee-sheets is not my favorite start to the day.

the girls have been soooo grumpy the last few days. and so now i'm grumpy. it was only a matter of time.  because grumpy kids = grumpy mom. my patience has grown prosciutto-thin...(i don't even think i've ever eaten prosciutto, i just heard Ellen make that analogy once and i wanted to be cool and use it too). anyway, i don't know what my girls' deal is. something they ate? three days ago? (because it's been going on for three days straight. serenity now.). not enough sleep? (they're waking up at the crack of dawn...but i don't know how to stop that.) behavioral issues that need to be seen by a specialist? (because i just can't take the whining and bullying and crying anymore...and i just know they have some sort of pill that can make it stop).

so then once i was already in a bad mood, i just started dwelling on all the junk in my life right now.

like headaches/migraines. waking up with headaches is super lame! will i always need diet coke every day of my life for the rest of my life?

andddddd i'm more than kinda annoyed that my shorts are so tight right now. why the H are my shorts tight right now? i'm not pregnant, it's almost summer, i've been exercising, and yet my shorts are tight. and before i was wearing these shorts, i had changed because i couldn't button my jeans. well, i could button them, but i couldn't breathe for more than three breaths without wanting to puke, and that's basically the same thing as not being able to button them. and so, since it ticks me off, i bought a loaf of bread from Andersen Bakery. it helps ease the pain.

and then i feel ticked off thinking that eating bread is probably the bulk of my problems. why can't bread make me skinny? well, it sure doesn't and that makes me mad.

and then i look at the piles of laundry. ooohhh the laundry. laundry totally ticks me off. especially on holiday weeks. because Monday is usually my laundry day, and when Monday is a holiday, it totally throws off my groove. and now i still have unfolded baskets of laundry infesting my life on Wednesday. and i'm mad at them. so instead of folding them today, i made a spontaneous visit to TJ Maxx (my favorite store. do you like TJ Maxx? or is it just me?) where i bought a black maxi skirt that didn't need washing OR folding, and that i could wear comfortably (unlike my shorts and pants. because the thought of that is still ticking me off). and then i had buyer's remorse. because i rarely leave a store (even Safeway) without feeling buyer's remorse.

and then guess what? i came home and the laundry was still here. (enter swear-word here). so i turned on the TV because surely that could distract me getting it done. and guess what. there's been NO tv on. nothing new on my DVR to watch. [anger.] i can't waste my time folding laundry if i don't have anything to watch. what am i going to do? how am i ever going to get this laundry done now?

so you see. i'm a conflicted, disgruntled, and hostile soul today.

on a much lighter note: these girls are darling.


Ellie has a ballet recital on Saturday that i can't wait to see. look at that cute tutu! ah, i'm dying over it. after three seconds of Ellie trying on her costume, Alice demanded to be in one too. Alice wants to be just like her big sister. and Ellie is pretty cute, so i get it. i just wish Ellie would see how much Alice idolizes her and be a little (lot) kinder to her. i want my children to be kind, you know? we have not been the kind house this week.

and another exciting thing that almost boosted me out of my bad mood is that Alice's Cirucs Party is featured on Apartment Therapy today! (it would have totally boosted me out of my bad mood if they gave me a million dollars for the awesome party submission + a spell to make my pants button comfortably. but whatevs.) here's the link-

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/best-kids-parties-the-circus-my-party-171980?img_idx=1

go check it out! thanks to Megs for encouraging me to submit it. it's kinda fun to be famous for a day. or something like that.

xoxo

p.s. a special thank you to my hubs who loves me in spite of hostile days like this. he even wrote me a love-note on our bathroom mirror this morning after i'd most-assuredly rolled my eyes and said something snotty under my bad-morning-breath. man, i'm over the moon for that guy.

being a grown-up stinks when...

- you realize that getting mail stinks because 90% of it is bills, 9.5% of it is junk, and only .5% is the cool stuff to look forward to.

- the baby barfs or poops everywhere...and you realize that you're the one that's going to have to clean that up. 

- you wake up early to get the laundry done, only to find a rat scurrying around your garage. so you pee your pants (only to add to the laundry pile), scream really loud, wake the children....then have hot flashes all day long as you feel violated by that disgusting creature paroozing in your stuff.

- your free time consists of making phone calls to your city Vector and Critter Control companies.

- you can't find anything this cute in your own size.

{(the left pic is the front view of this swim suit, the right pic is the back view of the swim suit) and can i just add: i cannot wait to see Alice's lil chunky thighs in that swim-suit.... come to me, summer + sunshine!}

- your lawn is overgrown with crabgrass and other noxious weeds and you're the one who has to figure out how to fix it...because it just looks white-trash.

- you open the fridge to see delicious juice-boxes and chocolate milk, but remember your butt and waist-line need trimming down, not beefing up. so you pour yourself a glass of water instead.

- you have to work really, really hard to get up the motivation to exercise...and even once you're done, all you want to do is eat razzleberry pie for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...which would make your hard-earned exercise obsolete. so you just nibble at it instead. which leads to consuming more of the pie than you would have consumed if you would have just served yourself one piece from the beginning. sigh.

- the laundry is this high. and you're the one who has to do it.

- the one thing you want more than anything in this world is to pee in privacy. and you can't because there's a little person who has become your little shadow...even to the toilet.

 {yes, i took a picture of my toilet solely for this post}

- the main thing you're looking forward that day is bed-time. your own bed-time.

- you have to go to the DMV. no further explanation needed.

- you have to make big decisions about work and life. and you wish someone would just tell you what to do because it's hard to make big decisons. like, really hard.

anyone else crave being a toys-r-us kid every once in a while?

p.s. my real purpose in posting right now was to remind all of you how much i looaaatthhheee April Fool's Day. no tricks please. or gags. or giggles at my expense. i am wayyyy too sensitive for that. (i guess this goes along with my post...because i'm pretty sure as a kid i wasn't so uptight and thought April Fool's Day was hilarious...but now i realize i'm just a gullible sap and hate being the butt of everyone's jokes).

phew. so glad i got that reminder out there.

xoxo