A Little Visit

My parents came out for a little visit this past weekend and it was a really good time. They finally got to meet their first grand-daughter and were able to get in some quality time with all of us. We did a few things around town, but we mostly stayed in and just hung out, cooked & ate...
They arrived into Erie last Thursday night, and Neil had prepared his spaghetti & meatballs. Yum! Friday we headed over to our favorite restaurant - McGarrey's for lunch. Josephine was well rested from her nap, and hung out at the table with us...

My mom enjoyed her turkey reuben...

We spent the afternoon grocery shopping at Wegmans and then just spending time at home...

That night I was able to get tickets from work to go to the Bayhawks game, which is our local D-League team. As you all know, my parents LOVE basketball...of course, my mother is obsessed with it. Needless to say, it was a good time! We only stayed until halftime because little one has a bed time...but here is a picture of what pretty much describes the night...

And yes, they're wearing purple...always purple. Goooo LAKERS!!! They represent their team no matter where they are.
Saturday we had a low key morning. Neil made us breakfast and it was an opportunity for the adults to catch up while baby was sleeping. After Jos' nap and lunch, we headed over to the Convention Center (where I work on Thursdays) - where they were having a dog show. We all love doggies, so it was a great way to spend a couple hours...I mean, why not? I didn't take any photos of this - not sure why. There were some great dogs, all in one building. They are always serving up good food there, so we made our way & had some lunch...courtesy of the convention center - I work for some great people I tell ya! We then made our way up to the 2nd floor where my boss happened to be in the building & working....on a Saturday. It was nice though, to be able to show my parents my work space & have them meet at least one of my bosses.
On our way home, we of course stopped at Romolo's - I mean, it was right. there.
We came home and my mother got to cooking while I had a notepad in hand. There are 2 things that she made us growing up, that I still haven't mastered - pansit and this tomato chicken stew thing you eat over rice. Well, I wrote down EVERY.THING. Autumn came over at one point & hung out w/my crazy family. Love her. She's the best.
Well, that was our visit w/my CA family. It was filled with snow & cold weather, which they loved bytheway. It was a great time. Here is a final shoot we had with grandma & grandpa...

We dropped Jos off at Grandma Cindy's, and headed to Cleveland where they were then off to Omaha, NE to visit with Jeri, Kristen and my 4 nephews.
I was definitely more on the sad side of things after the drop off...I really miss my mama. I felt drained...my brain is constantly thinking "CA or PA?" Especially now. Josephine is in the world, and it makes things a lot more hard...but all of that is for another day, another post....

Neil & I definitely couldn't be in Cleveland and not eat at Melt. This is the entry way. I love it...

It was a nice lunch date w/my baba.
On our way out of Cleveland Heights, we stopped at Neil's favorite coffee place: Caribou Coffee. That little stopped turned out to be a blessing because a snow storm came through & dumped inches of snow...and we just followed behind it...thank you Jesus!

I needs to blog.
I'm working on it.
As of today, I have a 10 month old.
I attempted to take photos last night, but she thinks it's a game when I tell her to stay. Apparently to her "stay" means "go" and she books it to the edge of the bed, or whatever she's on. It's super fun - but not last night. I was frustrated. But whatever right? She's cute...

Oh, and I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this - but she LOVES music & dances. I'm afraid to show this video because near the end Neil and I are (jokingly) yelling at each other about final Jeopardy...well, more like, he's yelling at the tv...and....you'll see if you watch it 'til the end...Video: Josephine Dancin'
Turn the volume up a bit so you can hear her toy.
You see she ignores our conversation & just keeps playing her music. Precious.
So, this will have to hold you folks over until I get the time to post about the holidays...

Back it up!

I can't believe I haven't blogged about the holidays of 2011 yet. Since the iphone has been in my life, I never go online at home. So. Moving on...the holidays were AWESOME! As much as I wanted to be back in CA for the holidays, it was once again nice to be here in Erie where Neil's family is. They're always a good time. And believe me, I'm going to start my campaign on Thanksgiving or Christmas 2012 in CA soon...it takes awhile to convince my husband of a good idea....we'll see what happens...

This was the weekend of Thanksgiving. Decorating the house, and putting up Josephine's pink Christmas tree - my new favorite thing. I already can't wait to deck out her room next year. I have ideas. (Thank you pinterest).
Thanksgiving day we went to Aunt Ann & Uncle Fred's place...
Here is Jos & Grandma Cindy:

The next day, we went to an annual event here in Erie called "Festival of the Trees" where all local companies come together & each decorate a tree. I've gone every year that I've lived here & it's something I look forward to. It was really great this year because it was at one of the facilities I work at, at the Convention Center. We packed up the little one & headed over...the trees were beautiful.

Oh and in this little collage, is how I set up Josephine's room for Christmas...

Onto Christmas Eve...

We decided to spend the night at Cindy's Christmas Eve Eve night...we planned on being there Christmas Eve morning anyway, why not? Plus, we wanted to test the waters of Jos sleeping at grandma's. Here are a few pictures from our time there...

Just to let you know, she slept perfectly! Yay! I didn't hear a peep out of her. I, however, didn't get any sleep. We brought Cali with us, and she had anxiety or something all night. She was restless, which kept me up all night. I don't think I've ever had more coffee in my life, then I did that day...
We literally ate allllll day, and watched Christmas movies...it was wonderful.
The next morning we had Cindy come to our house for stockings & breakfast - a tradition that was always my favorite as a kid, and would love to start having in my home from now on....

Here is Josephine playing with her favorite toy from grandma Cindy:

The following weekend was New Years Eve and we had decided, along with Erin & Leroy, that we'll just hang out - keep it low key and hope we stay up 'til midnight. There was waaaay too much food, of course. It was a good time for sure. And we did it! We stayed up to ring in the new year, watching Dick Clark's New Years Rockin' Eve - not that we knew who the performers were. Talk about feeling old. The good news? Josephine didn't cry ONCE while Leroy was here. For some reason she breaks out into tears when she sees him - but as you can see, she's over that....

Well. That sums it up! Nothing too crazy....
I got "The Help" for Christmas, and here's just a random picture of Josephine watching it along w/me. Her outfit is cute....

Guilt

I've been working a lot these last few weeks, and I've been feeling extremely guilty about it. On top of working, there's my gym time that I squeeze in when I can. After a 12 hour day today, I drove home with a heavy heart.

I kept checking the time while at work, and as the clock struck 8:00 - Josephine's bedtime, I wanted to cry. Neil is usually the one that puts her to bed & gives her last bottle, but I didn't see her at all today. Except for the 1st hour & a half of her day this morning.

Is she aware I'm not around?

I went straight to her room & watched her sleep for a couple minutes. What I really wanted to do was pick her up & squeeze her!!!!

Fall

Surprisingly enough we haven't had any serious snow yet, and it's almost December. I'm shocked! And we've had the most amazing Fall weather - absolutely perfect. I mean, take a look at these trees:

Jack-o-lanterns we made:

Obsessed with pinterest, where I learned to make this wreath:
(I did add a few flowers & such...didn't take a photo though - so strange. I ended up giving this one to my friend Autumn. Plan to make more!)

I have always wanted to be considered a "crafter" but never put my craftiness into action. Well, except for quilting. Thanks to my friend Virginia, I've been quilting for 10 years or so, and still love doing that. Since pinterest is in my life, I've taken action. It's so much fun. I want to refinish every furniture piece in my house, mod podge every photo, and basically - I want to just hang out at Hobby Lobby...
My next project, Christmas stockings. Oh! And head bands for Josephine...annnnd for myself. We'll see how all of that turns out. I have a really bad habit of rough draft projects. I learn to master something, and the 1st drafts end up in the trash. Don't judge. Slight case of OCD? It's very possible.

I have been aching for CA these last few months, and I came across this shirt at Old Navy:

This shirt is meant to be in my possession. I chose not to buy it though...we're trying to save all we can to actually visit my home state. So, I texted it to the husband in hopes it'll end up under the Christmas tree this year....?
We've had some lazy days around here. It must be the weather....

We find ourselves in the living room most nights, watching anything from the Wonder Years, to Sons of Anarchy, to Arrested Development...it's nice & cozy here in the Hartman house. On occasion we'll have a visitor. But it's mostly just us. We're happy with that. :)

Driving to my friend Autumn's house after work last week, and the sky looked like this:

I didn't edit this photo one bit. Seriously? How extraordinary is that?!!!
As of last Friday, we have an 8 month old in the house. She is so dang precious!!!!!!!!!! I'll sing to her (usually Adele), and it ain't pretty - let me tell you...but she'll just smile & sway side to side. Anytime the Wonder Years intro song comes on, she'll zone in on the tv, and smile - she loves that song. She also does this shy thing. When I tell her no, she hides her face in her arm. (Breaks my heart every single time.) When someone new talks to her, she'll go all shy as well - hiding her face either in my neck, or in her arm. It is seriously the cutest thing. Here are some recent photos of the munchkin:

8 months?!! It's already going by too fast. It shouldn't be a shock to everyone that I'm already thinking about what to do for her 1st birthday party. (I haven't even started on my Christmas cards yet. Goodness.)
Sorry this post was all over the place. I just reread it, and it really just jumps all over. Sorry!

7 months (oops, never posted this...)

*I just went to post a new blog about our little girl being 8 months, and here this 7 month blog sat in list to edit - unposted. Whoops.

A lot has happened in the Hartman house these last few weeks. We have a mover on our hands. Her name is Josephine and she is FAST. And since she feels the need to eat, bite, lick everything she gets her hands on - we're on watch constantly. Which is not a problem. We enjoy playing on the floor with her, and watch her little body move all over the house. I've learned that if I set myself up in a certain spot on the floor, I can keep her in the living room. She's so sweet...she'll come over, play with and climb on mommy - then venture off to her toys and play. Then repeat. Not only is she crawling, she's pulling herself up to standing. There is so much joy in her face when she accomplishes this... She'll be walking before we know it. It is freaking Neil out. He basically refuses to allow her to grow up. And admitted yesterday that he'll be crying, along with me, when we send her off to school. I get choked up just thinking about it. Um. She's only 7 months old, and these are things we're already thinking about. It's sick really.

Some pictures:

*8 month blog coming up soon....

Harry Potter Corn Maze...

...Neil had been talking about this corn maze he heard about for weeks, that's in Edinboro, and we decided that we'd go....as long as it was during the day.
(Okay, let's be honest - I don't like this time of year. Well, I love the Fall weather, leaves changing, pumpkin patches, the smell in the air....what I don't like? Halloween. Scary movies. Anything creepy.)
Anyways. We went. During the day. We did find out hours before we left that it was Harry Potter themed. We almost didn't go. We both don't care for Harry Potter. But since the weather was absolutely beautiful outside, how could we not go? It turned out to be extremely fun! There were 16 mailboxes hidden in there, inside were stickers w/the characters' name on them - and the goal was to collect all 16. Neil's mom Cindy had gone the day before, and found 8. So, we set a goal to at least find 9. Sooo we're competitive...don't judge. We hunted and conquered and ended up finding all 16! Josephine just hung out in the bjorn, and even though she didn't say it - she seemed to have had a good time :)

The entrance (and exit).....and inside the maze...

Finding a mailbox.....falling behind for a photo....

Pretty trees....second-to-the-last mailbox we found....

As you can see in the above left photo, Neil took over wearing the bjorn...
She fell asleep...

Precious.
An aerial view of the maze:

Can you see it?

Munchkin had a bath later that night:

Love her.

Brooke

Brooke came to visit!!!!!!!!!
First, let's discuss the day of pick up. Autumn came w/me to Cleveland and we literally spent ALL day shopping. All. Day. We ate at Cheesecake Factory, which turned out to be a mistake. We ate way too much and spent way too much. It was a good time in the end - of course. I love time spent with Autumn. :)
Well. Brooke ended up missing her flight - not her fault...some sort of mix up w/the terminal... anyways, she didn't get in until 9:30pm. Autumn & I got to the airport about an hour early. Why? Um, because we were exhausted from shopping and we really couldn't spend one more dollar... and we people watched at the airport - that's always fun. There are the strangest people at airports.
Brooke shows up! Yay! We get her bags, get to the car and make our way to Melt. Melt. Yummy Melt. The kitchen closed at 11pm, and we got there at 10:30. So we rushed to place our order. Since the bar didn't close 'til 2am, we were able to just hang out & eat & catch up. Such a good time.
The rest of the weekend was so much fun! Brooke got to meet Josephine, and spend time with her. We had girls night Friday night over at Autumn's. Even though there were some last minute no-shows, it was a great night all around. Girl talk, coffee, snacks. I meant to take pictures of this night, but all I got were pictures of the decorations (photos below). Nice, right?
What wasn't fun? The rain. The non-stop rain. Brooke loved it, but I was getting extremely frustrated. It was perfect Fall weather before she came, and then the day of her arrival - up until she left Monday - cloudy skies & rain. Annoying.
Sunday we headed north, crossed the border to the Canadian side of the Falls. Regardless of the gloom, we had such a great time. Brooke was cold. I, surprisingly, was not.
Pictures from the weekend w/Brooke:

The decor from the Fall party:

Just parked, and we eventually rode this ferris wheel:

Walking to the Falls:

The Falls:

6 month check-up.

When I arrived at Josephine's 6 month appointment at 8:25 (my appt time was 8:15) - I was accepting the fact my day was going to be bit off. I don't do late. Well...45 minutes of waiting in the lobby didn't help the situation, just got me more irritated. That wasn't the first time in this office, and guaranteed it won't be the last - but I love Dr. Fadrigo, so I put up with it. We meet w/the nurse first, she weighs Jos - 15.2 lbs...gaining 2 lbs. in 2 months. Doesn't seem like a lot, but she doesn't seem concerned. The nurse leaves, stating the doc will be right in...
I take this time to shoot pictures of her, because she looks so dang cute:

When the doc finally comes in, Jos is on the table, in her I'm-about-to-crawl position, and a "whooooaaaa" comes out of the doctor's mouth. She asks "how long has she been doing that?"
Dr. Fadrigo checks out Jos, and says she's doing really well. Yay! She's in the 30th percentile in weight, and advanced in her strength...saying "I bet she'll walk by 9 months." All that means to me is trouble, trouble, trouble. I already see signs of speed, urgency and determination. I'm pretty sure we'll be chasing her all over this place.
The appointment runs well past 10:00am, and that means well past Josephine's first nap of the day. Great. She starts to show her crankiness, when the nurse comes in w/3 needles. THREE!!!! Good grief. The nurse does her thing, 1,2,3, all while Jos is looking at me w/this terrible look in her eyes like why are you doing this to me? Kills. Me. She cries, I choke up. I pick her up immediately and squeeze her and love on her. I get her dressed, and we're out the door w/7 canisters of Enfamil formula - talk about spoiled!
My day was non-stop since...
Met w/Autumn to discuss a Fall party her & I are having when my friend Brooke comes into town (next week! Eeek!). And I introduced her to pinterest.com - which is actually super new to me, but we were ooooing and awwwwing at Fall decor and foods.
I made my way to Wegmans, purchased some fruits to puree up for Josephine, and got all the makings of 3 days worth of lunches for me...
Came home.
Had about 20 minutes of down time, where I watched some tv.
Fed Josephine.
Started laundry.
Made pears and peaches for Josephine.
Discovered I need veggies for her - and don't have any in the house...great. We all know I need to get her on veggies PRONTO!
Neil came home.
Neil hunted for Baby Wise on amazon.com for purchase. (We want to change up Jos's schedule, now that she's getting older and eating more solids - so want a bit of help w/that.)
Decided to just upload it onto my Kindle.
Then I hear "Um Dawna, I broke your case." Ugh. Monster!
(He was looking for the kindle's serial number - dont know why! He just needs to log onto my account. Goodness!)
He is such a monster w/stuff. If something doesn't give way, he pushes or pulls - forcing it, and it always breaks. Always.
I immediately call Amazon. My case is pretty amazing...it has a light that pulls out of the corner, which is wonderful for night time reading. (My kindle hooks up to the case, and the power from the kindle is what lights up the case - Neil pulled on the kindle to release it from the case, and snap, the metal hinge broke off...light doesn't work.) So. Amazon. Originally, I got my case through a promotion they were doing months back - and I was sort of hoping I could get the same deal - I mean, it was 50% off the price of $60. Did NOT expect this, just hoping. The customer service agent explained they didn't have any kindle case promotions at the moment, but basically said that since I'm such a good customer, having purchased a lot of ebooks recently, she will go ahead and credit my account $25, to go towards a new case. AMAZING! I love Amazon.

As I'm finishing this off, Neil is playing his guitar to Jos - see:

Precious.