Little Man's First Haircut!

Brody has been rocking the baby mullet for some time now. His hair so light and wispy that I wouldn't dare get rid of any! But then we went swimming... and dunked under... and the next thing I knew... my kid had a rat tail!!! AHHH!!! Yup, this mama knew right then and there that it was time for a haircut. Even though he still looks kinda bald from the front. Even though he has old man hair where there is nothing on top and everything is in the back. Even though he is still just a baby! It was time.

Have a mentioned I'm a procrastinator? Yeah... that swimming experience... that was weeks ago. I finally went online Monday and found a coupon and a fun place to go to get his first haircut. Numerous people had mentioned that they would trim it for me or that I could do it myself, but I wanted it to be special. So off to Kid's Hair we went!

Here is a little sample of the mullet before:

It looks especially awesome when you take off his fleece hat!

During:


Too distracted by all the people to care :)
 

And of course Mickey, Toodles, and the Hot Dog song helped too!

Starting to panic a little...

After:

Don't you dare take my nuk Dad!
 

So handsome! Kelly did a wonderful job - fast, patient, and made it special!
(even though both of us were probably in her way the whole time)

He did great! The only time he panicked a little was during the blow dryer. He thinks it's funny when mama does it in the morning, but not so much when a stranger is doing it to him.

Coming up on the blog...

* New design?

* Making a book club

* How we abuse gas stations

What other topics would you like to see? Of course I'll have a few posts about Brody, but I want it to be more than a baby journal :)

Adios amigos, thanks for tuning in!

Brody Meets Candace (aka the Easter Bunny)

About a week ago, I took Brody over to Jenn's place for a little Easter photo session. She is amazing with kiddos, we have been ecstatic about every session we have done with her so far. If you are interested and live in the area, check out her website.

So usually before photo sessions, I make sure Brody takes a giant nap and eats a full meal to make sure he is in good spirits. This time around... we had gone to church, where he had tried out the toddler room for the hour. Needless to say, he looked exhausted when I picked him up after service. He fell asleep on the way home and I tried to keep him napping a little longer but it didn't work out. We ate some snacks and then headed to Jenn's. He wasn't terribly cranky, but he wasn't very perky either so I was a little nervous about how it would go.

It took some warming up, and a pair of silly bunny ears, but Jenn captured some great photos as usual! Enjoy :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Monday! Have a great week!!!

 

Reading ADD

I blame social media.

It's so easy to hop from story to story on FB, IG, Twitter, etc. so why not do it with your reading material as well?! What makes it worse? Kindle.

Love the easy access (phone, kindle, PC) but it also makes it easy to switch between books and forget to finish a book. Maybe I should take that as a sign - if I forget to finish a book, is it really worth reading?

I have always wanted to be a part of a book club, or start my own. Any takers? Then again... I already feel like there are so many activities I want to do each week. Can we really fit it all in? Here are some of the things I've been thinking about:

* Swimming lessons for Brody (weekly)
* Weekly (preferably bi-weekly, but really really preferable everyday) mama yoga
* Book club (maybe a realistic goal would be once or twice a month?)
* Practice photography and take a class to see if I really like it or I just like the idea of it
* Mama get-togethers with the babies (at least once a month)
* Visit the great-grandparents and other extended family (minimum of once a month)
* Building my Norwex business! I love it but haven't had much time to devote to it yet. I am planning on having a specific office space in our hopefully soon-to-be house will help with this.
* On top of this is Tony's softball schedule, trying to make time for friends, and vacation season!!!

These are just a few of the things I am really going to try to make happen this spring/summer. Hold me accountable mmk? Thanks.

Going back to the "can we really fit it all in" thing from above... do I want to fit it all in? Sometimes I love just being a lazy/go-with-the-flow/impulsive kind of person. Why make so many plans that you don't have time for "life"? I feel like it's such a catch-22. Is "life" the experience of plans that you choose to get you out and about? Or is about hanging out at home and letting life happen to you? And now we're getting deep...

And completely off this post's title. Writing ADD?  

Weekend Update (A day or two late)

Friday: Dinner out for Ashley's birthday! It was delicious. But I can't lie, I was a little bit jealous about the wine. I think I'm having a harder time with this no drinking thing this time around!

I was the sober cab for the drive home and of course we had to be in the middle of an ice storm! The roads were so bad. And of course I wasn't driving my own vehicle, so that only makes things worse. You trust your vehicle and know it's quirks. Someone else's vehicle - all bets are off! On the Cedar bridge crossing the river, we saw three spinout accidents. Needless to say, we took it very slow.

Saturday: Daddy headed down to Mankato for a hockey tournament. Brody and I lounged around in our PJs for the morning. He took a long morning nap while I got ready for St. Patty's Day festivities. We headed out the door around 1pm (right about afternoon nap time). I was hoping a short nap in the car would be a nice refresher for him since he slept almost 2 hours in the morning. Boy was I wrong! First of all, he probably slept for less than 10 minutes. The sun was beating into the back window (we had to take Tony's car since he had my truck out on a road trip). He whined the whole time :( When we finally pulled in the parking lot, he was pretty unhappy. We hung out with family and friends, ate some food, and tried to get Brody to catch a few zzz's in our arms, but it just didn't work out. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

He of course slept the whole way home, and then I tried to sneak him up to his crib so mama could get a little nap in (the tiredness is starting to set in). Nope. He didn't really like that idea. So I changed back into my PJs and we headed downstairs to play. I fixed my hubby's PS3, ordered some pizza, and we played with his farm toys. After dinner, we took the dog out to play which Brody always thinks is hilarious. I CANNOT WAIT UNTIL SPRING! Our family needs to be outside.

Back to my fun Saturday night... I went to bed right after I put Brody down, around 8pm! Amazing what pregnancy can do to your body.

Sunday: We headed to church a little early so I could register Brody for the toddler room. He didn't fuss or even seem to notice when I left... but he didn't look so great when we picked him up! He was snuggling with one of the volunteers looking dog tired. Some days he doesn't seem to need that morning nap, but other days he craves it. I think this was one of the days.

After church, we headed over to Jenn's house for some pics with a real live bunny! Brody didn't get it at first, but after we tried on some bunny ears, he seemed to perk up. He loves to be silly with anything that goes on your head... sunglasses, hats, bunny ears, you get it.

Daddy came home around four, and Mama escaped to get a pedicure with Abby.

All in all, just another weekend in the life of the Conarys :0)

Arriving This November...

... baby #2! We are so happy, excited, and feeling blessed!

I was recently participating in a weight loss challenge. It was supposed to go Jan 15th - May 15th. I was in 3rd place at the time I found out I was pregnant, with 5.98% body weight lost!

So I am starting out about 5-10lbs lighter than when I was pregnant with Brody. But I can say that I'm a little nervous about getting here again...

I gained about 25-30 pounds total last time (I stopped weighing myself after my due date... Brody was 10 days late). I felt comfortable with this weight gain and hope I can stick to that goal again. Wish me luck!

Positivity... It's Contagious

Ok, hold onto your seats. I'm getting on my soapbox...

SMILE!

"Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results." - Willie Nelson

"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily." - Zig Ziglar

(I'm a sucker for Zig Ziglar!)

Mr. Smarty with Gramps Smarty

Reset yourself everyday! The more often you change your way of thinking, the easier and more natural it will become until one day it is simply your personality! Maybe this idea feels overwhelming for you. But start small. And practice! Remember when you were trying to learn how to play a sport? Or an instrument for middle school band? You sucked at first. But you practiced and became better! You probably didn't turn pro, but you were good. And showing off your new skill made you proud and gave you warm fuzzies.

Positive thinking is the same way. Practice everyday. Even just a little thing like checking yourself out in the mirror and telling yourself how amazing you look! Or being grateful for the sun shining this morning when you woke up. Laugh. Sing (even if you're awful). Oh, and stop watching the news. Or at least cut back. It's full of negativity and scare tactics.

Karma. The Golden Rule. Whatever you want to call it, your attitude and how you treat people is contagious and will reflect right back to you.

Practicing his walking!

Off my box now. Thanks for tuning in!

(P.S. Laugh!)

Two Goals

I love me some good goal-setting. For about two weeks... maybe. Then I usually slump back into regular life. Just sayin. So here it goes... a few ideas/inspirations/goals for 2013. Or maybe just January.

1) More Yoga. And Zumba.
2) Less TV. Less FB.

That's it. Attainable. But not easy. At least not for this mama, stuck in her habits of 2012.

So how did Day 1 go? (I don't count Jan. 1st... Brody and I were having a chill day, plus I wanted to rebel against the bandwagon a tiny bit). Day 1 went relatively well! I did an hour of yoga, right after Brody went to bed. AMAZING. Why do I forget to do something that feels so wonderful? Seriously, I ended in the corpse pose (not as scary as it sounds if you're a yoga newbie) and could feel the warm, liquidy, delicious healing vibes running through my body. Why would I ever deny my body of that pleasure?! Who knows. But I hope to keep it rocking through the end of this week. As for zumba... maybe this weekend :) Goal number 2... definitely cut back on the FB today. I didn't check it at work, but it is crazy how often I just pick up my phone and start browsing out of habit. How did I pass the time before smartphones??? Maybe this is a part of why adults feel they have ADD.

As for the rest of my evening... tried to make the most of the short time with my Brodyman because I had to work late. We shared some goldfish crackers, chased the dog, he splashed around in the tub, and was out by 7:45. I also did a double take looking for my dog:

 

Can you see him better in my Instagram version? Filters rock.

 

And I realize our TV is kind of ridiculous for the size of this apartment. But we paid cash back when we got it two years ago, so I don't feel too bad about it.

 

Finished up the night with a glass of wine and my planner. Mama nerd alert!



 

Happy 2013 friends! Wishing you the best this year and reminding you that although you may set lofty goals and not always reach them, you tried. And that's called living.

Been so long since I've blogged I forgot a title/blogger totally changed!

January 1st, 2013. A New Year. Social media is full of promises, wishes, and reflection. Although I am a sucker for fresh starts, hope, goal setting, and planners, today I kept it low-key with my boy.

We played with a few new toys, made up some of our own, giggled, and snuggled. We experimented with toddler snack cups full of cheerios. Opened drawers and gnawed on everything inside. Drool literally poured out of Brody's mouth today. He almost looks like a Halloween character... his top four are struggling to break through with jagged corners sticking out here and there.

 

B can almost walk. He can practically run across the room while pushing his musical walker or scooty car thing. He can race up the stairs. He is action packed and doesn't seem to be afraid of anything (except loud sneezes). Today I packed up his size 12 month clothing, even my favorite monster fleece jammies. We ate pizza for dinner. He drank regular whole milk, not breast milk or formula. He smiled at everyone we saw at Target instead of shying away. Mama tried to get some extra snuggles before bed by singing and rocking but Brody just wanted to be put down in his crib. Damn it. We sleep trained him too well! ha

January 1st, 2013. The day my baby became 11 months old. And I realized he's almost not a baby anymore.