A City Life For Me

We’ve made a few changes around the Hamilton household recently.  They really are just little things, but we are enjoying the new and I thought I would share.  They are mostly diet changes.  We didn’t eat bad things before, but things were probably not quite as balanced as they should have been. I suppose my first indicator came when Elaine started asking for cookies all the time.  Or maybe when she walked out of the kitchen with a bag of potato chips before breakfast.  And I confess that my pregnancy cravings were not healthy.  And Elaine got to indulge in everything that I did when I was expecting Nolan.  Most days Ben dashes out the door without breakfast, or with just a piece of toast.  And he frequently reminds me that diabetes runs in his family so we should be careful with the sugar.  I used to make a batch of cookies every week.  I would set some aside for Ben’s lunches and Elaine and I (and sometimes Ben) would help to ea...

My roomie in college used to say, “That was random with a capital A” whenever I did or said something…well, random.  I guess these things are random with a capital E because Elaine did them! A couple of weeks ago Ben was sick and missed four days of work.  When he vacated his “spot” in the bed, Elaine seized the opportunity.  She crawled up there, covered herself with the blanket, grabbed the box of Nyquil, and started fake coughing.  I asked Elaine if she wanted cereal or eggs for breakfast.  She indicated eggs, so I asked, “hot or cold?”  She started hitting herself in the head.  Oh…she wants hard boiled eggs.  Yup – Daddy taught her that one.  She loves hard boiled eggs! Side note: Do you know how hard it is to get a non-blurry picture of someone cracking an egg on their head? Elaine recently discovered the “big girl” swings at the park.  It’s hard to get her home! Elaine got invited to her first birthd...

Today I am grateful for: A husband who spent his unexpected day off wiping noses, changing diapers, washing dishes, and changing laundry.  He wanted to help me out because I wasn’t feeling well. A washing machine at home.  Right now it is broken again, but hopefully it will be fixed soon.  Going to the laundry mat with my two littles definitely adds a lot of work! A working computer.  When my computer updated this week, it caused major problems to my registry and caused a lot of programs to fail.  Now it is working again, and I am thankful. Tech support in English.  Even though my Microsoft tech support agent was clearly in (or from) another part of the world, I could understand her English clearly and we were able to solve the problem {it only took three hours on the phone and about 50 re-boots}. Carbonite.  If you don’t have Carbonite backup for your computer, you are asking for trouble! ...

otherwise known as Daddy’s team vs. Grampa’s team. How does Nolan feel about this rivalry? “Baseball is so exciting!  Mom!  The Orioles are winning!  Can you believe it?”  {And of course I could not!} “NO!  The Red Sox just scored!” “Phew.  We pulled it off.  Go Orioles!” Editor’s Note:  Pictures are from the game on Monday, September 26th, not the game on Tuesday, September 27th.  Sadly, Boston won game 2.

I purchased a little pair of handmade pants from my blogger friend Marah ( Diary of a Devil Dog Wife ) for Nolan to wear home from the hospital.  Unfortunately, they were too big for him when he was born.  Additionally it was very hot in June, so Nolan didn’t end up wearing any pants at all!  Finally the weather is cooling off.  Nolan is chunking up, and we are loving these reversible easy diaper change pants !

Did you know I was born in England?  My dad was stationed there with the Air Force.  While overseas, my mom bought this little German dress.  She has saved it all these years (we won’t say how many), and she gave it to me for Elaine to wear.   This is me and my baby doll, Mary.  It’s the only picture I have of me wearing the dress. The dress is wool, so it was too heavy for the summer.  When the weather turned last week, Elaine got her first opportunity to wear it.    It’s really special to me that Elaine can wear some of the same things that I wore (it helps that our birthdays are only five days apart).  She also wore the same little red dress for her newborn portraits as I wore in my newborn picture!

This week I am trying to be thankful for bad days and hard times, and the lessons that we learn.  God is teaching me patience, and to rejoice when He allows hard times to come.  My “hard times” are really very mild compared to what some people (even some of you) are facing or have faced.  But they are hard to me right now.  I guess it can all be summed up in the phrase, “It’s just been one of those days.”  Or in my case, weeks.  Everything culminated on Wednesday.  I know that one day I will be able to laugh about, even though I was terribly stressed out this week.  Even now, I can start to chuckle.  So I thought I would give you a little glimpse into my life for a day…as an urban mommy in New York City with two littles under two years old.  Here is an excerpt from my journal…it’s kind of long, but it paints the picture.  Maybe you can relate, or just laugh along with me. It has been “one of those weeks.” I think that Satan i...

I found some t-shirts for a steal at the bargain store last week.  I nabbed three of them to make Elaine some more skirts.  Today (okay, it’s after midnight.  Make that yesterday ) I finally pulled out the sewing machine and set to work. Do you have any idea how long it takes to do a simple task when you’re caring for an almost-two-year-old (who has a very 2 year old attitude), a two-month old, and a sick husband?  Well let’s just say this little project, and a little hemming, took me all day!  But now it’s done and Elaine is happy! {Here’s my original post on this skirt, and a link to the original tutorial } I took the ruffle from the grey skirt to accent the pink skirt. The black skirt – first one I made.  She looked so…grown up going to church on Wednesday.  She is carrying the purse that Mrs. Neiner gave her as a newborn – the purse that started the addiction!  And inside she has her Bible…where did the time go? I loved...

Elaine has her Bunny (who has been assigned a permanent place in the crib, and has been rejected for the more-fun-to-play-with baby doll).  Nolan wasn’t really given any stuffed animals.  We were talking the other day and wondered if he would have a “special friend.”  Then he started chewing on everything he could get his hands on.  Usually it’s his blanket, pacifier strap, or lately his little stuffed elephant rattle from Mrs. Neiner.  So…we dubbed it Nolan’s Ryan!  Just to have fun, and to make you wonder if we really did name Nolan after that baseball great!  Perhaps they will become inseparable friends… And happily, the weather turned cool today.  The breeze and the temperature were perfect for fall, and called for a coat in order to go outside!  Nolan got to get bundled up for the first time. 

Elaine obviously got bored sharing the book, which caused Nolan to scream, “She’s not showing me the pictures!” (And as I type this Elaine and is pointing and saying, “he chying, he chying.”

Here are a few of my card and crafty projects from recently… Post It Organizers from Chicnscratch .  They were gifts for our Sunday School teachers.  I “designed” and printed the saying in Word since I didn’t have a stamp that I liked for this occasion. You could add a smaller Post-It pad or page markers below the large pad, but I opted not too.  On the left is a little pocket. Cards using my new Sizzix Texturizer (compliments of Mom): The polka-dot background is raised and embossed, as is the flower design. A thank you card – I loved finding ribbon that said “Thank You” on it – perfect for card making! This was my favorite – love the colors!  Just an encouragement card for a friend. Card for a friend who is having a little girl… I also liked the colors on this one – a card for my in-laws who just celebrated their 29th wedding anniversary!