Lots of firsts...

Yesterday was a really busy day for us.

We had a couple early morning appointments at our house for different things and then at 11:30 was Alayna's first class at My Gym. It is similar to a Gymboree class. It is a classroom enviroment but an active one. The first 5 minutes were free time and the kids got to run around and check everything out. Then it was circle time and that is where things got rough. It was already Alayna's nap time so when I tried taking her away from the equipment and with everyone else - she wasn't having it. She had a mini meltdown so we stepped outside for a bit. Then we tried going in again and I knew it wasn't going to work. So next week we are going to try an early morning class and see if that works better for us.

I am also looking into Pre School's for her in the Fall. Since she stays home with me I am trying to get her socialized and introduce her to different situations. She is very outgoing and plays great with other kids - she just doesn't listen to the teachers in the ballet class we went to or during circle time. I am sure some of it is her age but also that she hasn't done anything like that before.

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And last night was my first class of bead making with my friend Anita! I was really excited to go! Anita had already taken the classes at this arts center last year and she does great work - she even sells her beautiful beads! I don't consider myself very artsy - but I sure had fun! These are all the rods of soft class that we worked with.

There are 8 people in the class of all levels. You work in front of a propane torch and heat up your mandrel and glass rod until it melts. Then you twirl the glass on the mandrel and *try* to make a bead. You can make all sorts of shapes and use tools to help manipulate the glass. It definately takes practice.

And here is the lovely bracelet I made last night.

Just kidding. All of those beads were made by the instructor, Marta. :P but I can't wait to see how mine turned out next week. They get dried in the kiln overnight and when I go back I get to see them! Stay tuned...

Do we have a winner?

One of my adorably cute bunny shirts is being featured and given away to one lucky winner over on Simply Sentimental, the blog! Click for your chance to win!

Up 2

Today was our day down in Boston. There is nothing better than having a quick trip down there, a good visit, and a quick trip back home. Paul gained 2 pounds and everything else is great. It must have been that cookie dough ice cream cake I got him from Cold Stone Creamery!

I have been up to my ears in orders from Alayna's Closet. It is so nice to see them coming in. My Easter Bunny shirts and outfit are selling really well. And I was even featured in this blog because she loved her shirt so much!


I still have several days until I have completed all outstanding orders. so back to work I go!

It's snowing again...

We have just been plugging away, doing our thing, and waiting for Spring. Not much new has happened around here. So no news is good news I guess!
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Alayna did go to her very first ballet class this past week. Eden and Annelina also took the Baby Dance with Me class.


It was only 30 minutes long and I think I spent half of it chasing Alayna around the room. The moms stay in the class and interact with the kids and music. There are some basic steps thrown in, although the class is pretty unstructured. Mostly the girls all looked so adorable in their tutus! Here is Alayna and Eden doing their first Arabesque en Barre.




This was only a trial class and I am not sure we will be signing up the girls just yet. Alayna especially doesn't understand the whole classroom setting and I don't know if it will benefit her. But boy is she just delicious in her ballerina outfit!

Have a fantastic week everyone!

Etsy :: Treasury West List

Check out Alayna (and my shirt) being featured in this Treasury on Etsy! Leave a comment and it might make it to the front page!

Etsy :: Treasury West List

yum!

Today I had to take Buttercup and Hannah to the vets for their annual checkups and I decided to stop and pick up dinner. A few weeks ago the doctors gave Paul the ok to eat takeout pizza. He hasn't wanted to try before since his belly was still nauseous. But now that he is doing well and eating atleast 1 or 2 small meals everyday - I thought I would give it a try. I brought home a couple of take and bake pizzas from Foodees, and Paul had one small slice of each! That is so good to see!

Small steps. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today is going to be a quiet day at home for us. The weather is pretty chilly and windy outside.




Alayna and Eden have already received many wonderful gifts, cards, balloons, flowers, and candy from us and other family and friends.





I also wanted to let you all know about Paul's appointment this past week. It was moved to Thursday and went really well. My good friend Anita watched Alayna for us so I could go in with Paul. He still weighed the same as the last two visits, 184. But he was given the go ahead to start eating raw fruits and vegetables. This whole time he has been on a neutropenic diet, which means everything has to be cooked, and he couldn't have any thin skinned fruit or vegetables. But he has been craving a salad. So I went to the grocery store and stocked up and made him his first salad. He ate it up and best of all - kept it down! He also changed one of his medications - as far as time and taking it with food - not Ensure. So far it seems to have made all the difference in the world. He isn't feeling nauseous in the late afternoon and is eating a small variety of meals. If he keeps up his eating at this pace, I am confident he will have weight gain at his next appointment! Keep your fingers crossed!

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And I wanted to wish my niece Ellae good luck in her tournament this weekend! She is a tremendously talented goalie for her soccer team and they are in Phoenix for a competition right now.

And everyone else - Happy Valentine's Day !

Hugs and Kisses! muah!

Wishing you...

Much love, Paul, Amanda, & Alayna!

Isn't she cute?

Paul keeps telling me that he keeps checking the blog "to see how he's doing" and there's nothing there... So I guess it is time for me to update it! :)

Paul is doing good! His demeanor and attitude around the house is pretty much his usual self. Which is fantastic, but he is still back to drinking Ensure's about 90% of the time. He hasn't thrown up lately but he is still nauseous enough to not want to eat solid foods. And of course his energy level is not the same yet. Hopefully by the time the weather starts to warm up a bit more we can all venture outside for some exercise and building Paul back up to where he needs to be.

Alayna and I have only been out a couple of times this past week. The weather was brutally cold out and with whipping winds it was darn right miserable. On Thursday Anita and took our girls to The Mall of New Hampshire and let them run around inside. They had a ball in the Disney store and we also took a ride on the carousel. Can you find us?

And last night my sister, Anita and I decided to go out for our first ever girls night out! We went to dinner to Texas Roadhouse and then went to Leda Lanes for some candle pin bowling fun. I haven't been in a couple years so I was kind of rusty *cough cough*. Can you see how fast I am gong with my sweater flapping in the wind! :P

My sister staring down the pins...

Anita had the best bowling form out of all of us.

Unfortunately we never even got close to 100 in the 2 games we played. There is always next time!

Happy Day!

So I am excited to report that there has been a stay on the new CPSIA law regarding items for children 12 and under! They are pushing the compliance date from 2/10/09 to 2/10/10 - so I have one more year to stay open at the very least. During this time they will be working on exclusions that would make it not so black and white. Yay!

In celebration, my newest outfit perfect for Easter egg hunting in the cool New Hampshire weather...

I haven't quite decided on the carrot on the jeans (it is temporarily taped on). I think it is cute to go with the bunny but Paul said he doesn't like it. What do you think? I am working on this outfit for a special customer of mine - but it will soon be available in Alayna's Closet.

Oh! I guess since today is SuperBowl Sunday I have one thing to say... Only 23 more days until Spring Training begins!! Can you tell I don't like football. :P

Have a great day everyone!

One year ago today...

While we are digging into the photo archives - here is Alayna exactly one year ago.

Her hair has grown so much longer and she was just teetering around - having learned to walk a couple weeks before that.

I often say that I can't wait until she is 3 and then she would be out of her "terrible two's". But I also would like to just keep her this age forever. She is already growing up too soon.

Photo tag

My friend Jen tagged me with this photo challenge and how could I refuse? I've been instructed to post the 6th photo from the 6th folder in my photo archives. So...here it is!

This is the day after Alayna was born. We were still in the hospital just staring at our baby girl. I didn't let her out of my arms for long.

Hmm... I am supposed to tag 6 more people but I don't know that many who have their own blog. So I tag:

Jenn O.

Kayla & Michele

Anita

Hospital Day

Paul had his appoinment today in Boston. Everything went really well and quick. But the best news is we don't have to go back for 2 weeks! Yay!

We got home kinda late but I made a fantastic Spinach Lasagna and we all enjoyed some. We are hunkering down - a big snow storm is on it's way!

Where's Alayna???

As I was cleaning out Alayna's room she decided to take all of her shoes off the bottom shelf and crawl in for a nap! It was kinda cramped for her but she made it cozy with her blanket and pillow. :)

Sunday adventures

So yesterday Alayna and I joined my sister and Eden, and my friend Anita and her two girls, Hannah and Lina. We all piled into one car and headed to Carrabba's for a nice lunch.



Then we made our way over to the Verizon Wireless Arena for Mickey and Minnie's Magical Adventure - Disney on Ice! We had fantastic seats in the second row. As all the characters skated by we could actually feel the wind.




Here are the 2 year old girls starting with Alayna the youngest, Annelina, and Eden the oldest.

My sister and Eden.

Alayna's favorite parts were those with Mickey and Minnie and Ariel.

It was a really fun show and we all loved it! Thanks to Anita for sharing these pictures with me. I forgot my camera in the car!

Happy Weekend!

Well the weekend is already half over. But tomorrow will surely be a great day. I will tell you about that later.

Paul's appointment this week went really good. He gained 2 pounds and found out we may starting going every other week as of February. The doctor also told him he could eat take out pizza if he wanted. We haven't done that yet - Paul is still a little leary. He is especially so because it seems he is somewhat lactose intolerant now - he wasn't before. But he is doing good, keeping busy with his new favorite show - Dexter. We watched season 3 on Showtime but I had ordered the first 2 seasons for one of my Christmas gifts. Great show.

It has still been quite cold up here but we haven't had a snow storm in over a week! :P

My sister and I have been in talks planning Eden and Alayna's birthday parties. For those of you who made it to Alayna's 1st big shindig - this years is right up there! It will definately be a celebration for her turning 3 and for Paul being 1 year out from his transplant. So mark your calenders - 10/10/09!

I will be back tomorrow with info about our exciting day...

Shops like mine may become extinct...

I have been hesitant to post about this subject - just for the mere fact that there is so much about it I don't understand. Essentially, due to the overwhelming amount of recalls affecting items our children come in contact with, CPSIA has passed a law to protect them. While that is a good thing in itself, like a blanket it covers everything they come in contact with - toys, jewelry, clothing, etc. Testing for lead must now be performed on every component that goes into a product.

Take this $45 outfit of mine for example...

Under the new law total cost including testing will be ... $2985.00 That's $70 per component for lead and $350 per component for phthalates.

$70 Shirt
$70 Jeans
$70 Polka dot fabric
$70 Swirl Fabric
$70 Ric Rac trim
$70 Grosgrain ribbon belt
$70 Thread
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$350 Shirt
$350 Jeans
$350 Polka dot fabric
$350 Swirl Fabric
$350 Ric Rac trim
$350 Grosgrain ribbon belt
$350 Thread

And that is just for one outfit of mine! Obviously large corporations can afford to be compliant with this new law, I can not. So unless there are some amendments made, February 10th Alayna's Closet will be closed for business. Thereafter it would be illegal for me to sell my clothing. There is alot more info on this subject that affects everyone. If you would like to see many more links click on the bear.

I've been bad...

Real bad. I have to confess I haven't kept up at all with any kind of baby book for Alayna. I think it may be in a closet downstairs. Sometimes I will watch Alayna doing something or saying something really cute and I'll think to myself - I don't want to forget this, I need to write it down. Inevitably, I never do. I didn't really think about any kind of New Year's resolution. But I think that will be mine. I will make a concerted effort to resume her baby book and start scrapbooking again. I have fallen too far behind.

Today's memory...

As I sit in my room typing away... Alayna is awake in her room talking to herself. My sweet baby girl is counting to 10 and then clapping after she gets there. So adorable!

in the middle...

Here are some pictures from Alayna's photo session at the Picture People. These aren't the best shots - but they aren't the worst ones either! She was having a bad hair day, so pardon the funky bangs and crooked pig tails. :P

Have a great day!

Almost Valentine's Day!

Hello everyone! Apparently I have been on a little bloggins break. It has already been one week since I posted last. Time flies!

I will start with Paul. Yesterday was his appointment in Boston. Everything is well except that he lost another 2 pounds. He is just about at his lowest weight that he's been at throughout this while thing. Yesterday I made pizza and he ate a small slice of that. This morning I made pancakes and sausage. His had extra butter and syrup. He finished more than half so that is good. I just took this picture this morning. He is all snuggled up on the sofa watching tv while it is below zero outside with the windchill!

On Monday I took Alayna to the mall to try and get some Valentine's pictures taken. After our last outing and failed attempts at nice shots, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of ones that turned out super cute. While we were waiting for them to print up - she took her weekly train ride. She is starting to get daring and go from the front seat to the back seat while it is moving.

And I am busy working on orders in Alayna's Closet for Valentine's. While I am still trying to put away Christmas stuff! :P