Dogfish Head: Craft Brew Heaven

Another great thing about Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and the family beach house, is that we are about 2 blocks away from the greatest craft brewery ever (in my opinion).
Dogfish Head Brew Pub has been one of our favorite spots to visit while vacationing in Rehoboth. Not only do they have an amazing selection of beer, but the company itself really makes a difference in the community and for their employees. Their business motto shows that they take great pride in their beer, and their employees. They are always thinking outside of the box, and this has proven to help them develop some amazing beers.

http://www.dogfish.com/

We've had the ability to also vist their brewery in Milton and take a tour to see "where the magic happens."
http://www.dogfish.com/community/events/tours/index.htm

If I had to list out my favorite beers, my list would be different form my husbands, but be very lenghty, but let me list a few:
*Punkin Ale
*Midas Touch
*Pangea
*Chateau Jiahu
*Aprihop
*Tweason Ale
*Festina Peche

If you are ever in the area, check them out. If you see any of the dogfish beers in your store, try them!!! You won't be dissapointed!

Rehoboth Beach: A Family Tradition

I've been vacationing to Rehoboth Beach since I met my husband. He introduced me to the place, and I fell in love instantly. There is just something about the town of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, the small stores that adjourn the avenue, the awesome restaurants, and the amazing people.

This Thanksgiving we were able to show Sophia Rehoboth, the beach, and all of the fun places Ian and I love seeing while we are up here.

We were so fortunuate to get to have a nice 9 day trip up to Delaware, away from work, and the stress of home life. I had 9 wonderful days with my baby girl, and my 2 dogs, my husband, and family and friends.

If you live on the east coast, definitely look up Rehoboth Beach, DE. If you are looking for a great family friendly beach, clean town, the ability to walk everywhere, Rehoboth is the place to be!

Ian and I are still working on our $1 million idea, so that we can afford a house near the beach.....but until then, we will enjoy the family house. :)

Being Mom: A Purseless Christmas

First off, let me say that I skipped Black Friday mid-night shopping for the first time in AGES. In past years I would gear up with my winter coat, and coffee, and make the trek out to the stores from midnight to 6am. It was almost a habit of mine, and I enjoyed it each year!

This year things were a little different. Having a 4 month old meant I had to cut back some of my midnight shopping, or actually cut it out all together. Ian usually goes out with me and acts as my "wing man." He would drop me off at my favorite store and handle the car parking (which I am always so impatient for). He also would come into each store and start waiting in line, so that by the time I was done shopping I would be ready to check out. (I hate waiting in lines).... I have a pretty great husband, don't I?

This year, we considered taking our girl out with us. 4 months is a pretty portable age. I can stick her in a stroller or the baby carrier and she is content, but in the end I didn't want to deal with the hassle of diaper changes, messing up her schedule, and the cold weather. So, no black Friday midnight shopping for me. However I DID go to one store, a store I always go to, and that is Kate Spade. They have a great black Friday sale at the outlets where EVERYTHING is 50% off, and this year they were opening at 10pm. I did my usual Wednesday stalk, where I go in and see what I would want to buy, so that day of, I can grab it and go.

Thursday came, and Ian, baby, and I were on our way. I walked into Kate Spade exactly at 10pm (along with 70 or so other ladies) and I picked up my items, all of them were gifts for other people.... Ipad covers, make up bags, etc. Well I started wandering off the beaten path (ie. starting to look at purses that I had no business looking at). I would try them on, feel them, look at me holding them in the mirror. I looked around and saw 70 other women doing the same, some with 5-10 bags in their arms checking out. Then I got a little sad. Would I buy a $200 purse and actually use it these days? I have my Kate Spade diaper bag, and whenever I go out, I throw diapers, wipes, change of clothes, a toy or two, and BARELY have room for just my wallet. There is NO way I was going to bring a WHOLE separate purse out with me....so why bother buying a nice purse.

Now that I'm a mommy, I feel enslaved to my diaper bag (which is pretty stylish....), but I remember back to those carefree days where I could buy new purses each Christmas and birthday...are these days gone forever??

Purseless this Christmas.....

Marian

A word that ends in J

Playing scrabble today with the family. Stumped everyone when I actually came up with a word that used J as the last letter. "HAJ" I said, as I laid it down, and of course my husband challenged even though I was behind by over 100 points. (Scrabble is my worst game ever....I am horrible at it)

I looked it up, and sure enough it was a word:
Haj: A pilgrimage to Mecca during Dhu'l Hijja, made as an objective of the religious life of a Muslim.

So what if I ended up loosing Scrabble by 110 points (per usual), I stumped my husband. Booyah!

What's the craziest word you've ever used in Scrabble?

Crap Happens....Literally

So, this morning was an interesting one! I’ve finally got a morning schedule down that works well for my husband and I. However, schedule is not an actual word in baby terms….so I shouldn’t have gotten too excited.


This morning was a little different than most. For starters, Sophia slept through the night! From about 11:30pm until 5:30pm she slept! When my alarm went off at 5:30 I started my normal 30 minute feed for her. I noticed her diaper was completely bone dry. She slept through the night AND didn’t mess her diaper! Then, to my surprise, I removed her clean diaper and propped her on top of the potty (just for a test) and my child peed and took a BIG poop in the toilet!) We are talking baby genius here! This was going to be the most perfect morning ever! (or so I thought)

Because of the excitement of Sophia doing all of these wonderful things, I decided to not take my usual 6-6:15am nap, and jumped in the shower. (I also got spit up on during the feed, so a shower was a must). I was going to be 15 minutes early today! I even had time to pick out a special outfit for my child. Matching pants and onesie, with matching socks, and the cutest purple bow ever! I dressed up my doll baby and sat her in her rock n play where she stared at her bear for 20 minutes. My little angel! (or so I thought)

About 6:58 when we were about to head out the door, my husband handed her to me… “you need to fix this” I took one look at my child and saw, she had poop all over herself, her outfit, everywhere. Instead of getting out of the house at 7:00am, I spent the next 10 minutes scrubbing poop out of her clothes. I would of asked my husband to do it, but his idea of getting rid of poopy clothes is to ACTUALLY GET RID OF THEM…Straight to the trash. I was not going to throw away a good outfit!

Such is life as a mom. A good morning can turn ugly in a blink of an eye…

Anyone have any good soaking/stain remover recipes or products that will get out poop?

Car Sun Visors For Short People

Does being undcer 5'3" automatically mean you have to drive with the sun in your face, or sunglasses on?

Sun visors are discrimanatory to short people! Is it just me? When I put the sun visor down (on any car) it does absolutely nothing.

I think I will invent a sun visor extendor that pulls down. (Or buy myself a new pair of sunglasses)

Short people need shielding from the sun too!

I miss Sleep

I survived my first full week back to work! Last week was tough. Not only was I sad being away from my little stinker, but juggling my schedule at work, and the fact that Sophia is a 100% breast milk baby, made it extra difficult. I've finally got over my need to call and check in on my child, I know she is in good hands. And, my office is stocked with pictures of her galore. Each day I feel a little stronger and being away is a little easier.

One thing that my husband and I do NOT see eye to eye on, is a sleep schedule. What has been working while I was on maternity leave is me doing the nighttime feed and change, and me doing the middle of the night feed and change, and me doing the morning feed and change (notice a trend here). Well, the husband wants to keep it that way (obviously), and I'm trying to let him know that since we are both working full time, that we need to share the responsibilities of night time feedings.

My first option was co-sleeping. I found that to be really simple and easy. Ian got his way of not wanting to wake up, I got my way of getting some extra sleep, and Sophia enjoyed her on demand feed schedule. Well, after about 2 glorious nights of this, Ian finally lets me know that he absolutely does NOT want me to co-sleep. His worry was that I would roll over and suffocate our child. That IS a scary thought, but I had it under control. With that being said, the whole argument of co-sleep or not co-sleep came up. I did my quick research online, and asked him if he could find any recent cases online of someone suffocating their child by rolling over them. I told him the chances of that was less than her getting into an auto accident. (OK, I had no proof of this, but it sounded good).

I did also ready that co-sleeping helps regulates your childs breathing pattern, and they are less likely to suffer from sleep apnea. Sleep apnea actually causes your child to stop breathing in their sleep. (Again, everything I am saying here were taken from non-primary resources, so don't take my word for it).

But, I do want to take how my husband feels seriously, so I will not be co-sleeping per say. We came up with a compromise:
If Sophia wakes up in the middle of the night, Ian will go get her from her crib, and give her to me. I will then set 2 alarms 15 minutes apart, cosleep/nurse switch sides after the first 15 minute alarm, and then after the next 15 minute alarm I will put her back into her crib.

This solution gets me a few extra minutes of sleep. I don't fall into a deep sleep in 15 minutes, so I feel comfortable that she is safe.

Having a family is all about compromise! I hope this gives me more sleep and makes me less cranky! :)

MIA mommy

So I've been dropping the ball the past few days. This week marked my first FULL week back at work, and it has been eventful! Between tryin to work out a feeding schedule, sleep schedule, squeezing in dinner, laundry and a shower between the hours of 6pm and 10pm, it has been much more difficult than I have imagined.

Stay tuned for an upcoming post that goes through these past few days, and how I've managed to come out alive....or better yet....awake.....

If you are a working mother, what is your advice on how to get more sleep during the work week, but get the housework done, and spend time with your little one and husband too?