oops.

I broke the computer. For the umpteenth time. For future reference, try not to spill your coffee onto your keyboard, mkay? For now I’m writing in Word and depending on spell-check to catch the missing letters of @ and $. Ugh. I’ll try to continue to post pictures with some short captions. Hopefully we get this fixed soon!

Surprise! (ish)

This past weekend my mom and I threw a small surprise party for my Dad's birthday! My dad's cousin Jackie is even more obsessed with pictures than me and she clicked away the whole time! It was funny to have the camera at me...now I know how everyone else feels! It was so nice to see the cousins, chat the day away and laugh at the guys watching football. My Dad and his cousins are sooo similar, it is a riot to get everyone together and just laugh. I hope we were able to give him a good day :)

(all pictures from jackie!)

{posted just because I LOVE this picture of Jerry. Ha! Hahahaahahahaha!}

{aw, cute!}

{also, the card that Jackie gave us had a $5 bill on it. And then they all laughed that I didn't get the reference. Apparently $5 bills were referred to as Finns? Honestly I've never heard of this!}

{Margie got Finn a Ralph Lauren hat with his little monogram on the back. He was thrilled. Obviously.}

{Ralphie!!! Jackie was watching the birds in the backyard (side note: my mom has become slightly obsessed with bird feeders. OBSESSED) and noticed that there was a baby cardinal!!! He is so, so cute. I've named him Ralphie...the big Daddy cardinal is named Clifford (Eddie named him) and Momma doesn't have a name. I think Jacklyn for Jackie is perfect!}

{LOVE this picture of my parent's backyard}

{my boys...eddie with a mouthful of food (typical) and Finn looking at him like "WTF dude?"}

{Finney Goober!!}

{oh, this picture. Such a funny Dad face...and also? Jerry is looking up women's douche products. I KID YOU NOT. My parent's dog, Sydney, got skunked earlier in the week and still stinks (along with parts of the house and the backyard) and Jerry was adamant that a douche would help and went to the iPad to prove it. And I don't think he even proved his theory...}

So there ya go. Aren't we exciting? Bird watching, football and women's douche products. Throw in the awesome story I told about a girl getting eaten alive by a bear while on the phone with her mother and you've got a rockin' party! You know you want to hang out with us :)

Holy shitballs. I'm tired.

Creative title, no? Tired is my life lately. Finn is still nursing and while it is going awesome, it is taking its toll on me. I feel so bad when people ask how it is going because I'm all "ITS SO GREAT! I'm so super excited that we're even doing it. But fuck, I'm tired! For real, I'm dead on my feet. Every two hours at night! Can you believe it?!!?!? EVERY TWO HOURS! Kill me now. But really! It's great. And I'm totally thankful. And it is totally awesome. BUT SHIT. But yay! Ya know?!"....and then I ask them to pass the coffee. Sometimes I twitch a little too, but I'm pretty sure I hide that well.

Seriously people. I love it and I hate it all at the same time. But those times that I'm totally dying and thinking about giving him a bottle of expressed milk, he lays his little hand on my chest while he's nursing and I melt. Not to mention I live to breastfeed in the side-lying position, aka me asleep on the bed while he noms. BEST IDEA EVER. Thank you to whoever thought that one up.

So hopefully a post is coming soon. If I can do it one handed, because I am not sacrificing nap time for blog time. Sorry ya'll. I still love you!

OMG!!

First, I hope that I'm not jinxing this by posting here/talking too much/generally being too OVER THE FREAKING moon about this.

About what you ask? Well, this, of course....

That's me. NURSING Finn. Did you read that? NURSING FINN!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and yes, I totally had my mom take a picture because I was soooo beyond excited)

So yesterday, I decided a field trip to our favorite park was in order. I fed Finn right before we left as usual. But then we get to the park about an hour later and Finn wants to eat again. I stress. The milk that I brought was cold (keep in mind I was exclusively pumping up to this point...the breast milk that I travel with is always in a little cooler) and Mr. Finnegan has wanted his milk warmed to the most perfect temperature before he'll take it lately and shoving a cold bottle between my boobs just isn't warming this thing up in time. Crap. I expected to be at my parent's house by the time he needed to eat again, so I had nothing ready. Meanwhile, Finn is still rooting like crazy and starting to cry, so with a little "what can it hurt?" from the Momma, I went to it. Sat my tush on the bench and latched him on.

And he did it! He was a champ....a total and complete breastfeeding champ at 6 weeks old. Who would have thought?!? So we continued with it the rest of the day and he continued being awesome. Even through the night, he was awesome!! To say I'm thrilled is a total understatement.

I have about a zillion question and concerns, but am trying my  best to just enjoy this, to let my body and his body do what it is really supposed to do. The last time I had him latch and tried to BF, I panicked that he wasn't getting enough, that I was going to get clogs and mastitis and everything was just going to fail. I did speak with my lactation consultant from Rockford today, which was awesome as she was a) freaking out right along with me at the awesomeness of the situation and b) clear and direct on how this should be going if it is going to continue. Thank Jeebus for a good LC.

So here we go. I really hope we don't mess this up...it is way too awesome of a feeling!

Eddie's First Birthday Party - FAQ

It has been 2 years since Eddie's awesome 1st birthday party and I still get lots of questions from people asking about some of the details. About 99% of the questions come from people visiting from the awesome Party Like a Kid after Eddie's party was posted there, and since these people are usually in the trenches planning a party, I wanted to get them answered in one post.

*Where did you get the shirts from?
I used a local t-shirt printer and designed the logo with his help. This was all super simple. I used Scrapblog to design the logo (it's a free program, so anyone can use it!) and the printer worked with me to include '1' in the tail of the Y. If you'd like to use someone local to you, I would recommend asking the local high school what company their sports programs use to get their shirts printed.

BUT! Today I actually called the company that did our shirts, and they are happy to work with you, too! I got my shirts printed from The Competitive Edge in Dekalb, IL. Don, the owner there, said that if you call and reference the Turza order from 2009, they can customize the design for your party...change the name, the age, the color of the shirt sleeves...anything you want! The shirts range from $18-20 for the children's and adult shirts, and are totally worth it....years later all of our shirts have held up well without even a hint of the printing fading. This also included the name and number on the back, which was quite a bit extra from other printers I looked at. So - if you're interested, call Don at 877-788-8488 and reference the Turza order - he'll get you all squared away and ship to anywhere in the continental US. (For the record, I am not getting anything from this - I enjoyed working with Don and will help out a local company any time I can)

*Where did the invites come from?
Those I also designed on Scrapblog. I had them printed (again, a local guy - you can go to the Fed Ex store or even use your own printer) 4 per page and sent one to each person in the household. Unfortunately there isn't a way to me to send you a copy of it that you can alter...maybe if you have a scrapblog account you can open it through there? Email me if you'd like to try and figure it out, I'm always willing to help!

*How did you make the balloon arch?
Oh, the arch. It was awesome while it stood....which wasn't long. I used an arch tape that you can get at any party store and just popped balloons into it. WHAT I DID WRONG: I cut the tape into three equal strips, about 6 feet each. I figured that I would cut it so it was easier to transport and then tie the strips together so it would be one piece and all would be fine. Our day was very windy though, and every spot I tied came apart about a million times. If I were to do it again, I would do it in one long strip like I assume you're supposed to. Maybe they say that in the directions? Hehe - who reads those anyway?! WHAT I DID RIGHT: in an effort to be more cost effective, I didn't use helium, I blew up all those balloons with my (thankfully strong) swimmer's lungs. This gave me a lot more time to accomplish the task...the balloons were all blown up over a couple days and the entire arch was completed 2 days before the party. Of course we had some pop, but I was able to just fill in the couple that did. I kept the entire arch in our basement where it was cooler, and that seemed to help the balloons live longer. It was nice not to have to worry about it the day of or even before. I also taped the arch along the doorway, so if you were planning to have it stand on its own, you'd probably have to use helium.


I think those were the big 3. As listed in the Party Like a Kid post, the idea for the cupcake burgers and sugar cookie fries came from the always awesome Bakerella. If you have any other questions, please email me - turzablog (at) gmail (dot) com - or comment here. It is much easier to keep up with the comments here rather than on the post from 2009!



Of course, I hope you'll click through to the rest of the blog and keep up with our adventures. I'm hoping to get a Halloween party figured out soon, and of course Finn's 1st birthday next year, so we'll have lots more party fun happening on the Turza Blog. Stick around, and as always, happy planning!

Finney Mac

Doesn't cooperate when Momma wants to take pictures.

Stinker.

crazy

This week has been nuts. Wednesday Eddie started school. Thursday we went bridesmaid's dress shopping for Stef's wedding since our friend Sara is in from Utah. Friday was our 5 year wedding anniversary (!!) eddie had school and I worked my tush off on this little beauty....

{my incredibly homemade attempt at a cool cake}

{And how I mentioned it was our anniversary? Frankie had the honor of coming home to this. Nothin' like reminding him that he married a crazy woman}

We had a small gathering for Eddie's birthday party with just the grandparents and Aunts/Uncles. Eddie had a ball!
 

{he loved his cake. crazy, insane, I MUST HAVE THIS NOW love}

And everything was fun! Super fun. Eddie was having a blast with everyone, conversations were good, the weather was great and everyone was going from the house to the backyard over and over and over again. And one time, my dad went to step outside. And the crap little builder step to the backyard pulled off the house.....exposing the large screws that once held it to the house. And in an instant, Dad fell and the screw went into his shin.

HOLY SHIT.

(the picture below is NOT for anyone squeamish.)

(REALLY. Don't look at it if you don't want to see the screw)

(are you sure you want to see this?)

(really sure?)

(no turning back now)

(alright, you asked for it)

{matchbox there for reference...it was a half inch screw and went about an inch and a half into his shin}

{and trust me, it was much more gross before the blood dried on it}

(just putting extra space here incase you want away from that picture)

(seriously, how nasty. who would post that on a blog?)

(oh, wait...that's me)

So Dad is kind of sitting on the floor inside the house, wincing in pain. I run over asking him if he's ok, and saw blood. Just pumping, literally, out of his leg. My first thought was that he fell and broke his leg and it was the bone sticking a little out. Then my (awesome, amazing, rockstar) brother Mac grabbed his leg (he was already outside) with both hands and yelled for a towel. I ran to get a towel, my Mom starts to yell for someone to call 911 and Mac yells again for a belt. He made a quick turnaquet out of the belt and that's when I looked down and saw the step hanging off the house and the blood covered screw and almost puked. I realized that a) my dad was tough as hell and b) he was probably in a lot of shock. Time went by so slowly...the ambulance seemed like it took forever to get there. Dad stayed tough, Mac held on like hell to his leg and Frank's awesome parents and sister were great at distracting Eddie. (Sad note: when it happened, Eddie was standing in the backyard repeating "I sowwy, I sowwy, I sowwy!). Our favorite town police officer was the first to respond (love officer Kim!) and she jumped right in keeping dad laughing and such. When the EMTs got there Mac did such an awesome job keeping pressure on the puncture that the bleeding had stopped, Dad was able to walk into the ambulance (we figured he'd get seen faster at the ER if he went via ambulance) and after an x-ray to make sure the screw didn't chip the bone (it didn't) and a numbing shot, they cleaned out the wound, wrapped him up and sent him home.

And I haven't stopped calling him since. No, seriously, I'm stalking him and making sure he's ok because I feel SO SO guilty that our house injured my Dad.

He's doing well, in a little more pain today than he was the other day, but I suppose that's just how it's going to be when you had a screw shoved into your leg. Poor Dad. I feel so incredibly horrible.

On the up side, Eddie was pretty fascinated with all the firetrucks and ambulances that responded. I also got a chance to teach Eddie the "honk" arm motion, which he did at the firetruck and they were awesome and turned on the siren for a sec. Awesome Officer Kim told him that he better have a police car on his cake next year and then turned on her siren to prove that it was louder than the firetrucks :)

Sometimes living in a small town is awesome, but I think we'll all hope next year that we don't get to show Officer Kim the police car cake.

Preschooler!!!!

Today Eddie started preschool! He is in a 3-4 year old class at our local YMCA. I ended up chosing the Y for a couple reasons....first, we wanted a nice transition for him to get used to being in a classroom setting since he has never been in any kind of daycare before. As an added bonus for me, I can put Finney in the kids care (if i can get over the germs, but i figure Eddie will be getting them anyway) and work out for at least an hour three days a week. Woot!

Eddie was so super excited to go to school today and happily posed for some pictures for me :)))) yay!

{little ham ball laid right down on the bench and cheesed it up. silly!}

{so proud and happy to be going to preschool!}

{and of course a typical eddie face}

{daddy even came for drop off!! eddie was so happy}

{awww}

{climbing up the stairs to his classroom}

{and of course, right to the kitchen}

He did well with drop off and I even used him to try and lure another shy little boy into the classroom :) He was so exctied to play with the new toys that he totally didn't care that I left. The head teacher did say that he did a little sob and 'I want my mommy' a couple times, but that he was easily distracted and went right back to being okay. Right now he is there for an hour and a half, but come January we are going to do the add on which includes a snack and swimming/sports/music depending on the day of the week. We'll see how tomorrow goes...I'm expecting a few tears this time, or maybe just some more apprehension than there was today, but we'll be ok.

And me? A little apprehension, but no tears! Woohoo :)

Red Light

(i have the eddie-ism post half done. its just so gosh darn wordy that its hard to get to! onto a simple picture post...)

Back in June I got the hubs a Groupon for the Mario Andretti Experience - he'd get to drive an open air Indy car! I was so excited for it to finally be the big day....and hoping that the forcasted rain would magically disappear :)

{cell phone picture....we drove right into the pit area. I thought that was the coolest thing ever!}

{chicagoland speedway, joliet}

{when we got there they were running the NASCAR driving school too. It was (surprisingly) really fun to watch them do their runs. We were an hour early for our check in time and were happy to be entertained while we waited!}

{These are the ride along Indy cars, which I now want to do! How fun would that be?!}

{Frankie checking out the Indy car}

{my lovely impression of a car model}

So we're hanging out, totally sad that we didn't bring Eddie. I wasn't sure what the area was going to be like, so we decided to be cautious and not bring him. Low and behold, it would have been perfect. You literally just hang out in the pit and can run around the open areas, watch the people drive, etc. Eddie would have had a blast. And while we're waiting, the skies get darker and darker, the temperature drops and there is a lovely little blip right above us on the radar. And as Frank is (finally) getting checked in, I feel a raindrop on my foot. (HEY! funny thing. I though it was my breast leaking onto my foot. Ha! Then I realized I had clothes on. I'm so smart). In the next minute, the downpour started, so we hung out under the tent in the pit. The rain just kept coming harder and harder, until all the crew people started screaming for everyone to run to the garage. Fun times! So we ran, through the insane downpour, to the garages where they were starting to pull in the cars. We walked into this....

{wet Indy car tires + smooth floor = bye bye garage door}

{and then you're still supposed to be like 'HELL YEAH I WANNA DRIVE THAT!' I was a little more scared at this point}

{I asked one of the crew guys who pays for that....the guy who crashed it does! and he also gets fired. damn, that sucks.}

So we're hanging out with the Indy cars and NASCARs all packed into the garage, figuring that they're going to cancel. They cancelled the NASCAR people right away, but let the Indy people hang out. Finally, they told us that we would be issued gift cards to come back NEXT YEAR. Mother effer.

{poor Frankie had to turn in his fire suit and head home only having driven our Vue. Which, if you know the Vue, is like kickin' ya while you're down. Ha!}

So, next year we'll bring the boys and a cooler of snacks. We'll also bring the flip camera to video Frankie's driving skills. I only hope I can get the sound to work....him screaming like a girl going 150mph would be pretty fantastic :)

Favorite Moments

Hi blog readers!! In honor of Eddie's awesome second year, I wanted to collect people's favorite Eddie moments from the past year. Leave a comment here or on facebook, call, email, text, whatever.....just tell me what Eddie moment or Eddie-ism that has made you laugh in the past year! I'll post them all tomorrow morning.

Thanks!!