This week’s picture brought to you by the letter “G” for “Good, Good dog, Brutus”

Sunday:

Little Evan took it easy while we finished up renovations

Monday:

There's no rule that you can't have pretty bedding even though the mattress is on plywood and the outlets are exposed.

Although I DO have a rule that requires pants when we leave the house. So we hung out at home.

Tuesday:

Evan LOVES his new chair (thanks to Baby Baby Lemon for the link!)

Then we went and did our patriotic duty...

...Although Evan wasn't so sure about my choices.

Wednesday:

We enjoyed the last of the fall colors on our way to Stroller Strides

And sorted through my bedroom junk drawer

And discovered that my belly button had "popped". It also goes "beep!" if you push it (or at least it does when Evan pushes it.)

Thursday:

We made some poor choices when it came to toddler appropriate toys (don't worry, I took them away before I let him run around).

And some wise choices when it came to dinner (Cheddar-jalapeno scones from Smitten Kitchen - thanks to Ernie Bufflo for the link!)

Friday:

We went to the pet store for MORE flea medication (damn things will NOT die) so Evan got to practice his tweeting

Saturday:

And to finish the week, Evan read Daddy's statistics texbook. Genuis Baby: I has one.

The winner of Giveaway Week Day 1: Allora Handmade is…

#49 Majestic Domestic aka Bonnie!

Congrats!! I will forward your info to Jessica so she can set you up with your shop credit. I advise you to spend it on yourself and not try to do the nice thing and buy anyone a Christmas present. You’ll just resent them later because they’re wearing YOUR rosettes.

Yesterday, I had a friend tell me that although I am very very pregnant I am “all belly”. It was one of the nicest things anyone has ever said and definitely goes on the “appropriate to say to a pregnant woman” side of the list. I’m not even going to evaluate whether or not it’s true. I certainly feel very belly-ful and can also still get my non-maternity pants on – I just can’t button them. Or zip them. But my butt fits!

The glider we ordered from Babies R Us came in on Saturday. Of course it wasn’t until we got it home, up the stairs and right side up that we realized the gliding mechanism is TOTALLY defective. One of the screws is rubbing against the metal frame, making a terrible noise and preventing any sort of gliding from taking place. No, it cannot be bent back into place – trust me, we tried. E spent ALL DAY Monday trying to get a hold of the company, because it says in GIANT ORANGE LETTERS on the packaging “DO NOT RETURN TO STORE – CALL 1-800-BLAH BLAH”. So of course when they FINALLY called him back they said “Oh yeah, you should return it to the store.” Luckily, Babies R Us was willing to do an even-exchange and get us another (hopefully non-defective) one in 7-10 days. You can bet your ass we’re opening the box right there in the store to make sure it’s not all screwed up too. No way we are dragging ANOTHER chair home again just to drag it back.

(Side note: It took three different people almost a full hour to figure out HOW to do the even-exchange. One cashier literally just stared at the receipt for five full minutes while I stared at her staring. I *know* retail computer systems can be confusing but SERIOUSLY? CALL A MANAGER. OR SOMETHING. I have four different pieces of paper that show how much I paid and I don’t even want my money back.)

The new master bedroom is closer to being done than not done but we’re trapped in renovation limbo until the carpet goes in on Thursday, which means my clothes are in one room, E’s clothes are in another, there’s a banister in our guest room, bed rails in the nursery and we’re sleeping on mattresses on the floor of the 3rd floor. And by “floor” I mean bare plywood. BUT! My new closet organizer is in! I haven’t had a real closet in 3 years and am using this bedroom move to viciously edit my wardrobe down to stuff I actually wear and by actually wear I mean wear on a regular, consistent basis and not just for a couple of hours once every few months so I can feel less guilty about not giving it away.

I’ve started having nightmares about giving birth. I had them last time too, but figured since things went pretty well with Baby Evan I’d be a little calmer this time. The dreams never involve the actual BIRTH part, just weird hospital frustrations and baby mix-ups and birth certificates with “Special Snowflake Davis” on them. But they’re the kind of dreams that you wake up from just as exhausted as when you collapsed into bed after chasing around the world’s fastest toddler all day.

And because now that it’s November no one really cares about Halloween costumes anymore, this is where I share pictures of Little Evan in his costume(s).

He still thinks tiny gourds are delicious. Even ones he originally called "BALL" and threw at passersby.

I taught him that monkeys scratch their armpits and say "Oooo ooo ooo!" This is his best try.

There are pants that go with that costume too, but considering THIS is the meltdown that occured when I tried to get him to take a picture with me, the fight over the pants was totally not worth it.

Yes, I DID buy a second costume to dress Evan in for answering the door. There are a limited number of years you can dress up kids without their input and I'm taking FULL advantage. (Also: He is not holding a candle. Tiny LED candle-like light)

Despite this face, he actually LOVED the outfit. Except for the hat part. Why don't they make costumes without hats?

P.S. The rest of the giveaways are still open but Uff Da closes tonight!
Day 2 is open until November 2nd! Uff Da Designs
Day 3 is open until November 3rd! Taradara
Day 4 is open until November 4th! Peggy Ann Design
Day 5 is open until November 5th! aPearantly Sew
Day 6 is open until November 6th! Gussy
Day 7 is open until November 7th! A knit Phoebe Mouse…by ME!
Day 8 is open until November 8th! Hugs & Kisses Designs

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

Saturday:

And now we are all exhausted and paint-covered and going to eat an obscene amount of pizza to celebrate getting 80% of the work DONE (with 15% to do after dinner and 5% left for E and I to finish before the carpet guy comes Thursday.)

Hope you had a great week! You still have time to enter all the giveaways, but Day 1 closes Monday, Day 2 closes Tuesday, etc. so check it out SOON!

Don’t you love her tag line? I knew I liked Tara as soon as I met her. She’s feisty. And funny. And the first thing she said after I gave her my card at The Creative Connection was “You have a boy? I have two boys at home. I know EXACTLY what you need.”

Meet Little Evan's new best friend: Snake

She was definitely right. Tara makes these adorable 5 foot long snakes out of bright fabrics and minky, so they’re soft and cuddly. You can order them in boy-ish, girl-ish or either-ish colors.  And since she understands kids, they’re even machine washable.

Hitting Mommy with Snake is Little Evan’s new favorite game. AND THAT’S TOTALLY OK, because getting whacked with a soft fabric snake is a thousand times less painful than a plastic sippy to the face. I speak from experience. I think Brutus appreciates the soft-snake-as-a-weapon even more than I do.

And when one gets all tired out from the playing, Snake also makes a nice cuddly friend.

If toy snakes aren’t your thing, Tara also makes wallets, card holders, burp cloths, passport covers and more (as she puts it) artsy fartsy stuff. And she adds to the shop all the time, so put her on your favorites list and keep an eye out for the perfect gift this holiday season.

And to help you on your merry holiday shopping way, Tara is very generously going to give one of my readers a $30 credit to her Etsy shop!

All you have to do to enter is check out Taradara on Etsy and leave a comment telling me which item is your favorite. That’s it! One comment per person.

Giveaway will be open until November 3rd, winner will be chosen using Random.org and notified via email, so make sure you use a real email address when you comment.

Giveaway is now closed!

You should also check out Tara’s blog (especially what she did to this china cabinet) and follow her on Twitter, because she’s funny and creative.

Disclaimer bit: Tara sent me the snake in this post for free so I could review and photograph it, but no additional compensation was received. Opinions are all my own and were not influences by her gift in any way. Except for the fact that I got a full hour’s peace and quite to WRITE the damn post just by giving Little Evan the snake to play with. IT HAS MAGICAL POWERS.

p.s. She also sent me this beautiful camera strap cover as a gift:

Isn't that print fantastic?

But since she doesn’t have them in the shop (yet), it’s truly a one-of-a-kind item. You’re the best Tara!!

Day 1 is open until November 1st! Allora Handmade
Day 2 is open until November 2nd! Uff Da Designs

In a far off land, a long long time ago, possibly in another life, I wore a lot of REALLY ugly clothes. And by ugly I mean extreme skimpy and inappropriate for public as well as unfit for human eyes. But it seemed like a good idea at the time.

If anyone ever makes a movie about my life, “It seemed like a good idea at the time” would be the tag line on the posters for both high school AND college.

Most of the blame falls on a) being 19 b) losing a lot of weight and suddenly being about to FIT into extremely skimpy clothing and c) being a regular at a bar where a fake velvet cheetah print bell bottom unitard was considered perfectly normal attire. Did I mention this bar also had a disco ball shaped like a saddle? And that it was not just a bar but a country line dancing night club? Where I was not only a regular but once asked to take part in a “Girls of Neon Moon” charity calendar?

Are you going to stop laughing soon? I’ll wait while you go put on dry pants.

FOR THE RECORD: The calendar never happened. So stop Googling.

ALSO FOR THE RECORD: I met E at that bar. And married him mostly for his line dancing skills.

As part of our current home renovation, we needed to make room in the storage half of the attic for all the junk we need to get out of the living space half of the attic. Since I am the kind of person who Has A Hard Time Getting Rid Of Things, I found three giant tubs full of clothes I have kept for far far too long. Some are just too small (I gave them to my friend Megan who has lost like a zillion pounds and wears tiny midget sizes now), some are just out of fashion (I donated them to Goodwill), and some are so terrifically awful I kept them just to take pictures.

I present for your mocking pleasure – The black sparkly mirrored pants:

I think I mentioned before they were a size 5. Turns out they’re actually a 7. But they’re a 7 the same way fat free mayonnaise is actually mayonnaise. NOT AT ALL.

Now, you may be asking yourself “What does one wear with such lovely, lovely pants?” So I present, the matching shirt.

Still not convinced it’s a shirt?

Sigh.

Fine.

P.S. For the record, don’t expect awesome vintage pictures with future bad fashion posts. They all seem to have gotten lost somewhere between my college apartment and this house. But boy am I going to hold this against my kids some day – LOOK WHAT PREGNANCY RUINED!

THIS HAS BEEN…Extreme Moments in Bad Fashion!