Monday, January 31, 2011

BOO!


We're having a not-so-happy start to the week here. Tyler is sick, and taking the first round of antibiotics for the boys. We saw the pediatrician this morning, and his lungs are clear but she saw a little something in his ear... and had a hard time checking his throat... so here we are. 

Tyler is the happiest baby - doesn't cry much. Just keep him full & dry... and he's pretty much good to go. The last two days, however, he has been inconsolable. He wants to be held constantly and has cried more than the entirety of the rest of his life. He'll only drink a few ounces at a time and then passes out - but if you put him down... he wakes up shortly afterward. I think that the small amounts of milk help a possible sore throat. It's a very helpless feeling not knowing what exactly is wrong or how to fix it.

I'm just glad that the doc agreed with me. John had tonsillitis last week and I had a sinus infection... so it is likely he has a bit of one of those as well. He has been stuffy for over 2 months... so I made sure not to see our regular doctor. I swear that I'd have punched her if she would have seen him one more time and sent me home with nothing to combat this mess.

So, we are home alone together for the day. James is playing at the sitter's house while Tyler gets as much rest as possible. I wanted to give him the day to rest - and two demanding boys with one Mommy does not make it easy. 

We are expecting some bitter cold weather here this week... not as bad as some of our friends up farther north... but we might see snow on Friday! I hope we can all get healthy and stay that way for a good long while. Stay warm and dry, friends! 

If you haven't entered the Lovey Dovey Giveaway... jump on over there and enter!

Friday, January 28, 2011

Walking in Memphis

If you haven't entered my Lovey Dovey Giveaway... shake your tail feathers and get entered!!

Before we get into the reason I named the post as I did... I had to show you my two newest favorite photos on the planet...

James playing in his crib... this is a prime example of him spitting a pacifier and grabbing a new fresh one!

Tyler (aka Tiner) sitting in Daddy's recliner... looking A LOT like my Dad!

Alright... so shall we get to the purpose of the post? Well... The Hawkins family is moving to Memphis, TN!! Why you might ask... well John got a promotion!! YAY! We are thrilled that he's finally getting the recognition that he deserves, and the chance to stretch his legs managing a team of folks. 

We are both excited and sad to be embarking on this opportunity. On one hand - it's a GREAT opportunity professionally... AND I'll likely get to stay home with the boys... at the most I'd need to work part-time - hence the Stella & Dot thing. (Help a girl out, yo!) On the other hand, however... we're leaving our families... some of which just moved back after being away for 12 years (my Dad)... leaving all of our friends and our church family. So our support system will be 10 hours away... which is scary and sad. We will get through it - somehow - likely stronger and for the better.

Our new home will allow us to take a gander at some of these things... 

a gorgeous bridge...

Memphis in May BBQ Festival! (John is thrilled!)

Graceland

The Peabody Ducks... have you heard of them? So cute! 
They are these ducks that live during the day in the fountain located in the hotel lobby...and at various times - they bring out a red carpet... march them into the elevator and take them to the "penthouse" (aka the roof) where the live the rest of the time. HOW FUN! I can't wait to take the boys! 

A cool looking pyramid... which I think is a museum or something

 The skyline

 Beale Street

River Boats!

Also not pictured:
A fabulous zoo
and a great looking Children's Museum

So anyway - for the next several months... things are going to be crazy because it's a series of being a single parent... and not. Sort of a BIG lesson in "going with the flow", but we'll get through it and be on a big adventure for a couple of years. 

This just means that I might have some pretty funny stories coming because with my days being sooo long and full... I'm sure I'll do some crazy things. So stay tuned!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Lovey Dovey Giveaway


It's that time again folks... the lovely people at CSN Stores has asked me to do another giveaway! I thought that it's almost time for Valentine's Day, so why not make it a fun and festive party - and one lucky winner will be able to purchase $90 worth of stuff from any of the 200+ CSN stores! Whether you want to give your Valentine some jewelry... a nice pet bowl... some swanky boots... or some modern dining room furniture... they've got you covered!



 
Those are just some of the fun items I saw that you could pick up for your loved ones... (click on the photos to be linked directly to the items)

Sooo... wouldn't you love to be able to save a little money this holiday? Want to find out how you can enter?!

You can enter all of your entries into 1 comment - and I'll make sure that my accounting folks (aka - ME) break it up into the correct number.

* 1 entry for telling me your most romantic Valentine's day story/gesture/gift... pick one that is special and tell me about it.

* 1 entry for following my blog

* 1 entry for "liking" my Stella & Dot by Kim Hawkins, Independent Stylist Facebook page

* 1 entry for telling me your favorite item from my Stella & Dot store
- 10 bonus entries if you help yourself to your favorite item from my Stella & Dot store... cause you might be getting a free $90 gift from CSN, yo! (You can also drop a subtle hint to your sweetie!!)

* 1 entry for posting about this giveaway on your blog, FB page, Twitter... just help get the word out!

The giveaway will go until midnight, February 2nd and the winner will be announced on February 3rd. If you ordered immediately - your item should arrive in time for Valentine's Day!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Giveaways...

I just wanted to remind everyone that Summer is hosting an online trunk show for me at the moment... and there are lots of ways to get your entries in for a Starbucks gift card AND an initial charm from my store!! Any purchases made from my store also get an additional 10 entries or so for the giveaway - how awesome is that? There is a total of like 20 was you can get entries - so scurry on over and get a piece of the action!!

I also am going to be hosting another giveaway of my own soon (not jewelry) - as in tomorrow - so come on over and check out the fun!

Mother of the Year

In the spirit of keepin' it real... I thought I'd share some of the less glamorous moments from a not so "super Mom"...

** Upon being woken up by Tyler at one point last week - an hour before the 4:30 alarm... I may or may not have yelled at his sweet little face... I immediately felt bad, but Mommy is running on energy fumes these days and that hour would have made a slight difference.

** After finishing talking with John one night on the phone... for whatever reason (and really no one will ever know) I put the home phone in the fridge for the night. I'm pretty sure that I didn't need anything from the fridge and wasn't putting anything else in there when I did it... but it certainly made me laugh the next morning.

** I may or may not have begged the dog to feed a baby once or twice... and when she didn't do it... glared at her for going right back to snoring.

** I considered the opportunities of starting a Starbucks delivery service for new parents... and patenting a system for providing Starbucks intravenously. (If anyone does come out with either of these - I'm totally suing because it was MY idea first!)

** I contemplated letting my child be stinky and oily instead of giving him a bath - just to get a few extra minutes to sit and relax.

** I got a little weepy while listening to the radio on several occasions - because I was over-tired.

And the worst one?!

** I literally packed EVERYTHING for the boys on Thursday to take to the sitter... but completely neglected to send formula for James. Nice, right?! The boys can't eat the same stuff either... but thank God for Ms. Amanda - she never said a word and just went and picked up some formula for my little man. Oooooooh, the guilt!

So, that's it in a nutshell... and we're back at it again - but once again Tyler isn't cooperating. He thought that 3:45 was a great time to wake up to play, chat, and smile at us this morning.

I literally may not survive this...

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Day in the Life

I find my life comical at best right now... so I thought I'd share with you a day in the life of this tired old momma... who literally could use intravenous Starbucks at the moment!

4:30 AM - Wake up
4:40 AM - Feed Tyler
5:10 AM - Get dressed for work
5:20 AM - Feed James
5:40 AM - Load kids & 3 bags into car
5:50 AM - Leave House
6:10 AM - Drop boys off at sitter
6:20 AM - Start monumental commute
7:10 AM - STARBUCKS
7:30 AM - Arrive at work
7:40 AM - Work....
8-12 AM - Look productive and try to stay awake
12:00 PM - Lunch
1-4 PM - Look productive and keep eyes open
4:00 PM - Leave for commute home
5:00 PM - Pick up Boys
5:30 PM - Feed James dinner
6:00 PM - Bathe a baby... they are on alternating days right now
6:30 PM - Feed Tyler
7:00 PM - Feed James a bottle, read a story and put him to bed
7:30 PM - Take a shower & blow dry hair
7:45 PM - Wash bottles & repack diaper bag for next day
8:15 PM - Dinner for Momma
8:45 PM - a tiny bit of down time
9:15 PM - Tyler's last bottle
9:45-10PM - Swaddle Tyler and feed him last bit of bottle until he falls asleep
10-10:30 PM - Bed time for Momma (pray that no one wakes up until the alarm goes off!)

Rinse, Lather, Repeat...

I'm literally a walking zombie... and this schedule explains why I found the home phone in the refrigerator this morning.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Nut Balls

I've been thinking a lot lately about how quirky my kids are... not that all kids don't have their strange quirks - but mine make me laugh.

Take James for instance... someone along the way gave me the advice of putting several pacifiers in his crib so that he can always find one and soothe himself when needed during the night. I have made several mad dash attempts to run up the stairs to put the paci back in before he wakes up - so when we stopped swaddling him at night... I thought GREAT idea!

Little did we know, a strange - yet cute - habit would form from that. Now, whenever we lay him down in the crib - he will spit out the pacifier that he has in his mouth and grab a "fresh" one. Cracks me up - I mean seriously... it's as if he's saying "that one is warm... I need a cold one!"

Tyler is equally quirky - we're just in the early phases of it... I think that we have a ladies man and a serious charmer on our hands with this one. He will literally sit and flirt with the ceiling fan! I'm not even joking... he starts grinning and talking to it! He also does this in the swing - which has a mirrored bulb sitting above him... so that's understandable, but the ceiling fan?!

Too funny! Any of you have kids with weird quirks? Pets? I need entertainment... so fill me in.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Launch Party

Hi! Anyone out there miss me? HAHA! Things have been crazy here lately - some things that I can't quite talk about yet... others like baby rearing, being a wife, getting a job, and starting a business... I can talk about.

This weekend, I'm having my official launch party for my Stella & Dot business, and I couldn't be more excited... once my sample jewelry arrived for people to try on this weekend - I was even more in love than before with the product line. It's no secret that I love jewelry, and this is a way that I can continue doing what I love - with the hope that I'll be able to become successful enough with it as a business that I can stay home with the boys full time!

What's not to love with products like these:

(matching earrings can be found by clicking through)

Jasmine Filigree Earrings - in Silver or Gold
(there is a matching necklace you can find through the link for both - and it is on sale right now)

(there is an adorable pair of earrings that match you can find by clicking the link)

(Matching earrings can be found by following link)


(these come in gold or silver - this is just for the hoop the charms are separate)

(You choose what stone you'd like and if you want gold or silver - you'll need 2 if you're planning earrings - I personally plan to get one for each of the boys along with a Mom charm and a chain to wear)

Don't forget the little girls in your life.... 
(there is a matching bracelet you can find by following this link)

By no stretch of the imagination does this sampling do justice to the line of incredible jewelry products available! Please feel free to shop around for yourself and I know you will find something that you won't be able to live without!

I thought that since you guys are such a big part of my life, that I wanted to include you in this fabulous party as well... so I'd like to invite you to be the virtual extension to my launch party!

How can you be a part of a party that might be happening 100's of miles away from you? Well, shop at your leisure for the next couple of days and ANY order placed by Saturday (January 15th) at 4:00PM CST will be entered to win one of my door prizes! Right now those prizes include a $25 gift card to iTunes, a $10 gift card to Starbucks, a free charm from my store, and I'm searching for one more great prize.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
When you click through and add something to your cart
it will ask you if you're shopping as a part of a trunk show
Search for my name KIM and click on my name
(You can also click on the link in the top right corner of the page that says "Find your hostess")

Door prize winners will be chosen at the end of the physical party Saturday
I will notify the winners and put the items in the mail if needed

You can however shop at the website and purchase at any time! 
Additionally, in the bottom left corner of the page - you can put in your email to be notified of any sales or promotions that we have throughout the year.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

OWIE!!

I know that I owe you guys some updates and a few more photos from the holidays - and of course some photos from the boys' dedication... but for today - I need to take a moment and tell you about my most recent foray in to the world of doctors and medicine.

Ever since I have delivered Tyler, I've been having pain in my shoulders and arms. It's been fairly constant, but most noticeable when trying to do something behind my back - like take off my bra at night... or sleep on my tummy. Before I got pregnant, I'd always sleep on my stomach with my arms under my head and/or pillow. Now, I can no longer do that... and actually was the first symptom that I noticed in this crazy problem.

I had a check up with my primary care doc sometime in the weeks shortly after Tyler's arrival, and he put me on some steroids to try to help alleviate the pain - but they didn't work. So at my last visit, we talked about my need to go see an orthopedic surgeon... his advice, not my suggestion. Well, I left his office thinking that I'd give it a little longer to see if it would go away on it's own. It's been about 5 or 6 weeks and nothing has changed - it's actually gotten worse.

So I made the appointment, got the referral and off I went this morning. I've never in my LIFE seen a waiting room that full - it was literally standing room only - and that includes several patients in wheelchairs. Anyway - my appointment was scheduled for 10... at 11 - they called me back... I got x-rays before anyone really even talked to me. Once the x-rays were complete, the doctor came in to talk to me about what's going on.

It seems that my post pregnancy hormones are allowing my body to become inflamed at an alarming rate. I've got two bum shoulders, a problem with my neck that is pinching a nerve causing my right arm to go completely numb, and a bum hip! Geez! Since the initial round of steroids didn't help me - he went straight for injections.

They had to call my insurance company before they could give me the injections - since when does a DOCTOR need to call insurance for permission to treat their patient? Seems backwards to me. Anyway - they did approve the injections, and the doctor came back into the room with the most inhumanly large needles I've ever seen. They must have been 3 feet long!

I'm not kidding either - because they literally were longer than the needles I used for my fertility drugs... scared the snot out of me. You know they're long when the actual doctor is the one that gives the shot... it's normally the nurse, right? Holy moly! It could have been much worse - or maybe he rubbed some sort of numbing agent on my skin because I didn't really even feel them going in... but while he was injecting the medicine - there was this weird pressure and pain sensation. Not cool!

I've still got numbness in my right arm now - and neither of them feels much better. I don't really know how long to expect it to take for some relief. He prescribed physical therapy for me 3 times a week for the next 4 weeks... and then I go back to see him. You know, cause I have time for physical therapy! He didn't really give me anything for my hip other than an oral medication that is supposed to be for pain... or some sort of muscle relaxer - hopefully a little of both!


So - I'm back at home hoping that the pain will stop soon - because lifting the kids hurts... and carrying James up and down the stairs makes me get teary-eyed! It's bad.

Speaking of James... little dude is teething again and was up last night at midnight and 3 SCREAMING inconsolably... not fun for him or for us. It's an extremely helpless feeling when there is really nothing you can do other than hold him and pray for the Tylenol to start working. Darn that teething tab recall! I'm literally watching him on the video monitor right now rolling around and doing just about everything except take the nap he so desperately needs.

Tyler is in the swing screaming at me at the moment too - this kid is a trip. He eats like a bird in the morning but once noon rolls around - he's a bottomless formula sucking machine. He eats 4 ounces every 2 hours between lunch and bedtime... then he's ready to eat again at about 3:30 or 4 in the morning. It's nuts! Sometimes he'll take more than 4 ounces in a bottle, but he still has trouble keeping all of that in his belly... so we really can't go up much more than we already are. I'm thinking he's a candidate for getting cereal before 4 months old... maybe that will help? Who knows?!

Finally, I started a new business this week - I'm now an independent stylist for Stella & Dot. I'd love it if you'd check out my website - there are some AMAZING products on there! I'll be back with more about that on Monday... and a couple of opportunities for you to win some free stuff from me. :-)