Drama...

Okay so the past couple of days have been a little interesting. We'll start with little miss Oakley. She is getting her first tooth!! I know... she's so big. This was discovered by none other then her daddy, the dentist. I happened to be selling crafts at the strip district and missed the initial discovery. And for some reason, that made me want to cry. (I didn't actually cry- I have a heart of stone) How could I miss such a big milestone in my baby's life? Anyway, the excitement has since worn off and I'm now realizing this just means extra crankiness. Which would be okay except for the fact that yesterday my body decided to get a vicious stomach bug. Oh yes, I mean even my toast and saltines were coming right back up. And not to be graphic but the worst thing about throwing up is the feeling that you're about to die right before it happens. Am I painting a picture for you?... cranky baby, pukey mom. And even that would have been okay IF I wasn't supposed to speak in church yesterday. So here I was trying to write my talk, not throw up on the floor and deal with the baby. I don't know why I insisted on still writing my talk (or speech), oh wait- its because my husband kept giving me the pep talk. "You're not that sick" "What would Jesus do?" "It'll only take you 10 minutes, you can handle anything for 10 minutes!" So I wrote my talk, got dressed, dragged myself into the car and headed to church. We get there and I realize, there is no way I'm giving this talk. I'm so nauseous, I can hardly stand. So my sweet husband goes up to the 1st counselor and breaks the news to him, (his exact words) "We have a code red, my wive is about to puke." Fine. Great. I get in the car and somehow drive myself back home. So back at church, Dave ended up speaking for like 30 minutes after they announced that I was "incapacitated" and wouldn't be able to speak today. INCAPACITATED!! Really they could have used a much better word. Then Dave starts getting all sorts of questions about what's going on. And to answer one of them: NO I AM NOT PREGNANT!! Anyway, just a little dramatic, way more attention than this little stomach bug deserved. Today I'm feeling much better. The 1/4 cup of applesauce I've eaten today seems to be staying down and the 12 hours of sleep last night really helped. I'm still pretty tired which is why I'm blogging instead of packing for a trip that we're leaving on tomorrow. Okay, here's some pictures. After reading this long post I guess you deserve it!

Here's her tooth, can't you see it?!


Getting a picture of her tooth was not easy. She was very fascinated with the camera.


Our biking adventures

My Testimonial

Of late I have found myself obsessed, taken, in LOVE, if you will. What could it possibly be? I'll give you a hint- its something you would never expect from me (an avid Nordstrom shopper). It's CRAIGSLIST!!! I'm really not a bargain shopper (TJ Maxx gives me anxiety) and I normally wouldn't be caught dead buying something second hand. But dental school has forced me to broaden my horizons (mom- you must be so proud! But seriously I'm not switching to soy milk, just give up on that one;). Craigslist has become my new hobby, and here are a few reasons why:

• Before moving to Pittsburgh Dave and I decided to downsize to one car. We sold my Toyota Echo (aka. souped-up golf cart) ON CRAIGSLIST in one day- for cash!!!
• Oakley's bedroom furniture: a 4 in 1 crib, HUGE dresser, glider, trunk and bookshelf all previously used by one child. The dresser alone retails for over $400 at Babies R Us. I paid $650 for everything! (Plus she threw in a wipes warmer (a $20 value) and Dave accidentally stole her scissors- opps!)
• Recently I've had this crazy desire to go biking. In order to accompany Miss Oakley we needed a child's bike trailer and a bike rack. Bike Trailer: Trek Go-Bug that retails for over $400, used twice; we paid $75. Bike Rack: Bell Triple-Back, new-in-box that retails for $60; we paid $30.
• Now we've found a highchair for Oakley: Chicco Polly, used a few times for $70, retails for $150. And I have big plans to replace our refrigerator, which mysteriously keeps leaking water, for a fairly new one- only $150.

Anyway, I had to share the love (or brag). And an added bonus- a great tour of the city. We have found some of the nicest neighborhoods in Pittsburgh thanks to my Craigslist adventures. In fact our little tours have convinced us to stay here, possibly permanently. There you have it, Craigslist has changed my life. It could change yours too, I highly recommend it.

**I was not paid to say any of this**

Bug-A-Boo

Isn't this terrible!? These are the only pictures we took of our baby on Halloween! We dragged this little lady bug to the dental school for a Halloween parade, a trunk or treat and then to a costume/birthday party and only managed to get these two lousy pictures of her. For the record, Oakley was a doll. She didn't mind her antenna and spent most of the time trying to eat her tulle skirt while mom and dad wolfed down her candy. Maybe next year we'll let her enjoy a few Halloween treats but for now she'll have to celebrate with some seasonal pureed squash- yum!

Mmmmm

A lot has happened in the last month including a trip home and two trips to Orlando. (I know, I feel a little spoiled) There will be more on that later but one momentous occasion that took place right here in Pittsburgh was the introduction of rice cereal to Oakley's diet.


Oakley's fascination with the spoon resulted in whole lot of rice cereal on the face.


Her bib says "too cute to eat my veggies" which has always been my philosophy.


Dr. Dad pulling out his dental skills...


Lets hope not all Dave's patients are this temperamental.

And the winner is....

Jaimie!!! Lucky comment #17. Thank you to everyone that entered and helped spread the word about my new blog. I really appreciate all your support! And as a special treat to all those who supported me, I'll sell you any bag off my website for $10 off the price. Just e-mail me to get details. And Jaimie...like I said any bag, your choice (unless is says sold) is yours! Email me your address at elisepringle@yahoo.com. Thanks again and stay tuned... this won't be the last give away;)

GIVE-A-WAY!!!

And so it begins.... My once adored hobby-turned-obsession has turned into a little side business of its own. It started off in the strip district of Pittsburgh where I may have been a little overpriced for the area. I made more bags, boppy covers, you name it in one week than most people should ever consider making in a lifetime. My big debut turned out to be not as big as I had hoped.

So now I turn to the blogging world to see if I can get my piece of the American pie. Many of you already have a diaper bag or birdie sling or both and have no need to purchase a new one. Well that is where the GIVE-A-WAY comes into play. I am giving away one of my bags- your choice (unless it says SOLD) to the lucky winner (I'll pay the shipping!). And how may you ask do you enter this incredible GIVE-A-WAY?? Well, all you need to do is to write a post introducing my new sassy site and post a comment below then you will have your chance at winning the bag of your choice!

P.S. MAKE SURE YOU MENTION THAT IT IS A GIVE AWAY!!

Oh yeah, the deadline for entering is 10/14/09.

Trot Trot to Boston...

Ahh don't you just love coming home from vacation. The huge pile of laundry, the dirty car and that random smell you can't quite pinpoint in your kitchen. Then there's the realization the your vacation is over and that looming vacation blog you have to write that no one really wants to read. But lets get real, everyone gets bragging rights so here I go...

Labor Day weekend 2009: Boston

That's right, Dave, Oakley and I headed over for a visit with my brother, Aleks and his family. We had an amazing time. Boston is probably the coolest city in the US (that I've been to). Its big with lots of fun things to do but not overwhelmingly big like NYC. Both of my parents grew up in the Boston area and its a place that I've been to visit more times than I can remember. Its always been my favorite city and after this trip, it still remains at #1. One of its best attributes is the rich history of the area that is kept alive by the beautifully well-maintained buildings. We walked part of the "Freedom Trail" which takes you around the city's historic sites. This is the Old State house in front of which the Boston Massacre occurred.



Anyway, enough of the history lesson. If you have the time, just go check it out for yourself.

Here we are right outside the Boston aquarium, my favorite thing to see there. I love aquariums! For those of you who don't know, Dave actually proposed to me in an aquarium. I know, he's quite the romantic:)




Oakley and her cousin Issac. Issac's 15 months older than Oakley.


The whole crew: Thanks Aleks and Laura for an amazing vacation!



Oakley had a pretty fun time.


So here Dave, Oakley and I are all set to go on our whale watch. Sad news was that all whale watches were canceled that day due to some rough seas. Oh well, that just means we have to go back another time.


So instead of whale watching, we headed over to the North End to get some amazing Italian food. Also one of the best things about Boston... the food! The North End is basically the Italian part of Boston (this is actually where my Nana was born). And this picture doesn't really do it justice. The entire area really looks like you wandered over into Italy. The food is amazing but the best part are the cannoli. If you ever go to Mike's pastries order a "Lobster Tail". Its a puff pastry that's full of probably a pound of cream filing. Dave and I polished one of those off along with 3 cannoli. Sick huh? Also we enjoyed some good chowda (as the Bostonians would say), steamers (steamed clams) and frappes (milkshakes).


On our way back we stopped off at Dave's parents house who were kind enough to watch our dogs while we were out gallivanting. Dave's mom treated us to some portraits of Oakley. Despite the fact that she cried for most of it, we were able to get some pretty cute shots.



This little girl is now 4 months old and weighs 15.3 lbs. She's in the 95% for weight and height, yeah she's a big one!

Whew, that was a long post! Kudo's to you if you've made it this far.