Millinery.

When Josie received her invitation to the Royal Wedding, naturally her mind went to hats, as any young girl's mind would. After all, a fashionable hat was required dress for the women. Not just a hat, mind, clothes too, but a hat was in order. Her choices were limitless. Her mind traveled back to the hats of days past...

There was the hat she wore with the pink and purple ribbons

There was the unfortunate duck and chick beanie

Then of course was the hat she wore to the Kentucky Derby

Then the dreadful hat worn begrudgingly to celebrate the dog's birthday

Let us not forget her Daddy's favorite

And her Mummy's favorite

And the doggy's favorite

Hats that were a bit avant garde

or occasional

UK friendly argyle hats

and the always stylish stocking cap

and of course the functional

But in the end, Josie decided none of these hats would do, and there simply wasn't enough time to shhhhedule an appointment with Philip Treacy. Alas, she declined the invitation and watched the Royal Wedding from her home here in the States.

Caroline, on the other hand, attended and in her usual brash style, wore these:

Maybe a risk, but I still think she looked far better than certain other "fashionable" princesses...

Just sayin.

When a Loss is a Win

Today I lost a contest.

It wasn't a contest for something dumb (not that I haven't lost those, too), it was for something good: a part-time, well paying, very cool job at an online toy reseller called Hopscout. The job was a perfect fit for me, and evidently, also for 224 other applicants. Ultimately they chose the candidates they felt were the best fit for them (makes sense) and I was not among them. While I was disappointed, it did clarify a few things for me.

We are very short on money right now. I am trying so hard to stay home with my babies. Generations of women have done this and have made it work, and I know I can also do it. I do believe that the cost of living here is higher than it has ever been, and I'm sure this is true all over the country, but I still believe it can be done. My husband and I are not extravagant people; in fact we are quite simple. There is no reason we can't do this.

That said, a little extra income would not hurt. It would be the difference between having a few dollars in the account after paying bills or having a few hundred dollars in the account after paying bills. It would be the difference between me cutting the feet off of footie pajamas so they'll still fit Caroline or just grabbing a new pair for her (on sale, of course). It would be the difference between worry and relaxation twice a month at payday.

So I have been scouring my imagination trying to think of creative ways I can stay home with my babies and make extra money doing something I love, or at least like a lot. This job was one of many ideas I have come across, but I spent many man hours on it making a video, editing it, submitting it, begging for votes, and following up relentlessly. Hours and hours, I am telling you. Hours I could have been spending playing with my daughters. Don't get me wrong, I didn't jam them in a playpen all day and curl up with the laptop, but there were absolutely times I spent scrolling on a screen when I could have been out strolling with my girls. I have an immense guilt problem anyway; I think motherhood does this to you. But this is different, this is deserved guilt. I wasted so much of last week on this nonsense. Yes, the job would have been wonderful and I could have brought a lot to the table. And yes, money is important in that it enables you to get on in life. But as soon as it starts robbing you of time with your kids that you very easily could have otherwise spent with them, time you'll never get back with them because they'll grow and up and get big and talk back and roll their eyes and move out, money becomes worthless and of no value. Josie will only be 23 months, 2 weeks and 1 day old once... just as Caroline will only be right.on.the.verge of crawling once. I need to make sure I don't miss it by spending too much time swimming drowning in the pool of would could be.

I tend to plan, and plan, and plan, until there is nothing left to plan and I have to move on to a new sector of my life to plan. It's an absolute waste of effort and it cheats my kids and husband out of my time and attention. And I'm switching it up, starting now.

I'll always be a planner, I know this. But I need to sprinkle in a little action and a little play with that, so I can have more balance in my daily life. And when I say "action," I mean plan one thing and then DO IT before moving on to the next plan. And when I say "play," I mean relaxation and enjoyment of my life with my family. They are quite simply the very best thing that has ever happened to me, and five minutes with them will forever be worth more than some stupid dollar. So in some weird way I am actually really glad I lost this contest, this job. It was a terrific opportunity and would have been awesome, but knowing me it just would have become my next obsession. I should instead focus on obsessing over cleaning my house or doing puzzles with my girls or making a kickass dinner for my husband -- everything else will fall into place! So thanks, universe, for teaching me a valuable lesson!

 

This Week in Cuteness 9/6

Caroline loves to laugh but it always ends in hiccups. Then the party's over, because she hates the hiccups.

 

Josie couldn't decide between watching the muted TV or reading. Thankfully (for once) she chose reading.

 

I'm Just Sayin'.

   

Photo Catch Up

Well, Caroline continues to grow, Josie continues to crack us up, and time continues to fly. Here, the past two months in photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How To Please Josie In One Easy Step

Meet Caroline Constance Enos!!

We have a new little girl in our household -- Danny is SO outnumbered!

Caroline Constance Enos was born at 10:02 a.m. on June 14, 2010 at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. She weighed 8 lbs., 15 oz. -- that's a full pound and 12 ounces more than Josie! -- and was 21 inches long (Josie was 19.5). She was born by c-section, a planned one this time. She was healthy and cried right away. She had to be taken to the NICU at first because of low blood sugar, but she bounced back and didn't have any problems after that. Literally 15 seconds before she was born I said to Danny, "I have the strong feeling it is a boy." HA!

Caroline is a name I have always loved since high school, and we briefly considered it for Josie, but it didn't make the cut. This time we struggled with a first name for a girl -- Virginia "Ginny" was the forerunner for the longest time but we kept going back to the drawing board for some reason. When "Caroline" popped back up, we knew it was the one.

Her middle name was much easier. We were looking for a one syllable name but couldn't settle on one. Then "Constance" came up and immediately we both loved it. Connie is the first name of Danny's grandmother, who was just an awesome person and such a great grandmother. Danny was wild about her and she accepted me as a "grandchild" from the very beginning, which made me feel great. Sadly, she passed away very recently, so we are thrilled that we can keep her spirit alive through Caroline, in name and hopefully in personality!

Caroline is doing great. She is different than Josie was as a newborn... she is fidgety and noisy and makes ridiculous faces. But she is similar to Josie in that she likes her sleep and so far, only wakes us up once a night to eat. Josie is interested in Caroline, but in a kind of passive way. She is trying to say her name, it mostly comes across as "Cuttle-E" or "Cuttle-A." She is showing some jealousy... whenever Caroline cries, Josie performs this hideous fake cry/scream combo. It's annoying. But she hasn't tried to attach Caroline to a bunch of balloons and let her go outside or anything yet, so I think we are a go.

Stevie is very cute with Caroline. When we brought Josie home, Stevie was interested but mostly ignored her. With Caroline she is very maternal. She comes running in if Caroline cries, and often comes over to check on her and sniff her or give her a little kiss. I guess that extra 13 months has brought out her maternal side.

Danny and I are adjusting as well. He is home with us right now, which as been awesome. But he goes back to work Monday and I am not looking forward to it, for a variety of reasons. Practically speaking, I am nervous to be the exclusive caregiver for both babies from 7 - 4 every day, but mainly it has just been so nice having us all together. If only we were independently wealthy! Danny would probably go crazy staying around the house all the time anyway. He is doing great with "all his girls" as he says. I have the feeling both girls will be Daddy's girls, and Stevie always was.

I am doing pretty well, despite some hideous swelling in my legs from the c-section. I had a good amount of swelling from the knee down with Josie as well, but this is much worse this time around. I can barely walk, and I have no shoes I can wear! Once that goes away, I will feel so much better. Other than that, I am just suffering from the classic postpartum exhaustion!

We are thrilled to have our little family healthy, happy, and home!