No More Tommy's...

Today I went to Carson Pirie Scott's to get some more new fall clothes for myself and Tom. I was in the men's section and I could not find the Hilfiger clothes anywhere. A clerk asked me if I needed help and I said yes, I was looking for the Hilfiger clothes. She informed me that they are not "allowed" to sell them anymore. That Tommy Hilfiger himself signed a contract with Macy's stating that they get to sell his clothes exclusively. You've got to be freaking kidding me! I could not believe that one! Well, that's if for the Hilfiger clothes for me and Tom. Tom and I are both native Chicagoans and we love our city. We love it so much that we refused to to shop at Macy's since Macy's has destroyed a part of Chicago's history by getting rid of the Marshall Field's name when they bought them out. So bye-bye Tommy Hilfiger's! We loved your clothes while it lasted but we will NOT shop at Macy's!

My Weight Loss So Far

According to the bathroom scale this morning, I have officially lost 50 pounds since January! And I finally bought myself some new jeans today. I had been putting it off but with September and fall weather here, I can't wear shorts much longer. So I bought one new pair of Tommy Hilfiger jeans and one new Tommy shirt at the outlet mall today. The jeans are a size 8! Wow! I think I was in a size 18 before but I can't really know because I was still wearing maternity clothes until January. So the size 18 then is just an educated guess since I had some size 16 jeans but they were too small on me then so I just continued to wear my maternity jeans. Hence, I think I was an 18 but now I'm an 8! Oh, and the size 8 Tommy's go on easily and are comfortable, not ones that I'm squeezing and straining to get myself into!

Andrina's First Skechers

I am not really into labels, names, and designers, with a few exceptions. Up until recently, I always had a Coach or Dooney & Bourke purse with me (which has been switched to an ugly Buxton Bag because I can wear it over my shoulder and that is much easier when out with a toddler). I do like Tommy Hilfiger clothes but I really love Skechers shoes! Ok, yes, I do have at least 30 pairs of other shoes in my closet but for everyday wear, I really like Skechers. I have at least 10 pairs of Skechers gym shoes in various colors. So today when Doreen and I went to the outlet mall, I went into the Skechers store and got a pair of black, mid-calf, 3" heeled boots for myself and a pair of size 3 "baby" Skechers gym shoes for Andrina! And I only paid $16 for them, which is a really good price too!

Andrina in her new shoes!

Are these just great baby shoes or what? I love how they have various colors in them so they will go with many different colored outfits! And there are sparkles too!

Thanks Auntie April...

...for the new toys! As you can see, Andrina loves them! She played with the Elmo table for over an hour straight this morning alone. That is a great toy, I'm so glad you have it, she is really enjoying it. It is something I would have bought her if I had seen it in a store or online. And she likes the rocker giraffe too. She needs help getting on it but she rocks from there.

Look at me checking it out

I am really enjoying this
Hi again!

I'm rocking by myself

Ok, how cute is this kid trying to put her foot on the handle bar???

So This Is Sand....

Andrina had her first encounter with sand today at our cousin Cheryl's birthday party. She really enjoyed the new experience and grabbed it, spinkled it, scooped it, dumped it, and even tasted it. Thankfully she only tasted it once and choose not to do that again! Here's pictures of her and Anne playing and having fun.

Scooping and dumping

Here was a sweet picture with Andrina looking at the camera-and it is blurry! Arrgh!
Anne is actually giving Andrina a hug goodby, not grabbing her!

Andrina Loves To Read Her Books

For the past week or so, Andrina has been really into her books. She's enjoying going through all of them and looking at them and we have been reading together at least twice a day now, many times more. Here's some pictures of Andrina enjoying her books.

Books from bedtime stories last night

Hmm, there's a lot of books out already, do you think Andrina has enough?
Apparently not. She is looking for more! Ok, now all of my books are out for me to read!

Hi Mommy! Read to me!

Andrina's early love of books is very special to me. I don't know about everyone, but when I was pregnant, I always pictured my child sitting quietly reading books. That's how I envisioned my baby before she was here. I would envision myself holding and cuddling a baby, but as a child, this is how I pictured her. And now here she is, like I pictured her in my mind. I hope this will last. I hope a love of books is something that we will have in common as Andrina grows.

Baby Got A Boo-Boo

Two days ago Andrina fell and hit her forehead on the corner of the dvd player. Bad Mommy was making her oatmeal for breakfast when this happened. So I am partly mad at myself because it happened on my watch and partly not because I know that Andrina is going to have spills and falls and is going to get bumps, bruises, and cuts. That's just a part of childhood that is going to happen.

She cried for about a minute while I held her but she got over it fairly quickly. There is a tiny pin-head sized cut on her forehead. When she stopped crying I cleaned it, put neosporin on it and bandaged it. Then I iced it for a little while too but I couldn't get too much of that in with her squirming. I didn't think it was too bad where it needed a lot of icing. But there is a small bump there and a very faint bruise.

Later that day she was back to her happy little self again and I took a picture. She is happy but it is so sad to me because of the bandage. She just looks so pitiful with it on. Every time I see her sweet little forehead with that boo-boo I cringe. I wish it had happened to me instead of her.

But the good news is there is only a very slight bump and bruise. It should be healed in no time. And the cut has already scabbed over. And fortunately Andrina did not try to mess with the bandage so it should heal fine.

My poor little baby. I'm so sorry you got hurt. I can't stand for anything to hurt you. I love you too much for anything to hurt you.