Jonah having some diaper time before bed

Well, the results are in.  The new “leak lock” thing they’ve got going on is working! The new & improved Snug & Dry lived up to their name!

Now, on to the Huggies wipes.  I have always loved Huggies wipes, so I’m not sure what they had to improve upon.  But, since I’ve been letting Jonah go at it with a spoon at mealtimes, I certainly had several sticky situations (non-diaper related) to try them out with!

Jonah covering himself with yogurt. I mean, learning to use a spoon.

I liked the Huggies wipes. They did a great job getting all the sticky, thick yogurt off of Jonah. I am not sure how they are better than the old Huggies wipes, but maybe that is just because I already loved the old ones, beats me.

Anyhoo,  if you didn’t formerly love these products, definitely give them a second look!  Or check Huggies out on Facebook and Twitter @Huggies while you’re at it.

__________

Mom Central and Huggies gave me a pack of diapers and wipes to facilitate this review.

Hello, pretty pinners!  That’s right, I am sweet-talking you, ’cause I want you to LINK UP today!  I love seeing all your winning pins!

Here’s what I was up to this week.  I went pin-hunting for a Bible story craft.  Because of Sophie’s language delay, she was a little behind on learning Bible stories, so she and I have been working on that.  She loves her Sunday School lessons (even though we go to church on Saturday night, ha ha), and I decided to try some Bible-y crafts with her to keep the lessons going for a couple of days into the week.  Here’s the first one we attempted: a net full of fish.  The original pin is here, from I can teach my child.

This craft was inspired by the story in John 21 when Jesus (after his death and resurrection) appeared to his disciples and did a miracle, causing their fishing nets to be suddenly full even though they had fished all night long and caught nothing.  Here is the text, John 21:1-14 (NIV):

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: ² Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. ³ “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

⁴ Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

⁵ He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

⁶ He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

⁷ Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. ⁸ The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.^[c] 9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” ¹¹ So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. ¹² Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. ¹³ Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.¹⁴ This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

****

After reading the Bible story, Sophie and I made a “net full of fish” with a paper plate, some blue glitter paint, construction paper, plastic wrap,and a Sharpie.  First, Sophie painted the paper plate with the glitter paint.  But even coloring it with a plain old blue marker will do.  While the paint dried, we cut out little fish that I had traced on different colored construction paper. (I folded the paper together so that we cut several fish at once). Then, we put the fish on the plate, covered it with plastic wrap, and drew lines for the net on the plastic wrap with the Sharpie.  Here’s how it turned out:

Cute, right?  We drew little eyes and smiles on our fishies, too.  You know, to make it accurate.

What did you pin this week??  I can’t wait to see how clever, crafty, and culinary you all are!  Add your links below, there are just a few rules:

1) In your post, please link to your original source – the pin you got the idea from.

2) Make sure and link back to our original Pin For the Wednesdays Post here at Mommin’ It Up! (please!)

3) In the Mr. Linky below, leave a direct link to your Pin FTWednesdays post, not to your main website.

4) Totally optional – grab our cute #PinFTW button! The code box is over there in our sidebar.

Ok ok, you know I can’t leave it at that.

You may remember a couple weeks ago when Jenny and I were at the Mom 2.0 Summit in Miami. I think we might have mentioned it.

You may also remember that as we were standing outside the hotel waiting to go to the Versace Mansion, we just so happened to be standing in the presence of greatness right by Jenny Lawson. The Bloggess. Who totally wrote the funniest book in the history of the world (see above).

Jenny (my Jenny, not the awesome Jenny.) and I were all “OMGgggggggggg, it’s the Bloggess!!!” and I was all “Quick, take my picture!”

Which is how we wound up with this classic piece of photography.

But then, since Rachel is a normal person and all, she was like “Hi I’m Rachel, could we get our picture taken with you?” And so we got another picture with the Bloggess, this time like normal people.

I am really getting away from the point here, people. The point is, this book is freaking hilarious.

Last night I was in bed reading a chapter about Jenny (not my Jenny, the awesome Jenny.) OD’ing on laxatives, and I was cracking up and making such a racket that Andy came running into our room to see what in the holy hell was going on. He said he thought there was an intruder murdering me or something, which is ironic since a good portion of the book is dedicated to the possibility of being attacked by things like zombie cougars.

In other news, I must have a really pleasant laugh.

Seriously, though, I haven’t laughed like that since I saw my own life portrayed on the big screen in the movie “I Love You, Man.”

I am pretty sure this book will out-sell the Bible.

Go buy it. You can thank me later.

While I was away last weekend, I thought I might wean Jonah, but I was on the fence about it.  Cold turkey isn’t really the way I like to do things, but he’s almost 17 months old, and the problem is, the child won’t leave me alone for two seconds.  Like his sister before him, he wants to nurse whenever he wants to nurse, as often as he wants to nurse.  And I’d like him to nurse two or three times a day at most.  All attempts to pare down the nursing had gone, let’s see…how shall I put this?  The opposite of well.   I don’t really want to be nursing a two-year-old again, like I did with Sophie.  So I went to Miami armed with a breast pump to give myself relief, but I left Jonah at home with Daddy and some bottles and cups of whole milk.  I thought, “We’ll see what happens.  Maybe when I get home, he will just be done.”

Ha ha, hilarious.  While I was gone, Jonah did not forget his love of nursing.  When we arrived home from the airport last Sunday, he immediately started trying to nurse.  He was going crazy, fussing and flailing.  I decided to have Bobby make him a bottle, and see if he would take the bottle from me.  So Bobby handed me a bottle, and after a brief protest, Jonah started taking it.   I held him while he slurped that milk down greedily

It was the first time I have ever given my baby boy a bottle.

It pretty much ripped me apart.  I don’t know why, but I was not expecting it to hurt like it did.

As I held him, and he held his bottle, I began to cry, then shake with sobs.  Hot tears rolled rapidly down my face and splashed onto Jonah’s plump baby cheeks.  He reached one hand up, like he does when he’s nursing, and played with my ear while I snuggled him close and cried.

I guess I wasn’t ready.

Later that day, I did nurse him at his nap time.  I felt relief as he nursed and cuddled me, relief that I could still have this if I wanted it, if Jonah needed it. That my trip out of town hadn’t taken this closeness away. I discovered I wanted to hold on just a little bit longer.  He is my last baby, after all.  I just don’t think cold turkey is going to cut it, for either of us.

By the end of the evening I’d decided that since Jonah will take a bottle from me (but not, as I’ve since discovered, a cup in lieu of nursing), that I am going to cut back significantly on nursing and get the weaning process jump-started.  This week I’ve only been nursing him in the mornings when he wakes, with two or three exceptions when he just wore me down. Most of the time he will take the bottle from me, but a few times he has just been adamant about nursing even after a bottle.  For the most part, it is going well – better than I expected.  I feel like, for the moment, we are both in a good place with this.

I’m thinking about one more month of nursing.  I can already tell my milk supply has dropped, and he’ll be eighteen months then.  I’ve got some health-related things to take care and I’d like to be done nursing sooner than later to work on those.  So, we’re getting there. It’s nice to have a weaning plan, and it’s nice to be the one in charge of the plan.

As much as it will be nice to not be on a tether anymore, I know I will miss it.  My baby is so sweet when he nurses each morning.  And I do love him so.

She was totally right.

However, against my better judgment, we did it anyway.

A few weeks ago, we brought a dog home from a shelter. Have you ever tried adopting a dog from a shelter? I am fairly certain we could have brought a kid home from Rwanda with less scrutiny. Anyway, after we convinced them we weren’t Michael Vick wannabes, we brought home a dog whose name (at the time) was Yonkers. He had been adopted from the shelter as a puppy and was in a home for five years, but his owners got smart had kids and couldn’t care for him anymore, so he wound up back at the shelter. So anyway, this was the only dog we had come across that we all felt remotely comfortable with (and by “remotely,” I mean not 100% opposed. And by “we,” I mean me.), in no small part because he was not a puppy. I am not a complete idiot – I drew the line at bringing anything into our house that wasn’t sleeping through the night and potty-trained. Because really – that ship has sailed.

So.

The shelter’s policy is that interested parties bring a dog home for a week-long “home visit” before making the adoption final. (See also: Rwandan child.) I held out the slightest bit of hope that a week would be long enough for all of us to realize that we didn’t need a dog.

I was wrong.

I realized it. The rest of my family, not so much.

But let me back up. The night Andy brought him home from the shelter, it was a Friday and the kids and I were in my bed watching television. Andy and the dog got home, and the dog’s first course of action was to tear through the house and jump up on our bed. I was not amused. Then he proceeded to bark the entire night. Kate, the girl who flips out when she can hear crickets chirping when she’s trying to sleep, was hysterical. She wanted the dog to be gone, and I quote – “Mommy was right. We aren’t ready for a dog.” I was gleefully chanting “I told you so!” in my head and picturing returning the purchase the next day.

Unfortunately, it didn’t last – the next morning she was in love with the damn thing.

I, however, was not.

Since Andy and the dog had gotten home late the night before, Andy had put the dog’s crate (which was gianormous, btw) in the kitchen. I came out to make the kids breakfast and the kitchen table had been moved to the side to make room for the crate, there were dog treats on the counter and leashes and toys strewn across the floor. I felt like the dog had taken over our entire home. Our house suddenly felt three times smaller, and the dog suddenly seemed three times bigger than I remembered. Later, Andy found me in the shower, sobbing. I just felt like our lives had been turned upside down – and I had liked our lives quite well just as they were.

Mid-morning, I took Kate to a birthday party for like 7 hours. It was so long I wanted to shoot myself. But being there felt like a better alternative than being at home with the dog – I was utterly convinced I would never want to be at our house again, especially alone. That thought was devastating to me.

After the party, I took Kate to the mall to kill some more time. When we did eventually get home, I discovered that Andy had spent the whole time getting our house back to normal. He moved the crate and all the paraphernalia to the basement and cleaned the entire house. It felt like home again and it was such a relief to me. He is a nice guy.

So anyway, after the initial shock wore off, things got better… but the conclusion I came to was that I just didn’t like having a dog in our house. It wasn’t about that dog in particular – all and all he’s a pretty good dog, and Andy and Kate had absolutely kept up their end of the bargain in terms of caring for him. It just felt like an intrusion.

To me, anyway. Everyone else – including Sam, who had been completely afraid of dogs a week before – loved having him around.

So, our week came to a close and we had to make a decision. It was not easy. I agonized over it, but after a long conversation with my dad, I decided that I would take one for the team.

We are now dog owners.

While I am still not overjoyed about this change in our life, I am trying to come around. I have decided that at this point, it’s in no one’s best interest for me to be angry and resentful. The dog is here to stay, and I need to make the best out of it. That’s what’s best for all of us.

So, readers, meet Siggy.

On the bright side, at least I’ll have something to blog about.

Bobby had come outside with me and almost immediately we heard “Joseph Albertson! The house is surrounded! Please come out with your hands up!”  We peered down the street and there was another police car and a cop with a bullhorn three doors down. Well, YEE-HA!  Just another Sunday afternoon in the city!

Naturally, Bobby and I turned on the Wii for the big kids so they wouldn’t notice the drama. Then, we pulled up chairs on our front porch and sat back to watch the drama.

The cop with the civilians was literally RIGHT in front of our porch.  From the conversation we surmised they lived in the house or were related to the person that was being sought.  The man was on the phone trying to make arrangements for someone to come get the kids.  I felt so sorry for those kids.  The younger woman was yelling at them a lot and using the “F” word.  Lovely. I know it’s a high-stress situation, but geez.  It was really hot so I went in and got a box of Capri Sun and took it out to the woman, but she declined, saying the kids were leaving soon.  Fortunately, they were all soon escorted away.

By this time they had completely closed off our block so we definitely knew I was not getting out to the grocery anytime soon.  I wasn’t too thrilled but I figured this wouldn’t take too long.  Soon, I’d have my bread and milk, and anti-fungal cream for Jonah’s wicked diaper rash he had developed while I was gone? Right?

Then, we heard the cop tell the people on our sidewalk that SWAT and the Hostage Negotiation Team were coming. WHEEEEE!

It didn’t take long.

Soon this was the scene across the street from our house!

Soon there were SWAT guys with assault rifles all over the place.  They were being very stealthy – jumping over fences, creeping through alleys, etc.  All this time, the policeman with the bullhorn was constantly calling the guy to come out.  Bobby and I could see a news camera crew down the street filming the action.  He and I were constantly updating our FB statuses, and I was tweeting and instagramming the drama.  And also, after about two hours, I was complaining HEAVILY about not being able to get to the store!

At one point a SWAT team member, or HNT member, dropped an orange box right in front of our sidewalk.  I was all…umm…I hope that thing’s not going to blow up!  Luckily my friend Jen, whose husband is on the HNT, told me that’s the “jump phone” they use to talk to the perpetrator.  From online news reports, we found out the guy was wanted on a domestic violence charge, and was believed to be holed up in the house with an automatic weapon.

At some point we went in and made the kids dinner, then after that we let Joshua and Sophie continue to play Wii so they would not know that their were men with assault weapons right outside the house (they remained clueless throughout. We turned up the TV so they wouldn’t hear the bullhorn.)

But since we are super-stellar parents, we took Jonah out on the porch with us and let him swing on his baby swing so we could keep watching the drama!

So we were just sitting there minding the SWAT team’s business, when all of a sudden a stealthy SWAT guy crept up right next to our porch! I didn’t even hear him but Bobby pointed him out to me. So, I did what any good blogger will do:

photo heavily edited to *try* and hide the fact that I had been up for like 14 hours and had no makeup on.

LOOK AT HIM SMILING!!! HE LOVES IT!

I wasn’t as stealthy as him, because he saw me take the pic and said. “Don’t you go putting that on YouTube.”

No worries, dude.  But you didn’t say anything about MAH BLOG!

Soon after this, things stopped getting fun.  The bullhorn kept going.  At one point they blared the SWAT truck’s sirens (it was on this guy’s front lawn at this point) really loudly for a really LONG time to try to get him to come out.

It got late. I still didn’t have any groceries.  Jonah’s biscuits were still burning and he needed that diaper rash cream!

We put the kids to bed.  It took forever.  At one point I went out and saw the SWAT guys all in a row, with their shields up, in tight formation – it looked like they were ready to go in and get that guy!

But then nothing.

And about 45 minutes later, the trucks packed up and left.  Huh?  Bobby finally got out to the store after 10 to get us a few things, and I went to bed.

Then I woke up to news reports the next morning that THE GUY WASN’T EVEN IN THE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  WHAT?????  I don’t know how he got out but he wasn’t there.  He ended up calling police from a location several miles away and turning himself in without incident.

After holding my neighbors and us hostage for over FIVE HOURS!   Ugh.

If he moves back to the house three doors down after he gets of jail, I am totally leaving a bag of flaming poop on his porch!

My super-cousin-super-power is being crafty (in a good way!). So, next to Jesus, I pretty much think pinterest is the greatest thing ever. I love me some pinterest. It was the first (and only!) thing I went to when I was planning the latest family function at our church. I used 10 activities from pinterest. My favorite thing about these activities is that they were used for all ages, from my little one year old to adults. And we all had so much fun! The activities were a great way for parents to spend memorable time with their kids, Here are some of my favorites:

Tissue paper crosses:
This was a great activity for the little ones, because the only skill that’s needed is the ability to stick tissue paper to contact paper. My little 21 month old loved it. She keep saying “Stick, stick.” But the big kids loved it too.

Picture (and idea) found on confessionsofahomeschooler.com

Another great idea was making casts. The basic idea is wrapping a wrist or leg or in toilet paper spray with water, wrap more, spray more, and wa-la, a cast is made.

The messiest craft, but also one of the best, was making lava bottles (or, for our purpose, fiery furnace bottles). It’s so easy and so much fun. An empty plastic bottle, food coloring, vegetable oil, Alka-Seltzer, and water turns into a fun, bubbling activity.

I’m always looking for ways to engage the kids in prayer. Play dough prayers were just what I was looking for. Kids shape the play dough into something they are thankful for. In the future, I also want to make prayer sticks. And prayer books. Oh, and this finger painted bible verse sign. For an idea person like me, pinterest is completely addictive.

And, now that the church program is over, I’m going to concentrate on finishing decorating my daughter’s new room… brought to you by pinterest! What were your pinterest creations this week?

Link up below, or if you don’t have a blog, leave a comment. Just pretty please follow our rules:

1) In your post, please link to your original source – the pin you got the idea from.

2) Make sure and link back to our original Pin For the Wednesdays Post here at Mommin’ It Up! (please!)

3) In the Mr. Linky below, leave a direct link to your Pin FTWednesdays post, not to your main website.

4) Totally optional – grab our cute #PinFTW button! The code box is over there in our sidebar.

As you know, Emily and I were sponsored to Mom 2.0 Summit by our favorite company to work with EVER, Lands’ End.  Let me tell you how we felt like rock stars in these beautiful outfits. Over and over and OVER again we heard two things from attendees at the conference. Number one was: “THAT’S Lands’ End???” in a shocked voice, and number two was: “I am going to have to take a look at Lands’ End now! You make me want to shop them!”  I am not even kind of exaggerating when I say we heard that numerous times.  Of course, those remarks were always preceded with, “I love your dress!”  Emily and I were posting pictures of our outfits on Facebook this weekend, but now we want to include photos along with some of our favorite features of them as well.

For travel, I went with my favorite – classic Starfish Collection comfort:

It was blissfully comfy and oh-so-adorable!  I have on the Starfish tunic, striped scarf, and cropped leggings, which you can’t see, but they are adorbs (that’s how we cool kids say “adorable” these days) and I want to marry them.  (Sorry, honey.) Also, I carried this gorgeous linen and leather handbag.  It was big enough to be my carry-on on the plane, and it held my prized possessions – my iPad, my breast pump, and my makeup bag with room to spare!  It has all kinds of pockets, a detachable wristlet, and even a place for your business cards. It’s pretty much the perfect bag!

We neglected to get a photo of Emily in her traveling gear, whoopsie!  But she was also looking splendid in these pincord pants, matching drapeneck tee, and pointelle cardigan:

She had these shoes (pictured) on as well and they were so cute!  I wanted to steal them!

(Emily jumping in here – I loved this outfit so much! It was super comfortable and I know I’ll probably wear it about once a week for the rest of the summer. The shoes were SO cute, and comfortable as well.)

When we got to the hotel, we immediately changed for the much-anticipated WHITE PARTY!!! We were both just soooo over the moon about our white linen dresses.

I loved my dress because it was so comfortable.  The pleating on the bodice was a fantastic detail that really made the dress stand out. I felt great in it and very beachy.  Emily’s halter was actually from the Lands’ End Canvas line (which you should totally check out if you’re not familiar with it!)  Hers had pockets, too, which was so convenient.  We felt amazing and confident in our white! (I was kinda bummed though, that Emily’s spray tan turned out so good. Dangit! My creamsicle dreams were totally melted.)

Friday’s dresses were my personal favorite.  Em and I were both all decked out in linen.  I must tell you – these linen dresses are gorgeous, the colors are SO vibrant, and they fit like a DREAM!  This green portrait collar dress made me feel like I was straight out of the offices of  ”Mad Men”.

Here’s a look with my gorgeous Kinzie Linen Tote. The freshwater endless strand pearls are Lands’ End as well!

I really felt super-glamorous in this portrait collar dress.  (And the shoes are great, too! More on those later.)  Everywhere I went that day, people stopped me to tell me how much they loved it, especially the color (which is called “Asparagus”.)  By the end of the day, Emily and I were saying, “Asparagus is the new black!”  Everyone loved it!

Emily’s v-neck linen dress was equally beautiful.  And check out her striped handbag!  I was soooo jealous of it! (I know, my greed for Lands’ End cannot be satiated. It’s a DISEASE!)

(Emily here again – this was one of my favorite dresses too. I just loved both the fit and the cut. I am also slightly obsessed with that handbag.)

Something we both loved about these dresses is that they have little snaps inside the shoulders that hold your bra straps in place!  Genius!!  And again, I cannot emphasize enough how amazingly well they fit & flattered!  The backs of these dresses were also so pretty and lucky for us, the Mom 2.0 official photographer caught that detail!

Friday night the party was a little more casual and Emily and I chose dresses that were super fun and comfortable.  Once again I was jealous of Emily’s dress. Seriously I could easily own one of everything!

Don’t you love this bold print?  And the belt was such a great touch. This dress also had pockets, FTW!  And I know it’s kind of hard to see but she was wearing these shoes, which are sooooooo cute – I wore the same ones in white to the white party. Hers were orange and I LOVE them (orange is my favorite color. If we wore the same shoe size I totes would’ve ganked ‘em.)

I chose a cotton modal print dress.  This was without a doubt one of the most comfortable pieces of clothing I have EVER worn.  It traveled SO well too,  I did not have to do anything but pull it out of my suitcase and put it on!  And I loved the print, but it also comes in lots of great solids.  The matching espadrilles were the icing on the cake!

Saturday at the conference found me back in linen again and Emily in this great v-neck chambray dress.  Her “sherbert frock” as one conference attendee called it, was much-coveted!  And isn’t her necklace gorgeous? I wore the same one later that night.

I loved the way my shirred linen pattern dress fit. The shirring on the top is hard to see in the photo but you’ll see it later when Em rocks a solid color.  Once again, Emily and I both got tons of compliments on these dresses!  Despite the fact that it is linen, I didn’t have to iron this one out of my suitcase, either. I couldn’t believe it!  The ultra-fashionable Nicole of Momtrends loved our dresses so much, she included us in her fashion wrap-up!  We were so honored!

photo courtesy of Nicole Feliciano of Momtrends

Finally, we were SO excited to get our looks together for the big closing party of the conference, at the VERSACE MANSION!!! We were both feeling very glamorous in RED – me in red butterflies, Emily in red linen with the shirring detail on top.

This dress was soooo FUN!  I adoooore the print.  It was ultra-comfy, and had pockets and the snaps to hold my bra straps in place.  I felt super-fabulous in the bold print and color.  I honestly felt like I fit right in at the Versace mansion!  And check out my gorgeous and comfy Elizabeth buckle sandals.

Emily’s shirred linen dress was super RED hot.  Look how beautiful she looks! The shirring on the top is so elegant, and it fit like a glove.

She had cute linen & red matching espadrilles, too! We both carried the Kinzie linen tote in red to complete our looks for the party. We got some great photos in these dresses!

Like this one, and of course, again for your enjoyment, the soon-to-be-legendary shot of us in Versace’s shower!  Lands’ End REALLY infiltrated the Versace mansion in this one!

I can’t tell you how much we LOVED every minute of wearing these amazing pieces of clothing.  We couldn’t have been any more proud to be representing Lands’ End – the brand that truly took us from the conference room to the beach to the Versace mansion!  We hope you’ll head to their website, get your shop on, and show them some love!

Which one of our looks was YOUR favorite?

It was just…so well done.  Simple words that carry a lot of weight.  So. Well. Done.  The content was excellent, and effectively communicated!  The people were fun, open, friendly, supportive.  The venue was breathtaking!

The view from our room at the Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne

We cannot think our generous sponsor, Lands’ End enough for sending us to represent them at this epic conference! We will have a whole Lands’ End fashion recap for you this week. We hope you enjoyed the photos of all our outfits over the weekend on our Facebook page!

decked out in Lands' End for Thursday night's White party

A highlight of Mom 2.0 was making some new friends, Jenny and Rachel. They are AMAZING and deserve a whole post just about themselves, which we will deliver later in the week! But in the meantime click on their names and check out their blogs!

Rachel (left) and Jenny, we LOVE you girls! (photo by TimeDog)

But let me talk a little about the content. Right off the bat, in Brene Brown’s keynote the first day, we were reminded to be vulnerable. There is power in being vulnerable! I have said before that we need to share each other’s hard stories. Those are the stories that we learn from, and that we benefit by sharing. I haven’t been sharing those with you for awhile. But I’m no longer afraid to or ashamed to. I do my best, I do – but I fail. And I’m tired of pretending that I don’t.

The first session Emily and I attended also had some brilliant and inspiring content. I was so excited because it was led by Kat Gordon of Maternal Instinct. I first connected with Kat a couple of weeks ago after my rant about the over-”mommifying” of us by marketers. Kat asked me to guest post on her businesses blog, (and I’d love for you to read it here if you haven’t already), so I was THRILLED to meet her at Mom 2.0!

Me with Kat Gordon of Maternal Instinct

Kat and her co-presenters did a great job at their session – it was all on how you can use social media to effect change. You guys saw Emily and I do that last year when we asked you – and you SO DELIVERED!!! – to help our friend E cover her cancer care expenses. (You guys, I got teary-eyed just typing that. YOU are so generous and amazing!) Emily and I want to to more of that – of using this blog and all the other media that go with it to support local businesses, non-profits, and women in business. So look for that, and thank Kat, Shelly, Kathlene, and Kami for inspiring us!

Speaking of inspiration – we got to see so many successful women speak at this conference! Raise your hand if you were CLOAKED in Liz Lange during your pregnancies!! We got to hear Liz speak along with Pilar Guzman of Martha Stewart Living, and Lee of GlassyBaby, and they were (there’s that word again!) AMAZING!

You know who else is amazing? Amy Clark of MomAdvice (she is also a human kitten. Meow!) We knew this already, but we LOVED the face time we got with her this weekend!

Liz Lange (in the blue)!!!

Mom 2.0 also had some generous and wonderful sponsors. Thanks SO MUCH to companies like Dove, Intel, ALDI, and LG for taking such amazing care of us, and for speaking frankly with us about how we can work together.

Ok, so – we learned A LOT! And we also had some FUN!  The parties were a blast, and the company was superb!  Here we are enjoying the white party with our new BFFs, Jenny and Rachel:

these. girls. ROCK! (photo by TimeDog)

The party at Gianni Versace’s mansion sponsored by the spectacular INTEL was OFF THE HOOK! You guys would not believe this place! Here Emily and I are just chillin’ in Versace’s shower – like we do!

we just wanted to freshen up...

The “shower” was a circular, ornately-tiled room with several gold shower heads – nowhere near a sink or a toilet. I really do not want to know what actually went on there but it made for a great photo-opp!

Here are some other breathtaking sites from the mansion.

Open air courtyard with pool. Unbelievable!

I only took this picture because I have the exact same tiling on my floor at home. Weird, right?

courtyard when you first enter the mansion

another view of the second courtyard with pool. I stepped on a lizard near here! Indoor/outdoor for real!

As great at allllllllllllll this was, let me tell you what my true *favorite* moment was. It was Emily, my buttoned-up cuz, getting goofy and silly over the Bloggess. If you don’t know who the Bloggess is, please smack yourself in the face, then go read her blog and buy her #1 New York Times best-selling book! She is the funniest, ever. The end. AND as we were heading out to Versace, there she was standing right outside the hotel! OHEMGEE!! So, in the spirit of celebrity awe, Emily PHOTOBOMBED her!

PHOTOBOMB w/the Bloggess!

Seriously, THIS is my favorite picture EVER in the history of the world. I love it MORE than my children’s newborn photos. Feel free to judge. I can’t help it! I am going to frame it and put it on my desk for inspiration!!

Despite the fact that we are HUGE nerds, the Bloggess graciously agreed to have her photo take with us and Rachel in our red dresses (if you know the Bloggess, you know why the Red Dress is important to her!) If not, GO READ HER!

superstar!

You guys. Mom 2.0 was the BEST conference we have ever been to! We can’t wait to share more about it with you, starting of course with our GORGEOUS outfits from Lands’ End. (Seriously, I cannot TELL you how confident I felt in those clothes!!) We also want to share with you ALL the wonderful women who attended the conference. So I am leaving a linky below for them to post THEIR Mom 2.0 recap posts, so you can all get to know them to.

More to come this week…leave us a comment about what you want to hear about, or what you enjoyed about this recap so far. We’re back and we LOVE you! We’re excited to make this here blog even better for you!

And then she goes and gets girly on you.

If you’ve been reading this travesty blog for awhile, you know that I have a smidge of a vanity issue.  I likes to look purty. I also enjoy looking at myself in any and all available mirrors, and taking self-portraits on Instagram (where you should totally follow me, BTW, I’m @jennyrapson.)   Additionally, I enjoy lots of eye makeup and scarves.  Jewelry I like but don’t wear as much since Jonah pulls on necklaces but one day I’ll  be back with the necklaces, just you wait.

Emily, however, has seemed to view makeup and accessories as more of a necessary evil. I mean she likes to look nice, and fortunately for her she is the opposite of ugly, which helps, but she’s been a bit less fussy about her appearance than moi.  In fact, her pattern has been to openly mock me for my vanity and eye-roll at my primping.

Has been.

(Well she still mocks me about the Instagram self-portraits.  I secretly think it’s because she WANTS TO DO IT HERSELF.)

Sometime this past year, I began noticing Emily with a little more bling on her outfits.  Her shoes got fancier and cuter.  She began pinning outfits on Pinterest, and for Christmas?  Her husband bought her A NECKLACE TREE.  Because, you know, SHE HAS SO MANY NECKLACES.   Let’s take a look at exhibit A, here people a pic of Emily and me from Christmas 2011.  Who is the most fussy, I ask you?

Not only does Emily have on two necklaces, and large earrings, but look at the bottom of the photo – she also has like, legwarmer thingies over her boots. They are super cute but I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT THEY’RE CALLED!  Remember when I used to be fashionable?  Well, I am here to say that Emily and I have switched places.  And now, she is taking her newfound vanity to a new level.

As you read this, Emily will…have…I can’t even bear to write it…a SPRAY TAN.  That’s right.  Miss Vanity USA 2012 couldn’t embrace her natural white color.  In preparation for Mom 2.o in Miami, she went to a friends’ BASEMENT, stripped to her skivvies, and got a spray tan.

Something I will NEVER – mark my words – NEVER do!  God made me white and the only way I want to be brown is if I am in the SUN. I was downright shocked when she told me.  Here’s how our instant message conversation went:

Emily says:

OK but i have a confession to make if you are still there and not pilates-ing

Jenny says:

i’m back. confess

Emily says:

i am getting a spray tan tomorrow

Jenny says:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

i can’t even make time to GET MY EYEBROWS WAXED and YOU ARE GETTING A SPRAY TAN.

once again. who ARE you?

time to start the “emily is vain” blog category. finally!!

Emily says:

hahahahaha

i am so freaking pale it is gross

Jenny says:

so am I, cousin, except it’s NOT gross because it’s the way GOD MADE ME.

and you.

have mercy

we’d be dirty and poor if we had tans and we were on downton abbey

Emily says:

please blog about this tomorrow

——————-

SO there you go. Emily is vainer than Jenny. She has betrayed the paleness of our twice-interwined genes.  Hell has frozen over, pigs can fly, and I hardly ever drink Mountain Dew anymore.  Is this the twilight zone or WHAT??

Now I advised cousin Emily that getting a spray tan the NIGHT BEFORE WE LEAVE for Miami  might not be the best idea. (I learned this from watching Toddlers & Tiaras, of course.  Emily is WELL on her way to being FULL GLITZ.)  But she would not be deterred.  So, Miami here we come! Whitey and Orangey, together forever, we’re going to be like the human Creamsicle.  Un-freaking-forgettable! Get ready!