~Coast Guard Crash~

It isn't often I speak about the Coast Guard here on my blog.  But my blog is about my family, and the Coast Guard is a big part of my family.  Without it, I wouldn't have met my husband. Or my best friends. For the last eight years it has been my second home.

We are a small service, no bigger than the NYPD, but we get the job done.

 Last night one of our helicopters fell from the sky.  

For many around the country those big Coast Guard orange helicopters have been a symbol of hope in times of need. They search for and rescue people everyday, often with very little fan fair.  They do it simply because it is their job and it is what they love.

Right now I ask that you pray for my Coast Guard family.  Rescue crews continue to search for three of the four members who are still missing. 

Hope and faith are what we must hold close tonight.

Read More Here

~Midweek Randoms~

Tuesday felt like a Thursday this week, so if that were the case today would be Friday.  Its not, but at least its pay day! Here we go...

~We still have our Christmas lights up.  Yes, its the Leap Year and I still have white icicles dangling from my roof.  I tell myself if we owned a ladder I would climb up there and take them down myself, but thats probably not true.  My real goal is to get them down before Saturday when we have visitors so they don't see that we are 'those neighbors'.

~I need to stop believing in the powers of Pinterest.  Take for instance last week.  I have a tendency to make recipes from Pinterest based on two things: 1. How astetically pleasing the picture of the food is 2. How many repins it has.  While this has worked a few times, last week was an epic fail.  The recipe in question called for a block of cream cheese, which should of been my first hint that this would not turn out well.  After two hours of simmering in my crock pot my house smelt awful  wonderful,  I made Rudy be the guinea pig and taste it.  It was no bueno. Turns out all of those people who were gushing over the the recipe had never actually made it.  I didn't find one 'review' that actually said it tasted good.  Lesson learned, read the reviews.  

~My husband loves award shows.  Not entirely sure why as he has yet to have ever been able to convey an exact reason to me, but nonetheless we watch them everywhere.  While I would have rathered not stay up til midnight to see a silent movie win, I did overall enjoy the broadcast.  A few of my favorites were...

Jessica Chastain from the Help.  I thought she looked stunning and I would kill to be able to haver her perfect Strawberry hair.

Penelope Cruz...I absolutely loved the color of her dress!

~ A couple of months ago I purchased one of Erin Condren's Year Round Notebooks.  While the blog world was oohing and aahing over the Life Planner, I just couldn't make myself love mine.  But the notebook is different, and works perfectly for me.  I don't have a ton of meetings/events that requires a lot of space for the day, but with the notebook I can just look at the entire month and fill in the smaller blocks.  I have the meetings/appointments for the month, our cleaning schedule, weekly meals, and blog topics.  In the back on the note pages, I compile my weekly grocery lists, and the lists of things I need to do.  I LOVE LISTS, and the notebook portion of this plannerish book is perfect!

~These are a Few of My Favorite Things: Spring ~

Now that the germs have left our home, I had the urge to actually get off the couch this weekend and venture out shopping.  While I didn't buy very much, I did find a few pieces that I am loving for spring and may have to snatch up.  Correction, I may have bought one or two of these things already and am still debating the others....

Michael Kors Rose Golden watches....

via

Bath and Body Works green turtle candle holders...

via

Sperry Ventura Thong Sandal...

via

Lands End Canvas' Allover Eyelet Dress...

via

And while I know this isn't specific to spring, it makes me think of spring...

Urban Decay's Naked Palette

via

What's on your spring list?

~Sickies Be Gone~

For the last three weeks we have been riddled with the sickies.  First Rowen was sick for a week.  While we don't think we had the same cold, he reminded me of an ill teenage boy, just not feeling that great and wanting to just lay around.  And thats what he did for about a week. 

As soon as he started feeling better, Rudy and I caught a cold, and may of hindered each other's health by sleeping in the same bed and breathing each other's germs.  Gross, I know.  While Rudy had a speedy seven day recovery, on day eight I woke up with my left eye swollen shut.  At first I thought I had pink eye, which made no sense since Rowen didn't have it, and in my narrow mind the only way I could catch pink eye was from the hands of my wee child.

After three hours of weird looks at work I headed down to the clinic where they determined I had somehow gotten the cold that was currently tormenting my respiratory system in my eye.  Which also turned out to be highly contagious.  And would last another 7-10 days.

So now on day fifteen of cold number one and day seven of the eye cold, I only had to blow my nose three times, which is a great success.  This cold has taken me down hard, but I am thankful that I had it this winter instead of last winter when I couldn't abuse over the counter cold medicine.  I may or may not of convinced myself that I was practicing 'germ confussion' by taking a different brand/type of cold medicine every four hours.  

Sickies be gone, the Rivera family won't miss you.  We are ready to be health, happy, and to get our taste buds back!

~Valentine's Day, Not So Much~

Let's just say Valentine's Day has never really been my holiday.  I would rather celebrate St. Patrick's day on a grand scale than even acknowledge V-Day.  As a child I thought it an odd holiday since not everyone chose to participate in the exchange of Valentines but you still had to bring one for everyone.  

In college I may of celebrated a "We hate Valentine's Day" holiday.

And ever since I have had a Valentine, it hasn't meant that much to us.  Our first Valentine's Day I was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  And for the past half hour Rudy and I picked our brains about what we did last year and we determined a. He was on travel or b. I was working or c.  We did absolutely nothing. It's sad that I can remember more of the Superbowl last year (and I wasn't even that interested) than I can of Valentine's Day last year. 

This year we again chose the route of don't plan, don't acknowledge.  And then I got it in my head that we should have a somewhat fancy dinner together after Rowen went to bed and 'celebrate' the day over some nice crab legs.  

That was until we woke up yesterday morning sneezing, sniffling, and generally feeling miserable.  Instead of crab legs, which neither of us would of really been able to taste due to diminished taste buds a la the cold, we ate left over pizza.  Nothing says happy Valentine's Day like cold pizza.  

The best Valentine's Day gift I got was the Tylenol Cold and Cough I picked up last night at Target.  Because while I didn't get my husband a gift, it was apparently expected that I get my ten month old son's teachers gifts.  So I ended up in Target with all of the other crazies on a hunt for three cards that didn't say I want to make sweet sweet love to you, and some chocolates that I could throw in cute little gift bags.  I may have failed on the home front, but I did manage to give the teachers a little something nice, despite their lack of appreciation.  

 And while I did opt to get Rudy a card, it is still sitting in the glove compartment of my car, and will probably still be there next year. Rowen wore red, so I will chalk that up as a success!

At Christmas I gave Rudy a present that had all of the important dates in our life together, and not one of those dates was this day.  Whether we celebrated today or not, I am still with the people I love, who mean the world to me, and that to me is the most important part of Valentine's Day.  I hope you all had a wonderful day and got to share it with those you love!!

~Balance~

I find that more and more my sense of balance is becoming intertwined with the balance of my family.  Right now it is mainly Rudy because for the most part Rowen keeps a fairly routine schedule that doesn't really cause too many disturbances in the balance of our family.  I know there will come a day when that won't be the case.

When I say balance, I guess I am referring to the way we 'run'.  When we both are having good weeks at work, and getting enough sleep, we are like a well oiled machine.  We go to work, come home enjoy time with Rowen, cook well balanced meals, and find quite time together.  But when we are unbalanced, when one or both of us are having hard weeks, we are usually overtired, eat fast food, still squeeze in time with Rowen, but after that go back to doing work.  And being unbalanced makes our home feel dirty to me.

Take for instance last week.  We had just come off of a high week where everything went smoothly, and had had a great weekend.  And then Rudy had to work like crazy, travel, and most nights that week wasn't home until 630.  While that is a normal for many people, in our home we like to have dinner, dishes, and all chores done before 700 considering the fact that our day starts at 0430.  This week there was no way to plan for when he was going to be home, so it was usually a where would you like dinner from kind of week.  Any errands I needed to run waited until about 730 because Rowen goes to bed between 5 and 6.  We stopped working out.  I felt like we were just going through the motions.  And when Friday came around, we were exhausted as a family.  So much of the weekend was spent trying to catch up on sleep.   And worst of all, I let his unbalanced week make mine unbalanced and thus our families unbalanced.  I could of fought harder to get things accomplished and keep things running, but instead I said well he is exhausted from work so I have to be too.  

I told myself this week we would be better about the balance, and I am finding that in order to do that, I have to assert control where I can.  This means having a dinner prepped that I can pop in the oven and cook on short notice.  Making sure I am working out when I have the time.  Keeping our chores on track.  Trying to tackle all of the house and Rowen tasks (with the except of dinner clean up) before Rudy gets home.   Rowen has even thrown a kink into the system this week by having a nasty cold, and I have tried my hard to not let that derail this week.  There may of been a early evening couch nap here or there, but in general we have kept our feet moving.  Even if this week is unbalanced, I want it to seem balanced.

Today is Friday.  We have survived another week and have the weekend ahead of us.  In my book despite the bumps in the road, this has been a good, balanced week.    

~Product of the Week~

This week I am linking up with Aly & Tiffany for their Product of the week!  While this may be a common product that most people already use, I have found it to be my go to product around the house!  What am I talking about?  Windex Multi Surface with Vinegar.  

In our home, we have all black appliances.  This creates great opportunities for smudges and smears, and I have tried every kitchen cleaner under the sun trying to make them look like a toddler didn't just finger paint on them.  One day I already had a bottle of Windex with Vinegar under my kitchen sink so I decided to give it a try, and it works like a charm.  My counter tops also have a certain amount of shine to them so every night after dinner the last part of my kitchen clean up is spraying some Windex and wiping everything down, and you don't see any fingerprints or streaks when I'm finished!

While I love using Windex on my kitchen, my favorite use for this product is to clean my wedding rings and jewelry.  Yes you heard me right.  One of my good friends introduced me to this a few years ago, and I try to do it at least once a week.  All you need is some Windex with Vinegar, a soft cloth, and a tooth brush.  Let the rings or jewelry soak a little in the Windex, and spray some on the tooth brush.  Gently brush the jewelry with the toothbrush, removing all of the grime.  Lastly take the cloth and buff/dry your rings, and they will look all sparkly and new!  

Thanks again ladies for hosting this great link up!

~ Working Mom Confessions~

Today I am linking up for mid-week confessions, focusing mine on my working mom confessions.  I am playing hooky today, waiting to take a sick Rowen to the doctor.  Here goes...

~This morning as I sat in the dark of Rowen's room cradling my sick little boy, I felt guilty about taking the day off to take care of him.  I constantly have this overwhelming feeling that I have to go to work every day and that if I'm not there things wont get done, which is far from the truth.  My job could survive without me.  In general I feel guilty taking time off, which may explain why I have 80 days of leave I haven't used. 

~I feel like my career forces me to choose between it and my family.  I never feel like family will be able to come first in what I currently do, and that is high on my list of reasons why I might change jobs in the next few years.

~Even though I like these occasional surprise days when I get to stay home, I know I could never do this permanently.  After ten weeks of maternity leave, I was starting to go stir crazy.  I may get green with envy over SAHM more than I would like to admit, but I don't think I could hack it as a SAHM.

~ I worry that I will miss the important moments with Rowen (and future children) while they are at daycare and I am working.  Will he say his first word to one of his teachers instead of us? If he does I pray that they have the grace to not tell me and let us experience these firsts for ourselves.

~While I have been highly productive today during naps and crossing a lot off on my to do list, I think if I was a SAHM I would become addicted to daytime television, have a messy house, and spend endless hours on Pinterest.

Ok, I think thats all for now, thanks for letting me confess!

~Creative Thunder~

Dear Pinterest,

You have stolen my creative thunder.  I used to think of myself as somewhat creative, if I had a project in mind I could figure out a way to do it that would make me happy with my final result.  Occasionally I would browse the internet for an idea here or there, but most of the time my projects were based off of my vision.

And then I met you this summer.  Like any new romance, you wooed me with your pretty pictures and unlimited innovative ideas.  I merely pinned idea after idea of all the wonderful things I could make, bake, or buy.  Your love knew no bounds.

Yet as you stole my heart, you also stole my individual thinking.  Every time I think to make a project, I have to sit down at my computer and see if there were any pins regarding what I want to do.  And you can never just have one new pin.  One pin leads to ten pins, and ten pins lead to twenty better projects than the original idea I had in my head.  And after all of the  pinning I am left with more projects I would like to do and no projects started.

I used to start and finish projects, and then I met you.  Now once I start a project I have to hold your hand to make sure I am doing just like (or better than) the pin I have found, which completely takes away the 'me' touches from the project.

Even the husband has noticed my obsession with you.  While he used to say, 'Dan, what are you doing on facebook?' (yes, he calls me Dan, he thinks it's a pet name, isn't he nice?) now he says, 'Dan, what are you doing on pinterest?' or 'Dan when are you going to make one of those things you pinned.'  And the fact that he knows what you are and can call you by name may be an indication that I talk about you a tad too much.

He also blames you for my non stop desire to redecorate my home.  Because as you already know,  when I get an idea on how to change one of the rooms in my home, I turn to you, give you a few choice words, and naturally you counter with several pins and boards, which turn my little home sprucing projects into extreme makeover home edition projects.

Not too many moons ago, I hand made each of my wedding invitations.  While it wasn't the easiest task, and I contemplated quitting several times, I finished them, and I still have a few of them saved to remind me of a project I completed.  A project I completed without you Dear Pinterest.  And while you often make me wish I was having another wedding, a 'Pinterest inspired wedding' (my Kelley and I often talk of how 'different' our weddings would of been if Pinterest had been around), my invitations remind me of a wedding that I loved, my wedding, full of my visions and ideas.

I don't mean to hate on you my dear wonderful Pinterest.  You have provided me several recipes, helpful tips, and ideas for things to come (that I might actually be able to accomplish).  And you are a pretty, organized, pleasing to the eye place to store them.

I guess the moral of my rant is that I need to stop pinning and start doing.  Stop looking to you to feed my addiction, and reclaim the creativity that once focused my efforts.  But as Scarlett O'Hara says, 'I'll think about that tomorrow,' only after I spent some time with you my beloved  Pinterest.

~10 Months Old~

Dear Rowen,

Today you are ten months old!  Today and everyday you look less and less like a baby and more like a little boy.  This past weekend you had a cold and just wanted to cuddle, and it reminded me of the days when you were itty bitty and would just sit in our arms and stare up at us.  Now, we usually get minimal cuddling because you want to explore, you are always on the go.  I missed writing you a post last month, with the holidays and everything else, so I will sum up as much as I can for the last two months.

Going back to you being on the move, I swear if you could crawl in your sleep you would.  At daycare you aren't contained, only by the confines of your classroom, and you have free reign.  But at home we try to establish boundaries for you, and you hate it.  I love to watch the internal battle you have with yourself when we tell you 'No' when you have reached one of those boundaries, and you have to decide whether to obey or disobey.  Usually you obey but start whining at the edge since you can't figure out what to do next.  

Speaking of daycare, if there is one memory that I know will make us laugh when you are older is how in love you are with one of your misses.  You love her so much so that on a few occasions when I have come to pick you up in the afternoon you quickly crawl away and sit behind her legs, peaking out and giving me dirty looks.  While this has upset me some (and I may tell anyone who will listen) I take comfort in the fact that in two short months you will be transitioning to the pre-toddler room and will have to leave your beloved girlfriend behind.  I told you dad that I truly believe that if she and I were to stand in a hallway at opposite ends and we put you in the middle, I guarantee you would crawl to her instead of me.  Hopefully I'm wrong.  

While you are crawling everywhere, you are also standing up a lot too, but you are extremely cautious about this.  I often wonder if you will end up being a cautious child and we are just seeing hints of this trait now.  Whenever you pull up on something and what to move, we can see your little wheels turning as you weigh the options of reaching out to something else or sitting back down and crawling over there.  Usually you choose to crawl, but you are getting a little braver.  You hate falling down, so we try to practice that a little on the bed, but you still very carefully get up and down from sitting and standing.  I know that one day the risk won't will win out in your mind and you will take those steps, and hopefully that day will come soon.  

I would say this is the period where you easily and openly started expressing love.  We knew before that you loved us and enjoyed us being around, but lately you have taken your expressions of affection to the next level.  The biggest benefiters of this have been Jack and Lola.  It is clear that you love them, you squeal with delight every time you see them!  They have begun to realize that most of the time you taste like some type of food so they are constantly trying to lick you.  Over Christmas we went home to Massachusetts and you loved following your aunts around!  Sometimes you think you are a big kid, so I think it was nice for you to have big kids around for a few days to play with!  You also thought your grandpa was the funniest, which only confirmed what he already thought about himself!

Now on to the important details that will likely be lost in my memories.  At your nine month appointment you weighed 21 pounds, 8 ounces and were 29 inches long.  This put you in the 55% for weight (you are pretty lean, probably from always being on the move) and the 65% for height.  Now while I can't remember the exact measurement, I do know that you are in the 95% for head circumference, confirming what we already knew, that you have a big head!  Sometimes it can be so hard to get the shirts over your head that still fit normally on your torso, so hopefully you will start to transition into the next size here soon to fix that problem.  Right now you are wearing roughly 12months clothing, and I'm hoping to stretch those for the rest of the 'winter' so that we don't have to buy anymore cold weather clothing.  You are also wearing a size three diaper.

As far as eating, despite only having your two bottom teeth and the tips of your two top teeth, you think you can eat just about anything!  At daycare they transitioned you away from the baby food because you wanted to eat the toddler food, and you are doing really well with it.  At home we still give you some baby food, and give you our food when I think it will be a good fit.  You are still taking a few bottles a day, and we are working on the sippy cup, but you are not the biggest fan of that yet.  

In the past couple of weeks we have really mastered your schedule.  We realized that you needed to go to bed earlier which results in you being happier when we wake you up in the morning.  So most nights you go to bed between 530 and 600, and get woken up around 510 in the morning.  On Fridays and weekends we try to stretch this and give you a late afternoon nap, which sometimes to our benefit results in you sleeping in til 7am on a Saturday! 

You are such a happy little boy, sometimes dramatic, but always lovable.  I have a feeling once you start talking you will be a chatter box because you babble non stop when you aren't tired.  Just yesterday your dad and I were reflecting on the Super Bowl from last year and how quickly this past year has gone.  I remember last year trying not to get too excited (which was rather unsuccessful) because I knew that in two short months you would be with us, but it still felt like it was so far away.  Today sometimes its hard to remember what life without you was like!

Happy ten months Chicken Little, Gremlin, 'The Baby', Row-Row, and Rowen Joseph!