things and stuff:

1.  i woke up and got out of the house early (out the door at 5:40!) for adelaide's parent/teacher conference the other morning.  yeah, you read that right.  a parent/teacher conference for a four month old.

parent / teacher conference!?!

i get that this is just a formality, or a chance to voice any concerns, but it's still kind of hilarious.

things we talked about:
adelaide has totally nailed 'grasping and holding'!
she also recognizes people!  not like, recognizes who the person is, but just the fact that it is a person.

um, that's it.

i think we've got a genius on our hands.

2.  i was reading a book to adelaide the other night and when we finished i turned it over and saw this:

those are the authors. in animal costumes.  i'm now wondering if this is an age appropriate book.

3.  adelaide and i will be flying alone this weekend for the first time.  any tips on traveling alone with a baby?  i'm planning to check my bag, feed her on take off and landing and gate check the stroller frame/car seat.  really i'm just worried about not having an extra set of hands. babies require so much shit.  (and also, adelaide is in a SCREECHING phase where she happily babbles and yells pretty much all day.  i hope she doesn't do this on the plane.)

four months later and i still can't fit into most of my clothes. it's bizarre. i feel pretty great, like i'm getting back in shape but my clothes? they disagree. and since i don't want to spend a ton of money an an entirely new wardrobe, i'm working with what i've got.

well, mostly.  i came across this skirt online as i was perusing an old navy baby sale (pink baby jeans? in the cart.).  in theory it looks perfect.  cute, comfortable, long enough, stretchy (!). oh and twelve dollars.

so i did the next thing any responsible online shopper does- read the reviews. and they were pretty much all phenominal, posted by people of varying shapes and sizes.  this rarely happens and i was soon convinced i had stumbled upon something special.

a snippet of the reviews...
"The elasticity ensures a smooth fit but allows for a curvy booty." that elasticity is so tolerant. although i've never described my, uh, booty as "curvy". i also don't call it my booty.

"I am not a shapely person but these make me look like I have curves in the right places." curves! in the right places!

"I think this skirt is very flattering to ones legs and rear, but not so much that you couldn't wear it to work." whew! wouldn't want to go to work looking too flattered!  but really, i'd probably wear something like this only on the weekends. i like to go to work in my less-flattering clothes.

"These skirts give you a nice firm hold and hugs your curve even slimming them."  a nice firm hold! while simultaneously hugging and slimming my curve!

"this skirt makes my hips and butt pop like no other!!"  ALRIGHT I AM BUYING THIS SKIRT.

so i ordered it and patiently waited.  either this was the skirt sent down from the skirt gods, the skirt counterpart to the sisterhood of the traveling pants pants, the skirt to end all skirts!  or i was some sort of freak and it wouldn't fit.

can you guys see where this is going?

it came last night and i tried it on, right there in my kitchen.  it felt a little tight but i obviously needed to check it out in a mirror, so i headed upstairs. up i went, taking awkward baby steps since the hugging of my curve was actually inhibiting my stride. probably not a good sign.

to say i was disappointed with what i had imagined as the miracle skirt was an understatement.  i mean, it's fine. and it's especially twelve-dollars-fine.  but nothing is popping! i can't even tell if my curves are in the right places!

and you thought the awkward photos ended with the pregnancy

it was definitely not too flattering.  i'll give it that. 

i've been driving to work and back for a month now.  some days it's a breeze and not that bad.  other days i want to pull over and jump into the potomac.  or the anacostia.  or even all three feet of the tidal basin. (i realized i drive over/by all three because my commute is, essentially, driving through the entire length of the district.)

when i'm sitting in traffic, squeezed between a tour bus and a metro bus, i take note of the crappy drivers around me.  i know what you're going to say.  i'm a self proclaimed horrible driver (my first week behind the wheel i hit a curb, ran over an orange traffic cone and took multiple wrong turns) so how can i possibly judge others?  well, i think it actually makes me more qualified.  i'm like my own side seat driver. or something.

anyway, this helpful list of washington's worst drivers is brought to you by my sucky commute (in order from just-kind-of-annoying to OMG-GET-OFF-THE-ROAD!!):

6. tour buses. i imagine tour bus drivers are actually really nice, friendly people.  but driving a HUGE bus with loud, stinky tourists is probably an annoying job.  either they take this out on the rest of us commuters, or they just can't see us from way up there.  either is possible.

5.  metro buses.  basically, these things run pedestrians over with reckless abandon so, yeah, watch out.

4. those with baby on board! stickers. ok these people usually drive along reasonably but i seriously hate these yield signs for the helicopter parent (assumptions, i'm making them).  just because you have a child in your car doesn't mean i'm going to drive any different around you.  i like to think i respect the safety of non-parents just as well.

3.  people from maryland. they are aggressive. they usually have big cars with which to run you over. and they cut through our hood going way too fast.

2.  tourists. these guys think it's ok to stop in the middle of the road to look at their map.  or the monuments. or any of the smithsonians.

1.  diplomats. oh boy. these guys are easy to spot with their special diplomat license plates but you can also pick them out because they do pretty much the opposite of what they're supposed to.  stop when they should go. turn from the middle lane. operate a vehicle.

i probably fall somewhere between a tour bus and a metro bus.  except i drive a mid-sized SUV.  also, i did not list cyclists because they elicit a certain type of rage that belongs in a list all their own. (i'm totally ok with cyclists if they are actually abiding by the traffic laws.  they rarely are.)

phew!  i feel better.  also, i miss the metro.

i think this might be my most dreaded renovation yet.  i can't make a decision to save my life. i'm having a really hard time imagining any of it coming together.  all i want to do is sleep.

but i have made some progress! our tile came in last week- i went with standard white subway tile for the surround and small white hexagon for the floor.  i want the surround to be laid out like this (the detail at the top of the shower mostly, we won't have shelves):

Source: designmanifest.com via erin on Pinterest

i've looked at vanities all over and had a really hard time choosing one.  my requirements: 30 inches wide, storage but no open storage, at least one drawer, not ugly, not 5 million dollars.

i eventually ended up ordering this one.

Source: modernbathroom.com via erin on Pinterest

i'll have victor leave the back plate thing off. and i may change out the cabinet hardware (faucet is not included) when i see it in person.

next, i browsed mirrors/medicine cabinets.  i love this one, from restoration hardware, in antique brass but 1. it's expensive and 2. do i need to match all metals in the bathroom?  i had the same question for the kitchen but that's a larger, open space.  i'm not sure if i'm that committed to brass (antique brass! not shiny 80's brass!) to outfit the entire bathroom.  also, that would be weird- there's so much metal in a bathroom!

i promise i won't ask your opinion on toilets or standard white tubs.

also, please don't tell me the vanity is ugly because i've already ordered it and i can't return it.

adelaide's been in daycare for three whole weeks now and i'm learning that pretty much every week has some sort of special theme.

her second week there and we were dressing up a la homecoming spirit week in high school.  except i totally dropped the ball and forgot most days. including pajama day. hello! that would have saved me about 10 minutes of baby wrangling at 5:30 in the morning.

her "career day" outfit

last week it was teacher appreciation week.  which lead to major anxiety on my part- her "assigned teacher" is never the teacher i see her with, so who do i get a gift for?  and what do i get?  i mean, i've known these people for two weeks!  but i don't want to not participate and seem ungrateful.  of course i was totally overthinking it and just brought in some cupcakes and called it a day.

this week's theme seems to be physical fitness-related.  which reminded me of the dreaded presidential physical fitness test we all took in elementary school.  aka the one time a year i would get my hopes up that this would be it!  the year i would be able to do a pull up! and then...nope.  not even close. but i always killed the sit-ups and sit and reach.  anyway, i googled it and guess what?  kids don't have to do that anymore!!  so not fair.  while adelaide won't be running a mile this week, she does have "baby yoga" on her schedule. 

yoga!?

that might be worse.

we're planning to order our tile this weekend for the bathroom redo.  which means i should probably figure out what i want.  but if i make a decision on one part of the room, i feel like i need to pick out every.last.piece so everything goes.  which leaves me overwhelmed.  the kitchen was sooo much easier.

(i know. woe is me. i'm gutting and remodeling the ugliest room in the house.)

anyway, this search led to the googles.  you know, where you google something like "white bathroom" and 20 minutes later you're typing "white subway tile bathroom with dark grout and hexagon floor, dark walls, round mirror" hoping someone has already designed your dream room, photographed and uploaded it somewhere.  i think i'm getting closer to a decision but i'm still stuck on storage.  i noticed a what-i-thought-was-new-but-is-probably-old trend of ladders in the bathroom.

{via}

at first i was like, that's stupid.  a ladder in a library?  cool.  you can reach tall bookshelves.  a ladder in a bathroom?  lame. you aren't climbing that thing.

but then i realized we have this dead space to the right of our vanity that would be perfect for a ladder.  we could hang our hand towels on it. and maybe some cute little plants.  or tiny baskets holding... tiny bathroom necessities.

or we could just hang a towel bar.  that would work too.

where was i going with this?

tile?  so i want subway tile for the tub/shower surround but i'm undecided on the floor.  hexagon?  penny? basket weave??  so many choices!

is it the weekend yet?

exciting things happening in the smona house:

1. i've been back at work for almost two weeks now and i've finally gotten to the point in my commute where i'm not making any omgineedtogetover swerves into the correct lane. the first few days of driving were horrible (background: i don't really drive. i can count on both hands the number of times i've driven since we moved back to dc three years ago.) but i'm getting the hang of it.  related:  adelaide is going to need some serious commuting earmuffs when she starts talking. (the tour buses. omg, the tour buses. and the other day? i got stuck behind a pedicab! i didn't even know dc had those.)

2. adelaide laughs now.  it's pretty much the cutest thing i've ever seen. i'm still so amazed at how happy she is all the time.  (girl does not take after me)

three months! she barely looks like a grandpa anymore!

3. we put a deposit down on a new bathroom!  we aren't on the schedule until june because i wanted plenty of time to pick everything out.  so yeah, i need to get on that.

4. sean got a promotion!  i was hoping that meant he'd be home before 9pm more often but it turns out that's not how it works.  but still, yay for sean! 

so, that's that.  i hope to get back to some kind of regular blogging but right now i'm still trying to get the hang of this working/daycare/commuting thing.  i mean, i have to put on real pants. every day!