Pesky little things

Guys, I've been working HARD on this little old blog. First of all, I created a Facebook page. Can you believe it?? Me neither. Little explanation for you...

I used to put a link to a post now and then on my personal Facebook page. I'd get a decent amount of people reading the posts, nothing crazy, but it was a steady number. Then, a couple of months ago, that number dropped down to basically nothing. Seriously, like less than 10. Every post I wrote and posted had the same results coming from Facebook. I didn't understand it so I just ended up taking it personally. You know, nobody is interested, apparently people are sick of my blog, etc. I posted links less and less, but even when the posts were big news (like us moving), there was still very little to no activity.

Then, every single wall post I wrote had the same thing happen. There were no comments, likes, nothing. I mean I know I can be annoying, talking about my kids a lot, blah blah blah, but nothing?? Not even from my mom or sister? I posted one last post mentioning some of this and of course heard nothing. Except... I heard from Facebook. 

They sent me an email that said my account had "spam" and they "took care of it." They told me to go ahead and look at what I had posted and make sure none of it was spam. Of course, none of it was, but you can't tell them that. It's not a "reply back" kind of email. 

I'm still pretty certain that there must be a block or something on my personal Facebook page because I've had zero activity on all wall posts that I've written since creating this page as well. 

I know other bloggers have Facebook pages but I didn't think it was necessary for my little old blog. Apparently, I was wrong. So here we are now... with a fancy Facebook page. It's too bad that Facebook is so focused on "promoting" posts and whatnot. I'm pretty sure that is what they wanted me to do... pay to spread around the link I posted instead of just posting it in news feeds of my friends and family. 

Along with all of that, I struggled laboriously  made a few Contact Me buttons that you'll see on the right side of my blog and at the bottom of my posts. It was starting to look a big cluttered so this helps (hopefully?).

 And I made a new blog button! So if you have it on your blog, please update it for me. Thank ya! (And if you want to do a blog button trade, let me know! I'm totally up for that.)

Ok that's enough of this "maintenance" stuff. Regular blogging will resume... tomorrow... I'm too tired to do any more tonight. :)

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Josie says and 7/7

Around here, I like to record things my two year old says once in a while just so I don't forget. I call this little series "Josie says." (Clever, right?)

One night, I made Josie wait over 45 minutes to eat supper because I couldn't get it together enough to have it done right the second she was hungry. After twenty minutes of whining, she finally settled in at the table to watch the madness that was her mother in the kitchen. By the time the food was in front of her, she could hardly contain herself. I must have been feeling extra obnoxious, because I kept asking her questions like "What book should we read? Do you want to read about Tarzan? Are we going to read a story before bed? Should we read it now?" My response from the two year old: "No. I don't want to read a story. I just want to eat my food." She's two. How can she form not one but two complete sentences while also putting her mother in her place? 

Josie to Audrey: "hi little audwey! Hi little peanut! Lets play, peanut!" she calls her peanut all the time now. Its her favorite term of endearment. She's also called her "sweetie pie" and "cute little baby".

She sings in the car. All.the.time. Her favorites:

"The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, the wheels on the bus go round and round, the babies on the bus go round and round..." You get the idea. There are a lot of things going round and round. But the kicker: sing the song - there are three round and rounds and she only ever ever sings two. I guess she has her own rhythm.

"Bah bah black sheep have you any wool, yes sir yes sir three bags full. One for the master and one for daddy and one for lame."

And lastly, a "Josie does" more than a "Josie says" - When we get out of the car these days, I often lean back and unbuckle Josie so that she can get out on the same side as I get Audrey out. This new freedom is pretty fantastic to the girl because she gets to gleefully jump down and race all over the car pushing buttons, sitting on the front chairs, and avoiding me. One day, after we had been gone for two hours or so, we came back to the vehicle to go home (right before nap time so you can imagine the shape we were in) only to discover the emergency lights on. I spent the next ten minutes trying to figure out how to get them off, since pushing the button with the big red triangle was clearly not working. Some how or other, Josie outsmarted me because she managed to get them on without me noticing and we almost ended up with a dead battery and a confused mother. It took me almost the entire time I was messing with the buttons inside to figure out that Josie had turned them on. Not me. Seriously... good trick, kiddo. Please don't do it again! 

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I'm getting my inspiration to post every day from Jennifer over at Conversion Diary.There are a bunch of other bloggers linking up so feel free to read those too!



Want to leave a comment? Click on the title of this post and scroll to the bottom. You'll see the comment section there. Can't wait to read what you have to say!

the Avett Brothers concert and 6/7

A couple of weeks ago, my sister and I went to see the Avett Brothers perform. It was a huge deal that they were actually playing in our city since they had never been here before in the last 12 years that they've been a band and it is unlikely they will come back again now that they are getting better known. 

I "prepped" for this concert a ton by listening to them pretty much nonstop (it really wasn't hard, I just kept buying their CDs and they were so.good.). My hubby was more than a little sick of them but I don't care. I love their music and because I force them to listen, the girls seem to enjoy them as well.

So what do I want to remember about this concert?

1. I"m not too old to go to a concert. Even though I felt ancient because I never leave my house let alone go to night clubs/bars, I was not even close to the oldest there. 

2. They were better live than I ever could have hoped for or imagined. They have energy like no other and are entertaining to watch. 

3. Southern accents with that hint of twang is adorable. They could say just about anything and it'd come across as charming. 

4. Seth, the younger, taller, skinnier, seemingly more immature brother really grew on me. He's hyper and dances around a ton and definitely plays up that southern charm.

5. But Scott is still my favorite. Even though he cut off all his long hair.

6. My sister was the perfect person to go to the concert with. She also listened to them a ton (I kind of forced her to) so she knew the same songs I did and genuinely seemed to enjoy the concert. Even if she didn't, she hid it enough to allow me to. :) Thanks sister!

7. The non brothers of the group are also super charming. Bass player Bob just gets in the groove and seems so relaxed and cellist Joe goes into his own world but can rock out like no other. And he's Asian, which makes you look twice while he plays along like it's nobody's business to the blue grass songs. 

8. I was impressed with their set list. Every time they started a song, I thought to myself "oh man, this is a great choice." Fast song, blue grass song, slow song, mid tempo song, some light talking, jam sessions. You get the idea, it was just a great mix. I knew about 80% of the songs which was perfect because it made me want to go buy the rest of the albums and learn the few I didn't know while still being able to hear the songs I've grown to love in the last couple of months.

9. I somehow need to listen to more lesser known bands so that I can discover other gems like that before they are in year twelve of being a band. I kind of feel like I'm not a true fan because I didn't hear of them or love them until this far into their careers, but to be fair how can you love a band if you've never heard them?

10. I don't have time, energy, or money to go to a ton of shows, but when my favorite band comes to town, it's worth it. I'm so glad I went. But now I want to see them again. 

Any recommendations for other bands or artists I can obsess over listen to? I'm picky and don't like a specific genre, but I'd love suggestions. It's a bad habit of mine to choose a band to love, learn a lot about them, memorize every song, and then not like any other bands in that genre. It's about the musicians and their music more so than the exact style they play. 

Here are the pictures - boring for those of you who don't know the band, but definitely something I'll love to look back on someday.

Pre concert, no sweat, smiling with excitement faces

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I'm getting my inspiration to post every day from Jennifer over at Conversion Diary.There are a bunch of other bloggers linking up so feel free to read those too!



Want to leave a comment? Click on the title of this post and scroll to the bottom. You'll see the comment section there. Can't wait to read what you have to say!

Audrey Joy, 8 months old and 5/7

Audrey Joy turned eight months old on July 18th. Not much has changed this month, so I"ll just cover the main things.

This baby girl is so happy almost all of the time. She's playing hardcore now, rolling and wiggling her way around the room like a champ, and she is still fascinated with all things Josie.

Audrey's finally outgrown her 3-6 months clothing, but for whatever reason I was not prepared for this and had to run out and get a couple more summery outfits. We have enough to get us through the summer but then who knows how fast she'll go through this stage! She's almost to the point of slowing down with the growth but she's always keeping me on my toes. With her so close to crawling, she might lose her plumpness and confuse me once again.

Speaking of her plumpness, she loves food. Loves loves loves everything, except avocados. Isn't that funny? It's such a plain food, you'd think she wouldn't care. But she does! She out eats Josie at most meals but just when you think she doesn't have a limit, she refuses to take another bite. It's humorous, to say the least.

Sleep is going great, no new teeth, hair is pretty much the same, and she's still happy as a clam in her car seat. I also let her sit in the carts sans car seat and of course she loves that. Her balance is a little off sometimes but she has improved a ton with that in just a few weeks. She also loves to stand and her "tell" when she's tired is that she will squirm all over and want to go from standing to sitting to snuggling to being on the floor to being picked up over and over. She doesn't get grumpy, doesn't always rub her eyes or tug her ears or scream out, so if you don't know that the wiggling is her big clue, you'd think she never gets tired.

Everyone loves her eyes. It's funny how many people point them out, and I do love them but don't notice it like other people do. She also does this cute little thing where she lightly does a popping sound with her mouth ("puh puh puh puh puh") when she's happy or excited. She's just figuring out how to wave (I didn't expect that so soon!) and loves to feel faces with her bear paw little hands.

I love this age! I've had numerous moments of "my baby is growing up way too fast" this month and have had to squeeze her tight to not get too anxious. Thankfully, she's still pretty cuddly and doesn't mind her crazy mama. I can't imagine our lives without her.

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I'm getting my inspiration to post every day from Jennifer over at Conversion Diary.There are a bunch of other bloggers linking up so feel free to read those too!



Want to leave a comment? Click on the title of this post and scroll to the bottom. You'll see the comment section there. Can't wait to read what you have to say!