peep a 'bu!

yall! 3 of my genius designer friends from Georgia Tech have been inventing, refining and basically rockstar-ing this project for the past three years. AND ITS FINALLY HERE!

a year and a half ago i actually helped garrett sew one of the super-rudimentary prototypes. that was the last time i saw the product. and now....oh man...now it is just so much better than my stupid hands could ever make.

what am i talking about? well, it's called Lalabu (unrelated to Layla Boo, but, weird connection, huh?) and it's a baby carrier the likes of which i have never seen before (and i own, have bought, and have made about 9 different babywearing devices).

its a nursing tank and it's a baby carrier all at once and without trying too hard. and when youre not wearing or feeding a baby, its a shirt that doesnt look stupid or all "HEY WORLD I MAKE MILK IN HERE!!!" with all those medieval clasps and such. 

my friends have self-funded this project $25,000 already and they are ready to start production! they have partnered with an american factory and are using indiegogo (like kickstarter) to fund the other $15k they need to get this first run of carriers made.

PAUSE: **i will NEVER put a product on my blog that i dont believe in. while i sometimes get paid for reviewing products, even then it's only for things i would legitimately want to spend my money on or try out under normal circumstances.  i am telling you about lalabu because it's awesome and i think its a perfect fit for yall. straight up; no fluff. i am doing this FOR FREE, without being asked, and not just because these guys are friends (i was prepared to donate to them just bc they're friends but was hesitant to say "hey i'll blog about it!" without really believing in the finished product).** okay. RESUME

i gotta be honest, when i helped garrett with the prototype i was thinking this was kind of just a generic baby bjorn. i was thrilled to help because these jokers are friends, but i wasnt sure, as an actual mom, what kind of edge this thing would have over what was already available. 

after i watched the video for the completed product, i joke you not, i was not only sold on the utility of the carrier but was so stoked that my first insane thought was, "i like this thing so much i need to make a baby to fill it up with!" 

i kicked in $80 to their funding campaign which also scored me 2 preordered lalabu's in my color choice AND a $20 giftcard to their store once it goes live. if they dont raise the $15k, my money comes back....though i will be way sad because i think moms are going to go bonkers over this thing and i want to be all, "yeah, i was in on the ground floor" and braggy. i'm all heart.

here's the coolest part about this business. these fools LOVE jesus. they arent trying to get rich on the milk of new moms (ew...sorry), they are committed to giving back. one day every week they serve exploited women in the atlanta area and $1 of every sale goes to microfinance campaigns targeted at empowering and equipping african women in their business endeavors.

their mission statement is everything; "Our focus is making great baby products and helping women transition into better lives.  We work for new lives."

peep this short video on how cool this thing looks and spy my buddies!:

are you sold like i was? here's a breakdown of what funding Lalabu today can get you (again, if the 15k isnt raised in 30 days, your money comes back...this is more of a preorder than a donation).

i'm so proud of my friends and fellow yellow jackets for following their dream...and then for catching up with that dream, jumping on its back and rocking its socks off. i hope this awesome invention ends up helping tons of yall (or your momsy friends) bond with your babies in a really cool and fun new way. huzzah!

progressing to 30

for my 30th birthday we didnt have plans. i definitely did NOT want a party or anything group-ish. it may surprise you that i am a hardcore introvert and though i love people and being in groups, what fills me up is alone time. especially with jesse.

we took care of the #1 main thing and that was getting rid of the kids.  i swear those little gremlins KNOW when they are headed somewhere else for the night because they try to pack a whole extra day's worth of boundary-pushing, food-spitting, and harpy-screeching into the abbreviated time we are with them.

by the time we bustled them into the car at 5 pm, we were but frazzled, empty husks of the robust, well-meaning parental life-forms we had begun our day as. we looked at each other over the console with the haunted eyes of bewildered teenagers who've just realized that the house they are making out in is possessed by poltergeist, both thinking, "what the HELL would we have done if we had to keep them for 3 more hours?!?!?"

needless to say, having grandparents who are near, willing, and able is a boon beyond compare. bump "wit beyond measure," rowena ravenclaw; i'll take free, loving babysitting and you just keep that diadem.

so when we dropped them off at the grand dukes (barely controlling the impulse to turn and flee before they changed their minds), the first thing we did was sit there in the driveway brainstorming how to use our dizzying new freedom.

i'm so wishy-washy and unpredictable that jesse knows not to bother planning anything. a few years ago i would have been pouty at this and called it "unromantic," but now i am at peace and know myself a little better. i am too much of a controller to handle surprises well. 

so we decided to head north to atlanta for dinner. but i was oh so starving. so i asked if, before we got to our destination north of the city (and 45 minutes away), we could stop at a bar by georgia tech and have one of my favorite appetizers from my college days. this would be a way to calm the hunger monster that was getting agitated in my belly and plotting an emotional ambush on jesse to tide it over. PLUS we could do a few things we wanted to do in midtown before real dinner.

then an idea hit me, what if for my 30th birthday we went all around town and got my favorite course from a few of my favorite restaurants? a city-wide progressive dinner.

so that's what we did. i posted a little of our journey on instagram and lots of folks asked to see the full list of my favorites. so here's the full menu. there were no rules or restrictions on geography, price, or cuisine type. 

*this isnt a BEST OF ATLANTA list or anything (i could totally make one of those though...food, she's my forte). it's just what i was feeling like that night at a few of my favorite places that i dont get to go to very often because we live so far in the suburbs.*

1st COURSE:   

website

this is the bar that sits pretty much right on georgia tech's campus. on the night of my 21st birthday my senior year in college, this was where the party started (ending destination: a vomitorium on the outskirts of regretsville). i was so nervous as we pulled up in our minivan that the college kids would just smell the 30 on me and throw produce at the shriveled crone i must look like to their nubile young retinas, but we entered unscathed.

we found a seat at the bar (hoping to avoid having a fully tip a waitress) next to the drunkest man i have seen in a long while. there were several moments where his esophageal integrity was in question and i thought jesse might be getting baptized by jagermeister and shame. 

we ordered the strizzata, a favorite that my best friend and i often drooled over in our dorm before, duh, finding ourselves shoveling it in a few moments later at the nearby source.

i can never describe it adequately to anyone, but its just good. heres what the official menu says about it:

Baked Strizzatta- rocky mountain pizza dough rolled thin, topped with our own white sauce mixed with applewood smoked bacon, baked and then rolled up and sliced into bite sized pinwheels.  Insider Tip! add pepperoni for 50 cents more

this was where i first learned to love banana peppers. 

we washed it down with some beverages (and a healthy dose of, "so help me, if i see that guy get behind the wheel, we are calling the cops") and reminded ourselves how stupid we must have looked as college kids who thought we were the coolest thing the greater metro area had ever been lucky enough to see. 

we tooled around atlantic station for a bit afterwards doing some shopping with a little light illegal parking thrown in for good measure. then we departed for the 

SECOND COURSE:

website

if you are blessed enough to have a chuy's in your area, stop what you are doing and go there NOW.

i first sampled the manna of this establishment when i visited a college boyfriend at his home in arizona. it would be 10 more years until i tasted the sweet mexi-goodness again when one opened up north of atlanta.

whatever you order when you go, you MUST ask for the creamy jalepeno dip to go along with your chips and salsa (all complimentary). 

the first time i went to the atlanta one, i was so afraid they would leave and never come back that i ordered a HALF GALLON of this stuff to go and ate pretty much just it and chips for an entire week. my colon got the scourging of a lifetime, but dont you think for a second it wasnt worth it.

jesse and i split one plate of the ONLY thing we ever order: the baja shrimp tacos (with extra creamy jalepeno sauce atop) and i got a mind-blowingly delicious strawberry margarita. jesse willingly gave up his drinking rights to be the driver and keep me in my happy zone for the night. 

at this point we were feeling full so we took a little detour and went goodwill thrifting. it's always exciting for me to go to a goodwill away from my home one because EVERYTHING is new. 

it was pretty funny to be tottering around in my fancy wedges with my date-night clutch in goodwill on a saturday night. 

 you see me rollin'...

after a little thrifting, digestion and deliberation we hit the highlands for:

THIRD COURSE

website

harry & sons is a thai and sushi place and is my all time life's favorite restaurant. i have eaten here probably 200 times since i found out about it my junior year of college. 

i can think of at least 30 people that i have taken here. it is my [other] gospel.

besides having amazing sushi, thai food and a great bar, this place also randomly has the WORLDS GREATEST CREME BRULEE. 

i know youre thinking of some place in your town that you think has creme brulee that cant be beat, but i have to tell you, youre wrong. it's at harry & sons and i will fight you about it.

but this time i had to forgo the brulee since this was just to be a sushi and wine course.

 tropical maki. heaven

next i had to make up my mind about dessert.  was contemplating the not-flashy-but-delicious chili's chocolate chip paradise pie, but there is one of those near us that i can go to any old time. 

inspiration came via instagram when someone i followed posted a picture of CHEESECAKE! 

we turned back north and plunged into the chaos of

FOURTH COURSE:

website

on a saturday night, even at 9 pm, this place was SMASHED. people were lined up outside (i am guessing that reading the 50 paged menus doesnt help the average diner's time spent) it was going to be a 30 minute wait and we would have to valet the car. so i sent jesse to do a lap while i got the goods to go.

because youre only 30 once, instead of sharing a piece (which a family of 4 could easily do) we EACH got a slice. 

i ordered a tuxedo and one slice of just oreo, but the dude gave me the oreo extreme dream instead (which i was sad to see didnt have the oreo crust that i adore, but did have lots of other goodnesses to offer). 

we went to a nearby starbucks to dig in, and naturally be came the target of many an envious eye. poor guys probably thought their muffins where the cat's pajamas until we waltzed in with our bounty.

 we made it through maybe a 1/3 of each slice before we tapped out. the leftovers would get me through a stressful locking-in of keys the next day as i awaited rescue. 

in the end, we only spent about 60 dollars total because every place was just one dish and maybe a drink. it was SO much fun to be completely untethered  by time or geographical restrictions. i felt so special and had SUCH an amazing time with my #1 boy be-bopping all around creation for whatever my tummy felt like at that moment.

it was my progressive fantasy birthday dinner and it was perfection!

would you ever do this? what would you construct as your dream progressive meal in your city?



UNRELATED: i will explain this more tomorrow, but can you  PLEASE go here and thumbs up layla? (there might be something in it for you)

braving it

yes. we went to the braves game on 100% exhaustion and overstimulation and on 0% notice. this was miraculous on several levels:

-i am an antisocial introvert who tends strongly towards eremitism (i went for "hermicy", but learned it's not a word). large crowds at sporting events, amusement parks and concerts literally have me screaming inside my head "i hate EVERYONE!!!" by the end of the evening. like, all of these people that are smothering my personal space and having all these different odors need to just disappear before i snap. probably not good for my whole "love your neighbor" efforts.

-i HATE day baseball games because they are hotter than the center of a red dwarf star and i am 100% uncomfortable the entire time. mixing sweat with a bud-light filled redneck in a tank top whose arm is pressed against mine for 4 hours due to the 14 cubic inch seats at turner field is pretty much my idea of a slow death of soul. no matter what i wear i always feel hot and fat and sweaty and miserable by the bottom of the first inning.

if i had had more time, i know i would have talked myself out of it. but because the game was starting right when i realized we had the tickets, i kind of just impulsed it past all the fear and overwhelmed centers of my brain. even still, i ALMOST balked (get it?) and stayed home with layla while jesse took judah. but somehow i pressed on. heroic, i know. where's my monument?

when we arrived at home from church just after deciding we were going to attempt this we feverishly changed everyone's outfits. i knew there was NO way i could wear jeans without ending up hating my life due to sweat and exposed booty crack. and the world is not ready for these ultra-pasty flabberwompuses that i call legs to be rocking shorts, so a nice breezy dress was selected (this will be very relevant later this week). it was only 75 degrees, but i am not an outdoorswoman and anything above or below 71 degrees has my complaining circuitry on overdrive.

judah wore his official braves PJ-top and some shorts and sandals. he looked ADORABLE. 5 miles from our house i am driving, trying not to go 493 mph like i want to in a rush to get to atlanta so we dont completely miss the game. i am telling myself that we rushed at home to get ready, now all i can do is drive safely, but my brain is still in frenetic hurry mode. no delays will be tolerated. jesse in in the back with the kids feeding layla sweet potatoes and a bottle and i hear judah say, "layla spoon. i try?" and jesse says, "you want to try some sweet potatoes and oatmeal?" a pause. then i hear the ever-so-faint sound of a gag/dry heave and a splashdown.

i am still not sure how we didn't shut it down right there. normally i would be going DEFCON 5 apeshit bananas on jesse for feeding the world's most touchy-gagger some baby food! judah gags at cheese or pasta. did we really think pureed yams with oatmeal and baby formula would be a winning texture??? luckily all that came up was lemonade and some candy coloring. i pulled over and toweled him and his seat off while jesse looked to see if we had extra clothes. amazingly we did (thank god for the fact that we never clean our car). we put him back in wearing just his diaper in case he was sick and not just gaggified, and saved the clean outfit until we got to the stadium.

we were back on the road in literally 3 minutes. you have no idea how amazing this is for me. i will pull the plug on an outing if i have a hem that doesnt want to lay flat. so this was new territory.

about an hour and $10 later we were parked RIGHT next to the stadium and on our way in to catch innings 6-9.

right outside the gates. FYI the ring sling*** i am wearing, i made last weekend using some target sheets that i had bought for fabric. it is my new favorite method of baby-wearing (i have tried 4 others so that is saying a lot)

notice we arrived in the 6th inning. thats okay! we only wanted a child's-size portion of baseball anyway. it's funny to me that this picture is 75% bricks.

the dot on my shoulder is a bug that would end up on layla's head, very near my mouth, prompting me to spazzz out and smack it. sorry, tiny baby.

judah was mesmerized by the whole affair. he has learned the appropriate little boy vernacular and everything is "guys" now. soccer guys, biker guys, robot guys, and now baseball guys! he loved seeing the baseball guys swing a bat just like his and throw a ball. he was tickled by the tomahawk chop and did it like a pro. he loved having an excuse to clap every 5 seconds and about went nuts saying "WHOA" when the fireworks went off for our home run.

looking like an enthralled little chunk right when we emerged from the tunnel

no chance he was going to look at mommy and the camera. he was all, "yeah right, out of everything here those are the two things i see every day. i think i will find something else to stare at"

they both went with the throwing on a fake cheese face and looking past me.close enough

we found our seats and joy of joys realized that logan's family actually had given us their extra tickets and that they were in attendance too! judah is in LOVE with logan. he is in his preschool class and they just started coming to our church too. if you ask judah any question that begins with "who" the answer is ALWAYS "WOGIE!" whether it's "who is in your class?" or "who is your teacher?" or " who is that with elmo?" the answer: WOGIE!

one time judah was sitting in the main cabin of our cart at target (actually the same day that i had this encounter) and at checkout he was chatting himself up talking about logan. and i am like, "yeah we love logan, dont we? and you will see him at class on monday!" and he just wouldn't stop. so i finish paying and turn around and he's pointing to the checkout line beside us and, what do you know? there's logan in his mom's cart peeping back at judah. it was hilarious. judah knows his homeboy (and now probably thinks he can summon him on demand).

precious buddies

they crack us up.

as expected judah didn't understand the whole sit in your seat and just watch and sweat theme that is baseball game attendance. the poor little kids cant see the field while sitting so they try to stand up on the fold down seats and when they put their weight on the back of the seat they fall right through like a trap door. hilarious. also when he would turn around in the seat his face was essentially IN the college kid's crotch who was sitting behind us. judah has no concept of personal space. even sausaged in at the braves game, there are limits, my son.

so jesse and i took turns letting him run up and down the stairs and through the hallway thingies around the perimeter of the stadium where it was nice and shady. the kids is flipping fast.

layla as expected could have been swapped for a teddy bear while before we left home and it would have required the exact same amount of effort. the child is so chill and good-natured (she get's it from her mama). this is what she did the entire time:

um, is she being coy? i think she is even bordering on coquettish. probably my fave pic of us ever. jesse is taking is from beside us, so camera props for him.

have i mentioned that i am obsessed with this child and that my love for her makes my brain want to explode? we must be best friends.

"baseball guys!"

boom boom boom, even brighter than the moon, moon, moon.

he was constantly identifying things. (i love logan in the background trying to go AWOL)

little man and his daddy at a ball game. love times a google.

we had taken $40 out of the ATM on our way up and we spent $0 on our awesome tickets thanks to logans sweet parents, $10 on prime parking and $5 on some bottled water being sold out of coolers by the neighbors of the stadium. we were thinking we did hit it out of the park (keep em coming!) with saving our money and eating our home-packed snacks rather than spending like $30 on dippin' dots and chili fries like we (i) normally do.

and then we went to merge on to the highway and saw an elderly lady with a homeless sign. we never carry cash so the fact that we were sitting there with $25 and there was this frail little blonde wrinkled women living on the streets just killed us. i just said "all of it?" to jesse and he said, "yeah." and then we prayed really really hard that she wasn't addicted to any substance and that the money would actually help her instead of furthering an addiction.

i ALWAYS think after i give money to homeless people that i need to buy and pack bags full of stuff that could ONLY help someone who didn't have a home rather than being forced into a choice between: doing nothing, giving money that could be spent on damaging things, or giving them a ride or taking them and buying them a meal which might not be wise as a chick with babies in a scary broken sinful world (i am not sure those excuses even matter though...jesus asks tough things).

what would be good to put in these love-bombs? like i try to imagine if i was homeless what would help me the most? like not just help me live more comfortably on the streets, but maybe help me get a job or find a center to live in? do any of yall know any good stuff about the best ways to help the homeless that could be packed in bags and given in just a few moments at a red light or if i was alone and didn't feel comfortable inviting someone into my car?

i think this would be an awesome thing for us to make with our kids and for them to see us always having in the car ready to be given. i know that seeing us pick up and give rides to or go buy a meal for or invite into OUR home folks who have no home will have an even bigger impact, but i am weak and afraid and entitled and i don't always do that. but i never want them to see me lock my doors, ignore it and do nothing.

that would be kind of awkward when we read the red letters from jesus' mouth about the poor: "right judah, well, i know he explicitly says 'whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, [strangers, the sick, prisoners, the poor] you did not do for me,' but that doesn't apply to mommy and daddy because...er." i am pretty sure there is no end to that sentence that i could say with any integrity to my kids, much less to jesus.

feel free to comment on just the baseball game or to leave a detailed packing list for our lovebombs. that post kind took a turn for left-field there at the end (i can do these puns all day, yall).

***several of you asked (on and off the record) about the ring sling i made in the above pics. i set out to buy a ring sling and found maya wraps. you can get them factory made here for $75 or make one yourself like i did using their FREE tutorial.

also...

in other bloggy news, another of my favorite bloggity mom's, MckMama is coming to atlanta and having a get together. she's the one with the awesome post on marriage that i wrote about here. if you are around town on sunday at 3 and want to go to let me know and i will forward you the info. you don't have to pay, talk, or do anything. just show up and hang out with me! there will be lots of folks there so you could probably just eat and socialize and no one would pay any attention to you (i know that's a promise that would appeal to me).