Our Fam

Almost Friday....!

2010-03-25T13:21:00.000-07:00

All week I was planning on getting up at 5 with C. I kept telling myself I was. I kept telling him I was. And every morning he'd ask me and I'd mumble and go back to sleep. One day I kept fighting my sleep to try and get up but the sleep won- that was the night I had taken a tylenol pm (I fell asleep on my own at 8:30 freezing and achy, I woke up at 9:40, brushed my teeth, took a tpm b/c I haven't in years and found them a few days before and decided it may help me sleep comfortably through the night...I have issues when I wake up at 3 that I can't go back to sleep and I'm miserable). Anyway, I had been wanting to get up not only to "practice" but also because my nights have seemed so crazy and I've had no time to myself that I wanted to enjoy a little time in the morning after C left and before the kids got up with a cup of coffee and some indulgent tv watching. I finally woke up today- I caught up on the most recent episode of 16 and Pregnant on OnDemand and an episode of Undercover Boss...great shows :) I got the kids up, diverted a war over getting dressed with AM...and another one with TC 10 minutes later. We dropped AM off at preschool, where TC threw his 3rd screaming fit of the week (every day we've dropped her off!), and we ran some errands.

I have things planned for every day from tomorrow (TC's haircut and possibly a trip to the ford dealership...more on that in a minute, movie/wine night at my house tomorrow for New Moon), Sat swim and a bday party, Sun Costco, cleaning, and possibly more house hunting with my parents (more on that too). Busy weekend. TC has a half day at his school Monday (I'm very nervous for this...) and I was planning on taking AM to do something a little fun, maybe nails and the park? I was wondering if she's old enough to go while I get a manicure and get her fingers painted....I think so, it would be fun for her. Tuesday is my first day of work. Luckily I start a little later that day so dropping the kids off won't be at 6:30am like it will be starting on Wed, probably a good way to ease into it!

As for the Ford dealership....okay so I'm thinking of downsizing my car. I have my minivan, I love it. The plan was to have it for 10 years....5 years payments, then when mine are gone, C will get a new truck, 5 years his, then I could get new and downsize then. However, I've been thinking and thinking of ways to cut back, I brought this up to him before and he wasn't all gung ho about it. Talking more recently we are getting stressed about his job. With his work he was always in and out of the hall in the past. When he started with this company we got spoiled...It was at the beginning, it was a small company where the guys who started it knew him from a previous company and he dealt with a lot of the stuff at the beginning and was there for them through thick and thin....he is now thinking that it may be getting too thin and a layoff may be in the future. So, with times how they are now...the hall has like 900 guys on the books....that means that many people in front of him for a job on any given day. Ugh. Like I said we got spoiled with him working straight for 3 1/2 years. Luckily this was during the time I got to stay at home with the kids. Now, even more luckily, I am going to start working so we will have a very small amount of money coming in after I pay for daycare, but at least it's some. If C gets laid off and has to go back to the hall, unemployment can only cover so much. We have some in savings, but not sure how long that would last us. Anyway, this whole story was about my car. The payment is pretty high. I am thinking we need something cheaper and if that means getting a car instead of a big vehicle, so be it. C says we can't live in a small car. I said it's not like we're getting a minicooper! The kids are getting bigger, AM can almost do the whole carseat thing herself (those bottom ones are a little too hard still) and I think we could handle it. I had researched cars previously and started again today. There is the Ford Fusion which has won awards for 2010 and it seems more affordable and big enough for the 2 car seats. I think I am going to test drive one and discuss my trade in options. My Odyssey is still in excellent condition and the trade in value from what I've researched is still good. And best of all, Ford has great financing available 0%-1.9% so I think that would help a lot. But we'll see. Obviously you don't know for sure until you go and check it all out. Another I've looked into is Kia, but I've heard both good and bad things. If anyone knows of anything on any cars and whatnot, let me know. I need insight!

As for house hunting....my parents lease is up in July so they had kind of started looking. They want something affordable that they can buy and retire in and still be okay on payments when my mom stops working and they are living on their retirement and social security. We found a great place but they weren't in a hurry and unfortunately it already got picked up. So, the search continues. And now it's not so much as July as it is sooner because their landlord just emailed and said she is moving into their townhouse in July or sooner if they move out sooner! The househunt is on! Problem is my mom and dad differ a lot on house opinions....we'll see how it all goes.

It may be awhile until I chat again....work is coming and I can only imagine how my life is going to change. Crazy.

Til next time.

Happy

2010-03-23T16:33:00.001-07:00

So, my daughter was actually very good this weekend. There were a few mishaps, but I was so happy. I am so happy when she is good. It's amazing how happy it makes me. I go back to thinking of all the wonderful things about parenthood :) And today was her first day at her new school. We have part time 3 days this week, then to full time starting next Tues when I start work. Last night she told me before she went to sleep, I'm not sure if I'm ready. I told her it will be just fine and she will get to play with her friends on all those fun outdoor toys at recess and she'll get to take her lunch in her new princess lunchbox and I'll pick her up after lunch. She said okay mommy. This morning I let her pick out whatever she wanted to wear (after hiding a few things strategically...) and we got ready, she ate breakfast while I packed her lunch and she went in, right up to the other girls (3 out of 4 were wearing dresses too so I'm sure she was happy she had her dress on) and I had to go give her a kiss. TC had a harder time leaving....he wanted to stay too. I tried to explain he gets to go to school next week, but he didn't care. After some crying, I took him to Target where he got popcorn and apple juice and then I let him walk through all the toys and Easter stuff while I picked out some Easter things. So I think he had some fun playing with all that stuff...especially all the footballs we accumulated and had to put back before we left!
So, things are good. That makes me happy.

Exhaustion of a parent to a 3 yr old

2010-03-11T10:54:00.000-08:00

I seriously need to just calm down. After accepting the new job (which I am super excited about!), things started going crazy. AM has started a weird separation anxiety where she threw a huge fit going to preschool on Tuesday b/c she wanted to go to my Dr's appt with me. It was so bad, and she didn't stop screaming, the teacher called me after 10 minutes to go back and pick her up. Then last night at ballet, she wouldn't go into class. Obviously she is having some issues that she probably doesn't understand, with me going back to work. She was going to start at the Montessori school the day I started work, but we're thinking of pushing it up a week so she can get used to it while I am home and can get her if there are issues. (Yes we picked the montessori school...TC will go to the kindercare toddler class until he's old enough- fall we think- to go to her school with her. It's actually cheaper to have them at these places rather than both at kindercare which we had first thought. And it will be even cheaper when they both attend the montessori together!) Anyway, I am hoping these issues pass. She is so defiant and stubborn and when she wants something, she will not stop screaming...no matter how tired she is.

Funny...today is 3/19...8 days after I wrote the above paragraph. AM has not thrown any more fits at preschool or ballet. We have been to the new school again and visited and she played with them during their outdoor time. We went on a field trip with them last week. She had her last day at the old school Thursday with a green party. She starts at the new school part time on Tuesday, she'll go half days Tues, Wed, Thurs...then to full time the following Tuesday when I start work. I am a little worried since she told me yesterday that she wasn't ready to start at the new school.....I'm not sure if she means it or understands what she's saying, but that worries me.

Anyway, the reason I say it's funny that I just read the above about her fits....today. Oh Today. It started out great, we have all been up since way too early. I got a second wind around 8:30 or so to clean. I cleaned the house, I vacuumed, the whole thing, including the stairs....which is such a chore! I then realized it's beautiful and I've been wanting to take the kids to the zoo. Why didn't I plan this earlier?? I knew it was going to be nice, but for some reason we have things planned Sat and Sun it didn't click in my head that Fri was open and we could have totally went! So I thought for a minute and was going to take them, but then I thought I'll just keep cleaning and check the weather, maybe Monday will be nice and we can go then since it's already getting late...and by the time we get there..... So AM wanted to get dressed....in a nice dress she has in her closet, with tights. I have the girliest girl who wants to have 'wedding parties' everyday. So, I'm thinking we're not going to the zoo, so sure why not. Then after I was done cleaning I checked the weather...rain after this weekend everyday until I start work, except for a day here and there but AM is in school those days. Of course. Now what? I look at the clock and decide, screw it, let's just go, let's be spontaneous and do it. Who cares if we're in a little bit of traffic on the way home? It'll be fine, we'll have a couple hours there and still miss rush hour if I hurry. No time to dye my hair like I was going to, but that can wait, let's go do something fun! I knew TC was tired since he woke up at 5, figured he could nap on the way up there and be good. I asked AM right before I got in the shower- do you want to go to the zoo? YES! SMILE. Great, get ready in record time, grab her to tell her she needs to change before we leave. You would have thought I asked her to kill someone. God forbid she takes off her fancy dress and tights and wears a less fancy dress with leggings and tennis shoes. World War III. I said forget it. Then she continues to scream at me and say she'll change when she gets there. Um no. I told her you can put your dress back on when we get home. No chance in hell. So, the time window has passed, we both have cried because I am not even telling you how horrible it is. I literally have a 15 year old in a 3 year old's body. No, scream, no, scream, no. How can a child not listen at all? I swear it's like the most selfish defiant attitude you've ever seen?!?! I may sound like a horrible mother, and I will tell you half the time I think I am. But for f's sake I don't know what to do anymore! It is sooooo frustrating!
After we calm down (and thank God TC lasted through all of this playing and reading a book just fine :) I make them lunch, we're talking normal, I decide to drop it. There is no reason I need to hold a grudge with a 3 yr old. I'm exhausted, tired and half way to depressed. I ruined the chance to dye my hair, I have now showered so I am not motivated to go work out and shower again. So, I move on. What does she say to me when they are almost done with lunch? Mom, I want to go to the zoo. I will go change now. Sorry, too late. Ugh. More screaming. Finally after a ten minute conversation about why we can't go and she missed the chance even though she thinks she can redo the chance now, I tell her this is a good version of a consequence (which I have been trying to teach her about bad behavior and the consequences), a consequence of her behavior and she should think before she acts like that because now we don't get to go. After some redirection before WWIV, TC goes down for a nap, and she asks one more time. I said maybe if you're good the rest of the afternoon and are willing to change your clothes after TC's nap, we'll go to the park. Luckily that was good enough.
I'm so tired.

A tired Monday....and Tuesday

2010-03-01T16:28:00.000-08:00

I feel exhausted today. Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's Monday, maybe it's because we had a long busy weekend.

The interview went well, the ladies were very nice, the company was nice, they had a hundred nice things to say about the company. I like it. That's good. I had to take a personality test...it was very long, it was over an hour long. I was seriously mentally exhausted when I was done. I got home, drank some wine, C got home with the kids, they screamed and screamed, I was ready to send them back to their uncle's house. My parents got there, we decided the kids were in no mood to go out to eat so we ordered pizza and drank wine. AM had fallen asleep in the car so it took her longer to fall asleep that night. Ugh, more exhaustion. Saturday we had swim, which was fun, AM does sooo good! Then we went to Bellevue Square to meet my mom's cousin and her daughter- we had lunch, fun browsing, my mom took the kids to Build a Bear for their first time and they each got a bear. So cute, AM got a light bear with a wedding dress, veil, complete with garter and corsage-she named her Lea. TC got a dark bear with a football outfit named Bobby. We then went to Nordstrom where TC fell asleep in the stroller so we got to hang out in the makeup section for a long time, which was fun. Then we headed to our friend's bday/son's bday party and then home after a long day and I was so tired I think I was in bed asleep by 9:30.

Yesterday was a day around the house, hockey, vacuuming, kids playing outside in the backyard (which I loved-that was our first big time they played out there!). Nice day.

Oh, I forgot to mention the other preschool/daycare visit. I went to a Montessori school to look at it, which is why the expense thing was so worrisome to me. This school though...amazing the difference. It was clean, all the toys are educational, they have plans and projects and cute little tables and chairs, the kids were for the most part well behaved. The price- AFFORDABLE! I was doing the math wrong! They have before and after school care, then full day school is 9-4. You bring your own lunch, which cuts on costs for the school. They have outdoor fenced play area, it's close to my house. DOWN SIDE- TC isn't old enough yet. He has to be 2 1/2 or so. So, we think it's worth it though to have to leave a little early, drop AM off there, then drop TC off at his toddler class at the learning center daycare, which will do for now. He would be separated from AM there anyway for now until he got older. So, that's what we're going to do and then when he's old enough, hopefully next fall, unless she (the montessori teacher) gets going on her toddler class she wants to start (fingers crossed it's sooner rather than later!). I am very happy with this whole thing, it has started to work out wonderfully for the most part. Now I just need the call. The job! I start to have horrible feelings and thoughts that I probably didn't get it. Who knows. I can't handle it. I start to get anxiety.

So into Tuesday, I'm still down. I had more energy with me this morning. I have lost it. I feel worn out. I think stress has a lot to do with it. How annoying.

AM and I fight when she's in a bad mood or whatever it is a 3 1/2 year old gets. She does NOT listen. Not to one word I say. Then she fights with me and I yell. I'm tired. She won't do time outs, she won't listen when I say not to do something. When she's mad, then she's mean to her brother, which then makes me more mad. She cries, we hug, I feel bad but she still won't listen...she won't even listen to me about listening?!?!? WHAT IN THE HELL IS THAT? Today I was informed at preschool that she and her little friend wouldn't listen and clean up so they lost their show and tell privileges for the day. Great, she gets mad that her teacher tells me this and she throws her backpack and stomps her foot at the teacher?! How embarrassing. My kid is a brat. My mom constantly tells me it's just her age. Yeah, that's great but what am I supposed to do about it? I swear if we have these issues at 3 1/2, what is 15 going to be like? Absolutely horrible I think. I hope not, I always wanted it to be different with my daughter and me, not like how my mom and I were during the teen years. Maybe if it's bad now, it will get better at 15. HA! Yeah right, wishful thinking.

Here's to hoping Wednesday is better....maybe the sun will come out so I can cheer up or get some energy back or something.

where is the sun?

2010-02-24T09:28:00.000-08:00

So, I got really used to the sun....even though it could or could not be cold with it...it made me a lot more energetic and happy. I wonder if most people have a form of that weather disorder? Yesterday was just a big downer! After being sunny and happy for so long? What's that REM song? Sunny happy people? Seriously.

The jobhunt...well- I have had one phone interview for this one job, took the test online (HARD!), it was seriously like an SAT test. Was curious if I passed....got the word-I did! Have a second phone interview/process/benefits thing today and then I think she'll set up the in person interview. Now, this is a good job, but I also have an interview with my friend's company on Friday and I think I want that one more. I'm trying to stretch out this other process so they don't end up doing something before I get a chance to go through the interview Friday. I think it's working...I can't imagine we would have another interview until Friday or next week, so that's good. Hopefully this 2nd company makes a decision fast though.....I think it's probably a better fit and somewhere I can see myself growing, which is what I want. So, we'll see. Everyone keep your fingers crossed.

Now on the other side of this jobhunt...my little babies. I never thought moving down here would turn into me working, but I guess that's what happens. You don't ever expect it. However, my kids are old enough now that I think they'll be okay in daycare. So....daycare, what a chore. At least it's down here where 1. daycare is less expensive 2. there are a few to choose from 3. they have openings! I swear, in Seattle and the eastside, when I had looked before, which seems a lifetime ago, waiting lists and the cost were unbelievable!

My issue is choosing which is best. I think I have already made up my mind, but the process still sucks and I want things to compare it to. I have one more place to go to tomorrow, which actually I think is a really good option, but too expensive....we'll see. I'll go into it more after I look at it. I seriously had anxiety yesterday after looking at one place. And the cost is all over the place, but like C says- you get what you pay for. So, that's why the money is not the main issue here- the one I have chosen as of now is a lot more than the other, but I'm sure less than tomorrow's. But like I said, tomorrow I will at least see another option- and probably an unaffordable one, but maybe I did the math wrong...hahaha that's what I am liking to tell myself for now.

Let's hope the interview(s) go well and everything falls into place. I hate stressing about my kids and I just want them to be happy and okay. I know they will be, but the anxiety about them kills me. My cute little babies.

Okay before I was done here, I had my 2nd phone interview and it went well. They are going to set up my in person panel interview. Jeez....that's a lot of interviewing. So, I have the other interview Friday afternoon.

My mom is coming down for to spend the night Friday, C has class Saturday all day, so my mom will help at AM's swim lesson, then we're having lunch with her cousin. Then we have a bday party that evening. Next week I'll have the other in person interview....I cannot believe it's going to be March already?! What in the hell? I can't believe I've been looking for a job for over a month now....not that I was in a hurry to get one, but time really flies- it seems like just yesterday, but it was like the beginning/mid of January that I decided I should start looking. Wow, it will suck if NEITHER of these offer me a job....ha, that would really be horrible. Well, for the ego, but everything will work out. Who knows, it could be a blessing in disguise and the perfect job just around the other corner, too much to think about and analyze.

Anyway, getting ahead of myself.

Okay so I just read my previous post- to update a few things.
1. The lady did offer to have me nanny. I changed my mind about this though and decided it wasn't enough $ for all the work. I really don't want another kid right now, unless it was a little older and could actually play with my kids.
2. The interview in Kent was not for me. The place wasn't me, the people weren't me. I knew it was not going to be worth it.
3. The interview Friday is with the same friend's company who sent her CEO my info for a job. This job happened to open up, so lucky me, I now get an interview. And one of the 2 ladies I'm interviewing with used to work at my mom's company and I'm hoping it all goes well!

Crazy how life goes

2010-02-03T15:44:00.001-08:00

Is it better to be with your kids all the time even if you are losing it? HAHA...okay not losing it, but sometimes I wonder if a bad mom is better than no mom....I'm not making any sense. Okay, so I feel like sometimes I yell....and I feel horrible, but my kids DO NOT listen to me. I feel like I ask them nicely like 10 times and the eleventh gets very loud and mean....I LOVE my children, I do, but I get frustrated, as I'm sure every mom, and especially every stay at home mom does. I know I mentioned this jobhunt thing. The lady for nannying is making her final decision at the end of this week. It sounds great, but it's not a lot of money, and it's a lot of work....a 4 month old for 3 days. That's a whole extra kid, and not an easy run around kid, it's a baby, who takes every waking second of your energy....along with my daughter who I feel still needs attention all the time, and my son who is a complete momma's boy and is attached to me and cries for me, and the two of them fight over me when they're upset...or when the other one is upset. I try to explain they can each have a leg or arm, but that's too close to the other one when they're not happy with eachother. Anyway, it's going to be a zoo if this happens. And another carseat in the car? I know I have a minivan...but what am I going to do with the infant seat? UGH. I also have an interview tomorrow- it's a Marketing Manager/Customer Service Manager position for a company in Kent. They gave a salary range....the bottom is too low and the high is good enough. If I did get it then we'd have to see about where that range falls exactly. Then my friend who works in Tacoma texted me and said her CEO (who lucky for me, knows and loves my mom) stopped in her office and said he is going to have their HR lady call me because they should find something for me. How sweet is that? So, I have been praying every night for a direction in the right path. I would love to continue to stay home with my kids, but I sometimes feel they could do better at the learning daycare....and then I think I'm their mom, any time with me is better right? Oh hell if I know. I know I love them and I think sometimes I'd die if I wasn't with them. I seriously miss them after being away for an hour....all day? It just scares me. I need a bolt of lightening answer. But I do think the little bit of money I would get for watching this cute little baby girl is enough for me and C to pay some bills, and go out to eat if we want to and still be home with my babies. And then there's the other side of me that thinks they may benefit from this learning place I looked into and they're old enough now to go...but then again...TC isn't. He's so little still. I just don't know. I guess we'll see where life takes me.

life right now

2010-02-01T09:24:00.000-08:00

So, my life. Since Christmas, I've been trying to get back into a normal life. It felt good to be done with the holidays, but stress crept in. After the New Year and whatnot, we've started to get into the groove of a bigger house payment and all the things life brings. I had decided it was time I start nannying again or looking for a job. I have spent endless days sending out resumes and reposting on Craigslist my ad to be a nanny again. I had a couple emails about that, no job replies at all, and considering there are probably 500 resumes sent in to my one, I was not surprised. Anyway, life continues and we have been being thrifty or frugal or whatever, it is actually kind of empowering, but not so much fun :) It's not like I used to spend whatever whenever, but I didn't have to worry about it. I could have saved more, but if I wanted something for the kids or wanted Starbucks whenever, I got it. Now, I'm thinking before I buy, not buying, not spending. So, it's good, but like I said, not fun. We had friends over on Saturday and she just got a job after looking for 11 months! 11 months?? I had heard from a lady about nannying her 4 month old 3 days a week. PERFECT. Then I didn't hear back from her. This morning I heard from her again and she and her husband want to meet. I am very excited, oh and nannying would be at my house this time-makes life much easier, especially when I have two! It would be kind of more like daycare, but with only one kid....and my own of course. AM loves the idea of having a baby here, she says she wants to help. And TC is obsessed with babies right now, so I think he'll get used to it after the inital shock of jealousy...he's kind of a momma's boy :) So, I'm going to hope this works out because it's part time, I can keep my kids with me, and I get a baby fix without actually having one. HAHA.
What else is new....we are looking forward to summer. AM wants to wear sundresses. I want to take the kids to the park more and have them play in the back yard with all their summer/outdoor toys. And we have a couple weekend trips planned- our annual weekend at the lake with C's fam. And a new one- we're going to these great condos in Westport with C's brother, wife and their kids. They're going for 4 nights, us only for 2. But they are super nice places, on the ocean, with a playground, pool, hot tub, and basketball court all in the middle. I think it will be a great weekend. And now that the kids are older, C wants to start taking them camping. I grew up camping with my family all the time and I really would love for our kids to do that...it was so fun and holds so many of my childhood memories.
AM is over half way through preschool, which she loves. I am going to an open house for a new one though, it's closer to our house and there are some changes happening at her current one for next year. I'm thinking this other one may be better. It's at another church, but for one, we really like the pastor there and the preschool seems a little more academic based. We actually are attending this parenting seminar there right now. It's 3 weeks long- and only every Friday. We've finished two of the classes and only have one left. It's very interesting and helpful. It's kind of like a reminder to common sense. How to be better parents, which is what I wish for every day, so I like it. And as much as C complains every Friday before we go, he ends up enjoying it too. So, I like the church and I've seen the preschool (only during this seminar childcare) but I am excited to go to the open house and meet the teachers. Hopefully it works out and she can get in.
My 32nd birthday is coming up....wow, that sounds old. I swear I'm still 25. At least it's going up...a couple years ago I thought I was still 22. 32 does sound old to me though, very. My mom is going to take the kids on the night of the 13th so C and I can have a night off and maybe enjoy a dinner out...which is something we haven't done since our Christmas present night in Bellevue (which was fun, but not normal). We haven't just had a date night in Bonney Lake...ever. So we're looking forward to that.
The past two nights (or mornings) I've been up at 2:45. Yesterday not going back to sleep at all. And today, I did get to go back to sleep from 5:30-7am. Not fun. I am VERY tired. We are all stuffed up and TC does not sleep good when this happens. Needless to say, I am going to make myself another cup of coffee soon.
I have been exercising again which is very good. I don't think I'm really losing much weight, maybe a couple pounds. But I feel better about myself and feel like I'm at least getting a little in better health/shape. I heard recently that it's not necessarily how much you weigh but that you are at least getting exercise every day that makes you healthy. So, that has actually made me continue to be motivated. I wanted it to be like before when I didn't feel normal unless I exercized. And it's getting to that point, I do it every day. Except on the weekends, I usually take one or two days off. But going from no working out or working out sporadically month to month- to working out 5 days a week is good for me.
I am still loving living in Bonney Lake- I have enjoyed this place and I'm looking forward to doing things this summer- like going to things they have, parades or Bonney Lake Days or whatever they have here. I like stuff like that.
We had our first dinner at our friends that live here also during January, it was lots of fun. Since the holidays are over, we decided once a month we'll do it. So, we have Feb planned. It's great having friends you can have fun with that are so close- and their kids are so close in age to ours, it was a good time. Which also confirms the choice that we are done having kids :) I mean, I always had this 'what if I wanted more' feeling, but I truly feel like our family is complete. I don't have that itch or anything. I'm excited at where we are and I love watching them grow and learn. I look forward to all the years we get to watch them and their milestones.
AM is going to start swimming again- gotta get her ready for summer. Starting Saturdays at the end of Feb. She is our little fish.
Okay, I think I've blogged enough for my once a month check in :) I'll try and get on here more, but we'll see!

Fun times

2009-12-14T16:26:00.000-08:00

A couple random pics....

Wow, it's been one of those blogging in my head type of few weeks...I swear I am constantly thinking of things and then I sit down here and nothing. We are ready for Christmas. I got most of my shopping all done. I have a few gift cards left to get, but all in all we're ready. The kids are too spoiled and I need to stop adding things to their pile....

We had a housewarming with C's fam the weekend after Thanksgiving, it was really nice and fun- they brought all the food, we had a great brunch and they all chipped in and got us a gorgeous set of stainless steel pans. We originally got the teflon kind after our wedding and they are all crappy. Love the new ones!

We had an openhouse this Saturday for my extended family and friends. No friends came of mine. That was nice. C's oldest and best friend came, they live in Olympia so not too far for them to visit, it was great seeing and visiting with them. Most of my family that came I don't get to see much so it was nice catching up. One huge mishap that I still almost hyperventilate when I think about (and see..) my cousin's kids put a smash/dent in one of our rounded corners in the drywall...right in the main part of the house/entryway to the dining room. Very upset about it. So, the party was nice, but those little heathons cost us a bunch of money (we have yet to get the bid) that was not quite worth the party. And the best part, no apologies, or even admissions I guess you could say, from the cousin. Of course that's a given when you let your kids run wildly rampant in someone's new house.....I mean out of control. (and no, she doesn't read this)

We had AM's first Christmas program last night, my parents came down and we got to see her sing a bunch of cute Christmas songs and then we all went to dinner. She was soooo cute.

This is the ornament she got to open from her preschool teachers after the show. All the kids got them and a candycane.

It's been nice, my mom has had some Mondays off so we get to hang out and do some things. We met at Bell Sq today because I had to do a couple things, but I woke up at 3:45am this morning with AM first for potty and then crawling in bed with me, then C got up, so we were awake, then TC woke up crying, so I got him in bed with us. After we all got in bed I laid there with TC flopping all over me and AM having to be RIGHT next to me and I listened to C get ready and leave for work. I of course did not fall asleep until right before I had to get up to take AM to the dr. I am exhausted. Then we drove on the ice to the dr, then grocery shopping, then to meet my mom. I drank a grande latte and had 1 1/2 diet cokes today and I'm still ready to pass out. So I drank a beer which tasted good, but I am sleepy! Hopefully the kids sleep good tonight. They have been sleeping horribly lately, which in turn makes me sleep horribly... I think it has to do with so much going on...with the holidays we're always busy and I think they get all off their schedule! Only a couple more weeks! But I love Christmas! I told C last night it feels weird that Christmas seemed so far away, now it's almost here but I don't even know if I'm in the mood for sure yet. Although it will be here fast ( I cannot believe 10 days??) and I better be in the mood or it will be gone!

One thing I am very excited about is C and I decided instead of any big presents for each other this year, we are going to stay at the Westin in Bellevue on the 2nd while grandma babysits. We are going to go out for drinks and a nice dinner, maybe do a little shopping. That will be our present to each other. I think it sounds very fun and I am really looking forward to it! Maybe it will become a tradition!

Christmas and Thanksgiving

2009-11-24T12:50:00.000-08:00

So I got on the computer to start writing my Christmas letter....I feel unmotivated to do this. I don't know why....I usually really enjoy writing the letter. I am always excited for Christmas cards (and I am, but more just the picture card...finally found the perfect picture and ordered them yesterday!) but for some reason I am just not feeling the letter part right now. I guess that means don't sit and write it today because it would probably not sound too cheery! Weird.

Anyway, I am excited for Thanksgiving. I love getting together with family and shopping the day after with my mom. This year I told C he is keeping TC home with him.....sorry dad, no day off this year! However, how AM has acted the past 3 times I have taken her to a store....I am nervous for her joining us as well. She has thrown a screaming fit and been dragged out of the store the past 3 times....the first I don't remember, the second was Target and the third was the mall. So embarrassing. We'll see how Friday goes.

Saturday we have pictures for the kids. I am really excited about this. I've put it off for way too long. I was going to get some over the summer, in between TC turning 1 and AM turning 3. Now it will have to be more of a 1 1/2 and almost 3 1/2.....oops. Oh well, they will be cute. I am going to laugh though if TC makes his usual face when I get the camera out and say "Cheeeeese". Here it is.... The first one is a perfect recap. Sometimes he does keep his eyes open, but he smooshes his face and nose up. Don't worry I happen to get one with him not so scrunched up for the Christmas Card pic :) Let's hope he is somewhat normal for the picture people.

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving! I will try to motivate myself for letter writing.....

Much better week!

2009-11-20T08:44:00.001-08:00

So this week was 100x better than last week. Jeez, I don't know if I could've handled another one, so it was good. Plus it flew by, which I was not expecting! Tonight is New Moon. SOOOO EXICTED! I can't even believe we are going to see it :) And when I say we....it's C's 22 yr old cousin, her boyfriend and me and thank goodness Jenny! I would be such an old third wheel if Jenny wasn't going with us :) So, I bought a bottle of wine called Old Moon a long time ago when I was first reading the Twilight series and I was saving it for when New Moon came out. I can't believe it's here and I get to open the bottle tonight for a glass before we go! FUN!

I am also glad this came so close to the holidays because I am ready for the holidays, but I get really excited for them and I don't like waiting for them to get here. So it was something to look forward to before Thanksgiving came, which will now be here in record time.

I also LOVE VAMPIRE DIARIES. Seriously...this blog post will be my ode to the teenager in me :)

(I hate this, but just in case I thought it was the polite thing to do)

SPOILER ALERT ahhahaha

Last weekend I spent every spare second watching every Vampire Diaries episode online in order. Luckily I didn't get a virus because there were some pretty shady websites that had the shows on there. Anyway, I watched them all, even the more recent ones I had seen. So I was all caught up for last night which was an awesome episode because I was very excited when she said she loved him and they did it :) HAHA But then she left and I was like stupid girl. I can't wait to see what will happen next. Obviously Stefan will save her, or maybe Damon. Whom I like a lot...he is fun, bad but fun.

Okay, should I even bore you with the old person life stuff I have going on? Hmmm, not much there anyway....just the usual, married, housework, kids, kid stuff. And C laughs because I love teenage vampire love stories.....sometimes it's just a lot more interesting than real life :)

This weekend is going to be a good one- tonight the move, OBVIOUSLY. Tomorrow we are getting our decorations out and trying to get started since we are having C's fam over on the 29th for a housewarming. We would usually decorate that weekend, so we have to get started now...I'm sure it won't take long. We have this huge house now and hardly any decorations at all.

Then C is going out with his brother and his friends to see cousin Kasey's fight, which last time was soooo much fun, but very expensive, so we thought just one of us could go this time. And obviously I'm not going to a fight by myself :) Although I'm sure I could get into some fun trouble, but I'll let C do that. The boys are not driving, luckily responsible older brother got them a hotel and a car service so I don't have to stress about C being dumb. He would kill me for writing that, but I don't care. I hate stressing about drunk drivers out there, especially if I may know them. Anyway, so I will be here with the kids and I invited grandma down for the night so we'll have a fun afternoon/evening at home. It sounds good to me.

And then the short week with the holidays starting and I'm excited. I really love the holidays...seriously my favorite time. Until summer comes, which I am very ready for by the time the yucky winter is driving me crazy.

Okay, not that I need it, but going to pour myself another cup of coffee....the movie isn't until 10....which is bedtime for me.....so I will be having some caffeine throughout the day I think.

Have a good day and wonderful weekend.

Better

2009-11-13T12:20:00.001-08:00

It was 5 minutes of sadness, but life will be normal again. I'm okay, just needed to vent-thanks cyberspace for listening :)

Off to make lunch for the kiddies. They are so cute and I love them and that makes me happy.

Finally need to talk

2009-11-13T11:53:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've been on here. I think about it often but of course life takes over and I don't have time to talk about it, any spare second I would rather spend not thinking about all my life's issues. I got on here because I was at my computer and then I get a call back from my husband. So to start out this week has been very hard with the kids.....I'm sure part of it is because I'm pms-ing and I have been very irritable and then of course it's so frustrating I have cried like 3 times. I have been telling myself every night I need more patience, I need to be better the next day. Mind you my 3 yr old has been waking up whining, whining all day, all night, about everything. Everything else is a fight-whether it's getting dressed (even though it was her idea to get dressed at that exact minute, then she doesn't want to actually do it when you're there with the clothes....ugh), brushing teeth, hair, going to the bathroom even was a fight! So beyond that, the fighting, crying, screaming, I woke up today hoping it would be better. It was. It started out pretty good, the kids have been getting along for the most part (minus a few small fights which is hardly anything compared). I was happy it was Friday, I was thinking for the first time all week, maybe C will come home in a good mood because it's been a lot of silent dinners. I chalk it up to him being stressed at work and me at home. He gets home says things I think are mean. Then we're both annoyed and go to bed. It's been a great week. So, today I'm thinking great, we can enjoy the evening, we had talked about going out to dinner. Then he calls me and says he is going out for a beer after work. I say go ahead, it's no big deal. I mean in all reality he never does this, so it's good, go, have a good time. See you later. But on the other hand I am so sad. I am lonely and it's been a really rough week and I thought maybe we could all go out and do something and here I am now stuck with the fact that I will be home by myself with the kids for even longer than normal. I'm miserable now, I'm crying. I'm sad. I need something. I don't know what. I'm glad my kids are being good because it is making my life easier. But I'm sure I spoke too soon. And I'm sure everything will get better. My day will look up, or at least my weekend will..at some point.

UGH

2009-10-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

is all I can say about selling our rental. The numbers were done wrong going into the sale and we now have to go to closing with money. We have to PAY to get rid of the f-ing house. Not only should we have sold it when we were done remodeling it, we should have never got into it in the first place. Who would have known everyone saying "real estate is always a wise investment" was full of crap in the future we now live in. It was like flushing a big chunk of our time, money, savings, money, did I mention money and time? down the f-ing toilet. It kills me. Now we have started all over again, we got this gorgeous house but with nothing left, none of the money the past 2 houses have given us. It's like we're 24 again. Crappy. So, enough of my ranting and raving about that. I had to get on here and say it because it just causes me too much stress to talk to others, mainly because we owned the stupid house with family. Word to the wise-never do that either.
So, gotta get ready to go sign the papers, get rid of the money pit, and at least not have to dump any more of our money into it. I am so done!

hmm

2009-10-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

So I'm thinking we need another economy stimulus check, or is it tax return time yet? Hmmm. I think once we get settled I'm going to post on craigslist for pt nanny again. However this time I would have it at my house. We'll see, I know in WS it would have got swooped up once again b/c there is little daycare options. I'm not sure how it is down here, but I'll try it anyway- I could use a little extra $ so I have less stress in my life :) I think I can handle one more little one now that mine are older and we have plenty of room for it. Hmm, sounds like a plan. Still have a ways to go though...lots of unpacking left to do!
I am really enjoying living close to JK. I know she's on mat leave and won't always be around during the days, but I am enjoying seeing her. In WS I never saw friends-only random moms at the park!
Okay TC is going to have to get dragged from his nap in the carseat, gotta go in and get AM from school...gosh where are the good old days where you could let your kid sleep in the car while you ran in?! Just kidding!

ahhh

2009-10-05T06:50:00.000-07:00

Soooo happy. My house is a dream. It's perfect. It's everything I've always wanted. I think short of being a millionaire and buying any house in the world-this is my dream house. I wouldn't mind winning even a smaller amount of $ in a lottery so I could decorate it though....
But seriously, I LOVE IT!
We spent yesterday starting to unpack boxes, hang up clothes, and C put beds together, I washed bedding, kids got baths last night and in their cozy beds! C and I finally got showers late and into the guest room (our bed from old house), which now seems like the most comfortable bed in the world after 4 months of hideabed with springs in my leg, couches, and a mattress on the floor. Ahhhh. It was so nice! Our bedroom set gets delivered today, but we still have to get our mattress. A king size bed??? It's going to be like living in a hotel!
The dogs are doing pretty good, no more issues, they love outside, they (and we) love the extra room so it doesn't feel like they are at our feet constantly.
AM spent 95% of her day playing in the playroom in her princess dress up clothes baking daddy's birthday cake in her kitchen. TC runs around with a toy from here, a toy from there. The cable guy got the tv set up in the play/bonus room so they got to watch the Backyardigans and they were happy.
Funny I just realized I have internet and my computer set up in the next room and I forgot so I'm on my blackberry.
I have a ton to do today...wow. But I sat down with a cup of coffee and eneded up watching the last half hour of michael moore's sicko. Have you seen that? I was crying so hard. Go cuba! Their healthcare?! Amazing. And they were so nice to everyone...it really makes you wonder about our country, and not country as in the USA, as a patriotic wonderful place, but as I think maybe things are ran by greedy corporations in one way or another. I'd like to think things will change someday, especially as someone who had kidney stones zapped and I have a HUGE hospital bill that I have arranged payments on and still don't know how that's going to work out- can you imagine if something really bad happened to us, someone, anyone? And we have fairly good insurance! Horrible.
Anyway, I'm sure I'll be thinking about that movie now all day.
Off to unpack..

NEW HOUSE!

2009-10-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

Okay so we're all moved in. We are nowhere near unpacked. After having stuff in storage for 4 months, living in a basement for 2 and then an apartment for 2, we had crap all over it seemed. We got it all in-about 12 hrs of moving since we didn't get a bunch of people- thank goodness Kasey (C's cousin) is always a wonderful strong helper! He told us we have to stay put now :) we are! No worries!
Anyway, Raven...oh Raven. The day before yesterday she got into the pantry at the apt (yes they have figured out how to open the pantry) and ate at least one whole box of dog bones. Seriously. She pooped. And then C took her out and she pooped again. In the morning she pooped 3 times! Then today we leave them at the apt for 6 hrs while we move some stuff. I go back and she pooped inside...then I take her out-dia-scooby. (You may wonder why I call it that, no clue, that's what c and I have nicknamed diah...I can't stand the word so maybe that's why). Anyway, then she does it again on the deck at the apt while we're loading everything from there. We get to our new house and c let's her outside, and then he has to leave. Why he doesn't leave her outside I have no clue- I was prepared to leave her out there all night until she is better and has had a bath. Of course C is a little more...loving?tolerant?a sucker? towards the dogs. So I have to put the kids to bed. I am upstairs for literally 15 minutes and the dogs are up there on and off for 13 of those minutes. I go downstairs and Raven dia-scoobied on my dining room carpet. Are you f-ing kidding me??? I put her @$$ outside and cleaned up while I swore lots. I surprised myself by letting her back in the house way sooner than I thought. I told her she better not move from her bed at all. And then I spent 20 minutes looking for the wine opener. I am now sitting here drinking a glass of wine and I'm happy. Luckily I bought myself a couple bath & body works candles and I lit one and it smells sooo good. Much better than stupid dogs and their crap.
So on facebook I said I hope I don't have to kill her...I didn't. I also decided to save the whole story for my friends that know all the blog details of my life.
Tomorrow is C's bday. Happy birthday hon! And tomorrow cable and internet are being hooked up so hopefully I can start posting pics again!
Oh and we probably will not be able to sleep on anything but a couch tonight...cannot wait until our house is put together! It's so beautiful!
Thanks for listening to me be imaptient for the past few months! Let me know if u wanna come visit!!!

is it sat yet?

2009-09-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

Seriously...the past few weeks have flown by and even this week hasn't been super slow, but it could have literally taken 2 months to get through these past 2 days. Or maybe it's because we've gone without a house since JUNE! How many months is that? We're getting close to 4...I want my house! I want this dang thing to close, which is taking forever!!! We had been told Thurs was good, but then they stuck to the original purchase and sale. This time we're not waiting on the house-it's done! We're waiting on the mortgage crap. How annoying! They've only had our stuff since April! You would think this could move along! Anyway, enough of my exclamation marks :)

So I've started packing this dump up. I have started decorating in my mind, which has gotten me nowhere...help. I bought some yummy candles yesterday as a housewarming present to myself :) I went to Target today and TC was a screaming monster. But before I had to carry him out like a squirming 20lb football, I managed to get AM a nightstand and lamp to go with her bedroom stuff. I decided in the playroom I need to put up something to display her preschool artwork. I am not very creative...I like those pin/ribbon boards better than just a cork board, but they are also more expensive. Any suggestions?
Well hopefully next time I get on here I'll be all moved in! ETA to BL: 9am Sat!

stress crying

2009-09-25T14:00:00.000-07:00

Just as I'm about to get on here and talk about how stressful my day has been and how at any moment I am going to start crying, AM runs over with a wipey I had given her, it's super dirty, I say throw it away, her:No (which has been her allllll day), I turn around and she was wiping the desk (which we use as a tv stand right now in this sh*#hole apt) and I'm like No, stop, then in the process of her throwing the wipey, running away, her cup on the table spills lemonade all over the floor. I just cry, I can't stand my day anymore. All morning the kids cried, screamed, did everything I said not to. I spent 40 minutes on the phone with Comcast which is annoying in itself. Costco was TC screaming because he was hungry and tired. I hadn't showered yet at that point so it was worse that I was sweating in my sweatshirt b/c the cold morning turned into a warm afternoon. I have done 500 loads of laundry the past few days b/c I was sick, AM was stuffed up, and C was sick last night, I keep disinfecting everything. I can't stand dog crap. I have never wanted to move into my house more than I have today. I want space, I want the dogs out of my face, I want the toys out of the middle of our only room to walk through, I want a kitchen that doesn't disgust me. I want to cry more. If only moving would make my 3 year old listen to me. I swear I don't know what to do with her....is there a boarding preschool out there? Ha! You know I'm just kidding...kind of.

2009-09-23T10:54:00.000-07:00

When I went to get on here this morning I had so much to say, so many thoughts running through my head...then I got distracted (kids), did a bunch of stuff (kids, laundry, phone calls, lunch)...and now I don't remember what I wanted to talk about.
I was super sick yesterday- the flu, but luckily only about a 24 hour bug. I puked my brains out Mon night and spent yesterday in agonizing aches and pains and a fever. Today is 100 times better! Okay 98 maybe, I haven't really eaten, nothing sounds good, and I just had to chew some gum to make this taste get out of my mouth...weird.
I am hoping the kids do not get what I had. AM has been stuffed up for a couple days and she did stay home from preschool yesterday, and I'm contemplating ballet tonight..she seems good now, but this morning she wasn't great. Maybe I'll keep her home so she rests and is better for school tomorrow? I don't know..so indecisive!

One week from tomorrow we close on our house! We get to move in on the 3rd and I really cannot even believe it. I was sitting here this morning wondering what life will be like, how we keep saying we'll get back to some normalcy, and I was scared because I don't remember what that is even?! C said it will be like Christmas with all our stuff since we don't even remember what we had...clothes, shoes, ahh my purses!!! Me, I am proud of myself I have carried the same purse all summer...it's amazing...someone who changed her purse with every outfit. Luckily I had a great purse for the summer!
All my kitchen stuff, and I will be able to cook again. This apt kitchen is horrible! I am heartbroken when I think of my kids and all they've given up for the past 2 months-and I am so happy to give them their beautiful home and their bedrooms and even their BEDS! It's going to be amazing!
On top of all that, we went to the house on Monday, they put sod in the whole backyard and fenced it too! We didn't know this was going to happen so it was a big bonus for us!
The house is gorgeous and almost ready for us! Here we come moving truck!
This weekend we're headed off to Yak to visit some friends, super excited for some fun times.
And since I disinfected the bathroom and rewashed all the sheets, hopefully the sickness will be gone and not have a return visit!

so ready to get out of puyallup!

2009-09-18T10:42:00.000-07:00

No offense to those who live in or may love Puyallup...but I am so done with this town! I will enjoy living near by so I can go to the 'mall'(or I might just go to SC) and being close to the fair was fun, there are a few restaurants that are here that won't be in Bonney Lake- but for the most part I cannot stand our apartment. I cannot stand the traffic. I am so excited to move into our new house. The apt is getting to be almost unbearable! Why do people not pick up their dog crap? I mean seriously there are a million dogs at this complex and they have nicely supplied garbage containers and even rolls of dog poo bags all over, plenty of green grass areas for them and people literally let their dog crap next to the bag holder and garbage can and they don't have the decency to pick it up? It's disgusting! I guess that just says what kind of people live there...lazy, trashy people. I hate dog poo, more than anyone! I had only scooped dog poo like 2 times before this summer. And trust me-it's going back to our yard/C's job as soon as we move! Ha-sorry honey.

I hate stressing about money, hate it. Yet I go through these phases where I do. Now is one of those times. I seriously have like anxiety issues. I just have to calm down and believe everything will be okay. I know it will...it has to be. Ahhh deep breaths.

We are at the mall right now (south hill) and the kids are playing on the toys. I use the term vaguely-it's no Bell Sq or anything. But then again the kids are having fun, they don't know that people in Bell have nicer toys because the median income there is like 5 times higher or whatever. Haha! Anyway, it's still fun for them and that's what counts!

We took the kids to the fair yesterday. It was really fun. AM got to go on a bunch of rides in the little kid area. Poor TC couldn't even go on the merry-go-round with me holding him b/c he's not 2. That kind of sucked. But I figure next year they both can go on rides together and we'll be close by. We took a bus from the mall, it was way better than driving! And they have one from BL too, so we'll be able to do that again next year.
Oh and most importantly! Can't believe I didn't talk about this first! AM loves preschool! She had 2 days this week- she did great! She also had her first ballet/tumbling class which was so cute and she loved it! Can't wait til next week! It's fun to start something new and I know this sounds annoying but seriously it will be even better when we live in our house and I am so much closer for driving and we have a normal household life again. Ahh I cannot wait. Anyway, AM painted her 1st picture at school on Thurs but it was drying so we get to take it home next week...I can't wait to see it! How cute!

Okay, we need to go to the grocery store now...have a good weekend!

thoughts

2009-09-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

I have had so many thoughts in the past few days and thought I need to blog.
-I have been checking facebook but having nothing to say myself, I don't update anything.
-I think my daughter is gorgeous, smart, sweet, funny and then she becomes Chucky and she's C's kid.
-My son is absolutely my baby boy and I love it.
-He's also a cry baby which we need to stop!
-Preschool starts tomorrow and I'm nervous and excited.
-I'm sick of reading the same books over and over and over
-I cannot wait to move into our house more than anything
-I am scared to have to budget so much and live very safe with a bigger house payment but am so excited to be in that house I think I'll do anything.
-I made a half a pot of coffee this morning for myself, which I Never do...figures that says something about how I think this morning/day will go.
-If C and I agree on furniture, we have to get it b/c it's pretty rare!
-I am very excited to take the kids to the Fair next weekend. Growing up I always went, but C grew up way north and only has been to the fair once when we were first dating- I'm happy to make it a new family tradition that my kids remember when they grow up :)
-I can't wait to start having homemade cooking all the time in my new big kitchen. And to start working out again! To be healthier again!
-I love that AM likes to sing along with songs.
-My dogs drive me crazy.

I guess that's it for now. If I think of more that have been running through my head I'll be back!

fun day, exhausting life :)

2009-09-10T19:28:00.000-07:00

I had it planned to go to the zoo today, then C tells me yesterday he has to work tonight and Fri night instead of days- and he keeps swearing this night job is ALMOST done! After much nonchalant noncaring on my part, he decided on his on accord to join us. I will tell you AM has been asking if Daddy is going to the zoo with us everytime we've gone for like the past year and a half, or whenever she could talk. So he joins us and we had lots of fun together, I was so happy for AM.
Yesterday my mom came down and we showed her the new house, which they had a ton of stuff done, and it was gorgeous! Love it! It will be done sooo soon, and I swear I will not even know what to do with that huge house?!?! Ahhh love it.
If anyone who reads this has advice on the potty for little ones- please comment. AM has been going to the bathroom on the toilet for months and months. She had some accidents on vacation in Aug where I chalked it up to having too much fun with her cousins to stop playing. Then she's been good-even not having accidents in pullups over night. It seemed if she had to go at all, she woke me up and went on the toilet. In the past week she has had a ton of accidents, daytime, nightime pullup pees and also including 2 poos!? What? That has Never happened. So what is it? Is it because we used to always help her everytime and lately we have told her she's got to practice all by herself b/c that's what they have to do at preschool- all by herself. Is she nervous? Is she feeling pressured? I've tried to be more patient but also let her know it's disappointing and we need to really focus on going on the potty and all the time. Preschool is only 2 1/2hrs, so in all reality she shouldn't have to go much if she goes before she leaves. However, she goes thru phases of going like 10 times in an hour. Usually not in the morning, so hopefully we're good for preschool. I think it's more afternoon and evening after she's had lots of water throughout the day. We'll see...I'm just nervous. So she probably is too...

pms

2009-09-08T15:17:00.000-07:00

Seriously I just figured out what is wrong with me. I don't know why it took this long in the day to realize, but I looked at the date, I have been hungry all day, and now I'm super tired. I had a productive morning but then I didn't feel like doing anything else. I had luckily cleaned the house, showered and grocery shopped early. I spent the rest of the afternoon wanting to nap and wishing fall was officially here and I was in my new house cozy with the kids. I'm so tired right now! That treat receipt is sounding pretty good right-a caffeine boost would be nice for at least a half hour pick me up! Okay, off to clean up after my messy rugrats. Their room looks like a tornado hit it....

our long weekend

2009-09-08T08:18:00.000-07:00

Friday we visited JK and her new baby girl, and her older baby girl. The kids had fun playing and I got to visit and hold a new baby :) And no, I do not want another one, which totally confirmed that I am happy we made the choice to only have 2! C said I would have to have one with my 2nd husband if I wanted more- ha! He said maybe I didn't have the itch because TC is still a baby but AM was way younger when I got the itch for him so I don't think that's it! Then I realized TC seems like so much more of a baby than AM did, even though looking back at pics it's crazy to think she was just about 19-20 months when she went in her toddler bed and she was so little still! Maybe she just follows the fact girls are more mature :)
Sat we ran some errands and spent the evening watching football. Sun we drove north to Sultan to see my brother and sister in law's new house. It's really cute and I am sooo happy for them! I cannot wait to see it after Alicia gets it all warm and cozy like she does-it will be so nice and homey.
Then on our way home we stopped at our new house b/c we realized we had never even been in the house together and the kids hadn't ever been in it! We bought a house 'separately' but luckily it was the same house :) And it was even more beautiful than I remembered! So nice and I cannot wait to get out of this nasty apt and move into our gorgeous house! We figured out some of the things we're going to have where and picked the kids rooms. We are sooo excited!
Yesterday we ran some errands in the morning and then hung out at home all day. This week will be short which I feel like I'm running out of time to do things! AM starts school and dance next week! I'm really nervous for her to start school now! Crazy. So this week, well today we have to go grocery shopping and maybe costco. Tomorrow I'm still figuring out. Thurs I decided I'm taking the kids to the zoo since it's not supposed to rain and won't be super packed b/c most kids are in school but it will be a nice treat for AM before she starts. And Fri is her school open house and then we head up to gma's to visit and I use her kitchen to make cupcakes for C's mom's remembrance bday dinner at his brother's. I'm making her favorite-blackbottom cupcakes. Sat we have the dinner and Sun was something but I don't remember what! Busy week. Time to shower, get the kids dressed and off to the store...lucky for me they have a starbucks so I can treat myself to a pumpkin spice latte! Talk soon-

new house!

2009-09-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

http://m.johnlscott.com/propertydetail.aspx?GroupID=205174766&ListingID=300219547&Sort=129

home

2009-09-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

Bonney Lake will still be our new town! I guess I assumed people wouldn't think we'd pick another area. Maybe because we have no real ties to BL and we could technically move anywhere we wanted. However, even the smallest tie, or even thoughts I guess made us not even think of looking elsewhere. AM is already registered and ready to start preschool down here, we are living in Puyallup just so we're close and ready! And she's signed up to start ballet and tumbling the same week as preschool. We've already had it in our heads that this is where we'll live. It didn't really occur to us to change that. Others see it differently though, even my brother and sis-in-law, and my cousin said oh maybe you could look further north. I said nope-BL it is, AM is ready for everything there. So after we made our offer, I did look online back up in Snohomish for houses like ours, but I couldn't find anything close to as nice for even 100 thousand more!!! Can you believe that? It just confirmed our choice to live down here. So yes, we're staying in Bonney Lake, it will be our home and we're excited to be part of the new area. Not to mention the new house is really close to Lake Tapps- so nice! Fun for next summer!

New House?!

2009-09-02T07:58:00.000-07:00

We have officially rescinded our offer on the house. How crazy is that. Hopefully they will just sign it and send us our earnest money back. They tried to say the cabinets they put in were more expensive, higher end. Well, even though I'm sure they're full of crap-regardless, if the cabinets did cost more they are still ugly and not what we thought we were getting. They did offer to change the trim. I was more willing to live with the trim than the cabinets. And they admitted we were supposed to get darker cabinets and these aren't but no excuse or reason as to why. So we are done with those people. I am actually relieved. It would be more nerve racking if we had no other option and thought we may be living in this apt forever! But we made an offer on a house we both really love. And after looking at a few more, we realize this may have been meant to be. This new house is laid out more how we want, it's gorgeous, C and I both really really love it, the yard is bigger, flatter, and a Huge thing I was giving up on the other house that I really wanted (especially if buying new) the laundry room is upstairs. So, we have been countered on our offer, but we accepted their counter- should be officially good to go later today. And closing should be I think around the 1st of Oct. I'm excited but in shock! And even though these people seem normal (well the builder) I am still nervous since the last time it was a fiasco. Keep your fingers crossed it all works out!

oh the frustrations

2009-08-31T08:43:00.000-07:00

So we had AM's preschool church service, bouncy house, picnic yesterday morning- which was very nice. The people were nice- we enjoyed it. Since we were right by our new house we wanted to drive by so we could peek in and see how far they'd come. I peek in 1st while C waits in the car w/the kids. It looks painted inside, doors on, go around see the trim...hmm looks different. See the cabinets are in the kitchen (mind you this is where all the delays supposedly came from)...hmm not good. I go to the car-C, hmmm, maybe it's just me, but the cabinets, hmm- well you look at them. He comes back, uh yeah- trim is wrong, and the cabinets look like 1980 ugly oak cabinets, oh like the ones in our ghetto apt we're in. Really??? We bought this house because the finishes were nice! We got a spec sheet telling us what would go in. We were told it would look like the other houses we had gone in that were finished. Obviously since the builder is going out of business or whatever- they don't care and are trying to save a buck. Well they either cost themselves more or they lost us- we're not buying a big gorgeous house with crappy finishes inside! And after all we've been through waiting for this house. So frustrating, disheartening, and really really stressful. C is going to go there today to see if he can walk through and see everything. We are also going to look at a few houses today-we need some backups. Wish us luck!

I must say thank you!

2009-08-29T07:39:00.000-07:00

I want to say thank you to MB for totally listening :) even though it may seem as I complain on here (which I have the tendency of doing a lot lately) it is because I need to vent! I can only vent to my mother for so long, and she has a lot to complain about with my dad so my ears are open for her too :) Anyway, this is just a nice way for me to talk about my frustrations! So MB- I am definitely going to check out MOPS (I have thought about looking into it for a long time) as soon as we move into our house. I swear there are so many things I can't wait to get settled into when we finally move- it will be like finally starting our life! This building delay has caused more headaches than I ever would have thought! Down to finding new drs, a new dentist, all that fun stuff! Living in Puyallup has gotten us close enough to at least get AM started in her activities for the school year-she starts preschool and ballet/tumbling both in mid-Sept. We have our first preschool blastoff this Sun-church and then picnic, bouncy-house, fun times. So at least we'll start to meet some people near our new community. Even though I'll be driving 25 min to get to all these things until we move- when it will then be like 7 minutes if that! I am very excited to get moved in and settled. Living in this apt is fine but it's crap. The kids seem to be doing great but I think that's honestly because the one constant thing they have is me! Not to sound all self centered or anything :) Haha, being a mom, self centered is the farthest thing from the truth, or reality, but I swear staying home with my kids may drive me crazy somedays but I can't imagine having them be anywhere else, or me being anywhere else. And I do thank my husband for working so hard that we can do this.
I promise I will try to blog more about happy things rather than just to complain! I gotta tell myself things could be worse- which a lot of people keep telling me lately...
This comes up because we finally got an offer on our rental- we will be lucky if we don't have to bring money to closing. I swear we are starting all over again, real estate was once a "oh you can't go wrong investing in real estate" to a piece of crap market. All the money we made when we sold our 1st house is gone, dumped into our house we just sold (with a very small amt of $ in our pockets-and will be going into new house) and this rental which will leave us behind in all reality. But as everyone says, it could be worse, we could have been like a huge part of the country and lost our homes, gone into foreclosure or worse. We have't, we will be better off in some ways- less in debt for not having 1 1/2 houses, we will have a smaller mortgage on our new house, and we will be living in a gorgeous huge new house and starting life in a new community with our beautiful children. Weird, maybe the rain has washed away all my complaints...haha, I won't be so certain about that, C hasn't woken up yet and I'm sure he'll be in a bad mood...could probably put $ on it- and that may put a damper on my happy thoughts. Alright I'm signing off before I talk myself into being irritated :) thanks for listening ya'll-til next time!
Something random- thank goodness for crayola color wonder markers, my kids color on everything and these don't work on anything but their own paper (which they use much less than other surfaces)- so AM was just coloring on my sweatshirt and I said A-stop coloring on me, she goes "I'm not coloring, you have a stain". Obviously mommy likes to use the tide stick :) HA!

jeez

2009-08-28T23:08:00.000-07:00

Okay so I swear these past two days have been weird. In my head, emotions, you'd swear I was prego and hormonal- which I am NOT! C has driven me crazy- I have seen his whiny 5 yr old come out (who is more annoying than an actual whiny 5 yo b/c he is a grown man & I can't picture some of the other men I know actually acting like that). I have had too many things come back into my mind- maybe I shouldn't check facebook anymore. Exes- cute, happy, newly married (and I do mean exes- as in plural). Too many to pop in my head in one weekend. Very good thing I'm not also reading Twilight right now! I put that on hiatis (sp?) For now since I get so obsessed. Another thing that has been in my head-a lost friend, and I get irritated that she cares less for me than another friend who actually dumped her. Fine- I keep telling myself screw it, but obviously since it bothers me, there's a reason. Whatever-maybe it's she was willing to throw us away and willing to try and fight for the other. Guess life just goes on. Friendship seems to be something that is not very prevalent (sp?) in my life. Guess you could argue it's my fault. Guess you could argue it's the lifestyle-mom all the time-I live. Guess you could say it's just how things end up. Who knows, but I miss my girls. Mostly PB, KA, TS, and yeah- pretty much the 3 of you make me smile, laugh, enjoy life, and I wish we could get together for a very fun time! So that's what I wish- I need some girlfriend time. Call me up.
Oh, and happy anniversary T! Wish u many more yrs of happiness!

single mom

2009-08-25T14:50:00.000-07:00

Seriously, I feel like one. Between C working nights again the past few weeks and us only having him around a few hours from the time he wakes up until he leaves- then he worked yesterday day and went to sleep early on the couch- after I cooked, cleaned up, gave the kids a bath, pjs, and put them to bed. He then got up today and left by 6:15 and I get a call saying he also has to go to the night job again tonight b/c the fire alarm guy will be there. So the $ will be good, overtime is nice. Watching the kids all day everyday and night is not so much fun. I get exhausted. The up side to it- I don't have to watch sports tonight :) haha
However there are a million things I'd love to get done or do w/o the kids- but that will never happen. I have to face the fact that that's not my life, I don't often get a break. And now that we live far from my parents there is not even a chance to drop them off for an hour to do something real quick by myself. Oh well...maybe when we move into our new house we'll eventually find someone who likes to babysit once in awhile.
I seriously miss my kids lots when I am away from them, but jeez, breaks are nice. A good thing about summer coming to an end is they are already starting to go to bed earlier since it's not light til 10pm! So I can get a quick break in before I go to sleep myself. Last night though-ugh, they both woke up, it was a long night of little sleep!
Alright back to the kiddies!

Partay

2009-08-22T21:26:00.000-07:00

So the big day is done once again! I am the last one standing :) haha TC did not nap- super tired little boy went to bed at 7:15. We are staying at gma's again tonite, but w/C too (doesn't have to work). C went to sleep on couch after lots of leftovers and beers. I then got AM to go to sleep in my parents bed (so we wouldn't wake up the babe), and now I am sitting on the couch with my pink plastic cup of wine happy that the party was so good, but kind of sad for myself since I have nobody to hang out with! My parents left at 6:30 and still aren't back- at 9:30- so I'm all alone! Well with the passed out husband, kids, and dogs. I am very happy the sun came out, very happy C's fam came, very happy my oldest bro called in sick so he could be here today! But sad that None of my fam came, but very happy that C's fam is mine and they were all almost here. Very happy all the kids had fun. Very happy my little girl had a great bday party. And happy that Jenny (and Maddi), Portia and Kyle were my friends that made it and I am so thankful to them for being such great friends. Not that others don't know, but it came up today about not having much of a social life...those w/kids may know this. Anyway, having your kids party is an excuse to have A party. So I thank those that care enough to come b/c it really means a lot to show up and let me have a little fun too! So thanks for the fun day and thanks to everyone for making my princess's ballerina birthday the best ever!

vacation and another love story

2009-08-12T22:01:00.000-07:00

So I was just going to get on here and talk about our great family reunion/annual trip with C's fam. To check out my drunk fun night with all the cousins- I think you can see the pics our cousin posted/tagged me on my facebook. Hiillaarrrious! It was a night to remember....or forget :) haha
Anyway- I got the kids to bed and sat to flip through some channels, nothin on, and then...the Notebook. What a love story! I should stop watching but I already missed the heartbreak and wonderful rain kiss, and I don't think I'll be able to stay up for the repeat on next to see those parts again- so I should be able to watch without going crazy. And just enjoy my time watching Ryan Goesling be hot ;)
So my little man is walking all over the place and his shoes were too small so he spent half our vacation shoeless! So today we took him and bought some real little tennis shoes and some adorable brown shoes so he's ready to go! He also got his first haircut over vacation and looks like an adorable little boy (and I spike it so it's absolutely the cutest thing you've ever seen).
AM on vacation was so cute and fun- she had a blast with all her cousins. She loved going on the boat and yelling faster! She even learned thumbs up to tell Uncle Brad to make the boat go even faster. But even crazier-my little daredevil went tubing...3 times! Once real slow by herself, second time with her older cousin, and third time with her daddy and they went fast! I think I stopped breathing I was so nervous!
Anyway she's a crazy girl and I swear she has no fear! I love her to pieces! And I'm super excited and nervous for her to start preschool...I cannot believe my baby girl will be 3 next week. Time sure flies!
Okay enough babbling- time to watch the end of the lovestory!

not so bad I promise

2009-08-06T09:17:00.000-07:00

After I got MBs comment this am, I reread what I blogged last night- it's not as bad as it sounds. I really think the opposite of what it sounded like- in terms of the apt. It's not so bad, and it has helped C and I- jeez we fought constantly living at my brother's, but we haven't really fought at all here. Of course I feel like we fight when he is in a bad mood & it rubs off on me and it's a huge cycle. He then says I blame him& it's all his fault. I guess I wouldn't say that except it seems to be true. Anyway, off on a tangent there :) who can really analyze spousal arguments!? Anyway, the apt is not so bad. It's a little WT, but I usually just end up walking the dogs in our pjs so we fit right in :) haha
As for Edward- I do know he's a fantasy. Truly a fantasy. And honestly- funny story here- there was this one couple I knew once who I envied- it was when C and I hit our rough patch at 1 yr- they had 2 kids, but they found babysitters to go out, they seemed madly in love, couldn't wait to get home (know what I mean)- and then I heard a couple yrs ago- they got a divorce b/c he said he'd been bi and she left him and he went to do his thing!?!? Who would have ever thought? Insane! So I realized then that things aren't always as they seem. However I do feel like there are people out there w/their "soulmates", but I am just a hopeless romantic. And as I've said before- movies and books make me crazy. Probably because they bring my hopeless romantic side to the top and I get loopy. Anyway, I'm not depressed and I don't feel all sorry for myself, I'm not going to get a divorce, I love my kids more than anything (even when AM is a bully to her brother:) and I am definitely excited to move to our new house and get some normalness back into our lives. But I will still watch and read twilight because dreaming never hurt anyone...well maybe in my case it does! Haha

random thoughts

2009-08-05T19:41:00.000-07:00

Ugh. I feel huge. I need to start working out again. I live in a WT apartment. I just saw a girl walking with her son who was wearing a dirty tshirt, socks (walking on the sidewalk and thru the parking lot in just socks), and a diaper that was so full it was hanging almost to his knees. I really wanted to offer a clean diaper. It was sad-poor baby. My daughter is a big bully to her brother...she takes everything away from him and is mean to him about everything else. (She can be sweet about 15% of the time). I really want to go on vacation but I hate that I'll be all fat-but can't lose 50 pounds in 2 days so nothing I can do about that. I am sick of Madagascar. I am getting obsessed with Twilight again- not to the extent of last go round (yet), but after reading the series and then watching the movie 3 times, I started the 1st one over again. It took me a little bit to get into it again, but not too much...I am once again in love with Edward. Once again dreaming of the perfect love, the perfect soulmate. Ahh, to dream. Not to say that just moving to this apt has not totally helped my marriage already, because it has, but still (even though I love my husband) he's no Edward. I always laugh when I have thought this before-and actually have quoted this because it's so true- but who would ever think I'd quote Miley Cyrus! But I read once she didn't have the whole Rob Pattison obsession like every other girl in America, because they needed to realize they weren't in love with Rob, they were in love with Edward. And then I also point out- it could easily be Rob...he's tall, hot, and he has a British accent...that says it all. So screw you Miley! Haha.Anyway, enough of my fantasies! We are headed up to Seattle for the first time since living down here tomorrow. Visiting grandmama, going to trader joes, my brother's, and then to my parents for dinner. I'll have to pack up the kids, including pjs because it will probably be somewhat late. I'll have to plan on leaving around bedtime or something so they don't sleep on the way home & then not again when we get home. Ah-such planning for something so simple! That's what you get when you move far away!
Alright, enough craziness- time for wine and kids bedtime soon! Night.

Puyallup

2009-08-03T17:44:00.000-07:00

Okay so here we are! Night 3 in our apt in Puyallup! It's crazy...if you would have asked me where I'd be right now-it would have never been here! But it's nice enough, amazing that when something is temporary it's okay, but I would never be able to live like this forever! 2 kids, 2 dogs & us in a 2 bdrm apt. Up sides to it- we have our own space and a washer/dryer that works. Also a pool that we've been to once which is fun to take the kids to, but in all reality is not relaxing when you have 2 little ones that can't swim by themselves. I wish I could go lay by the pool w/ a book or magazine and get a tan, but hey life isn't like that. Anyway, we did get a dvd player (luckily we had our smaller tv w/us at my brother's) today since cable isn't being hooked up til thurs & c has to work nights all week- we got a couple dvds for $3.99 at best buy. Have a feeling I'll come to like madagascar and over the hedge :) So life isn't so bad, the kids seem happy and adjust so well to our crazy lives over the past couple months! You just gotta love them for understanding life is ok as long as we're all together. But jeez, when we move into our house- it's going to be like living in a mansion! I don't think any of us will know what to do with ourselves! Luckily fri we go on our annual vaca with C's fam and I am so looking forward to that, it's the most fun! And it will be 4 nights of yummy food, drinking, laughing, and family! What more could you ask for? I'm so excited. And even more excited that we're switching back to Penticton next year so it will be a week of even more fun. And the kids will be older which is even better for up there. Anyway, life is just peachy and things can only get better huh? Oh- don't know if I ever mentioned Raven...2 surgeries. Anyway- 2nd one sooo much better. Realllllly irritated they didn't do that the 1st time and save us half the money. Seriously I think they just wanted twice the $ jack offs. But we're happy she's better! Nothing we can do now. Guess that's it for now, I'll be back soon-with more exciting tales of apartment life in puyallup!

oh what a week

2009-07-29T15:36:00.000-07:00

So Friday I find out our house is probably not going to be ready until mid-October. Crap. We've been living in my brother's basement for a month and a half, still thought we had a month left, with this news we know we have to do something. We think about looking for a new house, we write a mean email, we go to Vegas. We get home, my mom told my brother not knowing we hadn't yet b/c we didn't know what we were doing yet, he doesn't seem excited with the news, he has no idea, I tell him we don't know what's going on yet. We decide to keep the house, send the email, and start an apt hunt. In the meantime, when we're in Vegas, my sisinlaw calls me frantic-she's 100x more in love with dogs than anyone else I know. Raven has a huge gash in her shoulder, no clue how it happened, vet bill $350. Speed to yesterday, another vet visit $75, speed to tomorrow- a 2nd surgery $500. A very depressed Lori returns things from the Nordstrom sale, including my new MJ purse...so sad. We put a pet deposit down on an apt in Puyallup, we are moving to a 2 bdrm apt on Sat! We will be paying rent, but will have space. We will have a bigger credit card balance, and a sewn up dog...again. Hope next week is better.

5 years of wedded bliss

2009-07-23T08:42:00.000-07:00

I shouldn't laugh but anyone who has been married 5 yrs may agree with me that it's not all wedded bliss :) However, today is C and my 5 year anniversary. Crazy to think of the ups and downs, crazy to think we made it this long, cray to look at my two little angels (one of whom is screaming at me right now) and think it's only been 5 years and we are this much further. My dad told me there's a 7 year itch, a 14 year itch, and probably a 21 year itch, but he wasn't sure if you both hit them at the same time. Haha! Isn't that always the case? I found it amusing. Not to mention I feel like C and I were in a really good place before we moved out of our house and into my brother's basement...which has since put a huge burden on our shoulders, not to mention our marriage. However, we wait, impatiently, to move into our new big house, and I have faith we'll all be back to better than normal once again. So we are dropping the kids off at my parents so we can enjoy a nice dinner out tonight and my brother and Jenn are keeping the kids Sat/Sun so we can do 24hrs in Las Vegas. At least we have some fun in our near future! Happy Anniversary!

negligent still

2009-07-19T21:51:00.000-07:00

I thought I had blogged since May- oh jeez! Well we're living with my brother, sis-in-law, and their 2 dogs...us, our 2 kids, and our 2 dogs. What a zoo! I have had a blast living w/Jenn-we have lots of fun and it's nice to have a somewhat daily conversation with a woman my age! Not just kids and dogs! Life of course has been crazy, we are living in a "studio" apt down here in the basement, which needless to say has not left C and I always on the greatest terms...I swear somedays I wonder where the divorce papers are! My kids are still adorable but I wonder sometimes how I survive the days...or nights. Wine may be the answer :) haha! Other than all that- I have become obsessed with Twilight. I want to fall in love with a vampire- which has also made me obsessively wonder about soulmates and if life is where it's meant to be. Of course then I remember how crazy love stories make me! Our house is supposed to be ready Aug 31st- I am hoping it is because some sort of normal life will be good again, although I know the kids and I will really miss Auntie Jenn! But AM starts preschool down in BL sept 15th, so that's really exciting! I also need to get some furniture for our big Empty house! Hopefully I can blog more now that I'm not reading every second I can about Edward :) ahhh, sweet dreams!

better

2009-05-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

Okay so I'm feeling better for the time being. I got my stint out-for those who don't know what that is- gross. It's a flexible curlycue thing that goes from your kidney and through the tube to your bladder. Sooo uncomfortable-painful-annoying. So I got the one out..I will not go into details about them taking it out. Yuck. I will be going in for another kidney stone laser zapping (not proper medical terms) on Thurs. And unfortunately another stint-which I will in turn have to go back in for removal. Mind you, removal is just in the office while you are awake, laying there. Very unlike when you are under antisthesia to get it in-and laser zapping. Anyway, the nice weather for a couple days has made me happier. I even enjoyed the thunder storm we just had.
I have however had crazy dreams which turn to thoughts all day of the past. Do you ever think of exes or past crushes, flames from high school or college? Wow, my dreams have been crazy. I of course do not divulge this info to my husband-don't think he'd enjoy or be interested. Anyway, it's just kind of crazy. Then today C and I take the kids to the beach by his grandparents, which they have always called 'The Cove', and we've been together for over 8 yrs, and for some reason I have never gone to this specific area. Today I wander from the regular spot where you enter and realize it's where I went to a bonfire with my HS bf the night after graduation. It brings back memories. So weird, especially after all these dreams or whatever.
Another thing- I was looking at an old friend's facebook profile and it makes me mad/sad/jealous..not sure. I miss her, I wonder how life just goes on and you are replacable..but I wouldn't trade my kids for anything in the world! And who knows where life will take you, but I am happy with mine. I guess I just wonder how things change so fast. And life takes you in different directions. I suppose you just miss somethings and others miss out on different things.
TC is almost one. I cannot believe it! It's so fun seeing how different he is than AM. He is his own little manperson. So cute, fun, funny and adorable. I love him to death-such a doll!
And AM, even through some of the Terrible twos..and I mean terrible! She can still have her moments of being the sweetest little girl you've ever met. Gosh I just want to eat her up somedays. Soooo cute! So, anyway, I can now blog from my blackberry (which I love btw), hopefully I won't be so negligent now! If I am, remind me I can do it instead of watching Kipper..oh wait, I like Kipper :)

Discouraged

2009-05-14T13:58:00.000-07:00

I feel discouraged. I am tired, exhausted. The weather I'm sure has a lot to do with it. I only want to put sweats on. The kids wear me out. I feel like I need a nap. It makes for long days and nights when C is working from 1 or 2pm until 2am. I wonder if my kidneys pick up on this and decide to tear me down more. I spent a few days in the hospital a week ago. I am going back in next week for more kidney procedure crap. I don't have time to work out, we eat crap for food all the time because C is hardly ever here and we have to keep our house somewhat clean because it's on the market- which brings me to more discouragement- it hasn't sold yet. That stresses C out and then I get stressed, we wonder what's wrong as all we've gotten are great comments by all the agents and people through. Oh well....life goes on. I just wish I could have a vacation along the way.

missing post!

2009-04-27T21:45:00.000-07:00

So I blogged very intoxicated from Autumn's phone in Yakima....blogging on a blackberry when you can hardly see in a dark garage...not smart. Not saving the post...could be smart! haha No, I know it was just all sappy 'I love my girlfriends' stuff. But we did have a good time. However, I realized it was like open to close, 10 years later. Which in turn gives you an idea of why I spent the later part of the night puking in my hotel sink (for those of you who know about C's history with this..it was finally payback for my husband- he really loved that). And again, pulling over 5 miles from Kelly's house on the freeway for another round of that on our way back to Seattle in the morning. I finally felt like half a human being around 1:30 yesterday. So, obviously good times were had by all! Thank you to Kelly and Trav for a wonderful time! And to all my girlfriends for all the sappy I love you talk, there's nothing like it! XOXO

Funny

2009-04-06T21:28:00.000-07:00

So, I didn't get on here tonight to blog. I thought about it and decided I would rather go to bed. However there was nothing on tv when I turned it off upstairs and thought I would check some things out online before I turned the computer off. As I read T's blog and caught up with Mandy's, for some reason whenever I read hers I feel motivated to talk for at least a minute :) So, thanks Mandy for motivating this unmotivated blogger.

I don't know what it is lately, I just don't feel I have much to talk about or I just don't use the time I have to get on here. But sometimes it's good for me, lets me talk or vent to nobody in particular!

Our house is officially going on the market on Wednesday! C is nervous. I told him I will only be nervous if it sells and we haven't found a place yet :) We have found one, but I won't get into details because it's kind of a wait and see thing right now. I'll let you know if this changes!

We are all finally getting over all the sicknesses. Last time I wrote I said we had been through 3 weeks of sickness, and we were getting another go around. Well, I got over that one fairly quickly. Unfortunately, then TC got a stomach bug...puking, and the other end too...and then I got a sinus infection and bronchitis....Now, once again I can say it is gone...kind of. The dr wouldn't give me any medicine, so it has been nights of a horrible stuffy nose and mornings of yucky coughing. I have finally stopped taking my aleve cold and sinus now and no more afrin. Thank goodness, I hate that stuff! Let's keep our fingers crossed it is all gone for good now!

The weather is throwing me for a loop. It was sooo cold last week, snow, pouring rain, I was ready to pack up and move. Now it's like 70...WEIRD. But I have seen a glimpse of my daughter's future...we have to be outside at all times. It has been 2 days of fits to enter the house. Which is great for her to want to be outside, but I can't just leave a 2 yr old outside by herself all day! So this evening, the kids were playing with toys in the yard and mommy sat outside with a glass of wine and the paper...it was nice. Then it was World War III to come in and take a shower...that was not nice.

Okay, enough for me today. I am tired. Tomorrow is a big day of cleaning, cleaning, cleaning!

Wish us luck on the house selling and our house hunting!

Unmotivated blogger

2009-03-10T15:32:00.000-07:00

So I have been, it's terrible. It started I was blogging in my head, then I forgot that I wasn't actually ever blogging anymore and then I just got unmotivated and I swear half the time I want to blog it's to complain or vent or whatever. Who wants to read that? And when I actually get a chance to get on the computer, I do one or two things I need to before 1-the kids wake up 2-the kids (TC) cry 3-the kids (AM) say mamamamamamamamamamama, turn the puter off. So, here I am, finally. I have been on the computer long enough to do the couple things I needed and AM and TC are fully entertaining (minus a few mamas so far..) themselves with toys and books on the floor next to me. I thought I would blog.

Life has been crazy lately. C has been working nights and we have been trying to adjust to this new schedule. It has AM climbing in bed with us a lot, her light needing to stay on, me needing to stay with her until she falls asleep in her bed. We have been through 3 weeks of sickness, and we are having a flare up of runny noses and unfortunately it has finally caught up with me and I have a very sore throat and a bad headache today. But as far as life goes, we must still clean, do laundry, grocery shop, entertain and wake up when little ones do not want to sleep.

I have been working out on the elliptical still, but my results have decreased. I have lost a total of 9.5 pounds, but that leaves me behind schedule by a half pound I think. I should bust @$$ and stop eating, but once again, I am feeling unmotivated. I have come to the realization that I desperately need a tummy tuck, but $8000 isn't in my budget! It wouldn't cure my problems, but it would help my post (2) pregnancy (csection) stomach, lose however much weight they could take, and make me probably feel 100 times better about myself! I'll have to keep dreaming for now....

There are some days I get mad at my husband, but I am so happy I have him and he is my best friend in the whole world. God I love him. He is the only one that I do not feel judged by nor do I feel that...well I don't know how to put it. I guess he just understands what is important to me, our family, our kids, etc.

We've been trying to get our house all touched up to put on the market soon. It's actually coming along nicely. We have some little things left, but our list is getting items crossed off. We have been looking at houses online and finding a few here and there. We've gone to look at a couple but nothing really meeting our fancy yet. We've looked north, we've looked south. We're keeping open minds about a location.

AM was accepted into Our Lady of Guadalupe preschool for fall, which we are very excited about. We'll have to figure out what to do if we move, maybe I'll make the drive a couple days a week...? It's a great school and we think we'll all like it.

My little man is getting big, 9 months old, almost crawling. I cannot believe before I know it, he will be 1! Time sure flies.

Oh, and San Francisco was so fun for C and I! We had a great trip!

Hope all is well with you- til next time!

too many to remember

2009-02-02T14:17:00.000-08:00

I have been blogging in my head. I have lost track of all my thoughts I have wanted to talk about because once I blog in my head, it's gone and nowhere is it typed and I forget. Weird...must be like confession or something :)

We got our elliptical. Love it. Been working out everyday, not super long, but it gets better everyday. I feel better about myself because I haven't done this since back before I was married with children. I am hoping by summer there will be some kind of noticeable difference. I just need to keep at it. I've lost 6 pounds, so it's a start at least.

I am looking forward to a busy month. We have lots of fun things planned and the fact that the sun is out sometimes and the days are brighter longer makes me happy!

As for the picture, it's just been awhile and it shows that my little man is growing up..sitting up in the bathtub, no infant tub, with his big sissy. So cute. I love my two babies!

Ugh and Yeah

2009-01-14T09:13:00.001-08:00

UGH
I am going to the dentist today. I have to get another filling. I don't know if you remember my anxiety about all the fillings I had a year and a half ago, but I hate those big needles in my mouth. Crappy.
YEAH
Good news, C and I have planned a whirlwind 24 hr getaway! It started this weekend when I got an email about Alaska Airlines miles reservation sale for trips to some places in Cal by March. So I looked into it and we still have lots of miles and it was very few miles to go down there during this time. We started talking about it a day or so later and we didn't think it'd be fun to take the kids to San Francisco, or really anywhere for that matter because it would be too much energy to get us all down there and then what? And we didn't want to be gone from them for the whole weekend, TC is still kind of little for that and we didn't want to have C take any time off work. So, we decided we are going to leave very early Saturday morning and come back early Sunday morning. Then my mom will only have to stay with them for technically one whole day and then sleep at our house for the night and we'll be back early Sunday. So, off we go! The weekend it worked best for was Feb 28th, so I am really looking forward to that quick escape! C said it will be a nice trip since we didn't get to celebrate my 30th bday last year and it will be just after my 31st. We are excited to shop a little, go out to a nice dinner, stay in a nice hotel, and just a quick 2 hr flight...with no kids! It's a perfect trip :)

Big purchase

2009-01-13T09:05:00.000-08:00

So, C and I cancelled our gym memberships awhile ago because we never went, we haven't been going forever and we were still paying. Mind you, they weren't that expensive, but we decided it was one expense that we were just throwing away money. We had talked about getting an exercise machine someday but never really got into a conversation about it. After finally deciding we were using this year to get healthy, we talked about getting an elliptical for our downstairs. We had originally wanted the little area to have a seat and look nice, but in all reality, nobody sees it but us and we should use it for something we would take advantage of instead of another seat to sit our fat butts on. So, after much research online and reading customer reviews, we settled on an elliptical that I think we will be happy with. Free shipping...should be here in a week or so. I am looking forward to this because it means I will get some regular exercise once again. Walks with the kids are nice, but somedays....getting a 2 year old to agree to get bundled up and sit in her stroller doesn't always work out. Somedays she would rather have WWIII with me than be dragged out of the house! And for those days it's super yucky out and it's much easier to get on the elliptical and watch Sesame Street with AM :) it will be better than taking 30 minutes to get us all out of the house! So, step 2 to our healthy 2009 has been fulfilled! More exercise!

And once again, TC slept a wonderful night's sleep :) YEAH!

Okay T, my turn

2009-01-12T09:49:00.001-08:00

6 random pictures

Me pre kids at the cougar game in Seattle. Drunk.

C working on our old house when we bought it, but had not moved in yet because he had to get the popcorn ceilings off.

AM when she was a baby

Us 4 girls at Jenny's house in Tacoma, when we had a drunk dinner with our dogs all there...I remember that, didn't we walk down to the store with all the dogs and buy smokes??

My mom and dad opening their early morning Christmas present when we found out we were pregnant with AM, we gave them a santa baby bib.

My brother's kids, my first niece Kasey, Jermey, and Kayley- I think this was at my baby shower for AM.

And just because I feel bad there is no picture of TC, I will find one and it :)

My weekend and week ahead.

2009-01-12T09:30:00.000-08:00

First I have to say thank you to Wohn, I love the comment. It is totally you and it brings back memories of you. You are funny :) And I miss you too!

Second of all, my first weigh in, I only lost 1.5 lbs. Which is good, better than I was last week! But I think I did really good all week and then the weekend isn't as good. Obviously I didn't do terrible, and my goal of 20 lbs over 5 months is actually about 1lb per week, so I'm on track, but I must do better this week and weekend! That's the crappy part about weighing in on Monday, the weekend doesn't give you any moving room to weigh in right after! Like it would be if I weighed in on Friday and then had the whole week after the weekend to do better :)

Anyway, my sweet baby boy is back! Friday night was terrible and then Sat and Sun were wonderful! He went to sleep at 7-7:30 and woke up at 6:30! A whole night of sleep....I love it and no screaming baby....even better!

My husband...over the weekend he wasn't sick, but he had something done (I cannot say what b/c if he ever knew I told anybody he would kill me). Anyway, let's just say that having two c-sections and still having to do things and take care of your kids....there is a reason men don't have to go through any of it. They could not handle it and if we had to be around them during that time, we would kill them. Enough said. BIG BABIES.

I am sooo ready for football season to be over. I am over having football on at my house 20 hours a day. And I hate basketball so now I have to have basketball games on, but not as often, only when the huskies play and probably during some playoff crap.

Something came over me this morning and I went on a crazy cleaning spree. It started with the upstairs bathroom. Then I dusted, then I vacuumed, then I mopped. Then I went downstairs and cleaned the bathroom and vacuumed and then I was sweating because I'm trying to keep the baby entertained and AM and then I took a shower because I was hot and sweaty and still in my pajamas. I finished it all by 9. Good to go. Now all I have left is the laundry and the kitchen.

Is it Friday yet?

Do you ever blog in your head?

2009-01-09T09:12:00.000-08:00

I find myself sometimes blogging in my head and then when I get on here I think I've blogged a bunch and said a lot of things in the past week or so, but it's because I blog in my head and then I never get a chance to actually sit down and type. Too busy. I swear, I do have a little downtime here and there (not much), but once in awhile I get them to nap at the same time in the afternoon and I might get 30 minutes to myself. Usually by that point I am so tired, I just sit down and watch tv for 20 minutes (after I do something I need to...like empty the dishwasher or throw some laundry in)...sometimes I check my email, but by the time I am finished and go to blog, the baby cries and I have to go get him.
Anyway, speaking of my son....he is crazy. He does not like to sleep! Well I think he would if he wasn't such a fussy pants. He was for a few nights there sleeping from 7-7...oh glorious day! I thought the end was near, the end of getting up every few hours, the end of getting up at 5 am. And then...this is worse. C and I figure it's a mixture of teething and separation anxiety. He goes to sleep early because he doesn't nap very long at all during the day, he then wakes up and will not let me put him down. I do, and screams. Not just cries, he screams blood curdling someone is killing me screams. I let him cry to wear himself out, he doesn't stop, he may slow down but the second he starts to sound like he's going to sleep, he screams again! So I rock him, he's perfectly fine when I'm holding him. I put him down once he falls asleep, he wakes up again. This continued last night for 2 hours. Then he slept through the night, from 11:30 to about 5:45 this morning. I guess it's disheartening because AM was SUCH a good sleeper, still is. She was on clockwork by 7 months, up at 6, nap at 10:30, nap at 2:30, down at 7. TC is not following in these footsteps. AM still gets up between 6 and 7, nap at 1, down at 8 (we moved from 8pm-6am for winter..summer is more like 9pm-7am). Anyway, all I can do is hope that this will end soon. I get grumpy when I'm tired at night. I know it will end, but I hate to wish away this time in his life because he's so dang cute!
I don't think I blogged at all about our New Year's...good thing. It was crappy and I have nothing good to say about the evening with my husband, except that the dinner I made was good. Happy New Year.
I have started something for myself, it's not really what I get to do (not like I get time for myself or anything..), but something I decided I have to do for myself! I have started eating healthy once again. It was to a point where not that I was eating totally unhealthy because we eat healthy dinners and lots of veggies, but if I wanted to snack I would, if I wanted a piece of candy I would, if I wanted french fries when we went out, I would. No longer. I decided I was going to start this last Monday, I weighed myself, and started eating good. I also decided instead of just eating good, I was going to count WW points and stick to it. It has worked great in the past and if I don't keep track, I will end up eating more than I need to. So, I will weigh myself again on Monday morning and see how I did for the week. I do feel better though, it's amazing how much better you feel when you're not all bloated or feeling yucky from eating something you know you shouldn't. Anyway, I made an initial goal of exercising 3 times a week, whether it be a walk or an exercise video. I have already done 3 good days this week, and it's a good thing b/c my jogging stroller now has a flat tire and C needs to get it fixed for me for next week! I think I'll take our regular double down to the beach today for a walk, it's a flat walk (instead of the super hills by my house) and that stroller will be fine for down there. So, my first goal is to lose 20 lbs in 5 months, by TC's first bday. That is nowhere near a perfect weight, but I will feel better, sooo much better and then I figure it will be summer and I can just continue it and hopefully lose more. The first time I did WW, it was great, I lost 40 lbs, but I also worked out at the gym almost everyday forever. I fell off the gym wagon when I left Nordstrom and went back to a 9-5 after C and I got married. The weight came on. After I had AM, I went back to WW and lost 20 lbs, which was good, it got the baby weight off, but I didn't go any further to get more off. This time, I figure, I don't want to start at the meetings b/c I don't want to spend the money or find the time to get there?! If I can't do it on my own, I will go. However, I am motivated and I hope to continue this outlook of healthy eating and whatever exercise I can get! So...wish me luck! Happy 2009.

Repost

2008-12-31T13:53:00.000-08:00

I saw this on Mandy's blog and thought it would be a great blog to re-post ... If it is italicized, then I have done it in my life!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars (in a tent?)
3. Played in a band
4. Visited the Bahamas
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Solved a Rubix Cube
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Went inside a pyramid (only in Vegas :)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Performed a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Flown a kite on the beach
14. Met a US president
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (I was 4...not sure but I remember being there)
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you were not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (I remember partials, but not sure if there was a total?)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person (once again, I was 4 and all I remember is the stinky raincoats they make you wear)
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (one of them, England, not Norway yet)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's The David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (snorkeling, but I don't like to be underwater)
52. Fainted
53. Drove over 100 mph (mom don't read this)
54. Visited Grauman's Chinese Theater (outside)
55. Learned Sign Language
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Watched a space shuttle re-enter the Earth's atmosphere
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Earned an Eagle Scout award- Girl Scout when I was little
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason (and I think the only time was from a guy I didn't even like...)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial (once again I was 4)
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (motorcycle yes, speeding?)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (mom did we go there too??)
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper, does the Cougar paper count..what was that called?
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House ?
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someones life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Totally copied a post from someone else's blog to your own (isn't that what this is?)

Happy New Year's Eve

2008-12-31T13:40:00.000-08:00

So, it is taking me some time to realize that our lives are different now. I have always loved NYE...it was my favorite holiday. I haven't done anything remarkably exciting in I don't know how many years....The year C and I got engaged, so that would have been 03- so NY04, we went out. We got in a fight. I saw a guy I liked in college which made me mad because my fiance and I were fighting and I should've been happy. In 04 we got married, so NY05, I remember I was sick. In 05 I was pregnant, so NY06 I was pregnant...we went to dinner with my parents. In 06 I had AM, so NY07 C and I did get to go to dinner while my mom babysat. In 07, so NY08, I was pregnant, we fell asleep on the couch at about 10:30, I woke up to fireworks at 11:58, tried to wake C up, he wouldn't budge. I went to bed. And now, NY09, I have two little ones and we're staying home. I'm sure we'll be asleep by 11...and that's late for me! C said he wants to set the alarm for 11:45 so he can wake up and watch the festivities on tv. We'll see how that works out :) Anyway, I'm old. I have always dreamed of having a fancy NYE party. When my friends and I were younger we gave out holiday responsibilities when we were older, mine was supposed to be NYE. Maybe when we move to a bigger house and the kids are a little older, I'll start having annual NYE parties, they may not be blacktie like I always wanted, but I'll have some cheap champagne and some good food and people can dress up. Sounds good to me. Hope ya'll can make it to my party in a few years :) XOXO Happy New Years!

Christmas pictures

2008-12-30T15:18:00.001-08:00

I posted the Cougar gear ones just for my fellow cougs that have been so disappointed with my children wearing Husky stuff. Uncle Dale and Auntie Jenn thought this Christmas they would donate to the Fowler Cougar Cause and TC and AM got matching shirts, her a Cougar and him a football :) It will be interesting to see where they choose to go....C is rooting for Seattle U for AM now?! And for TC, anywhere he can play some kind of sport. Time flies, but I'm hoping not that fast! My little man is already sitting up on his own, and working on his 2nd tooth. AM is talking in sentences...it's almost 2009 and soon I will be 31. Where does time go?

An addition

2008-12-29T09:09:00.000-08:00

So, I looked back at my blog and realized I hadn't said anything since Christmas, so it seems unhappy, but Christmas itself was wonderful. We all got over the sickness, had a wonderful Christmas Eve with C's family and a wonderful Christmas dinner with mine. I will post pictures soon :)

Bah Humbug?

2008-12-29T08:57:00.000-08:00

So I love Christmas, I look forward to it, I love to have my house decorated, I love the family gatherings and the presents, and this year the kids were so much fun. I am officially over it. I have never been over Christmas before, ever. I hate when it's over and I love that we get to leave the decorations up until after New Year's Day. This year...ugh. I already took down a bunch of things because my house is too cluttered. Maybe because we got tons of toys this year, maybe because there is one more of us this year, we just don't have as much room...obviously we live in a small house but it was never as annoying as it was this year. Maybe it's because we were snowed in for 2 weeks, I couldn't drive, I had to depend on my husband to take me anywhere...and we had to bundle up and pile the whole family in to just do the smallest of errands. Maybe it's because the garbage man hasn't come in weeks and we had Christmas wrappings and toy boxes and recycling and and and...everywhere. However, we started to clean up yesterday and I started to feel better. I couldn't stand the mess anymore. The snow is gone, the garbage will be gone after the garbage man picks it up today, I can drive. However, I am so tired and the rain is so yucky...I just want to stay inside.

So much for fun in the snow

2008-12-20T16:22:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I guess I was wrong when I said the sickness is gone. TC is feeling mostly better. AM was better but is now not. C is worse and I go up and down. Right now I am up, only because I took Aleve cold and sinus about 3 hours ago and I'm now having a glass of wine. HAHA. Anyway, these snow days are killing me. I have only been out of the house to another destination 3 times in the past week. I am going to go crazy I think. Makes me think of that movie with Jack Nicholson (sp?) where he is stuck at that scary hotel and he goes crazy. Anyway, I'm not that bad :) But having C home since Thursday at noon...we've been bickering alllll day today. Super fun. We were going to take the kids out to look at Christmas lights tonight and then to dinner, but with the new blizzard that has started, AM not feeling well, and our moods...we might not attempt that fate. Can't even believe this is the week of Christmas...the snow, the cold temperatures. It doesn't feel like we live in Seattle. Weird. I hope all of your weekends were more productive, more exciting, and more merry than mine. I so usually look forward to the weekends, getting out, doing things, having help with the kids, seeing my mom, running errands, going out to dinner, having some drinks...this weekend has been a lot different. Although my kids are still adorable and AM has had some fun in the snow too. Hopefully we're all better by Christmas though. I guess that's one way to look at it...we got the sickness the week before. And we got some beautiful snow too.

Snow Day!

2008-12-18T10:49:00.001-08:00

Well, we are all getting over the sickness...kind of. But at least the kids are happy :)

Oh arctic storm

2008-12-15T10:54:00.000-08:00

It's freezing. I don't drive in the snow/ice. I think we'll be stuck inside for the next week. AM doesn't have snowboots, can't drive to get any. TC is sick, can't take him out b/c he's miserable. Switched from upstairs to downstairs for a new environment. AM took off her clothes and I know she's freezing but she doesn't want to get dressed. TC smells like baby vicks. I was entertained by taking a picture of AM putting my bra on.....

Guilty

2008-12-03T08:55:00.000-08:00

So I felt guilty yesterday after writing "horrible" child stories, so I decided I needed to turn over a new leaf. I swear every night I pray to be a better mother, but everyday frustration grows with the terrible twos and I wonder why she doesn't listen. Anyway, after getting them both to nap overlapping about a half hour, I was re-energized and thought the afternoon would go well. It started with waking her up from her nap and telling her I loved her, she gave me a big hug and we did fun things in the afternoon. Then when C finally gets home, I tell him how frustrated I am and I cry and he feels guilty for not being home more and I feel guilty for feeling overwhelmed. I mean they are my kids, why do I need time for myself? Ha. So, my thought was, that's exactly what I need. I need some time for myself. How am I going to get that though? I have no clue. Anyway, here I am writing more depressing things when my point was to be happy :) Today is starting out much better, but obviously we aren't visiting a preschool so obviously it's much better! I love my kids and they do make me happy. How could they not? So cute!

The pics are from Thanksgiving and the one from my grandma's birthday...cute stuff.

One of those days

2008-12-02T12:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was in a great mood, we had a long weekend full of fun times with family and friends. Thanksgiving with my family, day after shopping w/mom and TC, leftovers with C's fam. Saturday a bday party for Tanya (30-yeah!), and Sunday a bday lunch with the whole side of my dad's family for my grandma's 88th birthday! It was very tiring, but lots of fun. And yesterday was just a nice Monday...don't know if I've ever used that together?! TC had his 6 month dr appt, 16 lbs 2oz- very cute with chubby legs :) He did really good getting his shots and even AM was soooo good and she got a flu nosespray.

Today...hmm, first of all, TC slept through the night except once at about 3:45 I had to give him his binky, however, he slept until 7! Which would have been wonderful considering he usually gets up at 5 or 5:30, but today C decided he wanted me to help him get out of the house for work. I do, I'm nice, I get up, I make his lunch....he is just standing in the kitchen telling me what he likes to do for his lunch and how he likes to make his sandwich...well, since you're just standing there telling me, wouldn't it be easier if I was in bed sleeping and you did it yourself? Just a thought. I didn't say it..well kind of, but not so snotty. I asked what time did you need to leave (looking at the clock it's almost 5:45 at this point), thinking maybe he was running late and needed help for that reason, oh not for another 15-20 minutes? Great. Good for you.

So, both kids up at 7, AM got dressed without throwing a fit. We're going to visit a preschool today (most registrations start in Feb so it's time to start thinking about this for fall!). We go. The school/church is under construction so I leave the stroller for TC in one building and carry all 16 lbs 2 oz of him (plus clothes!) and hold AM's hand to get to the classroom. Well, she immediately wants to play. Fine, but we're just visiting. Too bad, trying to leave, the heat is on, I'm sweating. TC is HEAVY. All I can think about is that stroller. Wondering why all these kids are like a foot taller than AM...they're only supposed to be 3?! Everyone is well behaved and quiet...luckily the teacher tells me 3 kids are out and they are unusually mellow. Some kid tries to play with what AM is playing with...small fit. Move on to another area. Finally we have to go, I am sweating profusely in this heated room and TC is weighing more like 30 lbs, dreaming of the stroller in the other building, how am I going to get her out of here? I drag, pull and then carry her, with TC in the other arm (poor baby is being flung around like a rag doll), I have my purse and AM's coat too. Such a sight. On the way out I did mention to the teacher that there sure was a big difference between 2 and 3...she then tells me the cutoff date for their birthdays is Aug 1st, so AM can't even go there next year. GREAT. Could've saved me 30 minutes of hell. And mind you, I'm in a private religious school and I don't know how many times I whispered bad words on my way out of there. Oops. Needless to say she won't be going there because she will be starting preschool at 3. They said she would start at age 4 in the three year old class, um no way in hell lady. Maybe that's why the kids were so big???

So, today is one of those days that my mood has been depleted and I wish for a minute here and there that I had my kids in daycare so I didn't have to deal with them. Of course I don't really because I would miss them after 10 minutes (okay a half hour). And it's just one of those days.

Tomorrow will be better.

Compare

2008-11-20T17:19:00.000-08:00

I ran across the pic of AM when I was showing her baby pictures of her on the computer. Even though this outfit was super short on TC for Halloween, I put it on him to hang out in and I decided to compare the pictures. Super funny. They don't look alike to me, but I see something in their smile that is the same....or similar or something. Very cute. At Halloween she would have been 2 1/2 months and he was 5 months.

Being a mom...not in heels

2008-11-14T12:55:00.000-08:00

So, I find myself always wanting to buy my kids stuff. Which is fine, but I wonder why I no longer am obsessed with myself? I mean that sounds wrong, but do you get what I'm saying? I will make sure my kids are dressed absolutley adorable and I try not to head out in sweats...that's my idea of getting dressed nice. Terrible. I do wear makeup and do my hair, so I'm not one of those moms that has completely lost touch with herself. But I used to wear cute stilettos and make sure I was all done up, accesorized, and ready to go. No longer. Not that I don't have my cute purse with me when I leave, because I do, always. But I no longer can throw on heels to go somewhere...those are saved for special occaisions! HA, I can't believe it. Luckily, or unluckily, however you want to look at it. After I had AM, a ton of my heels and cute little shoes no longer fit the same...I gave them all away (still very sad about that part), but I do have a few left here and there that sit in my closet waiting for a night out (which rarely happens). In the summer it's flip flops, it the winter it's Uggs and tennis shoes. Even for family dinners I have been to lately, it's ballet flats or something. Which are very cute, but not heels. Tomorrow I have a baby shower to go to...I'm wearing heels. Maybe.

Something that was on mind

2008-11-12T14:48:00.001-08:00

I was reminded about some thoughts I had the other day by reading my friend Mandy's blog. It almost shocked me when I read it, but I'm not certain why. I mean obviously there will be people who are upset. I guess in my way I am blind to that because I could not possibly understand what is wrong with Barack Obama being our next president. But as she said, it is the south. I guess I just do not understand the thoughts...or more like I cannot comprehend how they could feel that way.

However, here are the thoughts that went through my head~

I was walking with the kids the other day and I was thinking about how in the "old" days when the country had a vision of hope. I never knew what those days were like, or how everyday people could be so wrapped up in these people that brought them this hope and they didn't even know them. I guess in my mind, these visions of hope came from people like Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy. People that were gone before my time and still to this day hold a place in people's hearts...even though they didn't even know them. And as I walked in the wind and drizzle pushing the stroller...I realized I had this very same feeling for our future President. Maybe not to the extent of those in the past although I cannot attest to how they felt, or how the country felt as a whole, because I was not there. But I feel something for this future we hold and I feel like he will take us there. I have never cried over politics, but I cried when he won. I cried when I watched him speak...it moved me and it made me happy to see how our country has changed and I hope to God that our country will grow stronger and be better off than the last 8 years. And in all reality...that's part of what makes me so happy, I have faith and hope in this man...whom I do not even know.

I'm addicted

2008-11-12T14:30:00.000-08:00

to vacuuming. Everyday I vacuum. I don't even think I go 24 hours. I can't stand stuff on the rug, I can't stand dog hair on the floor. I vacuum.

I am also burning candles all the time. I used to only light them in the evening, but now I have to have them going by the afternoon, sometimes in the morning too. It all started after going to my sister in law's candle party she hosted. I didn't even buy that much, and I actually haven't even started burning the candles I bought there. I just want it to smell nice and be warm and cozy all the time now.

I am going to be a "single mom" of two kids for the first time. I mean I usually do most of the stuff anyway ;) but seriously when C gets home after work...the smallest bit of relief usually helps. He is gone for work for 2 nights and 3 days. (hopefully I don't have any info on here for some psycho to figure out where I am....anyway...) Luckily my mom is going to join us for dinner tonight so I won't be so bored and feeling like I only talked to kids today. And tomorrow we're having lunch with some friends- it will break up the days and give us fun things to do and look forward to. But we will miss daddy....

Oh, the difference!

2008-11-08T13:22:00.000-08:00

New carseat...only 2 days in the car and the baby already hasn't cried. I'm talking he must have hated his infant seat, I don't know if it smooshed him or what, but he always cried. He loves his new carseat! And AM does too, she says it's soft. Cute.

The stroller...Mandy, it's prob the same type you had, Maclaren twin triumph. Love it. SOOOO much easier to get in and out of car, I don't have to put it all together like my old train I was pushing and AM and TC just sat together while we went to the mall- he stayed in it the ENTIRE time and AM would sit and talk to him and hold his hand and tell him about things they were seeing. Oh, it made me smile. Love it. Anyway, my life is officially easier I think :)

I had dinner with a couple girlfriends last night, that was fun. I sometimes feel like I never go anywhere, so it was fun to get out, even if it was just up the street :)

We are going to our niece's soccer game this afternoon, should be fun- hope the rain holds out...the sun has made an appearance!

My daughter is smart. Yes, I am biased, but I think she really is. First of all, Sesame Street does wonders I swear. That's where she started to learn the alphabet and now we probably say it 20 times a day. Now she is also practicing counting. The other day she's watching SS and I hear her in the other room repeating the numbers after the count or whoever. All the way up to 9. I smile. Then two days ago I'm with her and she's picking up these stacking blocks she has, well only a few were in the living room and the rest in her bedroom. She says nine. I wasn't paying attention and she goes momma, nine. I look over and she's holding the block that has a nine on it. I was like, crap, you're good. Then she picks up another and says five..it's the five. So, she can pick out certain numbers by seeing what they are, the 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9. Why those, I don't know...we're working on the rest though. So, I am biased, but she's a smart two year old I think :)

TC started eating food...he's loving it. I think he's going to be one of those teenage boys who eats you out of house and home. He's only had rice cereal and peas...which stink, yuck. But I'll move him onto some squash tomorrow and see how he likes that. I think he just likes food. If you have something to eat while holding him...he watches EVERY bite and gets all excited and giggly. It's super funny.

Tomorrow we're getting together with family for a bday dinner, which is always fun. Hope ya'll have a great weekend.

Oh happy day

2008-11-05T14:39:00.000-08:00

That's all I have to say. Thank goodness for the change.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T14:28:00.001-07:00

These are not their costumes :) I will send those pics out later, but these are cute little devils aren't they? Today we followed the past two years' tradition of trick or treating at my mom's work and then going out to lunch. She used to work on Halloween night so we did that, but this year we are going to C's grandmama's for dinner- she has it every year but we always did our own thing. This year we decided it would be way more fun for the kids to go there and see all their cousins. We don't get any trick or treaters at our house so it will be more fun to do that.

I sold my double stroller to a lady who bought it for her daughter who is having her second baby. It made me laugh because she said her daughter is a baby gear nut. I love it...finally someone else like me. (However, I find that we aren't that rare....many moms I have met have a bunch of strollers just like me..but i will be consolidating very soon!) I bought that double stroller when I was like 5 months pregnant with TC, had it waiting for us. We used it for the past 4 months, but I decided it was too big to just have in my car and it didn't just pop up for a quick trip in the store. If I had TC in his carrier and stuck it in his stroller for that then AM would get mad and want to get in the stroller. If she said she wanted to walk, I end up carrying her or her having a fit screaming upppppyyyyyy. So, I ordered a new double stroller, a side by side that is half the weight of my previous one, folds up nicely and pops up in a second, throw both kids in and I'm off. I cannot wait until it gets here. Plus when you find things cheaper here or there it makes you happy you found a good deal. I also ordered them new car seats. This is annoying to some I'm sure...like my mother who thinks I'm being ridiculous. TC is not too big for his carrier, but I will tell you...he is getting dang heavy to carry in that thing. Plus he hates it, he cries in it. I did lots of research on car seats, we needed to get two for him- one for my car and one for C's. We have a cheaper one in C's car for AM. So, anyway, AM's carseat in my car is annoying in the fact that the bottom clip in part digs into her legs. And she's got skinny little legs..it's just not high enough or something. So, I decided to put that carseat in C's car too (they hardly ever ride in there) so the two spares are in and I get the two nice matching carseats for my car for each of them. The funny part is I just couldn't buy him the nice carseat and leave AM in the other one. So, I justified it to being fair since we had to buy two anyway. C agreed with me on the whole thing...except I didn't really explain that it wasn't fair to AM to leave her in the uncomfortable seat. I know he would agree with me on that too though b/c he spoils her rotten, he wants her to have the world.

That being said, I love both my children more than anything, I can't even explain the feelings I have for them. But they are so different. I remember being pregnant and I worried about sharing my love and blah blah blah. I seriously cannot even explain how it works. Or how I can look at my baby boy and feel such joy and feel a completely different but similar love and joy for my little girl who I know so completely in a whole different way. Anyway, for anybody who ever went through that or will go through it, it's weird and definitely unexplainable.

And last but not least...my big 5 month old boy rolled over for the first time today. Yeaaahhh!

Happy Halloween!

Be careful what you wish for...or not

2008-10-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

So, we almost lost a member of our family yesterday. Don't get all emotional, it wasn't one of us humans. But still, Raven ran away. And not so much she ran away, as she likes to get out of the yard and go play. She is usually found within a few minutes, at the most an hour. She is usually down the block or at the park or the school messing with the kids. Now, I have had many issues with her since having my first baby. I now HATE dog hair and vaccuum constantly. Our house is too small and she follows you around and is always in the way, because she's a big dog. C and I have told ourselves we will never have a big dog again. Obviously our future house hunt is in part to having two kids and two dogs. Anyway, yesterday Raven decides to get out. I can't find her. After the baby wakes up from his nap, we walk, can't find her. After the kids afternoon naps, we drive, can't find her. She's never been gone this long. C gets home, rides his bike around the neighborhood, can't find her. Comes back, puts AM in the car with him, they drive around, can't find her. C bbqs steak for dinner and everytime he goes outside he whistles...no Raven. At this point I have actually shed a few tears even though I have been driven crazy by this very hyper, half psycho, half retarded dog for the past 5 years. I realize she is still part of our family and I am going to miss her. C isn't hardly talking to me, I know he thinks I willed this with my mind since I have been so irritated by her. I am thinking he will resent me for the rest of my life....what really broke my heart though, everytime AM asked Sasha? (that's what she calls Raven...no idea where it came from?)

Fast forward...4:30am. A bark. And who is at the back door? A very tired dog named Raven. Let me in daddy. C is so happy. I smile and go back to sleep for 15 minutes until the baby wakes up.

Fast forward....10:00am. Back from our walk, get the dogs out of the kennel (sidenote: many of you are probably wondering why the dogs don't get to walk with us...reread the hyper, psycho, retarded part and times that by 100, that's Raven on a walk. I can't do it. Only C can.) Anyway, kennel...what stinks? Oh, Raven had rhea in there. Great. Leave the garage door open to air out. Clean up crap. Yell at dog. Call C, yell at him. He says she probably got into something when she was out. Oh, you think? She should have stayed out then. Stupid dog, I was a lot more calm when she was missing, sad, but calm. Now I am irritated once again.

But, she's family right? Damn dog.

Been awhile

2008-10-07T08:45:00.000-07:00

I feel like time just flies by. I have been spending most of my time when I'm on my computer checking email and selling baby stuff on craigslist. Doesn't sound too exciting, but it makes a little extra money here and there. However, I haven't been on to blog in awhile. Some updates about TC, he is now 4 months old and at his checkup he weighed 14lbs 7oz and was 24in. He is smiley, cuddly, lovey, and absolutely adorable. Update on little AM, she is totally into being a little mommy, let's just hope she is satisfied with dolls and doesn't take a teenage plunge. HAHA, totally kidding. Anyway, she loves her babies, carries them, feeds them, burps them, puts them in TC's swing, has them do tummy time on his mat, sits in his bumbo. It is adorable. She is the best helper and big sister. And she is just sooo sweet.

Oh, and C had his birthday over the weekend, the big 33. We had a nice dinner just the two of us on Saturday and then the 4 of us went to Red Robin on Sunday and much to his dismay I had them sing happy birthday, but it was mostly for AM, not him :)

Another thing we've been doing, I got a double jogger with a raincover, so I have been getting out for a nice walk everyday, rain or shine, this way the kids get out, but don't have to get wet! Watching them through the little top window is so cute because AM and TC sit next to each other and she rubs his little hand and talks to him and points things out on the walk. It's fun to watch because she doesn't know I am....how many times can I say my kids are adorable and cute? Anyway, it does give me a little fresh air and exercise, which is nice.

Hope all is well with all of you! Til next time.

Edit, DVR, napping and a home

2008-09-16T12:53:00.000-07:00

So I must put in a note about the previous blog, I didn't read it before I posted, which usually I do to make sure I spell things right and I'm not saying super dumb things. However, AM wanted to go upstairs and I was blogging with her in the room, so I had to oblige. Anyway, I just noticed that I said I won't have to do those things until Mom's Weekend....I must edit that because I will not be doing all those things listed, at least the thinking about who I will be making out with that night. HAHA. Oops.

I always contemplate getting rid of our DVR because I hate paying for it. And when we switched from our tivo to the dvr with comcast it was a good deal. Comcast then turned into bastards and raised the price super high. So, I think about this a lot. But then fall comes and I think, ohh, we will not get to watch any of our shows at all if we didn't have the dvr. We only get to watch things when the kids are sleeping. It's just too loud and chaotic when they are up. Not to mention I can't stand commercials anymore, at least not when I'm really watching a show and paying attention.

Not much else is new. I feel like our day to day lives have changed somewhat since TC is getting bigger. I need to make sure we're home more now because of his naps. I got so used to AM just napping in the afternoon and we could take off for the whole morning. Not that he won't nap in the car or whatever, but I know he sleeps better when he's in his bed. Like today I decided his morning nap had to be outside the house b/c I was going to take AM to the park and blow off some energy. He only slept on the way there and the way home (which is like 6 minutes). Then everytime he started to go to sleep today, AM was loud. This happens often when we are trying to get him to nap during the day. And when we're trying to get him to go to sleep at night. Now, the main reason this problem occurs is because we live in a small house. His room, her room, the living room and the bathroom are all in a very close radius.
Which brings me to my next story...we are selling our rental, which will in turn put money back in our savings, which will in turn give us the option next spring to put our house on the market and move. We have been discussing this a lot lately and we have decided this is what we will do. Hopefully the rental sells sometime within the next few months. Then we can focus on some little details around here and get it all ready to go and when spring comes, we can fix up the yard a little more, throw some beauty bark and flowers in and we're good to go. We have looked a lot online to see where we want to go, what we can get for what we want to pay, what's best for commuting for C, and for me when I go back to work someday, what school districts we like, and we think we will be moving back to our previous stomping grounds- Mill Creek or Bothell. That's our plan. We are very excited about it. It's hard to wait so long once you've made up your mind about what you're going to do, but that's okay. We'll be ready when the time comes!

Getting old

2008-09-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

So, I realized this morning that I am really getting old. It wasn't the fact that I have two kids. It wasn't the fact that I'm 30. It wasn't the fact that I realized C and I have been together for 7 1/2 years already, or that I've already had my 10 year high school reunion. I realized, I like to watch the news. When I was in college, I would come home and hate to watch the news, I would watch anything else (and we didn't have cable so that wasn't much). Now I love to watch the news, the Today show, world news shows, presidential debates or speeches. What? That's crazy. Anyway, I'm getting old. I also realized this was the first year as I watched college football that I didn't think it would be fun to be in the stands like all those drunk college students. My actual thought was, ugh, I am so glad I am not there. (not that I don't enjoy the drunken tailgate, but that's for older kids :) It was the drunk in the stand wearing your college sweatshirt, knowing that it was a full day of drinking, bars, and thinking about what you and all your friends were going to do that night and who you were going to make out with :) HAHA Anyway, not that those times weren't extremely fun, but I am glad for the memories and glad I don't have to do it now. Just in about 18 years for Mom's Weekend :) And please just imagine my kids are in the above pictures wearing Cougar shirts! Although C does say by then I will probably want them to go to UW so I can have them closer....he's probably only half right.

90210 and pics from the week

2008-09-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

I love it. I was so in shock seeing ads for this and I didn't know what to expect. However, I watched part of it the night it started and just finished watching the second half on my dvr. I love it. I love that Brenda is on it. I love that Kelly is on it. I can't quite figure out everything yet...obviously Silver is a nickname for her little sister..what was her name, like Emily or something? Silver, as in David Silver's dad..Mel, right? Wasn't he married to Kelly's mom and they had a little girl. Okay, now who's kid is Kelly's? Maybe Steve's? He looks like it, with curly blonde hair...that would be weird though b/c Kelly never got back with Steve as long as the show was on. And now I'm trying to remember back to the last episode....I wish I could see it again to remember how it all ended. Anyway, now I am hooked on yet another rich young tv show (ie the hills....). Oh well, I love it.

And there are a couple pics from our fun week with grandma!

This week

2008-09-04T15:44:00.000-07:00

It was a great time in Yakima. Much different with babies and Kelly being pregnant. I think we were all in bed by 11. My only drinking partners were the guys, and that's just not that fun.

A baby that sleeps almost through the whole night almost everynight now.

A fun week with grandma, out and about. Naps are off, but it's been fun. We've been to Target, to Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, the Super Mall, and tomorrow we are taking AM to the locks to see all the boats in the water (her favorite!). I will post pictures soon, we've had lots of fun.

C and I have been trying extra hard for each other, and the kids of course. But things are looking up. We just decided we needed to make an effort to be nice and get along. It's been a good week so far.

This weather is gorgeous, but I was kind of getting in the mood for fall....oh well, it will be here soon enough!

Ups and downs

2008-08-29T13:52:00.001-07:00

So, C and I have had ups and downs each day I swear. One minute we're having a good time and the next we are fighting and po'd. He has been trying to contribute more, but then he'll do or say something to throw me off and make me mad! I thought my hormones would subside and we would be one big happy family, but of course the stress always catches up. That's marriage for you I guess. I did tell him on our anniversary though, that no matter what, I don't have any doubts that we'll get through everything. At one time a few years ago I did. Now I don't. We're married, for better or for worse :) I remember my sister in law said things will get so much easier after the baby turns 3 months.

Well....yesterday TC turned 3 months :) We'll see if this turning point she mentioned exists! However, I think so far things are looking up! TC sleeps completely in his crib now. A few nights he slept from about 10-4 or 5. A few other nights he goes to bed a little earlier and then wakes up at 3 for a snack and goes back down until 6 or 7. Napping is in his crib too. He cat naps, the longest he goes for is about 30-45 minutes. Which when that was what AM did when she was little it seemed like no time at all. However now, if TC gets a nap in that long, I am like supermom that can accomplish a million things in 35 minutes!

This weekend is a long one, which will be nice. We are heading over to Yakima to visit some friends, a long awaited trip that we are all excited about! Monday we are working on the rental because it's time to sell it and no longer worry about it. We just want to put our money back in savings and focus on what we're going to do with our family....getting big for such a small house.

Then next week my mom has off of work, so we will be spending some fun quality time with grandma. I think AM will enjoy it a lot!

As for my 2 year old and my 3 month old....they are growing and adorable and I love them soooo much! I cannot believe how time flies.

Oh what a day

2008-08-21T14:48:00.000-07:00

I am in a terribly good mood today. I'm not sure why, but I do know it has a lot to do with my beautiful babies. We had a fun morning, AM was just cute and funny. TC took a nap in his bed. We went to the grocery store to pick up a few things we needed for dinner and AM was so good and cute and helpful, and she talks about all the stuff and wants to know what everything is. She amazes me, I said we had to get meat and she says meat and points to it. It's little things like that, hearing her say a new word, that make me smile. It's things like that that make me happy I get to stay at home with them. Even if I have rough afternoons or shopping trips go to hell and back, there are some days that I am so grateful and happy that I get to see them every second. It's actually a big turn of events from yesterday. Well, wait, let me clarify. AM was an angel last night, so cute, playing and running around, then when it was time to calm down and get ready to go to bed, she sat next to me on the couch as I fed TC and she watched the olympic diving, which she seems to really enjoy. Anyway, the turn of events would not be me enjoying the kids, it would be my mood, last night it was annoyance! My husband to be exact. Luckily he doesn't read this, but I was soooo irritated. First of all, the night before last, he says he doesn't feel good...he has this huge bug bite on his side and it's super red and swollen and itchy, he takes benadryl (sp?) and he lays on the couch all night saying he just doesn't feel good. Okay, I go with it, I take care of the kids, bath time, play time, bed time, everything. Then last night, he's feeling better, bug bite has gone down, he's no longer thinking he is going to die from some crazy allergic reaction, but he lays down on the couch and is sleeping by like 7:30. Are you kidding me? Once again, I take the whole night's duties into my own hands. As I mentioned before, thank goodness AM was so good. Okay, now mind you some husbands/dads do lots with their kids, and he is very good with AM. Sidenote: Not once though has he done a midnight feeding with TC (or AM when she was little), not even on the weekends. Fine, I figure it's my duty to take care of my kids. Help...it would be nice, but I'm not going to beg. However, when he gets home from work, I like help, I like breaks. I don't get them. Ever. I do get help with AM usually when he gets home, but never with the baby. My break is making dinner or taking the baby only with me to run errands instead of both of them. Another sidenote: Can you imagine my disappointment that our one girls' night that was to happen in Sept, has just been cancelled? The only reason I was even going to get away with that was because it has been in the works for 6 months. Anyway, long story short I was annoyed with my husband. I just thought I'd share since I read the Parenting magazine and there is always this thing about Hot Dads in there and the ladies always write in saying how wonderful their husbands are and they do all things for them and the kids and I'm thinking, are they lying or am I just not the norm? I like to think they are not the norm...but I'm having my doubts. Maybe I should suggest to Parenting magazine to have a Reality Dads section and I can write in weekly and maybe make other moms feel better not worse :) HAHA

AM turned two this weekend, we had a fun party on Saturday, even though it was 100 degrees and we had a fun day on her birthday (Sun)- we went to two different parks, we went to the beach, we got her ice cream. It was really nice. She is now 2. I can't believe how fast the time flies. I'm trying to remember to enjoy every second of their little lives because I was reminded yesterday that this is my last go around with baby time. Are you serious? My last cuddles, my last coos and smiles...since we aren't having any more kids, I need to enjoy all of it as it will soon come to an end and I'll have two teenagers!

PS: I don't mean to sound like C is horrible. Trust me he isn't. He is a wonderful father. He just has his moments and I must complain somewhere!

Getting so big!

2008-08-14T13:45:00.001-07:00

So my little munchkin is in his own bed! Such a break through! After our weekend away, being held the ENTIRE time by all the family, and myself (baby bjorn is the best for taking him everywhere!)....Monday was very trying. He did not want to be put down for one second. Not even in things he usually loves, like his vibrating chair or his crib to watch his mobile. And I had a ton of laundry to do, so he screamed a lot that day. However, that night he passed out, so I put him in his crib, and that's where he slept for a good 3 hours before waking up! And each night since, he has been in his crib. I am up more because he doesn't sleep as long as when he slept with me, but it's getting better each night and I am soooo excited! He is even napping in there right now...where he went to bed awake and I snuck in to check on him and there he was, eyes rolling back and him falling asleep! AMAZING! So, my little guy is growing up. He is getting so big I asked him today what he did with my little skinny boy. He is turning into a little chunky monkey.

Speaking of growing up....AM is turning 2 on Sunday. I cannot even comprehend that. I took her to the park today and I saw a little boy who the mom said was 1 and I was thinking back to last year when she wasn't even walking yet, she had her first birthday party (we're about to have her 2nd on Sat) and she was my little muffin. Now she is growing up. It's amazing to watch. And sometimes frustrating with her terrible twos. However, she is such a doll and she gets cuter everyday!

So my two little ones are growing up before my eyes. Crazy to see.

On another note, we enjoyed our annual trip with C's family over the weekend. We didn't get to go to Penticton this year which I know there was a lot of disappointment, but it was still really fun. Different but fun. Anything is fun with his family. We spent lots of time relaxing, reading magazines, eating, drinking, playing in the water, throwing rocks in the water (AM) and just hanging out with everyone. And yesterday we visited at Grandmama's and Granddad's house with C's sis and her kids so AM could play and of course they all love to see the baby whenever they can...even if we did just spend the entire weekend together :) Oh, and the best thing about the weekend, which I didn't capture on my camera because I never had it with me on the speed boat....AM loved the boat. She wore her little lifejacket and loved it when they went faster! It was fun. She spent all spring and summer going to the beach and seeing the boats wawa (boats on the water) and she finally got to enjoy going on one...very fast. She just loved it!

A change in plans I guess

2008-08-02T07:23:00.000-07:00

So I realized yesterday that the night before (Thurs) was my last sleeping with TC and I should have enjoyed the cuddling more. However....things change. Last night comes and I'm excited at the idea of sleeping alone (well, with C) except I decide I should spend my first night without the baby on the couch near his room so I can get to him faster when he's screaming to try and not wake AM up. C and I watch a movie...yes, a movie. AMAZING! We ended up getting HBO and Starz when we bundled our internet with our cable and phone, which is actually turning out to be way better than we thought. See, in the past 2 years we have watched like 2 movies. We even rented a movie a few weeks ago and had to return it the next day without watching even half of it. If we want to watch something that AM can't watch, we have to wait until bedtime, which then turns into too late for us (yes we are old) and we fall asleep during it. So with HBO, if we don't watch it, at least we didn't pay for it! And we watched a movie we have seen, but I love it and it's been a long time, so it was almost new again- The Departed. Ahhh, it was the reason Leo was the love of my life again...and so now, he is once again. Sorry honey. Anyway, we watched the whole movie, and just before the very end I stick little snuggly sleeping TC in his bed. I hear him snorting and grunting through the monitor and wait for the crying to begin. However, in the hour he stayed in his bed, I had to get him up 4 times. He slept great in between those times, but what kept waking him up was the spit up in the back of his throat/nose and he ends up struggling to breathe and swallow and I hate it! When he was first born we went through this a lot and it was really bad, he would start screaming and that in turn would make it worse. The only cure/help was to keep him upright when he eats and also for a long time afterwards. Which is what I would do while I slept with him. I thought maybe he was over this and I thought putting him flat in his crib so long after his bottle last night would be okay. I was wrong. (and no, he doesn't have acid reflux like AM did, so it's not the same) So, plans change. He laid in my arms sound asleep again and off we went to bed. I guess we'll wait a little bit and try again. I would have liked for him to be in his own bed, but I'll just have to enjoy a little more snuggle time.

A Rough Day

2008-07-30T12:47:00.001-07:00

So my little sleeping darling boy, has not been so sleepy and peaceful today. He has cried more today than the last two months put together. Okay, I'm exaggerating. But when you have a tantrum throwing two year old...it seems like it. I realized today that we leave for our vacation next Thursday. 1. I am not wearing a swimsuit. 2. I have not even started thinking about packing or getting us ready. Considering it takes me all day to finish things, I better start now. (It's hard to finish a whole task when I have to pick up the baby when he starts to cry, or change them, feed them, clean up, etc etc) Anyway, I decided off to Old Navy this morning so I can find some kind of shorts and tank that I can wear in the lake. Oh yeah, the vacation...so this year we are not going on our annual Penticton trip, which C and I are very sad about. However, there are a couple people in his family that for some reason decided it was too difficult to go there, whether it be the long trip, the frustrations with the border, the reservations, having to get your passport or US drivers license. Anyway, whatever the reasons, it is annoying and we wish we were going there. Instead we have a little lake resort motel reserved somewhere on the way to Yakima near his uncle's cabin. I can never remember what the name is. So, we are going Thurs-Sun. I took the kids to Old Navy, got some shorts and a tank and of course TC some clothes since he is not big enough for many of his clothes yet too big for some...I had to compromise with some tees and some pants that I think should work. AM does not want to get in the car to leave. Screaming begins. Wakes up baby, more screaming. I join along after about 5 minutes. Then I turn up Michael Buble. Once we get home, we have some more challenging moments. The worst being when I left AM and her grilled cheese & ketchup alone for 2 minutes and came back to ketchup on the wall, the floor, her shirt, her booster seat, the chair....and luckily it missed Bisou since she just had her bath on Monday. I was so mad I couldn't even say anything. Good thing her plate is plastic because I threw it in the sink, literally. I haven't touched it yet. Right now she is napping, and holy cow, so is TC...in his crib! This weekend is his 2month weekend...it's where tough love comes and he starts sleeping nights without me, in his crib. It's the same age we did with AM, so off he goes. I may be kind of sad though, not only for the fact that I'm sure he'll cry and I'll have to be awake so much more than I have these past two months, but also for the fact that he's so cuddly and I think I'll miss him. He is my last, and therefore, my last 2 months of pure snuggle sleeping with my baby. Wow, that's crazy. But it's true. I'm sure I'll sneak in his room for some rocking and cuddling though. And I'll thank God when he sleeps through the whole night in his own bed :)

2 months old and a trip to the groomer

2008-07-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

I cannot even comprehend that TC is already 2 months old. Time has flown by. This picture is from the day he was born...I call it his Elvis picture. He is so big now, well bigger than the 6+ lbs from 5/28..and much bigger than his 5+ lbs from a little later. He had his 2 month check up on Friday and he weighed 10lbs 14.5oz. Up from like the 4th percentile to the 36th. Still not big, but much bigger! :)

Today we went to the park so AM could play. It seems that's what we usually do on Mondays and at least twice a week. It helps the days go by and not seem so boring and it gets her out and helps her use up some of her never ending energy!

We also took Bisou to the groomer today. AM was devastated that we left her there. For the next 20 minutes all I heard was Bia, Bia, Bia (that's what she calls her). I had to explain about 50 times that she was just getting a bath and a haircut and that'd we'd pick her up after lunch. To which AM would say yeah, yeah, Bia baw carcar oomme (translation Bisou bath, car, home). She still looked completely distraught staring out the window whining Biaaa. When it was time to pick her up...she put her shoes right on and told me the whole way there we were getting Bisou. And then the whole way home she said Bia yeah! over and over. It was in all reality, absolutley adorable. Yet still a little annoying to have everything repeated so many times. However, it was a nice break from the usual mommy mommy mommy mommy mommy mommy. Sometimes I wish I had one of those clicker counter things so I could click it throughout the day each time she says my name. I think somedays it could be in the thousands :)

C & I also went to a wonderful dinner on Saturday to celebrate our anniversary. We finally picked to go to La Rustica. A very small italian restaurant on Beach Drive in WS. I have wanted to go there forever and I always forget about it. Luckily we were going to go to Palisades, had the reservation made and then I looked at their menu online and it wasn't my style (which is also Cory's style for the most part). Jasmine recommended a few places and C and I decided something italian would be good and then she reminded me of the little WS treasure...we went and it was sooo good! We had two bottles of wine, which were very yummy, an appetizer (bruschetta) and we each had a pasta dish. Next time I told him even though the bruschetta was sooo good...I'm trying dessert. They had all my favorites, but I was just too full and C isn't a big dessert person (one area we are very opposite :) so he wouldn't share. Next time I will eat the dessert myself! Can't wait to go back...yum!

Have a great week, hope to be back again soon, with some interesting stuff maybe.

the trials and tribulations

2008-07-24T12:28:00.001-07:00

Taking a toddler anywhere is hard. I refrained from all stores with both kids since TC has been here, I did make a trip to Target with both on Monday...and AM did very well! Today I ventured to Babies R Us, where she did not as well, but not horrible, not to the point of me sweating and almost in tears. So that was good! She did fall asleep in the car on the way home though, so she is now napping. We'll have to have a late lunch. I must say the only thing that I will kind of miss since I am now going to be addicted to the internet during naptime...it used to be my GH time! I would watch the previous day's show on the dvr. I will have to catch up now!
This summer has been fun, and there are so many things still planned...before I know it, it will be football season once again! I just got TC a little Seahawks shirt at BRUS, so cute! Daddy will love it :)
We're getting pics on Sat..I was just talking to Kelly about timing for pictures. I can only imagine how this will go. Hopefully not terrible!

I'm baaacckk!

2008-07-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

Holy goodness, it's been forever! I am sooo excited to be back online....we finally got our new computer and our internet has only been hooked up for 2 hrs. I was downstairs as soon as AM was down for her nap, and thank goodness TC wanted to sleep too. I have spent time uploading pics so people can finally see our new bundle of joy! It's been crazy, fun, and busy. Luckily it's summer so we go to the park and the beach and spend time with friends-makes the days go by much smoother. Kind of wondering what we'll do when winter hits...move to Cal? At least then he'll be older and somewhat easier I think. Today is C and my 4th anniversary! We are going out for nachos and beer when my mom gets here to watch the kids, to the restaurant where we had our rehearsal dinner....how romantic. Saturday we're doing a nice dinner, which I am very excited about. These are our first 2 dates since the baby has been here. Whom I might add is the most adorable little boy in the world. He's definitely a momma's boy already. And he loves to snuggle! I will hopefully be posting more in the near future, stay tuned :) Missed you all!

Today was a good day

2008-05-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

Haha, for those of you who don't know, that's a quote from Ice Cube :)
Anyway, the weather was beautiful, my daughter is absolutely the cutest thing I've ever laid my eyes on, my husband was sweet and didn't even get on my pregnant nerves (that much :) and I got to take a nap!
Much better than yesterday when I found my first gray hair. Holy crap. I almost saved it but instead let it fly in the wind when we got out of the car at Home Depot since I decided they probably had a part in turning it gray in the past year. I did think about maybe I had gray hair before but never knew it because I've been dying my hair since I was 15, but then I thought I haven't been dying it for about 9 months, the first and longest break since 15. And I think I would've found it before Sat...sometime in the past 8 or 9 months, and I didn't. I've never even looked before, never noticed anything either. All of a sudden, I see it. Sitting in the car, looking in the visor mirror. I don't know what came out of my mouth, but I was in shock for a good 7 minutes :)
So, I'm officially old. I also think I am going to dye my hair as soon as I have this baby. Or maybe at hair appt next week, I'll have to spring for some highlights....!

A I

2008-05-01T14:18:00.000-07:00

So I like Neil Diamond. I really like David Cook and I would definitely buy Jason Castro's cd because his music would be great to listen to all the time. I don't like Brooke, she bugs me.

1 month

2008-04-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

The date is set! Wed, May 28th. Our little baby boy will be joining us! Of course he could decide to come early, but for now, the 28th will be his birthday! We'll keep you updated!

Amazement and craziness

2008-04-24T09:17:00.000-07:00

So I watched AM sneak behind the dining room table to the window that faces the trees between us and the neighbors. She stands there with her little hands gripping the windowsill and her chin propped up and watches as the wind blows the trees around like crazy. I watch her and wonder what she's thinking. She finally says mama and comes back over to me. In the next 10 minutes as I think about getting on here, she does about 5 things that she's not supposed to and drives me crazy. Then as I start to write, she hears the wind pick up and off she goes to her little window spot again and watches the trees for a minute. It just makes me smile even if I was ready to scream a few minutes before. Ahhh, the rollercoaster of motherhood :)

Indecisive

2008-04-23T12:36:00.000-07:00

The title is because that sums me up lately. Two weeks ago I stood in the toy aisle at Target to try and pick out a new toy for AM for 20 minutes. Then Sat my mom and I are at J&J trying to pick out some clothes for TC...stood their for a looong time watching her chase AM around and me staring at 2 different pairs of swim trunks...trying to decide. Anyway, I couldn't decide on a good title for my post, so I am going with what I am :)
Sometimes I feel like a servant, or maid, or waitress or what are those ladies called from the super olden days that would do everything for the girls of the house, like tie their corsets and brush their hair and stuff? Anyway, I find myself feeling like that person as a mom. I sit AM on the couch (in front of sesame street is the only way to do this), to cut her fingernails, toenails, put her hair in piggies. I "serve" her breakfast, lunch, and dinner at her little booster seat at the table. I mean it's fine of course since I am her mom and she is only 1 1/2 and can't obviously do those things herself, I just feel like an 1800's servant. However, if she's like 15 and you find me on the floor cutting her toenails as she watches MTV or something...we're gonna have a problem! :)
Our downstairs is so beautiful! C just has some trim to paint and then we can clean up and he'll put together our furniture and move on down....hopefully mostly this weekend. I am so excited! And it looks so great! Good job honey! We're almost there :) Ahhhh.

Do you hear what I hear?

2008-04-18T17:10:00.000-07:00

So watching the news this evening about all the Sonics news reminds me of a conversation C and I had the other morning.
Scene: it's 6am and we're watching the news and it's about the Sonics of course.
I say "I am really getting sick of all this, I'm done listening to the same stuff over and over again about the Sonics"
C decides for some reason this is an invitation to then talk about the Sonics situation for 10 minutes.
Did I not just say I'm sick of hearing about it? How does that mean let's talk about it for 10 minutes?
Hmmm, and they say husbands don't listen :)

A Much Better Day

2008-04-17T21:12:00.001-07:00

So I feel 100 times better than yesterday. I woke up much better, I woke up optomistic and happy.
No tears today!
I also decided that I needed to start going through some baby things. With AM, her room was already done for a long time by now. All her stuff washed, put away, waiting for her. Our little TC, well...things are different! His room is not ready because he's at the bottom of the room change :) I did start a list of things I still need to get for him, and after my shower with family this Sunday, I'll have to update with whatever else I need. But the stuff of his I had in AM's closet I got washed and put in one of her drawers (his future drawer) after I cleared out some of her things. I'm getting organized slowly, but that will at least get me somewhat ready for the rest of his stuff I get this weekend and that I have stored in the attic.
We will be moving into our room next week! And then we will work on AM's room. I am very excited to get her into her cute toddler room...she is so adorable. We had lots of fun playing tonight, I was trying to wear her out since she took a long nap today (because I kinda fell asleep too :)
I am happy tomorrow is Friday...it's not quite like working in an office and getting a weekend, it's more like getting really excited to talk to and hang out with adults for a couple days :)

A Much Better Day

2008-04-17T21:12:00.000-07:00

Insanity?

2008-04-16T17:26:00.000-07:00

I couldn't think of a better title. By 4pm, I am going crazy. I am looking online for a way to post an ad for our dog Raven or wishing I had the guts to let her out, not back in again and hope she runs away. I am dreaming of a five minute moment of silence from the tile saw and "mama" "mama" "mama" "uppy" "uppy" "uppy". Maybe a glass of wine, a sunny day, not being super pregnant. And then C gets home and has to work downstairs because he had to work late at regular work last night and couldn't get everything done for the carpet guy who is coming soon. It breaks my heart that AM says hi to him and then he leaves her again when all she wants to do is have her dada pick her up and play with her. I am thankful she has me all day, but sad she doesn't have him more. So my insanity turns to sadness. I am then thankful I have such an adorable sweet girl, until she drives me crazy again the next minute :)
I think I am done being pregnant. I am hoping my craziness exits after my hormones are back to normal. I cry too much. I think the frustration of the remodel, or more like the frustration it gives C from all the stress then rubs off onto me since I feel he's being mean or insensitive and then I feel like a single parent half the time (which if that was real, ugh! never something I would want to experience, for those who are, more power to ya). I just need a break or a vacation...neither of which are going to happen. But hopefully once our downstairs is done, I can have a few moments of retreat before the next one comes to add to my chaos :) Loving chaos of course.
So once my sanity returns I hope to love my life and my dog....but if not, I have a black lab who is adorable, great with kids, and might need a farm because she is....um, how would I put it...energetic :) Or if you know where I can buy dog valium?

2008-04-11T14:53:00.000-07:00

As for MB's thoughts on kids and sex stuff. I think it will depend on how they ask questions as to how I go about talking to them, but I do know I want to be open with them. I feel the more communication, the better educated they will be and I will be happy that they know they can talk to me about it. I think they need to know the real names for things otherwise I have a vision of AM in college talking like the waterboy "momma says I have a hoohoo". Haha, sorry, funny picture of AM like Adam Sandler in my head! Anyway, AM still sees me naked, unfortunately I do not like my body and I still get self conscious in front of my toddler. However, it will stop when she stops needing me all the time (ahhh to pee alone again...I can only imagine!). As for the boy, I am thinking things will be a little different. AM does not see C naked, I'm sure the boy will see him more than he would see me. Anyway, I just hope for an open communication between us and our kids. That way I can be confident they will come to us, not be ashamed, and hopefully grow into confident and educated adults and be smart about their bodies and their selves and their lives as a whole.

ABC and the birds and bees

2008-04-11T14:36:00.001-07:00

A-Attached or Single? Attached
B-Best Friend? Cory
C-Cake or Pie? cake
D-Day of Choice? Saturday
E-Essential Item? purse and everything in it
F-Favorite Color? Pink
G-Gummy bears or worms? Bears
H-Hometown? West Seattle
I-Favorite Indulgence? ice cream or chocolate
J-January or July? July, love the summer
K-Kids? my darling little girl and a baby boy on the way
L-Life isnt complete without? family
M-Marriage date? July 23, 2004
N-Number of brothers and sisters? 2 brothers
O-Oranges or apples? Apples...yum!
P-Phobias or fears? Spiders, I cannot stand them or the thought of them.
Q-Quote?
R-Reason to smile? Naptime
S-Season of choice? summer and the beginning of fall
T-Tag 3 people: ?
U-Unknown facts about me? ?
V-Vegetable? love many of them
W-Worst habit? stressing out
X-X-ray or ultrasound? Ultrasound, it's amazing to see.
Y-Your favorite food? salads and french fries
Z-Zodiac sign? Aquarius

umm

2008-04-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

Crazy side note considering he's like 10 yrs younger or something, but Chris Brown is hot. I just watched him sing w/Jordin Sparks, which is weird considering he's been huge for a long time and she's new to it all. Anyway, that's another tangent I could go on. He's cute though. And I must say if she has a boyfriend, he might have a reason to be a little jealous b/c they might do it. haha! Okay, I think the ice cream is going to my head, I gotta go to sleep.

Forgot!

2008-04-10T21:15:00.001-07:00

So I forgot to say I met the two little rascals last week! AM and I went to the hospital last Friday and I held each of the twins. AM gave lots of kisses and jumped around the hospital room like a monkey. Shea (I mispelled before as Shay) is smaller and her face was more smooth. Chase was more wrinkled and looked like a little old man :) They were adorable! Chad said they have already picked their favorites, a daddy's girl and momma's boy. So cute. Anyway, it was fun meeting them! I look forward to many fun years as auntie!
Idol gives back...why is everyone obsessed with Miley Cyrus? I don't think she's all that wonderful. If I was Heart, I'd be jealous that skinny little fergie was doing flips on my stage in her leather spandex. I liked the sound lady who got to touch Brad Pitt :) Oh and Teri Hatcher...that was like watching karaoke except worse because I was sober.
I also forgot to mention how weird our week was. C worked a strange schedule, 7pm-4am Tues night thru tonight. It was strange getting used to, but actually not too bad once we did. We got to have lunches together instead of dinner and he did get to spend some fun time with AM and I. And the time we spent together was all awake, unlike normal where we sleep all night and that's a lot of the time we spend together. Although we were asleep together when he gets home at 4:30, then I have been getting up at 8 (which is way better than the 5:30 I get up when he works normal! And AM also usually gets up earlier, but for some reason has been sleeping this week til 8 too!) He then sleeps in until 10:30 or 11 but from then til he has to go back, it was fun. And he did get some work done downstairs too though. Tomorrow will be nice b/c once he wakes up in the morning, he'll be done for the week and we have a few errands to run, for the downstairs of course :)
Ugh, I ate a bunch of ice cream earlier and I feel sick now. Time for bed.

Blog slacker

2008-04-09T15:53:00.000-07:00

So I used to get disappointed when I got on here and went to read other people's blogs and they hadn't posted anything in so long. Now that is me. I find that since AM is no longer with the little guy...it is up to me to play constantly :) Or I need to do housework when I do get a chance and she's playing by herself or whatever. So I am now a slacker. Anyway, funny conversation she and I had today...in just the few words she says, but I can actually have a conversation by her motions, facial expressions, and words. So, I come out from getting dressed this morning and I had just looked in the mirror and saw how big my belly was looking. She runs up to me and touches my stomach with both pointer fingers and says Baby! I laugh and ask if my belly is getting bigger and she says Yeah. Then she puts her head on it and then pats my belly. I said he's coming soon, she says Yeah and pulls up my shirt to see if he's there. It's just funny that she initiated the conversation since usually it's someone who asks her about the baby before she acknowledges my stomach. Very cute...I just love being with her and watching these moments...she's so smart and she makes me laugh and smile. Such a sweet girl and she's going to be a great big sister!
Completely different thought, I usually really like David Cook on American Idol but not last night...I didn't enjoy him at all.

Welcome babies!

2008-04-03T06:40:00.000-07:00

So yesterday my twin niece and nephew were born! Chase Harris came at 3:00am, weighing a whopping 7lbs 5oz! And Shay Lynn came at 3:02am weighing over 6lbs. The dr was a little surprised at twins so big! So congrats to my bil and sil and new big sister Kate. AM is excited to go to the hospital to meet her new cousins, but we are giving mommy and daddy some time to rest before we head over...probably tomorrow morning.
Today I will be picking out carpet for downstairs...it's getting closer! Can't wait to move! The whole house will seem different. And I just realized that it is April...which means I am having a baby next month. That scares me! Next month!? It was so far away, and now it's getting so close! Soon I'll be saying a few weeks, and then a few days....!
Anyway, AM and I are finally getting over our sickness! However now C has it. Fun.

A long week & highlights

2008-03-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

So this week has been trying. I have felt horrible. Every time I swallow it feels like I have golfballs in my throat. C has been very stressed out and very tired from working all day and then working on the downstairs all evening. The money stresses me out. And to top it all off, AM hasn't been the biggest angel.
However, I have enjoyed being pretty busy and some little highlights make me smile.
AM has let me put the cutest little piggies in her hair twice this week!
I think I figured out what I'm going to wear to an upcoming wedding...and luckily the black maternity pants I got fit great, don't make me look like a huge whale, and were on clearance for $7.99!
I love dressing AM, and can't wait for the weather to turn so she can start wearing her adorable dresses and capris...and sandals!
The downstairs is getting so close, it's almost done getting painted, the tile guy is working away, and C can start the trim this weekend.
I read a great article this afternoon...here are some quotes from it:
"No disappointment is forever"
"To sit and whine about disappointment takes time away from hope"
"Often one can learn that there is more than one way to acheive what we think we need from life"

Have a great Friday tomorrow, and a wonderful weekend!

Big Give & house update

2008-03-24T13:24:00.000-07:00

I LOVE Oprah's Big Give. Such a good show! I cry and smile through the whole thing. Love it!
Our weekend was nice, Easter was nice. AM is getting better, she only has a runny nose and little cough left.
We have some busy days, weeks, months ahead of us...a baby shower and a wedding shower this weekend. One of my baby showers, then a wedding, another baby shower, and another of my baby showers in April. The birth of our nephew and niece twins, and in 2 months our baby's arrival. And all this while C tries to finish our downstairs! Then AM's room, then the baby's room! C painted the bathroom this weekend and we got our paint for the bedroom, so he'll start painting that this week. The tile guy comes Wed to start some tile work. Just need to pick carpet and C will be working on the trim after painting. The bathroom will need finishing touches...like a toilet and countertop :) heehee
And once we move downstairs, luckily we have the paint picked to do AM's room and all her stuff to move her in! Not too worried about the baby's room right away because he won't notice if it's not painted right when he gets home :)

Last night

2008-03-20T12:10:00.000-07:00

So my issue last night with remodeling was my stressed out husband and the fact that the primer downstairs stunk so bad that AM and I spent an hour hanging out at my parents (which was fine when my dad was there but when he left and it was just us, I got bored). Then we came home and it was still too bad so C let it air out and we went out to dinner. Which ended up being nice, going out to dinner all together. This afternoon he has a little more primer to put on so AM and I are going to Target to get the rest of a wedding shower present that we forgot about. That will at least be more interesting than sitting around, since that's what we did all day today. AM is still sick, the cough is horrible but she seems in a good enough mood. In the spirit of Mandy's potty training issue, AM also is doing good in this area! Not super consistent, but today she did come to me and point to her diaper and I asked if she needed it changed, she said no, bah bah, and I said you need to go potty? She says yes and in we go and she pees in the potty! Amazing how it works, huh? And how exciting it is, kind of un-understandable for those who have not experienced this phenomenon :) Oh, and I figured out what she means by bah bah...it's bum bum :) Obviously that's what I call her cute little butt! And she has taken it to mean where she potties...? Whatever works.

Ughhhh

2008-03-19T18:36:00.000-07:00

I cannot wait until remodeling is done!