The Window to My Mind

Hehehe!!!

2010-04-20T12:49:00.002-05:00

Rachel just rolled from her back to her belly!!!

She has been going the other way for a while now...but today on her 5 month birthday is her first time back to belly! Woohoo!!! What a big girl!!!

Rough night

2010-03-24T13:12:00.001-05:00

I really wanted to get on here last night and write about this...but I didn't figure it would make it any better.

We've been completely blessed for the last 2 months with two beautiful daughters who have been sleeping completely through the night. Then last week at some point it all came to a halt. And they've both been getting up at least twice in the night.

As always, it takes us a good week or so to decide to put the brakes on, get a little meaner (to ourselves mostly) and get Molly to sleep through the night, in her own bed, alone. So last night was the night.

Richard and I got to bed around 11:30.

First wake up: Miss Rachel - 1:30am. I went in to nurse her back down.
In the meantime: Miss Molly wakes up. Rich got up with her and she needed to go potty. That's tough for us because she has recently learned the potty. But can't do it on her own yet. And while we want to encourage NOT peeing her pull-up at night, it's really tough when she has to go a lot. Because it means we're up a lot. Anywho, he put her back down but by the time I was done nursing, she was up again.

I'm not exactly sure of all the details on the next 2 hours...but it included Rich going back to bed, Molly going potty 2 more times - really, and one time just pretending, and me sitting outside of her door as she screamed for me to come to bed with her. Each time she would come to the hallway, I would carry her back to her bed.

As I sat out on the floor wishing I could be sleeping, I had several thoughts run through my head. Many including how scared I would probably be too if someone was sitting outside my door with a tummy rumbling as loudly as mine was then. - And if my body will ever just give up and decide it doesn't really need as much sleep as it thinks it does. That would make life easier too. -

And then just before 3:30am I thought how thankful I am that I have a daughter that's so polite that after all this time of screaming at me to join her in bed, finally comes to the door and says, "Just go to bed, Mommy!!! Go away! Go to Daddy's bed!!! Good night!!!" shuts the door, and gets into her bed. LOL

It was really nice to have been given that permission!

I stayed for 15 more minutes just to be sure. I was still hearing her move occassionally.

So at 3:45 I got back to bed.

At 4:15 Miss Rachel is awake again. I go take care of her...Get back to bed after getting her to sleep and hear her cry again. I went back to check on her and she was asleep. Back to bed I go.

Then Molly's up again...it takes me 30 minutes to keep her in bed this time. Not quite as bad.

I get back to bed around 5am. And Rich apologizes and wishes that I get sleep soon. I did the same for him. He said he was uncomfy. I asked if I could do anything and he said it was the temperature...so no. I told him he could go stand in the hallway for 30 minutes...it cools you down nicely. And you don't have to worry about getting TOO cold because the frustration of having to do it warms you up to a nice level temperature. ;)

Then at 6:30 Rachel wakes again. Whew! I go take care of her and get back to bed just in time to get back to sleep and hear the alarm buzzing at 7am. Of course, he has a snooze plan where he hits snooze for about 30 minutes or so...but still. I tell him that he should probably just turn it off and go to work late and get some sleep for a while. He said he couldn't but went 30 minutes late and has skipped his lunch break. I hope he's doing ok.

Rachel woke up around 8:15 and was just chatting herself up while he was leaving. So he brought her to me and she snuggled with me and went back to sleep until around 8:45 when Molly woke up.

You can only imagine how bad I'm already getting baby fever this time!!! Ha!....(Sarcasm!)

Wow! Let's hope for a better night tomorrow!!!

Dillons Finds 3/22/10

2010-03-24T11:57:00.000-05:00

Here's what I found at Dillon's the other day:

These toys were on clearance...I'm not sure how good of a deal they actually were at these prices..but they fit in my budget for Easter gifts...so it worked.

3 - Etcha Sketches: $2.50 each
3 - Slinky Pets: $2.50 each
3 - Poof Pal Amphibians: $1.40 each
Fisher Price Blocks: $4.50
= $19.20

Quaker Rice Cakes: $2.75

5 - 3lb bags of Chicken Tenderloins: $4.98 each
= $24.90

Kroger Cookies: $1.38 (Not a great deal...but we're out of cookies, so I had to get some. I went with intentions of stocking up on the Keebler ones for $1.48 plus coupons...and was quickly reminded that that was only a 1-day sale. :( )

2 - Irish Spring Soap 3 pk: $1.00
Coupon: $.50
Multiplied: $.50
= $1.00 (or $.50 each)

4 - Pace Picante Sauce: $2.49 each
Coupon: $.40
Multiplied: $.40
Coupon: $.40
Multiplied: $.40
= $8.36 (or $2.09 each)

4 - Classico Spaghetti Sauce: $1.49 each
Coupon: $1.00
Coupon: $1.00
= $3.96 ($.99 each)

6 - Mott's Apple Juice: $.99 each
= $5.94

8 - Del Monte Diced Tomatoes: $.49 each
= $3.92

Add Tax: $5.03
Cash Paid: $81.53
Except I didn't pay cash, I paid with a community rewards gift card, so I also sent $4.08 to my church. :)

Didn't get anything free this go round...but I did get a little better stocked up on several things at about the lowest price possible given the coupons I had on hand.

Walgreens Finds 3/23/10

2010-03-24T11:19:00.000-05:00

Here's what I got yesterday at Walgreens:

3 - Huggies: $8.99 each

Coupon: $3.00

= $17.97 (or $5.99 each)

Add tax: $1.70

Cash paid: $19.67

Plus I received $5.00 in Register Rewards on my next purchase for buying 3 making them $4.32 each.

Grand total at Walgreens: $14.67

Target Finds 3/23/10

2010-03-23T22:53:00.001-05:00

This is what I bought at Target today:

In detail:

4 - Del Monte Fruit Chillers: $2.00 each (aka - Molly's Ice Cream!)

Coupon: $1.00

= $4.00 (or $1.00 each)

Toy Story: $22.99

Coupon: $10.00

Toy Story 2: $22.99

Coupon: $10.00

Instant $10.00 savings when you buy Toy Story and Toy Story 2!

= $15.98 (or $7.99 each)

PLUS each of them have a free movie ticket (up to $8.50) to see Toy Story 3 this summer.

Including that, I profitted $1.02 (or $.51 each.)

Bandaids: $1.82

Store Coupon: $1.00

= $.82

(Just so you know and don't think I'm Bandaid crazy...I've been buying so many bandaids lately because I found there is a Mail-In Rebate for Princess and the Frog available through Bandaid. Buy 2 Bandaid boxes and the movie and you get $5 back. I have a two-year old so .82 cent Bandaids are VERY nice...plus it brings my Princess and the Frog movies down to a whopping $5.99 each.) :-D I have to get one more box of Bandaids before I'm gold...but my printer messed up printing the coupon today so I have to print my last coupon from a different computer. So I have to get motivated to put my other computer back together to get it. LOL....oh the dilemma!

Anyway...

Add tax: $2.82

Cash paid: $23.62

Don't forget the $8.50 movie tickets....

Grand total: $6.62

WOOHOO! I take that as a win!

Target Finds 3/16/10

2010-03-17T13:41:00.000-05:00

Here's what I got at Target - the grand total seems high, but when you regard the types of items I got, the savings is pretty nice:

Description:

Easy-Ups: $8.50

Coupon: $1.50

= $7.00

Molly Shirt: $4.00

Molly Shorts: $5.00

Molly Shorts: $3.00

3 - Molly Shirt: $3.00 each

2 - Rachel Shirt: $3.00 each

2 - Rachel Shorts: $3.00 each

Coupon: $5 wyb $30 worth kids apparel

= $28 (or $2.80 each)

2 - Princess and the Frog DVD: $15.99

Coupon: $5

= $21.98 (or $10.99 each)

Kid's Crest Toothbrush: $1.69

Store Coupon: $1.00

Coupon: $.50

= $.19

Align Supplement: $29.49

Store Coupon: $3.00

Coupon: $5.00

= $21.49

Neosporin Pump: $3.54

2 - Bandaid: $1.82 each

Store Coupon: $1.00 (Bandaid)

Coupon: $3.00 wyb Neo & Bandaid

= $2.18 (or $.73 each)

Pictureka Game: $7.54 (I've seen these full price for $20+)

2 - Frosted Mini Wheats: $2.50 each

Coupon: $1.50 wyb 2

= $3.50 (or $1.75 each)

2 - Poptarts: $2.50 each

Coupon: $1 wyb 2

= $4.00 (or $2.00 each)

***Receive $5.00 Target Gift Card WYB 4 Kellogg's Products***

Add tax: $6.03
Cash Paid: $101.76

Grand Total at Target: $101.76 + $5.00 Gift Card!!!

Although it would have been even better if they had in stock a couple other things I had on my list like
the kid's toothpaste they would have PAID ME $.51 to have or
the 2 Johnson's buddy bars that they would have PAID ME $.06 to have or
the 2 packs of Rayovac batteries that they would have given me for FREE! or
if they had different sizes of the $3.00 Circo mix and match sets so I wouldn't have had to buy the $4.00 shirt and $5.00 shorts.

Then my total would have been $97.97 + $5.00 gift card (yeah, that's $3.79 less than I actually spent, and I would have had 5 more items in my picture!)
Stink on out of stock products! ;)

Walgreens Finds 3/16/10

2010-03-17T11:16:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I went shopping at Walgreens and Target. Neither was EXTREMELY impressive, but Walgreens would have been had I not decided I needed Easter gifts for my nieces and nephews.
At Walgreens I got this:

Let me explain in a little more detail what's there and what I paid for it:

1st Transaction:

Colgate Toothpaste: $3.99
Coupon: $1.00
Tax: $.25
Cash paid: $3.24
However they gave me a $4.00 Register Rewards for my next purchase, making that a $.76 money maker.

2nd Transaction:

Colgate Toothpaste: $3.99
Coupon: $.75
Tax: $.25
Cash paid: $3.49
However they gave me a $4.00 RR off my next purchase, making that a $.51 money maker.

I could have stopped there and would have made $1.27 PROFIT for the day. But I didn't...

3rd Transaction:

3 - Kleenex: $1.49 each
Store Coupon: $.60 each
Coupon: $.50 wyb 3
= $2.17 (or $.72 each)

Frosted Flakes: $1.99
Rice Krispies: $1.99
Coupon: $1.00 wyb 2
= $2.98 (or $1.49 each)

2 - 1/2 Gal Milk: $1.39 each
Coupon: $1.00 wyb cereal
Coupon: $1.00 wyb cereal
= $.78 (or $.39 each)

Reese's Dark Chocolate: $.89
Store Coupon: $.40
Coupon: $.55
= FREE + $.06 profit

My shopping list stopped there and had I followed that I would have spent $4.60 on those 10 items. It's crazy because normally I would have spent that much just on the cereal!

But I went ahead and picked up some cheap-o Easter bag stuffers for my nieces and nephews...and since there are so many of them, even cheap stuff adds up quickly! So I also got:

9 - Easter Sacks: $.25 each
Chocolate Eggs: $.99
Crispy Eggs: $.99
8 - Glitter Silly Putty Eggs: $.50 each
4 - Duck Bubble Necklaces: $.50 each
= $10.23

Then I used that $8.00 in RR that I received on my first two transactions.
Add Tax: $1.27
Cash Paid: $9.37

Grand Total Paid Out of Pocket for Walgreen's: $16.10

I'm BAAAAAAAAACK!

2010-03-17T11:04:00.000-05:00

So I was just looking back over my last several posts and thinking how long ago they were and how TINY Molly was!

So anyway, we've had a baby since my last post. She's everything I could hope for in a baby. Perfect little sweetheart. Her name is Rachel Marie. You will get to see pictures of her soon I hope! (if you haven't via other portals already. ;) )

Anyway...the thought that got me to come back to my blog was my urge to be more frugal. I've been working with coupons and sales for about the last month or so and working on getting a nice stockpile of things we normally use. And this actually all started with a huge desire to get some debt paid off more quickly and stop feeling so frustrated by having to limit my frivilous shopping so often.

So...there are lots of blogs out in blogland that will match up available coupons with sale ads at various stores. And those are what I spend time browsing through. What I plan to start doing here is posting exactly what I buy and the deals I get. That's what my next posts will be. Hope you enjoy my deal finds as much as I do!

Hop! Hop! Hop!!!

2009-06-12T23:45:00.002-05:00

Is Molly not the absolute cutest little girl you've EVER seen??? Ok...I know I'm biased...but you gotta admit...it's true! LOL!!!

Richard was out mowing the yard and this little guy hopped out. He came to show Molly and she fell in love!

I didn't capture the part where they hopped down the driveway together. That was about the time that I realized this was WAY TOO CUTE to not be making a video of it. I just LOVE the part where she's waving and saying "HI! HI! HI!" I really can't believe she touched it. This little girlie girl is scared of ANYTHING that moves. Although now that I say that I'm remembering that she also loves to play with worms. So I guess not. But...they don't make noise...maybe that's the difference. And all of this is disproving how much of a girlie girl I think she tends to be. She's so cute though..and I'm sure if given the choice and if she could've caught this little guy she would have happily brushed his hair for him and tucked him into bed like a good little mommy. Which re-proves the girlie factor. LOL

Been a long time. Glad to see your face. I knew we'd meet again. Another time. Another place...

2009-06-05T08:44:00.002-05:00

Ok...so I can't really see your face, and really this is the same place we met last time...but I always have to sing that line when I say "Been a long time."

So much has happened!!! I've had SEVERAL days that I've thought I should come blog...but I've been trying to keep a secret from blog-land, and I knew if I came here, I'd spill the beans. But now it's ok to spill!!! (LOL since most of you who I know read this already know!)

We're expecting another little bundle of joy and sleeplessness!!! Yay!!! I'm so dang excited!!!

It's really rough to determine when to make the announcement on your blog or anywhere online really. You don't want someone that you've been waiting to tell in person or otherwise to stumble across it so impersonally for the first time. But when do you give up on that if you haven't had a chance yet? So I chose now!

So we will be four months along on Saturday. It's going REALLY fast! - most days. We're due November 21 - the Saturday before Thanksgiving! So that will make for something INCREDIBLE to be Thankful for!!! No questions of what I'll be writing down and putting in the hat/boat/bread bag/whatever we use this year!

Everything is going fabulous! Minimal weight gain so far...baby looked great on the sonogram...Heartbeat is fabulous...and Molly has even decided that it makes an awesome dance beat! LOL I laughed so hard that day!

I won't lie...I was VERY sick for a long time. I vomitted way too much and had way too many days sitting in front of Uncle Ralph. But everything's clearing up nicely. I feel much better. I only slightly gag when changing a gross diaper or coming upon anything else that is especially disgusting now. I've got much more energy. Before, I was often falling asleep BEFORE MOLLY at like 7pm and sleeping all through the night until she woke up the next morning. But now, for the last WEEK I have stayed up until at least 11pm without having to try very hard. Yay for betterness!

We have our big sonogram where we will find out what we're having at the end of this month! I'm so excited! I hoping for an elephant! Then we could call it Ellie or Eli. haha! Ok just kidding! I'm just praying for a completely HEALTHY baby with NOOOO FOOD ALLERGIES!!!!!!!!! Please Lord!!! Or if it has to have allergies..at least be the same as Molly's so I don't have to have two separate types of diets. LOL... yeah...not kidding.

Some other really exciting news is we're taking a vacation!!!

The last vacation we took was to Kaua'i, HI. It was SO MUCH fun...but you know what? It was over 3 years ago for our honeymoon! We definitely deserve another very soon! All winter long we kept talking how as soon as tax season was over we were going to head out to Vegas for a nice vacation. Well...then we had to replace our furnace and A/C and that was a huge chunk of money...and then at least once a month after that we've had something that costed at least a couple hundred dollars happen to our house or our car. And then we became pregnant...which entails medical expenses and other things. And plus we'd imagine Vegas is pretty smokey and that wouldn't be so good for my pregnant self - not that I think spending just a couple days in a smokey environment would hurt the baby too much...but it would most likely make me SOOO sick, just the smell! So the vacation became a lost idea.

Well Richard, during college once, went to Denver to a water park called Water World. He talks about it anytime the thought of a water park is spoken about. And so about a month or two ago I told him that this summer as our last Hurrah! before having multiple children we should drive out to Denver and hang out at the water park...leaving Molly with his parents on the way out. We thought it'd be a lot of fun! But then we were like...hmmm..we don't know ANYTHING about Denver, besides it the home of those nasty Broncos...and we'd hate to get lost out in Bronco-land...We hear the diseases out there are pretty contagious. ;)

So we kind of started looking around elsewhere. Still in the mood for water parks...I checked into them everywhere. First I thought the Water Park of America would be fun, because we could do that for part of a day and for the rest hang out around Minneapolis...and then spend another day at the Mall of America. We started thinking that flying there would be more money than we were able to spend on this "little" vacation...so we considered driving. But that would likely mean we'd have to leave Molly for more than our planned on 3 nights...and we didn't really feel comfortable with that...since she's never been left ANYWHERE over night without one of us before. And I started reading LOTS of bad reviews about the Water Park. - Which by the way...it is SOOO hard to read reviews about places! People are so darn negative. Richard kept reminding me that most of the time people who go somewhere and have a good time don't go online to leave a review...they just have a great time and tell their friends and family when they get home. People who have a bad time go online to complain and "forewarn" anyone they can get their hands on.

So we kept looking. Just being crazy I started looking at bigger vacations. I liked the idea of Aquatica in Orlando and Rich really wants to go to Universal Studios again...so we started rethinking our budget. Maybe it would be worth spending a little more to have a really good time. But the Orlando idea was pretty much out because there is just SO MUCH to do there, I wouldn't have been able to control myself and we would have stayed much too long and spent way too much.

Then I kept looking and Rich began asking me multiple times daily if I had found anything to do. I couldn't make any decisions. The decision pool was growing every time I did research and that wasn't helping.

Finally I HAD to narrow it down. So we decided if we were going "higher-to-us" end, our options were San Antonio (a flight down, SeaWorld, a fun water park, and a few other free things,) and yeah Vegas had come up again (a show or two, sightseeing, and maybe a little casino time.) If we were going "lower-to-us" end, our options were just driving to either Omaha, Kansas City, or Oklahoma City and just hanging out doing whatever the cities offer..some shopping..and just doing whatever, we really have no idea what's available in Omaha or OKC, but we would figure something out and have a good time regardless.

I think we were both leaning toward the higher end ideas. They just seemed more exciting. lol. Although we weren't quite in agreeance on which one. I've ALWAYS wanted to do something like SeaWorld...and the water park was sounding really fun. Richard has ALWAYS wanted to go to Vegas. Period. lol. Both of us really wanted what we wanted, but both of us fought harder for the other person's wants than our own. Don't ya hate that? I really wanted him to get complete enjoyment out of it. He really wanted that for me. And so we were at another stand still. Until one day he said...actually...you're going to be almost 5 months pregnant and San Antonio is going to be VERY hot...which means a day of walking around SeaWorld is going to WEAR YOU OUT! He was completely right! And I added to it that in Vegas, we'd be sleeping in more and be out more at night, so that should be cooler - even though it will be HOT in Vegas too, and more things are indoors there. And he started asking some people what they thought about the smokiness of Vegas and they seemed to think that it would be ok - that the casinos and such are well-ventilated. I figure as long as I don't get stuck sitting NEXT to someone smoking I should be ok. And almost ALL of the poker rooms are smoke-free now (not that I'll be playing poker.) And there are "smoke-free zones" in several of the casinos.

Then we went back to the "Can we really afford this with all of our upcoming expenses???" Of course we're praying really hard trying to figure out what to do. And finally the night before last at supper I said, "To heck with it! We're going to Vegas!!! Life has a way of working itself out and then we die and none of this will have mattered anyway! So let's do it!" So we made a huge spreadsheet with all of the travel websites and all of the hotels on the Strip and tallied up the best bang for our buck. Then yesterday morning I booked it all! At that point, the excitement FINALLY kicked in completely for me. And now I'm SOOO EXCITED!!!

Richard is off work the week before July 4, and my job is letting me take the time off to go. We're leaving the Sunday morning before. Leaving Molly with my parents most likely. (They may end up sharing her with Richard's sister.) We're going to stay at the Monte Carlo - which got us free tickets either the Cirque du Soleil show of our choice or The Lion King. The only thing is, you just put in your top three choices and within three days they email you back with the one you got. Of course, our top three choices are all Dark the nights we're available, but we put in some other choices anyway...a free show is a free show, I'm sure we'll enjoy it anyway. And then to end on a bang - We fell in LOVE with Terry Fator on America's Got Talent two years ago and every time Vegas talk comes up we know that's who we want to see. And he happens to have a show on our last night and there's an online deal right now for 25% off tickets and so I booked tickets for that and we are as centered as you can be in the theatre and 4th row from the stage! I'm so excited!!! Then we'll fly back Wednesday and get here just in time to spend a little time with our much-excited-to-see-us daughter before putting her to bed and relaxing some more for the evening! I can't wait!!! This is definitely MUCH needed!!!

20 Questions

2009-04-01T09:33:00.003-05:00

1. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I remember wanting to be so many things. A veteranarian, a nurse, but mostly a pediatrician. It wasn't until I was much older that I realized that being a pediatrician meant way more schooling than I would like to take on.

2. What have you done in the past week to help someone else?
I took my mom to her dentist appointment and ran her on an errand or two.

3. Who is the best-dressed person you know?
My friend Audra has a very unique style and I LoVE it!

4. What is on your nightstand?
A coaster under a glass of water, my alarm clock, and a box of tissues. We recently changed sides of the bed though. Had we not traded sides I would have a coaster under a glass of water, my alarm clock, and the cute little butterfly lamp from Molly's room.

5. If you were a cat, what kind of a cat would you be?
A fun little kitten that everybody loves. :D But it would be pretty rough being allergic to myself.

6. If you lived in a house surrounded by acres of trees, what particular type of tree would you want flourishing on your land?
Haha! If there's one thing I know next to nothing about it's beautiful trees. But I do really like Maples in the fall. They're so pretty when they're red and orange.

7. What do you find to be very overrated?
Money...seriously...could we just go back to trading goods and livestock? At least then you could grow your own "money."

8. How many email addresses do you have?
There are a few out there now (school, pre-married, and current.) But I have them forward to my current one now which is the only one I check.

9. Have you ever felt replaced?
Well sure. Who hasn't? Whether it be a romantic relationship, a work relationship, or a friendship. We've all been there.

10. Would you rather watch football or baseball?
Football, no questions asked - because I don't really have any answers. It's just more exciting to me.

11. What is the wallpaper on your phone?
A picture of Molly wearing a sombrero at World Market.

12. Name a lyric from the song you're listening to.
Baseball Baseball - It's Baseball the explorer star! -- You can't catch me! -- Catch him! Catch him! (Yeah, Dora's on this morning.)

13. Do you use a feed reader?
Yes. Just the one on blogger...whatever it's called.

14. What chocolate do you always leave in the box?
The fruit-filled ones. Blech! And I don't like dark chocolate much...but I tend to eat them in a box of chocolates anyway.

15. What would you do if you found out your ex is engaged?
I would be shocked considering he just got married about six months ago.

16. Do words hurt you?
Yes. I definitely do not believe in the saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." So untrue...people should really think about what they say before they speak.

17. Are you a talker or a listener? Is it ever possible to really be both?
I do think you can be both. But it depends on the situation. If I'm in a big group of people I tend to listen and take everything in. If I'm one on one, I try VERY hard to make it equal so that nobody feels awkward.

18. Have you ever walked on the beach at night?
Yes, in Kaua'i on our honeymoon. We walked the beach almost every night. I would LOVE to go back.

19. Who is your favorite professional athlete?
I went to a Chief's game one time. Christian Okoye ran an awesome return and I remember thinking how awesome he was. I was SO excited. And that memory has stuck with me some 20 years later...so for no other reason than I remember being SO excited about him at that moment I'll say the Nigerian Nightmare.

20. Which TV show have you seen pretty much every episode of?
There are several. Rules of Engagement. How I Met Your Mother. Big Bang Theory. Dora the Explorer. Yo Gabba Gabba. Of the adult choices my favorite would be BBT. But few things are more fun than breakin' out the dancey dance with Molly through an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba.

The Essence of Childhood

2009-03-31T14:21:00.008-05:00

Last Friday, Wichita was granted an ice storm. It was crazy to watch the trees slowly droop closer and closer to the ground. It was even crazier to walk out in the storm and feel all the tiny little pellets of ice hitting you all over the head.

Saturday brought a blizzard to cover up the ice. I don't know what the technical amount was...but it seemed like a lot of snow. Especially for one morning at the end of March. But don't worry...by 6pm the sun was shining, it was warming up, and a lot of the snow was already disappearing.

While it was snowing out Molly and I ventured out to play a little and to make snow angels. We each made one. But it wasn't very fun for either of us because the snow was coming down pretty quickly and getting in our faces. But I even helped Molly find and eat her first icicle. How fun! I remember eating snow and icicles as a kid. Ahh..the innocence...and then at some point some big kid comes along and tells you that some dog peed in that snow or something awful like that. And suddenly, it's like your innocence is stolen, you grow up and quit eating and/or drinking water outdoors unless it comes from a bottle, a cup, or a drinking fountain.

When we went out, at first, it was pretty windy, and Molly didn't really like the snow pelleting her in the face. Here was one extra breezy moment.

But after a while she got the hang of walking through snow that came all the way up to her sweet little knees and really started enjoying it.

THEN...as I said, the sun came out and melted all the snow. It is now Tuesday and the yard is still drenched. My flower beds that I had began getting ready to plant into are oozy gooey mud.

Yesterday we got home from running some errands and I took Molly out of the car and let her down to do as she pleased while I unloaded the groceries. I left her out in the yard while I put away the milk. Then went back out to gather her because we had about five more errands to run. Here is how I found her.

I think she must have stepped into the mud, got stuck, and fell down. Because she didn't seem too happy about it at first. She was even more upset when she noticed I was taking pictures.

Eventually, she began to enjoy squishing the mud in between her fingers though. And painting her clothes with it.

And yes, she even had to see how some mudpies tasted. She didn't stop with just one taste, so it must not have been too awful.

Mostly, I was so proud of myself. For encouraging her to explore the environments around her in the snow and the mud. See it, smell it, listen to it, touch it, and if you must - taste it. My first thought when seeing her sitting in the mud crying was to get her out as quick as possible. But as she cried a little harder, I started laughing as I realized there would be nothing quick about this. She was covered in mud, and it was going to take a long while to clean it all up. So I decided at that moment that the errands could be put off another day. (It's not like I hadn't already put them off several days to get to this point.) And decided to show her how to enjoy the mud. I ran back inside quickly, changed out of my work clothes into some sweats and ran back out with my camera ready to show her how to squish. And she did! And she loved it! And I think most exciting of all for her was that she ended up getting to be naked outside!!! - Every one year old's greatest desire!

(And even more excitement - Richard ended up taking care of my errands after he got home - and even brought me home a bag a Reese's eggs to "thank me for everything I do." Awwww!!!)

A Beautiful Day For the Zoo

2009-02-19T15:29:00.010-06:00

Tuesday was SUCH a gorgeous day! When we left for the zoo at around 1pm it was 65 degrees. BEAUTIFUL! And my car said 75 degrees on the way home, so apparently, it only got better while we were there. :)

I decided we should go to the zoo since we have a year-round pass. I called to invite my parents along too, and of course they wanted to spend the day with their sweet sweet granddaughter!

Going over naptime was OK - considering that's when the weather was the best...but probably not the BEST decision - based on how tired children get when they aren't getting their nap. She did fairly well, although she was scared of EVERYTHING. And I'm sure that had the most to do with being tired. She tends to be a little afraid of animals, but she was freaking out pretty badly. Yeah, she was tired.

It all started in the Children's Zoo where animals run free and you can feed them. Well I know Molly doesn't enjoy that. But whenever my parents are along that's where we go first. And of course a big ugly shaggy sheep came right up to Molly begging for a snack and she panicked. That was the beginning of her scares. Then on to the amphibian house. LOL She was scared of everything there too. We would push her up to the glass of an aquarium and if the turtles or fish came too close, she'd start crying and trying to get away. Some good did come of it though! She learned the word TURTLE!!! Yay! And by the end, she didn't seem so afraid of the turtles. Haha!

The day ended when we were in with the apes and one particularly liked Molly and followed us all along the window and was even signing to Molly a little bit. Molly - unimpressed. She wanted to GO!!!

I did capture some pictures of things she was not afraid of though to share.

She was NOT afraid of this turtle. I don't believe she saw it..but she wasn't afraid of it! Woohoo! (Did I mention that EVERYTHING in and after the amphibian house suddenly became a turtle???)

Also not afraid of whatever turtle she was looking at here. :) Isn't she lovely though?

This is a bison turtle. I'm sure it looked much like a rock to her the way it didn't move at all.

She also didn't see this turtle. But hey...not scared of it!

She may have been scared of this zebra turtle. I'm not sure. I was trying to get it to turn its head for a better picture. But I heard my dad call it a "horsey" several times while she argued "turtle." The poor girl is bound to be REALLY confused one day.

Here are a few of her enjoying getting to be her independent self.

And while she WAS at first VERY afraid of the gorilla turtle statues, she warmed up to them after I stuck my finger in the nose of one and told her I was getting his boogers. Oh the things we do to help our children get more out of life.

Then she fell asleep within two minutes of being in the car, and the rest of the beautiful day was blissful.

Adventures in Potty Learning

2009-02-16T17:48:00.003-06:00

As you may or may not know Molly is completely in LOVE with Dora.

Ok there may not be total truth to that. She WAS completely in LOVE with Dora until she received, I'm sure, pretty close to EVERYTHING that was ever made Dora. Including this Potty Chair

Now she has fallen in LOVE Blue from Blues Clues. Of course.

This potty chair happened to be on clearance one day in November for 15 bucks. It's a 3-in-1. So you start out using it as pictured, and then when she gets big enough to get on the big potty, but still small enough to fall in the big hole in the big potty, you take the top off and the green cup out and use the top on your big potty and then the bottom flips upside down as a step stool to get on the potty and to reach the sink to wash up. Way cool. So I snagged it that day. I thought we'd just toss it in with her Christmas gifts. But we then decided it's not really Christmas gift material, plus she had 17 other Christmas gifts already just from us. So we just put it the bathroom to let her start getting used to it being in there.

Richard and I take turns bathing her. And one night on his turn he started sitting her on it for a few minutes naked before he put her in the bath. He fixed her up with a little book and she was great for a couple minutes while her bath ran. Then gets up and gets in the tub.

He told me he was doing this, so I decided to try it on my bath-giving nights. It didn't go over as well for me. She just stood up right away or got mad each time.

Mind you, we don't think it's necessary to push potty learning at this point, so when she would stand up or get mad, I happily let her.

Well in the last week or two she finally started letting both of us put her on the potty chair before bath. And a couple times she has even gone to the bathroom asking to sit on the potty chair. (Of course, she sits down and points to her bath toy bag because I let her play with her Pooh and Piglet bath toys that she can only play with in the bath or on the potty. LOL. She's in it for the Pooh, not the Poo.)

Last night, I was running her bath water, and asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty. She said "No." But she meant Yes. LOL She's answering No to everything right now...you have to listen to her tone or just know what she really means. haha. I sat her on the potty and gave her the toy she wanted and then I kept putting my hand in the bath water and dribbling a little onto her legs. She sat on the potty for a few minutes and then was finished. She really enjoyed the water dribbling though and wanted to do it to herself.

As she stood up, I noticed there was PEE in the potty chair!!! Yay!!!!!!!!

I squealed and told Richard to come look! I probably freaked her out a bit, but I gave her tons of huge hugs and just kept carrying on how big a girl she is. I was so excited! I showed it to her, and showed her how we dump it in the big potty and flush and wash our hands.

Oh I am so excited! Of course, I think it was a fluke. The timing happened to just be right...but I have hope now because I can see a light at the end of the tunnel! And I still don't really plan on pushing too hard, because I still don't feel like she knows the sensation means it's coming. This morning she was running nude and twice within 15 minutes she peed on the carpet and didn't seem to notice until she heard the noise. Then I put a diaper on her and it was wet within an hour. So she's definitely not holding her urine for the two hours or whatever they're supposed to be able to go pee-less. I'll just keep an eye on her and let her cue me in when she's ready for us to really start potty teaching. But these are the first steps!!! Yay!!!

Good Car Troubles?

2009-02-05T08:56:00.003-06:00

Yesterday after work I went by my parents' house to pick up Molly, but I needed to run to a store down the street before I came home. My mom graciously offered to keep Molly while I did that. I got in my car, started it right up, and drove to the store. I was in the store for no longer than 5 minutes. When I went back out the car wouldn't start, it did nothing. So I went back in and asked a guy if he could jump my battery. He did and it started right up. I went back to get Molly and left the car running so we didn't have to deal with that again. I got home nicely.

Last night we were loaded up to go play at the mall and once again it was dead. So we jumped it and took it to Walmart to get a new battery. When we were telling the guy our problems, he said it would be about an hour and a half wait. We debated, but then he added that our car should be too new to be having battery issues, so we might just want to talk to the dealership and maybe it would be under warranty still.

We went back to our car and it was dead again. But thankfully, they could jump us with a battery they had there.

This morning I called the dealership and he said that this WOULD be covered under our warranty! WOOHOO!!! So I'm supposed to take it in today. I think I'll have to find a neighbor who will jump me so I can get there. But I'm just so excited to have a car problem that isn't going to cost me half of my savings!!! Yay!!! (Hopefully I don't get back on here later tonight to tell you that they found it was something else that isn't covered! LOL)

Weight Issues

2009-02-04T17:17:00.003-06:00

I'm going to make my first weight complaint blog here. And I know for some of you, you will be sick after reading it because it's pretty pathetic. But bear with me here.

Ok here's the story. So I've never really had much of a weight issue. I think through high school I weighed about 135. Which for my height was on the higher end of "normal." Then in the last 3 months of high school my weight catapulted to 170. At that point I was definitely "over-weight." But it didn't last long, even though it wasn't taken care of properly. I just quit eating until I was down to about 120. It took about 18 months before I realized I was pretty much as small as I would get, and decided to start eating normal portions again. Then I leveled out at about 135-140. I think that's just what my body was made to weigh.

At the beginning of my pregnancy I weighed 142. At the end of my pregnancy I weighed 177. Within a few months, I was back down to my 140. Right where I should have been. But THEN we ran into the issues with Molly's allergies, and I quit eating all of those foods and quickly dropped to 120. Molly was weaned the day before Thanksgiving, when I just couldn't fight the temptation anymore and really wanted to eat some cake or pie or something like that. (Gosh, I'd really expect myself to remember that better after 6 months of not eating the "good" stuff.) I expected myself to dig right into Thanksgiving and Christmas foods and be back to my 140 in no time. And all the time of losing weight because of Molly's allergies I kept holding off buying too many new clothes because I knew it was only temporary. So I just kept drowning in my size 8's.

But here I am now, two months later, eating a ton, and not healthily as often as possible (in hopes of getting where I should be sooner) and I've only gained 3 pounds. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? I'm terribly nervous still to go spend a bunch of money on a whole new wardrobe, but Lord knows I need to. I just know a month after I do, I'll either put back on my 20 pounds or else end up pregnant again.

What to do? What to do?

PS...yes I realize some people would give a left kidney to have this weight problem...but it's real to me. (And probably the worst part is that I can't even fill an A cup any more...which means in a year's time I went from a D (sure I was nursing, but still) to an A-. Ridiculous!

(OK now I'm done complaining!)

A Mom's Best Friend

2009-01-23T17:31:00.003-06:00

She's definitely my daughter.

As we lie on our backs in the living room floor and I toss a ball into the air (something I'm sure I'll tell her not to do one day ;)) she lets me know that she wants a turn. I give her the ball. She holds it way up in the air. And drops it right on her forehead.

If that in itself didn't prove that she's my daughter - she went on to laugh hysterically at herself for doing it. Definitely what I would do in that situation.

And also, the thought of a doggy has been wandering through my little mind lately. Molly is VERY interested in the dogs outside. But horrified when they come out while we're out there. So I've definitely been thinking I need to head to Aunt Jenn's again to get some doggy back in Molly's life. That's where doggies will probably stay, as much as I'd love to have one. I think with allergies and everything, it's just easier to go to friends' houses to see doggies.

But today I decided who needs a dog when I've got a perfectly good daughter who will run through the house chasing a baseball, even panting heavily with her tongue hanging out, and bring it right back to me? Good Molly. *pat pat*

Poo-ey Stories with Mama Krissy

2009-01-16T15:43:00.005-06:00

Yesterday was a semi-hectic day. Not quite as hectic as today, but I'll spare you today's details.

Yesterday I was supposed to take my mom to a hospital to get a scan done, my sister-in-law was coming into town to have lunch with Molly and me, and we were going to do a little shopping together, Molly was supposed to start a new medicine, I was supposed to have a Mom's Night Out with my Mom's Group from church, and that was doubling as a diaper shower for three of the pregnant ladies in our group.

I woke up at 7:40, got almost ready by the time Molly woke up. Set her up with her milk while I finished getting ready. Then got Molly ready. Then looked up where this hospital is that I'm supposed to be taking my mom to. Dang it! It's on the east side of town - which is where I live, but Mom lives on the west side. So that meant I needed to leave a little earlier in order to go get her and get her back here and where in the hospital we needed to be by 10:15 to check in. We get in the car - a little later than I had hoped, realize our garage door is STILL not working right, so I manually open and close it. (Yeah, I had a little bit of hope that if I just let it sit overnight and prayed about it it would magically fix itself. Apparently I didn't have enough faith in my prayers.) Then I get to the end of the cul-de-sac just in time for my gas light to turn on. Ugh. So I call Mom and tell her I'm going to be a little later than I had previously mentioned...since it's the time I said I would be at her house NOW and I was still on my block and needed to stop for gas still.

We make it to Mom's house and get back to the hospital with about 4 minutes to spare. Find where we need to be they take her info and get her back to do the scan while Molly and I sit in the waiting room watching Ni Hao, Kai-lan. Within 5 minutes Mom is done and back to gather us. I'm all for quick appointments, but seriously??? It almost made it feel like a waste of time just getting there. lol. Of course, Molly's furious that we have to leave though after only 5 minutes of Kai-lan. - How could a mother be so cruel? But we make it through that tantrum and by the time we're to the hallway she's perfectly fine.

On the way back to Mom's house I get a phone call from my sister-in-law who I have forgot is coming to town. Luckily she says she isn't coming until noon. I've got about an hour and a half to get back home and get Molly's lunch packed.

We get home, I'm packing Molly's lunch. (We're going out to eat with Rhonda, Abby, and Jake, and with all of Molly's allergies, it's easiest just to pack food to take along for her.) She sees me packing her lunch and decides she's hungry NOW. Which is understandable - she ate breakfast kind of early and only had 5 minutes to eat her mid-morning snack of Trix in the waiting room. So I fix her up with some fruit while I finish getting some things together. And of course it gets all over her. But Rhonda shows up before I'm ready for her to, so I tell myself Molly's a kid - kids are messy - she's going with the way messy shirt on. - Plus she's just going to get it messier as she eats more at the restaurant.

We decide upon Jason's Deli so we can have some delicious soup to warm us up. Lunch time at Jason's Deli, though, is always so hustle and bustle. We get a booth that is hardly big enough for the 4 of us, plus our coats/purses with Molly on the end in a high chair that can't be scooted close enough to the table because the benches are too close together for her high chair to fit in between. I get out her ground hamburger in its bowl and she starts digging in. I go to get my salad and when I get back everyone's looking at me with sad faces while Molly's signing "more." LOL. Rhonda tells me that Molly pulled her bowl off the table before she could grab it. The hamburger's gone. Luckily I also brought some mandarin oranges and olives. (Not mixed) So I give her some and she's mostly better. Her lunch bag thingy though was unzipped and had been pushed into the floor under the table somehow - oh that's right..b/c there wasn't enough room in our booth! lol But nothing was in it so that's ok. Rhonda had an appointment at 2:00 and time got away from us and we noticed what time it was at 1:20. But Rhonda still needed to do some shopping. Just at ALDI and Home Depot...nothing major...but still. We finish up. I find Molly's lunch bag on the floor and close up the rest of her olives and oranges and pack them up.

We decide just to do ALDI for now and Rhonda will go to Home Depot after the dr. appointment. We do that and then load back up and they have seven minutes to make it to their appointment. I tell them that I'll just go with them so they don't have to waste more time taking us home first.

We go to the dr's office. Do the check up thing. During which Molly sees her lunch bag and thinks she needs some more to eat. No big deal! I go ahead and pull out the bowl of oranges and out scurries Mr. Cockroach. GROSS! I'm to assume he must have come from the floor under the table at Jason's Deli, where this lunch bag sat during our meal. That's comforting. The closest thing I could find to kill him with was a diaper. He died quickly. But so much for that food. Poor Molly was going to have to throw tantrum #2 for the day because she couldn't eat food that she KNOWS exists, even if Mommy did say it was all gone.

The two of us leave and head back to the waiting room, where Molly is just sure she needs not be. Because of course she needs to be back in the exam room with the other kids. She tried sneaking off MULTIPLE times to get back there. But Mommy's quicker than that. Finally out come the kids and Rhonda and everyone's happy. That is until Abby sees another kid wearing a sticker, which is when she remembers that the dr. told her she could have a sticker if she would talk. And so she is brought to tears, because she forgot to pick up her sticker from nurse before she left. Rhonda and Abby head back toward the exam rooms again and Molly is just POSITIVE she needs to go too. But Jake blocks the door at which Molly pulls the ultimate move by throwing her sweet little body into the floor screaming. - Tantrum #3 'Surely Mom will think Jake pushed me down and will scold him, leaving the door unblocked for me to get through!' Mom's smarter than that too. ;)

So we leave, and I decide I'm just going to have to pass on Home Depot because it is most definitely nap time.

We go home, have a good nap time - although it only lasted 45 minutes...but I'll take what she'll give me. And I remember about the medicine and diaper shower. I decide that Prince Charming will be home soon so I'll just wait til he gets home and leave Molly with him. That'll make the cold trip out and about quicker.

He comes home. My group meeting/dinner is at 7. So at 5:30 I head to the pharmacy to pick up the meds. I get there and my insurance isn't going to cover this medicine.I decide to pass on it until I can find out if we have other options. (Had I known I would have the hectic day I had today based on this decision, I would have just forked over the $100 and paid for it myself.) I head to Walmart to get receiving blankets to wrap diapers in - because through the day this is what I've decided would make the best presentation of the diapers. Well I realize that the only receiving blankets Walmart has aren't big enough to cover a pack of diapers. I just got wipes instead. Diapers can be returned.

I get home and it's 6:30. I've got 15 minutes to spruce myself up, wrap these wipes, and get out the door if I'm going to make it on time. I walk in the door and Prince Charming yells "Not it!!!" That's our diaper game. Anyone who smells or sees a diaper and yells "not it" before the other person doesn't have to change the dirty diaper. I tell him that I just don't have time to change a diaper I've got 15 minutes to wrap and get ready. He informs me that it's not a diaper, it's the bathtub. See - he was being an Awesome Daddy - giving the Princess a bath when she got a little too comfy and pooped. And it wasn't one of her normal bathtub poops where it's just one small, firm, solid turd before you notice. It was an explosion. And she and the bathtub and all her little bath friends and toys were so poopy. I still didn't have time to help. Good thing he was in Awesome Daddy Mode. He gets her cleaned up, but she wasn't happy at all because she had to get out of her bath sooner than she would have liked. Throwing tantrum #4 he struggles to get a diaper on her and it ends up crooked and kind of off one side of her butt. But she's happier, and that's what matters.

Richard is off putting poopy bath toys through the dishwasher and I'm still trying to wrap wipes. Molly comes to give me a hug and I smell round 2. I bellow a "Not it Round 2!" and Rich says that he figured she would again since he interrupted her by pulling her out of the bath. Which is why he only put a diaper on her and not pjs yet. So she goes on playing while we're both busy. And about 5 minutes later she comes running to me whining. I look at her and her foot is covered with green poop and she's trying to pull her diaper off - which from previous knowledge means that the poopy is burning her sensitive little bottom a little. So as she runs off laughing because apparently my reaction was hilarious, I grab her and take her to the changing table. Well Awesome Dad comes in to go ahead and clean her up. But I turn around to find over by her book case two large piles of poo on the carpet. FANTASTIC! So much for sprucing myself up. Instead I will be scrubbing poo out of the carpet. On my way to find a towel I notice that it's also spread down the hallway a bit. Nice. Luckily I had just bought a new bottle of Febreeze. Too bad I hadn't bought carpet cleaner too. So yes, if you see the spot on the floor in Molly's bedroom, it is a poop stain. I get it cleaned up as much as possible and then I must go scrub myself...because well...I smell like crap. Literally.

I make it out the door at 7:05 and have a wonderful time with my fellow Mommy friends! (Even if I did have to go wash my hands a few times due to catching the faint smell of poo as they waved past my face.)

Whew...what a pooey day.

YES!!!

2009-01-09T15:42:00.002-06:00

I just fell a little more in love with my new camera!

My old camera saved the photos as PICT001, PICT002, etc. And every time I cleared the card, it started over. Which made photo organizing a little difficult on Photobucket and everything else beside my CM software. Because you run into the problem (more often than you would think) that you want to put these two pictures in the same folder...but you can't because they share the same file name.

However!!! I just realized that my new camera doesn't start over! It says 100_0001, 100_0002, etc. And it remembers where it was when you dump the card. :D Although, I've only had it for a month and I'm already at 100_0500. I wonder what if it's smart enough to go over 999_9999. Hmmmm...oh well...I can deal with that in a few years. Heck..by then I'll probaby have a new one.

Happy anniversary to my hubby!

2009-01-07T09:35:00.002-06:00

So today is the anniversary of our wedding!!! How exciting! Three years of wonderful married life to the most incredible man I know. :) We'll see if he'll be up to popping in the good ol' wedding video this year. LOL. I know - I shouldn't torture the man on his anniversary.

So now where are we? Well...we've come a long way. It all started at Walmart in Hays with two very insecure college kids - not quite sure where life was going to lead. Richard was living in a tiny basement apartment. I lived in the dorms at Fort Hays State. Richard had finished his last semester of graduate classes, and I was starting my 2nd semester of undergrad classes.

Now lots have changed.

Now we both seem to realize our "purpose" in God's big plan. We both feel pretty secure in who we are (and it's not a bad thing at all that we don't define ourselves without adding in the other - that's who we are, we were married as one) and what we love. Richard, a very good CPA, has really come to enjoy his work. And enjoys his time off to spend with family even more. And myself, a wanna-be stay-at-home-mom, who gets to for the most part, however I am working a few days a week at the real estate office as a receptionist just for the heck of it. We have the most precious little girl in the world, who brightens our lives a little more each day. She's such a blessing. We own our own home - and "home" is truly what we've made it. We can tell that's true just by the way Molly smiles when we've been out of town a few days and then come back home. She really loves to be here. :) We are blessed in so many ways. We have a wonderful marriage, full of most everything a good marriage should have, and we grow more in love every day. I realize that's not common in this world, and I cherish it immensely. Don't get me wrong - a wonderful relationship didn't just fall into our laps - we have to work hard at it every day. But as long as we continue doing what we do, I don't see it disappearing.

The upcoming year will bring many more blessings, I'm sure. We have lots of plans ranging from house improvements to working on another baby. It should be a very rewarding year.

Happy Anniversary Richard - my angel.

Now off to find that video, and start prepping for my persuasive speech. ;)

Making the Best of It

2008-12-24T21:50:00.002-06:00

I was SOoOO in the Christmas Spirit this year. Nothing was going to stop me or get me down this year. Even though the jerk does every year...but I digress.

Sunday we trekked to Ottawa with my parents for Christmas with the huge extended family of my Great Grandma Anderson at noon. Then Christmas with the family of Grandma Randel was to follow and linger into the evening until we came back home to Wichita. Well at Grandma Anderson's the kids get to do Gingerbread Houses. It's becoming a really fun tradition now that this generation is getting to be the right age. We knew with Molly's allergies we needed to keep her FAR from that table - anything could fall on the floor and then it's all hers. For quite some time we succeeded...then at one point I saw my uncle carrying her over there to sit next to his daughter. I assumed (I know - that's where I went wrong) that he knew not to let her have anything. About 10 minutes later Molly was vomitting in Richard's arms all over both of them. Good thing we brought that extra set of clothes! So we went into the restroom and got her all changed and good. She wasn't happy...but who would be after puking so much? Richard needed to go to Wal-Mart to buy new clothes. So we load up in Dad's truck and head for Grandma Randel's. Molly pukes again. Wonderful! Good thing we also brought pjs! She also started itching really badly on the way. Within 30 minutes her face was very swollen and she was covered in hives. We got some Benadryl in her and got her to sleep and eventually the swelling and hives went down. We ended up having a pretty good evening after she woke up and she ate really well. My uncle came over and told us that she had eaten a couple M&Ms at the Gingerbread House table. So now we knew what the issue was exactly. But at this point all was good.

Monday morning we woke up and Molly had her lovely morning rice milk. She drank half of it and then ralphed it immediately. I thought it might be a fluke so when she asked for her milk again I let her have the rest. Bad idea Krissy! She puke it immediately too. I called her dr. and she said that it's probably still just the allergic reaction...her body's doing what it needs to in order to get rid of the allergen. To go ahead and have her drink liquids slowly through the day and eat soft foods.

So I give her a water...and she drinks it a little quicker than I'd like her to, and immediately it comes back up too. So on to the pedialyte. - At least she doesn't like it, so she drinks it much slower. Soon enough comes the big D. I'm still believing what the dr. said...UNTIL...

Around 11:30 when my own stomach flipped! BLEH!!! So for the next 36 hours I spent my time running from the changing table for Molly to the bathroom for myself. I got Richard to come home early from work after my puking started. I couldn't take care of the 2 of us any longer. Then at some point through the night I must have passed out during one of many poo sessions because somehow I ended up falling to the floor and hitting my head really hard adding a major headache to my list of pain.

Then just as Molly and I were feeling much better last night and we all headed to bed...Richard caught it around 3:30am and has been down ever since. He seems to feel even worse than I did. He says I must just have a higher tolerance for pain...but I know I'm a wimp - so he must have it pretty badly.

We had planned to do Christmas at my parents' tonight. But I knew Richard wouldn't be ready for that yet. So I called them first thing this morning to halt the smoking of the turkey. We are tentatively on for tomorrow evening now at our house, which originally we had planned to spend at Richard's sister's. But that's ok - he won't feel like getting out of the house at that point even if he is feeling somewhat better.

We were also VERY excited (at least I was) that we would be at our own home for the first time in our relationship and would get to actually attend Christmas Mass at our own parish. Well, mass times were today 4:30, 7:30, and midnight and tomorrow 9:30am. We had planned to go to mid-night - b/c it should be very beautiful and hopefully Molly would sleep through it. But I went ahead and went to the 7:30 with just Molly and myself. I was pretty sad that we didn't get to go as a family. But I know it's nobody's fault. And there's nothing we can do about it. I'm even more sad, though, that I called my sister-in-law to see if she wanted to go with me and she couldn't go at that time...but then called me around 9:30 to see if I wanted to go to the midnight mass with her. I definitely would have. But I had already gone.

So that's my Christmas whine. I hope Richard starts feeling better soon! I'm trying really really hard to stay in the spirit and just mosey around the extra junk.

Oh but wanna know my Christmas miracle??? I left my wallet in my shopping cart at Dillon's. And when I realized it 2 days later and called said Dillon's they actually had it!!! How wonderful is that?!?!?!? I'm so glad good people exist!!!

The Best Husband EVER!

2008-12-05T14:52:00.003-06:00

So yesterday was my birthday. Happy Birthday to me! We had gone a few weeks ago to Best Buy so I could show him what kind of camera I would like for my b-day. And there was a special deal going on so we went ahead and got it that night and a cute little case for it. Then when the Black Friday ads came out it was in an ad for almost $50 cheaper!

Also in the ads I found Gilmore Girls Season 7 for $14. And I HAD to have that! So Richard said that could be for my birthday.

Well, when Black Friday rolled around we decided I'd go shopping and Richard would stay with the baby. So I went out and bought the cheaper camera AND Gilmore Girls for myself for my birthday.

This is SO unlike us. Richard always loves to surprise me with gifts on my birthday.

So the plan for yesterday was that I was going to have no idea what we were doing. I only said I wanted to spend it with Richard and Molly.

Richard came home from work with DELICIOUS chocolates from the Sweet Shoppe in Hallmark. I love that!!!

Then for dinner we went to Mr. Goodcents (my all-time favorite "light" eating destination. - because we're eating heavy tonight with my parents.) And now I can eat the whole meal, so that was fabulous!

Afterwards we headed to west Wichita. I thought he took a few turns that made me think we were headed to my parents to drop Molly off or something. And I started getting anxious thinking that I didn't want to do something without her, I wanted all three of us to be together! But one last turn sent us on the path to wonderland!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!

Richard had decided that we would go Christmas light hunting for my birthday. And the night before heard on the news about a place that you drive through with thousands of lights flashing to the beat of wonderful Christmas music. And that's where we went! The Lights of St. Paul. Oh it was wonderful! Definitely the best birthday I've had in a long time! He's so thoughtful! This video shows clips of it...but some are in daylight which definitely doesn't give it the same effect.

We also went over to Lights on the Lake at Heartspring - not quite as good but still wonderful!

(Funny story though - earlier in the day I had posted on a forum that next year on this day I would LOVE to be looking at Christmas lights for my birthday - How did he know!?!?!)

Then we hunted around town finding more and more, and eventually Molly even perked up to the idea! She started pointing and even waved at a couple blow-up Santas!

The best husband ever! :D

I've Been Tagged!!!

2008-11-17T21:09:00.002-06:00

Thanks Sam!

Oh and just FYI these are in no particular order. :D

TOP 8 TV SHOWS
1. The Biggest Loser

2. Criminal Minds

3. SuperNanny

4. Law and Order SVU

5. Big Bang Theory

6. Gilmore Girls

7. Life

8. How I Met Your Mother

TOP 8 RESTAURANTS - oh man...it's been so long.
1. Beijing Bistro

2. Olive Garden

3. Chipotle

4. P.F. Chang's

5. Abeulo's

6. Taco Bell

7. Los Cocos

8. Red Lobster

WHAT ARE 8 THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED THIS WEEK? (it's Monday so I'm going back to last week)

1. Took Molly to the Doctor for her RAD

2. Returned Molly's library books

3. Went to Stoneware Studio with Mom's group

4. Picked up our family Christmas pictures

5. Took Molly to Portrait Innovations to get MORE pictures taken

6. Filled out our stewardship form

7. Went to church

8. Went to work

WHAT ARE 8 THINGS YOU'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO?
1. Molly's next doctor appointment to see if she's better yet.

2. Mom's Group Cookie Exchange (not that I can eat them - but I'm excited to have people try my cookies :D)

3. To have a new niece or nephew - She's ready to go any time!

4. Thanksgiving!

5. My birthday!

6. Doing more Christmas shopping! - P.S. I LOVE shopping for other people!

7. Christmas!

8. Training on Lector Ministry

WHAT ARE 8 THINGS YOU LOVE ABOUT FALL?
1. Mmm...red and orange and brown.

2. Thanksgiving!!!

3. Cuddling under blankets with my sweetie!

4. Wearing sweaters!

5. My b-day's just around the corner!

6. Soups and chilis MMMMM

7. As much as I love our outdoor spring/summer daily walks, I always like the change of scenery when we start going to the mall or stores for our walks.

8. SNOW!!! - Because it never waits for winter around here. ;)

Now I'm going to tag....

Jenn and Lindsey...Do I have other readers? That's all I know of...If you read me, you should let me know so I can tag you. :D

It's Been a While!

2008-11-01T22:24:00.002-05:00

Wow. So it's been a couple weeks since I've blogged! Lots have been going on.

Work is going very well. Molly's doing really well over at Grandma and Grandpa's while Mommy and Daddy work.

Work has one sad part - I don't get to go to Mom's Group meetings anymore. :( I can still go to Mom's Night Out and extra stuff they do, but I work during the regular meeting times. And then the last Mom's Night Out I completely spaced. So I've pretty well gotten myself out of the loop.

I finished an order I had for graduation announcements for a friend. I'm pretty excited. She said she really liked them. And I enjoyed doing them - so that's awesome!

We went to a corn maze with Richard's family and had a WONDERFUL time! This year was a safari theme. Here's the aerial shot of the maze:

Richard's cousin decided to go through timed. This inspired me to try it too - without a map or flashlight. I must say I impressed myself with making it through in 6 minutes! Go me! Molly of course had a great time. We were, after all, outside, which is her favorite place to be! They had pumpkins too and we picked out the perfect one. Richard said I could have one to carve if I'd make him some roasted pumpkin seeds. I made roasted pumpkin seeds - but I can't say "for him." I ate most of them. ;) I think I need another pumpkin.

I carved my wonderful pumpkin last Sunday. I wasn't thinking about it getting old within a couple days and not making it until Halloween until I was about half way done carving. So I started brainstorming. I figured putting it in the freezer would work. Yeah, just FYI, freezer - not good for preserving carved pumpkins. Now I know. I took it out Thursday evening and as it defrosted it got really mushy. My mummy squished into himself. He barely made it through Friday still recognizable. I didn't take a picture of him either. I really should have, being my first real pumpkin carving experience on my own.

On Wednesday Molly and I went to Larksfield (a retirement home) to Trick or Treat with Mom's Group. That was a lot of fun for both the kids and the people living in the home. Molly's just such a sweetheart that of course she made everybody smile. She definitely has a contagious smile. :)
Later that day we went with my parents up to Ottawa to see my grandma. It was really good to see her. I love my grandma! Here are she and Molly.

Thursday evening Rhonda and Todd had an appointment to design Rhonda's dream kitchen at Home Depot. - It's incredible! Seriously! And it's on sale right now! I hope they can do it! But we got to babysit the kids while they did that. Molly and Jake were super-buds that night.

Matthew wanted to join in once he saw the camera was out.

Then Molly wanted to color with Abby. It was pretty sweet. Abby was very nice and generous to Molly's "needs." lol

Then Friday (Happy Halloween!) we had Trick or Treating at Richard's work. That was so fun. We had Molly all dressed up as Lady from Lady & the Tramp.

She was a little timid with the candy taking at first. But after a couple desks, she figured it out and would gladly empty anyone's candy bowl piece by piece into her own bag. And with a smile as sweet as her's how could they say no? - Good thing Mom and Dad were there to stop her! Needless to say Daddy has LOTS of candy to eat! lol.

Then we had a doctor's appointment for Molly. She has had a cold for 4 weeks now. I was just "waiting it out" because that's what they say to do, right? Then I kind of lost track of time and before I noticed it had been a few weeks. So they got us in on Friday. She does have a cold - but it's hanging on longer because she's having trouble using her cough to get it out because she has Reactive Airway Disease. Ugh! Basically, allergies, eczema, and asthma go hand in hand most of the time. And she does have wheezing indicative of asthma. But kids under age 5 or 6 aren't big enough to do the testing for asthma. So they just call it RAD until they're old enough to cooperate. Some kids grow out of it. Some don't. Some turn into definite asthma. So we're doing breathing treatments until this cold/flare up goes away. I wasn't even thinking when the dr. was explaining everything to me about a nebulizer and albuterol and everything that I would need to buy a nebulizer. And I soon found out that insurance wouldn't cover it. It's not too awful...just $100. But after taking her in, not really expecting to hear anything but that she's just taking a little longer to kick this cold - that kind of hurt. But we found a cute one...and so at least it's not a scary machine to her.
The penguin is the compressor, the mask is a fish. :)

She doesn't like it at first at all. But after a little bit, and a good tv show, she sits through it pretty well. The worst one (for Mom and Dad) is 2am - Molly sleeps through it pretty well. She's definitely our little trooper. And we love her so much!

And that's about it for excitement around here! Thanks for stopping in!

No Longer a WAHM

2008-10-14T14:28:00.002-05:00

I am officially no longer just a Work-at-Home Mom. I've been working from home with the real estate office since just before Molly was born. It's been a fun, good time. But they offered for me to come back into the office a couple mornings a week. While I've liked having the freedom to not worry about any serious commitments for the last 16 months, I think I'm going to like having extra money just as much. Plus I think it will be good for Molly to spend a few hours a week away from Mommy. Richard has some pretty big issues with her becoming too much of a Mommy's girl. So this will either break her of that, or else reinforce it. lol. I start on Thursday. We shall see how it goes. My parents will be watching her. One day per week it will be both of my parents, and one day it will be just my mom. I hope that goes well.

I'm pretty excited to have a nice extra $500 just in time for Christmas!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

2008-09-24T20:39:00.003-05:00

This week hasn't slowed down at all from last week. Richard has been out of town for training. So it has just been Molly and me.

So beginning Monday morning at 6am we were out the door to the airport. We dropped Richard off and came back home. I attempted breakfast, but the poor little girl was so tired that she was just crying her eyes out. Back to bed we went. Nine seemed like a better time to wake up for her. I feel like we did a lot that day, but I can't think of much else. I did have an eye doctor's appointment, which I must thank Monica very much for coming along to watch the baby. Such a God-send. And then we went to Bed Bath and Beyond to get a gift for their cousin's wedding that is this weekend. There really wasn't anything left on their registery. So we went with an air mattress. I hope it's really really comfortable because it was the most expensive air mattress I've ever seen in my life (besides the one right next to it on the shelf for $199.) Then Monday evening we went up to Todd and Rhonda's. Rhonda let me borrow her steam cleaner for my disgusting carpets. Molly was such a trooper. She played really well there, and then on our way home at 9:30-10pm she stayed awake talking to me the whole time. I was very surprised! Of course as soon as we walked in the door though, she was ready for beddy-bye. I put her to bed and the Mommy Adventures began. I moved all of the furniture and vacuumed thoroughly. And then started steam cleaning. This time Rhonda mentioned to me that the hand tool works better than the floor tool. So I tried it on a few spots and holy moly you should have seen me take off. I ended up spot steam cleaning the entire upstairs by hand! It was wonderful! I quit at 1am. I was quite tired. But my carpet looks amazing (compared to what it did.)

Tuesday I took the cleaner to my parents' house. They had a few spots from moving in, and I thought I could take care of that for them. It looks great now too! We came back home and I decided I would plant my bulbs. Several months ago I pulled up all of my Crocus and Iris bulbs to replant/thin out for next year. I'm a little behind on getting them planted, but hopefully it will all work out. So we were outside raking out the area I want them. Trying to get as much of the weeds and grass out as possible, but trying to remind myself that it doesn't really matter at this point. They're going to die before the flowers bloom anyway. I can worry about them when they come back in the spring. Molly was very helpful - if I needed the mulch eaten - which I didn't, so yeah, not really great help, but we had fun. I had the area ready to go and realized I need to actually separate my Iris's still. So that's where I am now. I got a few separated. It was a difficult task while trying to keep the baby from crawling in the street. It's the only place she wants to be. What she'll do if she ever got there, I have no idea, but the thought excites her incredibly. Then the three kids from across the street came over to play with Molly. I kept thinking that was perfect because I could get back to my Iris's and Molly would be distracted. But I couldn't do it. It makes me really nervous when they try to pick her up and put her on toys and such, especially on the cement. So I stayed with the kids watching over them like a hawk. Finally at 7, I told the kids Molly needed to eat dinner and go to bed. So we went inside and did. After she was in bed I called Monica and invited her over for The Biggest Loser. She and Rufus came over. This is my first season of biggest loser but I like it a lot already! I really like several of the teams: Pink, Purple, Yellow, and Red. I take that back. Scratch Yellow. I just like Coleen from Yellow. And I hate the brown team. Ugh. "We really wanted to lose this week, because we don't need to call home. And losing makes us less of a threat." Yeah, well, it also doesn't promote weight loss but somehow they keep losing weight. I'm ready for them to go home. After BL I got bored and began blog reading. I was up until 1:45 reading blogs - really just one person's. I'm a nut.

Today...was my mom's birthday! She's not one to ask for things she wants for her birthday. In fact I don't even know if she has wants. She never seems to have much of an opinion when it comes to wants. She has "needs" though, and those are the things she will ask for when asked what she'd like for her birthday. For instance, this year, she needed floor cleaner, because her swiffer wet jet just isn't getting it all, so she needs to get down and scrub and doesn't have any floor cleaner to scrub with. And also her small sauce pan that she boils her sweet tea in broke last week and she needs a new one. So I started thinking hard and realized, my mom doesn't ever buy new clothes for herself. That's a great idea! I could take her shopping for clothes, more specifically a dressy outfit she can wear on dressy occasions since what she owns is from 1982 or prior, a little worn and thinned out, and a size or two too big. when I mentioned the idea to her she didn't seem thrilled, but was ok with it, she guessed. So we went. We both found a couple outfits that we liked. I learned that my mom does not like green. In fact she doesn't like dresses at all. So I felt really bad when she said that. It meant that I was completely forgetting that her birthday is about what she wants. I felt like such a jerk. At no point did she get excited. We picked out an outfit finally. I don't think she liked it at all. But it looked ultra cute on her. So afterwards, I needed to go to Walmart to get a diaper to change Molly into. My purse was out and she was poopy. I felt so bad for forcing my mom into something she didn't want for her birthday that I went ahead and wandered over to the pots and pans and let her pick out a sauce pan, and then back to the cleaning supplies for some Lysol All-Purpose Cleaner and some Comet. She also found some M&Ms along the way, which happen to be her favorite. I think she was much happier leaving Walmart, than she was leaving the dress store. I hope she had a wonderful birthday and enjoyed spending the day with us. :)

Richard comes home tomorrow! Yay! I have Moms' Group in the morning. Then I need to go get the oil changed in the car. And hopefully after that I'll still have some time left to return Rhonda's steam cleaner before heading over to the airport to welcome my wonderful husband back home.

Then Friday we're headed west for a wedding! I love weddings. I also like spending time with Richard's family. I'm excited to get back to his parents' house. It's been a while.

A Busy Week

2008-09-19T09:11:00.002-05:00

This has seemed to be such a crazy week!

Saturday, we were supposed to go to the Kansas State Fair. But it really looked like rain, and I figured it'd be really muddy, so I didn't want to have Molly out in it. It didn't end up raining, but it was still definitely muddy. So we didn't go.

That afternoon my dad called and said they were coming over. Without asking questions I said ok. They came to tell me that my great-grandpa had passed at 11:15. He's one of the hands in my picture above. That was a 5 generation picture that I really wanted to have before Grandpa headed "home." I took the news ok. Although I do wish we could have been closer, he was my great-grandpa, and he lived in another state, so it's not actually realistic. I had been to see him in the last few months. So I was ok. The sad part is that before that, I hadn't made any effort. I don't remember seeing him in several years. He admitted to me that day that he wouldn't recognize me on the street. But he was sure glad I came to see him. And that he got to see Molly too. I'll always remember how he just kept saying her name over and over so he wouldn't forget it. He wanted a picture of her too. And I gave him one. We put it on his photo board of the people he loved. I'm glad we made that board.

Tuesday Molly and I went with my parents down to Oklahoma. Richard had to go out of town for work so he was unable to join us. The viewing was Tuesday night and it turned out to be much tougher than I had expected. But some of my cousins were able to entertain Molly, so that was good.

Wednesday morning was the funeral. That was very tough too. And different from Tuesday night, nobody was able to take Molly for me. So I was dealing with my personal grieving, while trying to make a 13-month little girl happy. At least they played very upbeat music, or it may have not happened. I can honestly say Molly and I danced at my great-grandpa's funeral. I think that would make him happy. We all know he was dancing!

Funeral's are so tough for me. Even though he was old. Older than the average man's life expectancy, it's always hard to accept a passing. You never know when it's coming. Some people don't make it past a couple breaths of life at birth. Some live to be 120 years old. Funerals always remind me to cherish the people I love. And that's what causes me so much grief at funerals. I incessantly think about who might be next and that I should make an extra effort to spend time with them. And then I get frustrated. Why did my grandparents move all the way to Alabama? I can't just up and go see them. Not in the place we are in our lives right now. Someday, I hope to be able to. But will they still be around then? I'd rather not know.

On a happier note, last night I had my first Moms' Night Out. It was a lot of fun. We saw The Women. It was REALLY good. I never remember to be sure to watch a good women movie here and there. I'm definitely glad I went. I reminded me of friends and how I need to nourish those relationships well also. After the movie we went to get some drinks for a little while before turning in for the night. I really didn't know any of the ladies I was with, but I had a great time.

Richard and I have plans to go see My Best Friend's Girl either tonight or tomorrow. My parents are going to watch Molly for us. I'm excited to go out with him again too!

I think I'm going to take Molly to the park this morning. So I'll see you all later!

Molly's First

2008-09-11T16:58:00.002-05:00

Molly and I went to Mom's Group today. It was a good time. But a little depressing at the same time. I'm a little emotional the last couple days to forewarn you. So I'll start with the depressing side.

I had completely forgotten that today was 9/11. Call me what you will, but it simply slipped my mind. But I was quickly reminded, and instantly just felt blah. It's a very sad memory. But I am glad there are so many courageous men and women willing to give their lives to fight for what our country was built upon. I just wish they didn't have to.
Then the next thing was there is a lady with two daughters, both of which have cistic fibrosis. She wasn't dwelling on it or anything, just mentioned it in simple conversation that I happened to hear. I almost started bawling just hearing her say it. Could you imagine having two daughters that unless some changes happen quickly, will most likely not live past their early 20's? How sad is that???

Anyway...on to a better side of the story. It was Molly's first experience with a large group of kids. And I could tell immediately she would LOVE it! She dived right in and started playing with several little kids. I kept my eye on her, but she was doing a great job.

...until she saw the walk-behind cart. Another little boy had it. She crawled over to it and stood up with him and essentially took it from him. He started crying. Another little girl, a little older than these two, came and took it from Molly to give it back to the boy. Molly joined him crying. Both of us went and rescued our very upset babies. Of course, Molly was fine instantly. I'm glad she'll finally get to learn what sharing is all about. I just hope I know how to handle it right.

Then quite a bit later, I notice Molly off playing with another little boy who was a few years older than her. Then I saw Charlie, an "oh so cute" 18-month old with bright red curly hair and is pretty solid, going toward Molly. He walks up to her and they begin chit-chatting. Molly is sitting on her knees. Charlie turns around and sits on her lap. I just started laughing so hard. Here's little 19 lbs Molly with a probably 25 lbs kid sitting on her lap. Well eventually it causes her to fall back and bump her head. I stand up and start heading that way when I see that she's crying pretty hard. Charlie gets off of her and lays down on top of her. I'm assuming to hug and comfort her...but..well...it wasn't working. I felt so bad for Molly, she was screaming like crazy by this point...but I couldn't help but laugh. The whole situation was so funny. I picked Charlie up and placed him aside and picked up Molly. Charlie's mom came to apologize. Of course, no need to, they're kids. But oh Charlie....what a funny little guy! And once again, Molly was fine instantly.

And otherwise the meeting went well. Just kind of a run down of the plans for the rest of the year. Please sign up for this and that. And I'm so excited to see who I end up becoming good friends with!

I'm.So.Excited!!!

2008-09-09T13:46:00.003-05:00

I've been looking for a while for an IRL Moms' Group to become a part of. When Molly was around 3 months old, I found one through my church, but there was a waiting list and there just seemed to be a lot of technicalities and rules involved, and that was just the introduction. So I decided to pass on that one. Others have shown up in our church bulletin and such but it always says for Mom's of School-Aged Children. Well, Molly's much younger than that.

This week the bulletin said Moms' Group for Moms of School-Aged Children Newborn through 5th grade. That was slightly confusing to me. So I went ahead and called the lady in charge today. She returned my call and said that they had some issues with the wording, but ALL MOMS are welcome. And kids are welcome too - So I won't have to find a baby-sitter! (Except on Moms' Nights Out...but that's what Daddies are for!)

I'm so excited for this! Now I just have to be sure to get Molly out of bed early enough. She likes to sleep until 9 or 10 most days, and these meetings are at 9. LOL!

Blissful weekend

2008-09-08T11:07:00.003-05:00

What a wonderful weekend! I don't think anything unusual happened. Friday evening we went to Todd and Rhonda's to play Canasta. We also ended up playing Scrabble and Spades, both of which Richard won. Molly went to bed really well, even not being at home! However, we think she may be teething again because she has been fairly fussy the last few days.

Saturday I researched on E-bay while Richard listed items. All while dealing with Molly being less than happy. Then we went to mass and on the way home Molly fell asleep. This would have been around 6:45pm. She transferred from the car to her bed. And then didn't wake up until 6am the next day. And then came into our bed and slept for another 3 hours. I think the poor girl was a little tired! Richard and I then spent the evening watching tv while all curled up on the couch. It was so romantical! I just kept thinking about how in love with this man I am. :D

Sunday started out perfectly also. We got to sleep in for a while, and by the time we got up football pre-game shows were in full swing. Then we watched the Chiefs' game. While they didn't win, I would argue that it was close. They beat the spread anyway. And they quite possibly have taken Brady out for the season. I'm not happy that he's hurt, but it could definitely change some things up this season! It was my dad's birthday yesterday also, so after the game we went over to their house and gave him his gift and spent a couple hours with them. They invited us out to dinner with them, but we declined. Eating out presents a lot of prolems when you can't have anything with wheat, dairy, eggs, soy, or peanuts. Plus we're trying to sort out our finances right now, and Red Lobster just doesn't fit the budget this week. Plus my dad would have insisted on paying, and that's not fair either. It's his birthday! So we came home, barbequed some chicken, and had a nice little meal. It was pretty delicious if I might say so myself! After supper Molly had a bath and was off to bed. And Richard and I spent the evening again cuddled up playing online poker and watching tv. It just felt perfect: holding hands, our legs intertwined, an occasional kiss here or there, as I realized there's nothing wrong with tv being our favorite (well, not THE favorite ;), but way up there) thing to do together. Just the thing that makes you want to gag. But we didn't, it was blissful.

For the Love of Hugs

2008-09-05T15:45:00.004-05:00

I absolutely LOVE Molly's new love to hug!!! She is just full of them! Last night as I was nursing her before bed she stood up in my lap and gave me a GREAT BIG HUG!!! I love hugs in general. But the hugs of a baby are absolutely amazing!

Today she let me put her hair in piggies. She's so pretty and looks incredibly adorable with piggies! And here's what she looks like after she's done with piggies and pulls them out. We call that Crazy Hair!

We bought the first season of Big Bang Theory the other day. Last night we watched the first episode. I forgot how absolutely hilarious that show is! I can't wait to get the new episodes!

Today I've ran errands all day but a couple I'm really excited about. One - our church has decided to keep the office open late through the week starting next month, but are asking for volunteers to man it. And so I went in to offer my assistance today. I think it feels good to volunteer, so I'm excited to find out more about that. And two - I went to the scrapbook store today! Woohoo! I spent a little more than I had hoped...but I had a 1 year old with me that really wanted to be in the floor making messes, and I was trying to keep her in a cart while picking out papers. I didn't have the extra brain at the time to keep track of how much I was spending. I'm hoping that means I'll get into my scrapbooking room again soon and crank out some more pages! If not, I'm going to a weekend crop next month, so I'll be sure to get something done then!

Ok...well Molly needs some food. Have a fabulous day!

My First Blog on Blogger

2008-09-03T12:41:00.003-05:00

Today shall be a homey day. I don't really feel like going anywhere. I've been doing laundry and taking care of Molly, so far. She's napping right now, and it was a much needed break for me. She's been slightly clingy and needy today.

My parents moved to town on Monday. We went over to help move them in. We were not wanting to work hard at all. But I'm glad we went, because, frankly, I don't think the guys could have got the piano into the house without Richard's help.

Yesterday, Molly and I went over to show them around their side of town a little bit. We took them to Walmart and some computer stores because they needed a new computer. They bought one, and in the next few days I'll be going back over there to assemble it and get it up and running for them. Definitely a benefit to them living here: they've always seemed to have computer issues, and it will just be so much easier to run over there and fix it, than to try and figure out what's going on over the phone and explain what to do to fix it. It never worked.

Richard's working a little later right now to make sure and have things done by the deadline. That's not much fun for me. But we always deal with it. And it's ok.

Welp...Molly just woke up. I'm off to make her feel ok again.