A Girl & Her Boys

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2012-02-14T11:10:00.003-06:00

I was greeted this morning by my husband and my little man with smootches from both....and I notice that Braz has a phone in his hands. At first I thought it was his daddy's phone but then I realized - it was for MOMMY! :) I got a new phone from my hubby for Valentine's day!! [Although Brazos was a little resistant in giving it to mommy but I gave him my old one then he was ok with that]

I'm going to pick up Jason's gift today at lunch - I'm doing this on purpose so he wouldn't be able to have it till today. I'm bad about letting him have his gifts early. Its a private gift so I won't share but I know he'll love it! We're going to dinner tonight, my little valentine included, so it won't be a super romantic date night out but I'm going to enjoy it just as much...

Except...

I have an eye infection (or pink eye not really sure yet, going to urgent care tomorrow when I get paid) in BOTH eyes and have had since Friday evening. My eyes are red and swollen and itchy and gross. I can't wear eye makeup [which is 85% of the makeup I DO wear] and I'm stuck in my unflattering glasses. Not. Attractive. I'm super disappointed and bummed. It doesn't matter how much I dress up tonight, I will still look BLAH because of my eyes/glasses. *sigh* Oh well, vanity is overrated right?! I should get over myself. [But I'm still bummed - kind of ruining my day] Maybe I'll just say F-it and put my contacts in and makeup on... My eyes will be squinty and watery and burn like the devil himself is dancing on my eyeballs but I'll look good for the hubs...right?

Ok - I say F it then. Burning eyeballs it is.

On that note, I leave you with a pic of my little Valentine:

Little Update on the Fam...

2012-02-08T15:40:00.002-06:00

What's Up With THE ALLEN'S:

1. Brazos was in Daycare H-E-L-L the past week. Tonya quit (basically) due to Hadley's health issues. I'm soooooooooo super sad and bummed and upset but I understand. She didn't foresee these issues and she's not doing it on purpose and she's sad too. BUT her baby comes first - as she should. Last week he went to a daycare center for the first time and it was not a pleasant experience. I'm pretty sure Brazos is traumatized for life [or at least the next few weeks] over the ordeal and mommy isn't too happy either. Its over now, though. He's with Tonya this week and he starts at his new daycare on Monday. Tonya and I went and toured this new place and we were both very impressed. They seem willing to work with me to make sure Brazos is adjusting well and happy - and that's all I'm really asking.

2. Brazos is cutting his 1 year molars. Misery...pure misery for my poor baby. He's a drooly whiny mess [without the added daycare mess] and he's not sleeping well at night because cutting teeth = runny/congested nose, low grade fever, pain, lots of drool & ear infections. Advil and Tylenol are his best friends. He just got over his third round of ear infections [within the last 4 or 5 months] and he's grabbing at his ears again which means most likely he's in the middle of round 4... We have a dr's appointment tomorrow so we shall see. Sigh - I see tubes in the ears in his near future. Poor guy.

3. We are moving March 1st. We gave our notice on the 7th and paid the deposit so - Its really happening!! Very exciting and stressful. I'll have to do all the packing myself and we're going to be getting rid of a TON of stuff so...it's going to be a hectic month but it'll be worth it in the end. I'll post pics of the new place once its officially our new residence (and there isn't someone else living in it!) Its not the same one I blogged about a few weeks ago but its in the same area (not in a cul-de-sac like I wanted but still a much better neighborhood than we're in now). This duplex has a two car garage and is bigger then the place we're at now. Same landlord as the one we looked at before too and he seems pretty alright and laid back so that's a big plus as well.

4. Jason's in the middle of getting his pre-req's out of the way so he can start the doctorate program in the fall (I'm pretty sure he starts in the fall - may edit this later). He's taking a crap-ton of Chemistry courses which he is thoroughly [not] enjoying. He got a C in his first class which he was disappointment about but I'm still impressed. He's been out of school for 4 years and Chem is H.A.R.D. He currently has a B in both of the Chem classes he is taking now and could quite possibly have A's in both classes by the end of the module. He's working very hard and (dare I say it :) I'm very proud of him!!! He's going to kick @ss these next four years and then he'll be a DOCTOR... I'm so excited for him! :o) But, this is taking a lot of sacrifice on both of our parts and I feel like a single parent a lot of the times while I'm trying to get everything done and fix all these problems by myself and allow him to be able to study and focus on work and school. And unfortunately, its only going to get worse before it gets better... I can do this, right?! I'll survive it all but I hope he knows that after this four years is over and he graduates, he is NOT getting to slack on his half of the parental duties any more! Haha!

5. I don't have too much to update on Jacob. He's started wrestling, as you know, and he's kicking butt so far. We think he's doing better in school but I'm not sure if we're getting any feedback from his teachers - at least Jason hasn't mentioned anything to me about it. I need to ask him I guess! He turned 8 on the 20th and I can hardly believe how big he has gotten since the first time I met him 3 years ago... We celebrated his birthday on the 28th, same day as Brazos but instead of having a "birthday party" like Braz's, he got to have a friend over and then all the guys went and played laser tag to celebrate his birthday - and we got him a super yummy cookie cake! It was too good and I ate way too much of it!! I think he had a fun birthday overall :)

That's all I can think of at the moment - which this is enough! Ha! Just wanted to jot this stuff down to keep everyone that reads this thing posted :)

Jake's First Wrestling Tourny

2012-02-06T15:57:00.002-06:00

Jake had his first wrestling tournament this weekend. Jason went to go watch [Braz and I stayed home] so I got a match-by-match update as the day progressed:

10:14AM - "Jake won his first match with a pin"
11:02AM - "Won the 2nd one by decision!"
11:17AM - "Won the 3rd by pin!"
11:19AM - "One more for 1st place!"
12:15PM - "He got pinned in the last match. 2nd place"

Jake got SECOND PLACE at his first tournament ever - he did AWESOME! And his Dad was super proud of him!!

I'm sure this is the beginning of many, many wrestling tournaments in our future. I can't wait to see him in action!! Jason's hoping to get him in another one this coming weekend here in town.

We are so proud of you Jacob!!! :o)

Little Man Turns One!

2012-02-06T12:42:00.006-06:00

Brazos had an AWESOME 1st Birthday! So many friends and family came over to help us celebrate...our little duplex was FULL. Thankfully, the birthday boy was feeling a lot better by the time the big party day rolled around. Here's a few pics of the day :o)

Birthday Balloons

Banner for the birthday boy - a picture for every month of his life WITH mustaches :) and neckties

Tres Cute, Non?

Cupcakes made by me with chocolate mustaches [that I was up till 2am the night before making]

Daddy with the birthday boy in their matching newsboy caps

Birthday smootches from mommy

Grammy eating cupcakes with two of her grandsons

The Dillon clan enjoying their cupcakes

Yummy Cake!

Tonya and Peanut [Hadley]

The mustaches were a BIG hit!

Jason's "Mustache on a stick" - HAHA

Our Big 1 Year Old!!

To My Dearest Son

2012-01-25T16:05:00.003-06:00

Dear Brazos,

Today is your 1st birthday. When you woke up this morning, I came in and sang "Happy Birthday" to you. You raised your little eyebrows and looked at me like I was crazy, and smiled. You know me too well already. I scooped you up into my arms and we hugged, like we always do, and snuggled for just a minute, like we always do - BEST part of my day. You've been sick the past few days, but luckily, today, you finally woke up without a fever. I'm hoping you are over the worst part of your ear infection and that those darn molars come in soon so you'll stop hurting. To top it off you have a cold. Mommy really doesn't like it when you are sick but I especially don't like it that you are sick this close to your birthday!

You are mommy's sunshine. And I'm absolutely sure you already realize this. I've already sung "You Are My Sunshine" to you about 1,000 times in your little life and you love that song - that's most of the reason why you've heard it so many times. No matter how upset you are, if I sing that song, you stop and listen intently. When I was pregnant with you, I had a little toy that played that tune and I always pushed the little smiley face on the toy sun, and pressed it to my belly so you could hear. I like to think that's another reason why you love it so much. It's a very fitting song for you and I. You are my reason for living and the light of my life. I'm so lost when I'm away from you and as soon as I'm with you again, you brighten my world.

I love your little personality. Such a boy - ALL boy. Ornery, flirtatious, outgoing, sweet, cuddly, silly, loud, and oh so charismatic. Everyone who meets you loves you. And you pretty much love everyone. You bring so much joy and happiness to my and your daddy's life - constantly making us laugh. You are the BEST baby. So very good. I'm so lucky to have such a good baby! You are a great sleeper and and an awesome eater. Never fussy (unless you're not feeling well) and always a smile on your little face. You've just now started testing your boundaries and letting us know when you are not happy with what we are making you do/won't let you do...even then, you only "yell" at us for a minute and you are easily over whatever is making you unhappy. It makes mommy SO happy that you are happy. And I think you really are.

Your favorite things right now are the soccer and "Thomas the Train" balls, or any ball for that matter, and you love anything that you can push around life a car. You chase the balls around everywhere, rolling them all over the house. You also love music. You love when daddy or mommy sings or if theirs music playing. You even "sing" yourself. And you think its hilarious when mommy dances (daddy doesn't dance). I've noticed you dancing a little yourself now and then. And you love Gemma's toys/bones and playing in her water dish - but I think that's more because you aren't supposed to. And you LOVE your big brother, Jacob. To you, he's the greatest thing since sliced bread and everything he says or does is pure awesomeness. I don't blame you one bit, he's a wonderful big brother -so very patient and loving with you. You also love your daddy. The two of you playing together makes my heart melt - he's a pretty great daddy. And your sitter Tonya is Mommy #2 in your eyes. I don't think you'd quite replace me with her, but its pretty close...and I'm ok with that. Because if mommy can't be with you during the day, I want you to be with someone you feel is the next best thing to mommy, and I think she is exactly that. You're always so happy to see her in the morning when I drop you off! This is such a big relief to me that you are happy being there.

I love watching you grow up and I'm so excited to see the little person you are becoming. I am so very blessed to be your mommy. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me and you are by far my greatest accomplishment - I hope I am even half of a blessing to you as you are to me. I have enjoyed every single second of your life.

I love you with all of my heart little man. I hope your first birthday is wonderful and that each birthday after is better than the last.

Love,
Mommy

I was just thinking...

2012-01-24T14:42:00.003-06:00

A year ago today I posted this. I was miserable and anxious to meet my little man. I helped our neighbor go get her husband's birthday present. Had dinner with my hubby when he got home. Boo-hooing because I was going to have to wait a WHOLE 'NOTHER WEEK and have to be induced and blah, blah, blah. All the while totally not expecting that I would go into labor that very night...

Mommy Guilt is BRUTAL (and apparently so is Gerbers Mac N Cheese)

2012-01-17T15:29:00.004-06:00

I officially hate those Gerber Mac N Cheese micro-meals!

I heated one up to have Jason feed to Brazos a couple nights ago... Little did I know that 30 seconds in the microwave = MOLTEN CHEESY LAVA! Brazos screamed bloody murder on the second bite. Jason and I screamed bloody murder at each other for it burning him.

Now...Brazos has a blister on his tongue. Won't even take his BINKIE. Tonya just sent me a message and said it has busted open and its hurting him. Dude - SUCKY!

[Holding Back Tears & Sobs from the Heartbreak]

I called the dr office and they assured me it was a non-issue as long as it doesn't get red and/or he gets a fever (ie gets infected). I had to make him a dr appt to get his ears checked (they are bothering him again - lovely) so I'll have them look at it then just to be sure.

Gah, does the GUILT kill you or just make you suffer for eternity?!

Moving?? Pros & Cons

2012-01-16T15:12:00.002-06:00

So, every once in a while I get a wild hair up there and decide to search around for someplace else to live - house, townhouse, apartment, whichever... I got one of those hairs Saturday and I saw a townhouse close to where my sitter lives for less rent than we are paying now. The pictures looked promising so I talked Jason into going and looking at it. Mind you when I get these hairs and I actually find something worth looking into, I never really plan on liking the place or us actually discussing moving because, you guys, I HATE MOVING. But I keep looking because I'm convinced our current residence has some serious bad karma and there have just been too many bad memories outweighing the good ones for it too feel like HOME anymore - Home is where the heart is and my heart just isn't into that place anymo'!

Well, we actually liked this one. Crap. So, now I'm contemplating the Pros and Cons of this townhouse vs that one and moving vs staying, etc, etc, etc. Here's what I've come up with so far:

PROS:
1. $15 Less Rent = $180/year = $720/4 years we plan on still being in KC
2. 30 mins less travel time per day for me driving to Tonyas
3. Nicer neighborhood/school district
4. On a cul-de-sac
5. Brand new
6. Wide open kitchen/granite countertops/dark cabinets
7. SIDEWALKS
8. Office space in Master Bdrm
9. Getting re-organized when we move (one of my NY resolutions but does this ever REALLY happen when you move??!)

CONS:
1. MOVING - gross
2. No basement @ new
3. No fenced back yard
4. Old TH is bigger
5. Buying new furniture (our LR furniture is too much/too big) - this could sort of be a PRO too.
6. Deposits ($750 for house/$300 for Gemma)
7. One month to pack/move (we only have 30 notice to vacate our current lease)

I have more pros than cons but the cons possibly outweight the pros... How do I get myself into these things...??

We'll decide in the next day or so if we actually WANT to move and then we'll have to wait and see if we are approved and don't get beat out by someone else. Lots of ifs but that's whats going on in the Allen household right now. Exciting stuff.

2011: A Year In Review

2012-01-12T12:57:00.002-06:00

I did this last year and its kind of fun to go back and read so I'm going to do a repeat for 2011. Overall, 2011 was...Hard. Lots of leftover emotional "stuff" from 2010 I was still dealing with. I was very ANGRY this year. So was Jason. We had issues. We fought a lot. Things were said and done that I thought we would NEVER say or do to each other. Lots of being mean to each other. Lots of wondering if we were going to make it. But we did. We made it. Sometimes you just have to stick with it and fight through it until you get all the crazies out of your system. But I'm thankful. You never know how much you really love someone and until you've made through a really hard time together. As with any year, there was lots and lots of sad times but there were some amazingly awesome, wonderfully good times as well. Some of the absolutely best and worst memories of my life are wrapped up in this year.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before? Gave birth - what an amazing experience. And what a strange phenomenon that takes place in your brain/memory after you do that... Its like I immediately forget how miserable I was those last few months and how painful & scary childbirth really is... I actually WANT to do it again! Haha!

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Last year my new year's resolution was to become a MILF...weeeellll, not exactly up to my standards but could possibly be considered a MILF by SOMEONE?! LOL!
My resolutions for this year are as follows:
Lose 29lbs by August (our cruise)
Drink 8 glasses of water a day
Be better organized with time/work/home/etc
Budget, budget, budget
Send a card for every occasion
Take better care of my appearance (SERIOUSLY slacked in 2011)
Blog more.
No candy at work

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? ME! :o) And my sister gave birth to my sweet little niece Caroline.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Yes. One of my most favorite people in the world, my grandfather Dave. I miss him so much it hurts. But I know he's in heaven watching down on me and I talk to him every day. I also lost my Aunt and my Great-Grandmother. And a dear friend of mine that I grew up with died in a car accident. It was a very rough year.

5. What countries did you visit? Just the old U. S. of A. Going to Mex-eee-Coh this year though!!

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? Confidence & a sexy bod! And do more fun things with my family...Immediate AND extended!

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? January 25th, 2011 will be stamped on my heart forever. March 24th - The day Grandpa went to heaven. June 14th - Jamie's car accident

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Not losing my sanity, but losing all my baby weight (mostly) instead. And being a mother to the best baby boy in the world!

9. What was your biggest failure? Not managing my time more wisely.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Infection after I had Brazos & diagnosed with hypothyroidism, but other than that - Nothing! Very blessed.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Our new vehicles! So nice to have reliable cars.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My friend Lindsey - again. I don't know what I'd do without her. I lean on her a lot. I hope she knows how much I love and appreciate her.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? At times, my husband's. And plenty of times, my own. I can say this now because we're over the hump (finally).

14. Where did most of your money go? Brazos, the new cars, & Jason's school

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Being a mom. Jason starting chiropractic school. Getting a brand new 2012 car. Each and every one of Brazos' milestones in his first year. Getting my old relationship with my husband back. Meeting my new niece.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011? You Are My Sunshine - I sang this to Brazos a MILLION times this year :)

17. Compared to this time last year are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? Happier. Thinner. Poorer - 2 for 3 ain't bad! Hopefully I'll be 3 for 3 next year...

18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Wish I would have been more productive. I'm seriously contemplating looking into a med or supplement to keep me more focused.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Being insecure. Fighting with Jason. Wasting time.

20. How did you spend Christmas? 17th My dad came up and Brazos opened his presents from Grandpa. 18th Christmas with my family in Farlington. A week in Texas for Christmas! It was a wonderful Christmas!!

21. Did you fall in love in 2011? Yes, with two men. My son - he will always and forever have my heart. And fell in love with my husband all over again. I really was to the point I was ready to give up, and probably so was he. Then one day he held me and and kissed me and a flood of emotion overwhelmed me. He was back, the man I fell in love with and his evil twin was gone (haha)! I had missed him so very much but now he's back and I love him even more now than I ever did!!

22. What was your favorite TV program? Biggest Loser, Sons of Anarchy and American Horror Story

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? I don't hate people - my momma taught me better than that! But I added one or two to the "I don't like you" list that weren't there before...

24. What was the best book you read? The last book in the MacKayla Lane series (ready for the new one to come out!), The Help & The Sookie Stackhouse series

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Five Finger Death Punch - AWESOME! And Jack FM.

26. What did you want and get? My baby boy to be healthy. A new car. My love back to way it was [Not 100% but I'd say a good 98.9%!].

27. What did you want and not get? World peace and a million dollars...I keep waiting for this one!

28. What was your favorite film of this year? Breaking Dawn! My hubby took me to see it IN THE THEATRE! :o)

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? For my 29th birthday, I got a mani and a pedi and we took the boys to the go-cart track (Brazos and I just watched) and later went for snow cones...its was a WONDERFUL low-key birthday!

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? To skip all the fighting we did this year and get back to "us" much sooner. Not having to go back to work after maternity leave!

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? A cute new hair cut and in the process of re-vamping my style to a more polished me. Loving boots, skinny jeans, heels, and lots and lots of BLING

32. What kept you sane? God - there's no other explanation, I don't know how I'm sane at the moment other than God.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Jax Teller - hot, hot, hot

34. What political issue stirred you the most? I hate our politicians.

35. Who did you miss the most? Our friends and family in SEK and Texas. It was a lonely year. No one comes to see us and we can't go see everyone like we used to. And obviously, my grandpa!!

36. Who was the best new person you met? Danny's new girlfriend Amanda! We mesh very well! :)

37. Tell a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011. Don't ever give up on the things you want!

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. "Don't Stop Believing, Hold on to that Feeling" - Journey

One Month Till The Big ONE

2012-01-05T15:07:00.003-06:00

I'm sad. Where the HECK did my baby go? And where did this toddler come from...??

Brazos celebrated his 11 month birthday on Christmas Day in Texas. This picture was taken that morning, his very first Christmas morning. :) There's something oh so special about a baby's first Christmas!

The entire week we were in Texas, Brazos did not have a single bite of baby food. He had big kid food for every meal. His Mimi made some spaghetti that he was pretty crazy about along with her awesome corn casserole and party potatoes. He ate these three things quite frequently during his visit (not all in one meal mind you). He also loved the ham! Well, he basically loved it all :)

Brazos is now cruising around the furniture some and is standing a lot more but he's still pretty uninterested in walking. I'm really ok with that too. He's decided he no longer like his bouncer so mommy gets to chase him around all evening and doesn't get anything done until Daddy gets home and takes over playing with the monster for a little while. He's started dancing when he hears music too which is pretty freaking cute. He waves bye-bye and hello, of course and has been for several months. He gives "five", LOVES patty-cake, and can point to your nose. He's started pointing pretty recently but not really as an inquiry, just general pointing of the finger. We're working on blowing kisses and pionting at his own nose, eyes, mouth, etc but those are all taking a bit. It's amazing to watch him listen and actually understand the things you are saying. He's becoming quite the talker too. He says: Mama, Mommy, Dada, Daddy, Nana (banana), No-No, Dog, Baby, Bye, Eat, Truck, Thank You, and tries to mimic just about anything you say. Its still coming out as the "sound" of the word rather than the word itsself - "Tuh" = "Truck", "Doh" = "Dog". But you can always tell what he's trying to say. More and more he's just jabbering incoherently about whatever so I just listen and talk back and forth with him. I like our "chats".

I think he's working on another tooth but I'm not sure which one. He has several swollen spots in his gums but they are all too far back to be ready to come in so he may just be teething but not really getting anything in yet. I'm really not sure what comes next after the top four and bottom four in the front...

For his birthday, we've decided on a "little man" theme - mustaches and neckties. Its going to be adorable. I did the invites myself! (Thank you again SOOOO much Bobbi Sharp Photography for letting me [ILLEGALLY] use the photo you took of Brazos for the invite!!!!)

I'm so excited!! Mustaches for EVERYONE!!! :o) (I'm also hoping all the cute mustaches & neckties will distract me from the fact that my teeny tiny little man is turning ONE)

T-E-N {10} Months!

2011-12-02T12:29:00.010-06:00

Swoon. Couldn't you just DIE from the cuteness! Oh my handsome little man... you make your mommy's heart melt!

My baby isn't really much of a "baby" anymore. He's creeping into Toddler territory much too quickly for mommy's liking. At the same time, he's oh so much fun.

He had his first Thanksgiving and I think he was definitely a fan. Mommy, Braz and Daddy had a nice quiet turkey day at home just the three of us (which Mommy was definitely a fan of). It was a great, quiet day. I cooked a traditional meal - turkey breast, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, crescent rolls, stuffing, and gravy. It was a wonderful day to spend Thanksgiving. Braz LURVES turkey - shoved it in my the handfuls. And sweet potatoes are pretty awesome too, although we already knew he was a fan of those! And OMG, pecan pie = CRACK to Brazos. I shared a little with him and he waved his hands around in excitement and gave a big "MMMMM" with every bite. AND, he threw a huge fit when I wouldn't give him any more. Lovely. Yes, my son now throws fits when he doesn't get his way. I'm trying VERY, VERY hard not to run over and console him when he does this. Its a mommy reflex: Offspring crying = Mommy make it better. We had Thanksgiving with my family on Saturday which was very nice as well but Braz was super tired but refused to nap so I spend most of the day trying to coax him into sleeping. I failed miserably and wasted a lot of fam time, but it was still nice to see everyone as usual.

Brazos took his first step about a week ago. He's finally taking a couple steps when we hold his hands and stand him up (but it takes a LOT of coercion on our parts). He cruises along the couches some, taking a side step or two to get around them. I'm not as convinced he'll be walking by Christmas as I was before but its always possible. He may be taking more steps with the next few weeks. I'm conflicted on whether I should be practicing with him more or just let him do it on his own...

He's a pro at the sippy cup with a straw - and he looks like such a big kid drinking out of a big kid cup with a straw! He still doesn't get that you have to tip the cup UP when drinking from a regular sippy cup but he still does it when I tip it for him. We're still working on that one. I honestly think we could cut the bottle out all together right now and he'd be fine. I just worry about him getting enough formula during the day though. I really don't think he's getting enough now. I am also trying really hard to make sure he's eating more and more table foods and not eating as much baby food, but DANG, you guys, baby food is sooo much easier than figuring out little figure foods every day! He's getting a little more picky about his foods but some of foods on his yummy list are: bananas, turkey, cranberry salad (this one surprised me), yogurt, guacamole, green beans, corn casserole, apple sauce, and he still digs a lot of his baby food - another reason its hard to cut him back on it!

So, I don't think the bottle is going to be an issue, but Oh Man, the BINKIE will be fun...I say fun as in the horribly UNfun, kind of fun.

He's starting to repeat words now: Mama, Mommy, Dada, Nana (banana), No-No, Dog, Baby, Bye-bye. I don't know if he really knows what they are or not but I'm thinking his first word is "Dog". He has used it a couple times without me saying it first when Gemma is around. I wish I could use "Momma" as his first word but I don't have 100% evidence that he was saying it in reference to me. Darn it... He also had started clapping and is starting to play pat-a-cake - he even does the "rolling". Its pretty darned adorable. We've been working on identifying "eyes", "nose", and "mouth" and he has nose down pretty well. He doesn't point to his own nose but he always points to mine whenever I ask "Where's Momma's nose?". Again, adorable. He loves to sing. He REALLY loves to dance. And he's been reserving kisses ONLY for his momma! Love. It. Daddy is just too whiskery and he always waves Jason's face away from his when Jason asks for kisses. BUT, he does give Daddy "five" now - Daddy taught him that one. My brain is frazzled so that's all I can think of as far as accomplishments this month...

We got his first ear infection cleared up and now he has another one. He's been on meds for a couple days and it not getting ANY better - in fact, he's actually worse. So, we got a new med today and if he doesn't improve, little Braz gets to visit an ENT specialist. I'm hoping for the best but I'm sure he'll become good friends with Dr. ENT Specialist since Jason and I both had ear issues as babies. I just want to add, I reeeeeaaaaalllllyyyy don't like my baby being sick.

I'm starting to think of 1st Birthday themes and I think I may have it narrowed down to one - but I'm not 100% quite yet so I'll post a pic when I officially decide. Can you believe its less than 2 MONTHS AWAY??! Yeah, I KNOW.

I'm super pumped, excited about Braz first Christmas. We put up the Christmas tree last Saturday and he was basically unimpressed B.U.T. I have a feeling he'll be in hog heaven with the wrapping paper... :o)

My little man just gets more and more fun every day. He's growing up so fast and I'm dreading the day when Mom becomes LAME and he doesn't want me anymore. I love him so much and he's by far the best thing (still) that I've ever done with my life. Being a mommy really makes the world go round, doesn't it?

N9NE Months!

2011-10-27T12:08:00.002-05:00

Look at my handsome little man ~ he's barely a baby anymore! Where do I begin with all the amazing things he's accomplished in the last month...

First, he had a dr appt on Tuesday for his well-baby visit and he got his hemoglobin checked (it was perfect) and got flu shot: part 1. He weighs 22 lbs 4.5oz - 88%, and is 18.25 in long - 94%. How did I get such a tall baby?! HAHA

Dr said he has to start weaning off the bottle by around 11 months (should be complete off at 15 months) so we are going to start training on the sippy cup hardcore! I'm not really feeling sad about this because that is just one step closer to NO FORMULA! 3 more months and he can drink cows milk - thank goodness (I have issues with formula if you can't tell ;).

Speaking of in 3 months - In THREE MONTHS, my little baby will be O*N*E! o.O I can't even think about that right now...

Accomplishments this month - Standing On His Own...WITHOUT HOLDING ON! He's going to be walking before he's a year old! Also, waives bye-bye, gives kisses (mainly just to mommy and Tonya), claps, dances (OMG this kid thinks its HILARIOUS when mommy dances), jabber jabber jabbers - he's added so many new consonants to his vocabulary! He says ma-ma, da-da, no-no, ba-ba, has sorta said "dog" and tons more gibberish that if I paid attention is probably actual words. Eats table food; its so fun to be able to feed him at restaurants and see him try new things. He loves everything but the toddler Gerber meals (the pastas with meat sauce and a veggie side)...?! Go figure!

Another first this month - First Sickness. Poor baby had an ear infection in his right ear and had to be on Amoxillin for 10 days (he liked the pink bubble gum medicine though). His ear looked much better at his Dr appt Tuesday, I think we caught it early enough that it wasn't too terrible. I'm overly cautious about ear infections because Jason and I both had them terrible when we were babies. Poor thing just wasn't acting like himself and when he wouldn't eat and was terribly fussy all the time, I KNEW something was wrong. Glad I followed my gut and took him to see his ped.

He is the perfect baby (minus some biting and pinching but we're working on that). He's so sweet and so VERY well behaved. I'm so lucky to have him and I thank God every day for such a blessing. He's the best gift I've ever gotten in my life. I'm so proud to be his mommy. I don't ever want him to grow up! :o)

FAF: Better Late Than Never...

2011-10-27T12:01:00.003-05:00

Starting weight: 166.4
Last week's weight: 161.6
Current weight: 161.0
Weight +GAIN / -LOSS this week: -0.6
Total weight lost: -5.4

Not a bad week...a loss is a loss is a loss, right? I don't have much to post on this one since I have another post coming tomorrow. We'll see what the scale reads in the morning! :)

Random Texts From My Hubs

2011-10-17T16:21:00.002-05:00

"Lol if you got cloned, would you have sex with yourself?"

Seriously...how am I suppose to compose myself at work with texts like these.

The answer is No in case you were wondering, would you? No judgement if you would - I just prefer male parts over female, even if they are "mine". And who wants to see what they actually look like during the act - I mean, wouldn't that give you a complex?! It would me, I'm hard enough on myself as it is...I don't need to know what I actually look like to other people.

Heh. This is a weird post.

FAF - I blame the Mexicans and their beans!

2011-10-14T15:41:00.002-05:00

Starting weight: 166.4
Last week's weight: 162.0
Current weight: 161.6
Weight +GAIN / -LOSS this week: -0.4
Total weight lost: -4.8

Well, a loss is a loss but I'm disappointed because yesterday morning I weighed 160.4 lbs. My husband FORCE-FED me Mexican food last night. Those terribly yummy chips & espinoca, refried beans, and fish tacos...I was helpless against them. So, I think I should get to say I'm 6 lbs down - YAY!

I went and ran twice this week and that's about it for the working out. I know, I'm a slacker but I just am not in the mood to give up anymore of my free time with my bubs...so, there you go. I'll hop back on the workout train again soon I'm sure [the constant urging/nagging of the hubster will make sure of that]. For now, I'll workout when I make it to the gym or get a chance to run around the block a couple times.

And I just wanted to note - My fat pants are getting very loose again! Yay - go me!

Happy Dieting Ya'll!

Just Because Flowers

2011-10-10T13:26:00.003-05:00

I came home from work on Friday and had this waiting for me on the table.

Roses and lilies and a mushy love card.

I needed this.

I nearly cried and I don't think my hubby knows just how much this meant to me. I gave him a big hug and kiss and a thank you. To put it very mildly, he made my day.

The message in the card...I needed that too. Even if you think you know how someone feels, it still is so comforting to see it in that person's handwriting, even if you've already seen it before.

Thanks babe for making me remember what it feels like to be "us" again. Did I mention, I really needed that.

FAF - Meh.

2011-10-10T13:16:00.004-05:00

Starting weight: 166.4
Last week's weight: 161.4
Current weight: 162.0
Weight +GAIN / -LOSS this week: +0.6
Total weight lost: -4.4

Yeah, I gained weight. I really have no excuse other than, I think my lack of diet and exercise is catching up to me [thank you Captain Obvious]. I'm going to have to bust my hump to make up for that this week and get back on track...

I'm just not in the mood to focus on this stuff right now but I really think if I could get down to my weight goal, I would be a little happier with myself. Have to make it a priority again... And who knows, maybe I could really use this as a positive distraction. Bleh, finding motivation is so hard for me. You'd think looking at the scale every other day would be enough...

I hope everyone else is doing better than I am!

Where do I go from here?

2011-10-03T16:17:00.003-05:00

Ever feel like you are standing in the middle of a crowded room screaming at the top of your lungs like a lunatic and no one hears you or they just don't care???

I feel like that.

I've been putting off writing this post because well, its a crappy one, but I just need to get this off my chest. I'm just not happy. I feel I have no control over my own life. I don't like the way things are going. At. All. I can't make any of my own decisions and I feel like I'm smothering to death. Every move I make is the wrong one. Work, home, family, friends...everything. I feel so alone. I know if I'd reach out, there are people I can talk to but some things I just don't want to discuss with anyone. There are things I'm struggling with that I just don't want the opinions or judgement or backlash of those involved. I don't want to hear it. Or I'm just too embarrassed. I know this doesn't make any sense to anyone but me, and that's fine. I feel very bitter about the way a lot of things have turned out and that I just have to "suck it up". I'm starting to feel very angry inside and resentful. I can feel myself turning inward and shutting everyone out. I'm sick of getting hurt. I'm so f'ing sick of being shit on and forgotten or disregarded or expected to just put up with it because I always have. I'm tired of being expected to just forgive and except it. I don't want to forgive and forget some things ~ all the things I've just accepted and forgiven are starting to pile up on me. Every time I start to feel happy and good about the way my life is, it gets ripped out of my hands and I'm left trying to piece it back into what it was...maybe I do it to myself. Maybe I'm so blind in what I want to see, I can't see what's actually going on around me. Gah, I'm just so angry! Its eating me alive.

I'm so turned around and backwards, I just don't know where to go or even where I would WANT to go. "Be careful what you wish for" keeps running through my mind and I just don't want to wish for the things I think I want anymore because they just keep blowing up in my face. The more I wish things were better, the worse they get. I try being thankful for what I have and then those things fall to pieces too. Sometimes I feel like I just want to hit the pause button and get a grip on what's happening and get a game plan. But right now sucks and I just want to fast forward through all this crap...but I hate to see what the future is really going to be like! I don't want to ruin what little hope I have left. I don't really want to rewind, either and re-live everything. I don't know what I'd want to relive and what I'd want to stay the same. I just want to focus on what *I* want and fixing the things that I desperately want to fix, but I keep getting overruled by everyone else.

I know everything happens for a reason and every decision I've made in my life has led me to here. I can't honestly say I don't want to be here...I just want things to be more like the way I thought they were going to be. Now that just sounds stupid, doesn't it?! Ugh.

I'm just so lost... I don't know where to go from here.

FAF: 5 LBS ~ That's a small sack of potatoes people! :o)

2011-09-30T13:25:00.003-05:00

Starting weight: 166.4
Last week's weight: 162.8
Current weight: 161.4
Weight +GAIN / -LOSS this week: -1.4
Total weight lost: -5

I've lost 5 whole pounds!! Yay me! 21.4 to go!!

I can't feel super excited about my continued 1-lb-a-week weight loss because I only worked out once this week and have a sneaking suspision I'm only losing muscle mass instead of actual fattyness...but I'm not going to dwell on that thought because...I'VE LOST 5 POUNDS :o)

Still cutting the portions sizes though and I now feel like major poo whenever I eat a normal sized meal so I think that means my stomach is finally shrinking [yay!!].

I've been taking my thyroid meds like I'm supposed to but a friend told me it takes 4-6 weeks to really tell a difference so, we'll see in a few more weeks!

Happy dieting y'all!

My Son, THE 8 MONTH OLD!

2011-09-29T15:07:00.004-05:00

My baby went from this:

To This:

HOW? WHAT? HUH?...What the hell just happened?! Where did the last 8 months go...? Seriously, 8 months?? (Momma's havin' a hard time with this one, can't you tell?)

I'm going to have an early walker on my hands. Braz is becoming a pro at standing up (while holding on to furniture) and he's getting braver and braver with letting go. Soon he'll be standing on his own without holding on! He's started eating solid foods - started him with some puffs and veggie "cheetos". He has had some green beans from my plate and some grapes (minus the skin of course). He's starting to learn how to drink from his tippy cup - I had to take the plug out that keeps it from spilling because he wasn't getting the tip & suck part. He still doesn't hold his own bottle but being a breastfed baby I don't think that's unusual. I'm just going to skip that though and go straight to the cup.

I haven't really noticed him saying any new words/constants lately although he does jabber a lot. He's still pretty partial to "Ma Ma Ma" which I love and sometimes switches it "Mom mom mah". He's back to saying "dadada" and "bababa" more too. I have noticed him mixing them more than he was before and I think he's starting to associate some words too - his name, mama, baba, dada, no-no.

He's absolutely the best baby anyone could ask for. He's so good and always so happy! Everyone comments on what a happy baby he is which makes me feel GREAT! I probably have nothing at all to do with it, but I like to take credit any way. :) He's so much fun & I absolutely adore being his mommy!!!

FAF: Another 1 Bites the Dust!

2011-09-23T12:51:00.003-05:00

Starting weight: 166.4
Last week's weight: 163.8
Current weight: 162.8
Weight +GAIN / -LOSS this week: -1.0
Total weight lost: -3.6

Another week of weight loss! Whoop! Its not much but after another slow exercising week, I'll GLADLY take it! I'm very close [again] to what I weighed when I got knocked up with my pwecious little man so I'm feeling good about that fo' sho'...

Working out this week has been rough. I haven't really made/had time for a good solid workout so I'm a little disappointed about that but...eh, I'll just keep squeezing them in there whenever I can and as much as I can. We have a gym membership over by my usual sitter so once she's off maternity leave, I'll be able to run to the gym at night before or after I pick up the monster.

My diet this week has been unhealthy - not in what I've eaten, just the quantity. I've hardly eaten a thing! My dinner portions have been cut in half, if not more, so I feel that's a positive change but my lunches have been hit or miss and I've been skipping meals and just snacking here and there. Not bad snacks really, just not a balanced diet.

In other health news, I may have discovered the reason behind my crazy, rapid weight gain (and why its happened in the past): I have low thyroid levels! Which also probably explains several other issues I've been having... I'm starting meds today to help me get my levels corrected so hopefully my weight will be a little more predictable and controllable (and my other issues will improve as well). And my cholesterol levels are insanely high (not a new development) so I'm starting back up on my Crestor too. Oh, and some Vitamin D supplements - GUMMY vitamins at that (I'm a little kid at heart what can I say). Let's hope all this new drug use of mine helps me out! Ha!

Happy Dieting Everybody!

FAF: Fiber One Bars Warning!!

2011-09-16T12:56:00.003-05:00

Starting weight: 166.4
Last week's weight: 164.6
Current weight: 163.8
Weight +GAIN / -LOSS this week: -0.8
Total weight lost: -2.6

Slow and steady wins the race I guess. I'm not going to complain - I haven't had that great of a week eating wise and haven't worked out for a couple days cause I was sick yesterday and the night before. So, I'll take the not.quite.a.pound weightloss. I had a doctor's appt today and fought back the urge to order some diet pills. I may or may not kick my self in the knee for that decision but I might as well give it a try doing it the right/healthy/slow way for a while before I give in to temptation. I'm into instant gratification people so this is tough for me. [Pats self on back] I did have 3 great workouts this week so "go me". I need to eat healthier.

Note to anyone on a diet out their - do not, I repeat, DO NOT eat 2 Fiber One bars in one day. Limit yourself. Gas ball the size of an suv will show up in your gut and try to kill you if you are not used to eating so much fiber in one day.

Happy Dieting Everybody!

Brazi & Daddy Weekend

2011-09-14T13:54:00.008-05:00

Daddy & I got to spend all night Saturday night and all day Sunday just the two of us guys while Mommy was down visiting Caroline & Aunt Heather. Daddy took lots of pictures to send to Mommy because she missed us so much!

I love standing! I practiced lots this weekend standing on whatever I could get my hands on.

You can't see it very well but Daddy and I snuggled in bed and watched TV Sunday morning - we just took this pic to make Mommy jealous and miss us even more!

More Standing! I can stand up in my bed now too - you guys better lower my bed soon or I'm going to make a break for it in the middle of the night when you are asleep...

Daddy & I lookin' snazzy heading to IHOP (More pictures to make sappy Mommy miss us!)

First time eating pancakes - these things are great! Mmmmm!

Going on a walk with Daddy. Laid back enjoying a cold one...this is the life!

Playing with the Gemma - I love my puggy!!

Ok Mommy, Daddy & I are really starting to miss you! Hurry Home!

I think I'll try out these "stairs" things. I watched Drake do it last week, I got this...

Daddy's version of time out! I thought it was hilarious. Daddy's so funny.

We missed Mommy but Daddy & I had so much fun! She can leave us to hang out any time! :o)

Caroline Marie Is Here!!!

2011-09-12T12:29:00.002-05:00

Born: Thursday, September 8th, 2011

Time: 8:28 pm

Weight: 7lbs 11oz

Length: 18 in

Princess has had a little bit of a rough start - diagnosed with pneumonia the day after she was born and has to be on antibiotics and stay in the hospital for a week. She's absolutely beautiful and her mommy and I are already planning future shopping trips just us girls!! I finally got to meet her this weekend and she so tiny and petite and just precious. Ready for her to get a clean bill of health so she and her mommy can come home! So very excited to finally have a NIECE again after so many boys. Hopefully I will get to play with her more than I get to play with my other nieces... Tea Party and dress up, anyone? :o) I can't wait!

Hmmm...I think I need to go talk to my hubs about having a baby girl... Toodles!

A Day of Fun with Leah & Drake

2011-09-12T12:02:00.007-05:00

We've had some babysitter drama in our household and thankfully my dear friend shared her nanny for a week while she was on an off-week of traveling for work. She was in and out as well so one morning she got to stay home and play with the boys. I got several pics from their day:

"After breakfast the boys fought over the sports section."

"Then we went for a nice stroll in the wagon."

"After a refreshing break our creative juices were going so we had art time."

"Than it was splash time!!!"

"The boys relaxed to some nick and speed racing!!"

Thank you so much Leah for ALL your help last week!!!! And for having so much fun with Braz - He LOVED playing with Drake. :o)

I don't have to go to coney island after all!

2011-09-09T14:43:00.004-05:00

Starting weight: 166.4
Last week's weight: 168.4
Current weight: 164.6
Weight +GAIN / -LOSS this week: -3.8
Total weight lost: -1.8

About time! I've had to starve myself the last few days to get here but hopefully this means my mysterious weight gain issue is going away. I'm not getting my hopes up just yet... But almost 4 lbs lost - I will GLADLY take it over +2 lbs. If I stay at this weight loss, only 6.579 weeks to go! Have to stay positive, right? :o) While that would be totally awesome, I better not count on 3.8 lbs every week.

One proud moment this week for me: I am back up to running 2 miles - WITH. OUT. STOPPING. Go me. [Even though some rude crazy mean old hag yelled at me because I was out running with Braz at 7:30 pm around my neighborhood and she "couldn't see me" even though she flashed her brights at me from a block away... Gah , make me feel like a horrid mother why don't you...some people have an 1 1/2 commute to and from work, and their husbands work late and they don't have any other time to workout, geeeez]

Who else wants a big old plate of nachos with everything and a deep fried Hardee's Hand Breaded Chicken Sandwich?! You know you do!

Happy dieting!

Just put me next to the Bearded Lady on Coney Island...

2011-09-02T14:12:00.004-05:00

Starting weight: 166.4
Last week's weight: 166.4
Current weight: 168.4
Weight +GAIN / -LOSS this week: +2.0
Total weight lost: +2.0

All I'm going to say is this is total Bull$hit. Tune in next week to see the {FREAK SHOW} that is my mystifying, unexplainable, horrifying weight gain.

The End.

SE7EN M0NTHS!!

2011-08-30T14:57:00.008-05:00

My baby is getting so BIG! And he has changed so much in the last month...

#1 New Thing - He now says "Momma" & "Mom-mom-mom"!! Squee! I love it! :o)

Also: Crawling all over the place, can sit up on his own from pretty much any position, is eating two meals a day which consist of half a jar of baby food and oatmeal, thinks veggies are the bees' knees, still quite the snuggler (especially with mommy), has been fairly consistently going to bed between 8:30 - 9:00 every night and sleeps till I get him up in the morning to go to Sarah's (which is about 6:50ish), has started "clapping" his fists together - hasn't really figured out how to open his hands and clap, loves his "Frank" that Sarah made him and is crazy about his exersaucer/bouncer, is such a little ham - always sooo smiley, already wearing 6-9 mo and 9 months clothes, and he is a BITING FOOL - loves to use those 4 teeth (not sure what I'm going to do with him on this one). He thinks Daddy is hilarious and so much fun and his big brother Jake is the coolest person alive - he adores Jacob and Jake is so good and plays with him all. the. time. when he is at our house. He's a great big brother.

We had some sitter drama last week so Daddy got to play baby-sitter for three days. He and Braz got some much needed bonding time and I think Daddy really liked having him around - even though he's not as easy to take to clients as Jake. I'm really glad he got to be able to watch him since they haven't gotten to spend much time together without me hanging around. Sarah came back this week but Friday is her last day. Tonya is supposed to start back on Tuesday but that's up in the air right now [Hadley has silent reflux and is super cranky and high maintenance and Tonya doesn't feel comfortable watching him till she gets this resolved]. So...we're kind of in Limbo and I need to find a sitter until Tonya can come back. Times like these make so very badly want to be a SAHM...

Braz got to spend a weekend with Grammy & Papa [Mommy and Daddy went on an adult only float trip]. He played with his cousin Max and Aunt Heather and swam for the first time in a [baby]pool! (I use the term "swam" lightly - he sat in his bath seat and splashed around ;) When I went to pick him up on Sunday, he had caught a cold from his big brother so he wasn't feeling well and hadn't slept very well the night before for Grammy, but I think he still had fun - who doesn't have fun when they stay at Grandma's house!? :o)

It seems like he's just growing at an exponential rate! Everyday it seems like he's mastered some new big thing. His personality is showing through more and more and each day I when I don't think I could possibly love him any more, I surprise myself to find that I do. I love being his mommy and he's honestly the best accomplishment I've ever made in my lifetime - and my proudest!

Mommy loves her lil' monster :o)

Being +25lbs Overweight is NOT Ok...

2011-08-26T09:06:00.003-05:00

Starting weight: 166.4
Last week's weight: N/A
Current weight: N/A
Weight +GAIN / -LOSS this week: 0
Total weight lost: 0

I've gained 10 lbs back since I've stopped breastfeeding. Unacceptable. I'm kind of freaking out because I'm not really sure how this is happening but its got to stop. So - I'm joining Brandy's FAF's so hopefully I can have some accountability.

The deal is, Jason and I are going on a cruise this winter and I MUST look hot. I can't look like this and wear a bikini for a week! My hubs is smokin' HAWT and a sexy mo' fo' and I can't be a squishy, saggy wife to a sexy mo' fo'... When we started dating I weighed 145. My all time goal weight would be 140 [well, 130 if I'm talking about my all time, wish I could be weight] so that's my goal. Maybe if I have to tell the world how much I weigh I'll feel that much more compelled to lose weight. I'm desperate!! I'll take pics and be more prepared for next friday of the scale and maybe if I'm brave enough me in my bikini so I can see results...

**P.S. I realize there are a lot of people who would love to be my current size but I'm married to a personal trainer - I should be 140 and buff as heck. Its just bad advertising to look so out of shape and soggy.**

God Bless Texas

2011-08-02T22:37:00.003-05:00

We bought this bib in Gruene, TX when we were on our family vacation in Texas last year after we got married.

You can also see the infamous two top teeth that have finally popped through. Again - Cutest thing ever. Although, I think he may have inherited my gap between his front teeth...at first I was disappointed for my baby boy, but after I thought about what he'd look like and that he can get braces, I squee'd at how adorable he is with a little gap between his teeth. Although, now I can't really tell if he has my gap or his daddy's ginormous teeth - either way its gonna be adorable.

P.S. We really miss our Texas family!!

I love to oat, oat, oat, opples & bononos!

2011-08-02T22:17:00.006-05:00

Brazos has entered the world of solid foods! He had been eating a little bit of rice cereal here and there but the first time we tried it a couple months ago in the bowl, he was still thrusting his tongue and didn't quite get it. So after his 6 month appt, we got the go ahead to start solids full on - which means FRUITS! :o)

So we went with Bananas (and then applesauce a few days later) and switch over to oatmeal instead of rice cereal. I'm still pumping breastmilk for his cereal and he gets BF in the morning when he wakes up but the rest of the day he's getting formula. After a rough month of clogged ducts, being far too busy for all my scheduled pump times at work, and a yucky case of mastitis that had me down with a 102* fever for three days, my milk supply has dwindled down to nothing. So, I'm accepting defeat [somewhat] and I'm switching over to morning and night BF only. It was a tough decision but its been a couple weeks and now I feel like it was the right one. I feel less stressed and Braz will be on all solid foods in a couple months during the day and I will [hopefully] be able to supply the rest of his milk morning and night.

Daddy can help feed Brazos now too which makes Mommy happy and I think Daddy is very happy to be able to be a little more involved with Braz too. At first, Braz wasn't getting the "open your mouth" part of eating from a spoon so it was a little frustrating to say the least. And he didn't seem to happy about it either!

Struggling to keep Braz's attention was the biggest problem.

Daddy's goofy faces and noises were about the best attention-grabbers.

It took a few days and lots of trying but I think he's finally got the hang of it...

Now he LUNGES for the spoon, scrunches his little nose, and opens his mouth as wide as he can. He's probably the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life but I may be a little biased.

Craigslist + Crazy People = Much Hilarity

2011-08-01T16:03:00.003-05:00

At work, we having a running "game" as to who can find the craziest FREE stuff on craigslist. If you've never checked out the free section, I strongly encourage you to do so. And after you do once, you won't be able to stop yourself from doing it every day.

The best one that we've found before today [and there have been MANY], has definitely been the lady giving away the dry cheese packets out of the box macaroni n cheese. You see, her mother uses the macaroni out of the boxes to make her macaroni salad and they have a bunch of cheese packets left over from all this macaroni salad her mother makes for church, pot lucks, and whatnot, so she figured someone should be able to get use of the leftover cheese - I mean, some people like extra cheese in the mac n cheese, right?! Totally logical. And then it seems some people just have too much time on their hands to post random crap for free on craigslist.

Well today, a girl at work found this little gem:

"Always & Stayfree maxi-pads and panty liners NEW in packages:
I have one unopened package of 36 ct. Always ultra thin regular with flexi wings,
One package of 12 ct Always clean (have attached wipes with each pad) overnight ultra thin with wings.
Two packages for 34ct Always dri-liners for sizes 14+ (really they are the size of a maxi-pad as apposed to a regular panti-liner, but very thin.
I also have two packages of Stayfree dry max Clean (pad + wipe) 12ct.
I have reached that point in my life where I no longer need these products buy don't really want to return them to the store.
So you would be getting 5 packages totaling 128 pads for $10.
I meet at the Starbucks near 127th and Antioch, OP, KS 66213
If you see it here, I have it. I ALWAYS promptly delete sold items."

It just gets better as you read on, but there's a few of my favorite details I want to point out:
1. I love the detail description of every item, because if I was desperate enough to buy pads from someone I would definitely care what types they were.
2. "I've reached that point in my life where I no longer need these products..." Hmmm...awkward. She obviously means menopause, but you could change it to any hilarious situation you like. I like to imagine she [he] had a sex change operation and no longer has a period. You go boy! Which completely explains whey HE wouldn't want to return them to the store - guys don't do that sort of thing you know...
3. Would you even be ABLE to return this sort of thing to the store - who DOES that??! And what store would accept them back, oh yeah, WalMart.
4. Listing what a deal this is "You get 5 packages of 128 for the low, low bargain price of $10" - this is a BRILLIANT marketing scheme, I totally want to buy these just because WHAT A DEAL!
5. I think its even better that she's charging $10 for these rather than giving them away for free.
6. Meeting at Starbucks...can't you just picture this deal going down in a Starbucks??

I. Love. Craigslist.

Happy Half Birthday to my BeeBee!!

2011-07-29T08:20:00.005-05:00

Doesn't he just melt your heart? :o)

My baby is 6 months old. While I can't believe how fast the past six months have gone, I am loving every second of this age! He's so much fun, smiles and laughs all the time. We had his 6 month well baby visit and he weighs 19.9 lbs and is 27 3/4" long! He's so tall which makes me laugh cause his daddy and I are so not - haha!

We've had lots of new changes and happenings in Braz's little world. He's so close to crawling, he just needs to figure out how to put one hand/knee in front of the other to make himself go. Otherwise, he's completely mobile. He can get just about anywhere he wants to now. [Time to baby proof!!!] I had already started feeding him a little bit of cereal but just in his bottle. Since his well baby visit, he's been eating 2 bowls of rice cereal a day and has added BANANAS into the mix! Yum! It took him a couple days to get it down but he's finally figured it out I think and got impatient with mommy last night cause I wasn't feeding him fast enough. :o) Tonya had her baby so he's been going to a new sitter for the time being. Sarah has a 4 month old baby boy so Braz has had to share the spot light a little bit. I was worried he would miss all the attention but he seems happier than he ever has been! I think he likes having a buddy to play with. Sarah says he's a super good baby and the boys get along great. I won't worry about much now when he goes back to Tonya's cause he'll be used to another little one around. Sarah's an ex-photograher (only had an actual biz for a short time) and takes pictures all the time. On Braz's 6 month b-day, she pulled out her pro camera and took some pics of him while Truett was sleeping. The above pic is one that she took and they are absolutely my favorite pics of him. They show his personality perfectly!

My son is quite the jabberbox [don't know where he gets it]! He talks and jabbers all the time. He's added a TON of new consonants and sounds to his vocab. His favorite is "ba-ba-ba-ba" which sort of turns into "bah-bah" and "da-da". He's also added "n", "r", and "p" that I've noticed and "k". Its turning more into jabbering than just one sound. And his facial expression KILL ME when he's really getting into his little story! He's so funny! He's slipped in a couple of "mama" in his jibberish which I can't wait till he associates me with that word and starts saying it in context!!

I had to go through my little monster's clothes for the second time and weed out all the ones that don't fit anymore. His wardrobe has dwindled significantly!! I've bought a few onsies so he'd have plenty to wear this summer - thank goodness all he needs are onsies with this hot weather, they are the cheapest!! He needs to slow down on his growing [For oh, so may reasons! Ha!] He's already in his 6-9 month outfits. He zoomed right past the 6 months size!

Leah let us borrow Drake's old bouncy seat and Braz thinks its the greatest thing he's ever played with his whole entire life. He L-O-V-E-S to bounce in that thing. He smiles and laughs and jabbers and never seems to get tired of it. Its so cute!! When he's sitting in it and playing, I always say "Brazies like to bounce! Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy..." and he cracks up. A-Dor-Able! I think we should nickname him Tigger...

I've really, really, really wanted to take Braz to the pool so I could be there for his first time in the water but we just have not had the time/money to go! Sarah is taking him with her to her family reunion next Friday and she asked if she could take him in the pool with them before I get there to pick him up. I'm so torn because I want him to be able to go (I know he would LOVE it) but I want to be there for his first time...Being a working mom sucks! I hate missing out on things with him.

It seems like he's just getting so big. He's really becoming a little person and more and more interactive every day. He seems to know what's going on around him and reacts so much more to everything. He giggles when you tickle him now. He loves his daddy and thinks daddy is just hilarious! He'll watch Jason wherever he goes - although he still is definitely a momma's boy :o) Jason's gets to be more involved with feeding/putting him to sleep/etc now that we are doing more formula [post on bf'ing later] and I love that he's able to do more of these things. Not because I want to do them less, just because I feel he gets the shaft on spending time with Braz. I could sit here and write about him for a day and a half but I better wrap it up. Happy 1/2 year to my sweet, precious baby boy!! Mommy loves you like a fat kid loves cake...with sprinkles!!!!

Go check out my "365 Start Over"...

2011-07-07T12:29:00.001-05:00

Click link at the left!

Brazos is 5 Months!

2011-06-30T12:25:00.002-05:00

Gahhhh, the cuteness! ~SQUEEEEEE~

My wittle cutie patootie monster baby is 5 months old (as of 5 DAYS AGO - geez I'm a horrid mother)...

I suck so this is going to be short:

New things include: saying 'da-da-da-da-da' and many many other new syllables - he's quite the jabber box, fake crying, possibly fake coughing - I can't tell if its a real cough or not he doesn't really have a cold?, starting to reach when someone wants to hold him, a rolling MACHINE but not quite to crawling, still working on the sitting unattended he is soooo very close, loves to "jump" in your lap when you are standing him up (I think its time for one of those Johnny-jump-up things), thinks his big brother and daddy are hilarious, is a giggling fool, and we are starting him very slowly on cereal. I'm sure there's more but I'll edit it in later as I think of things...

Want to note though: I love this little man more and more every day. He's my happy place! Even when he pukes on me and wipes his boogey nose all over my shirt and cries ALL. THE. WAY. to grandma's house - all 2 hours of it, I still am a goofy smiley goober who couldn't be happier just rocking in the glider holding my little love. Things are crazy, super busy right now so I don't get to spend very much time with my favorite little man. Which makes me feel guilty and sad and grumpy and its-not-fair-stomp-my-foot-on-the-floor-like-a-toddler pouty. I'm so very, lucky to be his mommy but I can't say he's as lucky with me for a mommy. *Sigh* Poor kid.

What's New With Us...

2011-06-08T16:30:00.006-05:00

I love being a mommy :o)

So, what's new with the Allen's you ask? Loads! I'll give you a not-so-quick and long winded update for each of us.

Jason
Jason had shoulder surgery June 3rd to repair a slightly torn rotator cuff and some torn cartilage. So he's a gimp and constantly uses the joke "It wasn't me, it was the one armed man..." He's cheesy but I love him. Moving on, he's feeling great and thinking this surgery was a breeze and overdoing it if you as me (Edited to add: He had an appointment on the 9th with his doc who told him he was overdoing it - I love being right). Case in point: The evening after he had the surgery - just a mere 3 hours afterwards - we went to watch Jake play his baseball game an hour and a half away in the 90 degree heat. Brilliant. He said he would be/was fine but he looked a little green around the gills from the anesthesia wearing off after an hour or so. His reason for pushing himself to go - because he told Jake he would be there. In other Jason news, he's studying like crazy for the CSCS exam, reading his exam book from cover to cover, highlighter and notecards in hand. I'm very proud of him for taking this step. He hates tests but he's doing it anyway. Always constantly working on his goal of owning his own gym. Business is eh, ok right now. A little slow but that's pretty typical from I can tell for this time of year.

Little Ol' Me
Me, well I'm busy, busy, busy. I feel like I'm going non-stop from the time I get up till the time I go to bed. I didn't think I could get any busier until after Jason had his surgery and apparently, you can ALWAYS be busier than you are right now. My life pretty much revolves around Brazos and/or Jason so I don't have a lot to update about just MYSELF. I do have work news! I finally got notified where they are putting me...and its GOOD news! I'm officially moving into the Divisional Accounting department under the b*e*s*t Controller and the KC office. I was later notified that for now, it only going to be for 9-12 months since this controller usually gets the Senior Accountant of the group, but if after 9 months or so he wants to keep me, then I get to stay....which would mean a promotion! Now, to work my butt off for the next year, right? Fun times ahead I am sure. I'm losing my beloved Fixed Assets (note the hint of sarcasm) to the Tax department so I'll be phasing that into their hands over the next month and training on DA duties. Hoping to be completely transitioned by the middle of July. Which probably means end of August. So, that's exciting. I'm down to my last 4 lbs of baby weight which is muy awesome. I want to lose another 20 lbs besides that but I'm not letting myself think about that until after I've gotten to my pre-Brazos weight. I haven't dedicated myself as well as I should, don't work out as hard as I should, definitely not eating as I should. But, I'm still breastfeeding (so can't really cut calories like I want to) and I have a 4 month old at home that doesn't like to hang out while mommy's working out and a husband that doesn't get home till 8 every night and doesn't have time to train me. I'm hoping to kick my own butt once I'm no longer a milk factory and my body is 100% mine to abuse as I wish.

Jake the Snake
Jake is going to be moving on to the 2nd grade. Jason and I aren't happy about this decision but we'll see how it goes next year and hopefully we can try getting custody of him if he still hasn't improved. I guess that would be one positive side. But, school's out right now and we're focused on the fun summer ahead. Jake's in baseball for the first time this year. He's batting very well and if his coaches weren't dumb, and he got to rotate positions, I know he would be doing great in the field as well. He's currently stuck in right field or on the bench so he's not seeing a lot of action there. 90% of the team is made up of coach's sons so....yeah, there go. Nuff said. He's going to go to Branson for a week with him mom, grandmother and their family and then he's with us for the summer - excluding the 4th of July of course. We have him signed up for Summer Camp and I'm sooooo excited for him. He's going to have so much fun this summer! He's very excited :o) I hope he makes a few new friends so he has buddies down here to play with. He's made a little friend down the street from our house and stayed the night over there one night while we had him for the weekend. So glad he finally has a friend.

The Braz Monster
Braz is growing, growing, growing. I swear he looks bigger every day that I pick him up from Tonya's. He's a pro at rolling now, and he's even pushing up on his hands and rocking back onto his knees and scooting himself forward. I'm sure I'll be posting about him crawling in my next update or very soon after! We're still working on sitting up on his own. I think he's strong enough to do it, just need to practice a little more and spend a little more time in the bumbo. He's getting such a little personality and is becoming quite the momma's boy (he's completely fond of Tonya too though and I think he might trade me in if he could - HAHA). He's starting to giggle more and more and he's definitely a morning person. Very happy and smiley in the morning. Napping during the day isn't really his thing, but he's still sleeping through the night AND he's starting going to bed between 8:30 - 9:30. He's still my little snuggle bug. I hope that never goes away. And our favorite part of the day is when we get home after mommy gets off work and picks him up and we sit in the glider in his room and rock/eat/cuddle/relax. He's also quite the jabber box. Tonya says he jabbers to the TV, especially when the news anchors are on. He loves watching baseball or any sports for that matter on TV. Wonder who he gets that from? :o)

Right now, I'm keeping an eye out for a new place to rent. I want to move to a better neighborhood and school district. Haven't seen anything yet but we aren't in a hurry to move either. Jason's happy where we are but I'm not liking the neighborhood anymore and its not a good school district at all, so Momma gets what Momma wants I guess - LOL! I'll post more of an update on the house situations we have going on later...

Well, that's it! I'm sure I'm forgetting something or several somethings but its taken me a couple weeks to type up this one so I'm just going to post it and call it good. Chao!

FOU*R Months!

2011-06-02T13:30:00.002-05:00

Actually today Brazos is 4 Months and 1 week...but Momma's been busy.

Four Months, wow. I say it all the time, but I can't believe we are here already. Brazos is growing way too fast. We had his doctor's appointment on the 26th and he weighed 16.4 lbs, 75ish%, and is 27 inches, 92%!! Nurse thinks he's going to be tall - I have my doubts. HAHA! He got his second round of shots and did much better this time than the first time. He was more ticked off that she was holding him down than the actual shots and he screamed like crazy - then he was all better when Mommy picked him up. I love that :o) I took the day off just in case he felt crummy all day like he did last time but I had given him Tylenol before we went to his appointment and apparently that must have helped because he was in a pretty good mood all day. He did snooze most of the day (in my arms I might add - he's spoiled what can I say). We (Dr Boylan and I) decided that he's doing pretty well on breastmilk so we are going to hold off on starting the solid foods until 6 months...unless he goes through another growth spurt and mommy can't keep up again, I have the go ahead to start some rice cereal.

Some of his accomplishments: Well, I may duplicate some of these or miss some but here's what I can think of.
+He's a rolling fool - rolls from back to tummy to back to tummy. Although sometimes he'll roll over to his tummy and get ticked off because he's not on his back, like he forgets he can roll back over.
+When he's on his tummy, he does the "swimming pose" where his arms, legs, and head are in the air and just his belly's on the floor.
+He giggles but is pretty stingy lately with the laughs. Daddy is the most funny, I guess, because he gets giggles out of him the most. Mommy's just not funny...or maybe he just doesn't get my humor yet?! But we get BIG smiles all the time so I'm ok with that.
+And he flaps his arms when he gets really excited and grins really big.
+He's quite the talker - jabbers all the way to Tonya's most mornings.
+Also has learned how to blow raspberries and is quite fond of doing it - constantly! This one is fairly new.
+He's very good at grabbing his toys and has started putting things in his mouth once he has a hold of them.
+And his FACIAL EXPRESSIONS! This kid has a ton of them! His face is so expressive and its so funny to watch him when he gets to babbling.
+He loves to stand on your lap (while holding him up by his hands) and he's started "dancing" which basically consists of bending his knees and bouncing up and down and sometimes stomping one leg up and down.
+He also has this little came where he sits down/stands up repeatedly when he's standing in your lap...up, down, up, down, up, down...don't know where he got this one, just started doing it one day!
+He's currently wearing 3-6months clothes which are starting to get snug and 6 months clothes fit him pretty well. We'll be moving into the 6-9 mo before you know it - I think some of them could probably fit now!
+He's still sleeping through the night, although his typical bed time is 1030-11 so I wish he would move that up a little earlier. We'll be working on that very soon. I need to try the Cry It Out method I suppose, but I'm too much of a softy to do it. We'll see how that goes...Stayed Tuned on that one.
+I've tried a couple times to see how he does sitting up. I can tell it won't be too long till he can do it but we still have a ways to go. I'm going to try and work on this and use the Bumbo to strengthen his back muscles so he can maybe sit up by 6 months. I want to get some 6 month photos taken of him and it would be cute it he could sit up in them...

That's all I can think of at the moment. Overall, he's a very good, very happy boy and his Daddy and I just couldn't possibly love him any more than we do. He makes us laugh and smile, and we're so very proud that he's ours.

Rockfest 2011

2011-05-25T21:55:00.004-05:00

The morning started off rough. There was a lot of miscommunication between everyone about what time we were going, how we were getting there, etc. We finally left the house and got a couple miles down the road and realized we forgot our tickets so had to turn around and go get them. We had to go pick up Lindsey on our way to drop Gemma off. Ten minutes after we drop her off, Gemma decided to attack her sitter so we had to back-track to get her to Frank for the day, so we spent about 2 or 3 hours of the morning running around. Had to stop and get breakfast at a super packed McD's and FINALLY met the other group we were going with and headed to Liberty Memorial. It was a little too chilly, but much better than Mudfest last year. And actually wasn't too bad when we were down IN the crowd temp wise. We got kicked in the head a few times due to crowd surfers so we didn't stay in the crowd long... We all had a pretty good time, but were completely exhausted by the end of the night... Bands were, eh, ok but the best part was definitely getting to hang with everyone and the people watching....OH the people watching!!

Side note: I missed my baby terribly and was soooo ready to go get him Sunday morning! I just about cried when I finally got to mom's and scooped him up in my arms. He did great my mom said and they had fun, but I think I'll wait a little while before he stays the night away from me again!!

First Overnight Away Panic Attack

2011-05-13T16:00:00.004-05:00

I'm going to be without 'da Royal Cuteness ALL. WEEKEND.

Jason and I are going to Rockfest tomorrow so I'm taking him to stay with his Grammy tonight and tomorrow night.

o.O I'm not ready...

I would never survive as a 50's housewife...

2011-05-11T11:49:00.000-05:00

My house is a complete wreck all the time. Dishes always in the sink. Laundry piling up. Clothes to be folded. Stacks of papers and crap everywhere. I hate it but most of all JASON hates it and complains about it to me constantly. The problem is - I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO FIND THE TIME TO FIX IT!!!??????????

How do working mom's do it?? Seriously, I want to know....Really, PLEASE tell me. I don't know how to find the time without sacrificing what teeny tiny amount of quality time I have with Jason or getting less sleep (which i don't get very much to begin with).

Here's my schedule:

5:30-5:45 am - Get up to take shower, get dressed, get make-up on/hair done, etc.
6:30-6:45 am - Get Brazos up to feed, change him, etc. Pack diaper bag, pump bag, lunch, etc.
7:00-7:15 am - Leave the house
7:30-7:45 am - Drop Brazos off at Tonya's
8:15-8:30 am - Get to work
9:00 am - Pump
11:30 am - Lunch
12:00 pm - Pump
3:00 pm - Pump
4:30-5:00 pm - Leave work
5:45 pm - Pick up Brazos
6:00-6:15 pm - Get home, feed Brazos
6:45-7:00 pm - Workout (Or TRY to workout if B isn't fussy)
7:30 pm - Start supper (Feed B again right before or after)
8:00-8:30 pm - Jason Home
8:30-9:00 pm - Eat Supper, Feed Brazos
9:30 pm - Start trying to rock Braz to sleep, watch TV with Jason
10:00-11:30 pm - Get Brazos to sleep, go to bed

Seriously...where do I put cleaning house?? Brazos is usually pretty fussy and needy in the evenings and I'm lucky to get a workout in and supper done. Sometimes Jason cooks supper but I'm usually dealing with Brazos during those nights and he won't let me put him down for more than 10 minutes without screaming and fussing. I guess I could just let him scream?! A lot of times I do to get the dish washer unloaded and loaded, but that's about all I get done. I could do housework and let Jason rock Brazos while he's watching TV in the evenings but then I get ZERO time with Jason. OR, I could stay up after Brazos goes to sleep and do some but by that time I'm always so completely exhausted all I can do is go to bed. Jason INSISTS that I workout every night (damn me for telling him I wanted him to stay on my butt after I had Brazos so I could get my weight down), so I can't cut out the workouts. I could workout over my lunch break I suppose and free up 30 minutes for housework in the evenings but I usually work through my lunch. I could get up earlier and do my workout so I free up some time in the evening, but, again, I would get less sleep than I already do and I feel like I barely function as it is.

Am I just feeling sorry for myself and should just suck it up and do my "job" regardless of how little sleep and time I spend with Jason?!

I don't know how to do it and I feel horrible for not being able to do a better job (Jason's not exactly making me feel any better about it either). AND, Jason has breaks during the day where he's home alone a lot of the times, should I expect him to do housework while he's home?? I think he would expect me to do it if the schedules were reversed.

THANKFULLY, my cousin Sam is coming over to clean once a week (ie bathrooms, vacuum, dust, etc.) so at least I don't have to worry about that part but the house is a cluttered mess still and I have laundry to do, clothes to fold and Brazos' room is a nightmare...The house gets trashed between Wednesdays when she comes over.

Ugh. I wish I had two more hands and two more hours in the day. :o(

My Very First Mother's Day

2011-05-09T12:13:00.004-05:00

I have to start off by saying, my husband is amazing. He made my first mother's day so very special. He really put some effort into making the day great and I am so thankful and feel very blessed to have him in my life.

My weekend started off on Friday night when he gave me my jogging stroller I've been wanting. I got to use it in the park on Saturday (well he pushed while we were jogging) where I very, very sloooowly jogged my first 2 miles in over a year!! I haven't even ran a MILE in a year let alone T*W*O miles and outside no less - not on a treadmill. It felt horrible and it was an ugly, ugly run but I did it! LOL! Saturday night, Jason cooked out steaks on the grill and we made baked potatoes with broccoli cheese sauce. With the gorgeous weather and cold beer it was an AWESOME dinner. Later we decided we needed to make a run for Cold Stone Creamery and have some ice cream - it wasn't as good as we were hoping so next time we've decided just to do DQ or Sonic ice cream (HAHA).

Sunday morning I got to sleep in and I was greeted with a yummy Mimosa in bed to start my day. I got to lounge in bed and read a book all morning and just relax which was VERY much needed and felt grrreat! I then got breakfast in bed - Jason's awesome breakfast tacos! My sweet baby boy let mommy sleep in too! He didn't get up until 10! He loves his mommy :o) Brazos got me a new "B" baby block charm to go on my expressions bracelet (the Helzberg version of Pandora bracelets), and Jason got me two new cute tops! One of them to wear out on our date for my Birthday in a couple weeks and the other in the picture above to wear out on our PICNIC he had planned for our lunch that day at the park! It was so sweet and he made sandwiches and everything for our little picnic... The weather was gorgeous and although a little windy it was absolutely perfect. We all went out, including Gemma, to enjoy the day and lunch at the park.

When we got home, Jason got a call on his cell phone and it was Jacob, calling to wish me a Happy Mother's Day!! So sweet!! He was so excited to tell me Happy Mother's Day and I wished he could have been with us to celebrate the day and enjoy the picnic especially, but I'm sure he had a great day with his Momma instead.

We finished out the evening with Celebrity Apprentice and he made me supper again so I could relax and snuggle with my baby boy. I feel like I already had the best gift of all and that was being a mommy to begin with! But, my boys really made me feel super pampered and loved all weekend, I love them so much!! :o)

Jobs Blow...

2011-05-09T10:32:00.002-05:00

So, I had a quick little meeting with my boss the other day so she could let me know that they are moving me...again. BUT, not just moving my desk and supervisor and adding more duties to my list this time, oh no, this time they are completely taking my job duties away from me, moving them to another department and THEY DON'T REALLY KNOW YET WHERE THEY ARE GOING TO PUT ME!?!! WTF? I can move to the tax department where they are putting my Fixed Asset duties but I H-A-T-E tax and I really don't see how I would be of any added value there...and I haven't been quiet about my distaste for all things tax EVER so anyone you ask that knows me at all can tell you that!

Ok, I'm starting to get a complex here people.

She even went so far as to say "We don't want to lose you, you're a great worker and super sharp"...yeah, too late for the pep talk lady. AND to make it WORSE she added "This could be a great opportunity for you". Ugh. Yeah, she went THERE. Don't patronize me people. It took every ounce of will power and self control not to be a total bitch about this and get nasty hateful. But, its not my boss's fault and I just kept telling myself that and tried not to cry...

This completely sucks, I mean, I work VERY HARD (despite my occasional days of blog posting) and I do a good job! I'm not going to let myself feel like I'm not doing a good job, but this is making me VERY nervous. They have no room for me in my current department and I really don't see any room for me anywhere else that isn't a demotion. I was already having a hard time coming in to work everyday because I miss Brazos so bad so this is really, really, really bad timing...I can't tell you how hard it is for me not to walk up to my nearest supervisor and tell them to suck it, I quit.

Being a grown-up professional sucks sometimes - my inner child is stomping its foot and saying "NO I DON'T WANNA MOVE AGAIN!". So, what to do? Stay and take a chance and see what they offer me or find another job? Sigh...did I mention this sucks?

Brazos' Announcement @ Lockton

2011-05-09T10:16:00.000-05:00

What's Up At Lockton: Baby Allen

New Arrivals

Baby Allen

Dawn and Jason Allen welcomed baby Brazos Carl into their family on Tuesday, January 25th. Brazos weighed in at 9 pounds and 1 ounce and was 20.5 inches long. The Allens couldn't be more excited about the new addition to their family!
Expires
2/26/2011

Created at 1/26/2011 1:53 PM by Harper, Sara
Last modified at 1/26/2011 1:53 PM by Harper, Sara

Hoppy Easter Ya'll :o)

2011-05-07T12:52:00.005-05:00

We went down to Texas for Easter. This was Brazos' first trip down south and by far his longest car ride to date. I sat in back with the B monster and Jake rode shot-gun. He was pretty excited to ride up front AND to go see our family!

Doesn't he look so cute with front teeth!! :o)

Ready to hit the road!

Brazos did awesome on the way down! Only fussed a little when he was hungry. I made sure to feed him at every stop so he could stretch a little. I was so proud of him! We did have SEVERAL poopie diapers on the way down though - little stinker!

Friday morning we made our typical pit stop at Shipley's in Waco for breakfast and hit the last leg of our trip there. When we finally made it to Tom and Pam's, Jason and I crashed and took a little nap. (Well Jason tried, Gemma was being a pain so he only got about 45 minutes or so) Mimi got to spend some quality time with the boys while we rested. Memaw and Papaw were the first ones to arrive to see us and meet Brazos. Memaw snatched Brazos away from Mimi real fast.

Jason and I went on a little shopping trip for clothes for our family pics. We stopped and had Freebirds for lunch. It was delish as usual!! Oh how I love me some Freebirds... We shopped a little and Jason pooped out on me so I went back to the mall later while he finished his nap.

Saturday the family all came over for lunch and to meet Brazos first the first time. I didn't think I was going to get Brazos back from Aunt Julie! Everyone was pretty taken with him, which isn't too surprising, and they all spoiled him pretty good. We took family pics with Elise on Saturday and got some pics of Brazos for his 3 months. She's the photog that took our wedding pics last summer. I can't wait to see them! She had quite the chore getting all four grandkids to take a good pic, but I think she got a couple of good ones in there.

Saturday night, Jason and I got to go out on a mini-date. We went to take Jacob out to stay the night at Memaw & Papaw's and went by Mumsy's house to check on her and say hello. After we visited with Mumsy for a little bit, we decided to go to Casa Ole for dinner - just the two of us. Casa Ole has the B-E-S-T pina colada's ever! So, of course, I had to have one of those with my dinner. It was nice to sit down and eat just the two of us. We at super fast and was only there for about 15 minutes...I guess we are not used to having so much free time to eat anymore! HAHA

Sunday the Easter Bunny came!! Yay!!

Jake's Easter Basket - A new ball glove!! :)

Brazos' Easter Basket - Some new binkies and an AC/DC onesie!!

After Jake hunted the Easter eggs the Easter Bunny left, we all got ready and went to church. The place was PACKED and we had to sit out in the lobby and watch one of the monitors right outside one of the nursery's so it was a little hard to hear but I'm still glad we went. After church, the kiddos hunted for Easter eggs in the backyard (Brazos had to watch of course but he'll be running around with them next year I'm sure!). After church we took them (minus Brazos) to see "Hop". It was freaking adorable! The kids loved it...and so did I actually... I want a bunny!!

We had a great visit and none of us were ready to leave - well, Jason really just didn't want to have to make the 12 hour drive again...HAHA

The Allen Grandkids

On the way home poor Jacob got carsick while he was trying to do some homework. But other than that we had a smooth trip home. We stopped in Gainsville to eat at Cracker Barrell and once we left Texas it rained on us the entire way home. Brazos slept the entire way back. Again, I was super, super proud and a very happy Mommy that he did so well! We'll see how he does on the way down for Christmas this year. He'll be almost a year old by then and it may be a whole new ball game then...

Brazos' Life: Quarter 1

2011-04-29T12:06:00.003-05:00

My baby is 3 MONTHS (as of Monday)! Wow!

He's growing so much and has changed a ton in the past couple weeks alone. He's such a good baby and I love my little stinker to pieces!!

I weighed him yesterday and my little chunky monkey is 16.6 lbs! I haven't measured him so I'm not sure how many inches he's grown but I know he's definitely gained some height in the last month! We don't have another doc appointment until May 26th so I'll have to wait for the official stats until then.

More updates and pics to come from our fun family Easter weekend to Texas and just life in general - as soon as I find the time to sit at home and re-cap everything! Being a working mom keeps you busy, busy, busy...

There was one in the bed and the little one said "Roll Over, Roll Over"

2011-04-18T15:11:00.003-05:00

We all know that I let my Braz monster sleep on his tummy cause that's what he likes. Well, last night I put him to bed on his tummy as usual and he woke up at 2 a.m. this morning which is NOT usual. I stumbled sleepily into his room and peek in his crib and....

He was looking right back at me - ON HIS BACK! He rolled over in his sleep!

Brazos has not rolled over since he was 3 weeks old which makes me feel like those rollovers shouldn't count since he didn't have the chub to have to roll around like he does now. So, mark another accomplishment off his list!

We've officially begun mobilization people! Next thing you know he'll be scootin', then crawling, then -EEK- WALKING!

You're My Honeybunch, Sugar Plum, Pumpy-umpy-umpkin!

2011-04-15T13:42:00.008-05:00

Brazos Carl Allen is 11 weeks old (on Tuesday) ~ how that happened I'm still trying to figure out. This pic was from last Sunday. He thinks his Daddy is kind of funny. I have to agree. :o) Its from Jason's phone so its a little fuzzy but you can still see the cuteness ~ could probably spot it from a mile away.

Just wanted to jot down a few of the Braz man's little quirks and accomplishments:
*He is soooooooo close to giggling, still. I could almost count a couple times as a giggle, but nothing official...yet. Tonya says he's so close, he sort of has his own little "almost" giggle.
*He has a short fuse temper. The boy will be smiling and cooing one second and a split, half-second later he's pissed and screeching at the top of his tiny lungs ie "You better come pick me up NOW or your ear drums will bleed!". And he could make your ear drums bleed, you best believe.
*When he's nursing, he always hikes his top leg up onto my chest and puts his foot on my arm and, like, stomps his foot on my arm. Its the cutest thing....I don't know why, it just IS. *He will be nursing for a while and then all the sudden he'll pause and look up at me for a second and then smile real big with boob still in his mouth. I don't know what's so funny but he does it a lot, almost every time. Maybe he's just enjoying dinner or the means in which dinner is served - typical man, right?!
*He's starting to play with his toys hanging from his car seat and from his bouncer. The red star on his bouncer is old news but he still only has eyes for the red star when it comes to playing in the bouncer. His monkey on his car seat though is new and he lurves it! He bats it with his hand and tries really hard to grab it. Its like he's concentrating soooooo hard just to reach up there, open his hand, and grab onto the fuzzy little monkey. He misses several times and has to start over but every once in a while he gets the timing right and grabs on...same with the red star.
*Jason and I have noticed he seriously favors his left hand. He uses it a LOT more than the right. Could possibly have a lefty on our hands...
*He's happiest in the morning right after he's eaten. Those used to be our "chit-chat" times but that doesn't happen any more since Mommy's gone back to work. He still loves to "oooh" and jabber back and forth with mommy though and he's adding to the different sounds he makes all the time.
*Loves to be sung to. Either Daddy singing to him with the iPod or Mommy's silly singing "My honeybunch" or "You are my sunshine" to him. He just lays in our arms and stares, smiles, coos...so cute.
*When you hold him, he is so snuggly! He "hugs" his arms around you: one around your arm and one around your neck. I guess you have to say "around" loosely since he can't really fit his little arms "around" anything. He's just so sweet and snuggly. And always wants to be held and snuggled. This is good and bad. Very bad when you are trying to do dishes, supper, get dressed, GO TO THE BATHROOM. When he wants to be held, he does NOT want to be put down even for a minute. Its the worst in the evening...Daddy and I are ready for this to ease up a little bit at least in the evenings. Its a little exhausting. Especially since he doesn't go to bed until 9:30 - 10 at the earliest.
*He's been sleeping through the night for about 3 weeks now. I switch him from back to belly and he's been an all-nighter ever since. "Back Is Best" my petunia! He's only had one night where's he hasn't slept 6 straight hours [at least] and that was the night before my first day back to work (go figure).
*Braz seems to be doing really well with Tonya, which I am so grateful for. She seems to be great with him and gives him lots of love and attention. Since I can't be there to do it, I'm so thankful I have someone that can be.
*His face is VERY expressive. He's always making little faces and uses his eyebrows a lot. He crinkles his little nose when he smiles or coo's at you. He furrows his eyebrows all the time and looks so serious... His little face is so easy to read. Its pretty funny to watch him actually!

This is all I can really think of at the moment. He's such a good baby and already has such a little personality. I'm so torn ~ sometimes I just can't hardly wait for him to hurry and grow up some more so I can see he'll be like in the next stage, and the next, and the next... But then, I just want him to stay this little and stay my precious little baby Brazos forever! Isn't that the eternal mommy struggle, though? :o) I love my little man so much and I absolute adore being his mommy. I am so very blessed to have him in my life!

Going Back to Work

2011-04-08T14:31:00.007-05:00

I miss my little man to pieces!

Coming back to work was just as hard (if not harder) as I imagined. I didn't want to leave him when I dropped him off, thought about him every second of the drive to work, missed him terribly every moment of the day, and was a antsy mess waiting for 4:30 to roll around (not to mention a cheesing, giddy GOOB and practically skipped up to Tonya's front door when I picked him up). I will admit though, once I got to work and got going, I didn't feel like sobbing and feeling sorry for myself every ten minutes, so that was a plus. Today the drop off was easier but the day is worse. Obviously I'm having a hard time concentrating - case in point I'm writing a Post on the blog. So glad its Friday and I have the weekend to soak up some snuggle time with him.

I never dreamed in a million years that I would be wanting to be a stay-at-home mom so badly. I always knew I would be a working mom. And I can't say that I want to be a SAHM necessarily, I am just desperate to be with Braz all day every day of his precious little life. I miss spending my morning with him on my lap, jabbering back and forth with each other. He's so happy in the morning. And, nursing him to sleep for every nap and being the one to come pick him up and love on him when he woke. I want to be able to bring him to bed with me in the mornings so we can sleep in together or take a cat nap together in the rocker. I was his one and only, no one else was with him as much or knew him like I did. I was in every second of his life (minus one or two hours) and I was his favorite. I comforted him like no one else. Maybe that won't change but my heart aches when I think of all the things I'm going to miss. Things mommy's shouldn't miss.

BUT, I just remind myself that I am NOT the first woman to have to go back to work after having a baby. I want to be able to help provide a better life for our family and it is so much easier to do that if I'm working. We'll be able to do great family vacations this way too. In the grand scheme of things, I know this is for the best but being a grown up sucks sometimes. Right now all I want to do is stay home and play with my kiddo, snuggle him and smootch on him and make him smile and coo. *Pouty Lip*

I will make it. I will survive this. It will get easier...right?!

2 Months Old!

2011-03-31T10:01:00.006-05:00

My sweet baby boy is 2 months old (this post is about a week old but things have been a little busy 'round here). On the 25th, he had his 2 month check up and his first round of shots - I'll get back to that in a second. Brazos is 14 lbs 9 1/2 oz, 96.8 percentile, and is 24 1/4 inches long, 90.76 percentile. Needless to say, he's a big, strong healthy boy!

Brazos has been sleeping AWESOME! He's still sleeping 6-7 hours before waking to eat and then goes back down for 3-4 more hours. And last night, he slept through the entire night! 8 Hours! I have the best baby in the world...He's so good to his mommy. :o)

He's also cooing and smiling a TON. He and I just jabber away at each other when he's finally awake for the day - that's when he's at his happiest. I love sitting with him in my lap, facing each other and he's just cooing and aahhing and smiling at me. That time is so precious to me and I'm trying to soak up every second of it while I can. The other day when we were having one of our morning "chats", he looked down and noticed his feet. He just STARED at them for a long time like he'd never noticed those crazy things at the end of his legs before. I leaned him forward a little and put his hands on his feet so he could check 'em out a little more and his eyes got even wider. He thought that was pretty cool. He also LOVES for us to stand him up on our laps when we hold him - he thinks he's pretty big stuff standing there like that. His little legs are so strong, he can stand there for a long time - his balance is crazy wobbly though HAHA. Brazos has noticed the TV and likes to sit with us and watch it (see picture on Daddy's tummy above) - so sad that he's so mesmerized by the boob tube already. Oh well. Whatever makes my punkin happy! I'm such a sucker already. And, at night when mommy's cooking supper, Braz loves for Daddy to turn on his iPod and sing to him. He coo's and tries to sing along with Daddy. Its adorable :o)

At his 2 month appointment, Braz had to get his first shots. It was so horrible and traumatic - for Mommy much more than Brazos! He was smiling and flirting with the nurse (too much like his Daddy I tell ya LOL) and she gave him the first shot. It must not of been too bad cause he looked at her for a split second and then went back to smiling and cooing. Then the second shot...OMGoodness!! Horrible. He screamed and did the silent, beet red face cry. She did the third shot and wasn't much different. Then I scooped him up to snuggle him and he was making the most pathetic, sad cry you've ever heard in your life. It was awful. It made Mommy cry too. It took me a few minutes to calm him down so that I could get him in the carseat again to go home. When we got home he was so clingy and I could tell he didn't feel good. I finally had to ask Daddy to come home and bring our baby some Tylenol. His little leggies were hurting him so bad. All he wanted to do was cuddle with Mommy and even that he would wimper and cry when he moved his legs.

My poor sweet baby!

Mommy was trying to make it better - look at his sad little face!! :o(

I told you! So sad!! Anyway, he slept and slept and slept for about 24 hours and then finally got to feeling better. He has to go back to the doctor in May for his 4 month appointment and for another round of shots. Mommy's going to give him Tylenol before we go this time so maybe it won't be as bad - for Brazos anyway.

That's about it on Brazos, I think. I love him so much sometimes I think I might combust when I see him! This Sunday, Jason and I have a wedding to go to for one of his clients so Brazos is going to stay with his "Aunt" Lindsey for the evening. This will be the longest I'm away from him since he's been born - I'm so nervous! But it'll be good practice for when I go back to work next Thursday. REALLY dreading next Thursday. He's going to go hang out with Tonya on Monday for a "practice" run so I can see how long it takes to get to her house in the morning with traffic and I'm going to do somethings around the house, run some errands, etc while he's there and they are getting acquainted with each other. Tuesday he and I are taking another roadtrip to SEK so I can get my hair done and we are going to go visit Great-Grandma Kay. Wednesday I plan on snuggling him all day long and doing nothing else...I'm tearing up already thinking about Thursday. Boo. :o(

When Life Hands You Lemons

2011-03-29T14:26:00.003-05:00

Today is the day. Grandpa's visitation and tomorrow's the funeral. The last couple of days its really hit me. He's gone. My Grandpa was a wonderful man. We've all been smiling, laughing and reminising about all the funny things he used to do and say. We fondly remember his sweet tooth and love for all things lemon flavored. But something I never really thought about until now is that he was handed a lot of crappy cards on the health side of life and hasn't been in good health for the last 20 years but I never really heard him complain about it. In fact, every time I saw him he had a huge smile on his face and wanted to know all about what I had been up to and what I was doing. He was so very proud of all of us kids. So proud. Didn't matter what we were doing or what we'd accomplished, his eyes would twinkle with pride. I'm going to miss him terribly. Today and tomorrow are going to be hard but its all the days after that are going to be truly trying... Love you Grandpa.

Grandpa's Obituary

2011-03-27T16:57:00.001-05:00

PITTSBURG — David L. Burr, 76, of Pittsburg, KS, passed away at 6:10 p.m., Thursday, March 24, 2011 at Sunset Manor Nursing Home in Frontenac, KS.He was born October 23, 1934, at Pittsburg, KS, to Jack V. and Ella A. (Campbell) Burr. David grew up and attended local Pittsburg schools and graduated from Pittsburg High School in 1952. He graduated from Pittsburg State University with a Business Administration degree in 1956. On June 8, 1956, he was married to Kathleen (Kay) Kauble in Pittsburg, KS. Mr. Burr worked as the Sports Editor of the Morning Sun during his senior year of college. After graduation, he worked for Hallmark Cards in Kansas City. He resigned to work for Swift & Company as a sales representative and plant manager. In 1970, he went to work for George H. Weyer, Inc. of Kansas City, MO as a sales representative. He worked at the manager of Rio Grande Village for National Park Concessions at Big Bend National Park in Texas. Mr. Burr then worked on the staff at Elm Acres as a shift supervisor from 1985 to 1990. In 1993, he was employed by Envision, Inc. to open, staff and manage a manufacturing plant in Pittsburg. He continued working there until he retired in May 1998. Membership was held in the Crossroads Baptist Church, A.F. & A.M. Lodge #261, Scottish Rite at Ft. Scott, KS. He is survived by his wife Kathleen (Kay) Burr of the home; two sons, Rod Burr and his wife Debra of Elkton, MD, and Mark Burr and his wife Patsy; one daughter, Karla Tersinar and her husband Jeff of Hepler, KS; two sisters, Judy Crews and husband Bob of Pittsburg, KS, and Beverly Fite and husband Larry of Pittsburg, KS; nine grandchildren, Stormie and Samantha Burr, Dawn Allen and husband Jason of Martin City, MO, Joshua Tersinar of Olathe, KS, Heather Busch and husband Walter of Pittsburg, KS, Dustin Tersinar and wife Amelia of Pittsburg, KS, and Jason, Megan, and Shaun Burr of Elkton, MD.; five great-grandchildren; Sidney and Lundon Tersinar of Olathe, KS, Jacob and Brazos Allen of Martin City, MO, and Maxwell Busch and Baby Busch due in September, of Pittsburg, KS. He was preceded in death by his parents and one grandson Matthew Burr. Celebration of Life services will be at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday (March 30) at Crossroads Baptist Church, south of Girard, KS, with Rev. Mike Buckamneer officiating. The family will receive friends from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Brenner Mortuary. Memorials may be directed to Elm Acres Youth and Family Services/D.C.C.C.A. and/or Crossroads Baptist Church. These may be left at or mailed to Brenner Mortuary, 114 E. 4th St., Pittsburg, KS 66762 Friends may also leave condolences online at www.brennermortuary.com. Arrangements are under the direction of the Brenner Mortuary, Pittsburg,

Enough about ME...

2011-03-17T13:12:00.002-05:00

...Let's talk about the boys of the family.

Brazos is growing so fast. I feel like I have to look at him every few minutes or I'm going to turn around and see a 2 year old. I'm trying to soak in every moment - and three weeks from today I'll have fewer opportunities to do that! But let's not talk about that or I may cry. Brazos turned 7 weeks on Tuesday (15th). He's smiling and cooing a ton now. He loves it when Daddy or I sing to him and loves to be talked to. Yesterday I laid him down on his play mat and he was mesmerized. He laid there for a quite a while just happy as a lark cooing away. Yay for entertaining himself and not needing to be held! I've officially moved him from his bassinet to his crib. I started with just naps and Tuesday night I let him sleep in his crib at night too. One reason for doing this is so I can take down his pack n play and another is because he's getting too long for his bassinet! And I need to confess (his doctor would seriously frown) but I've been laying him on his tummy for his naps and last night I let him sleep on his tummy and guess what - he slept for FIVE AND A HALF HOURS! And so did Mommy, it was awesome. I know, I know...he's not supposed to be on his tummy and I give myself a lecture every time I do it and have a slight panic attack as I leave the room but he sleeps SO MUCH BETTER on his tummy and its too hot right now to swaddle him (not that he stays in it anyway). But I digress... Next week is his two month appointment and he gets his first round of shots. Mommy is very, very nervous - I'm not ready for shots. :o(

Jacob is coming for a three day weekend this weekend. YAY! Daddy is pretty giddy about getting him for three whole days. Jake has a parent teacher conference today and Dad went to his school early to sit in class with him for a couple hours to see how he does with him in the room. Mrs. Stock set up a special time for Jason and Janet to meet since they had some extra issues to talk about. Hopefully they can all come to an agreement today on whether or not to hold Jacob back a grade. Mrs. Stock and Jason (and I for that matter) agree that it would be in Jake's best interest to redo the first grade. He's just not ready and it would be very beneficial for him to get a second chance to catch up and mature a little more. He's not at the same level as the rest of his classmates and its better to do it now then later when he has stronger friendships with the kids in his grade. Unfortunately Janet does not agree and she has the final say in the matter so we shall see how today goes. I'm hoping whatever's best for Jacob is the winning decision today. I think there's a lot of life changes going on for Jake right now with Jason and I getting married and Brazos coming into the picture. He loves his little brother but I'm wondering if he isn't starting to feel a little jealousy. I know that will change once he can play with Brazos some more but for now, Jason and I are just trying to give Jake some special attention and some one-on-one time with Jason. I know everything will be fine, I just don't want Jake to feel left out. Other than that, Jacob is his same silly, sweet self. He's loving wrestling still and Jason's trying to get him on a wrestling team in St. Joe. A couple weekends ago, I found him some practically brand new wrestling shoes and head gear at a consignment sale I went to - SCORE - so he's got to practice with dad with some real gear that weekend. There was also another kid his age at the gym so he got to wrestle a little with a kid too. He loves wrestling! Wonder where he gets that from... ;o)

Jason is crazy busy with work these days which is good since I'm on maternity leave and as of Tuesday my short term disability is done (eek). He's working on getting his bootcamps started up and trying to advertise like crazy to get them filled. Its so nice for us to be able to see each other on his breaks during the day. When I'm working, we don't get to see each other much during the week except for a couple hours in the evenings. Its going to be hard going back to that in a couple weeks. We'll just have to schedule in some "us" time here and there.

Speaking of us time, Jason surprised me the other day and told me he's taking us on a cruise the day after Christmas - just the TWO of us! Yay! Its only going to be a three day cruise but that's three marvelous days of alone time. We will be in Texas for Christmas so his mom is going to watch the boys. I'm so excited!!

The Allen family is going to Texas for Easter next month too. I can't wait to see everyone and for the rest of the family to meet Brazos. He's going to be spoiled ROTTEN that weekend from being held 24/7. We are going to get family pics while we are down there as well - hopefully some in the bluebonnets again too.

I know there is more to update but I can't think of anything else at the moment so I'll post more later.

Happy St. Patty's Day Everyone! Drink a Guinness for me :o)

This is About ME

2011-03-09T19:11:00.005-06:00

Hi. I'm a mom. Wow...didn't really ever think that was going to happen and always wanted to be a mom. Now that I am? I LOVE IT!! But, I'm already realizing you start losing a little bit of yourself here and there. I would never trade it for the world, but it seems like you decide to give up one thing after another when you are a wife/mommy and you never realize you're doing it until one day you are in the same pj's for the third day in a row without a shower, no makeup or deodorant, for that matter....you look down at your squishy stretch marked tummy and the barely-hangin-on-to-your-big-toenail dark blue nail polish from the the pedi your friend got you two months ago and wonder..."What just happened??" Hypothetically speaking that is...ahem. Anyway, I just wanted to type out a post about myself and how I'm doing without any mention of my favorite little person. Sorry if you were wanting a baby update, you can stop reading now.

I lost 40 lbs after having the little person who shall not be mentioned in this post. Yay me. And then nada. So, I started slowly exercising again. Nothing. Now, I'm amping up the exercise every day and trying to watch what I eat which has gotten me...+2 lbs. What the hell. This is going to be interesting, isn't it?! Don't answer that. I'm DETERMINED to lose at the very least 20 more lbs before summer and another 10 by fall. I'm just worried about dieting while I'm breastfeeding. Anyone got any suggestions on that?? What's safe? My typical dieting is cutting WAY back on my portion sizes....to unhealthy amounts so I need some advice on that one.

I have a hair appt for the first time in MONTHS and MONTHS with my most favorite hair dresser in G-Town. Yes, I'm driving all the way home just for a hair cut and color but she's the best and even with the cost of gas, still cheaper than getting same thing done in the city. Sad, non? Here's what I'm thinking about getting done:

Opinions???

I desperately want to go shoe and clothing shopping! My hubbs gave me $50 in gift cards to Macy's. I haven't gone yet because there will be overspending...much overspending. I'm afraid for my bank account.

We bought a new car - YAY NO MORE VAN!!!!! Its an 09 Saturn Aura and I love it to pieces. It has Jason's name on it but its M-I-N-E. Happy me. Here's a pic. (That being said, I want to buy my sister a new car - the guilt is killing me. Our van died and we had to get a new one but she STILL needs a new car more than I do. Sorry Heather)

I don't want to talk about all the sad stuff that's been going on in my world this week...so I won't mention the death of TWO family members and another in serious condition in ICU. Its been a horribly rough week.

Did you know you HAVE to have your birth certificate to get your Missouri driver's license??? How freaking dumb is that?? I mean, I didn't need it for my Social Security Card...isn't that a little more serious than a driver's license?? Rah-Tarded.

I am desperate for some quality time with my hubby that last longer than 15 minutes. And to be able to actually do something in that quality time - hopefully will get good news on that tomorrow at my postpartem appt. Wish me luck with the duckbill and spot light.

I miss not smelling like a week old gym sock and being able to wear a bikini in public...but, its worth it. :o)

One Month Old

2011-02-28T18:12:00.003-06:00

My baby is one month old... wow, it really does go by so fast!

We had his one month appt and he's 12 lbs, 22 1/2 inches. He's gained 3 lbs since his one week appt. Dr. Boylan says he looks perfect! But of course I already knew that.

We are getting into a sleeping routine. He goes to bed at 11, wakes up between 1:30 am and 2:30 am and then get up again around 4:30 am. Then he sleeps till about 6 or 7. Its not the greatest nights sleep for mommy but he's gone a couple night with a 4 1/2 hour stretch of sleep so I have high hopes for the future.

On 2/15, he surprised mommy and rolled over from his tummy to his back. He did it three more times for daddy about a week later and hasn't done it since but I think we can count it as a milestone reached (very early I might add).

He is starting to smile at us, mostly in the mornings, which melts his mommy into a puddle on the floor. He's making 'coo' and 'aah' sounds - adorable - and likes tummy time so far. He loves to have his feet rubbed/kissed/tickled. Does pretty well with the carseat (most of the time). And does well when we take him out to eat (all but one time). And he is a BIG cuddler - which I love (except when I'm trying to get things done around the house).

All around he is a very good boy who has his mommy wrapped around his little finger!

Brazos Carl Allen is here!!

2011-02-04T16:12:00.003-06:00

Funny thing when you complain...

Brazos (pronounce with short vowels instead of long vowels) was born on his due date! So little did I know as I was complaining about my ticker mocking me with one day remaining - I was going to go into labor that night!

So, here's the Birth Story:

On Monday night (24th), I started having mild contractions around 10:45, which would have been no big deal except I had yet to have ANY painful contractions at all. Jason and I went ahead and laid down and tried to get some sleep and to see if they went away on their own. I didn't get any sleep and the contractions just continued and started getting stronger. I decided to try a hot shower. I thought maybe that may make them subside or at least if they didn't stop, I would have gotten a shower in before going to the hospital (very thankful for this later). The hot shower only made my contractions harder. When I tried to lay down, I was struggling to breath through them and they were coming pretty quickly one right after the other - 45 seconds to a minute. I told Jason we better go ahead and get everything rounded up and head to the hospital. This was around 12:45 am.

We called out parents on the way to the hospital to let them know we were going in. Once we got there, they set me all up and checked me - I was only 1.5 cm but they said they would check me again in an hour and let the doc know where I was and decide from there whether to admit me. She asked me how far apart my contractions were and I told her 45 seconds to a minute and she looked at me like I was crazy. After the crazy look, I thought maybe I was counting them wrong or something. After an hour she came back in and checked me and confirmed that yes, I was having contractions very quickly, one right on top of the other practically, and that I was having three contractions in one. (Another instance where I'm right, big surprise :) She checked me and I was at 3 cm. Whoo hoo! So, they admited me, time was 2:30 am. So Jason called/text everyone to let them know. Fifteen minutes later the anestesilogist came in and gave me my epidural, I hated every second of it but LOVED her afterwards. Epidurals are beautiful things, I don't know why any mother wouldn't get one. The rest of my labor was a breeze. I progressed steadily - getting 1-2 cm further every hour or so.

Once I was to an 8, my Dr. came in and broke my water. It was a big pop and a HUGE gush came out and hit the doc in the arm and went all over my leg - I was numb and I could feel it hit my leg if that gives you an idea. Sorry if this is TMI, it was just too funny. The doc jumped back when it hit her and then she laughed and said that was one of the top gushers she ever had. Not an accomplishment I'll be hanging on the wall any time soon, but again, funny. They got me all cleaned up and checked his head location and he was still way too high (and his head was huge - nice little side note she added when telling me the location). So the nurse said we'd try moving him down ourselves by having me lay in different positions to naturally push him down instead of having me push for hours and hours. I was fully dialted to 10 cm about an hour or two before he actually got his head down far enough. It took three or four hours of manuevering me around and laying in funny positions but I finally got his head down to where I could push. And, the pushing began. The pushing didn't hurt (God bless the epidural) but it was hard work! I thought my head was going to explode from bearing down so hard and how the hell do you know where to push!? You can't feel where your butt is, how do you push through there?? I must of figured it out because they said I was doing good so I kept pushing to nowhere and he kept coming down. I looked over at Jason at one point and asked him if he could see anything. He said No, I said Good. The nurse said I only pushed a total of 20-25 minutes and it was ALL to push his head out. Once his head was out, the rest of his body squirted out too and they plopped my beautiful gooey baby boy on my belly. I cried. I was too dilirious to see if Jason cried. (I need to ask him!) Then they carried him away to do whatever it is they do over there to check him, wipe him off, stamp his feet, measure him, etc. He was 9lbs, 1 oz, 20.5 inches long. Born at 12:49 pm, Tuesday, January 25th - his due date :)

I couldn't focus on his for too long cause they were still working on me, a little frantically. All I could really see was that there's 100 people in there and the doctor was sewing, sewing, sewing....and sewing some more. And there was lots of blood. They were having trouble getting my bleeding to stop and it seemed like it took forever. I stopped watching her sew and just stared at my baby.

He latched on and breastfed right away, he didn't pass his gluecose test a couple times and had to have a couple of bottles of formula in the hospital but I'm very proud to say he hasn't had another one since we left the hospital (and they gave me the ok to stop supplementing of course).

My mom, step-dad, and dad were all there at the hospital patiently waiting when he was born. My friend Lindsey was there up until about an hour before he was born but had to go to work. Dustin and Amelia came up to see him that afternoon. Danny, Christina, Lauren and Cody came that night. And Lindsey returned to see him that night even though she had been up all night with us and was exhausted - she was just too excited to meet him. Leah and Drake came to visit us the next day. Tom and Pam arrived Thursday night to meet him (my mom came back up that day to help get me home from the hospital since Jason had to pick his parents up from the airport and she stayed with us the first night to help me out). Jason's parents stayed for four days and it was so great to have them here. Pam was too awesome having around - she did laundry, dishes, cooked, grocery shopped, etc. Wish I could have had her here for a couple more weeks!! But she was exhausted after a couple days (she was trying to help me at night as well as do all that stuff during the day) so I was glad she got home to get some rest.

We are all doing great now. I couldn't be more in love with my little man and I'm already dreading the day when I have to leave him to go back to work. He's such a snuggle bug and is such a sweet baby. I'll update more details in another post. I hear my baby waking up from his nap. :o)

My pregnancy ticker makes me bitter...

2011-01-24T13:45:00.004-06:00

So, seeing this today on my blog made me bitter for a moment:

"Only 1 days to go!"

I feel like its mocking me...And yeah, I can tell the baby's the size of a watermelon - All I have to do is look down. Yep, watermelon's still there.

How am I really doing? Honestly, I'm fine. Uncomfortable, but fine. I'll make it another week to my induction date if it comes to that. I have a doc appt tomorrow morning, on my actual due date, so I'll get to see him on the sono machine one last time and all I'm really hoping for is that I've made some progress on the cervix-thinning front. If I have, then momma will be happy.

One. More. Week. Then the swelling in my hands and feet will go down (I know, I know - not right away but after a few days it will) and in a couple weeks (or 3 or 4) after that, I can start working out again and TRY to get my body somewhat back into an acceptable size/shape. But most importantly, I'll finally get to see that handsome little profile I've been staring at week after week in my sonos in 3D. And I'll get to hear him cry and cuddle my chunky monkey in my arms. Sigh...one more week.

In other news, I got the letters to his name painted and hung up. I'm pretty proud of them! They look cute. Jason likes them too, so I know I'm not just being biased - cause if they looked like poo, he'd tell me. And, I got the rest of my Miche diaper bag I wanted in the mail Saturday so I have my diaper bag too! And I LOVE it!!

Tres Cute, non?

And, my super awesome glider rocker should be here some time this week - YAY! Can't wait to get that set up in baby's room. And...what else?? I guess that's all for now.

I'll close by saying that if one more person walks past my desk today as says, "Are you still here?" I may not be polite. Happy Monday!

Sweet Surprise!

2011-01-19T12:57:00.005-06:00

My sweet, wonderful husband sent me a text message yesterday afternoon that said:

"I have a surprise for you!!"

Now, this isn't anything to get overly excited about - my husband says this often (he knows I love surprises) and its usually a Big Red or a movie he's rented that I've wanted to see or something of that nature. Not that I don't get excited and extremely appreciate these little things because I absolutely adore them, but I was expecting something along those lines when I asked "What is it??". Normally I get an obvious "I'm not telling - duh" response but he sent me a Hint instead...

It took me a couple glances to make sure it actually read what I thought it read - OMG HE BOUGHT ME THE GLIDER AND OTTOMAN I WANTED FROM BABIES R US!!!!!

When we went to register, I absolutely fell in love with this glider rocker. I sat it in for a looong time and wanted to take a nap. It's so awesome!! We've talked about getting it a couple times but it was just too expensive, so when we discussed it again a couple days ago, I told him that we would just do the one I saw at WalMart that was MUCH, MUCH cheaper and that was all I really needed. But he knew I wanted it so badly, so when he saw a coupon for Babies R Us in the mail, he went and ordered it for me!! Squee - I'm so excited!!!

This will be in the corner of Baby Allen's room in about a week:

AND, AND, AND the ottoman toooo!!!

Its so soft and comfy and Iloveitsomuch! Gah - I'm such a M*O*M for being this excited over a rocker...

Happy Half Anna!

2011-01-18T10:37:00.002-06:00

HAPPY 6 MONTH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY TO MY HUBBY!!! LOVE YOU :o)

Yesterday, Jason and I have been married for 6 months! Seems like a lot longer than 6 months ago and, at the same time, its gone by so fast. Its been a very exciting, very busy 6 months - and the next 6 are looking to be just as busy and exciting! Looking forward to the second half of our first year of marriage.

Unfortunately, I forgot until this morning so I we didn't do anything exciting (not that a 6 mo. anna warrants a celebration) but I wanted to at least make a note of our little milestone.

Still Waiting...

2011-01-13T13:54:00.004-06:00

Just a little note to let you all know, I'm still here waiting...still a waddling, swollen-ankled princess preggers. 12 Days to go till my due date. 12 days has never seemed so long, yet so short! I mean, I have 12 more days left (approx) of being pregnant, and the uncomfortableness isn't going to get any better. BUT, in 12 short days, my little man will be with us!! I feel like I'm not prepared even though we have everything pretty much ready to go. I have everything I need for him to be home with us, but I feel like I'm forgetting things or the house isn't clean enough, etc, etc etc... I'm sure that's a new mommy thing. And good grief, I could send myself into a full blown panic attack when I actually think about Labor/Delivery. So not ready for that part - well, I'm ready to get it done and over with! I think I'm more worried about how badly the labor part is going to hurt... I don't think I've had any actual contractions yet, just the Braxton Hicks kind that are just very hard pressure.

My last doc appt (Monday, 10th) I was dilated to a "loose" 1 and my cervix was thinned 50% (which is what I was at my 36 wk appt LAST monday) so a little progress on dilating but not the cervix, which of course is the more important part. BUT, at least I'm making some progress. She was certain I would make it to my appt on the 17th and its looking like she's going to be right. I'm wondering if I should go ahead and make my doc appt for the 24th as well or just wait. I guess I'll ask her on Monday.

I had a dream the other night that I had to have a C-Section and the epidural didn't take affect and I could feel them cutting me open. I was screaming bloody murder but they had to keep cutting and get the baby out cause they had already started cutting. It wasn't a very cool dream. I think I'm a little apprehensive about having a c-section.

I think I'll go for a 10 mile walk tonight while eating a bag of jalapenos and drinking a glass of castor oil...yeah, that should do it.

Survey: 2010 In Review

2011-01-05T13:13:00.004-06:00

This I'm stealing this from my friend...she's done it several years in a row so I'm going to join in this year. Kind of sums up the past year and lets you see, overall, how great (or not so great) it was. Goodbye 2010! You've been great (for the most part) and I KNOW I'll never forget a single minute...

1. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before? Got pregnant (and all the fun new first that go with that), swam in the ocean, became a step-mom
2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't think I kept my resolution from last year but I don't remember exactly what it was either. This year my new year's resolution is to become a MILF - Hahaha!!
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Yep, my sister-in-law had my newest little nephew, and one of my very best friends had her little boy both in November.
4. Did anyone close to you die? Thank goodness, no.
5. What countries did you visit? Got close to Mexico but didn't visit any other countries.
6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010? My baby boy to finally be here, an "adult" float trip/mini-vacation this summer, a beach body!
7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? February 14th - wonderful Valentine's Day and I got a dozen peaches - LOL, May 24th - day I found out I was pregnant, June 11th - first time I heard my baby's heartbeat, June 20th - day Jason proposed, July 17th - day I married my best friend, August 16th - bad day, don't want to remember but always will, October 2nd - my little brother got married
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Growing a human life - doesn't get much bigger than that!
9. What was your biggest failure? Letting someone I love more than anything in the world feel insecure and unsure of how I felt about them
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Fortunately, No! :) Not sure I even went to the doctor other than for prenatal stuff. Did have a stint of poison ivy at our house but that's about it.
11. What was the best thing you bought? Baby crib and the awesome baby bedding I wanted
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My friend Lindsey - she's been an amazing friend this year, always there for me and when my sister couldn't be there to stand beside me at my wedding, she made sure she could be there so she could stand in her place. :)
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Someone whom I thought was my friend, whom Jason and I had spent a lot of time with. Sad when you find out the reason someone's being so nice is because they want something of yours or that they feel guilty.
14. Where did most of your money go? Kyoto...WAY TOO MUCH Sushi! HAHA
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Becoming a mom and marrying Jason
16. What song will always remind you of 2010? Stuck Like Glue - Sugarland and If He's Anything Like Me - Brad Paisley
17. Compared to this time last year are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? Not sadder but I was pretty darned happy last year so its hard to say I'm happier. Definitely FATTER, but I'm blaming it ALL on the little man :). And actually richer, Jason has a better clientele than last year and we are actually able to save some money...too bad that's about to change in a couple weeks.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Wish I would have been more productive and been less lazy - that will probably always be a wish of mine HAHA And I wish I could have/would have enjoyed this pregnancy more.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Being insecure.
20. How did you spend Christmas? Jason and I opened our gifts to each other on Tuesday night the 21st, went to my parents on Friday (24th) and had Christmas with our whole fam, hung out with my parents Saturday and went to the movies and ate chinese food, then had Christmas with Jake on the following Wednesday the 29th.
21. Did you fall in love in 2010? Fell MORE in love and found out a new love (although I haven't officially met him yet)
22. What was your favorite TV program? Sons of Anarchy and Biggest Loser
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? I don't hate anyone, but there's a new person on my "very seriously dislike" list that wasn't on there before.
24. What was the best book you read? My MacKayla Lane novels my hubby got me for Christmas, I'm already on the last one!
25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Karaoke at The Red Balloon :)
26. What did you want and get? My baby duh :)
27. What did you want and not get? World peace and a million dollars...oh well there's always this year LOL
28. What was your favorite film of this year? Love and Other Drugs
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Had a white trash bash and found out I was knocked up - HAHAHAHA....no seriously.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? There's only one thing that would have made it more satisfying and that was beyond my control - other than the one thing, I don't think someone could have a more satisfying year :)
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010? Maternity clothes: lots of dresses, leggings, boots, and changing my hair do a TON this year.
32. What kept you sane? God - there's no other explanation, I don't know how I'm sane at the moment other than God.
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Anne Hathaway
34. What political issue stirred you the most? Health Care Reform obviously...who didn't it "stir"
35. Who did you miss the most? Not seeing my friends, sister and nephew as much as I wanted.
36. Who was the best new person you met? Tonya - our new babysitter :)
37. Tell a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010. Never take those around you for granted and as always, Everything happens for a reason
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. "You do that thing that makes me laugh, and just like that, there you go making my heart beat again" Sugarland.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011!!

2011-01-03T16:46:00.002-06:00

Welcome to a brand new year! 2010 was a CRAZY year full of some very big ups and a few crummy downs... Its been good overall but I'm very much looking forward to 2011. New Year's Resolutions for '11? Become a hot mom by this summer - going to take a lot of work and dieting on my end (will keep you posted on my progress, hopefully that will be just one more thing to keep me accountable). Also, I want to better document this next year than I did last year. That means more blogging, more pictures, more scrapbooking.

Hope you all have a very blessed year full of lots and lots of UPS! :o)

Sugar & Dirt

2010-12-29T14:10:00.005-06:00

I read this blog post today and it made me smile. That's so me and how I feel about having a boy. And I'm not feeling this in a negative way at all. Just that I never thought of myself as a mother to a son. I always pictured a little girl with ribbons and bows and tea parties with Barbie dolls. I don't know why, just the way I pictured it...until I found out I was having a boy.

Now I picture a little man wiping his boogers on my shirt with an ornery grin on his face (much like some other little man I know). Running around like a little heathen chasing Gemma around up and down the stairs with oreo cookie crumbs all over his face. Slobbery kisses and sticky hugs. And I can already smell that little boy smell; it reminds me of sugar and dirt. My son - my little momma's boy. I know he will be too. Oh, he'll be much too much like his daddy: ornery as hell, too handsome for his own good, competitive in everything he does, and walking around with a huge chunk of my heart in his hands. But, he'll be my little man. Forever and always. Its crazy how much you can already love someone without meeting them yet. And I never realized how much I wanted a son until I found out of I was having one.

Someday maybe he'll read this and, of course, he'll act like he doesn't care but I'll make him read it anyway. I hope he knows that no matter what I loved him more than anything in this world, from the moment I saw his little face on the sonogram and she told us "It's a Boy". And, I already know, I'll never stop loving him no matter what. Wherever he goes, whoever he turns out to be, whatever he grows up to be - I'll always love him.

I haven't written a sappy post yet about my baby boy, so I just wanted to make a note of how I feel at this moment in my life - about to have my first baby. I don't think there are words for how I feel at this point, with the light so clear at the end of the tunnel: excited, scared, anxious, exhausted, nervous, uncomfortable, worried, emotional, brave, confident and unsure...all at the same time.

I can't wait to meet my sweet, handsome baby boy and hold him for the first time.

[Im]Patiently Waiting for Baby Allen - 4 weeks to go!

2010-12-28T12:21:00.007-06:00

I started out this pregnancy looking like this:

And here I am at [almost] 36 weeks:

Holy crap, I sure hope that tiny tummy comes back to me after this baby is born...and I lose a couple chins...and a couple pounds off the cheeks, both sets. I think I'll leave my hair long though. Not cute in that first picture.

Anywhozit - 4 weeks to go!! Yay, I'm so excited. I had my doc appt and BPP yesterday. Baby didn't want to do his breaths at the BPP so we had to do an NST (Non-Stress Test). Basically, I sat in a big comfy recliner while they hooked the monitors up to my belly and recorded his heartbeat/movements and my contractions. I dozed off a couple times while I was sitting there listening to his heartbeat beep...it was rough. He passed the NST with flying colors - Dr even told me they could use my print out for textbooks because my results were EXACTLY what they should look like. (My child's perfect already - jealous?!) Next week is his growth scan [possibly his last one] to see how big he is, and I'll saddle up on the stir-ups so she can check my cervix. We'll also discuss the delivery plans. Its gonna be a big, exciting day. My blood pressure is still in the normal range - 112/74. No protein in the urine, test they do for some type of bacteria (can't remember what its called) came back negative, and...that's about it. He still looks good and I'm doing good as well. So...we just wait.

I'll do a post later to go over Christmas - we haven't had our Christmas with Jake yet - but it was a great Christmas with my family. Sunday when we got home we worked on the baby's room and we did my belly cast that I won in the MommyLoves giveaway. Here it is so far:

We just got the plaster strips on and had to let it dry for at least a day. Now there's a layer of plaster that goes over it, sanding and another layer of clear stuff to help the paint stick. I haven't completely decided how I'm going to paint it other than it will be baby blue all over and his baby stats will be on it (name, birth date, size, etc.). Jason did all the strips for me, it sucked sitting in the chair for the half hour or so that it took to do it but it was still fun. I think it turned out pretty neat looking! Can't wait to finish it and hang it in his room.

We get Jake tomorrow through the 2nd. We were going to get him today instead but he's sick. Boo. Hoping he gets better by tomorrow and that he doesn't decide to share. We're both very excited for him to get to open his presents from Santa.

I get a four day weekend this weekend that I'm REALLY looking forward too. Also, some friends from TX are coming up to stay the weekend with us. Going to be lots of fun - we may have a house full for New Year's Eve (Danny, Christina, & Lauryn are probably coming down as well)...very much looking forward to spending time with them all.

Lots and lots I need to update on...will be posting a lot in the next couple weeks. Stay tuned.

The Beard

2010-12-28T11:35:00.004-06:00

Last year Jason did "No-shave"ember and didn't shave for the entire month of November. He looked like a lumber jack in all of our Thanksgiving pics.

He decided to do it again this year and then...he and a buddy of his from TX decided to make a bet and see who could grow theirs the longest by January 1. Um, yeah. The beard got a little out of control - Jason has very curly facial hair that looks more like...well, you know. I don't think he looks bad in a beard, I just prefer him with this scruff/five-o'clock-shadow thing. But this beard was the longest I'd ever seen it and well...see for yourself:

Nice, huh? He looks kinda creepy in this picture... Like one of those criminal pics you see on the evening news. Actually, with his hat on, he looked a lot like the lead singer from Zach Brown Band.

Thankfully, a couple weeks ago, he had had enough of it as well and decided to shave it off. Much better. And just in time for Christmas. I guess he lost the bet...but look how much CUTER he looks!

I'm looking forward to next year's "No-Shave"ember already...

And speaking of Trent - Congrats to him and his wife Andrienne who just found out they are expecting!! :o)

Making Some Changes

2010-12-27T12:11:00.004-06:00

I'm turning my blog into a "family update" blog. It will basically be the same as it has been for the past year but now, I'm just calling a spade a spade. There will be lots of things I'll want to write down and remember to share with our families (& friends) so this will at least help me do that. And I will probably do a little clean-up of my past posts to make it more fam oriented. And, if no one really cares, and no one reads my ranting and raving about family details and happenings, at least it will help me scrap book things later and remember where my head was at down the road.

So, welcome to the life of Jason, Dawn, Jacob & Baby Allen. We [will] try to keep things interesting 'round here :o)

Update on Princess Preggers [Me]

2010-12-16T12:01:00.005-06:00

This is me at 33 weeks - a little over a week ago. I'm a tad larger than that now. How I keep getting bigger I just don't know. There's no where left for my belly to go and yet, it keeps going and going and going...

Other news with me:

1. I waddle. A coworker was imitating me while walking behind me yesterday. Pregnant woman are allowed to smack people who tick them off right?!

2. I have a stretch mark (at least only one that I can see) that's very fat and wide and keeps getting longer and wider and its right across the top of my belly button where my naval ring goes. Cute.

3. Baby A is taking up residence further and further south. Good news, my ribs are singing gospel music praising the LORD for the absence of little feet. Bad news, my hmm-hmm and my bladder are feeling like a 6 pound infant is sitting on them...oh wait...that's exactly what's happening. P.S. Bladder control is not my greatest skill either.

4. I'm tired and cranky and uncomfortable. You know, all the usual 8 month pregnant jazz. Its been real fun, but I'm over it. I'm ready for my little man to be here so I can snuggle him and smootch him and be up all hours of the night begging him to go to sleep.

5. I've started my two week doctors appointments and my next one is Tuesday 21st. No growth scan just dr. appt. We are also touring the hospital [finally] that evening.

6. Last week I stepped on the scale at home (which is pretty close to the on at the Doc's office) and I was down 3 lbs. Sweet. Couple days later I checked again and I was down 3 MORE lbs. Ummm....cool but is that normal??! J had a panic attack so I called the nurses line and she checked with the dr and assured me that as long as I was still eating normally [yep, haven't slowed down on THAT at all] and that Baby is still active AND I haven't been sick -we are in the clear. All my fluid levels looked good at my BPP appt, in the upper levels even, so no worries. Glad I have it noted in my file though. Oh, and in case you're worried, I check last night and I'm back up those 6 lbs so yay for weight gain. Bleh.

7. J is EXTREMELY ANTSY and convinced that I'm going to go into labor at any minute... I still have 6 weeks till my due date ya know. Although I agree that I probably won't make it 6 weeks, I am pretty sure I have at least another 2 - 3 weeks before I need to start being paranoid and packing my hospital bag. He's insisting I pack it tonight... I love him to pieces but I can see him getting a tad annoying in the next 3 to 6 weeks.

My co-workers are throwing me a baby shower tomorrow. I'm very excited! J may get to come which makes me happy. And there will be cake - also makes me happy. And bee-bee stuff. :o)

More exciting news: We got the crib bedding! Yay for my little rockstar! We still have a ways to go to finish his room but crib is done. And he has freshly washed clothes to wear when he gets here. First time in the history of forever that I have ooh'd and aah'd over doing the laundry, folding and all. I enjoyed it, it was disgusting. Its kind of fuzzy cause my phone camera kinda sucks but here's a picture of the blanket in little man's crib:

So Much To Be Thankful For!!

2010-11-29T13:21:00.005-06:00

Happy (belated) Turkey Day!!

We had a very busy Thanksgiving break this year. We went to my mom & dad's Wednesday night and stayed through Saturday afternoon. It was great to spend so much time with them! Thursday we had turkey day with the family. It was YUMMY of course and I kept myself completely stuffed throughout the entire day. We only had to go to my mom's so we got to just relax and enjoy the day. I don't sleep well when I'm not laying on our luscious water bed at home, so I didn't sleep well and was pretty pooped. I ended up napping for a couple hours in the afternoon even. I love naps. Turkey coma naps are extra special though.

Friday, my mom, dad, sister and I braved BLACK FRIDAY. We got up and left the house at 5 AM (insanity) and met my sister at Bob's Grill for breakfast (yumm) and then headed to J-town to shop. I got some pretty good deals I'm excited to say and we all had an AWESOME day so it was totally worth the 4:30 AM wake-up time. J stayed home with j and my nephew so we could go. He's the best hubby in the world - I love him so!!! :) So, I owe him big time.

We drove home Saturday late afternoon so we could get home and put up our Christmas tree with j. Isn't it perty?! :o)

Sunday evening we had our family/maternity photos done. I'm a little disappointed with the professionalism and job I received for the price I paid but I'm not going to get miffed until I see all the pics - so to be continued on that story. Here's one of the photos the photographer posted up on Facebook last night. Our little fam...

It was a GREAT holiday!! I was almost actually ready to come back to work today - too bad I'm getting a cold and I feel like total crud. Boo. I think it should be illegal to get sick when you're pregnant, especially in the last two months, don't you?

Date night with the Hubs tonight - SOOO excited!!

A Much Needed Update On Baby A

2010-11-19T10:00:00.004-06:00

I've been feeling a little better the last couple of days - which is pretty typical for me to have ups and downs - but I'm grateful to feel like myself again for the time being at least.

We're still monitoring Baby A's SUA. At my last appointment Dr. Rips ordered weekly Biophysical Profiles which basically is a sonogram to measure his movements. They check for a flex movement, heart rate, umbilical heart rate (to see how hard his cord has is working), and he has to take consecutive breaths. I had my first bio yesterday and he passed the first three right off the bat, but he was sleepy and wouldn't take consecutive breaths. He would take one breath and then stop. We tried poking and prodding and I moved back and forth from my back to my side. Finally, in the last 3 minutes he started taking a couple breaths back to back. Stubborn little man...so he passed his bio. The sonographer said it was normal to have trouble getting them to take consecutive breaths, so that's not anything to be concerned about. I have another next Wednesday, I think I'll drink some juice before I got to wake him up a little bit. Its a pain to have these appointments every week, but you won't hear me complaining! I get to see my little man every week!! How awesome is that!?!

Did I mention in my last post that I passed my glucose test?? Did I even update on my last appointment??!? I don't think I did update (dang I'm slacking), but I passed so no GD for me! Yay! And more importantly, I only gained ONE pound last month. Whoo-hoo for me! The nurse was so surprised she weighed me twice... :o) The growth scan went well, his heart rate was 144. His umbilical cord is NOT having to work overtime to make up for the missing artery, its functioning normally - very good news. And my chunky monkey is measuring 3.5 POUNDS! Go baby go! It was very cool to see him, as usual, and it was awesome that my mom go to go with me to see him. The sonographer was very nice and took her time so we really got a good show. He was laying straight across my belly, head on my right side, feet all the way over to my left. He had one of his little legs clear up by his face, and was playing with his toes. So sweet to watch him so relaxed and playing in there. At my bio yesterday he has already turned his head down towards my right hip and his feet up by my left side ribs. I already knew his feet were by my ribs though, its like he's running a marathon on my left side sometimes. Ha!

All in all, everything is going very well. He looks very normal and healthy. I'm getting some of my fatigue back which is fun. I do ok if I don't work out at night, but I'm trying to keep working out to help with circulation, etc.

This weekend I'm going down to mom and dad's - Saturday is an all day scrapbooking day SUPER PUMPED about that and Sunday is my sister-in-laws baby shower which I'm very excited about as well. I made another baby wipe travel case for her which turned out pretty cute. I'll have to make sure I get pictures. I didn't get a picture of the one I made for the girl at work's shower but it turned out pretty cute as well. Anyway....J is staying home this weekend to do some Christmas shopping, so even though I'm going to miss him terribly (I don't get cell service at their house), its good for us to spend some time apart. Plus he's shopping for me too, so...you know, that's cool :o)

And today, for work, my department is all sporting sweater vests in honor (or dishonor however you want to look at it - Ha!) of our boss. So HAPPY SWEATER VEST DAY everybody! :o) Have a great weekend!

Stupid Hormones

2010-11-11T13:57:00.003-06:00

My hormones are getting the better of me.

I'm an emotional wreck these days! I cry at the drop of a hat and go days on end feeling super depressed. I don't feel like myself at all. Sometimes I just want to curl up in my bed at home and cry...For no particular reason sometimes. I'm terrified that I'm going to have Postpartum Depression after the baby is born. I know I'm driving J insane - I can tell the crying is really starting to wear on him. He's completely over the emotional crap and so am I.

I do have problems with this when I'm not pregnant though, but I'm hoping its the hormones that are making it worse. I just keep trying to muddle through it and wait it out, but its really getting to me.

Work is the biggest problem. I'm super unhappy here now, but I make pretty good money for what I do. Its a catch-22. I used to love it until they piled my desk so full of things for me to do that I can hardly keep up (which makes me feel like I'm doing a crappy job and I HATE that) and they've moved me over to where I feel completely isolated. I was having a hard enough time feeling like I fit it with the new department they put me in and now its completely impossible. I don't fit in or belong. One of my best friends works here but she's on the opposite end of the building and has a new position and is SUPER busy. I can't go to lunch with her anymore because: 1. She too busy, 2. Our budget is pretty tight so eating out is too expensive and 3. J gets all huffy when I go out to eat too much so I feel like I'm "not allowed" due to him and the budget thing. The work that I do is a bunch of crap work that no one else wants to do so its not exactly exciting stuff. I just have zero motivation and I don't want to be here. At. All. I have my annual review due next week and I honestly don't know what to write about myself or my job...REALLY not looking forward to it at all. Plus, we get NO raises this year. What's the point.

J is another trigger. I love him more than anything in this world and could not ask for a better husband. He's absolutely my best friend in this world and can talk to him about anything. But...about 3 months ago, I stumbled onto some things that I didn't necessarily ever want to know about or have to deal with, and we hit a rough patch. I don't want to go into details because its between J and I and, quite frankly, I'm too embarrassed to talk about them with anyone. We have been working on things together and I'm really happy with how much our communication has improved because of this. Its been a blessing in disguise, I know, but it hasn't done a whole lot for my self confidence or my ego. It has completely shattered me actually...

*Geez I'm tearing up already - I just wish I could get MY SHIT BACK TOGETHER*

Anyway, it hasn't been an easy 3 months. There's been a lot of adjusting and rebuilding going on that I just don't need to be going through during pregnancy. I know J is at his wits end with trying to keep my happy. (If you're reading this babe, I'm sorry I'm such a mess. Thanks for putting up with my craziness.) He's been so good about going out of his way to try and keep me from feeling so cruddy and to get me to feel like myself again, but I can't shake it. Ugh. I just want it to go away. I don't want him to feel bad anymore and I want to have my confidence back.

On top of those two things, every little thing in between has me bursting into tears every couple minutes. Its ridiculous and I H.A.T.E. feeling like this. HATE IT! I'm just so exhausted of this crummy feeling. I want to be happy with my job again and go back to feeling utterly, disgustingly, sublimely HAPPY in my relationship again. I want to ooze bliss with this pregnancy and enjoy every waking moment of it other than worrying about stupid crap that I don't really have to be worrying about. I miss my family terribly, and wish they could come to visit more. We've been working really hard at trying to get our finances together which is extremely stressful and not helpful with the depression, either. My friends never call me or talk to me anymore - If I don't contact them, I never hear from them. That gets old. And, again, not so great on the ego. I just feel alone. Even though I'm far from it...I feel very ALONE.

I plan on talking to my doctor about it at my next appointment - I'm not even THINKING about getting on something before Baby A is here but I do want to discuss something to prevent the PPD afterwards.

Bleh. This post is depressing, but I needed to get it off my chest.

Hello 3rd Trimester!

2010-11-05T13:20:00.003-05:00

Well, I made it! Finally in the last trimester. I can't believe how fast its gone. Baby's kicks and wiggles are getting harder and my belly looks like some weird sci-fi movie come to life. I can little body parts poking my belly out and its morphs into odd shapes. Some of them are even getting a little uncomfortable and painful. I swear my belly has grown dramatically since last week. It seems like every time I look down, it has gotten bigger!!

Wednesday night, L had her baby boy. I went to visit them in the hospital last night and he's absolutely adorable. Seeing him really put things into reality and I am DYING for Baby A to get here now. I want him out so I can hold him, smell him, snuggle him, comfort him, and see who he looks like. It also made me very nervous about the process to get him here. L had to have a c-section because Drake's heart rate dropped way low a couple of times and her blood pressure dropped as well. Now, not that I care about having a c-section or vag birth, I'll do whatever it takes, but I am SOOO not ready for the drama of something like that happening with baby's heart rate dropping or whatever. My ideal situation would be for me to just go into labor naturally, get to the hospital, go through labor normally without help from meds (want my epidural though I'm not going to try and be brave about it HAHA), my Dr arrives, deliver my little man and all be well. I'm sure that's very rare for all that to happen and everything go smoothly but that's what I want. I know there will be changes but the only thing I'll be upset about is if something is wrong with my baby boy or if they try to use forcepts on him. I'd rather they didn't do that, I've heard WAY too many scary stories. I'm trying not to think about the actually delivery part too much. I don't want to get worked up and worry about it. And I can plan things all I want to but things never go as we plan them so I'll keep options in my head and just see what happens when we get there.

This weekend we are meeting with our nanny again. We're having lunch with her and her family and then going over to her house to hang out together and have dinner. I'm very excited about her and am ready to officially hire her and get to know her better. I already feel pretty good about being able to leave Baby A with her when I have to go back to work, but will be feel a lot better once I can solidify those feelings and actually feel like I KNOW her. We have j this weekend so she'll get to meet him as well, which will be nice since she said she could watch him too sometimes if we needed her to.

I'm still waiting on J to pick some dates so we can do our Birthing & Baby Classes at the hospital and take a tour. I'm going to have to start bugging him about that pretty soon again. We need to get those done.

Monday is my first Growth Scan for little man. I'm excited to be able to see him again! AND Grammy K gets to come too!! (It seems like I've already mentioned this in a previous post but oh well, you get to hear it again) Tuesday is my Dr appt and I have to have my glucose test done - not so much looking forward to that. Have a bad feeling that I am going to test poorly on that. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now. We'll just wait and see what the results are.

Oh, and according to my scale, I've officially gained a total of 30 lbs. Yep. Not cool. I'm anxious to see what the scale says at my dr. office but I'm thinking the two are pretty close if I remember correctly. *Sigh* Not much I can do at this point except try and eat reasonably. It's going to take a lot of hard work to get all this weight off after the baby's here.....Maybe I'm NOT so ready for Baby to be here just yet. I'm not ready to start that diet and exercise program that Daddy has ready for me when the little guy gets here. *Groan*

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Christmas Cards! Do you have YOURS picked out yet??

2010-11-05T13:09:00.005-05:00

I want to send out photo cards this year and I think I have found the Christmas cards I want to send out:Aren't they P-R-E-T-T-Y?!!!?? I heart them. Now I'm going to have to pick out some pictures to go in them. Our first family Christmas cards - I'm so excited. :o)

And if you are in need of some reasonable priced, VERY AWESOME SELECTION, photo type Christmas & Holiday cards go here. These cards above you can see here. Shutterfly.com has lots and lots of great "create-your-own-unique" type cards. Its super easy to use and, like I said, very reasonable.

I also think these are super duper adorable...Love, Love, Love them!! The palm trees are great...makes me wish I lived in Florida or California so I could send these as my Christmas cards! Ha!

And Shutterfly.com doesn't just do Holiday cards, they have ALL SORTS of great products that you can customize yourself.

I am thinking of doing this design for Baby A's birth announcements:

How adorable are these?! :o) I can't wait to see my little man's squishy little cheeks on this card. So cute!

Go check them out! They also have wall calendars and New Year's Cards.

27 Weeks

2010-10-26T14:30:00.002-05:00

Here we all are...me, Baby A, and my squishy puffy cheeks. Fabulous, non?!

So, obviously I'm feeling a little less cute these days, not all my weight is in my belly anymore. Eh, I only semi have an issue with it. Its only going to get worse and I should just enjoy this only time in my life where chubby + pot belly = cute.

Overall, I'm feeling really good. I've been fighting fatigue off and on again, but nothing like I was during the first trimester. I'm amazed at how fast the second trimester has gone and can't believe this is my last week! I am very ready for #3 although I also know that means I can wave bye-bye to the feeling great and say hello to feeling extra bloated and uncomfortable. The swelling has definitely started. My feet and legs are fat, fat, FAT at the end of the day and I can feel it in my hands a little some days too.

The little man is going CRAZY in my belly! I can't tell if he's practicing to become a gymnast or an MMA fighter. He's definitely taking advantage of his freedom to play around in there...well, enjoy while it last baby of mine - you're going to be running out of room soon.

My next appointment is on November 9th and I'm going to have my first ultrasound to check Baby A's growth progress on November 8th. My mom is going to be in KC that day so she's going to the growth scan with me! Yay! So excited for her to get to see the munchkin!! :o) Since we are having so many ultrasounds to make sure baby's growing fat enough, we are leaning against getting the 3D scan done. It would be very cool to get it but...seeing him so much already might take some of the coolness away from it and we would be saving about $175 by NOT doing it. Plus, now that my mom is getting to come up and see him at one of my appointments, there's really no reason to do the 3D. So, I guess we aren't going to do it after all. We'll just have to wait and see what he looks like when he gets here.

My baby shower with my family is scheduled for December 5th. I'm so excited!! J's mom and dad are planning a visit around Thanksgiving (since we aren't going to make it down there this year), so we suggested they come for the shower - and they said YES! So both Grammy and Mimi will be there! I couldn't be happier.

I can't believe October is almost over. The time is just flying by! It's amazing how fast the past 6 months have gone. The next three are going to be over in a blink and then my little munchkin will be here!!! :o)

The Countdown Is On!

2010-10-18T11:07:00.002-05:00

We are officially in the double digits people!

99 Days To Go!!!!

Little man will be here before we know it! I remember my sister reaching this point in her pregnancy with my nephew and time just flew by. I know its going to go fast, especially with the holidays coming up and such. I'm trying to just enjoy the moment and soak in every kick and wiggle I feel (which he is currently doing). I'm going to miss him when he's not hanging out with me 24/7!

Almost Fainted Yesterday - Not. Cool.

2010-10-13T11:37:00.003-05:00

Yesterday late morning I was sitting at my desk and I felt...funny. Then the "funny" feeling turned into ears ringing, hot flash, seeing stars, light-headedness. Scared the poo out of me. So I sat at my desk for a good 2 to 3 minutes with my head between my knees - or atleast as close to my knees as I can get right now - trying not to panic and make it worse. I never actually passed out/fainted but got pretty close. The thing that scared me the most though was that NO ONE AROUND ME NOTICED! Not that I wanted all kinds of people flocking over to me to see if I was ok, but would have felt a little better if one person would've atleast thrown me an "are you alright?". I hope I never go into labor at work, good grief. I'll be driving myself to the hospital and two hours later people will be going "Where's D?" That diva moment aside, I finally felt ok to stand up and walk to the breakroom to get a glass of water and then asked my boss to go down to the first floor with me to get some juice (just in case I felt lightheaded again). It took a while for me to feel normal again. Luckily I had my doctor's appointment yesterday afternoon so I didn't have to wait forever to ask her what was wrong with me.

So after waiting 45 minutes to see the doctor (love those long waits on the dr. office), I ask her about it and she's all like "Meh totally normal" like I was asking about my over-abundance of belly hair or the alien throwing a dance party in my abdomen. So, apparently its boringly typical for pregnant women to faint or feel dizzy....Well...It scared the crap out of me and I don't really like that symptom in the slightest but I guess I'll just get over it.

The rest of the appointment was good. I got my yumm-o glucosamine drink for my glucose test at my next appointment. Pretty pumped about that milestone. My pee looked awesome as usual and blood pressure is 110/80 - still awesome as well. Doc doesn't seem super impressed with my 18lb weight gain and had to throw in a "You're looking at some excess weight after baby is born". Duh. I'm looking at a 30 to 35 total weight gain for this pregnancy which I think it pretty typical and totally within the healthy range but I guess she expects more from a personal trainer's wife. Sorry but momma likes her carbs. And I eat whatever is closest to my hand and edible. Thx. I had spaghetti-o's for lunch today though, probably shouldn't do that anymore...

J was nice enough to bring up about a month or so ago that people acquire fat cells 3 times in their lives: during the third trimester, when they are 3 and during adolescence.... No pressure but don't make our kid a fatty for life. Thanks babe. Since I'm nearing the final chapter of the trimesters, I guess I should start laying off the junk. I hate diets - ANY diet. I guess I better get used to it, I'll be on a very strict one after the baby's here to take off all the "excess weight" the doctor is warning me about. Bleh.

At my next appointment, along with the fun diabetus test, I get my first growth scan which means I will get to see my little man for the 4th time. Whoo-hoo! And I will get a growth scan once a month until he's born. They have to check his growth because of him SUA.

104 days to go! Can you believe it??! :o)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMA!!!!

2010-10-07T13:31:00.002-05:00

Today is my mom's birthday! Yay!! Look how fabulous she looks?!? I hope I look that good when I'm 35... ;o)

This is a picture of us from this past weekend at my little brother's wedding. She looked fantastic!

LOVE YOU MOMMA!

Oops...Excuse Me.

2010-10-07T13:19:00.003-05:00

I didn't need an ultrasound to tell me I'm having a boy...

I have LOUD gas. Every single time I go to use the restroom at work (or even at home for that matter), I sit down - even if just to pee - and let out a very noisy fart. I should be more appropriate and say "toot" or "pass gas" but its just not the appropriate term for these. Those things sound too girly. This is too loud and obnoxious to be a "toot". And it never fails, someone's always in the stall next to me. Em.Barr.Ass.Ing. I used to be able to do the little "whoosh" farts where they did make any noise so no one knew I was even letting one out. No, not now...now, I have boy farts. I'm sure Baby A is giggling his little boy butt off in there everytime mommy rips one.

Sigh.

Ultrasounds and Breastfeeding

2010-10-01T13:55:00.003-05:00

We had our Level II ultrasound yesterday morning with the perineonatologist (however you spell that - the high risk pregnancy doctor) and everything went superbly! Baby boy is healthy and she told us that although nothing is ever 100%, she didn't see a need for us to come back for a follow up. Yay! The only thing left is that he still will have to be checked to make sure he's gaining weight the last couple months, which means more sonos! :o) Little man was sleepy and didn't wiggle around much during the u/s which I guess is good. Did see him stretch a little towards the end so we must of woke him up. The level II u/s was so clear and it was AMAZING to watch him and see him. J was pretty excited too. We couldn't take our eyes off the screen. And this time, we DEFINITELY saw he was a boy. No. Doubt. Daddy was very proud. Joked that we should name him Ron or Jeremy - LOL! Men... *eye roll*

So, I feel very confident he is fine. Low birth weight isn't something that causes me to stress out so if we have to deal with that, I know I can definitely handle it. He may have to stay in the hospital a few extra days at the most...Yeah, I can definitely handle that. I'm happy and relieved my little pumpkin is ok.

Last night, I went to a breastfeeding class with my preggo friend L. I learned the following things:

*Breast milk is M*A*G*I*C (Actual quote from the instructor - and she was completely giddy when she said it)
*People get all up in your business and try and "help" you in the hospital when you are BF for the first time - Yeeah, I'm not ok with that. Stay off my lady lumps I'll do it myself thankyouverymuch. Some instruction and guidance is nice, but not face-to-breast, hands-on training...not cool.
*"Roughing Up" your nipples isn't a good idea before the baby's born, that's a myth - hmmm, ok, wouldn't try something like that anyway. That doesn't even SOUND like a good idea.
*Some people's nips are H.U.G.E. when they get pregnant, like size of my FACE huge....seriously! I saw them on the instructional video. HUGE, GINORMOUS NIPPLES - I had nightmares about giant nipples last night. *Shudder* o.O

It was actually a great class and I did learn a lot of helpful stuff. I also learned that although I am all aboard the BF Bandwagon, I'm not into the all hail the awesomeness and holiness that is the amazing boob and its magically deliciousness of wonder *cue holy grail music*...Its kind of weird. Like, I don't want to spend my afternoons having BF'ing partys where I invite people over to watch the magic happen. I get that its a great bonding experience between mother and child and I am looking forward to having those special moments with my baby boy but I think its creepy the way some people get all geeked up and emotional about it and have people sitting around watching me do it, uncovered and baring it all for the world to see... I'm probably not explaining it right, but some people take it to a creepy level. I think I'll choose to be a little more discreet.

My friend and I had a good laugh about it afterwards, anyway. Atleast we are on the same page about it.

My baby brother is getting married tomorrow so we are all heading down to my parent's tonight for the weekend. I'm so excited to spend the weekend with my family but I know I'm going to be exhausted by the end of the weekend...oh well, it will be FUN!!! Can't wait to get the weekend started....only a couple more hours! :o)

Happy Friday!

Weekend Recap

2010-09-27T11:00:00.002-05:00

Friday night when I got home from work, J surprised me and had put the baby's crib together. We still need a mattress and a lot of other things before it actually looks like a nursery, but having the crib sitting in there makes it that much more real. Its so cute how excited J is for the baby to get here. I love it. I don't have a picture of the crib yet but I'll definitely put some up soon.

Also, Saturday afternoon J got to feel the baby move!! Yay! I'm so excited he finally can feel it... Baby A is moving around all the time now and I can definitely feel every little "punch" and "kick". He's a very active little guy! :o)

I'm having some trouble with fatigue again. Very tired all weekend!! Yesterday I was even getting light headed doing the smallest tasks - I would walk halfway up the stairs and have to stop because I was feeling a little dizzy. And I did a pretty light workout yesterday and was still getting lightheaded multiple times and had to take several breaks. I'm going to call my nurses line and make sure its not something I should be concerned about...

Anyway, yesterday we finally got to go to church and I got to briefly meet our pastor, whom J has been training for several weeks and just thinks the world of. It was nice to finally meet him and I can tell he really likes J as well. Its always cool to meet the clients that J talks so much about. I feel like I already know them! We went to a BBQ at one of the sales guys' house that works with J at FDF. I've met them once at the Christmas party/meeting last year but was nice to see them again. Weather was very cool and I was still exhausted but we still had fun.

I fell asleep on the couch at 6:30 last night when we got home. How sad is that?! I pretty much only woke up to eat a brownie and then to go to bed... Really sad thing is, I'm still tired today and could use another 4 or 5 hours of extra sleep I'm sure. I'm going to try and nap as much as possible this week...not going to be very likely though. Busy week and work and the house is a mess at home. Bleh.

And lastly, how about them 3-0 Chiefs!!!??!? Oh yeah!!! :o)

Yep, there's a baby in there...

2010-09-24T11:12:00.002-05:00

Here's the belly at 22 weeks 2 days. Crazy how much its changed in the past couple weeks!! Its getting harder and harder to bend over and I feel him moving around more and more each day. I love those little "nudges" I feel in my tummy. J is so super excited and ready for the baby to be here, IMPATIENTLY ready, in fact - me? Yes and kinda no. I'm really enjoying being pregnant and I have a feeling that even though it's going to get worse, I still have some fun stuff left to come! Like being able to feel the kicks from the outside of my tummy and being able to see my belly moving when he moves. I know I'll get to that uncomfortable stage and be so ready for him to come out, but for right now, I love being able to carry him around with me everywhere I go, knowing he's all warm and snuggly and protected in there...

How am I feeling? I feel great! Energy is pretty much back, no morning sickness, and I feel like I can do most of my exercising without too much difficulty. I don't have much food aversion anymore so I'm able to eat whatever. In fact, I have the opposite! I'm STARVING all the time!! And it will just hit me out of nowhere - like 2 hours after I just ate and I'll be ravenous hungry!! I'm trying to behave myself with what kind of things I eat as much as possible but I always eat when I'm hungry just in case, I want to be able to give baby every ounce I can possibly get to him through his SUA. Breathing is starting to get harder. I get out of breath really easily, I think its because my belly is so high, everything is shoved up into my lungs. Its really not terrible so I don't even call it a complaint, just something I've noticed. I also have some belly cramping every now and then when I do too much physical activity (walking, stairmaster, bending over to pick things up, etc.). We asked the doctor about it and she didn't seem concerned and said that as long as it goes away within a few minutes of resting, I'm fine. I have to say though, it cramps pretty hard some times - makes me a little worried about labor!! Its going to hurt bad. I'm in denial at this point in time and don't allow myself to think that far ahead.

Update on the Level II Ultrasound. I finally got that scheduled, I'm going in September 30th to the parinatologist's office to get a better look at my little pumpkin. I'm very anxious but I'm not letting myself worry until someone tells me they see something bad. Its not healthy to be stressed out about something that hasn't even happened so I'm not going to do it.

I'm also going to a breastfeeding class with a friend of mine that night! I'm really looking forward to that - excited to learn more about it and hopefully can get some pointers on how to increase your chances of being successful. The nice thing is, is that they are letting us count as a "couple" so I only have to pay half price! Yay!

J and I will be signing up for some birthing/baby classes as well. Not sure when or which ones, but we are both excited to do that so hopefully we can get going on those soon!!

Welp, that's all I have to say for now - kind of a boring post, but wanted to jot down a few things and update on a picture and the upcoming sono.

Happy Friday! Everyone have a great weekend!

Rockstar In The Making

2010-09-16T13:49:00.004-05:00

We've made the decision on baby's room decor & bedding. I actually picked it out and J liked it!! I think its perfect. I love the colors and I love that its something different besides animals or sports... Plus I really like stars, so I love that its part of the detail too.

Here it is!

We are going to do a piece at a time and possibly even register for some of it, but we definitely want to do this theme.

What do you think??

20 Weeks Ultrasound

2010-09-13T16:26:00.002-05:00

More details on the ultrasound Friday:

Weight gained - 10 BIG ONES (Its a conspiracy I tell ya, the scales are OFF at the two buildings)
Heart Rate (mommy) - 112/80 Still doing good...
Heart Rate (Baby Boy) - 145
Baby's Weight - 15 oz (Almost a WHOLE POUND, he's in the 90th percentile on his weight)

All the organs, weight, measurements looked good (perfect actually, according to the doctor)...except...Baby has a Single Umbilical Artery or a 2 Vessel Cord. Baby's normally have a 3 vessel cord - 1 vein and 2 arteries. My little punkin only has one artery.

What does this mean?

Well, an SUA can be a flag for a genetic disorder or an abnormality of an organ, etc. Weight gain is also a big concern for the baby during the last trimester. I have to have a Level II Ultrasound done by a parinatologist (which is a higher detail scan) and I'm [im]patiently waiting for the nurse to call me back with that appointment date. They will check the organs like heart, kidneys, etc and measure my baby boy more closely to make sure nothing looks out of the ordinary. I will also have to have ultrasounds done multiple times in the last 3 months to make sure he's packin on the pounds like he's supposed to.

Am I freaking out??

Yes and no. My doctor didn't seemed concerned in the slightest and she told us not to worry. She said he looks perfect other than the SUA, and we just have to keep a closer eye on him - which means I get to see my little man more often! Hey, a silver lining is a silver lining. Also, I've of course checked out several articles and sites and read other SUA baby's stories on line and MOST of them turn out 100% healthy. All of these positives things aside, I'm still worried. A little. I tend to go with the philosophy "Don't worry until there's something to worry about". But I also hope for the best and plan for the worst. I feel very strongly that everything is just fine with my lil' guy and he reassures me SEVERAL times a day by kicking my insides to let me know he's still moving around in there - which is another good sign that he's healthy. If there were major genetic defects (i.e. Downs, Tricsomy 18), they would've caught them on the anatomy scan, so I'm not quite so concerned with that one. Plus, if anything physical abnormalities show up after he's born, we have a NICU at our hospital where I'll be delivering - right there, at the same hospital. No having to transport my little baby after he's born to another location which means he gets medical treatment that much faster.

I'm staying positive. I have to or I'll never sleep again till after he's born. He's always in the back of my mind and I've doubled the amount of times a day I ask myself "Is he ok in there?". But, I feel I'm still at a normal level of worry from where I was before the ultrasound. I was hoping to go down a notch on the worry scale but nope, not yet anyway...Does that ever really happen as a parent?!

I'll keep everyone posted. Prayers and good thoughts are appreciated.

Boy, Oh Boy!

2010-09-10T14:56:00.000-05:00

J and I are having a...

B-O-Y!!! :o)

Yay team BLUE!!!

Update on the Nanny Meeting

2010-08-30T14:36:00.003-05:00

The interview with the nanny went very well! J and I were very pleased and pleasantly surprised at how much we really like her. She (seems) ideal and exactly what we are looking for, and, although I'm still going to check her references and we are going to go to her house to check that and her husband and daughter out, we think we've found our baby's sitter! I'm still waiting to find something creepy out about her or that she will somehow not work out, but I think that's just my overprotective maternalness coming out. I'm not going to drive myself crazy trying to find her flaws, but I'm going to keep digging till I'm satisfied and feel comfortable enough with her to leave her alone with my most precious possession for 9 hours a day. I would like to get to a point where I won't have a panic attack dropping baby off the first day - who am I kidding, that will probably happen anyway.

The best part of this is, I feel a lot better and not so uneasy about not being able to stay home with the baby myself and having to abandon, um...I mean, leave my child to be taken care of by someone else. At least I don't feel ill when I think about it now.

In other news, I will be 19 weeks tomorrow - one week from my half way point. So weird to think its half over! I'm sure the hard part is yet to come with the pregnancy and OBVIOUSLY with the delivery. A week from Friday we have our sonogram appointment and we'll find out what we are having. I am sure the time will go by quickly but I'm having trouble finding patience to wait! We went window shopping around Target this weekend and aaawww'ed over all the different baby stuff (Ok, so J didn't really "aawww" but I sure did!!) and its so hard wanting to buy things for your little bee-bee but you can't. *Sigh* Patience, patience. I'm trying hard to find you.

Going the Nanny Route

2010-08-26T17:05:00.003-05:00

Still shell-shocked on the sticker price of the first daycare I went to look at, I haven't braved another just yet. I plan on looking at a couple more mostly because I feel that a daycare center would be the best place for our child(ren). My dear sweet husband has taken over the task of looking for a nanny. He's checked out craigslist for some ads (some were super weird*) and he ended up posting an ad on there to see what kind of responses we would get. Ultimately, we were hoping for some rich, bored housewife that just really loves kids who's looking for something to do... And we may have actually found one! J's been emailing back and forth with a promising candidate for about a week and a half and she actually sounds legit. We are going to meet her this Saturday at Starbucks and getting references, etc from her then. If she passes that test, and her references check out, we are going to go to her house and meet her husband and daughter to make sure all of that checks out.

I'm nervous as heck. I am super skeptical and pretty much just assuming she's a child molesting serial killer who wants to drink my baby's blood - but I could be going a tad overboard. At the same time, I'm hoping she's the American version of Mary Poppins and will become like a member of the family and we'll all love her dearly and she'll watch all of our children until they are too old for a sitter.

She's not asking for much money at all and she is willing to come to our house some, so if she's not a total creep-out, I'm really hoping this works out.

Wish me luck. And if you don't hear from us after Saturday morning, the psycho child molesting serial killer has murdered us and drank our blood...

*One ad on craigslist was a lady offering her babysitting services in exchange for Gucci purses, and other designer goods - W.O.W. bet she's a reliable choice.

Do you think I'm starting to show?

2010-08-13T21:55:00.002-05:00

6 weeks

16 weeks

It's the Little Things...

2010-08-12T15:53:00.002-05:00

My BFF L - whom I work with - came over to my desk today to say hello, which is a normal thing. She told me about a conversation she had with another pregnant co-worker (whom neither of us really cares for) and I just had to share:

Preg Coworker - "How far along is D?"
L - "Well, she's a week further than you so....."
Preg Coworker - "Oh so she's 16 weeks, boy she's really starting to show!"
L - "Yeah well, she's skinny, so of course she's going to be showing a lot more..."

Love that lady.

Day Care Sucks

2010-08-11T15:49:00.002-05:00

I went to tour my first day care today ~ No, I'm not crazy. Some of these places have like a year to year 1/2 waiting list. Nuts I tell ya. So, I went to my first one today. Saw a sign at a Baptist church on the way home. Thought it looked promising....

The facility - Meh, not so great. Its old and kinda cramped, smells like a truckload of dirty diapers and way outdated and cluttered. BUT, the kids all looked happy. All the babies in the baby room looked very happy. Which makes me feel good. The ladies watching the babies have all been there for 20+ years. And were VERY sweet. Ratio of adults to children was about 1:4.

But the super crazy part was the cost - Holy Moles on a Biscuit the COST for an infant PER WEEK = $245.00. That's $980.00 a month, $12,740.00 PER YEAR. Ugh. After state & federal gov't crap and insurance, that pretty much cuts my paycheck in half. Yipes. Ramen noodles here we come.

This is not helping me with my burning desire to be a SAHM...Not one bit. Sigh.

Here's hoping I can find something better & cheaper. Like a free Nanny... Any takers?

Oh and Whoo-hoo: This is my 100th POST :o)

Doctor Appt. Update

2010-08-10T09:45:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, we had our third doc appt. Everything went very well, baby's heartbeat sounded "Perfect" (exact words of the doc). j got to go with us (even though I was VERY hesitant about him coming in case there was no heartbeat, etc. - J wanted him to come) and he thought the baby's heartbeat was very cool. His eyes got really big and he got a big smile on his face. Very cute.

Here's some stats:

Weight gain this month - ONE POUND (yay, go me!)
Blood Pressure - 110/70 (again, good job me)
Baby's heart rate - 158 (Last month it was 170?!)

Also, bad news on the holiday front. No Travel for this momma on Christmas this year which means, no Texas for Christmas. I'm really upset about it and feel horribly guilty. Its going to cause a huge raucous over Christmas next year (if we switch) or J's parents are going to have travel up here to see us this year (which means they will miss some of their family for Christmas) or it means J and I will be spending Christmas apart. Any way you slice it, it's not going to be good and it's my fault. I honestly don't know what to do...

BUT, the good news is, we scheduled our screening ultrasound on September 10th in the a.m. so we will find out what we are having then! I'm so excited and I wish it was tomorrow, but I keep telling myself that the longer we wait, the more certain we'll be about what the sex is.

Also, we've decided to do a 4D ultrasound and my mom is going to come up when we do that! That won't be probably for another two months, but I'm really looking forward to that and it will be a great experience. :o)

Today, I'm 16 weeks. Four more weeks and I'll be half way through - can you believe it??

Confessions of An Evil Stepmother

2010-08-10T09:05:00.002-05:00

There's something that's been bothering me and I gotta get it off my chest - I'm completely and utterly annoyed with j and his attitude toward J and I. He hates being with us! He constantly asks how many days he has left to stay with us and says things like "My MOM says...", "My MOM doesn't make me...", "When I'm at my GRANDMA'S...". And he walks around the house like a beaten dog. Its beyond annoying. His attitude just sucks. Because, it's not like we don't try to do fun things with him and do special things to make sure he's having fun, but he has RULES at our house. He gets into trouble when he breaks those rules and he is made to behave. And we don't constantly go do fun things because for one, J doesn't want to be "that" parent trying to buy off his kid, and for two, we can't afford to constantly take him and run around to do that stuff. And I realize, he doesn't have anyone to play with at our house, which can't be any fun. I already know what you're thinking "This is NORMAL 6 year old behavior" - BUT, I am a child of divorced parents myself and I don't remember EVER acting like this to my dad. (Mom, help me out here?) I remember spending a LOT of time by myself at my dad's when I was younger, even had to go to Reserves with him when he had to go - and spent a lot of time alone in there, with no toys or anything I was allowed to play with. Yeah it was boring for a kid sometimes, but I don't think I ever asked him "How many days till I go to my mom's?".

I know it's childish and I'm the adult and shouldn't pay attention to this sort of behavior but it INFURIATES me. I just feel like if he doesn't want to be here, I don't want him around. It sucks trying to please a kid that would rather be somewhere else.

Add on top of all that - I am HORMONAL AS HELL and have ZERO tolerance right now. Which only makes this ten times worse. I don't want to do nice things or fun things with him anymore. He doesn't appreciate them. I don't want to waste the money! We do things with him and take him to do stuff that his mom has NEVER done. It's like, why try?? And he's only SIX! How much worse is this going to get??!?

That being said, as annoyed as I get and as mad at him as I get, I try with all my might NOT to show him that I feel this way (some slips a little from time to time and when I feel like I'm going to slip, I just go in the other room). I remember what it feels like to be disliked and treated horribly for no fault of my own. And in my defense, J said he's been dealing with this from j forever and that he just misses his mom and that we have to be the adults - so it's not because I'm here that he's acting that way. How this doesn't frustrate the HELL out of J, I will never understand. And, if j is going to act this way, I don't want him around my kids making them think we are awful parents. Maybe we are going to be awful parents, but at least our kids won't know any "better"...

The sad thing is, is that he has two weeks of the summer left to stay with us, and quite frankly, I can't wait till its over. I'm a horrible human being for saying that, I know, but I just can't take the "I'm so abused, I can't wait to leave" attitude anymore. Maybe its because, I remember what it was like all the summer's at my dad's with my stepmonster and he doesn't know how good he has it... And J loves him to pieces (and, really, so do I for that matter) and I hate that he feels that way about his dad. If j only knew what J went through to be a part of his life, he wouldn't act that way.

I know, I know...he's six. All he understands is Mom = fun, Dad = not so much.

Ok, I'm horrid. I'm awful, you can say it. I'm working on it is all I can say for myself....

Hello 2nd Trimester!!

2010-08-02T14:43:00.003-05:00

I'm officially in my second trimester. Yay! I've made it through the scary first trimester without ANY morning sickness - Go me - or any scary spotting, etc. As you can imagine I adore my baby already for being so sweet to me... I deserve far worse, I wasn't so kind to my poor mommy. Morning sickness for 8 months would not be cool in my book but my momma loved me all the same. My nephew made my sister quite ill for most of her pregnancy as well, so I feel pretty lucky. But, good news there is my kid will probably be a little demon child. Super.

Anyway, little stats going into my 2nd T. I've gained 6lbs -whether that's good, bad or meh, I don't really know. I don't feel too bad about it so I'm going with "Meh". My noticeable cravings are Icees (cherry especially), potato soup, french fries, and the more recent tomatoes. Getting my energy back and able to work out a little more is a big plus. Able to eat chicken breasts again without feeling my gag reflex is also nice. Also, I can no longer button 90% of my pants, beebee belly is in the way and faaaaar to uncomfortable to suck it in anymore. So, I've resorted to the "rubberband through the button loop" trick, which will work for now. And, as of yesterday, got my first hemorrhoid. Awesome is all I have to say about that. Completely awesome.

The picture above is technically from 13 weeks, so not quite out of the first trimester, but its the most recent picture I have. It'll be a week or so before I'll take another one. I feel like my belly has doubled since this picture though. I've gotten a couple comments at work to the affect of "Oh, your little belly is starting to show...". Yep, funny how things turn from a horrible insult to a semi-compliment when you're pregnant, huh?

Overall I feel really good and feel TOTALLY BLESSED for having it so easy. I'm probably jinxing myself by saying that, but my symptoms have been pretty mild...so far. I have my 3rd appointment on August 9th, which she said would just be a normal appt, but I'm going to ask to schedule our sonogram - cause I'm important and can demand things like that - for our next appointment. I can't wait any longer to find out boy or girl!! I'm even thinking of doing that dumb Intelligender thing... So, that stupid test aside, another month (at least) till we find out what's living in my belly.

Mr. & Mrs.

2010-07-30T13:19:00.008-05:00

We did it! We're hitched!! Everything was perfect...very relaxed, laid back and we had a great time. I was exhausted by the end of the day but I couldn't asked for anything better. My dad was walking me down the aisle and asking me if I wanted to run the other direction... I said HELL NO, I wanna run UP the aisle!! I honestly couldn't get up there fast enough, I literally had to force myself to walk slower (I don't think I was that successful at walking slow). I just couldn't possibly be any happier than I am with J. And now he's stuck with me forever and ever - lucky guy!! LOL :)

We don't have all the professional photos back yet but I thought I would share a couple of my favorites from the one's she has posted. Enjoy :)

My handsome hubby - who wouldn't say 'I Do' to this man??!

I love how the flower in my hair turned out

Love this picture of them!!

My necklace was perfect with the two sparrows!

The entire wedding party flexing (except my SIL??)

Our Rings and Wedding napkin - cool how this one turned out!!

See? He loves me

Bridal Shower at Work

2010-07-14T12:16:00.004-05:00

The girls at work threw me a Bridal Shower! It was so great and so sweet of them. There were tons of people, not just my department, who showed up. It was really overwhelming all the gifts I got...I'm really blessed to have such great co-workers!! Anywho, here's pics :)

My adorable cake(s) a girl in my department made - she so go pro!

Cute cupcakes too :)

J and j surprised me and showed up too!! I almost cried (darn hormones)

My boss, Me and my BFF L - she's the one responsible for J and I being together in the first place! Love these ladies!!! Thank you SOOO Much!!!!

My $25.00 Wedding Dress

2010-07-12T12:01:00.005-05:00

First I have to explain my excitement. I'm LIVE for the THRILL of a good shopping deal. I was never into drugs, so this is my crack cocaine, methamphetamine drug of choice! If I could buy something for a $0.01 I would, just to be able to say I bought it for a PENNY. Ok, now, that being said, I found my wedding dress for a whopping $25... Granted, it is a shorter dress than I was originally looking for but WHO CARES! I paid TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS! :) But, its really pretty too. I didn't JUST buy the dress because of the price, I really like it as well. And I think J is going to like it too.

Please ignore the retarded look on my face in both these pictures. I'm 11 wks pregnant, people, I was tired and not thinking of smiling so I didn't look like a short-bus rider. I really was excited and happy...no, really...I was!

See?? It IS pretty! I told you :) Plus, I got some shoes this weekend too! YAY for getting sh*t done!

They are white and sparkly and not too tall - pretty much perfect. And they are Baker's! Which doesn't really matter except I love, Love, LOVE that store and it was fun to be in the presence of all the pretty shoooeeesss!!

We also got J's ring on Sunday. He loves it so I'm very happy we found something he really likes instead of something that "would work".

P.S. No comments on my lack of tan and J if you are reading this you are in BIG trouble mister.

Dress Shopping Part 2B of 5,000,000,000,000.....

2010-07-07T09:38:00.005-05:00

That's right. Stiiillll dress shopping. I did find the perfect dress this weekend but it was only in blush pink in the store. So, we were going to see if it came in white or ivory - and it does...BUT, it takes 3 weeks to order.

Sigh.

We all forgot our cameras so I don't have any pictures of the dresses I tried on but here's the websites picture of the one I wanted to get:

Ok, I have to admit, I'm getting a tad bit anxious about this dress situation. I have 8 DAYS till we leave to find a dress, get it cleaned and any alterations it may need. Crap. Not that it isn't doable, it just seems next to impossible and a TON of work and running around to get it done.

What kind of a tard bride agrees to get married in three weeks? *raises hand* Me.

I see a "sick day" filled with bridal shopping in my near future. The search continues...

Dress Shopping, Part 1 of...?? Who knows...

2010-06-28T13:10:00.006-05:00

I have to ask, if you were looking at this dress would you use any of the following words to describe it: informal, unembellished, light weight, casual

No, didn't think so. The people at David's Bridal were not helpful. I kept telling her things like, Informal, very casual, Texas in July...INFORMAL. This is the last dress she pulled for me. It fit me terribly and was not at all what I described. At least you can see my baby bump brewing up nicely! :) Cause that's what every shot gun wedding bride dreams of... LOL

All kidding aside. I did find an ok dress there but it would be WAY TOO HEAVY AND HOT. But I suppose, if I had to choose between the too hot dress and something way too informal, I would choose this dress. Atleast I somewhat have a backup. Its a little too long so that part would have to be altered (darn you short legs) but other than that, not too bad.

My friend L and I also went and got the bridesmaids dresses. We were going to order them online but of course they were out of all the sizes we needed online but they had them in stock in store. Of course, each size was in a DIFFERENT store. Nothing can be boring and easy people. There's always GOT to be some extra little excitement in all I do. I when I say excitement, I really mean HASSLE. Oh well, we got them (well I'm still waiting for one of them to be shipped to me because JCPenney's has decided to discontinue their "ship to store" service - way to go JCP a-holes). L tried hers on and I think they look really cute...and COMFORTABLE and LIGHT WEIGHT - so perfect :)

I'm glad the girls' dresses have been checked off the list. One less thing. MY dress saga however...??

TO BE CONTINUED...

We Like To Keep Things Exciting...

2010-06-24T14:43:00.005-05:00

I've kind of had a big week so far. Sunday evening really started things off with a BIG BANG. J and I went for a walk at our favorite park with Gemma, and when we sat down to rest at one of the benches, he PROPOSED!!!

Well, I said yes, of course! Then he surprised me by asking if I wanted to get married July 17th when we're down in Texas on our vacation!!! AND that he'd already talked to my family and everything about it and they are coming!!!! SO ~ I'm getting MARRIED IN 3 WEEKS!!!! Can you believe this stuff?! :o)

WOW, I have lots of stuff to get done in the next 3 weeks. Thankfully I have an ANGEL for an MIL and she's doing almost everything for me. I've found dresses for my three bridesmaids (will be fully checked off the list tonight when I pick up the last one and I get the one that I had to have shipped in the mail). I'll do a separate post about trying on wedding dresses - don't try and get a dress off the rack at David's Bridal, they must not like that cause they weren't helpful at all. MIL got a photographer, has organized with a lady she knows that does cakes, and she and the FIL got the preacher that married them to marry us as well! Awww! How cool is that? J already has everything picked out and ready to buy for he and the GMen to wear... so things are moving right along!

There is the issue of the marriage license. The state of MO only takes 20 min to get the license but the ceremony HAS to be in the state of MO. TEXAS however, takes 72 hours to get the marriage license which we don't have. So, I talked to the last at the Brazos County Courthouse today and she said we can come in that Friday before and get the license and have a judge waive the 72 hours waiting period. I asked her if there was any reason why the judge would deny the waiver and she said no...SO, we'll see. J is really stressed about the marriage license cause if that whole waiver of the 72 hour waiting period thing doesn't work out. We're going to be getting married in the courthouse here in good ol' Jackson, County. Fun. And not special in the slightest.

We like to live on the edge, people. Simple is bo-ring.

Here's a list of things I need to do. In three weeks.
*Marriage License
*Find/buy a wedding dress
*Bridal accessories (shoes, jewelry, under-goods)
*J's Ring
*My wedding band
*Cake topper
*Hair Ext (this is a maybe/possibly - damm me for cutting my long hair off 3 months ago)
*Pick music
*Hair style
*Get faux flower bouquets and boutonnieres made by someone who knows what the heck they are doing
*Make up some email invites (very quickly!!)
*Spray Tan - its a MUST

And a hundred other small things...

One thing I do have! MY BLING!!!!!!! (No comments on the wrinkly grandma hands!)

Ahhhh...so pretty :o)

My Belated Birthday Gift

2010-06-17T13:11:00.004-05:00

Yep! That's right, that's two pink lines you see!!

I'M PREGNANT!!!!!!!!

I had my first appointment last Friday (June 11th) with Dr. Rips ~Yeah, no seriously, that's really her name~ Anyway, I had my first appointment and everything went great! J went with me and we just couldn't be more excited. This (obviously) wasn't planned and was a bit of a belated birthday surprise to find out I was knocked up, but we are very happy and ready for this BIG step.

So the day after my birthday, J and I were talking and I realized that through all the excitement the week before, I had somehow forgotten to have my period. Wow, that NEVER happens!! I always have pee sticks around because I'm paranoid like that with all my habitual drinking binges and such so I told him that if I didn't have my monthly visit in a couple days, I would take a test although I really wasn't concerned. But, Monday morning (May 24th) I woke up and was just too curious. So, I peed on the stick and hopped in the shower and the picture above was what I saw when I came out of the shower... That was pretty much my response but over and over again. So, I took said picture with my phone and text to J. It took him a long time to respond but the response I DID get was "Holy shit! Are you serious?". We decided I would take another test when I got home just to be sure before we called our parents and sibs. Aaaand, it was positive too. We called, everyone was shocked and excited.

So back to last Friday, the Dr's appt, J went with me which was really great although I hadn't had a Pap in almost a year so J got to witness his first duck bill attack and breast lump check. Awesome. BUT - it was good that he was there because (in his usual direct, pushy fashion) he asked when we would get to see the baby/have an ultrasound. And she was cool enough to *wink, wink* let the sonographer know that I had had some spotting so I would need a u/s to make sure everything looked ok. In case you couldn't tell from the winks, she fibbed to the sonographer, I haven't had any spotting. So we got to see little our little jellybean and see his/her little heart fluttering. It was absolutely amazing and the most surreal/awesome moment of my life. Of course, the sono lady said everything looked great and the baby's heartbeat was 155. Here's little jellybean's first photo:He/She's the little blob in the middle - Adorable huh?! I know :)

So, the official due date from the Doc is January 25th, which is great cause I know lots of really cool people with Jan. 25th bdays! ;) And J's really happy cause January bdays are kind of tradition in his fam - He and j's birthdays are both in January, as well as his Dad's, his dad's dad's, a cousin and several others. With my due date, that puts me at 8 weeks and 2 days today.

Wellp, that's my exciting news that I've been BURSTING to tell you all! I suppose it should really be an ENGAGEMENT announcement but we're just doing things backwards... I'm sure that announcement will come soon enough but right now I'm going bask in the glory of motherhood and enjoy not having to suck in my gut and look thin for the next 7 1/2 months!~

Like A Kid Waiting For Their Birthday Party To Start...

2010-06-08T15:17:00.003-05:00

Man, this waiting stuff is for the birds. I've got so much cool, exciting stuff to post and I can't post it yet! Just a couple more days... Hopefully all will go well and I can share with the world. I'm NO GOOD at keeping exciting secrets :)

Sleepyless McPoutypants Seeks Financial Advisor

2010-06-02T09:40:00.003-05:00

Where has the week gone?? How did I miss the last 5 days or so...?

Oh yeah, I've been sleeping every free moment that I have.

Bleh. I'm finally feeling like I've caught up on my sleep - which is good considering I slept almost the entire Memorial Weekend away... What a waste. While I still have zero energy, at least I can make it up past 8:30 at night. Progress!

Nope, this not the post I will be filling you all in on my exciting news. The internet will just have to wait a little longer.

OTHER THAN THAT, there's not much to report. I'm really stressed about money. I'm really starting to think about all the things I have to pay for and things I'm not able to pay for that I need to be paying and it's overwhelming. I've got credit/money/debt issues people and it ain't pretty. While I can't blame it all on him, The Ex has a LOT to do with it. He liked to spend money that we didn't have and I had ALL the responsibilities of paying ALL the bills, so to keep him happy, I let him spend the money and let the bills slide. Erg. Stupid. I feel myself doing that now with J too... So, I'm officially and publicly admitting that I am terrible with money. I need help. Anyone have any good advice or can recommend me to a good Financial Counselor of some sort. I'm not looking for an easy way out (unless someone out there wants to donate a million dollars my way), I'm looking for an action plan. And yes, I realize I'm an accountant and I should be able to figure these things out for myself. But I can't, so...don't judge me. I just wish I didn't have to pay any bills, that I would give someone my money and they would pay them for me and give me an allowance every couple weeks. I hate bills.

Ok, this is turning into a crappy post. Sorry. Can't all be high heel shoes and funny crap I witness/goes on in my life kind of posts. And I'm getting hungry so I don't have time to think of any right now. I'll post something better next time, I promise....probably.

Birthday Weekend in Review

2010-05-25T12:52:00.003-05:00

I had absolutely the BEST birthday ever.... I mean - E.V.E.R. -

Friday night, I get home and there is a package from Chocolate.com on the dining room table, for mwah, from my fam. Score. Buuuttt, J promised my mum that he wouldn't let me open it until my actual bday (Saturday). Bummer, but oh okaayy... We were waiting on J's parents to arrive so we could go out to eat at Jess & Jim's Steakhouse when the doorbell rang. And SURPRISE it was my mom and dad! Yay! I didn't even know they were coming!! Shortly after J's parents arrived and I got to open my Chocolate.com surprise. And it was a CHOCOLATE HIGH HEEL SHOE FILLED WITH MORE CHOCOLATES!!! Could there possibly be a cooler gift on the face of the planet??!? I think not! So, we all went out to eat and it was yummy and we were all stuffed with beefy steak and giant baked potato goodness. I'm from SEK, steak is a big deal people. We like our beef.

Saturday morning when I woke up, J asked me if I wanted to know what I was doing today for my birthday surprise - Duh - So he went ahead and told me that he was taking me to the spa and treating me to a 5 HOUR Spa Day. F-I-V-E Hoouurrrrssss! It was amazing!!! I was pampered like the princess that I am! :) So, J did good for my birthday just like I knew he would. Then, when I got home, J's parents had bought my a little birthday gift too - the most adorable white sundress with silver/grey embroidery at the bottom. Absolutely loved it!! His mom also got me a "Fresh Cotton" Yankee Candle, which is one of my all time favorite smells. :) Yay me!

Saturday night, the White Trash Bash and it was just as trashy and classless and I'd hoped it would be. C even created a little dramatic display in my front yard with my in my nightgown trying to get him back in the house - all while my neighbors were watching. And I bet you can't guess, but it was all because of his trashy ass girlfriend making out with her ex back in Marshall (she wasn't invited to my birthday festivities) - his sister was considerate enough to call and tell him about it. It was quite the drunken dramatic display. Nice. There weren't as many people there as I was hoping and all us girls pretty much dressed the same (they had to copy my idea dern them) but we all still had a good time and that's truly all that matters anyway.

Sunday, J's mom had never been to an actual DSW store (poor deprived shoe loving soul) so we took off together to go do a little shopping. And wouldn't you know it, they had my awesome jellypop wedges IN MY SIZE that I've been eyeing online. I HAD to get them, it was so obviously a sign that I should. Duh. SO, I have a new pair of shoes as well. :) J had to take C back home to Marshall so they left while his mom and I went shopping. His parents left after we got back from DSW to head back down to TX, so I got a few moments of P&Q Sunday afternoon.

Yesterday I got an extra, unexpected "birthday surprise" that I will have to tell you all about in more detail in a later post down the road. You'll all just have to hang in suspense until then (well not ALL of you), but I can tell you its a pretty big deal - bigger than Ron Burgandy. Stay Tuned!