A letter to my child

To my dearest Olivia Kate,

I just want to say a big whopping THANK YOU to you!!! I had some serious reservations about taking you on a five day trip two states away. I had pretty much made up my mind that we would not be taking the traditional after Christmas Richmond trip. I mean what kind of mommy would be crazy enough to take a twelve week old on a 9+ hour car trip? Even after the family convinced me that I should go only two days before, I was seriously dreading the week still. What good could come out of this?

You my dearest daughter though deserve some big props! You were FANTASTIC the entire week! You were a champ during both LONG car rides. You did get a little fussy around hour five on both the way there and back, but a little bottle to put you to sleep helped out and you were in a good mood the rest of the way. Even though you spent the entire week in a different house and sleeping in the pack n' play, you hardly cried the entire time. Plus, I heard no complaints of you waking up anyone in the middle of the night. I'm sure the fact that you had plenty of people to hold you and entertain you helped, but you still surprised me. In fact, the only complaint I have is that you have now made me look crazy since I have been telling people your a handful and never sleep. Oh well, it was nice to hear a thousand times all week that you were "such a good baby." I'm hoping this is a new start for you and I and that you'll continue this trend now that we're home.

Once again, thanks for being awesome this week!

Love you with my whole heart,

Your mommy

P.S. Thank you to my family with all y'alls help this past week with Olivia. Everyone of you made it a much easier week on both of us. I love you all!

A few things...

A few things...

We've been out of town all week. David had to stay home because of work and as much as Olivia and I love visiting family, we miss him like crazy. We'll both be glad to see him tomorrow!

I left the laptop at home this week, so that is the reason for a lack of blog post. I do have several blog post brewing in my head that I'm hoping to get out when we get back.

In response to a comment left on my last blog post. Yes, I did pay to have my blog look a certain way. Not that it's anyone's business, but it was actually a gift from David's grandparents for Christmas. And even if it wasn't, I have a right to spend my money however I choose. So don't rain on my parade and keep your negative sounding comments off my blog. If you don't like the fact that I spend money on my blog, then don't read it. Thanks.

A New Look for the New Year

Please give me a moment while I do my girlie scream....EEEEEEKKKKKK!!!!

As you can see, I got my blog makeover just in time for Christmas. The exciting part was I got to see it yesterday for the first time, which was perfect since it was a Christmas gift.

I am in love with it. Erin at Designer Blogs did an awesome job! I seriously just filled out a questionnaire and she hit it right on with just the few questions I answered. It was just the look I was looking for.

If your interested in a personal blog design and like me have no clue where to start, I HIGHLY recommend Erin and her team at Designer Blogs. Look through their portfolio, all their work is top notch. They also offer pre-made designs if your looking for a low-cost makeover.

Thank you Erin! I absolutely love it! I will definitely be back in the future!

A Merry Christmas from the Mabreys!!!

I can't believe there are only a few hours of Christmas left. For some reason this year, it wasn't feeling like Christmas to me. To be honest, even today it didn't feel like Christmas. I'm more excited about Christmas next year. Olivia will be old enough to enjoy Christmas and it's already been decided we're having Christmas at our house.

Our Christmas celebrations started Wednesday night. We went over to David's parents to have Christmas with just our family. We had a yummy dinner of crab legs and shrimp. Needless to say, I stuffed myself. Crab legs and shrimp are one of our favorite dinners. After dinner we opened gifts and of course got spoiled. Vicki and Wayne love doing a big Christmas. Even though we're all in our mid to late twenties, we still get a huge Christmas. I got a GPS and was very excited since I was convinced I was one of the few people on Earth who didn't have one already. They were all laughing at me because I was so excited over new bathroom towels (we need some desperately). You know your getting old when you get excited over towels. David got golf lessons because he needed another excuse to go play golf all the time. Olivia's big gift was a excersaucser. It's the cutest thing and I can't wait till she can use it. We all also got a ton of other stuff. They spoil us, but I'm not complaining, it's nice to be spoiled by someone else every so often. Thanks Nana & Grandpa! Y'all are too good to us!

This is one of the only pictures I got of her that night. Olivia's is rolling over like crazy now, but when she gets over, the situation results in crying. She hasn't quite figured out yet what to do when she gets over.

I'm hoping we figure it out soon. The crying gets old.

Christmas Eve everyone (my family & David's) came down to our house for our traditional Spaghetti and meatball dinner. My meme started this tradition years before I was born and it is always one of my favorite traditions at Christmas. Over the years, others have joined us and when we got married David's family started to join us. This year our little house was packed (thankfully it was nice to know this is the only year we have to squeeze in everybody), but we all had a good time. I didn't get one picture throughout the night, but it's hard to take pictures when your hosting and cooking. We always get together two days before to make the meatballs and sauce. I love spending time with these ladies. They always make me smile.

Please ignore the fact I had on no make-up and was looking rough. It was the day of my last emotional breakdown.

David headed out early Christmas morning. I barely woke up to say good-bye (sorry, honey). Olivia and I headed out to spend Christmas morning with my family. We always have breakfast together on Christmas morning. I usually never eat breakfast (real healthy I know), but I love a big breakfast. I was trying to be a photographer like all the other bloggers and take the fancy photos. I think I got a few good ones.




That is the extent of my picture taking for the rest of the Christmas day. I will say it...I suck at taking photos. I keep forgetting. I realized today though it's because I'm taking care of a baby. It's hard to keep up with a three month old and take photos. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. One of my goals for 2010 is learn how to use my camera. Nicole's only had hers for a week and she's got me beat.

After breakfast, we exchanged gifts. Olivia is a very loved little girl. She hit the jackpot today. She got a ton of new toys that she'll be playing with very soon. I can't wait till she can start playing with everything.




This is the now famous Meme...she got a digital camera and learned to text all within the last 24 hours. She's such a high tech grandma now.

This afternoon I headed over to David's family's Christmas. I did not take a single picture over there, but Olivia racked up there too. We didn't stay too long because David called and asked if we could come see him during his down time. We headed to the Waffle House to hang out with him for a while. It was the only chance Olivia had to see him today. She must had missed him these past two days because she was all smiles when she saw him. She would just look at him and smile. It melts my heart. Christmas does make for one tired baby.

She was ready for bed at 7:30pm. I'm hoping maybe she'll sleep through the night...fingers crossed. I'm now cuddled up on the couch with my new cozy throw, watching It's a Wonderful Life (it's my favorite), and waiting for the hubby to make it home. He's on hour 16 now. I'm sure he's going to be either half dead or on a high when he gets home.

Olivia and I are heading up to Virginia on Sunday to visit family. So tomorrow is going to be filled with doing laundry and packing. I'm not sure our SUV is big enough to hold a weeks worth of packing for a three month-old. Wish us luck.

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

If you can't tell, that's my child rolling all the way over for the first time!

Acceptance

This afternoon Meme (my grandmother) came over so we could make our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of homemade spaghetti and meatballs. When she walked in I'm sure she was taken aback to find Olivia screaming in her crib and me on the verge of tears. Like any grandmother, she immediately took me into her arms, gave me a big hug, told me it was going to be alright, and then she asked me what was wrong?

Of course I had already broken down at that point. I was going on about how Olivia still wasn't on a schedule and was a pain in the butt to put down for a nap. I went on and on about how after eight days, she wasn't following anything the book said and how the book said it only takes three to five days to get a baby on a sleeping schedule and she was on day eight and still refusing to sleep and I'm completely frustrated (sorry to the English teachers, that sentence is completely jacked up).

Meme started laughing and then told me to throw away my book. She reminded me that every child is different (I've heard it a thousand times already) and mine is a child that doesn't like to sleep. Meme raised three very different babies back in the day when they didn't have all these instructional books for babies, they just had to wing it. My aunt she said was a good baby, my dad was just like Olivia, and my uncle...well, she said he couldn't even be explained. Some babies are difficult and others just aren't. Some babies easily adapt to a schedule and others like to do things their way. She reminded me again that this too will pass. I need to quit worrying about my house not being clean or my laundry not getting done. She told me to enjoy the time I have with her and quit worrying about her being on a schedule because the time will fly quickly. Before I know it she'll be spending majority of her days in school and not with me.

So, I've decided to accept now that my child is not a sleeper and not a fan of schedules. She has better days and is happier when she's on the go and setting her own schedule. She lets me know when she's tired and easily goes down when she wants to and needs to. She is who she is and I don't want to change that for the world. The funny thing is that she's really just like her momma. No, she's not sleeping through the night yet, but to be honest, I cherish that time of night when it's only her and I awake and she lets me hold her like a baby and cuddle her. I don't think I'm ready to give up those 3am feedings yet. It's the only time my baby lets me treat her like a baby.

So, screw the schedule...she'll sleep when she's ready.

Friday Night Ramblings

• First...I knew y'all would all be jealous of my kid's awesome Santa picture. Sorry, I can't help it my child has no fear of a fat man with a beard and a red suit. Just kidding....seriously, she likes anyone who will hold her and I was amazed it turned out that good. I don't expect it to happen again till she's like six or something. Secondly, the Christmas cards came from good ol' wal-mart.
  

• It's December 18th and I'm happy to report that I am officially done with Christmas shopping!!!!!! This is the earliest I've ever gotten my shopping done. My mom and I waded out in the pouring rain today while David kept OK home and took over mommy duties for the day. Thank you honey! Your the best!

• The Baby Wise sleeping tactics are still going well. She's slowly starting to break down. Last night she went to bed at 8pm and slept till 4:30am. I did get up and feed her even though we're trying to cut out the middle of the night feeding. The last bottle she had was at 6pm and even I cannot go that long without food. She then slept till almost 9am. Amazing!!! Sorry, I'll stop boring y'all with my child's sleeping issues.
  

• I've now found a new use for kitchen counter-top samples....coasters! I told David that I'm going to home depot to steal a few more in the same pattern so I have a matching set.

• Tonight I finally had to hit the "mark all as read" button on my google reader : (

• I was reading on another blog about someone who googled themselves. I decided to give it a shot. Thankfully nothing came up about me....whew! I then decided to google my maiden name. I had the realization that I've been saying Mabrey long enough now, that my maiden name now sounds funny to me.

• We're watching Julie & Julia right now and the hubby is cracking up over all the blog references. I guess he's seeing some similarities?
  

I can't think of a catchy title for this post.

My only question is where has this week gone? Seriously, I cannot believe it's already Thursday.

I've slacked on the bloging this week. Even my google reader is up in the 100's now. I honestly don't know if I'm coming or going right now. The craziness of the holidays has officially started at our house this last week. My mom and John are coming into town tonight and I haven't even cleaned my house and it doesn't look like I'm going to get to it anytime soon. Mom & John, I did wash the sheets today. Didn't want y'all to think your sleeping on dirty sheets. I finally had to break down and do laundry. I was informed that the hubby was on his last uniform. He has a ten day supply. That's just sad on my part.

These past few days have been rough around the Mabrey household. I've been working to try and get Olivia on a sleeping schedule. I read a book recommended by my college roommate called Baby Wise. So far I've been very impressed with the book and I'm trying to apply it's tactics with Olivia. The book says it takes three days to establish a sleeping routine, but my daughter is proving she is pretty stubborn. I'm trying to stick with it a couple of more days. So far she's doing better, but she's still fighting it. I'm scared to see what the next eighteen years brings with her.

On the other hand, my child does rock at pictures with Santa. Last night we headed up to the fancy mall in the rich part of town with the Castellanos and the Pope's. Olivia's picture even impressed the guy taking the pictures. As you can see below that she looked directly at the camera. The guy and Santa couldn't believe she was only 11 weeks old. I'm sure the fact she's already three feet tall had nothing to do with that. Hopefully she'll keep the good Santa pictures up the next few years.

In other news, to add to the fun and craziness of this week, we've been trying to work things out the contractor that is suppossed to make the repairs on our soon-to-be house. This is the first time I've personally worked with a contractor. I can say that I now realize why they are always getting a bad wrap. No offense to anyone who reads this that may be a contractor or married to one. Don't get me wrong, the guy is super nice, but sometimes it feels like pulling teeth to get things done. He keeps promising the repairs can be done in a week....we'll see...I'm not going to hold my breath on it. Just sayin....

And since I finally got around to mailing off my Christmas cards.

Thanks to all who sent comments on facebook about my Christmas cards. I'm glad I impressed everyone this year, but now it's just put a lot of pressure on me for next years cards.

The Mabreys on the move (again)...

For many weeks (okay, months) we've been debating what would be best for our family. Should we wait till David's job moves us again or should we stay put where we're at for awhile?

For years now we've been saying we'll go wherever they send us. When we found out we were pregnant, we started to be a little hesitant. But now that she's actually here, we're really not sure we want to move. Over the last few weeks, we've been having this discussion on a daily basis. We're both decided that for right now, we want to stay put near our family and friends.

A few weeks ago, we decided to look at houses again. We've never owned a home of our own, so the tax credit was a big incentive. Our plan was to wait till January, but you know I would go and start looking. Of course, I found and fell in love with a house quick. We went to look at it twice and we both ended up falling in love. David wanted to still wait till January, but I (and a few others) pushed him to go ahead with it.

Yesterday, they accepted our offer, the contract was signed, and we're set to be homeowner's in January.

(I'm assuming it's safe to post a picture since it's in the back of a neighborhood.)

Seriously, this is my dream house (besides an old farm house that's already fixed up). It's a foreclosure and we are stealing it. I won't tell you how much, but you wouldn't believe me anyway. We got the deal of the century. Even our Real Estate agent was shocked they took the price we offered.

This house is meant to be ours. We've lived in several different houses over the years and both worked in real estate for several years. With all that experience, we developed three list. We have a A, B, & C list. The A list is things the house must have or we won't even look at it. The B list is things we would like, but would look at houses that didn't have them. The C list is just stuff we dream about. This house has everything on all three of our list. It's meant to be.

So, needless to say, we're super excited.

This years blog post were all about the joys (haha, I crack myself up) of pregnancy. Be prepared, I'm sure 2010 will be all about the house.

If walls could talk (Part 2)

We were home for an hour before she woke up and realized we were home.

I know I'm a horrible parent, but the first lesson I've learned about motherhood is you do what you got to do.

I was planning on posting this tomorrow, but the hubby is making me wait till tomorrow to share my exciting news with everyone. So come back tomorrow.

And no, I'm not pregnant again!

Worldless Wednesday

I think someone's made a friend

We met a celebrity and I turned into total creeper...

Somehow, Nicole and I talked our guys into giving us an extra girl's night this month.

We decided to use it wisely.

We headed up to the big city and stood in line for five hours to meet this lady...

The Pioneer Woman was in our neck of the woods and of course when we found out, it only took us two seconds to decide to go.

It was crazy.

The book signing was to start at 7:30pm. We got to Borders at 6:00pm and it was already a mad house. They gave everyone a wristband with a color and a letter A-J on it. We were green (the second color) E. Luckily since it was completely packed, they decided to start an hour early. If they didn't, we would probably still be standing there at this moment.




My pictures of the crowd does not do it justice. I will give Borders props because you didn't have to actually stand in line the entire time. You just waited around till they called you color and letter and then you went to stand in line. So, Nicole and I found a comfy spot near some creepy cat books and settled in for the night.

Luckily, we had a lot to talk about and to be honest, the time went by really fast.

We also got a chance to meet Bakerella. Nicole was a complete dork and afraid to ask her for her picture. Of course then I went and asked for her.

The dork also went to the bathroom while I held down our seats next to the scary cat books. Who does she run into? The Pioneer Woman herself. Of course she froze and just stared at her. The Pioneer Woman said "hi" and she manged to spit out a "hi" back. Unfortunately, she didn't have her camera with her in the bathroom, but if she did, we might have been asked to leave.


At 10:45pm, we made it to the front of the line finally.

Of course through out the night, we debated on what to say to the queen of blogging.

Maybe it was the fact that I hadn't ate since 11am that morning or maybe because I had been up since 4am? Whatever it was, I got nervous and turned into a total creeper when I met her. I told her that her voice didn't sound anything like I thought it would and then I blurted out "your pretty." Completely creeper, right? I finished it up with telling her how she was the first celebrity we had ever met. Of course Nicole helped me out by saying not a single word to her.

We're complete dorks.

Of course, she was very nice and said thank you and that she wasn't a celebrity. I told her she was "on the top of my blog list." Wow, I have a way with words.


We also got to meet her sister and friend. They were nice enough to sign our books too.



And it's dangerous to sit in a Borders for five hours because you"ll end up spending $20 on a five inch Olivia doll for your baby Olivia...


What can I say? I'm a sucker.

Thanks Nicole for going with me! I had a great time and so glad we decided to go!

Oh, and if you haven't already went and bought her cookbook, I highly recommend it. It is seriously the most beautiful cookbook I've ever seen. The pictures are beautiful and it tells the story of life on the ranch. Plus, it's stuff you actually want to eat. The night I bought it I stayed up past midnight reading the cookbook. It's that good. I'm hoping after the book tour ends, she'll start working on number two.

Dreaming....

To say I have an obsession with real estate is an understatement. I am constantly looking at what's for sale in the neighborhoods we like. You can drive me through my favorite neighborhoods and I can tell you how much their asking for every house that's for sale, the stats for the house, and what others sold for in the past. I'm dead serious on this. My husband will vouch for me. It's a gift.

I even memorize these things when we're not looking for a house. We've decided that since our lease is up in January to start looking for a house again. I know this is only the twentieth time we've said we're buying a house, but this time's its for real (the tax credit has a little something to do with it). Yes, I'm sure our real estate agent rolls his eyes when he sees one of us call. Luckily, he's a old friend (meaning old in the fact we've known him a long time, he would be mad if I was calling him old).

Before David started working at the waffle, we looked at houses in the town we're currently living in. We never dreamed he would eventually be working down here. We looked at a house that I feel in love with, but we had no money at all, so it was just a dream. Well, that house is back on the market.

I'm in love with this house. I have seriously driven by it frequently these past four years since I've first saw it. It's got a ton of room and would fit a growing family. It's 100 years old and has so much character to it. It has stained glass windows, a big bay window with a window seat, a sun room, and the list goes on. The pictures don't do it justice. I pulled them off the mls site.


The big black window is open to the staircase.

The family room and dinning room are a nice size.

Every room (besides the kitchen and baths) has a fireplace in it.

This is one of the issues with the house...

The kitchen needs a total rehab, but has a ton of potential. The people who bought it last bought it as a foreclosure and tried to rehab it. They did a pretty crappy job and wanted way too much for it. It's a foreclosure again. Unfortunately, we also think it has some foundation issues. That of which can be pretty expensive and money we don't have.

Oh well, maybe one day...I'll keep dreaming.