Moments with Mabrey

A conversation between the Mabreys

2010-01-26T17:45:00.000-05:00

hubby: Did you take the chairs off the front porch?

me: (major concern on my face because I'm thinking someone took them) no, why?

hubby: oh, because the chairs are laying in the bushes.

me: yes honey, if I move the chairs off the front porch, the front bushes would be the first place I put them...

Missing Blogger Found

2010-01-25T19:40:00.003-05:00

Hi, my name is Amber and I'm a bad blogger.

It's been over a week.

That's just sad.

Even the hubby was giving me a hard time tonight about not updating the blog.

Well, all I really have to say is that we've been busy this past week and I hate to tell you that it's not going to get much better this week.

The new house remodel has been in full swing this past week. Tomorrow the work will be officially done and we are then allowed to move in whenever. Technically, we could have moved in while the work was being done, but #1 that would have just been a pain in the butt and #2 it might have been a little awkward living with the Mexicans all week because they didn't speak a lick of English and I don't speak a lick of Spanish. The big move is this weekend and I cannot wait!!!! I've pretty much got everything packed and we've been eating off paper plates the past few days which is nothing new in this household.

We had a girls day last Friday and it was sooooo much needed. If you missed Nicole's update about my clubbing cardigan you can find that here. I've decided that I cannot live with out my girls nights. They are my favorite night of the month. Nicole, Amy, and I went shopping all day before we met the rest of the group for dinner that night, I was gone a full 12 hours and did not once call to check on my baby. I believe that just goes to show how much I needed the day off and for the record, she was with her Nana and I knew she was fine. Her Nana would have called if it was needed. Once again, if you don't have a girl's day/night, get one ASAP.

Speaking of Olivia Kate, we've ventured into cereal and fruit. I know some people are freaking out reading this since she's only about to be four months old, but a couple of people (whose opinions I greatly value) suggested they thought she might be ready for cereal. At fourteen weeks, we started with the cereal and she was having none of it. I thought she wasn't ready so I slacked off with it. Then two different people gave me the same idea of mixing applesauce with it. I tired it and she LOVED it! After two weeks of applesauce, we've ventured into bananas this week and she's loving them even more than the applesauce. I tell her she's my little monkey.

Well, that's all I got. We've been busy, but with nothing exciting it seems. David has his first two whole days off since before Christmas today and tomorrow, so Olivia and I are enjoying spending time with him. Tonight we're settled in watching our favorite line up of a little Antiques Roadshow, followed by the new show on The History Channel called American Pickers, and then our new favorite Pawn Stars.

I told y'all we were dorks.

Oh and I'm enjoying a dixie cup full of my boxed wine.

Now, we just sound like dorky rednecks.

Keeping it real.

There most likely will not be too much more blogging for the remainder of the week. The internet/cable people are supposed to be there Friday to hook up the internet and cable, so hopefully there won't be too much of a break in the blogging. The hubby always makes sure to have those cut on before we move in anywhere. Gotta have your priorities in order, right?

Have a great one!

Saturday Night Blogging

2010-01-16T21:06:00.003-05:00

Obviously, my life is exciting...I'm blogging on a Saturday night. Wooohoooo! What kind of loser blogs on a Saturday night? Well, David's at work (shocker there) and Olivia is down for the night (well, till at least 2am). So, I'm sitting here with nothing to do. It's alright though because it's nasty outside and I'm happy that I have no where to go. It finally warms up around here, but now it's pouring rain....go figure? I am sooooooo ready for the spring and warmer weather!

We went to pick out our new faucet for the kitchen tonight. I decided to wait till David got home to go pick it out, because of course, I value his opinion....hahaha. While I'm trying to weigh the options of do I want separate handles or one handle, do I want a built in sprayer, etc. he's too busy looking at bathroom faucets, which of course we don't need right now. And he wonders why I don't ask his opinion half the time.

Kameron, you hit it right on the head. I swear I'm starting to think we were separated at birth (by a few years). I'm a pretty blunt person. I don't have a problem telling you what I think. Especially if you ask. Just because I'm blunt about things, doesn't mean I'm a hater. I feel it's better to just be honest. There are some people in our circle who personally get on my nerves and I don't agree with some of their ways. So, I don't go out of my way to be friends with them. I'm cordial to them,but I'm not calling them to hang out on a Friday night. With that being said, I do take those who I know can't take my bluntness in consideration. I don't want to hurt people's feelings. If I don't think you can handle it, I keep my mouth shut. I don't want y'all to think I'm mean.

We are wanting to visit two different churches in town. Now that we've decided to stay around here a little while, we figured we need to find a home church. I though, keep backing out each Sunday. I finally admitted to David tonight that I keep backing out because I know Olivia will have to go to the nursery and I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet. She's only been watched by family or Nicole. I'm scared to send her to a room that she doesn't know anyone. I know she'll be fine, lets be honest, it's me that's not ready. Maybe in another month or two I'll be ready. I'm thinking that after we settle in the new house we'll attempt the church hunt.

So far I'm doing alright on the weight lose goal. I started in December before Christmas and then of course when Christmas came around, I slacked off a bit. I started at around 163 before Christmas and I'm down to 154.4lbs as of this morning. Right now, I don't have much of a chance to exercise on a regular basis. The treadmill is too close to Olivia's room, so when she's asleep, I can't workout. When we move, the treadmill will be on the opposite side of the house, so I'm going to start working out when she's asleep. I'm hoping that will help take off some more of the pounds a little faster. I want a beach bod for the summer.

Obviously, since we've bought a new house (or new to us), I've been dreaming up many projects for the house. We're moving from 1100sq. feet to 3700sq. feet and we have no furniture to fill it up. I found a blog called Knock Off Wood through another home decorating blog. I have fallen in love. I feel its only right to share this gem. It's a lady who is a self thought carpenter and she takes expensive pieces from say Pottery Barn and makes simple, look-alike plans that are super cheap to build. I seriously looked at this blog for two hours last night (I told y'all I have an exciting life). I have a huge list of projects I want to tackle from this blog. The hubby was even impressed with it and of course, because it's cheap. I'm adding carpentry to my goals this year to accomplish.

To my Granddaddy & Grandma, Thank you for calling to congratulate us last night. Of course, when you called, I was already in bed and the phone was turned off. What are you two doing up at 10pm? Sorry I didn't call you back, you know I'm horrible at returning phone calls. When we get settled, we'll have y'all down for dinner. I love y'all!

Now wasn't this post all over the place? Here's to an exciting weekend!

We're Officially Homeowners

2010-01-15T19:16:00.001-05:00

As of 5:30pm, the Mabreys are proud owners of their very own bidet...

This has been the week from H-E-L-L, but it is over now and we actually (barely) closed on time.

I told David I refuse to buy another house again.

He better start loving his new bidet.

A week of learning

2010-01-14T13:31:00.004-05:00

I've learned a lot this week so far...

*There is no such thing as an easy closing. You would think that I would have learned this with all the years in real estate, but why did I have to start thinking that we, for whatever reason, were immune? Let's just say that everything has pretty much fallen apart this week with buying our new house. Luckily, it seems all has been put back together (but one piece). Will we close tomorrow? Who knows?

*I have the biggest hips in my circle of friends. Since pretty much all of us want to lose weight, Sheena had the idea to do a biggest loser type contest and whoever loses the most weight wins a million dollars...just kidding...it's really about $175. We had our official weigh in on Tuesday. I may have nothing on the top, but I more than enough make up for it on the bottom. Years ago, my hubby (at-that-time boyfriend) informed an entire room that I "have birthing hips." Yes honey, the hips don't lie, those are some birthing hips evidently.

* We suck at eating healthy. David decided that he too wanted to change his eating habits because he is wanting to tone up and I'm wanting to lose weight. He wants to do the P90X thing but decided to see if we could stick with the diet before we spent the money on the thing. I went to the grocery store and spent $140 in "healthy" groceries that follow the P90X diet. So far this week, we've eaten Sonic's, Pizza, and Arby's. We're not starting out so good.

*A sick 15 week old is the most pitiful thing in the world. Olivia has come down with her second cold this season. I knew it was coming since ALL of our friends kids have been sick these last few weeks. She is just pitiful sounding and it's breaking my heart.

*Evidently, my friends think I don't like anyone. There is no way to really explain this one in a tactful way. I'll just keep it at that my friends think I'm a hater. Amy and Nicole,I'm not a hater, they just get on my nerves. It's nice to be known for something I guess.

A Family History

2010-01-12T10:02:00.000-05:00

While visiting our family in Richmond, we got to take a rare photo opportunity. It's now one of my favorite photos.

No, it's not the best picture. The men weren't smiling, Olivia wasn't looking towards the camera, we're standing next to a fridge, and it's a bit blurry, but there are five generations in this picture.

The oldest man in the picture is my grandmother's uncle Grover. So that makes him my great-great uncle and Olivia's great-great-great uncle. Cool, huh? Uncle Grover is 78 years old (though he swears he's not a day over 67), lives on the Pamunkey Indian Reservation he grew up on (in the same house actually), and he's a spry thing. He's hilarious and always ready with a quick comeback. Plus, he loves babies...

Every year we go to visit Uncle Grover and Aunt Betty (that's her side in the shot above). They are the sweetest people. Going to visit them is always one of my favorite parts of the Virginia trip. I've been to the Reservation hundreds of times, but I love going back every year.

This is the house that Uncle Grover lives in. If I'm remembering correctly, it's the same house his mother grew up in. It's been added onto a few times, but the original house is still underneath all that.

When I came in from taking pictures in the freezing cold, this is what I found...

Top Five

2010-01-11T10:26:00.000-05:00

Well, the countdown has begun in the Mabrey household. We're set and ready to close on the new house this Friday. All the renovations have been picked out and approved. New counter tops, ceramic tile, and new carpet have all been ordered and waiting to be installed. The moving truck has been reserved and fingers crossed, we'll move the last weekend of the month.

Over the last year, I haven't said much about our rental house because I'll just be honest....I hate it. I didn't mind things at first, but overtime, I've come to despise it. I'm about to go crazy in this house. Here are the top five reasons I gotta get out and soon...

#1. Take a close look and see if you notice what's missing...

Figured it out yet?

No dishwasher. Yeah, no dishwasher just sucks. "Oh, it won't be so bad" I said when we looked at the house. Well, stupid me. It sucks. Especially when it comes to washing a thousand bottles a day, you really start wishing for a dishwasher. Needless to say, we eat off of paper plates and use paper cups pretty much everyday. I will be happy to start eating off regular plates again.

#2. Just one bathroom...

Okay, one bathroom isn't so bad. Especially since it's only two adults living here. Right now, it's less to clean. But I do hate having to share a bath with my guest. I wish, more for their sake, they had their own bathroom to use.

#3. What's this? Extra storage space?

Wrong! That people would be my laundry room. Yep, it's outside. To be quite honest, it's pretty scary on the inside. I'm so scared by it, I refuse to show you the inside. When it pours rain (which it's done all this year), it leaks on the inside. Plus, it just sucks to have to go outside to get your laundry out when it's freezing outside.

#4. The road

We live off a major (and very busy) highway in our town. It's amazing that only two of David's employers have figured out where we live. Especially, since we live less than a quarter of a mile from one of his stores. For obvious reasons, I'll be happy to get off the main road and into a neighborhood. I plan on being outside with Olivia a lot and being hit by a car is not one thing I wanna worry about. And to play into my mom fears, I'm scared to death that a car is one day going to run off the road and into Olivia's room which is at the front of the house one night while she's sleeping. Dead serious, I pray every night that this does not happen.

#5. My closets

I believe these pictures say enough. This is all the storage space in our house at the moment. Now you see why getting organized is one of my goals for 2010.

Oh and the obvious, the house isn't really my style. The paint colors are pretty bland, the bathroom needs to be remodeled, and those brown kitchen cabinets just don't get me excited. We did break the rules and paint Olivia's room, but that's because everyone told me I would have been disappointed if I didn't decorate her room like I wanted. So, I'm excited to get into a house that is more our style and get to decorate it like I wanna.

Southerners and the Snow

2010-01-08T08:54:00.004-05:00

It snowed here over night.

Yeah, I don't see it either. In fact, I'm not even sure that can be called snow.

But don't worry, all the schools in the metro area are shut down for the day and the local news channels are having Winter 2010 Watch on 24/7.

This is one thing that bothers me about the South.

Don't get me wrong, if I was still working for the school system, I would also be wanting schools to be closed. Who doesn't want a day off?

But I do have a question...why are we using all of our snow days in January for days like this?

What are we going to do when it actually snows more than a 1/2 inch in March and you've already used all our snow days?

Looks like the kids will have to continue going to school longer into the summer now and then people will be complaining. Yes, we so easily forget about those snow days when the kids are still in school in June.

Now, I'm sure someone who happens to live here will read this and the first thing they'll say is "it's not the snow, it's the ice."

But seriously folks?

Okay Leah, you can laugh at us now.

Book Review

2010-01-07T16:37:00.000-05:00

I haven't had much time to read lately. This past month, I have started trying to read a little each night before I go to bed. When Nicole brought up the book club idea back in November, I thought it would be great motivation for me to make time to read right now. I might not get to read as much as I use to pre-baby days, but 12 books a year isn't to shabby.

Last night we had our first book-club meeting. Several people flaked out on us and we only had four people, but it ended up being kinda cool because it ended up being a Mother-in-law/Daughter-in-law book club meeting with just Vicki & I and Nicole & Darlene. (Side note: One thing Nicole and I have in common is that both of our Mom's live out of town, but we both live down the street from our Mother-in-laws. We are both very fortunate to have a close relationship with our Mother-in-laws and we're always saying how thankful we are for our mother-in-law's after hearing others stories). But, we're hoping to have a bigger crowd next go round. Nicole made a yummy dinner and even though we were kinda fumbling around at first, once we got into it, it was interesting to hear every one's thoughts on it. We're always sharing and recommending books, but we never talk much that in depth about any of them.

Our first pick was The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak.

It's a story about the Holocaust and Nazi Germany, but from the German perspective. It can be compared to Ann Frank, but instead of the Jewish view, it's the story of a German girl. It's an hard book to explain, especially in the way the story is told. The story is told by death's voice (I'm sure that makes no since, but if you read it you'll understand). It's one of those that when I first finished it, I liked it, but the more we talked about it last night, the more I liked the book. I know this is probably the worst book review, but it's hard to explain. Just read the book. It's good and you'll enjoy it. It's an easy read and can be found in the young adult section.

Over the holiday's, I also finally got around to reading another book Nicole lent to me. Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore.

I've seen a lot of talk about this book in the blog world and I can say that it was all true. I LOVED this book. This is hands down one of my absolute favorite books now. It's the true story of a homeless man, a wealthy art dealer, and the woman who brought them together. It's one of those books that I think everyone should have to read at some point in time in their lives. It is a life changing book and makes you stop to re-examine yourself and how you treat others. It's short (I finished it in less than two days) and an easy read. If you only have the chance to read one book this year, let this be it.

A perfect moment

2010-01-07T05:21:00.003-05:00

Have you ever had one of those perfect moments in life?

A moment that regardless of how much time passes, you'll never, ever forget?

A moment that is so right, when looking back, you almost cannot believe it really happened?

A moment that is so perfect, you couldn't have made it up?

On that last night of Olivia not sleeping well, when she woke up crying at 2am, I decided to give her a bottle. When I finished feeding her, like all moms, I sat there a few extra minutes rocking her even though she had already falling back to sleep. Like so many times before, I leaned down and kissed her on the forehead and whispered to her "I love you." At that exact moment, she half opened her eyes and the biggest smile came across her face. Not her usual dreaming baby grin, but her big ol' kool-aid smile. She then closed her eyes and went right back to sleep.

It was a perfect moment in my life.

When she's 70 with grandchildren of her own and I'm 97, I will still remember that moment. It's one that makes it all worth it.

Momma said there'll be days like this...

2010-01-06T12:38:00.006-05:00

First off, it's FREEZING here. I don't do the cold. The day after Christmas, I'm ready for summer. Yes, a constant stream of 75 degree days would be ideal in Georgia, but I would seriously take a 95 degree day + the humidity, any day over a 20 degree day. I know you people from up North are probably laughing at me right now, but I don't care. There is a reason I was born in the South and remain here. I don't do the cold.

We had a bad night last night. Olivia went down at her usual 7:30pm. She awoke at 12:00am. I went in and changed her and put her back down. She laid there for almost an hour talking to herself which of course I had to listen to on the monitor. An hour later, she was back up at 2:00am. I got up, feed her, and put her back down. Two hours later, she was up again. I let her cry/talk it out over the next hour and then at 6:30am, she was back up. I swear this child is never going to sleep through the night. She will be five and still waking up in the middle of the night. I will not get a full night's rest again till she's moved out to go to college, but by then I'll probably be heading towards the "change" and waking up with hot flashes throughout the night. I'm convinced I will never sleep a full eight hours again till I'm dead.

I went to Wal-mart this morning to buy a cd player for Olivia's room (her other one broke already) and a snuggie (I wasn't kidding when I said it was freezing). I had to have a five minute conversation with a lady who was older than my parents about how cute this polyester little black dress was and how it was a great deal at only $13. I hate those conversations with strangers because the dress wasn't cute at all and that lady really shouldn't be wearing it. I didn't have the heart to tell her and she walked off with it in her cart. I felt bad.

Then to top it off, I paid for coffee creamer and three jars of baby food and walked off without them. I didn't realize it till I got home and I already had Olivia out of the car and in the house. I figured I would have to take the $5 loss. I wasn't about to drag Olivia back up there in this -30 degree weather. I'm still bummed about it.

On the bright side...

We are having our first book club meeting tonight and I'm really excited about it. I've been wanting to join a book club for a long time now. We read The Book Thief and I'm planning on posting a review, but haven't found the time yet. Nicole and I are also thinking about joining the book club at our local library, but we're kinda late for this month, so we will have to wait for next months.

I haven't mentioned much about the house lately, but as of early this week, we are good to go. We're set to close on the 15th (next week...eeeekkk!). We finally got everything (but the tile for the kitchen) picked out for the renovations. The appraisal came back on Monday and everything (including our renovations) passed. We've told the contractor we have to be out of our rental by the 1st of February and he's already got things ready to start the same day we close. He says everything but the kitchen counter tops will be done in a week. We're keeping our fingers crossed everything stays as smooth as it has so far. I'll post pictures of the inside when we close.

Have I mentioned its FREEZING here?

3 Months

2010-01-04T09:24:00.000-05:00

While we were out of town, someone celebrated her 3 month birthday! We didn't have our usual big brown chair to snap our picture in, but Aunt Janie's big tan chair worked just as good. I debated on waiting till we got home to take her picture, but I wanted to have a picture of what she looked liked on the actual day. Which was a good idea since I swear the next day she looked bigger.

I must say that there is something about that 12 week mark. In any baby book you read, it seems like everything changes at the 12 week mark and I was honestly not too sure how much a difference there would be in her, but I have been surprised. When she hit that 12 weeks the week of Christmas, she turned into a completely different baby. I honestly don't know how to explain it, but she just seems more content now. Don't get me wrong, she still has her days, but overall she's turning into a pretty good baby.

What she's been up to...

*She accomplished rolling over! At 11 weeks and 6 days, she rolled over for the first time. I caught it on camera and posted it here. She's finally figured out what to do with her arms and she will stay content for about 7 minutes on her tummy before she starts fussing. She moves her legs like she's crawling, but she hasn't quite figured out yet to coordinate the arms and legs together. Hopefully this will come soon. She is one of those that is going to be a happier baby when she's on the move.

*She's still in 3-6 month clothes. Not sure on the weight, but I'm sure she's over the 13lb mark. She's getting heavier everyday.

*She is still only eating a 4oz. every three hours. Sometimes she will eat a 5oz. bottle, but most of the time she won't, which has resulted in a lot of thrown away formula. It's amazing she's still growing.

*She is starting to "play." She loves her new little cell phone her Aunt Janie got her for Christmas. She is at a point now where she'll stay for an hour or sometimes longer playing with her toys and she's starting to grab for the stuff she wants. I love getting on the floor and playing with her. She got a ton of new toys for Christmas that I cannot wait for her to start playing with within the next few months.

*She is still a daddy's girl, but she's starting to prefer me now (I'm not complaining). I know it's because I'm with her 24/7, but she usually wants me now if she's upset or tired. When I walk into the room, she always smiles, which makes my heart smile.

*She is drooling like crazy already and I'm pretty sure she is going to cut teeth within the next month or two. You can already feel them when you run your finger over her gums. She's gnawing on everything she can get her hands on, including her hands. Her hands are red from the constant gnawing.

*She's already trying to sit up. When in her car seat or bouncy seat, she'll lift herself up like she's sitting up. It's funny because it's usually accompanied with grunting noises.

Hello 2010!

2010-01-03T11:15:00.000-05:00

The Christmas decorations are finally put away, the house is somewhat clean, laundry has been caught-up, and we've been on baby detox the past two days. A certain little Miss. got a little too spoiled over the past two weeks with always having someone around to hold her. Yesterday, we got back to reality with just her and mommy at home...let's just say it was a long day. Today so far has been much better.

Why is it so hard to get back into a routine after the holidays? Last night was the first night since before Christmas that we had time at home alone just the three of us. We both looked at each other and said we felt like we should call someone to do something. We were good and spent time at home with just the three of us. I'm hoping with the actual work week starting next week, things will fall back into a routine. Oh and we did absolutely nothing on New Year's Eve. David had to work and I sat at home. I've decided that I will do something next year. I'm tired of sitting at home doing absolutely nothing on New Years Eve. To my friends, be prepared....we're partying at my house next year!

Like most others I've been hearing from, I'm happy to see 2009 go. It was not a stellar year to say the least. Of course the best part of the year was the birth of Olivia. I won't go over the downs of the year. I'm not going to dwell on the past. But I am excited about the new year. 2010 is already promising many exciting things to come our way. These past few days, I've been thinking about the goals I wanna work on in the new year. I don't like to call them resolutions. It always seems like resolutions never get accomplished, so I refer to them as goals for the new year. I've decided to keep it limited to three. That way I'm more likely to achieve them.

My goals for 2010:

1. Lose the baby weight-I gained 54lbs. with Olivia. WHOA!!! Way too much. I've already lost a good chunk of that and right now I'm sitting at 18lbs above my start weight. I wanna lose over what I started, so I've decided that I want to set 30lbs. as my goal. I know I can do it because that is what I weighed in 2008 and I already have the skinny clothes that fit me at that weight. So that is another reason for wanting the extra ten pounds off.

2. Work towards a better marriage-I won't go into all the nitty gritty, but in 2009, we took the focus off of our marriage, especially after Olivia arrived. We've both talked over it and we both are working on it. I'm not talking on the verge of divorce or anything, we have just forgotten to put each other first and take time out for just the two of us. I think an established date night (with just the two of us) is about to be put in place.

3. Get organized-This year I'm getting organized. I'm going to dump all the stuff that we don't need and never use. I'm going to get all our paperwork in order, so every time we need something, we know exactly were to find it. I want to organize our closets and keep them that way. This goal should be the easiest since most of this will be accomplished when we move into the new house. The storage space alone in this house sold me, so it's not going to be too hard to get organized. The hardest part will be keeping it organized.

So, that's what I'm working on throughout this new year. I'll do update post every so often to keep myself on track with how I'm doing. My google reader climbed up to over 200 while I was out of town, so if you've posted anything these past two weeks, I haven't read it. I'm hoping to get back to reading soon. Hope everyone had a great New Years!!!

A letter to my child

2009-12-31T21:58:00.005-05:00

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...

2009-12-30T17:34:00.002-05:00

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

2009-12-26T14:28:00.003-05:00

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!!!

2009-12-25T20:35:00.009-05:00

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

2009-12-23T14:11:00.000-05:00

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

Acceptance

2009-12-22T22:26:00.004-05:00

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

2009-12-18T21:17:00.002-05:00

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.

2009-12-17T18:24:00.000-05:00

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)...

2009-12-11T10:38:00.002-05:00

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)

2009-12-10T13:15:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-09T08:42:00.002-05:00

I think someone's made a friend

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

2009-12-08T07:14:00.000-05:00

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....

2009-12-07T09:03:00.000-05:00

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.

Baby Shaq

2009-12-05T11:05:00.003-05:00

Y'all are going to think I'm completely crazy for asking this, but I'm being completely honest...

Do they make belts for babies?

Not toddlers, but two month old babies?

Since my child is the Shaquille O'Neal of babies, she has to wear 6month pants to fit her length. But she's as skinny as a rail so, of course all her pants are too big in the waist. When you pick her up they fall off. She only has about four pairs of pants that fit her in both the waist and length. That's why you seem to always see her in the same outfit.

I've looked all my usual hangouts like Target, Wal-mart, & Old Navy, but I can only find belts for toddlers.

And yes, I have a couple of times tied a ribbon threw (is that how you spell it?) her belt loops, but that looks kinda cheesy at times.

Does anyone know where I can find a baby belt or if they even make them?

I wonder what Shaquille's mommy used when he was a baby?

Friends

2009-12-04T08:52:00.002-05:00

"A good friend is a connection to life-a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world."

-Lois Wyse

In case you missed our girl's night, Nicole did a pretty good job of recapping it here.

If you don't have a great group of girlfriends and a set in stone girls night...get one right now!

Two Months

2009-12-03T17:53:00.001-05:00

Today I took OK for her two month check up. Someone should have warned me that I would loose it when they gave her the first go round of vaccinations. We both cried. I knew it was gonna happen and I tried to prep myself for it, but it's still hard to watch your baby get pricked with needles. The only plus side of it is that she's been pretty knocked out the majority of the afternoon and she's been very cuddly which she usually never is, so I've been soaking it up rocking and cuddling her all afternoon.

She officially turned two months this past Monday and nine weeks this past Wednesday, but much to my mother's dismay, I wanted to wait till after her two month checkup to post.

After a not so pleasant experience at her original pediatricians a couple of weeks ago, I decided to find a new one. Nicole recommended her pediatrician and I was much happier with this one. It makes such a difference. To you soon-to-be first time moms...your going to be spending a lot of time at your pediatricians the next 18 years, find a pediatrician that your happy with and that you trust. I've learned it's okay to go through a couple till you find one you like. Luckily, I think for us the second time is a charm and I'm so far loving her new pediatrician.

I'm happy to report that OK is doing great and developing well. I'm always hearing remarks about how long she is and today that statement was proven. She's measuring in at 24 & 3/4 inches long. She is in the 99.7% for height at her age. The nurses were hilarious when they looked at my shorty self (I'm 5'3) and asked "is her daddy tall?" Yes, her daddy is 6'1, two of her grandpa's are 6'2, and David's brother is around 6'4. So I'm hoping she keeps the tall and skinny thing going. Surprisingly, she only weighs 12 lbs. 7oz. The fattest part of her body is her cheeks, which of course, I'm constantly squeezing.

I know y'all have already seen this picture, but it's too cute to not re-post.

She's smiling & cooing all the time. Every morning when I go to get her out of her crib, she's got a big ol' smile on her face. Seeing her smile melts my heart every time. I could never get tired of seeing her smile.
We think she's finally past the colic stage. She's been a little irritable the past week or so, but we learned it was due to a type of medicine the original pediatrician prescribed for her cold (no, I'm not bitter about it).
She mostly wears 3-6months clothes. They are always too big in the waist, but fit her long legs.
She usually goes to bed around 9:30 0r 10pm and sleeps till 4:30 0r 5am and then sleeps to 8:30 or 9am. So, usually I'm only getting up once a night now.
She's what the pediatrician calls a "snacker." During the day she only eats about a ounce or two every two and half hours, but usually sucks down her bottles at night. The pediatrician isn't too concerned right now since she is growing like she should and thinks she'll grow out of it in the next month or two.
She loves playing on her playmat and the toys on her bouncy seat.
She still loves riding in the car. She is a great traveler and that I'm so thankful for since we're always on the go.
She can hold her head up great already. Unless she's being fed, she hates being held like a baby. She only likes to be held looking out. She's very alert and always wanting to know what's going on.
Her favorite person is still her daddy. If he doesn't pick her up within five minutes of being home, she goes ballistic. It's adorable how wrapped around her finger he is.

It's crazy because it's hard to believe she's already two months old, but at the same time it feels like she's been here forever. I'm excited about the next two months since she's moving out of this newborn stage in about month.

I'm sure you all don't care for a monthly up-to-date on my child, but I promised a few family members I would follow this trend. If you made it this far in the post, you deserve a pat on the back!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-12-02T08:12:00.001-05:00

If walls could talk...

2009-12-01T16:42:00.004-05:00

Earlier this week, Tara from Ball Family Ramblings left me a sweet & encouraging comment in reference to my Sunday blog post about my child who never sleeps.

I'm sorry, but I had to laugh at part of her comment...

" Okay so don't think I'm crazy for letting my daughter swing all night but it really did save my sanity."

HAHA....Tara, I'm the last one to be judging you on the swing thing.

I will admit that my child probably spends a good part of her day in the bouncy seat. I'll even admit that there have been several times that you could walk into her nursery at 2am and find her in the bouncy in the crib. I completely understand and I can promise we're not the only ones, but I'm not going to spill anyone else's secrets.

"If TLC calls us to do a reality show, hang up immediately."

2009-12-01T08:18:00.001-05:00

Dear TLC (the learning channel),

What's the deal?

First it was John & Kate..

Then it was the father & son from American Chopper...

And now, it looks like Matt & Amy from Little People, Big World are heading to divorce court?

All this season we've watched them do nothing but fight. On last night's episode, Amy even made a reference to the fact she didn't know what the future held for their marriage. Um, I think I remember Kate saying that right before she announced their divorce. Is it in their contracts that they have to separate at some point and time during the running of their show? Seriously, your not batting a thousand with couples staying together.

All I have to say...Little Couple...RUN before it's too late!!!

If Jim Bob & Michelle announce their divorce next season, it means the world is coming to an end.

If that happens, I swear I will never watch your channel again.

Some advice: If TLC calls you to do a reality show, hang up the phone immediately!

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-30T14:40:00.000-05:00

We had a pretty quiet Thanksgiving. I'm not complaining though.

For years we went running to one family celebration to another. At one point and time we were celebrating four in one day. It was making holidays miserable since we spent the whole day in the car and spending very little actual time with the family. A few years ago, we finally said enough was enough, so we finally got the courage to say "sorry, we won't be able to make it this year." It's made the holidays so much enjoyable now.

Of course, David had to work the first part of the day, so OK and I hung out around the house while I tried to keep her on some type of schedule. That evening we headed to my Aunt & Uncle's to have Thanksgiving dinner with my family. Like always, there was too much food and I ate way too much. I've decided that Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite. I could eat it everyday.

I hate to say that I didn't get very many pictures. I was too busy stuffing my face and playing taboo with the cousins (the girls won). Here are a few pics that I did get.

Cuddling with mommy

Laughing at daddy

And my favorite...

Sitting with Grandpa

A Makeover?

2009-11-30T10:51:00.002-05:00

Every year for Christmas David's grandparents give us money. We always receive it at Thanksgiving so we can just go buy what we want for ourselves and have it in time for Christmas. I think I've decided what I'm using my money for this year, I have been debating for awhile and I think I'm going to finally bite the bullet and have my blog receive a makeover by a professional. I keep holding off because I like change and I was afraid that as soon as I got it, I would want something different. But, I love the look of a professional design, so I'm going for it.

I've been looking around awhile now and I stumbled across Designer Blogs a couple of days ago. I love the look they have and I'm going to use them for my makeover. They have very reasonable prices and are right now currently having a sale for 15% off any purchase between now and December 31st.

www.designerblogs.com

So if you've been thinking about a makeover, head over and check them out!!!

Is it just me?

2009-11-29T14:30:00.002-05:00

Am I the only one who has a eight week old who only sleeps thirty minutes at a time?

Just wondering if I'm the only cursed one.

Thankful

2009-11-26T10:53:00.001-05:00

I'm thankful for....

The Waffle House

I'm thankful that my husband has a job. And not only that, a job that allows me to stay home with my baby girl. Yes, he may work every holiday, every weekend, and 75+ hours a week, but it's a job he loves and it allows us to live comfy. Even with the economy in the gutter and so many people struggling right now, the waffle is still taking care of us.

My Friends
(I don't have a picture of all of us)

I have many friends, but I'm talking about three in particular, Amy, Nicole, & Sheena. Honestly, I've never had many "girl" friends that I've been really close to. I've known these girls for years now, but this year we've grown much closer. I don't know what I would do without the three of them. They make me laugh till I cry and make me laugh when all I wanna do is cry. I cherish our time together, whether be at playgroup, a couples night, or girls night. If it wasn't for them these past few months, I would be in the nut house by now.

Our Family

When they rolled me out from my c-section, I expected to see them all there because I knew they wanted to meet Olivia. What I didn't expect, was to see them all standing there when I was rolled out of my second surgery. I know every year I say I'm thankful for my family, but this year it has a whole new meaning. Their excitement for Olivia has overwhelmed me and their support this past year has been so much needed. I love them all and thankful that we have family who loves us.

My Two Moms

Yes, this is a horrible picture of me, but this is the only picture of the two of them together. Plus, this picture describes what I'm thankful for. This picture was taken after my c-section and I had just been brought back to my room. While everyone else was oohhing and awwing over Olivia, they were checking on me. These two were the ones who put their lives on hold and took care of Olivia and I that first month. I could never be able to express how thankful I am for both of them and all their help those first few weeks. I talk to both of them pretty much everyday. I'm sure I probably drive them crazy calling with all my questions and wanting their opinions on everything. Thankfully, they both always answer their phones. Now that I'm a mom, my relationships with them seems so different but, I cherish them both even more now.

Of course, these two....

Words cannot express the joy these two bring to my life everyday. I'm thankful for the two greatest gifts I've ever received, the chance to be this man's wife and this baby girl's mother.
I love them both more than they'll ever know.

Hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

This one's for real....

2009-11-24T09:04:00.000-05:00

I'm taking this post to completely brag on my hubby. I usually give him a pretty hard time on here and he lets me get away with it (he reads the blog) so I figured I would show you that he is a great husband.

Remember the fake pregnancy ring I bought a while back because my real wedding ring no longer fit, well, that ring also didn't fit about month eight and even after I've had the baby, it still no longer fits. Unfortunately, my feet also grew a size and I have a bunch of shoes that no longer fit. I've been mentioned to the hubby that I wanted to find another fake ring since the other one no longer fits and I was tried of being a single mom.

I got a big surprise last week & this one's completely real...

He surprised me and took me to the jewelry store on one of his days off to let me pick out a brand new wedding set. It was a present for our ten year anniversary that we were celebrating that week. It's all sparkly and shinny and I love it. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Please don't think he's only a great husband because he buys me stuff. I cannot tell you all how much he helps me out everyday. Regardless of how long of a day he's had, every night he comes in, takes Olivia from me and takes care of her for the rest of the evening to give me a break. And the best part of it is he does it because he wants to. Seriously, if it wasn't for him, I would be in the nut house by now.

Thank you honey for all the support, the surprise, and the ten wonderful years!!! I cannot wait to see what the next ten bring.

A New Favorite

2009-11-23T08:23:00.000-05:00

Yes, I went and saw New Moon. Friday night we had a girls night and braved the crowds to see it. If your a twilight fan, your going to love it. I personally thought it was better than the first (of course the books are still the best). This go round the acting seemed much better and there were no more cheesy lines ("hang on spider monkey"). I wasn't a huge fan of the New Moon book. To me the book was slow and it was the one that took me the longest to get through, but I did enjoy the movie. Plus, Jacob wasn't too bad to look at either. Too bad the boy is only seventeen.

This one though is my new favorite.

I loved, loved, loved it!!!!

Sunday night David and I took a date night to go see The Blind Side. We saw the preview for it this past summer and I've been wanting to see it ever since. I would cry every time I saw the preview, but I'm sure that had nothing to do with the pregnancy hormones. This is a wonderful movie and seriously one of the best movies I've seen in a very long time. Sandra Bullock did a fantastic job and it's a great (and true) story. Go see this movie. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Reason #578 & 579 why I love my husband...

2009-11-22T13:30:00.005-05:00

This conversation took place in October 2009:

husband: "I realized today that I was meant to be the father of girls."

me: "why?"

husband: " when you were in the shower, your mom asked me if I knew where your straightener was and the first thought that came in my head was...why? your wasting your time with the humidity like it is today."

*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

baby crying

me: "did you check to see if she was wet?"

husband: "yeah, it was dry."

I go and feel her diaper and it's soaked.

me: "honey, she's soaked. How could you not tell she was wet?"

husband: "I felt the outside and it wasn't wet."

me: "honey, if the outside of her diaper is wet, we have bigger issues."

husband: "oh, I thought that's how you figured out they were wet."

Late Night Randomness...

2009-11-20T22:17:00.003-05:00

I've seem to have fallen off the blogging bandwagon. I feel like I've had nothing to talk about lately. The ironic thing is I have been busier lately than I have been in awhile. Between play dates, dinners with friends & family, and the everyday house stuff, I've been going non stop. Yet, I feel like I have nothing to say. If you wanna know what we've been up to, head to Nicole's. She does a great job of posting about what we've been up too. If we're not home, we're usually at their house anyways.

We had a girl's night tonight and it was very much needed. We went and saw New Moon. I loved it, but the books will always be better. I cannot wait till Eclipse comes out next summer. If your not a twilight fan, it's worth paying the $10 to stare at Jacob the entire movie. Jacob is nice eye candy even if he's only 17.

Things with Olivia are getting much better. She seriously seemed like a different child when she hit the six week mark. Unfortunately, right now she has a upper respiratory infection. Even being sick, she's still in a pretty good mood. The plus side of her being under the weather is that she sleeps all the time. I've gotten more done in the last two days than I've done in the last two months. We have her on some meds to clear up the congestion and hopefully she'll be feeling better soon.

I'm dying to see The Blind Side. I cry every time I see the preview.

We have relatives coming from out of town for Thanksgiving and this will be their first time meeting Olivia in person. I cannot wait for them to meet her.

I'll admit to it....I've already put up our Christmas trees. Yes, I said trees. I'm one of those freaks who puts a tree in every room. I LOVE Christmas!!! It's my favorite time of year.

Alive

2009-11-17T15:28:00.000-05:00

I'm Alive

So damn easy to say that life’s so hard
Everybody’s got their share of battle scars
As for me I’d like to think my lucky stars that
I’m alive, and well

It’d be easy to add up all the pain
And all the dreams you set and watch go up in flames
Dwell on the wreckage as it smolders in the rain
But not me, I’m alive

And today you know that’s good enough for me
Breathing in and out is a blessing can’t you see
Today is the first day of the rest of my life
And I’m alive, and well
I’m alive, and well

Stars are dancin’ on the water here tonight
It’s good for the soul, and there’s not a sole in sight
But this motors caught it wind and brought me back to life
Now I’m alive, and well

And today you know that’s good enough for me
Breathing in and out is a blessing can’t you see
Today is the first day of the rest of my life
Now I’m alive, and well
Yeah I’m alive, and well

"My baby can eat your baby for breakfast..."

2009-11-12T15:07:00.003-05:00

I would like to introduce the newest member of our crew & Olivia's future boyfriend....

Cruz
11/10/09
6lbs. 11oz. & 18 inches long

Sheena gave birth to baby Cruz on Tuesday and he is tiny & so so cute!!!

I'm in love with him
&
Olivia could eat him for breakfast...

It's hard to believe they are only five weeks and six days apart in age. My baby girl looks like a monster next to Cruz.
Let's hope Cruz likes girls bigger than him!

Congrats again to Sheena & Aaron!!!

Believe it or not, this is the first time in like three years that someone in our group hasn't been pregnant. We've had four babies in one year. We need to stop drinking the water!

Blame it on the coffee....

2009-11-11T22:37:00.007-05:00

So what's a girl to do to get out of her blah mood? Shopping was out of the question since I already blew that money, so I headed over to Nicole's to have some girl time. We didn't really have playgroup this week since we had some other stuff came up, so Amy and I just went over when the kiddos went down for nap. We were there for moral support while Nicole worked on Christmas dresses for our three girls. We're dressing them in matching dresses for our annual Christmas party...yes, we're that dorky.

As for the rest of the afternoon, we're going to blame it on the coffee and the fact that due to the weather, we've been shut up in the house for days now. On my way to Nicole's, I stopped at the racetrac gas station for coffee. This stuff is like crack. I've recently got Amy hooked on it and now have Nicole. It's good and it's cheap. You can score a 24oz. for $1.39 (and that includes tax). This stuff is like a drug for us. As Amy once said "Starbucks wasn't even doing anything for me anymore, this stuff is making me stutter." It's that strong. This stuff gets us pretty hyped up and ping off the walls after drinking it (Nicole made four dresses in less than two hours). It also makes us a little crazy.

It all started when we were talking about other blogs (nothing new there) and Nicole mentioned the post by Whitney at Glamorous Housewife where she measured her head and realized she had a big head. Well, Nicole had the tape measure out for sewing and yes, we measured our heads. Nicole was the winner with the biggest, followed by Amy and I with a tie. No, I didn't get pictures of us measuring our heads, but here's a few that describes the rest of our afternoon.

Why Amy and I shouldn't be in charge of buying the fabric...
"Do you think we got enough?"

The Fashionista...monkeys on her shirt, frogs on her tights, and white sandals after labor day

We found out Matalie likes older men...she was so flirting with my husband!

Naked Baby!!!

Olivia and her "Al Bundy" impression...

I love my friends.
Thanks for a fun afternoon!

Blah,Blah, Blah...

2009-11-11T08:21:00.003-05:00

This week is just one of those weeks. It's not that anything bad has happened, but I just can't seem to get it together. I feel scattered.

My house is a disaster & laundry needs to be done.

The hubby & I have been fighting all week (and it's my fault).

What little bit of a schedule Olivia had, has seemed to be thrown out the window.

Plus, I have a cold.

I cannot seem to find the motivation for anything. We went out of town this past weekend and though we had a great time, it seems to have thrown us all off. I had planned on posting about our weekend, but if things keep going the way they are, it's not going to happen anytime soon. The weather has been nasty these past few days and it seems like it's here to stay. It's not helping my mood. I hate weeks like this. I hope I can get out of this funk soon. It's no fun.

This does make me smile...

Let's Talk About Sex...

2009-11-06T09:21:00.000-05:00

I knew that would get your attention. I figured I would give y'all a break from the colic baby talk. I want to apologize to my grandparents in case this makes them feel awkward (they read my blog). But I am married and do have a baby, so I guess they know I've done it at least once. Moving on....

So, I went back to have my incision checked out yesterday morning. Even though I'm only five weeks postpartum, while I was there, they decided to go ahead and do my six week check up since it is next week. Everything looked great and I was giving the all clear for resuming normal activities. He said to wait till next week after it has been officially six weeks and I could start exercising and start engaging in sexual activities with my hubby again.

When they were checking all my vitals, the nurse asked what I was doing for birth control...um...not having sex I told her. She laughed.

After waiting almost two hours for the doctor to come in (that's a whole separate issue...don't get me started), he came in and decided to go ahead with the six week check up. Twice again the question came up of what I was doing for birth control...I told him I was practicing abstinence and again they laughed. He went on to explain they had to make sure I wasn't pregnant again. I told him I am a 100% sure. I've had two abdominal surgeries in the last month and have a baby with colic, the last thing on my mind is sex. He said you would be surprised at the number of patients that come in for their six week checkup pregnant.

Seriously? WTF? Your kidding me? Maybe somethings wrong with me, but the last thing that has been on my mind this past six weeks is sex. In fact, I keep reminding myself that's what got me into this situation to begin with. The only thing that has been running through my mind is when do I feed the baby again. Plus, I still have that thing hanging off me that no one warns you about...the flabby stomach. Yeah, thanks for the warning ladies. Um, it's gross and it jiggles like jelly. I feel like Santa. Does it ever go away? I mean not only are you operating on only a few hours of sleep a night, but how do leaking breasts and weeks of nonstop vaginal bleeding put you in the mood? Is it just me? Kuddos to those women who are ready to jump back into the fun so soon after having a baby. I'm amazed by your ability to take care of a newborn and your husbands.

Oh and don't feel too bad for my husband, I won't make him wait that much longer. I just seriously don't want to be pregnant two years in a row and I'm sure he couldn't survive that either.

Absences makes the heart grow fonder...

2009-11-05T22:54:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a bad day. From the hours of 10am till 9pm, Olivia screamed her head off. The only time she slept and stopped crying was when we went to walk at the park and out to eat dinner. Torture.

Today I had a doctor's appointment. I took Olivia to her Nana's this morning before my appointment and somehow I convinced her Nana to take her for the day (okay it wasn't that hard to do). I headed back to the house and it was bliss. I took a long nap, packed for our trip, and completed some chores around the house. It's hard to start and finish anything right now without being interrupted. It was a much needed day.

When we went to pick her up tonight, she actually wanted me for a change. It was nice. Plus, she kept giving me her sweet baby smiles. When we got home I held her for a straight hour while she slept in my arms.

I think we both needed a break from each other. It's true that absences makes the heart grow fonder.

One Month

2009-11-04T11:19:00.004-05:00

Sorry, I've been working on this post for a few days now and it's a few days behind.

Olivia Kate is already a month old!

What you've been up to...

At your three week checkup, you weighed 10lbs. 6oz. and were measuring at 22 1/2 inches long. I'm guessing your at least 11lbs now.
You only wore your newborn clothes for about a week. Your already in a size 3months. All your clothes fit your long legs, but are too big in the waist.
You can already hold your head up. You were holding your head up since the day you were born.
You love to ride in the car, in your stroller, or in a shopping cart. If you stop moving, then you start to cry.
Your still waking up a night about every 3-3 &1/2 hours.
Your always moving your hands. Daddy laughs and says you'll be just like mommy always talking with your hands.
Your always awake and alert. You don't sleep much during the day for a baby. You only sleep during the day if your in your swing, someone is holding you, or your in the car.
You like to be out of the house and on the go. On days we stay home all day, your usually in a bad mood.
You've got your daddy wrapped around your finger already. When he comes home from work, the first thing he does is pick you up to love on you. You can be screaming your head off and no one can make you happy, but he'll come in and pick you up, you immediately stop crying.
You celebrated two family birthdays, one of them being your Grandpa's 50th, and celebrated your first Halloween. Mommy didn't buy you a costume to wear, but Mrs. Nicole made you a Halloween dress and you looked pretty darn cute in it!

It's hard to believe that a month has already gone by, but it also seems like that month has lasted forever. When you were first born, I remember thinking I'll be happy if we make it through the first month, well we made it, but now I'm hoping we just make through the second. Everyone keeps promising it gets better.

Surviving

2009-11-03T21:33:00.006-05:00

My husband just informed me that I haven't updated the blog. I guess he's had nothing to read. I figured I should let y'all know I'm still surviving. Surviving being the key word.

It seems that baby girl has a little case of colic...yes, I said that awful c-word. I wouldn't pray colic on any parent. I can only describe in two words...it sucks. Evenings are rough for us right now. From the hours of about 3-10pm she cries nonstop and nothing can be done to console her. Oh and unless you have some miracle cure for colic that no one has ever heard of...save your suggestions...we've tried pretty much everything. It seems it's just a stage we're going to have to wait for her to grow out of. Let's pray she grows soon.

Also, I'm told Olivia is not a normal baby. She hates being at home and she doesn't really nap during the day. She seriously hates being at home, which has done nothing but get me in trouble with the hubby for spending too much money. I'm either at a store, at the park, or at a friends. She loves to ride in anything that moves, the car, stroller, or a shopping cart. Luckily, she's fitting into our lifestyle since we're both always on the go. Plus, unless your holding her or she's in the car seat, she doesn't sleep during the day which doesn't help with the colic in the evenings.

With all that said, I can say that I'm so in love with her and no, I can't imagine life without her. It's crazy that she's only a month old and already how much of her own personality shines through. It's also funny to see the traits of each of us that she has. I do hate to say that the older she gets, the more she looks like David. I was hoping she would some what look like me. Oh, well...

We've been busy this past month and I should have a ton to post, but I haven't had the energy. One thing we did do this month was have Olivia's newborn pictures done. We're still waiting on the final pictures, but Tiffany went ahead and sent me a preview. I can't wait to get the final pics to share!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-10-28T12:36:00.002-04:00

Happy Halloween!!!

Mocha Mamas-Take 3

2009-10-27T19:48:00.005-04:00

I'm sure all of you really don't care about what we do every week at play group, but our fearless leader is freezing her butt off up North and this post is to keep her posted on how playgroup went without her.

Sorry Nicole...

We didn't have a activity planned for the kids...we just let them run wild.

We didn't drink any coffee this go round...we stuck with Coke (or pop for you Northerners).

We decided not to interact with the kids...because let's just face it play group is really for us, not them.

Plus, I didn't take any pictures...I was too busy yelling at the kids to go outside and leave us alone.

I'm kidding...okay not about the activity and the Coke, but the rest isn't true.

We did eat some yummy chicken noodle soup. Sheena is officially a awesome chef!
I wanna eat at her house every night.

The boys did destroy the house playing with trains and we only had one fight.

Julian did become reunited with his favorite bouncy seat.

And Amy did take a few shots with my camera.

Gasp! Yes that's me holding my own child. Scary, I know!
See what happens when your not here!

We did have a god time, though we did miss you and Josie.
Our group just wasn't the same without you two.
Plus, I know Amy is missing you lots!

Hooray for Boobies!

2009-10-27T08:28:00.000-04:00

If your not aware, October is Breast Cancer awareness month.

Last year, my family was affected by breast cancer when my Uncle's sister was diagnosed and passed away suddenly from it in the Summer of 2008. It came as a shock to everyone who knew her. This past Mother's Day weekend, we walked in her honor at Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. My cousin KP wrote about this experience for her first college English paper. I should have probably asked if I could share this, but she would have probably said no, so I decided to share it anyway. Oh well...hopefully she won't be too mad at me, because it's worth sharing.

I did change the names since I didn't ask for permission.

Hooray For Boobies

It was highly unusual for me to get up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning, for my typical weekend routine usually included waking up around one p.m., but I knew that the memories from that day would be glued in my 18-year-old brain perpetually. Despite my never ending mental debate of whether or not to smack “snooze” on my Hello Kitty alarm clock, I instead slapped the dismiss button and unwillingly rolled out of my delightfully cozy bed. The unpleasant stench of burnt food clumsily danced around in my nose. “Mom must be experimenting again,” I thought to myself. I guessed I wouldn’t be having breakfast that morning after all.

“KP, hurry UP!” barked my older sister, like a drill sergeant, from our shared bathroom. She was the only one in the family who knew how to be punctual. I hurriedly brushed back the sleep from my eyes; kicked on my rubber soled Nikes, filled up my Nalgene, and joined my two sisters and cousin in the car.

Even though I was greatly opposed to it, my big sister insisted on blaring her obnoxious country lullabies in the car. It made the ride up to Atlanta seem to drag on for all of eternity. In fact I actually dozed off to sleep, perhaps from sheer boredom, or maybe it was from sitting so uncomfortably in the back seat of my sister’s tiny, blue, four-seater, VW Beetle. Either way, I was one exhausted adolescent that had no clue how greatly awakened my eyes would soon become.

“Hey stupid, wake up! We’re about to squeeze cousin K in here,” my rambunctious fifteen-year-old sister annoyingly yapped into my ear. She wasn’t always the most charming creature to be around at nine o’clock in the morning. As my older sister whipped the car around the corner, there stood my 23-year-old cousin K, dressed from head-to-toe in Pepto-Bismol pink, and standing with a banana and a Yoplait yogurt cup in her hand.

K unfortunately had just recently lost her mom, my Aunt T, to breast cancer only eight months before the journey we were embarking upon that day. Aunt T always spoiled me like a rotten egg. She would have sleepovers with me on Friday nights and cook me her special scrambled eggs on Saturday mornings. She would take me shopping for shoes and take me for rides in her “cool” convertible. She would even come gag back mystery meat with me at lunchtime in elementary school. Sadly enough though, all things must come to an end.

T was only 51 years old when everything in her life started to drastically take a turn for the worse. Her back had been oddly bothering her for quite some time, though she just shook it off as if it was nothing. Finally, after suffering through two months of pain, she decided it was time to head to the doctor. The news that she received after the appointment that day astounded everyone. According to the doctor, T had stage four inflammatory breast cancer. Without T being aware of it, the cancer had already taken hostage her bones and her brain, and was slowly slithering up to capture her spine too. She was immediately admitted to the hospital and lost her battle with cancer not even a full month later.

As I gloomily reminisced over the events that had taken place eight months earlier, I sluggishly pulled myself out of the car. I could hear a lady shouting over a microphone, “We are 15,000 strong!” You could tell from her nasally tone that she was from Boston.

Supporters were literally everywhere, lining the streets like a parade. Perhaps that parade would include appearances by Santa Claus, and even God himself. That might even be an understatement of how unbelievably crowded the sidewalks and streets were.

I could feel my naturally curly, chestnut brown hair frizzing up as the shotgun cracked to begin the race. The ferocious clouds looming overhead added to my cheerless mood. Passing by towering buildings and walking up winding roads, everyone around me was anxiously chattering about their stories. Every person had one. That I knew for sure.

Each participant that I passed by wore pink signs pinned to the back of his or her cotton t-shirt. “I walk in memory of,” or “I am a survivor.” Survivor? After seeing what my Aunt T had just uneasily suffered through, I knew for a fact that it had to be a rough time to go through. I had trouble dealing with regular obstacles in everyday life. I could only imagine dealing with all of that, and knowing that I had breast cancer. I could not fathom how all those affected by breast cancer in any way, shape, or form could be so joyful at such a sad event as this. Then it hit me. They didn’t take life for granted like I did. After all, I was an unappreciative teenager, according to my mother. They were just simply happy to be alive, happy to be celebrating and uniting together to fight the ugly demon of breast cancer. Life is way too short to not appreciate it. Why couldn’t I obtain the same optimistic outlook on life? The thoughts of everything whirled around in my brain like a sandstorm. It put me in a bit of a better mood; even though the puffy gray cotton balls in the sky were beginning to lightly sprinkle over the crowd.

Finally, the finish line was in sight. A rather rotund guy was standing on the side of the road flailing his arms around like an octopus, and holding a “Hooray for Boobies” sign. I could feel a slight grin spreading across my face as I snickered at the silliness of the situation, and the immaturity of myself.

As each survivor crossed the finish line, they each received a bouquet of a dozen pink roses and their “Susan G. Komen” Survivor t-shirt. The survivors all looked so happy, but yet half of them had tears pooled up in their eyes. They each had defeated such a huge battle in their lives.

$1.7 million dollars was raised for breast cancer that day, and millions of life-touching memories were made. Though it felt like a tough walk to go through mentally, I knew my Aunt T was there with me every step of the way. I just wish she could have been there to enjoy it just as much as I did.

I'm happy to report she got a 100 on the paper.

I'm cracking...

2009-10-25T23:20:00.000-04:00

It's been almost four weeks and I'll be honest....

I'm tired,

I wasn't prepared for this,

and I'm cracking.

This has been harder than I thought it would be. To those who are expecting their first, when I said only after the first few days that it was easier than I thought it would be, that was only because all she did was sleep the first 72 hours. Now it seems all she does is cry and I don't know how to make her happy.

Tonight I had a break down and no, it wasn't the first time. I had to leave because I couldn't take it anymore. I left her with David and went and walked around wal-mart because I was so tired of it all (Yes, I'm serious when I say that wal-mart is the only thing to do in our small town). I've wanted to be a stay-at-home mom for as long as I can remember. Now, that I'm finally doing it, I'm not to sure about it. Yes, I love her but, it's exhausting to be around her 24/7. Now I know why Nicole treasures her Mondays without the kids.

When David walked in from work today, she was in tears and I was in tears. But, I always feel bad that he has been at work all day and as soon as he walks in, I'm handing her off for him to take care of. Don't get me wrong, I've worked with children long enough to know that I love children, but I'm hating this newborn stage. I will be so glad when it's over, but of course, there's a part of me that feels guilty for saying that.

Crap...now Miley's "the Climb" is playing on the radio and I'm in tears again.

It's not helping the situation that I'm still trying to "recover" from two surgeries. I'm tired of being scared to do anything because I'm afraid I'll reopen my incision. I'm tired of constantly worrying if I'm healing on the inside and not having any way of knowing. I feel like I'm constantly walking on egg shells and I just want to be back to my normal self. I hear it a hundred times a day and I'm trying to rest and take it easy, but when she's asleep, it's the only time I have to get anything done. Doing those things are the only thing right now that give me some sort of feeling of normalcy.

Plus, the mermaid girl past away on Friday and my mom called this morning to break the news to me. That has also made me sad today. That little girl's outlook on life and her situation was a true inspiration. My heart breaks for her parents.

Sorry, I know this post is all over the place, but thanks for letting me get it off my chest.

Crocs...again

2009-10-23T08:12:00.001-04:00

Here is the info on the cute crocs...

I bought mine from a local store here in our little town, but I found them on the crocs website. They are the Malindi's and on the website they are $29.99. Not trying to brag, but I got mine for $26.99. So, you may be able to find them for cheaper somewhere else. Click on the image for the info.

I am liking these too for the fall!

Baby Snuggies

2009-10-22T07:14:00.001-04:00

After my post last Friday, I didn't want y'all to think my mom is some heartless lady who just lets babies cry. We were very fortunate that she was the one to come down and take care of Olivia and I last week while I recovered from the second surgery. Since I didn't go into detail much on Friday, she knew more of the situation with Olivia and knew what I was talking about.

No, I don't lay her in her crib and allow her to cry all night. I have read the books and I understand that babies at that have no way to soothe themselves but, when I stated that she didn't want to sleep unless someone was holding her, I wasn't exaggerating. The problem that we were having was that she always ended up in our bed. I know everyone has their own way of raising children, but we're not big fans of the co-ed sleeping thing. I feel like (especially in our bed) it's dangerous. Last Thursday night I fell asleep in the bed with her in my arms. When I woke up it freaked me out because if I went a little to the left, she would have been on the floor. Plus, it wouldn't be a question of if David rolled on top of her, it would be a question of when?

The problem we were having was that, besides holding her, nothing else was soothing her. I think we've finally found a solution. We've had a few good nights in a row of her sleeping in her crib and I'm hoping that success continues. She hates to be swaddled. She likes to be able to move her arms and legs. Anytime we swaddled her, she kicked herself out. I bought a blanket onesie from Target and so far, she loves it. I guess it confines her enough to make her feel safe, but allows her to still move around. We've named it the baby snuggie.

Oh and I don't see how people live without these things...

It saves me from some unneeded stress on some days.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

2009-10-21T08:18:00.004-04:00

She definitely takes after her daddy!

I've crossed to the other side

2009-10-20T17:25:00.006-04:00

Yesterday, I did something I always swore I would never do.

And I have to admit....I'm in love.

I'm sure I'll never hear the end of it from certain members of my family.

I broke down and bought a pair of crocs.

Yes, those shoes that I have for years severely made fun of.

I believe they are only cute on people under the age of 12.

But, I now own a pair.

I have been eying them since August, but I decided to wait till after Olivia to arrive to see what size I needed. Pregnancy has made my feet grow pretty much a whole size.

These things are so comfy and except for bed, have not left my feet in the last 24 hours.

Now I need a brown pair.

Oh, and now all the girls at play group want a pair too!

Part Two: The worst part of the week & how granny panties saved the day

2009-10-17T20:06:00.000-04:00

Part two gets gross and graphic, so you might want to turn back now.

I have scared others into not having children.

You've been warned...

We were starting to get into a routine and getting used to having a baby around the house. David's mom took the week off and was helping me around the house and with taking care of Olivia. Wednesday morning David was off and I had a scheduled doctor's appointment to have my staples removed. Because of swine flu, no one under the age of 12 is allowed in the OBGYNs office, so we had already planned on taking Olivia to her Nana's before the doctors appointment. That morning Nana called and said David's brother was sick so she was going to come to our house to watch Olivia. That ended up being one of those coincidences I spoke of earlier.

My appointment went fine. I was really nervous about having the staples removed. I had heard stories from others that it was awful, but those people I decided were just drama queens. It didn't hurt at all. Anyways...the doctor checked me out and from the outside, everything looked good. She sent me on my way and told me to come back for my six week post-partum checkup.

On the way home I asked David to stop by wal-mart since there were a couple of things I wanted to pick up for Olivia. While at wal-mart, I decided to pick up a pack of what most women refer to as "granny panties." I had been wearing bikini style underwear the week before and they were hitting right at my incision. Even though I had the staples removed, I thought wearing the high waisted underwear would help it finish healing. We walked around wal-mart, got the few items we needed, and then headed home. We got back to the house and talked David's mom into letting us take her out to lunch. After sitting around for a minute, we decided on Mexican and started getting ready to head out. Though I normally always wash new underwear before I wear it, I decided to go put on the "granny panties" because the others were rubbing against my incision. So, I went and changed my underwear and at that point everything was still fine. Another one of those coincidences I was talking about.

****Warning****
***This is were the story gets gross. If you can't take gross stuff, skip this next paragraph.***

When I came back, Olivia and I were sitting on the love seat. I got up and went to get a diaper and wipe to change her before we left. When I came back to change her, I noticed my shorts were a little wet. I then said to myself "duh, I have a wipe in my hand" (why that made sense at the time I don't know). I changed her and for the first time since I had got home from the doctors, picked her up to put her in her car seat. We were getting ready to walk out the door and I told David and his mom to wait a second because something didn't feel right. My shorts were soaked by that time and I thought my incision was bleeding. I went back to our room and pulled open my shorts and underwear. My incision had opened and my insides were coming out. Most of it was fatty tissue and a bit of my small intestines. The only thing holding my insides in were the granny panties. I freaked out.

I should stop and explain for those who don't know (I didn't know), when you have a c-section, you have two incisions, on on the inside and one on the skin. So what happened was that my inside incision hadn't healed and my outside incision opened up and my insides came out.

I started screaming "oh my God, oh my God, I think we need to go to the hospital." Of course, they thought I was overreacting and David's mom (who I've mentioned is a nurse) told me to open my shorts and when she saw it she started freaking out. She works in the GI department of the hospital and looks at intestines all day, so she knew what she was seeing when she saw it. In a quick few minutes, we decided that David would drive me to the hospital I delivered at since my doctors are there. We hopped in the car and David's mom stayed with Olivia at the house. She called my doctor and explained what happened. They told her they would have a doctor there to meet me in the ER. That was the longest drive of our life it seemed like but, I was surprisingly calm most of the time. The only time I freaked out was when I called my mom. I called my mom and just started screaming "pray for me, pray for me." David had to take the phone away and explain what was going on.

We made it to the hospital and needless to say, I got rolled right back to the back. Having your insides hanging out gets you to the head of the line. My doctors came in and obviously, the only option was surgery. They rushed to get a OR ready and after being there for about 45 minutes, I was back in surgery. They opened me back up, did a good clean out my insides, checked to make sure there were no signs of infection, and sewed me back up. This time they decided to do extra sutures. They did say that the knots from the first sutures were still there and intact. That makes me believe that the "pop" I heard when I got sick after the c-section was when the sutures came undone. Yes, I was that violently sick at that time.

I stayed in the hospital for the next 48 hours. They put me on a extremely high dosage of antibiotics. They called it the triple gun. I was on those for 48 hours and back on pain medicine. It was the first time my doctor had seen this happen and her partner (who did my 2nd surgery) had only seen it once in his career. They said it ended up being blessing in disguise. Normally, they take staples out after 3 days. I had mine in for 7 and the outside incision still hadn't healed all the way. If the outside incision had healed completely, then my insides would have stayed open and it would have slowly poisoned me, making me sicker and sicker over time. If that were to happen, it would have taken longer for them to figure out what was making me sick. The doctors without saying it seemed to agree that they think when I got sick was when the sutures came undone. But unless they took me back into surgery and opened me back up, they wouldn't have known.

They treated my second surgery like a hysterectomy for recovery purposes. I was sent back up to the mother/baby wing of the hospital and we quickly requested the nurses we wanted for my stay (and reported the bad ones). I got much better care the second go round. They even gave us permission to bring Olivia up there for visits, even though children under 12 are not allowed up there due to swine flu. They also said that she could stay the night, but I told David I thought it best for her to stay at home.

The biggest worry is for infection. Like I said, they checked me, cleaned me out, and kept me on the antibiotics for 48 hours. So hopefully, I'm in the clear now. They didn't send me home on antibiotics because if you stay on that strong of antibiotics long enough, it does some major damage to your body. It was another blessing that I had decided to not breastfeed. Since I was on such a strong dosage of antibiotics, I would have to have waited weeks before it was out of my system and I could continue to feed her.

Several people have made the comment that my doctors are to blame, etc., etc. I honestly don't feel that way. It was a freak accident and I'm thankful that things turned out the way they did. I seriously have some of the best OBGYN's in our area. I do have a inside source that let's me know who to see for what in our area and she asks around to other people who have a know also. It helps to have someone who works in the medical field.

So, that's my birthing story. Needless to say, it's been a little traumatizing. I have informed the hubby that this might be the only child we have. Luckily, he only wanted one or two kids to begin with. I told Nicole the other day that the foster to adopt program is looking pretty good right now.

Excuses...

2009-10-16T08:48:00.002-04:00

I promise I am working on part two: the worst part of the week. I'm not trying to leave y'all hanging. Promise.

Having a baby takes up a lot of time. I now know why people drop off the blogging world for a few weeks after they have a baby.

I will finish it up this weekend and post it on Monday. Promise.

We're trying to get into a routine around here. It's hard when you have visitors at your house 24/7. We have had someone at our house everyday for the last three weeks. We have yet to spend a full 24 hours just the three of us. We're grateful for every one's help, but it starts to wear on you after awhile. It has also lead to problem with Olivia...

she's SPOILED!!!!

She has basically been held since she's been born and now she thinks she cannot sleep unless she's in some one's arms.

Mom, I keep trying to put her down and just let her cry, but it's hard. Plus it doesn't help that her daddy cannot stand to listen to her cry and runs to pick her up every time. Last night I thought he was going to start crying because I wouldn't let him go pick her up. She is so wrapped around his finger already.

So, I hope everyone in the blog world is doing well. I haven't even been keeping up with my Google Reader. I'm scared to open it.

Have a great weekend!!!

Part One: The best part of the week...Olivia's Birth

2009-10-13T07:04:00.000-04:00

It's hard to believe that Olivia's birth was only a little over a week ago. After this past week, it seems like weeks ago. The last post I posted before the birth was my story on how we went to the doctor and found out that I was carrying a huge baby. That is when the doctor decided I needed a c-section. Click here for a recap if you missed that post.

(me the day before I went in labor)

Tuesday afternoon we left the doctor's office with a new plan of action and trying to prepare ourselves for a c-section that following Thursday. That night we went to bed and I woke up a little after midnight having contractions. All night long I was up with contractions. The contractions were coming every 20-30 minutes, but they were lasting anywhere from 2-4 minutes. Needless to say, it was a long night. The worst part was that I was having back labor and that ladies is no fun. I spent the majority of the morning laying on the couch with hot and cold packs on my back. Around lunch time I was feeling a little better and convinced David and my mom to take me out to lunch. We went to lunch and the contractions got so bad, I couldn't even sit through lunch. After a little while, my mom and David finally convinced me to call the doctor's office. Well, I called and the lady who answers the phone kept telling me that my contractions weren't close enough. So, I hung up and went a little while longer before I called again. On my second call, the lady told us that I could go to the hospital to be checked, but it was probably best if I wait it out till my water breaks or my contractions get closer. So, I waited it out a little bit longer.

(this is what labor looks like)

Finally I had gotten to the point I knew I wasn't going to make it through the night. I made my third and final call. The same lady answered the phone and I told her I was done talking to her and done trying to make her realize the fact that my doctor didn't want me to go into labor. I told her I refused to talk to her any longer and to have my doctor call me back. Less than five minutes later, my doctor called me back and before I could say anything, she told me to get to the hospital, she was going to do the c-section that night. Lesson to be learned is don't listen to the people who answer the phones at the doctors office, if you are having problems, ask to speak to your doctor. Come to find out, even after I called twice, the lady never once went to my doctor and told her what was going on. As soon as my doctor saw I had called three times, she knew what needed to be done.

We arrived at the hospital around 6:30pm and I went to admissions to check-in. We had no clue to when I would be going back or what was to happen. After admissions, we waited in the lobby for about twenty minutes when a nurse came out and called my name. She looked at me and said let's go. I of course started freaking out a bit because I wasn't expecting it to happen so fast. At that point the only people who were at the hospital were my parents and David. David and I went back and they took me straight to the OR recovery room to get me ready. My nurse was taking her time getting me ready because she was under the impression that it would be at least an hour before they were ready. Less than ten minutes later the anesthesiologist and my doctor poked their heads in and said we're ready. Less than 15 minutes after that Olivia Kate came into the world at 7:44pm. Of course she came out kicking a screaming. Evidently she was pretty happy in there and had no plans on coming out anytime soon.

(not ten pounds, but close)

The c-section went by pretty fast. As for the c-section part, if you end up having to have one, it isn't as bad as some people make it out to be. I was though extremely nervous and I kept my eyes closed the whole time except when they brought her over to me to see. David and the anesthesiologist kept asking if I was okay since I was being so quiet. It was best that it went so fast because I didn't have any time to really think about it. If I would have had to wait till Thursday morning, I would have thought about it all too much.

(already in love)

After the c-section, they took Olivia and David up to the nursery to be cleaned up and checked out. I went to recovery. I ended up spending an hour and a half in recovery because the anesthesia made me sick. If I would have known before hand that it made me sick, then they could have given me something but unfortunately I didn't. I will know for sure for the next time. David came down to sit with me in recovery while the rest of our family stayed up at the nursery oohing and aahhing over our new baby girl. At the advice of a good friend, we requested that when they took me up to my room, to not allow anyone in our room for thirty minutes so that we could spend some alone time just the three of us. The first time I got to hold her was a moment that I will never forget but, I'm sure no mother does.

(a very tired mommy)

Even though it was past visiting hours, they let our family stay to visit with Olivia. Finally around 11pm everyone started to head home. The next part of the story I only tell you because it plays an important part in the worst part of the week. David's parents were the last to head out after Olivia's birth. David's mom bent down to give me a hug goodbye and I said to her "I'm going to be sick." At that point I got nasty sick all over her, my bed, and myself. Luckily, David had Olivia so I didn't get her. Also, David's mom is a nurse and is used to people throwing up all over her. When I got sick, I heard and felt a POP down there. I told Vicki then that I heard something pop down there. Unfortunately, I had a bad nurse that night and she didn't seem to care. She didn't even volunteer to clean me up. Thankfully, my mother-in-law is a nurse and took care of me. Yes, we reported the nurse.

The next morning the day nurse took off my bandages and everything seemed to be in place. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. We spent the next 24 hours in the hospital and Friday morning they gave me the option of staying the night or going home. We opted to go home since you don't get much rest when in the hospital.

Our first weekend home went well. David's mom took off the week to help me with Olivia and it worked out well since I ended up having a c-section. Just when we started getting used to having a baby at home, my troubles began.

Part Two: The worst part of the week....coming next!!!

The best & worst week ever...

2009-10-10T10:28:00.003-04:00

I would like to tell you all my lack of posting is due to the fact I've been taking care of a beautiful baby girl. Unfortunately, that has not been the case.

Remember earlier when I posted that this was easier than I expected to be, well, God put me in my place. To give you the quick version of the story, I had some complications with the incision from the c-section and Wednesday morning I had to be rushed into emergency surgery and had to spend a couple more days in the hospital. I got home from the hospital yesterday afternoon. So I ended up having two major surgery's within one week. They are treating my second surgery to that of a hysterectomy patient. Though, that is not what I had, that is just the guidelines to how they are treating my recovery. So now, I have a longer recovery than originally planned.

One thing I have definitely learned this past week is that without a doubt, God is in control. My accident was a freak accident and pretty traumatizing, but ended up being a blessing in disguise. There were way too many factors in the events leading up to it all that were more than just a coincidence. Regardless of whatever doubts I've had about my faith these past few years, they have all been restored. God has shown me that he is in charge of my life.

Since I have a little more time on my hands now, I will post the details of the birth and my freak accident within the next few days. I will post it in two different post so it's not so long. The hardest thing now I'm dealing with is not being able to care for Olivia. There is only so much that I can do. My mom and David's mom have been here around the clock taking care of her. I am so thankful for the two of them and all they've done for us.

As for Olivia, she is still a great baby, which is helping with this whole situation. Even though I was in the hospital, we kept her schedule and she went for checkup on Thursday. She is doing great. She is now weighing in a 9lbs 5oz. The doctor was impressed since she had gained weight and most babies lose weight after leaving the hospital. The crazy thing was that she is measuring at 22inches long. Either she grew an inch and a half in a week or they measured her wrong at birth. We have finally decided she looks just like me in the face, but she has her daddy's body, long and lean. I am madly in love with her. The hardest part of this whole ordeal was having to be away from her those days, but I know she was in good hands.

Update on Olivia Kate

2009-10-04T00:41:00.004-04:00

Hi! Things are finally starting to settle down a bit around here. I figured I would stop in and let you guys know how we're doing.

Obviously, Miss Olivia finally decided to make her debut. While we all had decided that she would be an October baby, she decided to prove us wrong and show up in September. Save the best for last, right?

Here is a quick run down on the facts...She was born by c-section on Wednesday September 30 at 7:44pm. She weighed 9lbs. 2oz., was 20.5 inches long, and came out fighting. She is long and lean and built just like her daddy. The pediatrician gave us the report that she was a perfect, healthy baby girl. Since I was doing so well, Friday morning we were giving the option to go home or stay one more night. Even though staying at the hospital is so fun, we decided to go home and have had her home since a little before lunch time on Friday.

I am doing quite well after the c-section. I was given the advice by a good friend that the best thing to do after a c-section is to get up and move. I can tell you that I have took that advice to heart and the next morning, I was up walking around. I can tell you it has made the world of difference. I honestly feel 100 times better than I expected I ever would (of course with the help of some pain medications). My doctor told me Friday, I was doing better than most of her vaginal patients. Don't worry, I am getting my rest, but I feel better when I am up and moving.

Olivia is (so far) a great baby. She only cry's when she is wet or hungry. I usually only have to get up with her twice throughout the night. Knock on wood...I honestly thought it would be harder than it has been. She is making it very easy for us. Of course, she is already spoiled rotten. We're still trying to decide who she looks like and laughing at the little quirks that she gets from either David or I. Of course to us, she is absolutely perfect and we're madly in love with her. I can say that I now get it and people are right, you truly don't understand until you have one of your own. Oh, and of course like expected, she already has her daddy wrapped around her finger.

I'll post within the next few days the "birth story" and what all lead to her arrival that night. Thanks for all the well wishes! I am collecting pictures from the hospital stay from others. Here are a few that we've taken since being home.

A Little More Olivia!

2009-10-02T09:42:00.003-04:00

Hey y'all! It's Nicole again!

Just wanted to give another quick update.

Mama and Baby are doing great. Amber is starting to feel better and was even up walking around when we went up to visit.

Olivia Kate is so so stunningly gorgeous!

She has a perfect little button nose and a head full of dark hair, just perfect for big ole bows!

Amber should be heading home tomorrow and I know she will be giving all the details.

Here are a couple more pictures to tide you over until Amber gets back:

Introducing Miss Olivia Kate

2009-10-01T09:23:00.002-04:00

All 9 Pounds and 2 Oz of her!
And from what I can see in these pictures, she is absolutely gorgeous!

I stole these pictures off Amber's cousins Facebook.
I'm hoping to get up there and get some shots of the Little Waffle myself later tonight!

Look at that happy Daddy!
I have not heard from David or Amber today so I'm not sure how Amber is feeling. She is so strong, I'm sure she's doing wonderfully.

Here's Olivia Kate taking her first walk with her Daddy!

Here She Comes!!

2009-09-30T19:25:00.002-04:00

Hello to all Amber's Bloggy Friends!

It's Nicole, which can only mean one thing, Amber is at the hospital getting ready to welcome Little Miss Olivia Kate into the World!

I don't have all the details yet, but Amber sent me a message this evening letting us know that she had been in labor all day and was going in to have the c-section tonight!!!

I am sure that Olivia Kate is either born or very close to it by now!

Either way, I'm sure that your thoughts and prayers would be appreciated now.

Hopefully I will be able to update tomorrow with pictures of the 10 pound beauty!

In need of prayers...

2009-09-30T06:25:00.000-04:00

Well, we got some shocking news yesterday.

I had my weekly doctors appointment yesterday afternoon. At the previous appointment they had decided to do a ultrasound and hook me up to monitor Olivia's heartbeat this go round. David, my mom, and I got there and started with the usually routine of things, they then sent the three of us to the ultrasound room. You couldn't see too much since she is so big now and the ultrasound tech just talked us through what she was looking for. At the end, all she said was everything looked good and the doctor would explain everything to me. We should have known something was off when she really wouldn't answer any of our questions. Then they moved us to a regular room and immediately hooked me up to the monitor. We did know something was wrong when the doctor came in not even five minutes after with a look of shock on her face.

She then starts with how my fluid looks good and so far Olivia's heartbeat was good. Now here comes the....but....we have a little problem (how ironic).....by our estimates, she's measuring in a little over 10lbs. Needless to say our faces dropped to the floor. She went on to explain that they can be off by 20% (both ways), but there are a lot of risk for someone my size to deliver a 10lb. baby. We talked awhile and it was recommend and decided that I should have a c-section. So now we are set for a c-section on this Thursday morning at 11:30am.

Like I said, it was all honestly a shock. Besides a not so flattering picture taken at the Pope's cookout a couple of weeks ago, I honestly don't look as though I'm carrying a 10lb baby. Plus, the reason they had no indication was that I am still measuring right at what I'm supposed to. I guess she is very crowded in there. Which is probably why now every time she moves, it just hurts. Of course, that lead to a very emotional day yesterday. I really was okay for a good part of the day, but I finally lost it last night. I've spent these last nine months mentally preparing myself for labor and not for a c-section. It honestly never crossed my mind. Since I was born, I've never been in the hospital, let alone had a major surgery and I know thousands of women have them every day, but I am still scared. Plus, it's just frustrating to go this long and to have end up with a c-section. This could have all been over last week or the week before.

I'm trying not to be upset with my doctor. In her defense, I was measuring right at normal and I don't have gestational diabetes or any of the things that would contribute to a big baby. I have gone over the 25-35lb. weight gain limit, but majority of women do and I didn't gain enough to make them worried. In fact, I haven't gained any weight the past three weeks. The only contributing factor is that David was almost a 10lb baby. Let's just say he is feeling pretty bad right now.

So, please keep us in your prayers. I know everything will be fine and it's in God's hands. It is just still nerve racking. Your prayers will be appreciated.

Have I told you lately....

2009-09-29T07:04:00.000-04:00

Well my bloggy friends, I am down to the last few days for sure now. I go to the doctor this afternoon and either I'll be sent to the hospital then or go in tomorrow night. By Friday, OK should finally be here. Obviously, I'm not sure how often I'll be blogging the next couple of weeks, since we'll be adjusting to life with a baby. Nicole will be posting updates to let y'all know when she does finally show.

This being (maybe) my last post pre-baby, I do want to take this time to say to you all, a big

THANK YOU!!!!

Thank you so much for your encouraging comments, especially these last couple of weeks. You guys have no idea how much your comments have meant to me. Your comments really have brightened my days and I have several times gone back to re-read many of them. They are often reminders that I will make it through this. Thank you for listening to all my whining and complaining these past nine months, it's amazing anyone reads my blog. It funny because like most, I started a blog to keep our family updated on our lives, but I've ended up finding a great support group. I seriously probably wouldn't have made these last nine months without all y'alls sweet comments and support. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!

Also, I've had several new readers leave me sweet and supportive comments these past couple of weeks. Thank you to you all too. I haven't made it to your blogs to leave you comments, but I haven't forgotten about you. My mind has just been preoccupied these past couple of weeks.

Also, this guy deserves a great big Thank you....
I know I'm usually giving him a hard time and I can say that he lets me get away with my complaining of him on here, but besides his comments on my weight or his labor coaching, he really has been awesome to me this entire pregnancy. Through the first twenty weeks of morning sickness, he was always there with a cold rag and a glass of water. Any time I ask him to rub my back, he has not once turned me down. He has seriously had to put up with all my crazy mood swings and he never takes them personal. His excitement over this baby girl has taken me by surprise and I don't tell him enough how thankful I am to him. I honestly don't have the words to express my thanks to him. He is going to be an awesome daddy and I can't wait to start this journey with him.

So, hopefully, the next time I post, I will be a mommy!!!

And this truly will be our last weekend of just David and I.

Still here....

2009-09-28T21:49:00.002-04:00

Well, it's Monday night, almost 10pm, and I'm now 41 weeks pregnant.

This week is her final week, her eviction notice is being sent out.

It's uncomfortable to sit, lie down, or stand.

My back hurts and I pee at least 100 times a day.

When I go into public, people stare at me like I'm going to go into labor right then and there.

I am told at least ten times a day "I'm huge."

I will just say it....I'm freakin miserable.

I just have to keep reminding myself..two more days, two more days, two more days...

Sale Alert!!!

2009-09-25T16:22:00.005-04:00

Old Navy is having a great sale this weekend. All their clearance is 50% off the clearance price. I got a ton of stuff. My Old Navy had a great selection but the sale just started today and we went early. So don't wait! I got several tanks and tees for under $2 and several shirts for $4. Altogether, I got twelve tanks and shirts for around $35.

Also, the are having a sweater sale. I picked up this one for over half off.

I won't get the opportunity to wear it till December at the earliest, but I wanted to get one before they sold out.

Oh, I can't wait for normal clothes again!!!

Thoughts for Thursday...

2009-09-24T14:50:00.002-04:00

I decided that since so far, I haven't gotten what I wanted this week...ugh...I deserved a new purse. I headed to my most favorite store right now, TJ Max. I love that store. I can always find something there in any department. I have to stay out of there or it will definitely get me in trouble.

I have also come to terms that I have a serious addiction to purses. Luckily, I don't have an addiction to expensive purses. I change too often to spend that much money on a purse. I have been known to change purses everyday of the week at times. I buy at least one purse a month, if not two. Some women love shoes, I love purses. One of my beliefs for life is from the song Labels or Love, "don't cry, buy a bag and then get over it." It works for me every time.

Tonight is the premier of Grey's Anatomy!!! Most of the time I get made fun of because we usually are not into any of the other shows the majority of the public watches. We are usually watching the history or discovery channel. Our favorite is public television (no lie) but, Grey's Anatomy is our one exception. Even the hubby gets into it (though he might not want me to tell y'all that). Tonight is two full hours and as much as I want to have this baby, I hope I don't have to miss Grey's tonight.

It has rained for two straight weeks here. Luckily, we are not in an area that has had problems with flooding, but our grass is ten feet high. It seriously comes up to David's knees. It is apart of our rental agreement that we get lawn service, but the company our landlord has hired sucks!!! They haven't been out in four weeks and every time we call they say it's because of the rain. Last time they cut the grass they had no problem cutting it in the rain. Why now? The company sucks and we are having a hard time convincing our landlord of this. If my grass doesn't get cut very soon, I swear I will go pregnant lady crazy on someone. It makes us look trashy and I cannot stand it. Plus, the dogs are refusing to go out into the yard now. I'm extremely mad about this if you couldn't tell.

My mom just called and told me that an old friend of hers daughter was due this past Sunday and she just had her baby this morning. Maybe it's a sign?

David's supervisor decided a couple of months back to assign all the multi-unit managers a book (business related) to read and they had to write a report on it. Tonight, they have to do a presentation on their book. Of course, he's had this book for three months now and he waited till the last minute to do it. Guess who was up at 11:30pm proof reading his paper?

Holy Cow!!! Guess who's here finally? Maybe I can finally see the shed in the backyard again.

The start of a bad day, progress, and a surprise blessing.

2009-09-23T04:08:00.006-04:00

I have taken off the baby countdown because it is now wrong. Obviously, it doesn't account for babies who want to be stubborn and come into the world late. So yes, I'm still pregnant. Now we're two days past my due date and still waiting. We do now officially have a plan, but more on that later. I will warn you, the majority of this long post is me whining, so you might not want to continue. Sorry, but I feel like I've reached a point where I can whine (for now).

I have learned, if you make it past 40 weeks, it's rough. Obviously by now it's physically torture, but once you make it past that 40 mark, it's tough emotionally. Though only 5% of babies are born on their due date, it is hard emotionally when you have this end date in your mind for nine months and that day comes and goes. And no offense, but I've decided that us women that make it over 40 weeks should get a extra prize. Maybe like a baby and a $100 bill when your baby is finally born?

Yesterday for me, was not a good day and probably one, if not the, most emotional day I've had this entire pregnancy. On my actual due date, Monday, I was fine. Sunday night at 9:30pm I decided that I had to rearrange the house and it couldn't wait. So, I started tearing the house apart. This rearranging involved lots of heavy furniture moving and obviously there was only so much I could do. David decided to call Andrew that night and asked if he minded coming over in the morning to help him move the furniture. Thankfully, he said he would be here the next morning to help make a very pregnant lady happy. Of course, I then freaked out that I would go into labor that night and the house would be destroyed. Nicole reassured me they would come over and take care of everything if that was the case. I guess fortunately, that didn't happen. So all day Monday, I keep busy and got the house put back together. Later that night, we went to meet them for dinner. We had a great dinner (anytime you sit at a restaurant for over two hours and not realize it, it's considered a great dinner) and when we got home I was so tired, I pretty much went to bed and crashed by 9pm. That's when my troubles began.

Since I went to bed so early, I woke up at 1:22am and I could not go back to sleep for anything. I finally feel asleep a little before 7am but we had to be up by 7:30am for a doctors appointment. Let's just say, I was not in a good mood. I'm sure this is the major contributor to a lot of my emotional yesterday, but I spent a good majority of the morning a emotional mess. I pretty much woke up crying and couldn't stop. I bit David's head off several times over stupid small things and if you even looked at me, I would start crying. I had already told and convinced myself that nothing was going to come of the doctor's appointment and I had already played out in my mind the scenario of her checking me and telling me I was still closed. I was basically preparing myself for what at this time, seems like the worst. We got to the doctor's office and of course we had to wait forever which of course puts me in even a worse mood. On top of that I didn't eat breakfast and was hungry.

The doctor finally made it in and we went through the routine of the checkup. When she went to check me she gave me the best news I had heard in weeks, I was 1 & 1/2 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced. I didn't believe her at first and asked her several times "seriously?" She wanted to still come up with a plan, just in case I don't come by next week. So, I am now on the books for induction on October 1st. She is going to make me wait at least through the weekend and that Thursday is the first day she's on call that week and if I get to have a choice, I want her to deliver. So, that's why I could possibly have another week.

Hearing that news but me in a little better mood. I know it is not very much on the centimeters scale, but being 80% effaced was pretty exciting. On the way home, David tried to make me feel better by taking me to my favorite, Chick-fil-a, for lunch and we then decided that we should head home so I could get a much needed nap. Luckily, I came home and slept for two hours. After a long nap, I was feeling much better. The rest of the day, went much better. We went over towards where David's parents live and had a nice dinner with them. Afterwards, he and his dad headed to the driving range, while us ladies went to shop. Around nine we headed home so David could write a book report for work that of course, he waited till the last minute to do.

On our way home we received a phone call that was a complete surprise. Like probably most people our age, when we were younger, we made some pretty stupid decisions financially that had gotten us into some trouble. We were fortunate that we had someone to bail us out of those situations. We did though learn our lessons from those mistakes. The past two years, we have been working hard to correct those mistakes and we have been repaying on our bailouts for the last couple of years. We received a phone call telling us to no longer worry about it and consider our debts paid. Several years ago, someone gave them a hand and then a break and they wanted to do the same for us. We were stunned. This will help us tremendously financially, for it was a huge chunk every month. Needless to say, it brought on more tears from me, but for once yesterday they were the good kind. After a good ten minutes of disbelief, we made the promise with each other that we will definitely pay-it-forward in the future. Someone helped them out, they passed it on to us, and now we will make sure to pass it on to someone else. We went to bed still in shock over it all. It was a huge blessing. The only other thing that could top it would be finally giving birth to our baby girl this week.

So, that's were we stand for now. I'm still hoping I go into labor soon. For some reason, several people keep saying this Thursday, so maybe that's a sign. I know being induced is not the end of the world, but I have heard it makes labor much harder. If I have to be I will, but I would rather go into labor naturally. Please keep us in your prayers that it will happen naturally. Thanks!

A Gift Card Dilemma

2009-09-22T10:04:00.002-04:00

I had a first this weekend and I was just wondering what y'alls opinion would be.

I have been spending my down time trying to organize some things I've been putting off for awhile. Saturday night David had to work, so I ran to the store to get some supplies to finish up my organizing. We had received a gift card to one of the major box stores for a shower gift. I hadn't used it yet and we honestly have most everything for Olivia that we need, so I decided to just use the card. I mean technically I am nesting and that is due to Olivia, right?
At the store, I get the couple of items I need and go to check out. When I go to pay, I use the gift card and it's denied. The cashier tries it several times and then told me that the either the gift card wasn't activated or they didn't put any money on it. I was honestly a little shocked and told her it was a gift and I hadn't used the card before. She suggested I go to customer service and maybe they could help me, but of course the line was way too long for my 10 month pregnant self. I just paid for my purchase and headed home.

When I got in the car I called David to tell him what happened. We got into the conversation of what should you do in that situation? Should you not say anything to the person who gave you the gift card or should you let them know? In one way, I would feel bad to call out that person if they really didn't put any money on it. Not that I think people would really do that, but times are tough right now. Then there's the part of me that feels like I should tell them that they spent the money and didn't get what they paid for. So should you say something to them?

David and I got into a long discussion about this, but we didn't come to a conclusion. We also asked the Pope's what they thought and we all didn't really reach a conclusion either. I think I would want to be told because I would want to get my money's worth, but some people might not. I'll be honest in saying that I will most likely not say anything. If it was someone I was closer too, I would probably say something, but I don't want to hurt this person's feelings. Who knows? I was just wondering what y'alls thoughts on it were? Do you say something or keep your mouth shut?

Love Happens & Baby Socks

2009-09-21T07:04:00.001-04:00

David's weekend falls on today and Tuesday so, our weekend is just beginning. Hopefully this will be our last weekend without a baby. I know I say that every weekend now, so keep your fingers crossed! : )

This past weekend, Aubry and I decided to get in one last girls day, since it might be a little while before we can have one. We did our usual, lunch, a little shopping, and a movie.
We decided to go see the new one with Jennifer Aniston, Love Happens. Let's just say, we were both highly disappointed with it. We love Jennifer Aniston. We were both big Friends fans and usually, her movies are pretty good. This one however was not too impressive. I don't want to give it all away in case there are some of you who are just dying to see it. I think the best thing to say is that the movie title is a little misleading. The movie mainly focuses on his getting over his wife's death. There is a little bit of love happening, but I wouldn't consider this one a romantic movie and it is definitely not a romantic comedy (yahoo movies puts it in the romantic comedy genre). It definitely wasn't about what we thought it would be. If your still dying to see it, wait till it comes to red box and only cost you a $1.

We also stopped by our favorite, Target. I know there are several of you are expecting soon and Target's dollar section had a bunch of cute Halloween socks and tights for only a $1. I know the sizes went 0-12 months, but I didn't notice if they went over that. I only bought OK one pair of black tights and a pair of socks. I wish now, I would have gotten a couple more pair of tights. The socks though are pretty darn cute! So run to your Target before they sell out!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

I need some honesty...

2009-09-18T05:25:00.000-04:00

I need some honesty...

Last night I was looking at my bookmarked list of blogs that I look at every so often. Several of them are of other women who are expecting. I was reading one in particular of another woman who is also expecting her first child in a few weeks. I'm not going to name the blog and it's not on my list to the right, so you won't be able to figure who I'm talking about. Anyways...

She was posting about her birth plan and what all she wants when the baby comes. She had a long list and I personally found her birth plan to be a little demanding. To my surprise, most comments left were those supporting her and from other (first time) expecting moms who agreed with her birth plan. It seemed that those who were telling her to keep an open mind were those who have already given birth.

So my question is, am I being naive not going in with great demands when it comes to my labor and delivery?

The way I have felt the entire time is that labor/giving birth is something totally new to me. I don't know what to expect and I don't know how I am going to react/respond, so I am not going in with a demanding attitude that this is what I want. I figured that the second go round I will have a better idea of what I want and then can make demands. I planned on this first go round to just wait and see what happens.

When asked if I want an epidural, I always tell people I don't know. I've been fortunate to never experience great physical pain in my life, so I honestly have no clue what my pain tolerance is. I figure if I feel like I can deal with the pain than I will go for it, if not, then I'll ask for the epidural. No, I don't want to be induced, but if in two weeks, I'm still pregnant, then induce me (she cannot stay in here forever). I just feel like I don't know what is going to happen, so why go in with a long list of what I want?

Those close to me all seem to support me, but who knows if their doing it to be nice. They might be saying I'm crazy behind my back. Am I being naive or am I going in with the right attitude?

I know it's kinda last minute to be thinking about this, but maybe since it's now so close, that's why it's on my mind. Thanks for the help.

Auntie Aubry's Onesie

2009-09-17T20:35:00.000-04:00

I figured I should post something.

I didn't want y'all to think I've gone and done something crazy like have a baby.

My cousin/BFF Aubry stopped by this afternoon to see me and of course every time I see her now she has to bring me something for OK. She made OK a special gift and I thought it's pretty cute.

Here's a close up...

David now wants to make a t-shirt for Aubs that says "I love my Cousin David."

Thank you Auntie Aubry!!!

Drawing a blank

2009-09-16T10:42:00.004-04:00

I've got nothing. I seriously feel like I've had nothing to blog about lately.

I do want to thank you all for your sweet comments yesterday. They made me feel better. Yes, it might not seem like I've been complaining, but those around me in the real world would probably disagree (the hubby). Still, thank you for the sweet comments. You guys are the best!

I think I'm going to go walk around Wal-mart. Exciting!!!!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday!!!

A Change of Heart

2009-09-15T11:57:00.005-04:00

I owe you all an apology. It seems like I've done nothing but complain lately. I've complained about not having this baby yet. I've complained about being the size of a house. I've complained about only fitting in about only four of my maternity outfits. Needless to say, I've been doing a lot of complaining.

This morning when I got up for my 4:30am feeding (that's what we call it around here when I wake up twenty times a night), I got on the computer to check my Google reader. When I logged on I saw the post from Whitney at Glamorous Housewife asking for prayers for her brother and his wife. Her sister-in-law had just given birth at 27 weeks to a 2lb. little boy. Reading this was a wake up call and immediately made me thankful for the fact I've made it this far.

Early in my pregnancy there was much concern over me making it full term with Olivia. I've mentioned it before that my mom gave birth early to both me and my little brother. I was a little over a month early. My brother was three months early and only two pounds when he was born. So, I have been through the fight this family is going to have these next few months.

It's funny that my mom's friend made the comment the other day, that they had all prayed so hard that I would carry Olivia full-term and now it seems she's going to be late. This morning I realized how thankful I am that I have this problem.

No one stays pregnant forever (though Michelle Duggar comes close). Yes, I'm uncomfortable and yes, I'm ready for her to be here in my arms, but in my heart I know that the longer she stays in there, the better off she'll be in the long run. She will come when she's ready and of course, she'll come when God believes she ready for this world.

So, I'm going to quit complaining about being pregnant. No I'm not one of those women who is going to claim she loves being pregnant, but I realize that it is all worth it for the end result and I'm thankful for the what we call the most boring pregnancy that a person could have. I realize that I have so much to be thankful for and I could have very well been in that same situation. So, I have a change of heart this morning.

Olivia , you can come when your ready. I'll quit giving you a hard time. I'm just being impatient and ready to hold you in my arms. Whether you come tomorrow or in two weeks, we'll be ready for you.

MIA

2009-09-13T19:25:00.003-04:00

The hubby is off for more than a half a day for the first time in two weeks. We're trying to spend some last minute time together, so I probably will be missing in action the next couple of days.

Hopefully this will be our last weekend of just the two of us! : )

Random on the Weekend...

2009-09-12T07:15:00.006-04:00

I'm still here and still very pregnant. All my post this week I had pre-scheduled because I knew I was going to have a busy week. I was honestly too wore out to post anything when those ran out. Plus, other than to complain about how pregnant I am, I feel I don't have much to say right now.

I went for my weekly checkup last Wednesday and so far we're a no-go. Baby girl seems happy where she's at. I'm still completely closed up and convinced this baby is never going to come out. I'm not sure if I was more disappointed about still being completely closed or learning that they will allow me to go another week and half after my due date. I could have another two and half weeks of this. Ugh...

A couple of weeks ago, David mentioned that he was starting to get nervous about me going into labor. He asked that when we got closer, if I was by myself, I stay closer to home during the day so he could get to me in time. I promised I would starting at 38 weeks. Luckily, my mom came down to spend a few days this week with me and was my get-out-of-jail card, so I took great advantage of her visit. She was my pregnant-lady sitter and I drug her all over for the two and half days she was here. Needless to say, by the time she left on Thursday afternoon, I was worn out. It's taken me almost two days to recover.

While she was down, we (okay, she) made some valances for OK's room. I assisted by watching her, but that wore me out and I had to go lay down to take a nap. She whipped them up in just a few hours and they turned out perfect. I knew what I had in mind, but could never find a pattern of exactly what I wanted. I found the closest thing I could and she made a few adjustments to it and they were exactly what I wanted. It's not the best picture, they are green with little white polka-dots. Thank you Mom!!!

Also this week, my grandparents came down to have dinner and my grandma brought me a present that I'm in love with. She kept my highchair that she had bought for me to use at her house when I was a baby. She cleaned it up and brought it down to me for OK. It's wood, over 27 years old, and still in great condition. She suggested I could paint it to match my breakfast table, but I'm thinking of painting it red. I want something colorful. We still have awhile before OK will need it, so that will definitely be a project for after she arrives.

Our weekend is going to be pretty low-key. We are headed to the Pope's for a cook out tonight. I'm excited since it seems like it's been forever since we've all hung out. David finally gets a day off this Sunday. Due to the race last weekend, he worked ten days straight, took a half day off to go to the doctor with me, and then worked another three days. Needless to say, the boy is tired. He finally gets a day off this Sunday and Monday. It's crazy to think this could be our last "weekend" with just the two of us. Let's pray it is!

And I almost forgot...last week Nicole volunteered to give updates in case this baby ever decides to come. I'm pretty sure that most of you who read my blog, also read hers. So if I've gone missing again, check with her to see if there is any baby news. If you read my blog and don't read hers, then go check it out anyways because Miss. Josie is too cute to miss!

Awkward....

2009-09-09T08:18:00.000-04:00

It took nine months, but last Friday, I had the most awkward pregnancy conversation with a complete stranger.

I was heading up to my friend Sheena's to hang out by her pool for the afternoon. I decided to stop by Chick-fil-a and grab some lunch. I decided to go inside to eat, because I'll be honest, that way I could get a refill on my sweet tea (it's my addiction). I was sitting there enjoying my nuggets and waffle fries, when one of the girls who works there (I call her girl because she is younger than me) b-bops over to me. In a very excited young girl voice, she asks when I'm due. I had just put a nugget in my mouth, so I held up two fingers and then told her two weeks. That resulted in a shrieking "OMGosh" She then informs me she's due in six months and starts rolling questions out to me. This is the rest of the conversation...

chick-fil-a girl: "so, is it a boy or girl?"

me: "a little girl."

chick-fil-a girl: "OMGosh, what are you going to name her?"

me: "Olivia Kate."

chick-fil-a girl: "oh, how does the other person feel about that?"

me: "huh?"

chick-fil-a girl: (insert some type of hand motions) "how does the other person feel about that?"

me: "the other person? my husband?"

chick-fil-a girl: "yeah."

me: "feel about what?"

chick-fil-a girl: "the name?"

me: "um, he likes it."

chick-fil-a girl: "oh."

Let's just say it was the most awkward pregnancy conversation I've had to date.

For the record, I was nice and just congratulated her on her little bundle of joy, even though I personally hate her name choice for her baby.

Am I the only one?

2009-09-08T09:09:00.001-04:00

The other night I was talking to David about my being kicked to the couch. And I seriously started a portion of the conversation with this...

"My friend Kameron told me about this pillow that I need..."

He seriously looked at me and asked "whose Kameron? we don't know anyone named Kameron."

Yes people, I've started talking about you like I know you. You come up in my nightly dinner conversations. The hubby has even started asking nightly what's going on in the blog world. You should all feel special. Especially you Kameron, I knew you would get a kick out of that.

Am I the only one who does this?

Please don't make me feel like a complete loser. I promise I do have friends in the real world.

Nine Months

2009-09-07T13:32:00.000-04:00

Much to my family's dismay, I haven't been one of those people that have posted a pregnancy picture every week. I have though been taking pictures as these months go by.

And here is the one I know y'all have all been wanting to see...

For the record, besides being cropped and text added, this picture hasn't been edited...nine months and no stretch marks!!!

She's being cut off

2009-09-06T13:04:00.000-04:00

Meet Olivia's BFF Miss. Matalie. Isn't she the cutest!

In our little group, they are the only two girls close in age and Miss. Matalie is a sweetie who shares her clothes with her soon-to-be here BFF Olivia.

Last week, Amy called and said she had another load of clothes to pass on to Olivia. I headed over to her house for lunch and to pick up Olivia's new loot. It's good to have friends that have such good taste. Matalie is always dressed so cute.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Amy!!!

Olivia is being cut off from clothes. She seriously will need no more clothes till next fall. I didn't realize just how much she had. I've been buying stuff for next summer because of course it's all on sale and I never being one to turn down anything, have taken all the donations given to my baby girl.

Also, I didn't share that I had went to the sweet repeats consignment sale a couple of weeks ago and racked up on a bunch of fall stuff. Remember how I was searching for baby jeans? Well, she now has nine pairs for this fall alone. And remember how I was a sucker and paid $9 for a pair at JcPenny's? I got the same exact pair at the consignment sale for $1. I'm a sucker, I know.

The other night when I was going through and sorting Amy's last batch, David gave me that look. With his serious look, he told me she couldn't have anything else for the fall, it needed to stop.

I'll try honey, promise.

Oh, I'm currently taking applications for a fashionable BFF that is the same size as me and wants to pass down their clothes to me every season. Let me know if your interested.

Slacker

2009-09-05T12:49:00.002-04:00

I've been slacking on the blog post the past few days. Nope, no baby yet, I've just been in a funky mood and not feeling like writing. Thanks to an afternoon of laying by the pool and girl talk, I'm feeling better now.

I am though a little bored today. It's a holiday weekend for everyone but us. Holidays mean more work for the money maker of the house. Plus, the big race is in town and I'm sure you all can believe the Nascar fans love the waffle. So, holiday + race = no hubby for the weekend. Everyone else seems to already have plans or decided not to leave their house to fight the race traffic. So that leaves me with nothing to do. I'm going to go find something to do before I go crazy.

Hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend!

I've been kicked to the curb

2009-09-02T07:14:00.000-04:00

Ok technically, I haven't been kicked to the curb, but I have been kicked to the couch which is in the living room, which is the closet room to the curb in the front of our house. You get the point.

The past couple of weeks I've started having trouble sleeping. It's hard to get comfortable anymore. I usually lay on my side, but unless I lay in the exact right position, it feels like my tummy's weight is too much and it hurts. When I wake up in the morning, I seriously feel like I've been run over by a train. It feels like I've been participating in a strenuous workout rather than sleeping. It just sucks.

I have noticed that I can sleep more comfortably on the couch. Saturday night I decided that I was going to sleep on the couch. I made it through the night, but I won't lie, for some reason I was a little scared. The dogs stayed with me through the night, but I was still a little scared to be sleeping without the hubby next to me. When I woke up Sunday morning, I did feel more rested and like I had finally gotten a good nights sleep. Plus, I only got up once to use the bathroom. But when Sunday night rolled around, I wanted to go back to the bed with the hubby even though I knew I wouldn't sleep well.

After a restless night of sleep and once again waking up feeling like I had been ran over, I got my morning phone call from the hubby. He informed me he had to sleep on the couch. Evidently, I was snoring!!! He said he didn't know what to do because it was the first time he has ever heard me snore. He wasn't sure if he should wake me up or just move to the couch. He went with the later. The funny part was I told him a couple of weeks ago I thought I was snoring and he kept swearing it was all in my head. Regardless of his denial, I knew I had started snoring because I woke myself up a couple of times. Funny, I know.

I apologized for keeping him up with my snoring and told him I would move to the couch since I sleep better on it anyways. So, now I'm on the couch the next few weeks or at least until Olivia gets here.

My little shadow has been sticking by my side every night.
And I know what your thinking...OMG is she crazy? She has white couches? Yes, I have white couches and a black dog. Before you freak, it's not that bad. They are slipped covered and easy to take care of. About every other month (or when they are looking rough) I throw them in the wash with a little bleach and they come out new looking. Plus, we don't allow our dogs on the furniture, so that helps. Now I just need to keep the hubby off the furniture and they will never have to be washed.

37 weeks

2009-09-01T17:34:00.004-04:00

I went to the doctors this morning and I won't lie...I was hoping they would say this baby was ready to come out and send me to the hospital. Unfortunately, no such luck. We're still where we should be size wise and she is evidently in no rush.

We have learned during the past two visits that baby girl does not like to be bothered. Every time they try to hear her heartbeat, she won't stop moving enough for them to hear it very long. It takes about ten minutes for them to get an accurate reading. Today David and the doctor had a good laugh watching my stomach go up and down as she moved around. I'm hoping this means she likes to sleep and doesn't like to be bothered. Wishful thinking, right?

So, I won't lie. Now that she is considered full term, I am praying for her to come soon and not feeling any guilt about it. I really want her here with me now. I'm ready for her.

In other news not even related, the weather here the past few days has been wonderful. The highs have been in the 70's and it has been nice. I feel like I shouldn't be enjoying it so much since it has been overcast and gloomy, but I am. Hopefully, it means fall will be here soon!!!

How I spent my Saturday

2009-08-31T17:59:00.001-04:00

David decided to spend his Saturday off by playing golf. This is how I spent my Saturday...

I know I just did a book review, but my "me" time is ending soon and I had to share this book. I spent Saturday morning engrossed in The Fixer Upper. Aubry gave it to me for my birthday last weekend. Mary Kay Andrews is one of my absolute favorite authors. She is from Georgia (lives in Atlanta) and all her books are located in somewhere in our home state. I've read and own all she has written. My only complaint is she doesn't write books fast enough for me. I need more!!!

Her stories always focus on some heroine that triumphs over some obstacle in their lives. They are filled with characters that you come to love. No heavy reading, just chic lit that comes with a entertaining story line and a little bit of romance. No, these books will not change your life, but they will give you a few moments of enjoyment. If you've never read a Mary Kay Andrews book, pick one up and I doubt you'll be disappointed.

The Big Spender

2009-08-31T11:19:00.002-04:00

He made me proud this weekend.

He was off this Sunday and we had no plans for the day. Around lunch time we were both getting antsy. We decided to head over to the bookstore, because what else do you do when there is nothing to do? He decided when we got over there he wanted to go to Dick's Sporting Goods. I asked to please be dropped off at Target.

I walked around Target a bit. Then went to stand in one of the only two lines open to buy my two shirts I found on clearance. He came into the store and came to stand in line with me. I asked if he found anything (stupid question). He said yeah, there was a golf club on sale for $30 that is regularly $120. I told him that maybe he should go back and buy it. He said "I did."

This is a major thing. He NEVER buys himself anything. He is one of those he won't buy whatever he wants and then by the time he does make up his mind to buy whatever it is, it's gone.

I was in shock the rest of the time in line. It almost brought tears to my eyes. I was so proud of him. After ten years together, I'm finally rubbing off on him.

Almost there

2009-08-28T07:04:00.001-04:00

The other night the hubby came home and told me he saw a little girl at work that reminded him of Olivia.

Um...okay...I of course had to laugh at this. I asked him how can someone remind you of someone you've never seen?

He didn't know, she just reminded him of our soon-to-be-here baby girl. Maybe the little girl was dressed like a pirate?
Anyways...okay, if you say so.

If you haven't noticed the ticker to the right, we are in the home stretch now. I am officially 9 months pregnant and we have less than four weeks to go. I am so ready for this baby to come, but it is still hard to believe that she could be here any day now. I cannot wait to meet her! Plus, I'm so tired of being pregnant.

David is getting nervous about her arrival. He says that is nervous about "the call." The call of me saying "I'm in labor." The other night we went to eat dinner in a town about thirty minutes away and he admitted that he was planning routes in his head to the quickest way to the hospital from there. Too cute. And kudos to him, he is now answering the phone every time I call. So hopefully there will be no problems of getting a hold of him when I do go into labor.

August Book Review

2009-08-27T05:02:00.003-04:00

I know we still have a few days left in the month, but I've decided to go ahead and post my books for August. I didn't get much reading done for the month of July, but I picked it up in August.

Angela's Ashes Frank McCourt

I loved this book. I know it's been around awhile, but when the author Frank McCourt passed away last month, it intrigued me to read it. It is the true story of the author growing up in extreme poverty in Ireland during the early part of the twentieth century. It is a sad story, but it does come with a happy ending. Some parts left me in disbelief. It is hard to realize that not so long ago people have lived like this and in some places still do. Even with the tough times our country is going through at the moment, none of us will more than likely never have it this bad. This book truly makes you appreciative for what you have.

Ana's Story: A journey of Hope Jenna Bush

I saw all the hype on this book when it came out a few years ago. I bought it awhile back when I found it for $3. It is the story of a teenage girl in Latin America and her struggles with growing up with abuse, being HIV positive, and being a teenage mother. I didn't like the way the story was written. I just read weird to me (if that makes any sense). The story is aimed at young adults, but I thought it was written in even a lower level than young adults. It felt to me that the story had the potential to be good, it just was not written well. Thankfully, it was an easy read and I finished it in a day, but don't waste your time.

The Last Lecture Randy Pausch

This is a great book. I bought it for my dad for Father's day and he sent it along to me once he was done with it. It was written by Randy Pausch for his three young children after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only months to live. The book is filled with life lessons that he wanted to leave his kids after he is gone. It is also a great reminder to not take life for granted. It is an easy read and I finished it in a day. A great book, especially for anyone in a leadership position. It talks a lot about leadership. David is reading it right now and so far enjoying it also.

My life in France
Julia Child

After seeing Julie & Julia, I picked up Julia's My Life in France. It was an interesting book and it took me some time to read, but I enjoyed it. It was interesting to read about her beginnings to becoming such a famous chef (long before the food network came along). This is the third memoir I've read this summer and though they keep my interest, they are a little harder to get through. It has taken me most of the month to get through. If your into memoirs or food, then I recommend this one.

The Memory Keepers Daughter

Kim Edwards

I'm not sure how I really feel about this book. There was a lot going on throughout the story and to be honest, the story wasn't really what I thought it would be about either. The story starts in the 1960's and is about a young doctor who delivers his twins and discovers that one of the twins has down syndrome. He then tells the aiding nurse to take the baby to a institutional home and then lies to the wife telling her the baby was dead at birth. Instead of taking her to the home, the nurse takes the baby and raises her in a different town. Without trying to give too much away, I thought the book would focus more on the daughter that was given away, but instead it focuses on the lives of the doctor, his wife, and the demise of their marriage after the birth. The real focus is on family secrets and what they do to families. I think the part that I didn't like the most was the ending. It just seemed to end abruptly to me. Overall, not my favorite, but I have read worse.

It's my mother's fault...

2009-08-26T09:33:00.005-04:00

Everybody has their weird habits.

I unfortunately, have several. My family laughs about them on a regular basis.

One of those is ironing.

I iron pretty much everything except my underwear. Yes, I am one of those people who iron my jeans.

It's no lie that I iron everyday.

This is my mother's fault. Growing up, she always made us iron our clothes. Every school night we had to iron the clothes that we were going to wear the next day. Nightly we ironed and this has stuck with me. I now love to iron.

Even in my college dorm, I had a iron and a full size ironing board. None of those little space saving ironing boards would work for me. Thankfully my college roommate, Jenny, didn't mind hearing the ironing board be pulled out every morning.

I have had the same cheap iron since my freshmen year of college. It has lasted for the last nine years and it has served me well, but after being dropped several times by the hubby, it was looking pretty sad with the handle wrapped up in electrical tape. It was still working, but then a few months ago the black stuff on the actual ironing part (I have no clue what the technical term is) started coming off on our clothes. We needed a new iron. So, I started looking at irons a few months ago and have been trying to decided what I wanted.

Since I have some birthday money, I went all out and I bought a mac daddy iron.
Yes, I did pull it out of the box and plugged it up to try it out as soon as I got home. Seriously, I am in love with this thing. I have threatened the hubby with his life if he drops it. Though the thing is so flipping heavy the hubby might actually loose an appendage if he does drop it.

Look at him at work...Sigh...
Yes I admit it, I'm in love with an iron and yes, it's sad I used birthday money to buy myself an iron. Once again, it's my mother's fault.

Not Me Monday

2009-08-24T14:00:00.001-04:00

Today, My Charming Kids is doing Not My Child Monday, but since my child is still a perfect angel and I need a Not Me Monday, I'm going with that instead.

It was not me who had a birthday this past weekend.

It was not me who has decided that birthdays and I no longer get along. It seriously doesn't bother me to get older, but for some reason, birthdays put me in a bad mood. This has happened for the past two birthdays.

It was not me who decided to be in a bad mood all weekend which lead to three arguments with the hubby over the weekend. Two of the three which were completely stupid...one argument over leftovers and one over an ugly birthday cake.

It was not me who pitched such a fit, that I made my hubby take back the ugly birthday cake.

It is not me who has decided that I'm giving up when it comes to my birthdays. For now on, it's just another day in my life.

It is me who is getting over it and moving on this week.

Thing #479 you shouldn't say to a pregnant lady

2009-08-19T18:15:00.003-04:00

Thing #479 you should not say to a pregnant lady...

If you see two pregnant ladies together, do not ask both how far along they are and then say that they look the same size. Especially, when one tells you she is 25 weeks and the other tells you she is 35 weeks. One is carrying a 2lb. baby and the other a 5lb. baby. They do not look the same people.

It's rude.

Keep your mouths shut people.

*Sheena, you do not look no where near the same size that I do. That lady needed glasses.*

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

2009-08-19T17:26:00.005-04:00

I saw this recipe on Mrs. Southern Belle's blog the other day.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

I made it last night and it was delicious and super easy!

It was a big hit with the hubby.

I paired it with a bag Cesar salad to make it a meal.

Try it!

35 Weeks

2009-08-18T10:34:00.001-04:00

I went for my 35 week checkup yesterday morning.

First off, I'm completely irritated with the office staff. I love my doctor, but the office staff is let's just say...special. For the second time in the last nine months, I showed up at the wrong office for my visit. Yes, the last time it happened, it was partly my fault. But this time, it was completely on their heads. At my last visit, the lady checked off on the back of the appointment card that I would being going to the north office which is an hour away from my house. I didn't question it since the last time I assumed that I wasn't supposed to go to that office, I was wrong. I showed up for my appointed time, sign in, and of course, the lady calls me up and says I'm at the wrong office. This time I had proof that they said I was supposed to be there. She seriously had the attitude that I had checked it off and I was in the wrong. She kept asking me why would they send you here when you normally go to the south office? I have no freaking clue lady. Why would I want to drive an hour away, when my regular office is only 30 minutes down the road? Please explain this to me office lady.

Anyways, of course that meant that my regular doctor couldn't see me and they would have to try to see if one of the doctor there that day could fit me in. I was so fed up, I just had to sit down in the waiting room and cry. Thankfully, David was with me this time. He held my hand and tried to act pissed off for my sake.

I guess the good thing that came out of it was that I got to meet the nurse practitioner that will be taking care of me post-postpartum. She was really sweet and answered the few questions I had. The other good news was that Olivia Kate is in the head-down and ready to go position. She said that she could feel her head was already in my pelvis or as she put it "that's definitely a head." So, no more worries about that. OK is measuring at around 5lbs. so if she continues at the same rate, she will not be as big as they were originally afraid of. Let's pray she continues on the path of her mommy. I was only a 6lb. baby and her daddy was 9lb 12oz. baby. My tummy also measured at exactly 35 weeks. My blood pressure was great and Olivia's heart beat was 155.

So right now, we are still on track for September 21, unless she decides to come before that. Now we just sit and wait.

The Weekend

2009-08-17T17:16:00.001-04:00

I'm lacking in the blogging department. I haven't been in the mood to write or even read blogs lately. Sorry. I guess my blogging issues from the week before made me realize I can live without. Maybe it will come back to me soon. One reason may be that I have actually been busy lately. I know, it's a shocker...

Last Wednesday, I went up to the big city (Atlanta) and visited the Margret Mitchell Museum (the author of Gone With The Wind). Yes, I went by myself. This has shocked a lot of people for some reason. I was tired of sitting around the house and decided to head up there since it was something I've always wanted to do. Why wait on someone to go with me? Also, I wasn't the only one person party in our tour group. So quit looking at me like I'm crazy people when I say I went by myself. Thanks. Anyways...the tour sucked...I was very unimpressed...I even considered asking for a refund of my $12 admission when I got done....Seriously.

On Friday we had a double date night with the Pope's. We decided to try out a local restaurant, called J. Henry's. We were pretty impressed with the place. It had a nice, grown up atmosphere. It wasn't necessary romantic, but it was nicer than say Applebee's. Even though there were issues with my food, everyone's looked and tasted great. Plus, the manager went over and beyond in trying to rectify the problem with my food (it took forever to get and then when I did get it, it was cold) and I didn't even have to throw a pregnant lady fit. She didn't charge was for my meal and she threw in a free dessert. It was delicious!!! I would go back for the dessert alone. I highly recommend it to anyone in our area. After dinner, the plan was to head back to our house and watch a movie. We ended up just spending the next two and half hours talking. And we have to give our guys props because they did not talk about waffle house once the entire night. Seriously, it was a first.

I meant to get a picture of us together, but I forgot. I did however take a picture of David since he dressed up. I want proof for Olivia Kate that her daddy doesn't only wear black and gray.
Yes, his eyes are closed. But that was the best he could do out of three takes. Poor Olivia doesn't stand a chance when it comes to pictures. We both cannot keep our eyes open.

And just because I was having a good hair night.

On Saturday, Aubry and I headed out to take the Historic Jonesboro Tour. This is the town we grew up in and it is the hometown for Gone With The Wind. Before y'all think I'm crazy for hitting up two Gone With The Wind attractions in one week, it just happened to work out that way. This was something Aubry and I had been planning for awhile. We did a driving tour of the town and then the GWTW Museum in the old train depot. It was actually kinda fun because we grew up in this town and there were a lot of things we didn't know about the history of the town. Our tour guide was about 100 years old, but he was pretty funny and he loved the fact that Aubry and I were from the area. The other couple on the tour was from Baltimore and the wife was a huge GWTW fan and they were there on their Summer vacation. That to me is crazy obsessed. We had a good time and were impressed with the tour and the museum. It was well worth the $12 we paid.

Oh yeah...Aubs finally has found her a man. He's the ultimate Southern Gentleman.

He has opened his mouth again...

2009-08-13T07:04:00.000-04:00

David: (walking in from work) "Wow, you look...(insert long pause)...pregnant!"

No my love, I've looked pregnant for the last 13 weeks. What you wanted to say is "wow, you look big." Um...hello, I am carrying a 5lb baby inside of me! Thanks, honey!

34 weeks & 3 days

Random Wednesday

2009-08-12T07:04:00.000-04:00

First off, I have a couple of new followers that have left me some sweet comments over the last few post and I just wanted to say thank you. I keep meaning to leave y'all comments but my blogging has been off this week. Please don't think I'm being rude. Thank you for the sweet comments! I Love getting comments!

Monday night, while watching my husband laugh his butt off at Top Gear, my dear sweet baby girl decided to head-butt me in the pelvis. It hurt like a mo-fo! That was the first time she has actually hurt me while moving around. I told her she could stop that right then. Thankfully, she listened.

Evidently complaining about having nothing to do gets you out of the house. Not even five minutes after I posted on Monday, my MIL called and took me to get a pedicure and then took me to lunch. Either she read my complaining or when she saw me last week thought my feet were looking rough and knew I could no longer reach them. Either way, I'm very appreciative of it. She's the best MIL in the world!

Speaking of pedicures...why is that when you get a french tip it always cost $3 more? It's less polish being used...shouldn't it cost $3 less or at least the same as a regular color? It takes the lady who does my toes the same amount of time to do the french tip as it does to paint the whole nail...so why does it cost more?

I'm a jeans girl. Except for right now, I live in jeans. I have been searching for some little jeans for Olivia Kate. I've already got her a pair for 9 months and 12 months, but I couldn't find any for 3-6 months. I finally found some at JcPenny the other day and they are so stinkin cute. They were on sale, but I still had to pay more than I normally do for stuff for her. But I had to have them.

It is HOT down here! We had a unexpected cool July, but August has definitely made up for it. It is almost too unbearable to go outside. For the past week it has been in the high 90's, but once you add the humidity in, it makes feel like it's in the 100's. Pregnant or not it's to the point it's unbearable. Unfortunately, there seems to be no end to it in the next few weeks. I am so ready for Fall!!!

My blog is having some issues again. For some reason now when I log onto my dashboard, it says I'm not following anyone. This thing is starting to get on my nerves.

Thrift Store Love

2009-08-11T13:42:00.005-04:00

More reasons to love thrifting...one of our local thrift stores has book day on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On those days you can get 12 books for $5.99 or 25 books for $6.99. Today I got 52 books for $14. The nice young guy at the checkout gave me the extra two books.
One of my favorite blogs is Darby:Fly through my window. A few post back she talked about her love of the Little Golden books. I had completely forgotten about them. Growing up, I had a ton of the Little Golden Books and even still have a few that I've kept over the years. I didn't realize that they were still around. When I went today to look for children's books to add to my already large collection, I started scoping out all the little gold binders. As you can see, I hit the jack pot. I even got several I had as a child growing up.

Plus, I got this one for myself. I know it will be here before I know it.
I'm going to try to limit myself to going only every other week.

A Milestone, A Movie, & New Shoes

2009-08-10T10:31:00.002-04:00

I can post a weekend update because for once, we actually did something this past weekend! Don't get too excited...we have no plans for the upcoming weekend.

Friday night wasn't too exciting since David had to work a double. All multi-unit managers have to work one double a week and it is usually Friday nights. He has a few hour break in between shifts so he always comes home and takes me to an early dinner. He was in the mood for Bar-B-Que, so we headed to our favorite Bar-B-Que joint Southern Pit. My family has been eating here for as long as I can remember. For the longest time, I thought it was the only kind of Bar-B-Que there is. After dinner, I ended up getting a headache and went to bed early while he went back to work. Wild and crazy Friday nights!

Saturday morning I meet up with Aubry to have a girls day. She has been really busy with work lately, so I had not seen her in forever. I even had to leave her a facebook message asking if I was ever going to see her again? Luckily, she finally made some time for me. We started with lunch at Upscale pizza where her sister/my cousin KP works. It was KP's last day working there since she leaves for college this week. Since she'll no longer be there, I guess we'll find somewhere else to eat after movies. With her there, we always got the best service!

After lunch, we went to see the movie Julie & Julia. I loved it!!! I highly recommend you to see it. I honestly don't know what it was about it, but I just loved it. It was just a great movie. It was one of the best movies I've seen in awhile. I was a little worried about whether I would like it, because I bought the book and could not get into it. But now that I've seen the movie, I wanna try again to read the book Julie & Julia and I want to read My Life in France by Julia Child. A few of the parts that made me laugh were the ones where Julie is complaining about her blog and how no one reads it and then how excited she gets over her comments. All bloggers can relate.

Saturday night we gathered to celebrate my Meme's birthday. She has decided that she no longer celebrates birthdays, she celebrates milestones! Guess where she decided to go eat...Southern Pit! So we had round two of Bar-B-Que that night. Needless to say, I've had my fill of Bar-B-Que for awhile.

Meme & Ms. Susan

Everyone then came back to our house for cake and ice cream. Meme's best friend Ms. Susan made her a homemade chocolate cake. The thing was to die for!!! It was so good! That woman is an amazing cook! Meme was even sweet and let me keep a piece for the next day. I hid it from David so he couldn't eat it and I enjoyed every bite.

David had to work Sunday morning so I just hung out around the house. I did finally go grocery shopping. Though I didn't have much of a choice since we were out of laundry detergent and on our last roll of paper towels and toilet paper. I also got groceries for the week and I'm hoping we can get back on track on eating at home this week. We have done terrible lately.

After David got off work, we headed over to Aubry's house so David and my uncle George could go play golf. While the guys went to golf, the girls went to shop. I got these cute shoes at Target and I'm in love with them! Their on sale for $10 this week, so run to go get some. They are super comfy and they come in a few different colors/prints. I also got a bronze pair.

We then stopped at the Gap and all their clearance is 40% off this week so I picked up a few "after pregnancy" tops. I also got these little tights for OK. I cannot wait to put them on her. I'm sure though it will probably be January before it's cold enough around here.

Also, Meme's friend Ms. Susan brought me a baby gift since she could not attend the shower due to her grandson's birthday. She made OK two blankets. One for summer and one for winter. I love them since they are bigger than all the store bought blankets. Of course, it's got polka dots on it and it will always be special since it's handmade.

As for the rest of the week, we have nothing going on. David has a few late nights this week, so I won't get to see him too much. I have no other plans and you can only clean the house so many times in one week. I am trying not to go out too much because every time I do, I just end up spending money. I'm dreading tonight when David checks the online banking and sees how much I spent yesterday. So, my plans for the week are to get some rest and reading done. I am seriously now to point that I am sitting and waiting for OK now. I hope these next six weeks fly by.

A new low...

2009-08-07T19:14:00.001-04:00

I think I have hit a new low. Earlier today I was having some issues with blogger/Google. For whatever reason it kept blocking me from looking at any one's blog. I could log into my blog account and I could read others post, but I could not actually look at any one's blog or leave comments. I did all the things the help page said to and nothing was working. Well, this just really pissed me off.

David came home and by then it had not been working for majority of the day. He quickly noticed something was wrong. I then went into a tizzy about how blog wasn't working and I did everything and blah, blah, blah. Even though I'm sure he thought I was crazy, he looked at it and tried to figure out what was wrong. Unfortunately, nothing we both did could fix the problem. We went to dinner and thank the lord, when we got back it was working again.

The point being that I have now hit a new low. I was seriously mad because I couldn't blog or stalk all day. I guess now that I'm at home all day, this is my window to the rest of the world. I now understand why there are so many SAHM that blog. Yes, I talk about a lot of you on a daily basis to David like I see you all the time or know you in the real world. I really hope the next few weeks before Olivia arrives fly by, because evidently I need to put my focus on something else.

Moving on...I wanted to post a little more about the new camera. We have been looking at these cameras for over a year now and I had done my research on what would be the best and talked to several people we are close to on what to purchase. I was given a few names of places to order the camera from, but we decided to go through Amazon.com. Over the years, I have bought a lot from amazon and have always had good success. We bought it from a company called Cameta Camera based out of New York, but we ordered it through Amazon.com. That way we had a better chance of getting our money back if something was not legit (unlike sites like ebay). The company had a 97% customer rating and had over 8500 reviews. The few bad reviews seemed to be from people that are never happy and in my opinion their complaints didn't seem that serious.

The thing that attracted us to this company is that they offered package deals. The camera came with a bag, an extra battery, a memory card, and several other goodies. I believe it was a nine piece package all together. Everything we received was brand new and all the packaging was in good shape, so its not like we got bottom of the barrel. Also, I ordered it on Friday morning with standard shipping and it was delivered on Wednesday afternoon. At the time we ordered our camera, they were having a $50 instant rebate if ordered by August 1, so now the camera is a little more. But after looking at prices for awhile, they seem to have the best price. Also, they offered packages for several of the Nikon and also Canon. So if your in the market for one, I would give them a look. But don't hold me responsible, this is just my honest review of our experience with the company.

And because you know know I've been walking around taking pictures of everything...

David practicing his daddy skills

Have a great weekend!!!