A look back at 2010

When it comes to new years eve, we are hardcore party animals! Yeah, you’d probably never guess that about us! I’m just teasing! Actually new years eve is pretty much like any other evening in our house… except Derek and I stay up a bit later, watching tv, playing games, then when its almost midnight, we turn on the tv to watch the ball drop, then shortly after it drops, we head to bed. Hey! We’ve got young kids that need healthy parents early the next morning, so we cant afford to have hangovers the next day (we don’t drink anyways), or be tired zombies!

I cant use the kids as an excuse though… this is pretty much how Derek and I have celebrated new years eve since we met! ;)

2010… what a year! Here’s what we did this year starting with January and ending with… well, today!
Here goes! replaced our water heater, my parents celebrated their 19th wedding anniversary, visited the lambing barns, jadon celebrated his 3rd birthday, signed jadon up for preschool, started potty training, stopped potty training, had too many illnesses, Alicia celebrated her big 30th birthday, took a day trip to the zoo, took our first family vacation to Washington, Jadon’s first (and second) dentist appointments, derek did lots of golfing, considered buying a bigger vehicle (but obviously didn’t), an outing to the swimming pool, Jadon started soccer, went to enchanted forest, took jadon on a trip to the ER for stitches, took jadon to the ER two more times for stitch removal, started potty training again, picnic lunch at the park, Alicia started swimming aerobics, Derek celebrated his 29th, Benton county fair, partial success with potty training!!!, wedding dress shopping with jenny, Derek and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary, took a day trip to the coast, took a train ride to salem, celebration festival, had a major flea infestation that took weeks to fix, had a garage sale, jadon started preschool, Alicia chopped her hair, beaver football, more soccer, joined mom club, visit to pumpkin patch (twice), Jadon quit wearing diapers at night, Avery celebrated her 1st birthday, trick or treat!, joined fhtm, started making tutu’s, veterans day parade, got a dusting of snow, downtown twice around parade, storybook land, Christmas programs, Christmas parties…. Breathe….
And of course, Avery had most of her “firsts” this year!

And possibly the thing that happened this year that I’m most proud of (besides my beautiful family), is me losing over 25 pounds this year! I’m so proud of myself, and I had planned to just lose maybe 10 pounds this year, tried not to put too much pressure on myself, and I far exceeded that! I’m now less than 10 pounds away from my “ideal” weight, and that’s about the weight I was at when Derek and I got married! Yay! Go me!!! :)

So, I’ll be posting our 2010 Loveless Family Year In Pictures slideshow tomorrow, but we have to take our annual family picture on January 1st for me to add to it!

I'm looking forward to another big year! My parents will have their 20th wedding anniversary in a few days, Derek will turn 30, Jadon WILL become fully potty trained, Derek's little sister will be getting married, and his other little sister will turn 1... I expect 2011 will go by even faster than the previous years!

Happy new years everyone! We hope 2011 brings you all lots of good memories!

Allergies

We discovered a while ago that Avery had a skin allergy to something, though we weren't sure what. Whenever she eats, she gets food all over her face, so it could have been anything!

We figured out the other day that her skin allergy is to cinnamon. I always put cinnamon on Jadon's applesauce, so I started doing the same to hers, and wouldn't you know, she ends up with welts around her mouth, and chest if it gets on her chest as well. It only lasts for about 30 minutes and then goes away, but still it looks terrible.

I didnt understand why she would get this rash when I put cinnamon on her applesauce, but not when she eats cinnamon graham crackers. I briefly researched and this is what I found: "Because many products contain cassia and not true cinnamon." Interesting. You just never know what you're really eating!!

So, we'll mention this cinnamon allergy to her pediatrician at her next well-baby check up. Not sure if we should cut out the cinnamon all together, or if its fine for her to eat since it only causes a rash around her mouth.

Its almost here!!!

I'm so excited for Christmas Eve night! I've been looking forward to that time for over a month! So excited to get all the presents out while the kids are sleeping and place them under the tree!! Cant wait to see their little faces light up when they see that Santa came! I'm pretty sure I wont be sleeping much that night... I dont think i've ever been so excited for Christmas! It sure is so much better with kids! And each year it gets even better because Jadon understands it more!

Of course, this year we have started trying to teach Jadon the real meaning of Christmas, and about giving. He doesn't really "get" it that much yet. We did Operation Christmas Child with him, and showed him videos from the website of less fortunate children. I know with time he will come to understand it more, and each year we'll be teaching him the joy of giving. At this point, he doesnt understand the world.... to him, everyone he sees lives in his town, in his world and does the same things he does, and has everything he has. Someday he'll understand that the world is a huge place and people live all over it, and some are less fortunate than we are.

We decorated cookies last night. It only lasted for about 15 minutes.... Avery got bored quickly, and of course all she could do was eat the cookie anyways. Jadon got bored as well, and he told me later on when I asked him if he had fun making cookies, he said "Yeah... I was a little bored." I love the honesty of children sometimes!

He's feeling better now... although he is a big time worrier like his mommy, and hasn't been wanting to eat breakfast, and starts getting almost panicky at night when we get ready for bed. Anytime he feels anything at all in his tummy, he says it hurts and starts worrying. Poor guy, I really feel bad for him because I know how badly it stinks to be such a worrier, and not be able to do anything about it. I've been worrying just as much as he has been over the last few days... praying that the rest of us dont get sick, and worrying about him worrying. I really hate that he worries like me, and I try SO hard to not let my worrying show to him. Its taking its toll on my stomach as well, and I have lost 3 pounds this week from not eating much. I know, i'm pathetic! But i've been looking forward to Christmas, and I dont want us all to be sick on it and not get to spend our traditional Christmas eve with my family and Christmas day with Derek's family. It just wouldnt be Christmas if we were all sick.
Anyways, I probably wont be posting again until after Christmas, so I want to wish you all Happy, healthy, very merry Christmas! :)

Sicky

Poor Jadon came down with a stomach bug on saturday night.... it wasnt pretty.... of course, when is a stomach bug every very pretty? As i've mentioned a bazillion times, I hate vomit intensely. I thought for sure we had made it through the stomach bug thats been going around for the last month, but obviously I was wrong.

Sunday for most of the day, he seemed pretty much like himself, regardless of having had been up half the night throwing up. He was requesting his usual peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch, and pizza for dinner (obviously we didnt allow him to have that though!) He did eat some applesauce, yogurt and crackers though, and was fine most of the day, until right before dinner he started acting sicky again and wanted to lay down on the couch again. So we put on a movie for him, he fell asleep around 5:30pm without dinner, and later on Derek moved him to his bedroom, and he slept most of the night until 7am Monday morning. Monday morning though, he was very lethargic, and just laid around most of the morning, didnt want to eat, had a little water, but that was it. Finally around 10:30-11am, he started perking up, and by lunchtime he was his normal self again, and has been fine since.

I'm just praying that none of the rest of us get it, and end up having a miserable Christmas! If any of us do get it, we will not be attending either of our family functions though, Christmas Eve with my family or Christmas day with Derek's family. I do not want to pass it on to everyone else.


Saturday late morning we had gone to the mall so Jadon could sit on Santa's lap and tell him what he wanted for Christmas. Hopefully Jadon didnt infect Santa at that time! Can you believe that they wont let you take pictures??? They have a photographer there taking pictures for you, and you have to pay to get the picture! So, it was like $40 for 4 pictures or something!?!?! Holy cow!! It was a miracle that Jadon actually sat on Santa's lap. In the past, he has wanted nothing to do with Santa, and just wanted to look at him from afar. We were proud of him for being brave!

After that, Jadon begged and begged to go to Red Robin for lunch... which we did because we had a gift card. Its possible Jadon could have gotten food poisoning from Red Robin, but probably unlikely.

So, the last few days have been busy for me, just cleaning the house, disinfecting everything, and doing vomit laundry. I hope this has taught Jadon to keep his fingers out of his mouth though! He always starts gnawing on his fingers as soon as flu season hits, and it drives us bonkers!


Anyways, I snapped a couple pitiful pictures of him while he was laying on the couch Saturday morning. Pitiful indeed.


It really breaks your heart to see them feeling so bad! I almost cried when he started acting like himself again.
AND, I have to say, I have the BEST husband in the world, and the kids have the BEST dad in the world... Derek slept in Jadon's room with him that night to be there with him when he would get sick. I couldnt ask for a better father for my children! Thank you Sweetie for being such an incredible father and husband!

Christmas program #2

Was SOOO cute!!! AND, I didnt cry!
So before you watch the video, let me explain it real quick. Jadon's preschool is made up of two different classes- the 3 year olds that meet tuesday and thursday (Jadon's in that one) and the 4 year olds that meet monday, wednesday and friday. Each class sang 2 songs alone, and then at the very end they sang a song together.
Also, the kid Jadon is standing next to is extremely enthusiastic in his singing! His name is Elijah... Jadon had soccer with him last session also, and I think Jadon and Elijah are becoming buds... Jadon always talks about Elijah.
Anyways, enjoy the pictures and videos! I will forever enjoy them... I just wish it were better quality video's.

Christmas program #1

Jadon has two christmas programs this year... one at church and one at preschool. Today he had his church one. If you want to call it a "program"... they only sing 2 songs. He has his preschool one on tuesday, and I believe he is singing 2-4 songs... cant remember exactly how many.

As I said, he had his church one today. I'll start off by saying that Derek told me I was just like his mom in the fact that I cry about everything. I admit, when it concerns my children, I do cry... its hard not to.
For example, at every birthday when we are singing "Happy Birthday" to them, I have to will myself to not cry.
On Jadon's first day of preschool, I cried before we even left the driveway... actually, I was crying before we even got in the car.
So, today was no different than any other day. As soon as I saw him standing up on the stage, before they'd even started singing, I was fighting back tears... then once he started singing I actually had to stop watching for a minute to try to compose myself... yeah, I know, i'm pretty bad. Its a good thing Derek recorded the whole thing so I could go back and watch it again. I managed to keep the tears from spilling over, but it was tough!!

Anyways, i'm pretty sure theres nothing cuter in this world that a group of preschoolers singing! Poor Jadon is stuck with mostly girls at church, but at this point he doesnt care.

Anyways, I posted the video on the next post, enjoy!!! I'll be posting a video of his preschool one too i'm sure, so stay tuned for that!

Jadon and the dentist

Jadon had his 2nd dentist appointment today. I dont know if you remember the first one or not, but its a good thing the first appointment was just basically an evaluation, and no cleaning or anything. He wouldnt even sit in the chair, and it took quite a bit of convincing just to get him to open his mouth for the hygenist, even when she said she wouldnt even touch him. It didnt go the best.... I was proud of him regardless since he's such a worry wart like his mommy! Baby steps!

Today's appt again made me very proud of him! First off, we went into the first room where they do the xrays. Jadon was willing to sit on daddy's lap in the chair, and he even was smiling when she raised it up. He even let her put the heavy apron on, and get the bite thingy in his mouth to take pictures. It wasnt until she brought the camera over that he started crying. So, that was as far as we got with that, but a HUGE improvement!!! I hate seeing him cry, he hardly ever cries, so it breaks my heart :(

Next he went to the seat where the hygenist would clean his teeth. He had to sit there all by himself, and he did! She got him a toy to play with, cool sunglasses, and a "bib", got everything set up and ready, but then he got scared again and didnt like the instruments. She showed him what they all did, and said that it just tickled, even tested it on daddy's hand and Jadon's hand, but he wasn't ok with that whole process, so we ended it there.

The dentist came over at that point, picked up the little mirror so he could look in Jadon's mouth, Jadon saw him and the mirror and instantly started crying. The dentist managed to get Jadon to open his mouth so he could stick the mirror in and count his teeth and look for cavities. The dentist said his teeth looked really good, and didnt think there were any cavities... told the hygenist to just make him feel really comfortable so it wasnt scary for him (in a nutshell.)

Then he actually let her take his new toothbrush, put the polish on it, and brush his teeth good. Then she got out the floss, and he showed her how he flosses, and she helped him floss the back teeth.
THEN, she asked him if he would be comfortable if he stuck the sucker thing on his lips before he left, and he actually agreed to it, and after a bit of convincing, he let her put it in his mouth and stuck his lips around it! P-R-O-G-R-E-S-S!! We are so proud of him!!!

Knowing what its like to be a worrier, I know that any little progress is BIG progress!

Happy December!!

Hard to believe its already December!!! Seems like this year just started!

Avery has decided that she doesnt need 2 naps a day anymore. I was afraid of this happening so early... Jadon stopped taking his second nap shortly after his first birthday, and Avery is following in his footsteps. Except she is trying to drop her afternoon nap, which is backwards. So, i'm trying to get her to stop taking her a.m. nap and then go down a bit earlier for p.m. nap.

She's soooo smart! I have no idea how many words she says, because she'll pretty much repeat anything you say! We work with her at signing, mostly just about meal times.. for example, she signs "all done" and says "ah duh" when she does it. And she signs "more" and "eat." I've been trying to get her to sign "water" because she drinks water like crazy and constantly needs more, but thats a bit harder to sign as you have to make the sign for "W" and do the action as well.... "W" is a hard one for little, uncoordinated fingers to do. So, instead, when she wants water, she'll either: bring us her empty water cup; or if she cant find her cup, she just whines and cries until finally we figure out she wants water. The second one is why I want to teach her to sign "water."
She also gets really scared when things are on her head that she cant get off... for instance, big brother likes to torment her by putting blankets on her head that she cant get off. Or, putting the empty laundry basket on her head and she cant get it off. She freaks out. He loves it. Typical big brother tormenting his little sister!

Jadon's suddenly developed food issues. He's always been pretty good about eating things... he's always loved fruit and veggies, but now he suddenly has issues with the way a food looks or feels. For example, he doesnt like banana's anymore because they have "black stuff" on them. (Open a banana and in the middle there's little tiny black things... just part of the banana) so, needless to say, he doesnt eat banana's anymore. He wouldnt eat my DELICIOUS homemade applesauce because it had lumps in it.
Avery's even worse! She pretty much wont touch ANY food unless its fruit. She likes corn and peas, but doesnt really like any other veggies. She turns her head and clamps her mouth shut at almost anything else. This sounds horrible, but several times i've shoved a small bite of food into her mouth that she wont eat, and she ends up liking it and eating the rest of it.

So Derek and I have decided to move Avery out of Jadon's room and into the room that is currently used as the office. We are going to attempt to move the office into the master bedroom. Its going to make our master bedroom very crowded, and the symmetry will be off, but i keep telling myself its for the kids. Drives me nuts when things are "off balance" in a room... not symetrical. Makes me feel calm when things are even! :)
The reason for this move is because Jadon needs his own space that Avery cant get his train tracks and toys that he's playing with. Eventually Avery will need her own space too. Currently, we've got Jadons train tracks laid out in the master bedroom so that he can still play with them while Avery is napping in his room. The other day, he was upstairs playing with them, and Avery and I were coming upstairs and he started freaking out that Avery was going to get his tracks, and he didnt want her to come anywhere near the master bedroom. It was then that I decided we had to get her out of his room so he has a safe haven to escape to, and then I can still enter my bedroom with my toddler!

Tutu making has slowed down suddenly. I'm waiting on several people for responses regarding tutu's they are wanting.... I also had to raise my prices a bit, otherwise I might as well have been giving the things away, and as much as I'd love to be able to do that, its just not something that we can afford to do! But I havent had any more requests, so hopefully my pricing hasnt turned anyone off. My pricing is actually quite low compared with others that i've seen.
My friend is still having good luck with them at the store, and they are selling like hotcakes!
So, id love it if you'd share my website with friends and family!
OH, and I made a blog to link to my website... if you're intersted in seeing it, its listed under the blogs I follow on your right of this page, called, Lovely Little Tutu's.

Also, just a friendly reminder to do your shopping through me! You can get some really great deals! If you're looking for a Droid, you can get a really great deal through me, as an example. Theres other things too though, so check it out! Its just like shopping online normally, theres no hoops to jump through, no catch! And dont forget about the Rewards Mall! I've done most of the kids christmas shopping on there, and I will be doing the same for the rest of the people we do presents with! Nothing beats sitting in the comfort of your own home shopping! No crowds or cranky people to deal with! Just my kind of shopping! :)
Also, i'd love it if you would refer me to your friends and family for this too! Whether they'd be interested in joining also, or just interested in getting great deals, i'd LOVE to have them as a customer! They dont need to contact me at all (unless they have questions, i'm always happy to answer!), just go through my website! Thanks a bunch everyone!! All 2 of you that read this blog still! ;)

Pix

Here's some recent pix, not in any order.

This was today, Avery was in her little Beavers outfit, Derek was trying to get her picture before she outgrew the outfit (she's only worn it twice so far.)

This was a couple days ago, Avery was cooking dinner while I was cooking dinner.

And, here's Jadon at about the same age as Avery... well, he was 1 year and 1 week old in this picture... but they both loved "cooking" in the kitchen at this age. Its crazy to me how much they look alike! So darn cute!!!!!!!
Yesterday Derek put up Christmas lights, and the kids have been DYING to go outside lately, so I bundled them up and they played in the freezing cold rain while Derek put up the lights. Avery just LOVES it outside... definitely an outdoorsy girl!

A few weeks ago, I made a thanksgiving tree, and on all the leaves we wrote down things that we were thankful for.

Here's our November snow from earlier in the week. Maybe a quarter of an inch... just a dusting. But Jadon was sooo excited to go play in it, and as I mentioned earlier, Avery loves it outside so she was excited too. Avery LOVEd the snow, and Jadon was making grass angels... oops, I mean snow angels. Unfortunately my camera died right as I took this picture, so I didnt get any thing else... took a couple on my phone, but the kids wouldnt stop moving so none of them really turned out.

A month or so ago, Jadon and I made caterpillars out of egg cartons. I'm not sure why I drew "faces" on them.... like, noses. Jadon enjoys doing crafts... as long as someone is doing them with him. Occasionally he says he wants to paint. If I set him up with paints and paper, he'll paint for about 2 minutes. If I sit with him and paint, he will make it about 10 minutes maybe. So, his attention span is quite short still.

So thats about it.. Things have been busy here as usual. We took the kids to a Beavers basketball game a couple weeks ago. We will not be taking the kids to another basketball game, or any other game for that matter, for awhile still. Avery did pretty good, especially considering she didnt want to take her afternoon nap that day, so she was tired. She was really enjoying the game at the beginning though. Jadon surprised us though, and was pretty bored almost the whole time.

Hard to believe its almost christmas already!

She works hard for the money

Its been a week since my last post... i've been trying not to let more than a few days pass between my posts, but this time things just got too busy.
This tutu thing has really taken off! I'm quite shocked actually! Karla posted my website link on the hospital's public notice, and since then my email box has been blowing up! I'm working on two orders right now, and both orders are requesting 2 tutu's each (so 4 tutus) plus 2 more prospective ones, plus one that I just sold! Its crazy! Everyone wants to order tutu's for christmas for the little girls in their lives... really cute actually! And I love to know who its going to and what its going to be for. Most of them have just been for dress up clothes, and I love to imagine the little girls faces when they will open up their christmas present to a beautiful, sparkly tutu made just for them!
Tiffany has been having alot of success with the baby tutu's also, so she asked me to make 5 more for her store Sunnypatch. So I dropped those off yesterday, and I came up with some cute color combinations for those. Very sweet!
Its tough also though... its like taking 2 steps forward, and 1 step back (money-wise.) Except I start out in the red.... make some tutu's, sell them, get closer to getting out of the red, but then I need more tulle to make more tutu's, so there's my step back. One of these days i'm going to be breaking even though, especially if things keep up as they are!

Unfortunately i've been so busy with the tutu's I havent had much chance to work on the other business, so I just want to remind you all (AGAIN) that if you're looking to purchase a new cellphone, switch to Dish network, buy vitamins, or just do any online shopping, you can do it through me!

Also, I've got some of the True Essentials vitamins (Fruit Essentials and Vegetable Essentials) that I will sell to anyone who wants them. They are regularly $50 for one bottle of 60 capsules, but i'll sell them 2 for $25. I've got a ton of them, and I plan to use some after I'm done nursing Avery, but I've got a lifetime stock of them.... ok, not THAT many, but i've got alot! So, let me know if you want to buy them! My website link is up in the left corner of this page.

We're battling colds right now. Last week, Derek and I had this awful chest cold, I was afraid Derek was getting broncitis at one point, but he is better now... but before I could finish my chest cold, my throat started hurting again, and low and behold, i've got a head cold now, and so do the kids. Jadon's missing preschool today because his nose wont stop running and he's hacking pretty good. Have I mentioned how much I hate being sick??

I do have some great news though! Jadon is doing so well with nighttime potty training! Its hardly been considered training though, since it was all his choice anyways! He's dry probably 80% of the time in the morning now! I'm so proud of the little bugar!! There's been a couple of nights when he's had alot to drink right before bed, and we suggest he wear a diaper to bed, but he says "I want to try wearing my underwear to bed again." Yes, he's come a long way this year!
Also, for the last 3 out of 4 nights, Avery has slept all night long in her own bed! She still wakes up, but she's staying in bed all night.
A few months ago, we decided to bite the bullet and move her crib out of our room, and into Jadon's room (yes, they have to share a room.) This is something that we did not want to do until she was sleeping through the night good, because we didnt want Jadon to have to suffer in the room with her screaming her lungs out. Its been a rollercoaster. I think she likes being in the room with Jadon, so going to bed has been easier (although she still protests LOUDLY for a minute.) Jadon just lays in bed with his hands over his ears. Poor guy!! The part that I hate is when she wakes up in the middle of the night. He always gets woken up from it. Last night, she woke up an hour after going to bed and was very upset... i think she had a bad dream. It woke Jadon up, and I think it scared him. We think that he was having a dream and when Avery cried in his dream it sounded like thunder, and it scared him, because he said that he was scared of the thunder. I look forward to when she sleeps through the night and doesnt have to disturb Jadon anymore.

A few weeks ago, Avery was climbing on her stroller in the house, fell out of it and landed on her head on the linolium. She was very out of it after that, so we had to watch her for a day or two to make sure she didnt suffer a concussion. She ended up being fine.
Last night, Jadon was trying to crawl into his booster seat, mustve lost his grip or something, and fell backwards, hitting his back and head. So, now we're keeping an eye on him. He's been fine... think it knocked the wind out of him for a bit, and he was a little dazed right afterwards, and looked quite green around the gills. But I turned on a show to try to distract him, (and his daddy who freaks out anytime the kids hurt themselves.) ;)

I'm SO excited for the holidays this year!!!! I think every year that I have kids, it gets more and more exciting! Plus, Jadon's at the age where he knows what toys he wants, so I sat down with him a month ago and he told me everything he wanted. Of course, any toy on tv that he sees he wants. ;) I can understand why kids these days have so many toys though... I just want to buy him everything! I have been doing my research for the last month and a half on what toys to get the kids, what we will get the most bang for our buck on, reading all the ratings, and searching and searching where I can get the best deals, and of course then going onto the rewards mall to see if those stores are on the rewards mall! I also signed up to recieve black friday ads, so for the last week i've been getting those in my email! However, I in NO WAY plan to leave my house on black friday. Its too crazy, especially with all the Albany crazy people! I plan to do my shopping from the comfort of my kitchen table and chair, along with my trusty laptop! :) Online shopping was one of the BEST ideas EVER!

Veteran's day parade

I took the kids to the Veterans day parade today. After living in this area all my life, I dont recall ever having been to this particular parade... supposedly the biggest one west of the Mississippi. I'm sure i'm wrong.... i'm sure my mom took us at some point, but I just dont remember ever going. Seems like its always pouring down rain as well.

Anyways, I loaded up the kids, we parked a ways out, walked to the parade and the kids lasted for about an hour or so, then Avery started getting tired and hungry (it was lunchtime afterall... the girl is on a strict schedule... shame on me for straying from her much needed schedule!) So, I let her walk up and down the sidewalk, and that kept her occupied for a few minutes... that is, until she did a face plant into the sidewalk. It went downhill from there. By 12:30, Jadon decided he'd had enough and was ready to go. I imagine his blood sugar level was also low... as mine was getting low as well.

The nice thing is that Derek got to walk down from work and watch a bit of it with us... or, at least the important part (the fighter plane flying over.... sorry, i dont know what it was.... F15?? After 11 years with Derek and I still dont know one fighter jet from another.... again, shame on me!)
Jadon said his favorite part was the very beginning, when about 500 motorcycles drove through.... and I do mean there was a TON of them! Probably at least 10 minutes worth??
It was fun to see his excitment with it all though... several marching bands went through, and he loves marching bands too. I imagine he'll be in a marching band some day.

The weather was cold and breezy, but not raining! We were ice cubes by the time we were done, my feet are still trying to defrost, but it was a fun time! Definitely something i'll consider doing every year, not only for the kids enjoyment, but also to show support for the men and women who serve/have served our country. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts!

Whew

To say i've been overwhelmed is a slight understatement! I knew that once Fall came, life was going to really pick up its pace, but I had no idea just how much that would be!
I dont know what overcame me... starting up two businesses simultaneously... I've constantly got things to do with one or the other, i'm constantly starting new projects, and I constantly have projects only half done! This is quite an adjustment for me... the list maker, who likes to start something and finish it right away, and who gets great enjoyment out of being organized and seeing a list of things checked off one by one until its all done. Yes, this will be an adjustment.
I was actually relieved that it was pouring down rain all day today, it was an excuse to stay in and attempt to get some things done while Avery napped and Jadon was at preschool. Of course, nothing much of anything got done... usually how it goes. And the reason for this is that I decided to start up a website for the tutus. I think (I hope) this will make that aspect of life a little more organized!
Anyways, here's the site: Lovely Little Tutu's I spent all of my spare time working on it today, its still not done, and its not exactly how I would have liked it to be, but hey, its free! I decided that Etsy was not the place for me, since there are about 500 million billion other people selling tutu's on there. Feel free to share the site with others. Unfortunately it only allows me to show 5 tutu's at a time on the site (unless I want to upgrade the site, but then id have to pay a monthly fee, and right now i'm too cheap to do that), so i'll be switching up the pictures frequently. I also need to get a manequin or something to take pictures of the tutu's on.... it appears that taking professional pictures of the tutu's is what people do when they sell them online!

Even though i'm feeling overwhelmed a bit, things have been going good with both businesses. Unfortunately I havent had a chance to put much effort into FHTM, but now hopefully with getting this tutu stuff organized, i'll have more opportunities! Thank goodness that I dont have any dumb quotas to meet with FHTM! I hope you are all using the Rewards Mall for your online shopping needs! :) And remember, whether you're looking to upgrade your cell phone, switch to DISH, need a home security system, need dsl internet or an internet card, want vitamins, shampoo your hair, give treats to your animals, shop at Home Depot, Target, drink coffee from Starbucks, shop at Sears....whatever it is, you can get it thru me! (my friend is so good) ;)

Life

Well, of the last 5 nights, Jadon managed to stay dry for 3 of them! We had not planned on night time potty training him until he was a bit older, as he sleeps really deeply and pees constantly.
However, one night I forgot to put him in a diaper, and he didnt notice either. The next morning we discovered that I forgot to put him in a diaper, and he didnt wet! We thought it was a fluke, but tried going without a diaper the next night as well, and he managed to stay dry again! So, I dont know if we're going to start going without a diaper every night or not... might as well! He's done so well so far! I'm proud of my little man, he's come a long way this year!

Avery loves to draw. Well, Jadon has a cheapy, travel DoodlePro thing (i think when we were kids they were called MagnaDoodle) that she just loves to draw with (he never uses the thing, and has hardly ever played with it), so for Christmas this year, we are going to get her a nicer DoodlePro.

In other news, i'm working on 4 more tutu's... one of them is done, and i'm very pleased with how it turned out. I actually made it a couple weeks ago, but was not happy at all with how it looked... not sure what exactly it was that i didnt like about it. Anyways, i took it apart, changed some things up, and now its one of my favorites! Thats the only one that is complete of the 4 that i'm working on.... the others are still a work in progress. I snapped some pix this morning of them.

This one is still very much a work in progress. Its supposed to be like sunflowery, but the yellow is not the right color (its a very light yellow), so i'll probably be redoing this one too. Thats brown tulle behind it, not black.

Here's one I made from less "girly" colors last night. I personally like the blues, but most little girls prefer pinks and purples. You can slightly see it shimmering a bit, i sprayed glitter spray on it... much cheaper than buying glittery tulle! And lastly, this is the one that i really like. I mixed the colors up, and sprayed some glitter spray on it, added the cute little flowers, and it looks really good! Much better looking in person, i'd have to say!

Trick or Treat

We did our trick or treating this morning in downtown Albany. This was the first time Jadon had gone trick or treating, and, well Avery's first time too! It was quite packed despite the gloomy Oregon rain and cold 50 degrees. Us Oregonians know that if you dont go to something because of the rain, then really you'll be sitting inside for 9 months straight. Cant let the rain ruin everything!
Anyways, kids everywhere, many of whom had no manners (and neither did their parents.) Jadon was a little overwhelmed I think.... cant blame him, it was overwhelming for his parents too. Anyways, we were only out for around an hour. The funnest part was seeing the kids dressed in their little outfits, and having other kids say "Hi Buzz Lightyear" to Jadon. :)

Got home just in time to eat some lunch and watch the Beavers! The rest of the day has been nice and quiet.... a much welcomed change from the busy week we've had this week! Here's a few pictures from this morning. By the way, Avery was a ladybug, and Jadon was Buzz LIghtyear as I already mentioned.

Just for the record, I made and painted his wings! (attached them with velcro) Because I didnt have enough on my plate this week, wednesday I decided to make him wings as well! Turned out better than I expected!

Also, dropped my tutu's off at my friends store yesterday, and she texted me early this afternoon to let me know she'd already sold one! Yay!!!

Harvest Party at the preschool

Derek and I had the privilege of helping out at Jadon's preschool's harvest party today! We had a great time, it was so much fun! I can see why his teachers love their job so much because kids that age are so cute and funny, but at the same time, I don't think you could pay me enough money to do that 5 days a week!
It was also nice to get to see how Jadon is at school. We have been wishing since the day he started that we could be fly's on the wall so we could watch him inconspicuously! Jadon seems to be a pretty quiet boy, and definitely a follower. Although most of the kids were pretty quiet. Derek and I were shocked that we were the only parents to sign up to volunteer though. Its important to us that we stay involved in our children's lives.

We played games and watched the kids go crazy in the gym! We also got to sit with the kids and have snack with them. I love the values that the teachers are trying to instill in the kids. And I love the fact that just because we were there, Jadon did not get special treatment. At snack time, the teacher was going around asking the kids if they wanted more juice. One little boy said he wanted more, but he had not tried his apple slices yet, so the teacher said he had to try his apples before he could have more apple juice. All the kids are expected to at least try everything they are given for snack. I also love that even though the snacks are provided by the parents each day, the teachers request that it be healthy snacks, and junk foods like capri suns and cookies will be sent back to the parents uneaten if that is what is provided. They always make exceptions however, for birthdays they allow treats, and today for the party treats were also allowed.
Also when the teacher was going around asking if anyone wanted more juice, when she asked Jadon, he said "no", and she instructed him to say "no, thank you." So, manners are important, i love that also. Timeouts are also given if necessary, although most of the kids did really well the whole day.
We ended up staying for almost the whole morning, but then with about 45 minutes left, Avery started getting really sleepy, so we reluctantly called it a day and headed home. We let Jadon stay though (he got to play bingo after we left) and Derek went and picked him up at the usual time.

It was quite an honor for us to get to help out, and I don't know about Derek, but I'm looking forward to the next event to help at... I imagine its something for Thanksgiving..??? It was also nice getting to see Jadon in a setting that we never get to see him in. I am SO thankful we decided to put him in that preschool, and its SO worth the money each month! Gives me more motivation to work harder at my new endeavors as well!

Avery at 1 year

Avery had her 1 year appt. on monday. She weighs only 19lbs 7oz (at her 9 month she was at 17lbs. 14oz, so in almost 3 and a half months she only gained about a pound a half) and thats in the 25th percentile, her height was 30 inches, and thats in the 75th percentile I believe. So, big surprise, but she's tall and skinny! I dont know if you remember or not, but at her 9 month appt, the checked her iron levels, and hers were low, so we had to put her on iron drops... they tested her again and it was fine this time, so thats good.

She is one bright little girl too! She can repeat the syllables and similar sounds of many things we say, she understands commands, for example "Avery, bring me your cup," or "Avery, lets go upstairs." She immitates alot of our movements, for example, tonight after dinner, Jadon and Derek were playing "soccer practice", and they were doing stretches and warming up like Jadon does in soccer, and one thing they do is twist back and forth with outstretched arms, and Avery stood up and started doing it. She can also do summersaults, something that Jadon still struggles with. Tonight she learned how to draw on Jadon's little magna-doodle thingy, so tomorrow i'm going to get out the crayons and paper and see if she can draw. Earlier today I got out the finger paints for Jadon, and let Avery try it also, but she just kept sticking it in her mouth, so she's not quite ready for finger paints.
She loves the song "if you're happy and you know it".... and she claps her hands, stomps her feet, and recently started saying "horray!" also. Very cute!!!
She constantly amazes us with her smarts!

Unfortunately, she has turned into a picky eater. Not sure why, this began happening around 10 months, she decided she no longer wanted to eat her baby oatmeal or rice cereal. Even when I mixed fruit in it. Its just been downhill since then. Now I cant get her to drink milk, eat sandwiches (she used to love jelly sandwiches and grilled cheese sandwiches), veggies (except she loves corn), pretty much everything. She also will LOVE something one day, then hate it the next. Things she does like are: FRUIT... any and all fruit (except cherries that have been frozen). Cheerios, graham crackers, ritz crackers, chicken nuggets, cereal bars, cheese, cinnamon raisin toast, spaghetti (but not always)..... and she LOVES water too. I always give her everything we eat for dinner, whether she likes it or not. I've read that it takes like 10 times of trying something before a baby will finally like it, or something to that affect. So, she gets everything we eat regardless of if she likes it or not. But, usually if she doesnt like it, she immediately drops it on the floor.
She does like the Gerber Graduates meals, but those are almost $3 for one meal!!!! So, i try not to buy many of those, or use them too often.
The doctor wants me to give her a multivitamin drops everyday, but i'm not sure how i'm going to do that, theres no way i can get the drops in her mouth without her spitting them out. And they arent flavored good at all, they smell horrible.

She has recently started walking all over the place, and now she walks probably 75% of the time, and crawls only about 25% of the time. She comes bolting to the dishwasher whenever i'm trying to load or unload it, and trys to climb into it. She loves getting into everything she's not supposed to get into. She screams SO loud, I know i've mentioned it tons of times already, but i cant get over it. Its horrible! The other day I was at the craft store, and she got ahold of something I was getting, and ripped a hole in the bag and the contents spilled out. So I tried to take it from her and she let out a horrific scream like I was beating her. It was horrible, i'm sure the people in the store were thinking something bad about the parents of that child. She's got such a temper.... has to be the red hair. She will be a handful when she's 2!

She is very independent, but is very much a mommy's girl right now. I'm just soaking it up since I know she wont be mommy's girl forever.... and probably for not much longer. :(

Hmm....

I'm really enjoying making tutu's for my friends store! I've got 4 that are almost finished, I just want to add some embellishments to them.
So i've been toying with an idea for a week or so of making a shop on Etsy.com to try to sell more tutu's.... Of course, there are already a bunch of people who make and sell the same tutu's on Etsy, so i'd have to have competitive pricing. Also, today I found out some irritating news (that i'm not going to disclose on here) and my little tutu-shop-thought-bubble was quickly and annoyingly popped. So now I dont know if its still ethically acceptable for me to pursue this venture, or if it would be best for me to just let it be.

I'm just annoyed that I finally found a craft that you I dont have to have much talent for, that I enjoy doing, and that I could possibly make a few bucks from, and then BAM that dream is dashed. Seems to be how my week has gone... nothing has really gone the way I wanted. I struggled all week with keeping these annoyances out of my head and from getting to me, but today was just icing on the cake, and satan took advantage of it, got ahold of my thoughts and made me feel doubt- doubt about everything in my life. I hate when that happens. I've been so good lately at not letting him get to me when i'm struggling with something, so today I feel a little defeated since he won this time.

Anyways, I dont know if i'll pursue this tutu thing or not.... even if I did, I dont know what i'd call my shop... i'm horribly uncreative with trying to name things. If anyone has any suggestions, id love to hear them, and maybe it would inspire me.

Oh, I have a friend who sells baby carrier covers on Etsy... they are really cute, so if you know of anyone who has a newborn, is pregnant, or if you're going to a baby shower, consider one of her carrier covers as a great gift! Her site is:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/homemade4you
and I know she takes custom orders, so if you have a certain fabric or pattern in mind, then I know she would totally make it for you.

Birthday Highlights

Avery's party went very well! We had alot of people crammed into our tiny house... all family, but still alot of people for a small area! It was a nice time!
She didnt eat much of her cupcake, probably too sweet for her. Plus she was getting sleepy because it was getting close to naptime.
These pictures arent in any order, but its all pertaining to her birthday.

Eating her cake

On friday (her actual birthday)

Big brother did pretty good with all the attention that Avery was getting, and all the gifts that were for her.

Playing on her new bouncy toy

Opening gifts from mommy, daddy and big brother

Eating breakfast on her birthday morning
This was done about a week prior to her birthday, but thats what she wore for her party.

Now that the party is done, its time to shift my focus to other things. The holidays are rapidly approaching! We get to go to the pumpkin patch in a couple weeks with Jadon's preschool, looking forward to that! Avery's got her 1 year appt coming up. And Halloween is coming up, and I decided to dress the kids and trick or treat this year. I'm not a fan of Halloween, but I know its fun for kids to get dressed up in costumes and prance around asking for candy. I always had fun as a kid doing it, so I know they will too. I'd love to make their costumes, but i dont have a sewing machine, so I bought them their costumes. Avery is going to be a ladybug, and Jadon picked Buzz Lightyear.

I'm also going to focus on the new business and get cracking on it! Please contact me if youre interested! Even out of state people can do it, you dont have to be local, so please let me know if you're interested in hearing more!

Also, my friend owns a childrens clothing boutique in downtown, and saw the tutu I made for Avery, and she wants me to make them so she can sell them at her store! I'm thinking about doing that... I had so much fun making Avery's, and its very easy and not time consuming, and its a pretty brainless craft-- meaning, it doesnt take much brainpower to make one! I really wanted to make more, but i didnt have a reason to make more and i'm not going to waste the money on making more for no reason, so this gives me a perfect opportunity to make more and experiment with different things without it being a waste of money!

Lets see, what else? I joined the mom group! I havent been to any thing yet, i'm still waiting to hear from one of the coordinators about what playgroups I might be interested in.

So I think thats about it for this month's activities.... my main focus now needs to be getting the business up and running!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful little girl!

The day started with me waking up at 4:22am. I looked at the clock, then thought to myself, "last year at this time, my water had just broke and we were on our way to the hospital about to have Avery."
I then woke up again at 5:28am, when my alarm clock went off. I had set it the night before so then i'd know exactly that moment 1 year ago when she was born.

Avery and I then got up, and the boys slept in for a bit. Then Jadon got up, and I couldnt take it much longer, I went and told Derek to get up so that we could have Avery open her gifts. I'm pretty sure i'm more excited for the kids to open their gifts than even they are!

This afternoon, we went and got Avery's 1st birthday pictures taken. She wasnt the ham that she is at home... she was very unsure, so we didnt get any huge grins out of her.. but she's still cute. We also got some taken of Jadon, Jadon and Avery together and one of us as a family.

We then got food in town and brought it home to eat. I've been trying to figure out how to decorate Avery's cake... still not sure what i'm going to do, but as soon as the kids are both in bed and asleep, i've got to get to work on it.

After eating dinner, we spent some time outside with the kids, then after the sun set and it got too cold to be out, we came in and played some more one-on-one with the kids....Derek played army guys with Jadon, and I played with Avery. We played lots of things because her attention span is still pretty short. It was really nice to have that time with her that I get very seldom.

Tomorrow is her party, and it should be interesting trying to cram a bunch of people in the house again. We moved furniture around a couple of days ago to make more room.

Last day

This is the last day that my baby will be a baby. :(
Last year at this time, I woke up with pressure cramping... didn't think it was contractions though. However, I timed them anyways. They were very irratic ranging from just a few minutes apart to 18 minutes apart. They stopped in the afternoon for awhile, then started again in the evening a little more intense. They continued throughout the night, after we had all gone to bed, and I woke up about twice an hour or so with another one. At about 4am, I woke up with one that was particularly painful, and it was then that my water broke. I woke up Derek, told him my water broke, and he proceeded to get up and get ready to go and get Jadon ready. I told him I didnt think we needed to go quite yet because, up until that point, the contractions had still been quite far apart. Luckily he didnt listen to me. Instantly they became regularly 5 minutes apart, and getting much more painful.
We got to the hospital around 430 or so. When I got to the labor room, the nurse checked me and I was dilated to 5cm and requested an epidural. She said that it would be a little while before the anesthesiologist would be able to get there to administer the epidural... I was wondering how in the heck I would survive much longer with this INTENSE pain! Just 5-10 minutes later I felt an incredible and uncontrolable urge to push. The nurse checked me again, and what do you know, fully dilated! The called the on-call OB doctor to come in, and then the midwife came in until the OB got there. They didnt want me to have Avery until the OB got there, so they made me breath through the contractions. HOLY HECK, that aint easy! Neither Derek nor I had prepared for a medication-free delivery, so luckily one of the nurses stepped in and helped me focus on breathing. Let me tell you, it takes every ounce of concentration to not push through those things! Whew!!!
Once the OB got there, neither Avery nor I wasted anymore time, and out she came at 5:28am, October 8th, 2009! All 7lbs 9oz, 19.25 inches of her! First thing I noticed was her fat little thighs, and that felt good to know that her time spent in me baking was worth it. She was perfect!

Today, she is full of personality, adorable, demanding, yet she's got me wrapped around her finger, and I know its only a matter of time before she's got her daddy wrapped around her finger as well! ;)

Here is the slideshow I made of Avery's first year of life. I hope you enjoy....to the grammas, you might want to have some kleenex with you when you watch it! ;)

Birthday Cake

I still havent decided what to do for Avery's birthday cake, and her party is less than a week away now! The whole party planning has kindof gone down the toilet. I spent weeks trying to make her invites, except I dont have the right program to do a good one, so then I spent several more weeks trying to find something on the internet. The theme I was going for was Dragonflies, but most of what I could find was for butterflies. I found a website and ordered some little handmade dragonflies for her cake, but when I got them in the mail, they ended up looking more like butterflies. The invite I ended up with was some simple flowers with A dragonfly on it. So, then I thought that maybe i'd do flowers, dragonflies and maybe butterflies.

Last week I went to the store to find some napkins, plates, etc. The selection they had was horrible. So I thought that maybe i'd just go with like pink and purple plates/napkins, etc. However, they didnt have those colors. All they had were primary colors. Well, I wasnt going to tote around the kids to another store, especially since Avery doesnt last long on any outtings, so I settled once again on something that was not what I was hoping for.

For the cake, as you already know, I enjoy making the kids' birthday cakes, even though I stink at it. I feel like its more special when I pour my heart into making their cakes, luckily they wont remember or care what they look like at their ages! So, in my mind I have an extravagant cake planned for Avery's birthday. However, I went to Michaels a month or so ago to get the supplies I would need, and the price tag was adding up FA$T... between needing fondant or gumpaste, plus all the little tools to make flowers and everything else. I decided that I would skip fondant/gumpaste, and just stick to frosting. I'm sure I spent about a fourth of what I would have spent had I stuck with my original plan. But, now I have to figure out a new plan of action for what I want it to look like.

I dont have any decorations yet, and I dont know if i'll even do any. Really, the first birthday party is more for the parents than the child. We'll see if I get inspired between now and saturday though.

On top of all that has not gone the way I was hoping, the memory card in our camera broke on friday! We were able to get the pictures that had been on it off, but it doesnt work anymore. Derek ordered a new one, and it might not even be here in time for the party. Of course! Why not? At Jadon's first birthday party, my camera batteries died before I could get any pictures.... why should Avery's party be any different than her big brothers?

The only thing that has gone right so far, is the outfit for her party. I bought a "birthday girl" shirt to wear, I made her an adorable tutu (that I improved upon since having posted the picture on here), and bought her some adorable, sparkly pink shoes and a headband to match the outfit, at my friends store.

Now i'm just waiting to see what kind of disaster happens at her party. The day starts off with Jadon having soccer until noon... also, its game day, although I haven't heard yet from Derek what time the game is at. And, I havent heard back from at least half of the invited guests yet. But I sincerely appreciate everyone that has let me know! Thank you!

This week is looking to be quite busy with party preparations, preschool, and many other little things. The planner in me has got a written list going of what needs to be accomplished so that I dont waste a single minute this week.

Unfortunately even with all that is going on, I cant avoid the fact that my baby is turning 1 in just a few short days. Cant I just turn back the clock a few months? I'm not ready for her (or Jadon for that matter) to grow up so fast. :(

My baby

My little baby will only be a baby for 9 more days. I cant believe that her first birthday is just over a week away! I remember last year at this time, I couldnt believe it when October 1st came, and I still hadnt had her! I thought for sure she would have been a few weeks old at that time!
Obviously she was just a happy clam where she was though! However, when she decided she'd had enough of my belly she made her grand entrance in a hurry! Seems like just yesterday.

Well, we all ended up getting Jadon's cold, just as I thought. However, its been a pretty mild cold. At least for Jadon, Avery and I. Avery barely had a day or two of a runny nose, and that was about it for her! Jadon and I are still a bit plugged, and Jadon still gets runny. Derek seems to be the worst off. One of his ears is so plugged he cant hear out of it, and this morning he said his head felt like a pumpkin.

Jadon gets to go on a field trip to the pumpkin patch with his preschool in a couple of weeks! They will also be having a harvest party at the end of October. And next week is my day to take the class a snack. Not sure what i'm going to take yet. They request that we take something from 2 food groups, and that its healthy. Also, no capri suns or sodas, only drinks that are 100% juice. On the day that a childs mom takes in snack, that child also gets to be line leader, snack person, prayer person and the first to do the calendar for the day. Also, that child gets to bring an item from home to share with the class. (Anyways, I really appreciate that they request healthy foods only, and that if you bring junk, it will be sent back home. Obesity is becoming such a massive problem in the world, and it starts in childhood.) Derek and I really wish we could be flies on the wall and spend a day watching him, seeing how he interacts with the teachers and the other kids, how he plays, etc.
He has listening issues sometimes in soccer. If they play a game that he does not like, then he pretty much doesnt participate. There's one game in particular that he really doesnt seem to like. He's such a space cadet sometimes, he's often just in his own little world in soccer. They have races and he is always the last one, because he could care less about winning, he just has fun running with other kids, so he doesnt try going fast. The kid loves to play. He's all about playing, and he'll play with anyone... he's not picky! He's not intimidated by age or gender. I wonder if he'll always be like that?

Still looking...

Still looking for a job, if anyone has suggestions! My options are quite limited to evenings, weekends, or at home jobs/businesses. Medical transcription has already been suggested to me, but i'm not a very fast typer, and I make lots of mistakes (which ultimately affects my speed.) Plus, I dont have alot of time to spend working during the day.... mainly just during preschool hours... so, like I said, quite limited! Its hard enough to find a job these days, but with my limited availability..... yikes.

I found us a house the other day, but its a bit out of our price range, so i'm really looking for something! I'm open to hearing ALL suggestions! Thank you! :)

Sick day

Jadon came down with a cold last night, and today he had a 102 fever, so tomorrow he will have to miss preschool. Bummer, for both he and I! ;)
He was fine all day yesterday. After dinner, we got ready to go on a walk and he had a runny nose. He was fine through the walk, then when we got home he had another runny nose, and complained that his throat hurt. By bedtime he was pretty runny and his throat was still hurting. He woke up a while after going to bed and I think was having some drainage and said his tummy hurt a little.
Today he woke up all congested and runny at the same time, and he sounds funny, but he says his throat doesnt hurt anymore. However, this afternoon he started running a fever of 102, so I gave him a little tylenol, and he ate a good dinner. Before bed I checked his temp again, and it was still at 101.1, so I gave him some more tylenol in hopes that he'll get a decent nights sleep, although i'm not counting on it. Whenever he has a cold, he wakes up multiple times at night, sometimes gagging on the drainage in his throat. Poor guy :(
He's been pretty good all day, other than a little less active when he needs to find something to do by himself. The part that worries me is that he's pretty much refusing liquids. I'm trying to get creative... i've offered him ice water (which he normally loves), popsicles, juice, and jello, and he will not have any of them. For dinner I tricked him and gave him a bunch of canned pears which are quite liquidy, and cooked carrots... he loves both of those. He's still peeing, so i'm not real worried yet... I just hope that he will take some liquids tomorrow, especially if he still has a fever.

According to the baby books, a fever is a bad indication of how sick a child is. Meaning, a child could have a horrible illness and no fever, or a very minor cold and a high fever. A child's demeanor is a better indication of how bad the illness is. If thats the case, then Jadon's cold is not that bad. Still, i'm keeping him home tomorrow. When it comes to colds, I have a hard time deciding when to let him go to things and when I should keep him home. When its another kid thats sick, I always hope that the mom will keep the child home when the childs nose runs incessantly, the child is hacking away, or has a fever, diarrhea or is vomiting. Of course theres always those mothers who take their sick kids to things and that drives me nuts. So, being the germaphobe that I am, I dont want to be one of those mothers! I debated whether to let him go tomorrow, because he acts pretty normal, but after reading in the baby books, it says that a childs fever should be below 101 for at least 24 hours before returning. And it also says that its best to keep the child home for the first day or two of a cold.
So based on that alone, Derek and I agreed that its best if he stay home tomorrow. I hate to make him miss a day of preschool, since he loves it so much, and since we pay for it.

I expect that in the next 5-7 days, the rest of us will have sore throats and runny noses. Avery's birthday party is in 2 weeks, and I just hope that we are healthy by then! For Jadon's 3rd birthday, I was just getting over a cold and had bronchitis... hopefully we wont have a repeat of that! Luckily, I did a great job keeping my germs to myself and, to my knowledge, no one else got sick. Not even my own family!

But, regardless of having a sick child all day, I still managed to get alot done around the house the last two days! The flea situation has drastically improved.... thats all i'm going to say... I dont want to jinx it!!! The house is getting organized now, thanks to having extra garage space from getting rid of all that stuff at the garage sale! Its great! I love organization!! I've done a few small things around the outside of the house too to help get it cleaned up before winter. I'm seriously dreading winter... every year I think I dread it more and more.

Back to preschool, Jadon is really enjoying it, and I love it that he comes home singing new songs. One day he was singing "Head, shoulders, knees and toes." I had just tried teaching him that song a couple weeks ago before preschool even started, and he was not interested. Of course, learning anything is more fun at school! He was also singing "this little light of mine" (one that i had completely forgotten about!) At home, he never wants us to help him with things (like writing his name, or using the scissors) so he's never had practice with things like that. Well he came home from school on tuesday with a square that Mrs Tina had helped him cut!
Socially its been good for him as well. My sweet little boy will play with anyone, and I do mean anyone..... big kids, little kids, babies. He doesnt care. I love that about him. I hope that he always is like that and will play with ALL the kids. Youd be surprised with how snobby kids these days can be, even at young ages. I will do my best to teach him to accept ALL kids and not be snobby.
Its hard to get any info from him about his days at school, but he has mentioned playing with a few of the same kids: Lincoln, Tyson and Larry. Larry is a little african-american boy, and Jadon said one day that he likes Larry because he laughs at him. (just like his dad... always wanting to make people laugh.) Tuesday when I dropped Jadon off, Tyson came bolting over to Jadon, put his hand on Jadon's shoulder and said something to him though I couldnt understand what it was. Jadon obviously understood though because he responded. Its nice to see him interacting with other kids his age and gender after having been home for 3.5 years, pretty much only interacting with his mommy. ;) I look forward to seeing how his new little friendships develop!
I asked him if he plays with the girls too, and once he said "no, they just cry all the time." But then other times i've asked him and he says he plays with everyone.
Like I said, its hard to get any info from him! :)

Saturday

Jadon had soccer again today, and it didnt go well. His class this session has more kids in it (summer session had only 3 kids, and one kid was only there a few times.) This session has 8 or more... I havent counted.

Anyways, so Jadon's really distracted by all the other kids. Plus, today he had quite a listening problem. He's always pretty spacey, but today he was totally in his own world. It was pretty frustrating for his parents to see him not participating, afterall, we do pay for him to be in the class! Its been a bad week anyways for him, he's had a big time terrible 3's week. Really cant wait to get my sweet Jadon back!

Avery has been pretty cranky the last couple of days too. I imagine she's getting another tooth. She's got 6 right now, and another one taking its sweet time coming through. Poor girl, seems like all her teeth are tormenting her by taking their time poking through.

Tonight after dinner and bath, and after the boys had picked up all the toys on the living room floor, she stood up, took about 8 steps before falling down, then stood right back up, took 6 more steps before falling again, then took a few more steps and a few more falls!

I love to watch her these days, she immitates everything, and I can almost see the little gears in her brain working away! We've also been teaching her a few signs, and she signs the word "more" now.

Her birthday is now less than a month away and just like Jadons first day of preschool, her first birthday is going to be very bittersweet for me, and dont be surprised if I start crying when we sing her "Happy Birthday" at her party! It will be happy tears. The day before Jadon started preschool, I told him that mommy might start crying and to not be alarmed because they were happy tears, because mommy feels happy/sad about him growing up and going to preschool. Not sure if he "got" it or not, but I didnt want him to worry that something was wrong.

Anyways, I made Avery a little tutu to go with her birthday shirt, and its so cute! I'm thinking of adding a little something else to it, but not sure what yet... possibly some daisy's or something... I'll have to see what the craft store has. :)

Avery will be walking...

.... by her first birthday. This I am sure of! She took several steps tonight, and I think she realizes how much better it is than crawling. She's also good at jumping. By this, I mean she gets into a standing position from a squat, not holding on to anything, and jumps up, and actually leaves the ground, then lands and squats again. Its pretty impressive! She's got some strong leg muscles! She's always loved standing, and has always been a jumper when being held, so i'm not surprised!

Yep, she'll be chasing after Jadon in no time!

The forecast is not looking good..... rain for the next 4 days, and partly sunny on the 5th day. I'm afraid to look at the 7-10 day forecast. I cant believe how short our summer was! The rain is already beginning to get to me, so honestly I dont know how i'll survive winter. I'm going to have to keep myself and the kids very busy!

And speaking of summer, heres a couple pictures I took of Jadon one day while he was playing in the pool.

Oh Summer, how I miss your long days and warm evenings already!

Stepping out of my comfort zone

Wish me luck! Tomorrow morning i'm going to check out a mom's group for the first time. I'm really nervous since, as you know, i'm shy and I hate social events! I hate them because I never know what to say to people.
Anyways, i'm stepping out of my comfort zone, and i'm hoping that things go well! If they do, and if I like the group, I will join.

Deep breaths Alicia, you can do this!!!

The cut

I got my hair cut yesterday! I couldnt stand it anymore, so i decided to go shorter. It ended up a bit shorter than I wanted (shoulder length), but its not a problem. I also had bangs cut again also. Not sure why, since i'll probably wear them pinned up and out of my face all the time anyways, but I guess I felt like I needed a complete change. So, now its shoulder length, straight again (yay!) with bangs.
The reactions I got when I came home were not what I was expecting. Derek said its a little shorter than he prefers. Jadon said "who's that?" and Avery stared and stared and stared at me. Clearly i've had my hair long and blah for far too long! But, regardless of how my family feels about it, I like it. I needed a change, and what I got was a change! Plus, i've finally accepted the fact that I wont go into a salon as plain, boring, in-need-of-a-makeover me, and step out as a super model. And I've accepted the fact that even though I take a picture in to show how I want my hair to look, its never going to look like the picture in the end.

So, now I get to enjoy using much less shampoo and conditioner, having much less hair to dry, and not having huge clumps of hair falling out in the shower.... and i imagine the shower drain wont get plugged as fast too! :)

What to do.... what to do.....

Now that Jadon's gone 3 hours a day for 2 days a week, Avery naps pretty much the entire time, and I just dont know what i'm going to do with myself. Never do I have free time like this, so I feel a little....uh.... confused I guess? This is only the second day of preschool, and already i'm wondering what in the world to do. So far i've just been organizing the garage, getting things put into large plastic bins, and labeling them. I've got one side done, and need to start on the other side next week I guess, but i'm dreading that side as its going to be hard to organize.

I do get a half hour with Avery before she goes down for nap, and I like that! I never get one on one time with her, so I think that will be beneficial for both of us!

After I get the garage organized, i'll probably start looking into painting the house some more! I could also exersize, but that doesnt sound nearly as appealing as home improvement! ;)

Derek says I just need to relax during this time, but I'm not a relaxing like a couch potato kind of person. Its just odd having this time where the house is silent, and i'm not having to jump up constantly for someone or something. Its going to take a little getting used to.

I do miss my Jadon though.

Jadon's first day of preschool

I can hardly believe it, but my baby boy is in preschool now! He had a great time, and the teachers raved about how good he was and what a sweet boy he is. Of course, we already knew that! ;)
I was unable to hold it together as I had hoped. In fact, we hadnt even pulled out of the driveway yet, and I was already balling. It didnt help that on the way home (the long 2 minute drive) Derek kept saying things like "I cant believe he's in preschool... wasnt he just born yesterday?" I think he was TRYING to get me to start crying again. He's such a fart!
Derek and I could hardly wait to pick him up at the end of the morning to see how his day went! We are so proud of our baby boy! And yes, it seems like just yesterday he was born.
Here's pictures:

Eating breakfast and being a goofball

First day of school picture outside the house- he looks so grown up!

Walking in to preschool
Checking out the toys

Washing the dishes at the "kitchen" sink

All smiles when we picked him up!

Its almost here!

Jadon's first day of preschool is tomorrow! I cant believe it! It really seems like just yesterday that I signed him up for it, and now here it is 6 months later already! Thinking back on the last 6 months... wondering, worrying if we were going to get potty trained in time. The answer: no. We arent fully potty trained, but thank the Lord that they are ok with this! At least he is pee trained though... never thought that we'd get this far! Its definitely been a Very. Long. Journey. potty training him! And now, only 11.5 hours to go until the moment that we've worked so hard for the last 6 months!
I'm proud of my boy! :)

I'll let you know how it goes and post pictures tomorrow! Hopefully I can hold it together without crying!

Garage Sale

Our garage sale was friday and today, and it went great! We got rid of a ton of stuff! I'm telling you, the key to selling your stuff at a garage sale is pricing it low! We sold all of our big furniture items, so those are no longer taking up space in our garage! We had a desk, a large bookcase, a microwave stand, and another desk. The first three items we sold for $5 each, and the last desk we gave away for free. It was ugly and no one would buy it at $2, so Derek put a free sign on it, and an older man took it off our hands for us! We even had another older man take some old tires and rims that were falling apart off of our hands for us! We were thrilled to give them away!
So, day one, we had people there going through our stuff before we even had it all out, and it was like a swarm of bees from 7:30am-11am! Then it died down and people just trickled in. We closed up shop at around 2pm.
Day two, we had a pretty steady stream of people from probably 9am till probably 12noon. We closed up shop around 230pm, got all the rest of our junk into the trunk of the car, and took it to Goodwill! So nice to have that stuff gone!!!
Our poor neighbor had her things priced too high, and she didnt sell much on the first day, so she lowered her prices and did much better on day two.

It was hard watching the baby items walk away... like the highchair that both my kids used as babies. Or the Baby Bjorn that I carried the kids in when they were tiny. And the bouncy seat that Avery spent so much time in and loved so much (until she learned to sit up.) And all of the kids clothes were hard to see go. Surprisingly, Jadon's bedset that we bought for him when I was pregnant, didnt sell at all! I even lowered the prices on it on the second day, to about $5 for a bumper, crib sheet, 2 valances, cribskirt, and quilt, as well as the mobile. Considering we spent close to $200 at Baby's R Us for that stuff, I thought it was quite a steal! The mobile sold, but nothing else did. It was sad seeing that leave too.
The infant carseat that we used for both of the kids didnt sell either, which I was shocked about too. $20 for a graco snugride that was very gently used and never been in an accident... looks almost brand new!

So we made close to $250 from the sale, and now have a nearly empty garage! Ok, not empty, but at least we can walk around in it without having to manuever around furniture, or Jadon can ride his tricycle in it. Now if we can just get rid of the fleas, I will probably use the garage in the winter time, when its too cold to go outside, and the kids can ride bikes and play around!

Overall, it was not a bad experience, and for our first garage sale we did pretty good! Although I am absolutely exhausted and I cant wait until I can lay my head down on my pillow and sleep! :)

Speechless

I'm a bit speechless right now. Or I have bloggers block. Or theres just a lull in the activity today. Whatever you call it, I just dont have anything to blog about.

Our flea situation (dare I say it?) seems to have improved. Sunday we still had a ton of fleas jumping on us whenever we went in the garage. I just couldnt take it any longer! I sent Derek and Jadon to Petco to buy some different spray that has IGR in it, which is insect growth regulator, and it kills all 4 stages of a fleas life, rather than just killing the adult fleas as the previous spray seemed to be doing. I sprayed that sunday night. Monday, I was afraid to go in the garage... dreaded it in fact, and avoided it as long as I could. But then I needed a screw driver, so I could avoid it no longer. I managed to get in and out free of fleas. Then I had to go back in again a bit later to get some chicken from the freezer for dinner. Again, flea free. Hmmm...
This morning Jadon and I spent an hour in there cleaning garage sale stuff and pricing things. I only had 1 flea on me the whole time, and it was obvious that the flea was not going to live much longer (other than the fact that i was squishing him) because he was very slow moving, and it was effortless for me to kill him.
But, my hopes are not up yet, and i'll be on the look out for the next few weeks!
The good that came about this is that we finally got our garage all cleaned, and now we can set up some more storage shelves, and hopefully have a much nicer garage!

I look forward to having this problem taken care of so that I have something on my mind, other than fleas, to blog about! ;)

The good, the bad, and the ugly

The good? Jadon gets to go to preschool!! This week we went in to meet the teachers and talk to them and tell them that Jadon's still not poop trained. The teachers were amazing! They were both so nice, and the head teacher came in and started playing on the floor with Jadon! We were there for an hour or so, and I left feeling REALLY good about him going there! They were fine with the fact that he's still not poop trained, and said it sounds like he is really close to getting the poop part down. I was so worried that after 6 months of telling Jadon he was going to get to go to preschool, they'd turn him down a week before it starts. And after this loooooooooong road, we've come a long way!
So, last night we went and bought him a backpack to take to preschool next week! He was soooooooooo excited!

Jadon also finished soccer on saturday. And he passed the Cottontails class, and now gets to move on to the Hoppers class!

The bad? Avery's had a heck of a time sleeping at night this week. She's had great naps, but nightime has been disastrous! She's got 2 top teeth that are taking their sweet time coming through for one thing. Also, we think she's trying to figure out how to stand. AND, she started saying a few words the other day. In the middle of the night a couple days ago, she was in bed having a cranky time, and she suddenly said Daddy, then shortly after that she said Mommy too. She hasnt said those again since, but she does say dadadada and mamamama. She also says now "uh oh" and "hello." So, on top of getting teeth in, she's having some developmental growth spurts, so its no wonder she hasnt been sleeping good! Still doesnt make it much easier for her parents though! ;)

The ugly? The fleas. Apparently you cant get rid of fleas overnight. Apparently you cant get rid of fleas in a week either. We still have a problem in the garage, but it seems to be slooooooooooooooooooowly improving.... or maybe i'm just hoping so much that its improving that i'm blind? I dunno. We hate to keep spraying poisonous chemicals all over the house with Avery crawling around on the floors, and putting everything in her mouth. But, we wont get rid of them if we dont.
We have not had any in the house for several days. Until today, I just found one downstairs crawling on a towel, and I woke up with 2 bites, and I just noticed that Avery has several bites on her as well. Grrrrrrr!!!!!! So, guess we'll be spraying the inside again as well. These things are indestructable!!!!!!!! Good grief!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully we'll get rid of them before I go nuts!

Photoshop

So one of my facebook friends posted a video that I thought was really great:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4y5b7INvqE&feature=related

Of course, then I went to youtube and found it, which led me to several other videos about photoshopping.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP31r70_QNM&feature=related
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovpd5O6M8tQ&NR=1
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jID2uIFrdj8&feature=channel

My goal is to become confident in who I am and the way I look, whether fat or skinny, wrinkly or smooth, because I know that Avery is going to be watching my every move, hearing every bad thing I say about myself, seeing how I see myself as fat, ugly, unattractive, and she is going to grow up thinking that is the way a girl is supposed to feel about how she looks and that she's never perfect enough. The media puts plenty of pressure on girls to be perfect, and I know her friends will add to the pressure, and I dont want to add to that. I want her to be able to grow up feeling confident in who she is just the way she is, and not feel like she has to fit into a perfect mold. I dont want her to go through life feeling like she's never good enough, perfect enough.
So its my responsibity as her mommy to set her on the track to the correct way of thinking, but in order to do that, I need to first feel that way about myself. So, ive got my work cut out for me!
I know getting some exersize will help. And eating healthy and getting plenty of water. All things that I need to work on. Derek has recently started showing an interest in eating healthier things, and making healthier choices with food, and that will be a huge help! He's even started trying new foods, trying vegetables and fruits that he has said he doesnt like. He even ate some broccolli!!!!!!! I'm so very proud of him! ;)

So funny

Jadon is getting to the age where he starts rambling off these elaborate stories for us, and it is sooooo funny! I love this age! (of course i can say that today since we had a "good" day!) ;)

Anyways, thank goodness my laptop is downstairs, and thank goodness it has "sticky notes" on the desktop, because without those things, i probably wouldnt have written them down!

Here's a couple of things he has said lately. If you remember several weeks ago, he said "if mommy puts me in the washing machine, i will turn into clothes and she will fold me."

The latest two: "i used to be a lady when daddy was in mommy's tummy"
"i just went pee a little because i didnt want to lose my mind"

and just a few minutes ago, he rambled off this large story that started out "remember when i was a lady..." and it was like 4 different stories combined into one. He obviously listens to us talking, because we always call Avery a little lady.

Whew!

These days it just seems like life is powering forward at the speed of light! We just concluded a very busy week, and are now starting back into the typical daily grind.
Derek had all last week off for our anniversary, and it was so nice!! Probably not as nice as he would have liked, but when you have kids, you cant have your expectations be too high! ;)

So if I remember, I blogged about our flea infestation. Well, saturday night, I went into the garage to do some laundry, and almost instantly I had fleas all over my legs. IT WAS THE MOST DISCUSTING THING EVER!!!! I almost felt like panicking, because I knew the only way to get rid of them was to clean our garage. Our garage is pretty gross, the cats live in there at night so theres cat hair and litter all over, plus its been our storage area for a lot of stuff too. So, sunday morning, Derek took Jadon to church, and I started the long and tedious process of emptying every last item out of our garage. When Derek got back from church, he also started, and we managed to get everything out of the garage by dinnertime. After dinner, we cleaned it. Vacuumed everything: floor, walls, cracks, crevices, behind the washer/dryer, mopped the floor, and wiped everything down with soapy rags because everything was covered in a layer of dust.
Then it came time to move everything back in. We had tried to make it easy on us by putting everything into piles: garage sale stuff, garbage, and keeper stuff. Lets just say, we are going to have a small dumpster brought to the house because we've got alot of stuff we're throwing away. And, a large pile (now in the middle of the garage) of garage sale stuff, and the rest looks fantastic!!! Surprisingly, the fleas werent bad at all... Derek had sprayed the cats beds and stuff Saturday night, so most of the fleas were dead already.
It feels really good to have finally gotten that done, and it looks completely different, smells normal now, and we have room to walk!!
The cats have been kicked out of the garage and are strictly outdoor cats now.... until we get rid of them. Our neighbor lady is a huge cat person, and has fallen in love with one of our cats, so she is going to adopt him. The other two, if we cant find homes, will be going to the humane society.

Also, we will be having a garage sale in a couple of weeks with our neighbor lady, and I cant wait to get the rest of the stuff out of the garage!

So, life has been busy, and now i'm left with pricing everything for the sale. Prices will be super low, as I dont care about making much profit, I just want to get rid of things!

In two weeks, preschool starts. Plus, we want to put Jadon in soccer again, he's had so much fun with that. Also, i'd like to do something with Avery. I did swimming with Jadon when he was a baby... but i'm thinking about doing The Little Gym with her. Also, I have swimming aerobics twice a week now. And, i'm thinking about joining a mom group. I just have to find enough courage in me to join!! ;) So, this fall has the potential of being quite busy! I'm interested to see what all pans out, because at this point, none of that is set in stone (except for aerobics.)
Jadon's doing quite well now with potty training. He is dry almost all the time. He's still having poop issues though, so we are going to go in and meet the preschool teacher, and talk to her about this, and hopefully they still will let him go! I would hate to see him get this far, and then not get to go. Its pretty unlikely that he would go poop at preschool anyways, but we'll see how the teacher feels about it. Keep him/us in your prayers!!

So busy

We've had a busy week! Derek took the week off for our anniversary, so I of course packed our week full of fun!
We went to the coast on tuesday, with a plan of shopping at the outlet mall, and then spending the rest of the day playing in the sand. Jadon's been wanting to go to the beach for a really long time, but our Oregon weather has been horrible this summer, so we waited until it warmed up. Unfortunately, the weather at the coast was TERRIBLE. It was foggy, and drizzly, and only 52 degrees... needless to say, we didnt get much time on the beach, and we froze our heiny's off.
I did get the kids some much needed clothing from Carters though, so I was happy about that! And we ate at a really great pizza place that we found in Lincoln City last year called Galluchi's or something like that. They've got really good pizza!

Wednesday we relaxed a little, but we did take the kids to the "music park" as Jadon calls it. (Timberlinn park. He calls it this because that is the park where we went when we went to the Celebration Festival and there was music.) Jadon had a blast! He found a little hispanic shadow to boss around. Jadons usually the follower when he plays with other kids, but the little hispanic kid was happy to be the follower, and Jadon had no problem being the leader. It was kindof interesting to watch him.

Thursday we took the kids on a train ride up to Salem, then walked to the Salem Carousel and the A.C. Gilbert House. Everyday at Jadon's soccer practice, the amtrak train goes by, and all the kids get super excited, but probably none gets more excited than Jadon. So he has been wanting to ride a train for a long time. And Derek was interested in trying out a train ride as well. Although I had told him it was not all that great. As a kid, we rode the Amtrak to Colorado, and it was a pretty miserable few days trip.... both there and back.
Our morning train in Albany arrived right on time. As we waited for the train to get there, Jadon kept saying "i'm so excited! i'm so excited!" It was just a small train, and very few passengers. We actually had a whole car to ourselves! It was a very pleasant ride up!
Our train to go home was due to leave at 3:37pm, so we walked to the trainstation and got there about 30 minutes early. However, the train ended up being 2 hours late! So, we sat at the station for 2.5 hours! The kids did incredible, even though they were both tired, and bored and getting hungry. Finally our train arrived at the station, and it was one of the big Amtrak trains (like the kind we rode to Colorado), and it was packed, and trying to carry a large stroller, a small stroller, a bulging diaper bag, a baby, and a preschooler upstairs to our seats, was quite a challenge.
Even though the last part of the day went sour, the rest of the day was really nice, and i'm glad the boys got a chance to ride the train. Derek now says he'll never ride one again, but he's glad to have experienced it. And Jadon enjoyed it regardless!

Today, friday, was supposed to be a down day, so that I could catch up on some housework, and we could take it easy since we've been on the go. Not so though.
We have made the mistake of not treating our cats with Advantage for the last couple of years, and this year it bit us in the butt, literally. A couple weeks ago, I found a few fleas over a few days, so we got some Advantage, applied it to the cats, and have been fine. Until a couple days ago, I started getting bites all over my feet and ankles. Then this morning Avery and I got up, sat down on the living room floor, and within 10 minutes, i'd already drowned 4 fleas that had hopped on us. SOOO discusting!!!!!!!!!!!! So, we spent the day vacuuming the house, spraying the entire house with flea spray, and washing everything in the laundry. Oh, right after we sprayed we left the house for awhile until the carpet dried and the smell was gone, so we did get the grocery shopping done. So, today was horrible. And I will never ever again miss treating the cats with Advantage! All it takes is one fleabag stray cat in the neighborhood to totally infest our cats and house!
So, don't forget to spay and neuter your pets, but also, get them treated for fleas every few months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On that note, does anyone want a cat? We have 3 adult cats that we are wanting to find homes for..... 2 are declawed, and all of them are fixed... Anyone??? PLEASE??? Dont make me get down on my hands and knees and beg!

Anyways, pictures of our latest events will be posted as soon as I get a chance to do so!

Happy 7th Anniversary to us!

7 years, seems like such a long time, yet its gone so fast! I can honestly say that it just gets better each year. :)

I love you Derek! :)

Frumpy

Saturday I had the privilage of going wedding dress shopping with my sister-in-law and mother-in-law in Portland. It was the longest i'd been out of the house without kids since having Avery. Its always weird going anywhere when I dont have a kid or two to tote around.... strangely enough I always feel a little out of sorts, like i'm forgetting something, when I dont have the kids with me. Its difficult switching from mommy-mode to girl-time mode!

Anyways, I was looking forward to going from the time she asked if I would go! I've never been wedding dress shopping with anyone, other than for my own dress, so it was an honor for me.


Of course, the night before I couldnt go to sleep. That always happens to me the night before I get to go do something or have to be somewhere. I couldnt turn my mind off, plus it was really hot, and Avery had a really plugged nose, so I was up with her at 2am trying to suck the bugars out of her nose and put saline drops in. Finally I was able to go to sleep after 3am, only to have to get up at 6:30am to get ready to go to Jadon's soccer at 9am.


I think it was excitement of going wedding dress shopping, but I had plenty of energy for the whole morning, then once the dress was picked and it was time to go eat, my energy took a major nose dive.

We then went to eat at the spaghetti factory (yum!!!) and then off to do a little more shopping at the mall. It was a great day, a much needed day away from the kids, time that I could focus on something other than the kids! Although I made a few calls home to make sure Derek was handling everything just fine. Of course he was, and it sounds as though the kids were angels.

Derek's sister picked a gorgeous dress.... sorry, i cant post any pictures.... and I am so glad that I got to be there for it!!!


So, i've noticed over the last week or so that i've become quite frumpy looking. With all the mirrors at David's bridal, it was impossible to not catch a glimpse of myself in one of them occasionally, and I noticed how tired I look, and how i'm beginning to age. My eyes are sunken back in my puffy face with dark circles under them. I never realized how much i've aged since having kids, and I can only imagine its from all the lack of sleep i've had over the last 3 years! That, and the fact that my needs have taken a backseat. No longer do I have time to do my hair nice; I dress for comfort now, rather than what looks good; and finding time to do anything for myself is extremely rare. I'm not complaining, I knew my needs would become last place to my kids needs when I signed up to be a parent. Its worth it! But I tried to not let it happen, but it just slowly has, and now that I notice it, its a bit of a hard pill to swallow.

I'm losing weight and now beginning getting myself in shape some, but I feel and look like i'm 40, not 30. My hair, clothes and makeup need major updating! I just have no idea these days what hairstyle would look good for my face, and what clothes would be flattering on me. I hate feeling frumpy.

Busy Busy Busy

Thats how life feels lately! Busy busy busy! Anyways, heres a few quick pictures I took last night.
My little ham Avery is at that age where she loves to smile for the camera. I remember Jadon going through that phase... you get some great pictures during that time!


When she's outside, this is how she crawls. Actually she's been crawling like that alot lately, inside and outside, and she's getting really quick at it! Its really amusing to watch though.

Jadon put his undies on backwards last night, and it was hilarious looking! Looks like he's wearing womens underwear! Cute little buns! ;)
Look at the window.... see the curvy lines? Jadon drew his first REAL picture the other day. (those are special window markers in case anyone was worried.) Anyways, its a rainbow! He's never actually been interested in drawing anything other than scribbles... in fact, coloring doesnt usually last more than 10 minutes max, so he doesnt usually get much practice drawing things, and he NEVER wants us to help him write his name or draw things. He's got better things to do with his time! ;)