Cleaning Rampage

It started yesterday when I got home from work. The refridgerator was on the fritz when I walked in the door. It's happened before because the door seals are very sensitive and we have to always make sure it's closed properly. So I thought the doors just weren't closed right. WRONG! I called a repairman to come out today. In the meantime, I cleaned out everything and put it in the freezer in the garage. It was cold enough to put the stuff that didn't need to be frozen on shelves in the garage, so nothing was wasted. I clean off the top of the fridge (nasty) and that was that. I called my house after the repairman left to find out the damage....it was minimal and was already fixed...wow! Kenny told me how he was cleaning out the fridge, as in washing the walls, taking out drawers and shelves and bleaching everything. I was in shock, in fact, I wasn't sure whether to believe him or not. He's not a "cleaner" like I am. When I got home, not only was it all clean, it was SPOTLESS and the food was all put back. Did you read that? I didn't have to do a thing. It was amazing. THAT never happens, not ever ever ever ever are things just done for me. What a difference in my mood!! So that's when our cleaning frenzy took a crazy spin. In one evening, I cleaned almost the entire house (again) along with a little laundry. Kenny cleaned out the box truck and his truck and we even weeded through some of that pesky paperwork that just piles up too. And it's not even the weekend. I'm still in shock from how much we accomplished today. Crazy! Next up tomorrow, de-hairing the dog. It's shedding season and is she ever! Two more days till spring break and 6 days till I fly to visit Bethany in ATL!!!!

Mommy & Me Monday

Hosted by Krystyn






I promised two NEW pictures this week. Here they are. The first one is from Easter at my mom's house today. The second, which is blurry and not a great shot cause I took it myself, is us playing. Happy Monday!

Bunny Cake

Today my dad visited! Carson was all over the place, showing off his rolling over skills! He is now from one side of the room to the other side in less than a minute. Fast little guy!

This afternoon I made a bunny cake. Tomorrow we are celebrating Easter with my mom's family at her house, and we are bringing dessert. It's the first time I ever tried to make a shaped cake. I liked my creation until I did the face. It's OK, it'll due this time, but next time I make it the face will look better. It was fun to make! Carson sat in his high chair the whole time and cooed and screamed and banged his toys watching me. I think he wanted a taste. Next year!

4 days of teaching this week and then spring break. I can't wait. I know I have to get 2 NEW pictures of the baby and I for the post on Monday, I better get busy on that one tomorrow!!

Babble

This week is half over. Woo hoo. We are on the cusp of naughty behavior at work, I can feel it. The kids don't have to go to school on Friday this week or next week, and after next week, we are on spring break. So they have spring fever, as do the teachers, and this is the point in the school year where the same kids who irritate the heck out of you by noon now are trying my patience at 9am. I know they feel the same way about me too! I'm trying to not complain about work so I'll stop there:)

I recieved my gap.com order in the mail today and was pleasantly surprised that everything fit!! WW is paying off!!! In fact, the black spring jacket that I so badly wanted to wear NOW is too big, which is great, but also disappointing, because sending it back and getting a smaller size will take more than 3 weeks. And I want it NOW! But I'm not upset that it's too big. That's a bonus!! The jeans I ordered are absolutley the best, most comfortable, well fitting jeans ever. The fit is actually called long & lean, and believe me, I am neither of those things. Heh. But they are NOT the skinny jean fit (yuuuuuuuuuuck!) and they are still flared at the ankle and they are just great! Can't say enough good things about them. And I'll be wearing them tomorrow to work because we can dress down.

Kenny is currently manning a small bonfire in the backyard. It smells sooo good, like childhood summers. Ah the memories! We aren't really "supposed" to have bonfires in our neighborhood but we do and the neighbors don't care and YES we are totally safe about it. The hose is never far, I promise. It's hard being country folk in the city (suburbs). I love the convenience and the quickness, and even though I haven't lived in the country since I was 14, it's still when I belong. One day, we'll get back there.

Off to my end of the couch to sip some tea and snuggle with the man. And his remote (it's really mine, but I let him think it's his).

I just realized how jumbled this post is. No real point, just babble. I'm so good at that!

Baby & Momma

Hosted by Krystyn

Carson and Momma, when he was about a day old. I get tears looking at this! I didn't get in front of the camera this weekend. Shame on me. I guess that means I challenge myself to TWO pictures of us for next Monday!

8 months (and a few days)

Here's Carson's 8 month picture...not the most creative, I admit, but lately it's so hard to get him still for any posed pictures. This one sums up his 8th month: remote controls in his chubby little hands, handing things to mama, and no socks because he takes them off and eats them. Love this stage! He weighs 22 pounds, is wearing 6-12 month clothes, does the army crawl like a pro, scoots on his booty and rolls around to get places on the floor. He also got his first tooth last week and had his first cold!! Carson laughs at smiling faces, rarely is shy, and loves his dog. He still sleeps through the night without fail, from 8pm-8am, sometimes later. I know we are lucky for that, everyone has told us that is so great, so I am very blessed to get a good night sleep when I don't have to get up for work on the weekends.

Today was an awesome family day. We started out with church, the baby's first trip there. He clapped when the choir was through singing and it was dead silent....hilarious! Then we went to lunch with friends and their kiddos, followed by shopping and ice cream. Yum. I'm skipping the grocery shopping and saving it for tomorrow. It's one thing that can wait!!

A Quiet Saturday

Lots to catch up on here! There is no word that describes how busy life is now. I'm sure all you mommas (not new ones) are shaking your head and laughing at me now. OF COURSE life is busier now with a kid, right? And I'm sure it's even crazier the more kids you add to the mix!

My Grandma's 90th birthday party was a couple weekends ago and we had two parties for her. One was just family and the other one was an open house for any family, friends, neighbors and church family members to visit her in her assisted living home. The place she lives in is really awesome about helping out with parties and providing beverages and food and extra help. Both parties were where my Grandma lives and both were really fun. Here are some pictures:

(top picture: my Grandma and cousin, bottom picture: Carson with his Grandpa and his Great-Grandma)

Work has been the same...draining. Still love teaching, just want to be home more than I want to teach. I'll leave that topic right there:(

I'm counting the days until spring break. Not too much longer!! I have 4 teaching days this week and then a PD day on Friday. And the following week there is 4 teaching days, and that's it! I have Good Friday off and then the week after Easter. Woot!! I'm flying to Atlanta the day after Easter to visit my BFF Bethy for 2 days. Can't wait!! And yes, the baby is coming with me. Just me and him. Kenny will probably be extatic to have the house to himself. He didn't put up much fuss about us leaving when I booked the flight. Knowing him, he'll wait till the night before we leave to whine about how much he's going to miss us. I'm already prepared.

If there's one thing I'm looking forward to this spring, it's yard work. It's time consuming, never ending, and expensive, but I was pretty much deprived of it last year because I was pregnant so I'm really looking forward to getting back into it this year. No promises on how great it will look, it's the thought that counts, right??? It may be too challenging with a baby!

The baby and I went shopping today and I got his baptism gear. It's so precious, I just can't wait. How awesome is it that Carson will be baptized on my very first Mother's Day? Brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

I'm off to enjoy the rest of my Saturday with the baby before he goes to sleep. It was the first Saturday we've been able to be home in a month. Whew!

Mommy & Me #3

Hosted by Krystyn

I can't believe I let a week go by without a post....does that tell you how busy we've been around here?? Work sure gets in the way of everything. We had a super busy week AND weekend. So much to say and many pics to share, but it will have to wait until tomorrow! Momma needs SLEEP. Carson was happy, I promise. He was sick of his picture being taken!! BTW his hand looks huge!!

Mommy & Me x2

Hosted by Krystyn

Home Bound

Yesterday was so busy!! I'm thankful to have today at home. Even though it's going to be spend cleaning and doing laundry, at 3pm we're doing NOTHING but watching USA vs Cananda olympic hockey. YAY!!!

The baby and I were with Kenny working all day yesterday. He was so good the whole day. Carson is very content in the stroller just hanging out with his toys. My inlaws were there to help watch him when Kenny needed me and they just adore him and love watching him. Carson was so into everything going on that he skipped both his naps and didn't fall asleep until I got in the car to go home around 4pm. And then he was KNOCKED out!!

Here are some pictures from the 100th day of school (Thursday) and the cakes I made. They were a hit, everyone commented on how good they tasted!! I almost caved and bought 3 cakes but changed my mind and I'm so glad I did! It would have actually saved $$$ buying them and having them decorated, but I enjoyed making and decorating them, so it was worth it. The group shot is of the elementary teachers I go into battle with every day. Talk about warriors! Love them!! We are all sporting our 100th day shirts, made by the teacher right in the middle. I have worked with one of them for 8 years, and the rest of them anywhere from 1 to 7 years. I am so blessed to have them by my side every day.

Mom

My baby said "MOMMOMMOMMOMMOMMOMMOMMOMMOMMOMMOMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He's been saying "DADADADADADADADADAD" for a couple weeks, and we weren't sure if he even knew what he was saying or maybe just babbling. So when he started in with mamamamamama I wasn't thinking he knew that was ME. We've been encouraging him by saying momma and dadda all the time, but then this afternoon we were playing and he reached for me with his little chubby arms and said "MAMMAMMAMMAMM" and my heart was melting into the carpet. Oh the ooozing sweetness!

Tomorrow is the 100th day of school. It was supposed to be earlier but the snow days pushed us back some. There are 3 teachers on my team and the teacher that always does all the extra cute things for the kids (cakes, cookies, hotdogs, gifts, extra awesome art projects, ect) is taking chemo treatments after having cancerous tumors (stage 1.5) removed. To say the least, she is tired all the time. My other teammate is pregnant, so I said that I would make the 100th day cakes. So that's what Carson and I have done tonight. CAKES. ALL CAKES. I hope Kenny makes it home with my camera before I go to bed so I can get good pictures. Otherwise you will have to settle for phone pics. Those are just not as good, but there's no way these cakes are going unpublished, not when there's THREE of them!! Happy 100th Day of School To ME! That means less than 80 to go. Whew.

Tonight is going to be one of those busy gotta-get-diapers-wipes-formula-pick-up-taxes-and-sign-on-the-dotted-lines-finish-laundry-where-are-my-shoes kind of nights. I can already feel it. And it's going to start the second I walk in the door. I plan on making dinner, packing up the baby and getting the errands done. He doesn't mind, he just cooes in his carseat and smiles and laughs anywhere we go. I think he likes running errands with momma!

I am so proud of Kenny and all his hard work he has done lately. He is a normally VERY hard working business owner, however, lately, the phone has been ringing NON STOP (that means lots of $$$$) and he has been going nonstop. I don't normally talk about his work or his level of business on here, but I just have to throw out there how stinkin' proud I am of him. He started this business over 10 years ago from nothing, and has built it up to what it is today, and even though most days I don't think he sees the how far he has come, I do, and I just never get enough opportunities to tell him how proud I am of all that he does, for the business and for us. Love you K!

Off to finish up the last hour of the day and then I'm outta here!!!!!! Home to my boys!

One more thing....I will try to take pics of how much snow we have in our yard, it's so deep! I love it! I know you all think I'm crazy for loving it, but I do!!!

S N O W D A Y !!!!!!!!!!!!

Hosted by Krystyn

Today was another snow day!!! Talk about great luck!!! I was oh so happy to wake up this morning and find inches of snow and no school. Like a dream come true. Here's a picture of how we started my snow day. Bad quality, I know, but I just grabbed my phone and took a picture, nothing fancy!! I think Carson enjoys snow days as much as I do.

(Thanks Krystyn for starting this weekly thing!! I need that motivation!!

Backwards

This baby boy won't crawl. I'm not rushing him, and I'm not really excited about him crawling anyway because that means life as we know it will be forever changed!! However, everyone seems to think he "should" be crawling and even though it doesn't bother me that he's not, he kind of is....backwards! It's more of a scoot, actually. He'll be laying on his tummy and want me or some toy that's not directly in front of his little face and then he just scoots back to get it. So cute!! I'm putting toys all around him to entice him to push off and start to crawl, and I know he will when he's ready. But for now, the backwards shuffle is pretty cute. I don't have a video of it, but you get the idea.

Yesterday we celebrated my mom's birthday and here is my baby with my momma...so sweet! Her first grandbaby!!

We also stopped in to see my grandma, however no pics because she was in her nightgown already!!! Carson sat right next to his great-grandma and just smiled and loved on her, so sweet!! We will be back visiting with her in a couple weeks and there will be lots of pictures then.

I'm sad that my week off ends today. I'm never really prepared for the feelings that come with having to leave Carson every day. I hate it. I truly hate leaving him. Any mom that works knows that feeling, and it'll never go away. But I know that by my going to work every day my family is taken care of medically. So I go. With kleenex:( And the up side of it is coming home to the best feeling in the world, my smiling happy-to-see-me baby who can't get his hands on my face fast enough. That makes it worth it!

Day Off

I declared today a day of relaxation around here. The first day of my vacation that I get to do house stuff!!! Kenny is away and working, and Carson and I were slated to be out and about with some friends but that got canceled so we are STAYING HOME!! Woo-hoo!!! When he gets up from his nap we MIGHT go to Michaels, you know I just can't stay away from those craft stores too long. Other than that, we are homebound. I have been looking forward to a day like this for along time!

I booked tickets to visit my bf in Atlanta today. Yay!!!! That's not until spring break, but I'm already excited about it! Carson will be flying for the first time, oh what a little travelor he will be!!

Here's our morning:

Skiing!

Our little ski getaway has been awesome!! Despite missing Carson all the time, Kenny & I have been able to relax, TRULY relax, for the first time in about a year. We arrived home safe and sound and so happy to get that baby back and covered with kisses!

Waking up this morning reminded both of us how important it is to STRETCH before you ski, especially if it's been a few years. And another thing I never envisioned was a creepy feeling on the ski lift. I've skiied PLENTY of times in my life, and never one time was the lift an issue. Not the case this time! I guess it's just because I haven't skiied in a few years, because by the end of the day I was fine. Guess I better do this more often!

A weekend away was the best thing we've done in a while. Very much needed!!!

7 Months!!!

Ahhhh today was a snow day!! What a treat, rating right up there with opening presents on Christmas morning as a kid!! I didn't even have to get out of bed. Even better! Carson and I stayed in our PJs all day and snuggled a whole bunch. I think Kenny was jealous!

Today was my momma's bday and between Kenny & I and my brother, we pooled our $$ and gave her a gift card to Macy's so she could get her fiestaware flatware that she's been wanting for a while. Due to the snow, she didn't drive to my house today so I called her, told her what her gift was (a complete surprise), gave her the numbers on the gift card and WHAM a few hours later she had her flatware was ordered!! And she is one happy Momma!!! Yay!

Seven months old my baby is today....whew! Here he is hamming it up for the camera, which he immediatly tried to grab ahold of and put in his mouth!!! He's close to crawling I think, but I don't think he WANTS to crawl. He would just rather have momma carry him or hand his toys over. He is so much fun, always smiling and drooling and laughing and he's also very close to saying dada. I was hoping his first word would be momma, but he's saying dada, however he isn't meaning Kenny. He is just babbling, but sooner or later he will figure out WHO dada is!!

The next two days are going to be COMPLETE CRAZE at work. They are the last two days before we have a one week midwinter break. Even if today hadn't been a snow day, the week before vacation is rough. However, being that today the kids were at home, tomorrow is count day complete with an in-school dance, and Friday there will be school-wide Valentine's Day celebrations, and to top it all off, both days are free dress, which means students will be in their regular clothing, not uniforms, which always leads to "different" behavior. So I'm crossing my fingers, making sure my lessons are tight and I'm overly prepared with extra work and rewards!! The busier they are the better they are!!

Making raspberries at his puppy!

Helping mama with the laundry!

Trying to get dad's hat....

Got the hat and in the mouth it goes!!!

Cloudy Sunday

Last night Kenny & I went to see Edge of Darkness. We were trying to figure out the last time we had been to see a movie.....we came up with A YEAR AGO. Holy crap!! Just to commemorate that LONG pause of movie going, we snuck in to see a few minutes of Avatar. The audience looked ridiculus with the glasses on!!!! Just like a picture taken in 1960!! We didn't stay more than a few minutes, just long enough to see the 3D effects, and wow was it cool!!



Carson has changed so much in the last few weeks. He's starting to show signs of crawling, but not quite there yet. I've been giving him some phase 2 of the baby food, mostly the mixed fruits which he LOVES!!! He's still not hip on the green veges yet, but we're getting there. He is still laughing and giggling and continuing to keep smiles on our faces every single day. Love that little guy!!!

He still LOVES his jumperoo, and spends lots of time in it every day, as well as the pack and play. He just wants to play all the time, and put anything and everything in his mouth. We have started making lists of what to do to babyproof the house....any advice would be appreciated!! We have inherited a baby gate, so we can check that off the list. But the rest of what we need to buy/do, let me know!

Today after I've cleaned and done some of the laundry, I plan on SITTING down and not doing anything else except enjoy my family. That's my perfect Sunday!!

Sleepy

Oh this week has been a hard one. After a 3 day weekend my students seem to be so much more squirrelly than they were the first week back after the new year. Something about that extra day without school structure.....OMG it's been rough. And I didn't even go to work today! I heard my class was pretty good until dismissal and then they lost it. Sounds about right!

Haven't made it to the gym yet this week, not good for my weight loss goal, however I have still been doing southbeach pretty well (phase 1 and 2 combined) so it hasn't been a complete wash without working out. I will say sacrificing the exercise for extra hours of sleep has been much needed. So I'm not going to feel guilty. I PROMISE I'll make up for it this weekend:)

Carson has started to want to stay up later and later at night. Since he was about 6 weeks old, he has slept through the night, from 8pm to 8am, if not later. Lately, he has not wanted to go to bed on his own at 8pm. I do the bath, bottle, bed routine starting around 730 and by 8pm he's knocked out. But now he won't go to sleep when the bottle is gone and instead starts laughing and playing and not wanting to sleep. CRAZY BABY!!!!

TGIF!!!!

Happy Tuesday

My baby is 6 months old!!! Holy smokes how did that happen! We had some professional pictures taken last week and here they are:

Ahhhh I'm so bad not posting for SO long! Back to work after vacation was rough and it still is, so I guess that's my excuse:)

Here are his stats for his check up last week:

Height: 27 inches (I think!!!)

Weight: 18 lbs (he gained 2 lbs since his 4 month checkup)

Percentiles: height & weight 75%, head 90%

He's all brains, just like momma!!!

Carson is doing awesome. He is completely sitting up on his own now and even though he won't crawl yet, he has the strength. I just think he likes it better when we move him. I give him tons of time on his stomach and he'll play and play and move on his tummy in different directions, he'll kick his legs and then when he gets tired of being on his tummy he starts to complain. One of these days he'll just crawl I hope!!! He is eating stage 1 foods and many different kinds of cereal, still drinking bottles also. I started giving him food when he reached for Kenny's burito about a month ago....I figured he was ready!!!

I'm also learning that so many people give me advice on what to feed him, how to feed him, how MUCH to feed him, and so on. We've learned to do what we think is best, which is how I decided to give him food in the first place. Our pediatrician told us at 4 months to give him food, but I just didn't feel like he was ready, so we waited. And then all of a sudden (the burrito incident!!!) I knew he was ready. That was a good lesson for us in doing what we think is best!!

I could yack all day long about how wonderful he is. He's truly a great baby. Carson will play and play for long periods of time with and without interaction from us. Of course I end up playing with him most of the time because he's so much fun!! It's such a joy to see him with Kenny and the two of them laughing and loving on each other. That's what it's all about!

Work is work. I am busy as always there but since conferences are over, I am NOT bringing anything home with me. I refuse!!! In fact, the only time this year I have brought things home to work on is for conferences or occasionally the ridiculus un-usable lesson plans I'm required to turn in. That's it!!! And even with that it's hard to bring things home to do. Kenny is super busy with work which is a blessing. His business is thriving right now, it has been for a few years so we are so grateful for that. He renewed his lease with new truck in December and we thought about getting a bigger car for me at the same time, however, I'm enjoying NO CAR PAYMENTS right now so why rock the boat and get greedy?? I love not writing a check every month for a car! My vehicle has been paid off for 5 months and we are lovin it. Plenty of other things to pay on!

I know one of my resolutions was to post more (3 times a week I think) and I've already failed that, but I'm still going to try. I love blogging, I just can't get to it as much as I want, but I'm making it a priority. Here's my 6 month pic of my little man. He's hilarious! Happy Tuesday!