More fun

Here are a few more pictures from this weekend. We had another cookout..we had so much food left over that we invited some neighbors over to eat and hang out with us. There aren't any pictures of it here, but here are a few others of Todd and Sam from Sunday.

Sam came in early to wake us up. He wanted to wish Dad a happy birthday. Todd was still asleep, but I went ahead and got up and made breakfast while Sam hung out in bed with Daddy until the food was ready. I tried to get a picture of Sam laying down on my side of the bed, but as soon as he saw the camera he got up and this is what we got. lol. Gotta love that facial expression.

We decided to hang outside a little bit and enjoy the nice weather. Todd is blowing bubbles and Sam is trying to decide if he wants to color on the sidewalk with his chalk.

Sam is still thinking about it. Notice he's got a piece of chalk in both hands.

Some of the sidewalk chalk art from the previous night.

Another shot of the sidewalk chalk art the kids drew for us on Saturday night.

Sam finally decided he wanted to do some coloring of his own. Check out the blue scribbles around his legs.

Sam was really getting into his coloring. His shirt, pants, and shoes were covered in chalk dust by the time we went in. I'm just glad he was having fun and likes being outside.

Todd's birthday cookout

Yesterday we had a cookout for Todd's 27th birthday. We decided to celebrate a little early since we didn't know if he would have to work today or not. His birthday is actually today. After much prep work and lots of phone calls we had ourselves a birthday party. It was a beautiful day outside and we were able to enjoy it by sitting on blankets and lawn chairs. It also provided the kids an opportunity to run around wear themselves out. lol. Sam actually did a little bit of walking and even was crawling and playing in the grass which was great since he usually can't stand to be on the grass.


Since Sam is a toddler it was a juggling act of enjoying ourselves and keeping him happy. I think for the most part everyone had a little bit of fun (even Todd who was chasing Sam around while I organized and got everyone fed). Here are a few pictures that my mom Peg took for me as I wasn't able to take pictures in the midst of everything else I was doing.

Sam (and my neighbor Amy in the background)

Coleen H. and one of her kiddos (Coleen does Pampered Chef with me)

My sister Stephanie and in the background is my dad Fred, my brother Sean, and David H.

My wonderful neighbor Amy. I guess her hubby was already gone for work by this point in the evening, but they are the ones that I'm always talking about.

My brother Sean (who needs a haircut. lol) and David H. (David is the pastor who married Todd and I a little over 5 years ago)

My dad Fred and brother Sean apparently using my car as a table to eat off of.

Todd's dad Mike playing with one of the neighbor kids. Also in this picture are Sam and Amy.

My friend Gary and his son Nate. Nate is just 2 weeks younger than Sam.

Colleen E. and I eating. I finally had a chance to sit down and enjoy some food. Colleen is one of my best friends here in KY. She is married to Gary in the above picture.

Todd's parents Mike and Faye. It was starting to get a little cool out so everyone started bundling up. I thought it felt great though.

Todd and Sam. Sam was getting fussy and needed to be put to bed for the night so Todd being the best hubby ever decided to go ahead and get Sam cleaned up, read to, and in bed. What a great hubby. It was his birthday party, but yet he decided to be the one to take care of Sam instead of having me do it.

Well there you have it...no pictures of the cake or food and the massive stack of hamburger buns. Everyone was too busy eating to get a picture of all the yummy treats. :)

With in the last year...

I was inspired by my friend Amanda to write this blog.

With in the last year I have...

1. Become a better parent of a toddler--well I'm still working on this one.

2. Started my own Pampered Chef business and stuck with it. (April 2007)--and just completed my first year as an independent consultant. Woo Hoo!

3. Moved back to Wilmore (August 2007)--It just sucked us right back in.

4. Have been blessed with a few new and wonderful friendships (May and August 2007)--This was and has been wonderful for me as I had been feeling very alone for a long time.

5. Decided that I'm no longer churched out and am ready to finally find a good church home to call my own (January 2008)--I'm still looking so if any of you have church recommendations let me know and no I'm not interested in Quest.

6. Found out that I was going to be a mom again (September 2007)--She'll be here any day now and I can't wait for the chaos to begin again. lol

7. Finally bought a new mattress even though we talked about doing it for the last 2 years (March 2008)--Thank you tax return!

8. Celebrated 5 years as a married couple (December 2007)--and actually left Sam with family overnight while we got away which was a first for us.

9. Watched less TV than I use to -- thank you writers strike. lol :)--but now the DVR is on overdrive trying to catch everything we watch and at least now I can watch all my favorite shows in one day instead of watching TV every night.

10. Went through a major financial overhaul (completion date January 2008)

What's your list?

Slacker Mom

Today I was really feeling like a slacker mom. I'm having a hard time sleeping at night and last night was no exception. I think I've probably just been pushing myself to hard to get things done around the house and various other things. It has been a beautiful day outside and I was really feeling like I should take Sam outside to help encourage his walking and stuff. I was just so tired and worn out though that I decided that we would spend most of our day inside. Sam is a wonderful kid so he had lots of fun playing inside and spending the day in his pjs. Here are some pictures of his indoor adventures today.

After some hard playing this is what some of the mess looked like. Can you tell you he likes to play with many different things at one time?

Then he decided to he wanted to play hide and seek. He always hides in the same places and he cracks up everytime I find him. What a silly kid.

Sam also decided today that he wanted to watch some cartoons during his playtime so he went and turned on the tv. When I came in the room this is how he was laying watching tv. Somebody sure looks comfy.

After his brief half hour of watching Blue's Clues we had a luxurious dinner of Peanut Butter and Jelly. lol. He didn't mind and I think he kinda thought it was fun that he was having that for dinner since he only gets it for lunch every few days. See what I mean about feeling like a slacker mom...I was too tired to cook something so I gave him a PB&J sandwich.

We did eventually go outside for about a half hour and sat on the front step just watching everything in the neighborhood and listening and talking about birds, dogs, and the airplane we saw in the sky. He even ventured out to take 14 steps by himself barefoot. Yeah!!

To cap off the evening he did one of his favorite things which is taking a bath. Look at that grin. This kid loves being in the tub and splashing water everywhere.

I guess I shouldn't feel too bad about taking the easy way out of things today since I am allowed to get tired and feel worn out. Plus Sam had a good time being inside and creating chaos. :)

Trip out

Today Todd got done with work a little early so we were able to go out as a family and spend some time together. We went to Panera for dinner and then went out to the University of Kentucky's Gardens. It was a little disappointing because not many flowers were in bloom yet. Oh well at least we had a nice little stroll out in the nice weather and got to spend time together as a family.

Todd and Sam admiring the drippy water fountain.

Beautiful orange and yellow tulips.

I'm not sure what this is. It kinda looks like a tulip, but not really. Still it was really beautiful.

Another shot of the beautiful orange and yellow tulips. Apparently the only thing that was really in bloom at the Garden were tulips.

Milestone

Just wanted to share that Sam did some walking outside this morning with his PT. Yeah!! He cried for like the first half hour we tried getting him to move around and walk outside and then all the sudden he decided that he was willing to walk. Yeah!! He walked from our mailbox all the way up to the house. I guess that's like 10 feet, but I could be wrong since I'm not really all that great with judging distance. Anyways...very exciting that he walked a little bit. He didn't walk anymore outside after that so we decided to come in and we'll go back out later and try for more. I'm so excited though that he walked outside since this is the first time that he has ever done that.

Nah

Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching my friends two daughters. I believe they are like 7 and 10 or something along those lines. Wonderful girls and very enjoyable to be around. Anyways the oldest girl asked Sam if was going to share his room with his new sister who will be here in a couple of weeks. His response a very emphatic "nah" while shaking his head no. lol. I guess he has another thing coming in a couple of weeks as he will most certainly will be sharing his room with his little sister.

33 week update

This will be a short post. Just wanted to let everyone know how my 33 week check up went.

Baby is measuring on target and has a good strong heartbeat. I think she said it was 155 or something like that.

My blood pressure was slightly elevated so we'll have to watch to make sure it doesn't get higher. I'm lost 3 lbs. So my total weight gain is officially only 3 1/2 lbs. The weight loss she is assuming is due to the dehydration problem I had last week. I'm still feeling really tired, but she said that would be expected since I'm still recovering from last week and am chasing around a toddler full time too.

We talked about all the braxton hicks contractions I have been having and the pressure that I'm already feeling and she still thinks I will probably go into labor early. The contractions and such are a good sign that my body is getting ready for baby girls arrival so that's good.

Trip to the dentist and other fun stuff

The above is a picture of a picture. They took a picture of us with the dentist and Sam's new prize--a new toothbrush. The trip went well. Sam was excited to meet new people and be out and did well until we had to lay him down for the dentist to check his teeth. He cried the whole time, but luckily there wasn't much to report as it seems his teeth are great. He'll go back in 6 months for another check up and that's pretty much it. The dentist was really nice and gave us lots of suggestions for helping to brush Sam's teeth and such. Oh and since Sam is a thumb sucker I decided to ask when that would become a problem. He said that by the time he is 4 years old that he should no longer do that so we've got time to work on that. Overall not that rough of a time and I'm glad we went ahead and started our visits to the dentist for Sam.



The other three pictures in this post are from Jiffy Lube. We decided to get an oil change in my car since we got done with Sam's appointment so quickly. Sam enjoyed hanging out in little lobby sitting area playing with his cars and sitting in the big adult chairs. He cracks me up sometimes. He was also laughing pretty hard at the tv that had all the beeping in it from the talk show since everyone was cussing.

After that we went to Chick-Fil-A and had some lunch before heading home. Todd had to get to work so we needed something easy and quick. Again Sam had a good time. He loved eating like a big guy eating his chicken nuggets and fries right from their wrappers. I guess the days of us making his food smaller and such are over. My little guy no longer wants to be a little guy, but instead be a big boy. I can't believe how much he tries to exert his independence. Anyways that was the morning...now it's time for afternoon cartoons and laughing so I'm off to enjoy time with my little man. :)

Sam update

Sam has been hard at play today. He recently decided that he likes making towers and stacking things as much as he does knocking them down. lol. It's fun to see him do something different. He's even learned that he can incorporate some of his books into his buildings and create other things. Such fun. He has since moved on to other toys since these pictures were taken. His room is a mess, but he's having such a good time and we are not watching cartoons (and I'm glad too...I love Spongebob but it's nice to have a break from it).

Sam had his PT appointment this morning. He did some walking for the therapist which is good though he decided that he would rather play with his blocks than doing anything that she wanted to do which is how it usually goes. We are still working on motivation factors to get him to walk when we are not in the house. He walks all the time inside, but refuses to do it outside. We have been trying to go outside more with him when other kids are out there, but all he does is crawl. He just hasn't decided that he wants to walk all the time yet.

His eating has gotten a little bit better too. I've readjusted the way I think about how he needs to eat. He has always been good at eating and meals, but in the last few weeks has gotten very fussy and particular with his meals. I think some of it has to do with the fact that he would rather play than eat. I'm trying to give him smaller portions of things through out the day. He eats breakfast in the morning, but instead of giving him lunch I give him some snacks (string cheese, pretzel sticks, cherry tomatoes) and then give him another snack after nap (yogurt, cereal bar, peanut butter crackers, raisins) and then give him his normal dinner later on in the evening. So far it has been working and he's less fussy with eating. I don't give him everything I listed above for snacks, but mix it up a little and try to get him to eat healthy all week vs. daily.

Tomorrow Sam has his first Dentist appointment which should be interesting. Say a little prayer for us. Thankfully Todd has the morning off so he can come with us since I'm sure it might be a little difficult for me by myself. I'll let you all know tomorrow how that appointment goes. For now it's time to put the little guy down for a nap.

Great find

If you guys aren't familiar with craigslist.com you should check it out. It's one of many sites that I use to find great deals on used items. Yesterday I was able to pick up this really cute Step 2 push car for Sam for only $10. What a deal huh? I'm sure when it's not so cool outside he will get a chance to play outside on it. The long blue handle in the back comes off so I can push it that way with him in the car or it can be taken off so he can control it himself with his feet. Anyways I was pretty excited about my find and wanted to show it off. :)

The one with pictures

I realize it's been a few days since I blogged and it's been even longer since I've had a blog with pictures so today I'm taking care of both of those problems.

First off I can't believe that today it is cool enough to wear a hoodie. It's been so warm and nice that it seems weird to have to pull out a hoodie just so I can take the trash out or check the mail. In any event it's nice to see the grass green and see all the trees and flowers growing (even if they are making everyone sick). Here's a picture of the tree in our front yard. I just thought it was so beautiful and wanted to share it with everyone. I have no idea what type of tree it is, but it's wonderful to see it just outside our front door.

It has been an interesting week. I am feeling somewhat better. I haven't been back to the hospital or doctor so that is good. I think my next appointment is sometime this coming week. I'm still really exhausted and am having a hard time keeping my strength up. Pray that I am able to regain some strength and keep up with my monster of a son. :)

Sam has had an interesting week too with random spells of being sick and fits of defiance. I'm not really sure what's going on with that, but it is very frustrating trying to get him to calm down and discipling him when he clearly does something that he's not suppose to. Today he is a little bit calmer and for that I am thankful. Todd is at work so maybe Sam just needed some Mommy time to help him calm down. I'm actually sitting in his room while he lays in his bed (I promised him I wouldn't leave his room until he fell asleep for his nap). Here's a picture of this morning. Sam watching cartoons calmly.

Thursday we celebrated with my friend Colleen for her birthday. Her actual birthday was Friday but we decided to start celebrating early. :) We all had dinner at Saul Good and ate lots of yummy food. Happy Birthday Friend!! Oh course I was a spaz and forgot to take pictures of my lovely friend and her family to document the occasion, but here is a picture of Colleen and I from Christmas time.

Friday was suppose to be a wonderful day off for Todd with us getting to do something as a family. We had even talked about a possible day trip, but alas our son had other plans and decided to get sick and then be angry and upset all day. It was a long tiring day, but we did get to rent two movies and hang out a little bit. We rented Alvin and the Chipmunks for Sam. He laughed a few times, but overall wasn't really all that impressed. We also rented Sweeney Todd and enjoyed it very much. So even though our plans for the day were canceled we did have a little bit of down time to enjoy watching a movie and eating a pizza.

Sam just fell asleep so I'm going to go ahead and go for now. There are a few things I need to try and get done while he's napping so I can spend time with him when he wakes up. I hope everyone is having a wonderful Saturday with lots of rest.

Hospital trip

Well...I called my doctor this morning and she wanted me to go to the hospital. She was afraid I was dehydrated since I hadn't kept anything down for over 24 hours. After getting my sister Stephanie to come over to watch Sam for me and Todd finding a replacement at work we went off to the hospital. As it turns out I was dehydrated. They gave me several bags of fluids and monitored me for a few hours and then they let me go home. I've regained my color and am feeling a bit better. Still feeling sick, but not nearly as bad as I was earlier and at least I can keep some food down now. She said as long as I can keep some fluids down then I should really start to feel better soon. So I'm hoping tomorrow will be even better than today.

Taken care of

This is going to be another post without pictures. Sorry everyone. I'm not feeling so great right now. Since 2am last night I've been horribly sick. I'll spare you the details since it isn't fun and nobody really wants that much information. Around 7am when we got up for the day I told Todd that there was no way I was going to be getting up since I was so tired and feeling so bad. He didn't argue with me, but instead got up and took care of Sam and his breakfast and all. What a great husband. :) He even called my Mom (Peg) to see if they would be willing to take care of him at church and watch him for a little while so I can get some sleep. It breaks my heart to have other people watch my kiddo, but I'm glad that he insisted and that they were willing to take care of him. I was able to get a good 2 hour nap in before I went to get Sam.

I hung out with my family for a little while. I was starting to feel a bit better, but not completely. I figured if I got really sick it was better to do it there while someone else was watching Sam. After a couple hours there we came home and took a nap. Yeah for another 2 hour nap. Still not feeling great and unable to keep anything down...not even Gatorade. So yeah, not sure what's going on, but my energy level is essentially zip.

My neighbors noticed I wasn't feeling so great when Sam and I came home so they have been wonderful at coming over and checking on me to see if I need anything and to see how I am feeling. I seriously have the best neighbors ever. My amazing neighbors also decided that since they were mowing their lawn today that they would go ahead and do ours too since I wasn't feeling well and since Todd works so much. How nice is that?! I'm so thankful for their kindness and would never have asked them to do that for us.

Even though I feel horrible I am thankful today for the wonderful people who take care of me and who look out for us. Todd got someone to take care of Sam for me so I could sleep...I would never ask anyone to do that for me. My neighbors and their acts of kindness today. I'm just blown away and so thankful.

It's hard for me to ask for help or to admit that I need help so it's a very humbling experience to know that if I ask for it others will help me and even when I don't there are others who aren't going to allow me to refuse their help. :) So I guess despite how awful I feel it was a good day spiritually for me since it allowed me to think about how much God provides for us even when we aren't aware of it.

*And yes I still feel awful. I've decided to take some phenagrin (I'm sure I spelled that wrong) to help slow down the sick. I'm hoping to get some food in me soon and get a good nights rest and be done with this. I hope it's just one of those 24 hour intestinal bugs. If I'm still feeling bad I'll make sure to check in with my doctor since I don't want to become dehydrated or anything.

long night

Sam went to bed last night around 7pm. Todd and I called it a night around 9pm. Yes, we are old and went to bed at 9pm. lol. Anyways around midnight I had trouble sleeping and decided to get up and play on the computer to help me get sleepy again. It worked and around 1:30am I was back in bed.

2am and Sam decides he wants to be up. It was storming outside so I figured he was awake because of that...we did everything we could to get him back into his bed. Changed his diaper, gave him some water, laid with him in his bed, put him in his bed by himself and even tried to get him to sleep with us which we don't normally do. To no avail He did not want to sleep and continued to get up every 15 minutes. After several hours of this at 6am we decided to get up and have an early breakfast and then try to get a little bit of sleep before Todd left for work this morning. It worked.

Unfortunately before we were able to put him back down to sleep we had to change his clothes and his bedding. Apparently he got sick at some point during the last 15 minutes before we decided to just get up and eat breakfast. Poor kid. I don't know why he didn't want to sleep, but now we are all tired and worn out. Todd left for work a little while ago. He's working a double and probably wont be home until sometime around midnight tonight and I'm doing a bridal shower tonight so neither of us is feeling very rested. To make it worse Sam has been experiencing some bowel problems and making some messes that no one would want to clean up. Maybe he's got a virus and isn't feeling well.

Anyways...say a prayer for us. We all need sleep. Sam obviously isn't feeling well and of course life doesn't stop just because we didn't get any rest. lol I guess I should get use to this kind of random sleeping pattern again since the baby will be here before we know it. :)

What a morning.

First off...I'm tired. It's been a busy morning. It doesn't help that Todd worked late and so we didn't get to bed until about 12 midnight and then today started at 7am. It's been a good, but busy morning.

I had my 31 week checkup today. Everything looks great. My blood pressure was 110/64 which is great for me. I've gained a grand total of 6.5 lbs this pregnancy. My doctor was making fun of me because I was wearing a belt with my pants and she said pregnant women aren't suppose to do that. I explained that I'm just big enough that my normal pants don't fit, but not big enough for maternity pants so I have to buy pants that are about 2 sizes to big so they sit at my hips and then put a belt on. She thought that was pretty funny. I'm glad someone thinks its funny. Anyways...Doctor said I'm still measuring a little bit big. I'm 31 weeks and I'm measuring 32 weeks. She said if I'm still measuring a week ahead when I get to 35 or so weeks we'll do another ultrasound to see how big the baby really is. She still thinks I'll have this baby before my due date. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

While I had my appointment Todd took Sam and met up with his brother for some tea at Panera. After my appointment we went to goodwill (no good deals to talk about this time). Then we went to lunch at Panera. They have wonderful soup and sandwiches perfect for days like today where it's rainy and cold. We decided after lunch we would go and see a movie.

We have never seen a movie at the theater with Sam. Even when he was a newborn we always left him with a sitter because we didn't want to be the people in the theater with the screaming kid. We figured since he's almost 2 and we never make it out to see a movie that we would try it and see how it goes. It was a great experience. First off we went to an early show so tickets weren't full price and Sam got in free. Awesome! We saw Horton Hears a Who. Sam was a little freaked about about the dark and the loud noise of the movie at first, but soon got over that and had a good time watching the movie sitting in Daddy's lap. As Todd would put it we even had a little Mystery Theater going on in some parts with Sam's running commentary. The movie was great and it was a good first experience for us all. I'm sure it didn't hurt that the movie was animated and was fairly short too.

We got back a little while ago and Sam is now fast asleep after his busy morning. I sent Todd out to the store to pick up some food supplies for the bridal show I'm doing tomorrow. I have the best husband ever. It's raining and gross and he didn't even complain about me sending him to the store so soon after we got back from being out all morning. I love my hubby. :) We are going to try and take it easy for the rest of the day since Todd works a double tomorrow and I have my huge bridal show to do tomorrow night. I should try and put my feet up while I can Sam will be up from his nap before I know it. :)

(Sam fast asleep after our busy morning out...Isn't he cute?)

huh?

Why does Facebook hate me so much? I can't seem to do anything on Facebook. None of the features are working. I can't update my status, read blogs, see who's online, play scrabble or anything. I somehow got the photo section to work for a few minutes but then it stopped working too. Is anyone else having issues with Facebook or is it just me? If it is just me anyone have any ideas on how to get it fixed?

Other than minor frustrations with Facebook. I'm doing good. I was able to get some work done today in preparation for the Bridal shower I'm doing on Friday. I'm feeling good about the what I've done and need just a little bit more time to get the rest done.

I'm also feeling less overwhelmed. I've realized I need to focus on just one thing at a time and I'll be able to get through it. Thanks everyone for your kind words and emails. I know that I have to just slow down and just do what I can when I can and not over think everything.