Just as I am

The snow made me do it

2008-12-22T17:56:00.000-08:00

I know, I don't post for weeks and then BAM!! Two posts in one day!

I'll hold while you all compose yourselves.

Better? Ok, lets begin.

I've been tagged by Jessi to do a fun little doo-hicky-blog-pass-it-on thing. Yeah. I don't know what that means either, just go with me on it.

Here are the rules as stated to me:

1. Go to the 4th folder in your computer where you store your pictures.

2. Pick the 4th picture in that folder.

3. Explain the picture.

4. Tag 4 people to do the same.

This little game, my friends, has taken us to August of 2006 on our computer. The picture below is of Livie, age about 15 months old, on one of those little 25 cent rides in the mall. This is her 'if you don't take me off of here in about 2 seconds I will have a complete melt-down' face.

And yes. She has her mother to thank for those dark circles. You are welcome Liv.

I tag: Katie at MKHKKH, Carey at Redhead in Vegas, Kim at Lifeafter, and Kelly at Life with 3 boys

Spend Less, Give more

2008-12-22T09:31:00.000-08:00

John and I decided at the beginning of the season to jump on the bandwagon of this Advent Conspiracy idea. It's something each of us has become quite passionate about this Christmas, and hope that the idea catches on with others as well in years to come!

We've been making gifts for family this year (can't tell you what because they may be reading this). Oh, and don't worry, none of my gifts are anything made in the kitchen. I love you all WAY too much for that. :)

Toss one back and call me in the morning....

2008-12-20T07:45:00.000-08:00

Livie was one to be sick a lot as a baby. It seemed like she was coughing ALLTHETIME. (We now know she has asthma, which she takes care of by using a nebulizer (see above), or an inhaler.)

It was horrible.

I'm not going to lie, it was emotionally, mentally and physically draining.

Fine. I guess it wasn't exactly sunshine and rainbows for her either. Whatever.

About a year and a half ago all of this came to a head. We hadn't discovered her asthma yet. She woke up *GASPING* for air in the middle of the night. It wasn't croup-we had dealt with that on numerous occasions. Her breathing was SO rapid, like she just couldn't completely catch her precious little breath.

As we sat rocking her in the living room I picked up the phone and called the 'advice nurse' at the hospital. She had me count her breaths for her over the phone and quickly she came back with 'Ok, now I want you to listen to what I'm going to tell you.'

OH CRAPBALLS. She used that tone with me. That I'm-going-to-talk-to-you-like- I-would-a-2nd-grader-right-now-because-I-can-tell-you-are-
about-ready-to-lose-it-
emotionally-at-any-second tone. Aw, God bless her.

Basically in a nutshell she said in so many words: Do not pass go, do not collect $200, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GET A GRIP!!, and take your daughter to the hospital immediately.

I assured her in my 'business-like' voice that yes, I would be sure to safely transport my daughter to the nearest medical facility post haste, and thank you so very much for your time.

Oh I kid.

It was more like: OKTHANKSOHMYGOSHBYE.

We got Miss Thang over to the hospital where long story short they monitored her oxygen levels, which were not great, did quite a few chest x-rays, which left mommy crying in the hallway while listening to her baby sobbing out of fear, and in the end they decided she needed to be transported to the Childrens Hospital to be monitored overnight.

Nothing perks a wee one up like the promise of an ambulance ride.

No, seriously. She's weird like that.

So, daddy left the E.R. to run home and grab some overnight things and Liv and I waiting while the EMT's rolled the gurney in, strapped her carseat on, and wheeled her out to the waiting 'Ambliance'.

All the while she's wheezing and giggling, wheezing and giggling. I told you, we've got ourselves a strange one.

She was beside herself as the drivers showed her the lights and how they go 'round and 'round.

We loaded into the ambulance and we were on our way. Liv kept asking '*wheeze* can you *wheeze* turn the lights *wheeze* on again??'

And because she's so dang cute, they obliged. Numerous times.

Now keep in mind for such occasions as these, EMT's, Firemen and police officers often times keep teddy bears on hand to give the kids.

Well, thats just not how we roll here in Ory-gun.

Evidently they were out of teddy bears, so the EMT's were scrambling to come up with something to give Livie.

The night before just so happened to be Mardi gras, so, after apologizing for it being all they had, the man slapped a spongebob sticker on the front and handed Miss Olivia this:

Yup. Nothing says 'chin-up, little one!' quite like a light-up corona necklace.

Not quite the Partridge Family....

2008-11-25T11:13:00.000-08:00

The angels are singing

2008-11-12T20:00:00.000-08:00

Tuesday night we received a phone call letting us know that our Grandma Thelma had passed away after a long, exhausting battle with Cancer.

While we are so so sad to know she isn't here physically with us anymore, we are SO happy to know that she isn't hurting anymore. So happy to know that shes in heaven dancin' with Jesus!
While we know we won't get to see her next time we visit Papa Jerry, we find HUGE comfort in the fact that we WILL see her again someday.

Because she had a personal relationship with Jesus, because she loved him with everything she had, because she found Joy in calling him 'Father', she is now in a place where there is no more pain. No tears. Where she will never go hungry. Never go thirsty. Never again know sadness!

Grandma Thelma has made an incredible dent on my heart spiritually. You never questioned where she stood in her faith. Never questioned what was most important to her in life: her relationship with her very best friend in the entire world, Jesus.

I've learned from Grandma Thelma how important it is to let those you love know it, every chance you get. She thought the world of her family and friends and would do anything for them.
She was a beautiful woman, inside and out and I can't wait to party up in heaven with her someday. :)

I want each and every one of you to know that I do love you. I so totally care about each of you. I wouldn't call you my friend if I didn't. I hope if there has ever been any question in your heart as to what this 'God thing' is about, that you won't wait another second wondering, that you would simply ask! God loves each of you more than you could ever imagine. He physically died for you so you wouldn't have to for every little sin! How freakin' awesome is that?! I love that regardless of how screwed up I think I am, God looks at each of us as his precious child. SO cool.

Grandma Thelma loved her Livie-girl :)

This last picture is from a trip we took a few weeks ago to see Papa and Grandma Thelma so that she could meet Miss Samantha and spend some precious time with her two great-granddaughters :)

And precious time it was.

I'm lame.

2008-11-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

No, seriously. I know this because I couldn't even manage to post a picture of my youngest daughters first Halloween until now. Yeah. Lame.

Well, regardless, we DID have a super fun time getting the girls dressed up and showing them off to all the grandparents and great-grandparents.

Miss Olivia decided VERY early on in the season that she wanted to be a fairy. And a cow. And a duck. And Dora. But after realizing that there is only 1 Halloween, she settled for the fairy. And an incredibly DARLING fairy she was:

Our little ladybug was pretty darn cute too, I must say...
And as you can see, she was TOTALLY digging the costume and the camera flashes and the fact that we LEFT HER ON THE FLOOR ALL BY HERSELF!! *GASP!* The nerve, I know. We are awful parents.

All was well in the world again once she was tucked back into the Moby, or her 'cotton womb' as I like to refer to it as.

Miss Olivia was all about the trick or treating this year my friends. In fact, she had the trick part down cold. I'm not sure how many times we tried to explain to her why knocking and then turning and running down the sidewalk wasn't the right way to beg for treats. I think by the last house she finally got it, as long as I was standing RIGHT NEXT TO HER AND DON'T LEAVE, MOM!! *sigh* oh my little daredevil....
We tried and tried to convince Sam that if she just gave the old trick or treating thing a try, she may really like it, but she just turned her little nose up at me and rolled her eyes way back into her head-farther than I really thought humanly possible-and promptly went back to sleep. Can you say BOR-ING?!

In between houses, lack of sleep mixed with hints of a pending sugar high began to ooze from Liv's little body. She began to entertain us with some obviously practiced fairy dance moves:

Watch out 'So You Think You Can Dance'! I KNOW this one can dance!!

Dad was pooped by the time we made it back home. What, you would think he worked all day or something?! Oh, wait, he did....
So some down time with his girls is just what he needed before everyone was whisked off to bed to sleep off their sugar-induced comas....

I'd say we had a pretty fun night. (Considering we landed at least one Baby Ruth bar, it was a freaking EXCELLENT night in my book!)

At least the shirt matches the pants?

2008-10-17T19:11:00.001-07:00

Fussy Wussy

2008-10-14T14:20:00.000-07:00

Holy crap balls it's been forever and a day, huh?

I have managed to survive (barely) for the last week and a half without internet in our house. Our lame-o computer cord decided to start sparking and being the responsible people we are, we figured it would be more expensive to pay for fire damage than a new cord, so, we unplugged the sucker and waited for a good sale on a replacement cord.

Can you say $20 off?! YEEAHHHH baby we are SO back in business!!

Anyway...the faulty computer cord was only the start of my woes.

Silly me thought this new baby thing would be CAKE. Liv was seriously the easiest baby on the planet. Rarely cried, never really cared to be held much, just wanted to chill on her own and take in her surroundings on her own terms. So why would my second child be any different? Oh boy is God laughing hysterically at me right now for my stupidity....

This little doll is a FUSSER. Sweet Mary, if she's hungry, she screams. If she's wet, she screams. If you go to change that uncomfortable wet diaper, she screams. If we lay her on her back, she screams. The child is constipated. She screams. She has some acid reflux issues, she screams. We've started her on medicine to help with the pukey issue, she screams. We put her down for a mili-second, she screams. Yowza. Mama is EXHAUSTED.

I have become an official baby-wearer with this little one. Liv HATED being in any kind of baby carrier. Miss Samantha? You guessed it, can't stand to NOT be in one. My saving grace has been my new Moby Wrap baby carrier. And doncha know you can haul a child up to 45 pounds in the thing?? If you could please introduce me to someone who feels the need to carry their 45 pound child around in a baby carrier, please let me know. I would love to smack them on the head. Hard.
But in all seriousness, this has been the one thing to IMMEDIATELY calm her down. Oh and this:
This be her new best friend: the hot water bottle. Fill that puppy up with warm water, lay her on her side with her belly up against it, and she's happy. For about 5 minutes, until she realizes that you have PUT HER DOWN AND NOW I'M GOING TO SCREAM AND THROW FOUL LANGUAGE AT YOU IN MY INDECIPHERABLE BABY LANGUAGE!!!

The child is three weeks old, and her Diva-like attitude is already shining through.

In all seriousness though, while I do realize her temperament IS completely different from what Liv's was, I know she just plain doesn't feel good. Between her play-doh like poop and her constant stream of baby-spew, I just want to cry for her. What kind of mother am I to have ripped her from her incredibly comfortable little home inside my belly where life was just sunshine and rainbows and throw her into this hell that consists of constipation and excitedly loud big sisters??

She's shown signs of feeling a bit better since switching to those Dr. Browns bottles and starting her on the meds that her pediatrician prescribed for her acid reflux. PRAISE THE LORD.

I'm shocked at the amount of patience I have with this little screaming bundle. John and I were reminiscing the other night about how NUMEROUS times we felt the need to throw Liv through the window as a baby because her screaming fits, though very far and few between, MADE ME WANT TO RIP MY EARS OFF AND EAT THEM. We haven't experienced that feeling with Sam though, even though her screams are pretty continuous. Maybe it's the fact that knowing you can somewhat calm her just by simply snuggling her to your chest so she can hear your heart beat that makes things seem a little bit sweeter.

Through the screams and lack of poo, I find myself incredibly in love with my little family. I'm realizing that I'm LOVING being a mommy to two girls, screams and all.

Cowabunga!

2008-09-29T21:37:00.000-07:00

I was disappointed to hear that State Fair had ended for the year already. We had been thinking about entering 'the girls'-aka my chi-chi's-in the Dairy cattle competition. We without a doubt would have come away with a Blue Ribbon in 'production'....I just know it....

Thats my story and I'm stickin' to it!

2008-09-28T18:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, I do realize my newborn is over a week old now and I haven't posted more than a few pictures of her precious face....but I'm sitting on a bag of frozen vegetables right now, so whine to someone else about it.

I thought I'd share a little more in depth of how things went last weekend. I know you all have been just sitting on the edge of your seats waiting to hear all about it, right? RIGHT?!

Friday I went into the doctor because I was having so many contractions and so much pressure in the you-know-what. But alas, I was not dilated a single centimeter. Darn you, you stupid cervix!!

I was so burnt out. SO exhausted. And I knew my doctor was not one to be real gung-ho on inducing labor early, so I had no hope for relief anytime soon. Then ,that precious doctor spoke words from heaven: 'well, if you were sitting here wringing my neck telling me that you couldn't handle to have this baby in you another second then I could see about possibly getting things started tonight.'

uhhhh. Tonight tonight?? Like this very day tonight? Like I could potentially be holding a baby in my arms instead of my too tightly stretched belly as soon as tomorrow?!

WHOA.

We discussed how we would go about things and she sent me home to talk to John about it and see how he felt.

I believe his exact words were: 'Do we really have to wait until tonight?!'

I'm choosing to take that as him being SO excited to meet his new daughter rather than the idea that he wanted to do this sooner on the off chance my whining would stop that much sooner. :)

8:30pm we headed over to the hospital and got settled.

Oh, hold on...my veggies are melting...

Ok.

Without going into too much detail, the next morning we officially started induction. At which point I got my GLORIOUS Epidural. An Epidural which was to me like manna from heaven. Pure gold I tell ya.

The AWESOME thing about my glory-drug was that I felt literally not a thing. The entire labor and delivery. How sweet is that??
The downside about it is, again, that I literally could not feel a thing. In other words, each of my legs might as well have weighed 500 pounds, and my butt a good 700lbs by itself, which made it impossible to turn over from side to side without help and made me bedridden for the entire laboring day. Which made for an incredibly boring day for all involved. I think everyone there was hoping to see me writhing in pain, for their own entertainment. Well, I showed them...Jerks.
As you can see, we did manage to find things to do to keep us entertained:

John stole my SWEET hospital slippers for the weekend, and decided to take a picture of them as proof of how incredibly fabulous they were:

He then came over and flung my half-dead body off the hospital bed and took up residence on it himself because he felt he needed a little rest before 'we' started pushing. For those of you concerned, I know how to army crawl-which obviously came in handy at this point when my dead-legged body was sprawled on the floor.

After my long trek across the hospital room floor, I pulled myself back up onto the bed and managed to check some email.

I also had plenty of time during the day to finish some sewing. I know. It's weird.

It's a tradition between my sister and I to take a picture of the dilation chart each time the doctor confirms that we have, in fact, dilated further. Don't ask why. Again, it's weird. But we are ok with that.

Finally, John felt bad for the whole bed fiasco, so right before 'push baby out time', he held a mirror for me while I fixed my hair. Because everyone knows that newborns are so freaking judgemental, and the last thing I needed was that child holding my bad hair against me until the end of time.

With the help of a little Journey and Def Leppard playing in the background on our laptop, we pushed our way towards becoming parents for a second time and the reward was so great:

Samantha Jane joined our little family at 9:40pm on Saturday. She was 8lbs 8ozs and just darling as anything.

I think her big sister thinks so too:

And now starts a new adventure in our lives. Poor, poor daddy. :)

Just a sneak peek...

2008-09-21T21:48:00.000-07:00

She's here! We did it!!

We managed to create/labor over/birth another DARLING little girl!! Wahoo!!

We get to head home tomorrow, when I will fill you in on all the details and share too many wonderful pictures with you, but for now, to scratch that itch for ya, I'll give you all a look at just few little precious moments from the last day or two.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and thoughts during this baby waiting period!

Miss Samantha Jane:

Mom, Dad and Sam!

Big sister showing SO much love for 'her baby':

We are so crazy in love with our two girls:

The countdown to d-day begins.

2008-09-16T15:21:00.000-07:00

D-day=delivery day

D-day=the day I will be pushing a human out of my hoo-ha.

D-day=the day my hoo-ha will forever hate me for.

You get the idea.

I gave the good old doctor a call yesterday because I had been having contractions all morning about 10 minutes apart, give or take a few minutes, and baby had significantly dropped.

In fact, she has dropped so far that her head is now in between my ankles. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, considering now I can see what she looks like. She seems to be sporting a giant cyclops eye. Not the most horrible news-glasses will be cheaper, right? Oh I kid, thats just terrible....

ANYWAY, back to calling the doctor: She said it wouldn't hurt to come on in, and she could tell me for sure if I was in labor.

Saweet. Let's get this show on the road.

So, we scrambled to gather all our hospital things 'just in case' and we headed on over.

Long story short, that jerk uterus of mine has decided t doesn't want to dilate yet. Ohhh we are going to play that way, huh?! Fine....

So, we were sent back home, with meds to help me sleep at night should I have more contractions, and were told to call should they become a little more regular/stronger.

Well, feeling sorry for myself, I decided I should go get some cuteness added to my feet. Because Lord knows, thats the first thing this child will see when entering the world-my toes, and I would hate for her to hold against me the fact that I couldn't even take the time to have someone rub and pamper them for me before hand. So, I sacrificed an hour out of my day yesterday and made sure daughter #2 would be proud of my tootsies.
Here is how they turned out:

When I was pregnant with Olivia, I had my toes done, and had them put a little 'O' on my big toe in rhinestones. This time they put a little 'S' on each toe with some pretty rhinestone accents.
'S' for Samantha. Which is the baby's name, for those of you that aren't up on the times. :)

I went back for my regularly scheduled appointment today and discussed how this whole birthing thing was going to go down.
Looks like I will go in next Wednesday and start the good old induction! Yowza. A new baby in one week. CRAZY.

I'm a little nervous, ok TERRIFIED, being as my last labor and delivery experience was nightmarish, but I know I can do this. I was a little concerned with being induced-you hear all these horror stories-but it turns out that she doesn't care to use pitocin to induce unless absolutely necessary, instead she will use a more gentle medication to soften the cervix and get contractions going. That made me feel a little more at ease. A little. :)

So, thats the story morning glory. Sorry that I've been so scarce. Just been a little preoccupied mentally. You know, what with thinking that I'm going to have to be pushing a giant child out of a particular orifice in the near future and all.

AWESOME.

She got schooled.

2008-09-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

Well, my little girl is officially a school-aged child. For the next 15 years or so, there will never be an extended amount of time that she will not be attending school.

And that just gives me hives.

Her big day started with a nice breakfast of eggs and a juice box. We know how to dine up in these here parts.

And of course she made time to shine those pearly whites. She takes this task VERY seriously as you can tell by the look on her face.

Who could forget official first day of school picture time?? Oh not this momma, you betta baleeve that!!

After dropping Liv off at school, being that it was just a short day for her, John and I had a little time to waste. So what did we do? Take stupid pictures of course. Duh.

He told me to stick my tummy out as far as I could, so I did:

Then, he made this face:

I think he still likes me. I DID let him knock me up, afterall.

Livie's first day appeared to be a success:

So, how did we celebrate? With a Cotton Candy-flavored ice cream cone, of course!!

I sure am proud of my little lady, and so thrilled for her as she embarks on this exciting adventure! I love you Livie-loo! :)

Absence makes the heart grow fonder...

2008-09-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

Or the cervix dilate quicker?
One could only hope....

You may (or may not) have noticed my absence from blogging as of late....

Between this giant head lodged in my pelvis and the fact that my precious girl is starting preschool for the very first time tomorrow, well, this momma is a little emotionally preoccupied as of late.

Which is a bummer because I've got some great posts brewin' in the old noggin. One may or may not include racist sheep.

Yes, I said racist sheep.

I know, you can hardly wait.

I'll be back tomorrow with tons of too cute for words pictures of Miss Olivia heading off to class to corrupt all her little classmates with her overbearing mothering skills.

Where did she go??

2008-09-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

You all will NEVER believe what my child did to me yesterday.

Yesterday afternoon, nap time rolled around. Everyone breathe a sigh of relief with me now: ahhhhh! We turned the TV off, and began to climb the stairs.

Thats when it happened.

That child of mine had the nerve to tell me 'Goodnight mom. I can pray and tuck myself in this time. I don't need you to tuck me in.' And she proceeded to march her little heiney down the hall to her room and lay down in bed.

Uhhh 'scuse me?!

As if I'm not a major mess with her, my 'baby', getting ready to start preschool for the first time next week, now she decides to go all independent on me?!

I DON'T THINK SO!!

I think she needs a good time-out. Yes, I think that will get her to re-think how she gets all grown-up on me! Hmph!

Wedding weekend: Part deux

2008-08-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

Sooo when I last left you, which was entirely too long ago, I shared a few pics of us getting ready for the wedding day last weekend. Here are a few more to finish off the beautiful day :)

There is nothing like pairing a beautiful dress with an awesome pair of Superman undies. I'm tellin' ya, this girl knows all about her accessories.

I'm pretty sure you have never seen two cuter girls in your life. I DARE you tell tell me differently. Go ahead, try. I'll punch you in the face.

Here we are in our 'princess dresses', as Liv likes to call them.

Keeping my legs closed for any extended amount of time is increasing with difficulty lately. At least I shaved those puppies, huh?

And while you may think I'm sacrificing in the greatest way to pin this aisle runner, you would be mistaken. Thats just a front. It actually feels DANG good to let the old belly hang like that. So, thought I would do something productive while I was down there.
I still don't get why they made me get up when the wedding started. Whatever.

Here we are, all of us girlies, in all our hair-sprayed, make-up plastered, glory.

And here we are in the food line. Please make note that I am the FIRST one in line. I would like to tell you that they made me go first because I'm 'the pregnant one who needs to eat', but that would be a lie. I'm just selfish.

And finally, here I am with my beautiful Miss Magoo. Isn't she stunning? She looks like a model right out of a bridal magazine!

Thank you my precious friend for letting me be a part of your big day. You mean the world to me and I love you to pieces!

Wedding weekend: Part 1

2008-08-25T20:38:00.001-07:00

It was a humdinger of a weekend.
I know, that was a stupid word to use, but I've always wanted to use it in a sentence and now I have, therefore I can officially now die happy.

It's taken me a while to blog about this weekend, well, because between being up every hour the night before the wedding with braxton hicks contractions, and racing with a 3 year old all weekend, I'm kinda pooped!

I think for now, I'll just scratch all your itches by sharing some fun pics, then I'll detail about it all at a later time....cool? Cool...

Here we are at the rehearsal dinner, the bride is the one sitting next to me in the white shirt.
All but one of the us went to high school together! It was fun to all be together again!

Here we are spending the night in the hotel room. As you can see, Liv is WAY more excited than I am. It could have something to do with the fact that I don't fling MY limbs all over her while I sleep or that I don't start yelling gibberish about not being able to catch the butterflies in the middle of the night and scare the pee out of her. I'm just sayin'...

Here we are 'getting our hair did'! She likes it when I get her hair tangled in the brush when I'm blow-drying it. She really does.

The finished product! This weekend I taught her 'pain is beauty'. She'll learn to appreciate it in time.
The second picture is of her and her bestest friend Miss Kaylee, who is the bride's daughter. The bride is also my dearest friend, so it was just an extra special time for all of us.

Mommy and Livie all purtied up! We clean up pretty nice, huh? :)

Wedding weekend: Part 2 coming soon...

Trying to let my guard down....blog style!

2008-08-20T14:01:00.000-07:00

This morning while visiting My mom at the church office, Pastor Greg came down the hall and mentioned to me that he would appreciate it if I would just open up on my blog a little more. That I just seem so guarded and hesitant to share much of anything on here. So, I'll work on that a little more in the future, but just for you Greg.

Note to self: try to feel more comfortable writing about poo and contraction inducing love making. Check.

Well, as most of you know, Liv and I are in a wedding this weekend. Myself, as the maid of honor and Livie gets to be co-flower girl with the bride's (my dear Megan's) daughter.

I called my sister at the beginning of this week with a very important question. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Hi sister, I have a gross question for you....

Sister: Ok! (said with a hint of excitement, because she's just weird like that) :)

Me: I can't for the life of me reach my toes without feeling like this child will be squeezed up and out my throat, so do you think you could take my old nail polish off, and repaint my toes for the wedding?

Sister: Oh yeah, of course. I thought you were going to ask me about some weird discharge you were having or something.

Me: *dry heaving in the background* EWWW no!! Just my toes! Paint my toes!!

Sister: yeah, no problem, geez, thats not gross....

Hows that for opening up?

So there you have it. Momma's got a new set of SAWEET looking tootsies:

Try not to be too jealous of the totally awesome flip flop tan lines. I know you want some just like them, but we all can't have what we want, now can we??

Baby bash!

2008-08-19T17:24:00.000-07:00

No, I don't mean bashing the baby, I mean bash as in party. Oh, nevermind....

This post is long overdue (as most of my posts seem to be), but I wanted to share with you the lady bug themed baby shower that a few precious friends of mine decided I needed to have for baby #2 Saturday afternoon. Never mind the 8 bagillion 18 gallon tubs of clothes I have left over from Livie's baby days, this child needs to know how great a brand-new un-spit up on onsie wears! I'm so blessed to be so spoiled by such wonderful friends :) (In case you were wondering about the lady bugs, that is the theme for babys nursery as well!)

This is where I spent most of my time during the shower. There is nothing like food made specifically for a pregnant woman. I'm pretty sure if you were to go back, the imprints from my feet would still be there in front of the table. PURE HEAVEN.

My awesome sister made me this for the nursery! In case you can't make out the little poem, it's says: Ladybug, Ladybug on the tree; Fly down here and sit with me; Rest on my hand, I'll count your spots; 2...4...6...8 Polk-a-dots!

Grammy got Livie and Sam these precious matching dresses!

And of course Liv felt the need to put hers on IMMEDIATELY!! and prance around the rest of the shower with multiple layers of clothes in the 100 degree-plus weather. Thank you Lord for air conditioning!! *whew*

And one of my dearest friends, Emili. Thank you, my Emili, for making an uncomfortable pregnant gal forget her aching uterus for a day. I love you!

Boats, bellies and bbq

2008-08-13T15:53:00.000-07:00

Next time I get all excited about camping on an air mattress while 8 months pregnant, punch me in the head. Hard.

Oh, I kid, it wasn't all that bad, other than the fact that I swore if I rolled over too fast in the middle of night John would go flying off the other side. Oh, and the sore back which left me feeling like someone had sawed me right in half.

AWESOME.

Other than that, it really was a super fun weekend camping/reunioning with family.

Yeah, I totally know that reunioning is not a real word. Get over it.

We had the incredible opportunity to have 5 generations together for the weekend. FIVE!!
How many people can say that? It was a pretty special time.

The last day we were there, Johns grandparents surprised everyone with bringing a photographer in to take some family pictures. Above, is one of the most special pictures taken. The older woman in the picture, (no, not me, but thank you), is Grandma Cody. She is Livie's great-great-grandmother. She is also a great-great-grandmother to the two unborn babies in picture: one that I am carrying, and one that my sister-in-law is carrying. Grandma Cody will be 96 this year, and she is a spitfire!! I expect to see her around till well past 100.

Liv and John spent the weekend throwing rocks, floating on the river, and catching snakes. Yes, I said snakes. Miss Olivia shocked us all by desperately wanting to hold the snake that daddy caught. Weirdo.

Momma spent a lot of time supporting that which was my aching back, and contemplating just how big of a splash I could make if I decided to belly flop into the ice-cold river....

For the sake of my child, I decided to continue day dreaming about the idea, rather than following through. I'm a giver, what can I say.

Sister-in-law Amber and I did get some laughs in at the looks on peoples face as two big bellies waded their way into the lake. I will tell ya, there is NOTHING like letting your big ol' belly float in the water. Ahhh sweet relief. The shock of the cold cold water did give baby Samantha some good hiccups, that was pretty cute.

I gotta tell ya, something about camping brings out the 'special' side in our family.
And thats all I have to say about that.

TOTAL bummer

2008-08-08T11:21:00.000-07:00

So Johnny left for work this morning and as usual Liv and I stood at the screen door hollering and waving goodbye, when I see him get back out of the car and slam the car door shut while shaking his head. There may have been a flying banana aimed at our garage door as well, but thats neither here nor there....

Turns out, some giant butthole broke into our car last night and ripped, and I mean RIPPED the CD player out of our car and majorly broke and tore into the ignition, taking it, and ruining what was left to the point that we are unable to drive the car now, let alone even start it. So here we have what was a perfectly running Honda Accord sitting in front of our house, now un-driveable.
Ooh, and want to know the best part of all?? Since getting our new car, the Honda has soley been used for John to commute to and from work, so being the genius' that we are, we took it off of full coverage. AWESOME.

It's such a violating feeling to know that someone took that much time to ruin something that we worked so hard for. Those giant snot rags sat in OUR car and broke it. I found Livie's little jacket in the backseat earlier as I went out to inspect things, and that just makes my skin crawl, to think they were in the car with my precious girls jacket. So I smelled it to make sure that it didn't smell like nasty, bad people.
I'm weird like that.
But because I KNOW you secretly want to know, it didn't smell. It still had Liv's sweet juice stained smell on it.
So there is a plus.

Oh what a way to start the day. And we are leaving for camping this weekend, so that was a lovely way to start the weekend off as well.

I suppose if I start getting to bummed out about it, I can just sit and look at this:

because thats what I've been doing for the last two days, while peeing my pants from laughing so freaking hard at the fabulousness of the glasses on my daughters hilarious face.

Can you dig it man?

2008-08-07T10:47:00.000-07:00

Livin' in the 70's, we would have been the coolest cats on the block.

We would have been stickin' in to the man, and runnin' from the fuzz.

Pretty sure EVERYONE would have wanted to be friends with us in the 70's.

I'm just sayin'....

Please, don't scream.

2008-08-05T11:02:00.001-07:00

Some of you may be a bit put off by this picture. In fact. some of you maybe even be so horrified that you are plagued with nightmares for weeks to come after viewing it.

I apologize ahead of time.

You have been warned.

It's true. I'm still INCREDIBLY pregnant. 33 weeks my friends, and I'm certainly not getting any smaller.

*note* please excuse the nice looking man picking his nose in the background. I only claim him on every other Thursday. This was taken on a Sunday.

What a man, What a man, What a mighty good man...

2008-08-05T10:51:00.000-07:00

Yes he is!!

Hopefully I have successfully gotten that song stuck in your head now. No need to thank me, I'm just fabulously obnoxious like that naturally.

This right here is the sole reason I fell head over heels in love with this guy.

He's just special. There is no other way of putting it.

Good thing he decided to put on Liv's princess helmet. 'Safety first' is our family motto by golly.

Yes, I still have a child.

2008-08-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

No, I haven't sent her off to boarding school or set her out by the garbage can for the nice garbage man to take home....yet.

Kim decided it was time for some updated photos of the infamous Olivia.

So, here ya go my little kimmy poo. These are just for you :)

Here she is practicing her princess wave at the parade a few weekends ago. Watch out Miss America: you ain't got nuthin' on Miss Olivia!

Here she is laying in her wagon on our walk last night. It's all about the comfort, ya know?

And last but not least, here she is in her flower girl dress. We are both in a wedding at the end of this month-you'll see more pics like this then!

Hows it hangin'?

2008-07-29T19:48:00.000-07:00

Betcha can't guess which one is actually 'with child'.

I'll make it extra hard and not even give you a hint....

somethin's fishy...

2008-07-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

So I've done a lot of thinking lately.

Dangerous, I know, but it happens from time to time.

I've come to the conclusion that I am in DIRE need of one of these:

Lately, getting me up and off the couch takes an ACT OF GOD. Between my hips and pelvis feeling like they will snap from my body if I so much move and the fact that I can hardly bend to push myself up because of this bulbous extension hanging off my body, well, I just decided what better contraption than a whale transport net to get the job done?

I tell ya, it would sure make my life easier.

Horizontal folk-dancing

2008-07-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

So, guess who was up having regular contractions every 2 minutes like clockwork from approximately 10:30pm to 4am?

I'll give you a hint: It's a two letter name that starts with 'M' and ends with 'E'.

Yes, SOMEONE had the genius idea of showing her hubby just how much he is loved and got awesome contractions out of the deal.

HASN'T THIS MAN DONE ENOUGH TO ME?! Couldn't he have stopped at getting me knocked up only to enjoy the DEAD HEAT of summer in all my glorious largeness??

Evidently according to my Dr. at 2:30am last night, sperm very often starts contractions.
Hmm. Who knew??

After consulting said Doctor, I chugged two full water bottles in a matter of minutes as she told me to and a half hour later the old Uterus seemed to calm down some. Finally, I was able to get some sleep.

That precious man of mine had the gall to place a shy little smirk on his face as he was leaving for work this morning and say 'well, I guess we know how to get labor started when it's time, huh?'

In your dreams buddy.

I'm alive....I think?!

2008-07-21T09:04:00.000-07:00

A few of you have been checking in with me on the side to be sure I haven't fallen into the pregnancy hole of doom, and I'm happy to report that while my piggy toe may be stuck in the pit, I haven't fallen completely through.

Oh dear. What whirlwind of a time we've had here in the John/Abbie/Liv household.

Whoever thought up the idea of the 'terrible-twos' was an idiot, and chocked full of lies.

The 'twos' were a breeze for us. Couldn't figure out what everyone was talking about when speaking of those 'dreaded tantrums'. Liv has always been very compliant. Always been very polite-always saying 'Please' and 'Thank you' without having to be reminded. While she's a child full of personality and ideas, she's always just kinda gone with the flow on things.

Until she turned three.

It's like a little switch was turned on and she's turned into this incredibly stubborn little cuss. Hmm, can't imagine where she got that from. *cough* her dad and I.

I'm talking full blown tantrums out of nowhere in public-hitting and kicking and screaming so hard that she starts gagging. Fortunately it hasn't happened but maybe 2 times, but it actually brings me to tears as I write about it. I'm so pushed to the limit. It makes me sad. I KNOW we are doing all the right things with her. We've tried everything: time-outs, spanking, taking away cartoons, ignoring the behavior. EVERYTHING. We have always been so good about after spankings sitting her down and telling her how much we love her and that we punish her because we just want her to act like a big girl, and that just because we spank her doesn't mean we don't love her. We tell her how much her screaming and hitting makes us sad. I don't know what else to do.
At one point the other day, here at home, she actually brought me to full blown tears. And I'm not a crier in any sense of the word. I just reached a breaking point with her, and just crumbled.
I feel like it's a good thing for her to see me cry though. Immediately when she did she ran over and layed her head on my shoulder, like it really hit home with her. I was glad for that moment.
The thing is, after the tantrum is over, she is SO remorseful. She KNOWS what she did is naughty and she feels terrible and apologizes profusely. Bless her heart. It's like she gets so angry and just doesn't know what to do with it.

I love this little turkey more than words can say. I'm just dealing with the repercussions of thinking that I was exempt from toddler-dom. My bad.

On the plus side, Potty training has been frickin' AWESOME. And no, I'm not foolin' ya! Turns out all it took was to take her to her preschool to pick up her registration papers, and explain to her that they won't let her come in the doors in the fall if she is still going potty in her diapers. BAM! She's been potty-trained every since! hahaha Saweet.

My other reason for being scarce in the blogospere is this dang pregnancy. I'm sure you are tired of hearing how much I don't love being pregnant, but bare with me, just two more months of my babbling, ok?
The last few weeks have been REALLY bad in the pregnancy area. I've been so sick. The heat certainly doesn't do good things for me either. ugh.
When I was pregnant with Liv, starting at about 6 months along, I started dealing with dizziness and blackouts. Not fun.
Guess what has come back to play?
I can't go anywhere for a good first half of the day, because it is inevitable I will start getting dizzy at some point. It starts with me getting kinda dizzy and my body feeling heavy, then my vision goes black, then when it's done, I'm DRENCHED in sweat. LOVE IT.
I've also been feeling incredible pressure in my pelvis. Like her little head is just lodged there waiting to come out. FABULOUS.
Oh and lets not forget the awesome restless legs and sore hips and tailbone.

Shoot me now please.

SO, as you can see, I've had a bit on my plate the last couple of weeks, and bloggity blogging just hasn't been on the agenda for me.
I'm here though, I'm alive-even if only hanging by a thread-and I appreciate those of you who have been checking in with me. :)

If you REALLY care about me though, you'll just let me send Miss Olivia to wherever you are for a week.

Any takers?

ANYONE?!

snapcracklepop

2008-07-08T15:33:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know: this 4th of July post is a bit delayed, but better late than never, right?

Boy how our 4th of July has changed with children. What used to be an evening spent blowing things up has now turned into and evening convincing our three-year-old that no, the pretty little sparkler will not burn her hand off. *sigh*

She did eventually warm up to idea that, hey, if wussy mom can do it then maybe she could too, and she was all over the idea of holding one. Or three. Ooh, and the pop-its? She was all over those bad boys. Maybe the fact that watching mom squeal while she threw them at my feet made her giggle beyond control had something to do with it. Hey, whatever works.

This is what 3/4 of the evening looked like:

She then decided that maybe it would be ok to help Daddy just a bit:

I thought this was a good one, simply for the fact that I think it's hilarious that I can completely cover Johns body by standing in front of him now. Yeah, freaking hilarious...

We had a good time. No, really we did.

Once she realized that the fireworks weren't 'going to get her', Liv really started enjoying herself:

But by the end of the night she decided the safest place to be was on Papa's shoulders:

Happy 4th of July! :)

She loves me, she really loves me!!

2008-07-07T15:55:00.001-07:00

Quite some time ago my dear bloggy friend, Jenny, passed this award on to me because, well, she likes to look at the inside of my nose. Can you say BFF's?! Anyone who enjoys a good nose shot is ok in my book. ;)

So, here is my awesome award, which is also special because it is supposed to help raise awareness for organ donation, which I am and always have been an encourager of 110%:

I'll pass this award onto:

Steph: she's just fabulous, and thats that.

Melissa: Because anyone who has a yellow couch is QUEEN in my book. :) And the fact that she drinks Diet Cokes on that couch on a daily basis? Well, I'm just sure we were separated at birth.

And, Krista: Because she understands what I say when 'the threes are the new terrible twos' :)

Pass on the love girlfriends, PASSITON.

Wise Words from the Toddler

2008-07-03T09:10:00.000-07:00

Liv has been saying the most hilarious and yet touching (some of them) things lately.

Thought I'd share just a few of them to give you a chuckle for the day:

*As you know, we have been potty-training. Which, by the way, I'm pleased to report is going AWESOME. She's got the potty thing down pat. So, a few weeks ago, she was sitting, attempting #2, and she sighs and says "Mom, my poop isn't coming out. I think it's sleeping in my butt."
Hmm....

*We've mentioned to Liv that Jesus is in her heart. That he is always with her, loving her and protecting her. She is also aware of the fact that the baby is constantly kicking mommy in her tummy, and that sometimes it just doesn't feel so pleasant. The other day she was sitting on the couch and suddenly she grabbed her heart and said "OUCH!! My heart hurts! I think Jesus is kicking my heart!"

*Just this morning she discovered her pulse in her neck, and she ran over to me and said "MOM!! Feel! Feel this right here! Jesus is moving in my neck!!"

Oh how she keeps me on my toes....

We be jammin'!

2008-07-02T08:42:00.000-07:00

You totally just read that with a Jamaican accent running through your mind, didn't you? Good, mission complete.

Summer time is fun for all kinds of reasons.

Probably one reason that sits pretty high on my list is the fact that it's the time that my momma makes her fabulous Strawberry Jam.

No joke, she makes a MEAN Jam people. Mean.

This summer, Liv and I got in on the action. Kinda. There really wasn't all that much for us to do, other than sneak bites and get in the way of Nana and Papa. But it was the thought, right mom? RIGHT?!

After Nana and Papa's hard work, stirring and mixing and mixing and stirring, the work was finally done. And now it's peanut butter and Strawberry Jam sandwiches for every meal for the next year.

This is pure manna from heaven my friends. I would not lie.

Not so itsy bitsy

2008-07-01T08:04:00.001-07:00

I just discovered a spider in my kitchen sink.

So I sprayed him down the drain and ground his disgusting little body up in the garbage disposal.

And it was glorious.

The heavens parted....momentarily....

2008-06-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

I KNOW you all have been sitting at your computers night and day eagerly awaiting my next post about how the Saturday Garage Sale went. Because you all are SERIOUSLY that interested in my life, right? RIGHT?! ok good.

Well, Saturday, though it only lasted a short time, was much more productive than Friday.

Had the weather not been about 500 degrees Fahrenheit, I imagine there would have been a ton more garage salers out and about. It was just too darn hot. Way to go on picking the HOTTEST day of the year, Abbie, way to go.

Mommy dearest joined me this time and I'm pleased to report that though the day was slower than we had hoped, it wasn't a total loss.

Look, I didn't even get a bloody nose like I warned in my last post from the bored nose-picking. Although, I may need to talk to someone about what to do about those nose hairs....

I'm selling my soul if things don't pick up...

2008-06-27T10:23:00.000-07:00

In order to be sure baby Samantha didn't have to take up permanent residence in the hallway closet when she makes her arrival in September, we came up with the idea of having a garage sale this weekend to free up a little space.

Oh, and WHO is the genius that came up with the idea that starting the garage sale today, which is Friday, would be a good idea??

Oh yeah, that was me.

stupid stupid stupid. (Don't tell Liv I said that word. Three times. She would most definitely have a few choice words for me.)

Not gonna lie. Garage sales are not the most hoppin' place on a Friday. Saturdays are where it's at people. They are THE place to be, trust me.

But Fridays?? Well, let me prove my point by sharing a few pictures of our exciting morning thus far:

This is how my sister and Liv and I throw a party. Rock on my friends, rock on...

This is the view from where I have planted my caboose for the day. You may be led to believe that those cars in the background are people who have parked there to spend hundreds of dollars at our garage sale. You would be mistaken. Those are ours.

This is what boredom does to me. Things had better pick up, or I may end up with a bloody nose.
I have an idea. Why don't you all fly from timbucktoo or wherever you all live and bring your piggy banks and contribute to my 'no bloody nose' fund. Oh yes, that would be fun. I may even share a glass of water with you. Ice would be extra....

Super Duper

2008-06-25T11:26:00.000-07:00

Most of you may remember that Liv turned 3 a few weeks ago.

As you may also recall, 3 years comes along and this momma is DONE with diapers. DONE.
So, John and I took her on her birthday to the mall and let her pick out a few packages of 'big girl underwear'.

Let it be known I told her she could pick out ANY underwear that her little butt desires.
Oh the choices! Just to name a few: Dora, Princess, pretty pink, flowers, zoe and elmo were some she had the option of taking home to place on her little tooshy.

Out of all the cutesy, pretty big girl undies to choose from, without hesitation she chose these:

Hey, whatever gets the job done, right??

Thats my girl...

Note: After insisting these were the underpants she needed, Daddy managed to convince her that maybe Dora and the Princesses would enjoy taking up residence on her behind as well. So, though we came home with three packages of perfectly functional underwear, these are definitely the most 'super' in her book. :)

a note regarding the last post....

2008-06-23T19:46:00.001-07:00

My mom was a little bent outta shape at the fact that I referred to the casino folk as 'Indians' as opposed to 'Native Americans'. Since WHEN have I EVER been politically correct, mother dearest. C'mon, you know me better than that.

So, to please my lovely, but oh so sensitive mother, I retract the word 'Indians' and replace it with 'American Natives'. In no way did I mean to offend anyone, especially you my dear mother. Although, it IS fun to get your panties in a wad once in a while.

There. Now get off my back! *grin*

P.s. I still hold true to the idea that they could stand a few new ideas regarding their carpeting choices, but whatever....

And I ain't bluffin'!

2008-06-23T12:49:00.000-07:00

Last week that handsome guy who pays the rent and I were invited to attend a retirement party on Saturday night at a Casino a short drive away.

All I heard was Casino and I was in.

I realized I only had 2 days to get my slot machine lever pulling arm in shape. Oh, I kid. Everyone knows you don't pull those things anymore it's all button pushing now. So I practiced finger exercises instead.

I was so caught up in mentally preparing for delight that is penny slots, that I forgot that we would have to sit through a retirement party for a good couple hours before even stepping foot on that hideous casino carpet. I'm afraid the Indians could use a few interior decorating skills when it comes to flooring options. Maybe they were more concerned with making sure they'd placed enough 'jackpot party' penny slots around the floor for us to choose from. Ah, bless their hearts. At least they had their priorities right.

After a DELISH dinner and even more fabulous I'm-going-to-hell-for-eating-this pie, John felt he had finally squelched my anticipatory squeals long enough and unchained me from the table in our meeting room where I was then allowed to roam free amongst the pushy chain-smoking elderlys who seem to think it's ok to take up the machine they are sitting in front of AND the machine next to them. I so wanted to tattle on them.

Johnny and I each pushed $5 into our machines and giggled with delight as we pushed buttons and watched the slots roll. Oh wait, maybe it was just me giggling. He was the one shaking his head and laughing. Yes, I'm THAT lame.

3 1/2 hours later, we managed to play on that same $5! Oh yes my friends, we know how to roll.
In fact, I'm pretty sure we walked away $1 and some change up from what we started with.

I know, high rollers.

Between the 89,000 Diet Pepsi's I sucked down (evidently the Indians aren't too keen on the whole Diet Coke idea...) but between my liquid diet and the hazy smoke-filled casino floor, I'm pretty sure this child #2 of ours is going to come out slightly retarded.

It's ok, she'll fit right in with the rest of us. :)

It happened.

2008-06-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

In all my naivety, I honest to goodness, really thought it would never happen.

I giggled at all of you mothers that experienced the horridness of it with your children.

After-all, it would NEVER happen to me. Not MY child. She just knows. Knows it's not something you should do. EVER.

I was sadly mistaken, my dear friends. I take back any chuckles I directed at you and your misfortune.

I now realize I'm not exempt from the you-have-a-normal-child-that-makes-stupid-decisions club. I'm one of you now.

Yes, it's true. It happened. My daughter cut her hair. With scissors. Real scissors.

I realized something was up after her running to the potty, exclaiming at the top of her lungs that she went pee pee in the potty!!, and then silence. Pure silence.

Thank GOODNESS that it wasn't chunks, but mere smaller, thin pieces. So, I do realize I still haven't had it as bad as some. I caught that little turd before she decided a pixie-type cut would suit her just fine.

I like, and Livie likes to have her privacy while on the potty, which is my reason for not RUSHING in there the instant I recognized the horrifying silence.

Me: 'Liv, what are you doing?'

Livie: Nothing.

Me: 'WHAT are you doing in there?

Livie: Nothing!

Me: Tell me RIGHT now what you are doing in there!!

Livie: Cutting my hair.

SHOOT ME NOW.

Must be somethin' in the water....

2008-06-15T20:14:00.000-07:00

So there is this guy that I have this SERIOUS thing for. Like I've got it in the worst kind of way.

And no, I'm not talking about him, or him.

This man has given me a little somethin' to smile about since the very first time I saw him in 7th grade-not enough of a smile that I would actually make eye contact while holding his hand, or that I would let him closed-mouth kiss me on the lips without thinking it was gross-but he definitely made me giddy none the less.

This guy is also seriously the hottest dude on the planet. It makes me smile when his sisters friends are all ga-ga over him having, according to them 'Brad Pitt looks'. Not a day goes by without me glancing at him and wondering how the crap I got so lucky to land a babe like him. Seriously, the kid is hot people. HOT.

This guy proved time and time again early on in our relationship that no matter how hard of a time his friends would give him for being so 'whipped', he would never stop showering me with mushy gushy words and kisses and hugs. I've come to the conclusion that maybe they were just jealous and wanted a little John-lovin' of their own. I've always been very good at sharing (as long as it's not my diet coke), so all they had to do was ask, if they were wanting a little cuddle time with him, I would have gladly shared.

This guy also proved that being married to him would be awesome. No joke, I LOVE being married to this man. He is so much fun, and I love that I can be the biggest idiot and he still is wild about me. I also couldn't get this man to really fight with me if I paid him to. Ugh. I mean really, a girl just wants a little drama from time to time, is that so much to ask?! DISAGREE with me for heavens sakes!! PUSH MY BUTTONS, dangit!!

In the last three years this handsome fella has also shown me how incredibly indescribable his parenting skills are. He has been more of an unbelievably beautiful father to our child than I could have ever dreamed a man could be. Miss Olivia is absolutely CRAZY about her dad. Her day is complete when he walks in the door at the end of the day, and nothing excites her more than surprising him with a picture she drew for him that day or a rock she found while taking a walk outside, or calling him at work to scream into the phone 'I WENT PEEPEE IN THE POTTY!!'. To think that this is the man she will forever compare future boyfriends to just rocks my world, because there is no one better. :)

Babe, I love you more than I could ever possibly begin to describe. You are the father and then some that I always dreamed my children would have.
We are so lucky to have an awesome man like you to hold down the fort and sacrifice daily to provide the best for your family who loves you more than words could say.

I love you, Liv loves you, and don't worry, I'm pretty sure Samantha will love you too, no matter how much she curses you someday for setting an unreasonable curfew with the total dog that she decides to date. ;)

Happy Fathers Day my love. Thanks for being you.

Take a deep breath child!!

2008-06-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

Self control is evidently not a word we use often in our house.

I mean, we impress it upon the important things, sure, like cocaine, alcohol, and yelling. With these, moderation is obviously key around here. But evidently we neglected to engrave in Olivia's little 3 year old mind that moderation is also key with something like, say, a GIANT ice cream sundae. Time and care should be spent consuming such a delicacy, making sure you enjoy every single chocolate and caramel covered creamy bite.

We were surprised after Livie's birthday lunch to see that the restaraunt we went to would acknowledge her special day, by bringing her one of these delicious bowls of heaven, free of charge.

Notice I did NOT say 'dish'. It was a bowl. A massive bowl. For a three year old.

Luckily our sweet waitress must have noticed I was a little round in the midsection, and realizing I would probably have wreaked havoc upon the restaurant had she not brought ME a spoon too, she brought us each one. Bless her food serving heart.

Miss Olivia was in a prime mood this day. She had us ROLLING, she was SO funny. I'm amazed at how such a little being can already have such an amazing sense of humor. She really does enjoy getting a good chuckle out of her mom and dad.

Now let me explain something-we have noticed a definite girly-girl side coming out especially lately. Getting dirty-NOT on the agenda for her. If she sees a package of wipes, she is ALL over them, using them to clean any and everything in her sight-from the tv to her shoes, to Daddy's stinky feet. She's a giver, thats for sure.

Well, as soon as that Sundae was placed on our table, her eyes gave off a little mischievous glint and she threw caution into the wind. Case in point:

She SHOWED that sundae what was up. And made her sundae-lovin' mama super proud in the mean time. Thats my girl.

A 'beary' fun day!

2008-06-11T09:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, that was cheesy, I know. Geez, I'm lame....*sigh*

Even though we celebrated with a party on Sunday, Liv's actual day of birth was Monday.

I was literally sick all morning because I was SO excited to surprise Livie with her big birthday present.

This comes as no shock whatsoever to my lovely mother who had to suffer through these weird episodes of mine growing up, but to the rest of you who wonder if I'm off my rocker, let me explain:

Yes, I am off my rocker. Ok, I kid....Kinda.

You see, I can vividly remember getting all packed up and ready for a week of fun summer camp as a kid only to be nearly bed ridden the day before leaving because I got so excited to go that I made myself physically sick. Same goes for the first day of school. And for trying to decide whether to buy the green shirt or the red shirt. And if my socks didn't feel right on my legs.

Yes, I am off my rocker.

Thankfully I can now put on a pair of socks without a second thought of whether or not they 'feel right', but gearing up to do something really fun, well, gets me all pukey. *sigh*

So, back to Monday.

After 'sleeping in' a bit, which really means, laying in bed staring at the ceiling because what mom is able to sleep through her daughter screeching at the top of her lungs that 'IT'S MY BIRTHDAY...DADDY, AM I REALLY THREE TODAY?!....YAYYYY HANDY MANNY'S ON!!....DADDY, I GOT THE FEELING THAT I GOTTA GO PEEPEE....CAN WE GO SEE MY SURPRISE NOW?!....IS THIS CEREAL MY SURPRISE?!...IS MOMMY COMING DOWNSTAIRS NOW, OR IS SHE JUST GOING POTTY??...' I got up and showered, put on my face and we made our way to the big surprise!

We did mention that her birthday surprise was at the mall and once we got there I made her close her eyes until we got to the destination store.

Once she opened her eyes and saw that we were at the *GASP* Build-a-Bear store, this is what her face looked like:
I guess you could say she was a *LITTLE* excited.

John and I had just come to the conclusion that our daughter probably inherited her mothers anxiety-ridden decision making skills, so we were prepared to be there for a few days while she picked which animal she just couldn't live without. Looks like I'm the only crazy one in the family. We sadly underestimated her, because she immediately screamed 'OOH! I WANNA MAKE A KITTY! *gigglegiggle*' and in a matter of seconds chose this one:
Crap. Pink? Really?! I should have known...*grin*

Here she is getting ready to stuff the kitty with 'fluffy', then she gave her a bath, then she chose a name and filled out a birth certificate:

Shoot, they should REALLY re-think this whole pregnancy/childbirth thing and just create a store. Something along the lines of 'Build-a-Baby'. Yes, I think it's a brilliant idea....

Introducing the newest member of our family-Pickles the cat:

Welcome, Pickles. I'm sure you will feel right at home here surrounded by all the pink/princess/mermaid/girly paraphernalia that has taken over every nook and cranny in our house. Yes, indeed, we welcome you.

Party on, Liv!

2008-06-10T09:17:00.000-07:00

I was so exhausted after a long 2 day birthday celebration that by the time the end came around last night, I was nearly on my way to the loony bin.

So, please excuse the fact that I didn't post a heart-felt, truly meaningful happy birthday post to my darling daughter ON her actual day of birth, but I'm afraid it would have looked something like this:

'sl;eigusUGHSMigunsi! SIigmwignc,s apOS, CBISIE WOIEsicmb!'
Love, Mom

Yeah, it was probably a good idea that I waited until today to express my love and pride for my one and only.

Sunday was a fun day, as we had family over for a birthday party for our big 3 year old, where there was good food, fun presents and an all around good time spent together. Oh, and get this: for the last, oh, YEAR or so it has been raining NONSTOP here, but praise the lord, Sunday morning came around and the skies parted and out came the sun!! WAHOO! Blue skies and not a cloud in sight. Thats what I call a major kiss from God! :)

Last year for birthday #2, Livie had a disney princess party. Birthday #3 came around and what kind of party did Miss Olivia want this year? You guessed it. A Disney Princess party. Again.
I swear, it looks like a princess crapped pink everywhere around here. I have never seen more pink in my life. Or princess. Yikes. Maybe next year she'll make up for it and want a transformers party. One could only hope....

I know you all will question whether or not this photo was doctored in anyway, but from my lips to your ears, I swear, it really is me in the kitchen preparing some sort of food. I know, weird, right? It's ok, take a minute a catch your breath. I know this is a lot to take in....

As I said before, the sun decided to make an appearance for the day, so we all got to enjoy some time playing in the back yard!

The next day was Livie's actual birthday. It was a pretty fun day with just her, mom and dad. I'll share more on that later....

Until then....Party On dudes! ;)

The gloves are coming off....

2008-06-03T10:02:00.000-07:00

We have been working semi-diligently to potty-train Liv the last few weeks.

We've kept her in pull-ups during this time, but regularly have been suggesting to her that 'let's go try and go potty' before she lays down for a nap, after she gets up from her nap, before tubby time, before bed time, when we wake up in the morning.
Often times she produces one or two little drops and I mean DROPS, not full streams, of pee in the potty, but there are other times where she just simply sits and says 'eh, I don't need to go'. and she produces nothing. Nada. No pee.

*sigh*

Well, this next Monday Liv turns the big Three years old, and momma is getting serious.

Diapers will be gone.

No more diapers.

We are breaking out the big girl underpants.

Potty breaks will be regular and MUCH more frequent in order to prevent gag inducing accident clean-ups. In case you haven't noticed, this whole potty training thing just really isn't my cup of tea.

I would pay you in hugs, any of you, if you would just come and do it for me.

Maybe I'll start a campaign. Something like 'Save the Whales' but it'll be more like 'Save the potty-training mother from certain insanity'. Are you with me? Will you support my cause?

Please make checks payable to: Pee/poo clean-up fund or maybe it would just be easier to make your checks out to the local insane asylum, because I'm certain thats where I'll be in a matter of days anyway.

Your support is greatly appreciated.

Do not feed the animals.

2008-05-27T17:29:00.000-07:00

The last part of our Seattle trip a few weeks ago took us to the Woodland Park Zoo.

We were just CERTAIN that we would be the only genius' to think of going to one of the nations best zoos, on a Saturday, on the most beautiful day of the year thus far.

No, everyone and their uncles uncle were there.

Everyone and their best friends uncles uncle.

I'm pretty sure even E.T. himself was there.

I know, cool right?

anyway...

Livie REALLY enjoyed the hands-on petting zoo portion of the zoo.

Crap. If I would have known that, I would have saved the $15 admission fee for each of us and bussed her off to the nearest farm.

Whatever, we are making memories, people. Memories.

In this picture, Liv just couldn't figure for the life of her how in the world Daddy managed to get on the other side of the glass and lay there like that. He never ceases to amaze us. I know, we are lucky, lucky girls...

Here we are discussing the finer points of Elephant poop. I think the conclusion we came to was that it stinks. Really really bad.

These two are definitely a rare breed....

But, they are pretty precious, so I suppose I'll keep them.

And now I leave you with this lesson my dear readers:
If you are pregnant, and it's 90-some degrees outside, DON'T go to the zoo and walk for what seems like miles upon miles of uneven terrain.
Your ankles WILL in fact swell to the size of, well, let's just say you start resembling the michelan man, REAL quick...

Peanuts and crackerjacks, please!

2008-05-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we ended our vacation week with a fun 3 day trip up to Seattle.

After strapping little miss thang in the back seat and planting the DVD player in front of her face (yes, I am one of those mothers, lay off me.) we were on our way!

Wouldn't ya know it that our one bout of spontaneity, aka lets not book a hotel room ahead of time, led us hunting for a good 2 hours for a hotel with a vacancy. Who decided that there should be a major conference that weekend in Seattle?? Idiots. Thats who.
So, all in all, we ended up paying twice as much as we had originally planned and set up shop in our favorite hotel in town. It just so happens it's the same hotel we stayed at for our Honeymoon, and every trip we have taken to Seattle since then. It was fun to finally be able to share that with Liv.

What would be your guess for what Liv's first thing on the agenda was?? Swim in the pool of course! So swim we did!

Well, actually Daddy and Liv swam. Mommy-not so much. I didn't want to scare Liv. For some reason she already thinks there is sharks in the pool, so throw something slightly resembling a whale in there, and well, she would never set foot in water again...so, momma sat on the sidelines and took pictures. Lots of pictures....

After what felt like HOURS of coaxing her to get into the water, we finally convinced her to jump in after bribing her with the fact that she could actually feed the giraffes at the zoo we were going to the next day if she got in the water. No, we are not liars. We actually read that you could. Sadly we didn't make it there in time the following day, so we turned out to be horrible parents. *sigh* You never win. But at least she got in the water...

After a good nap in our beautiful hotel room, we got all dressed and headed off to the Mariner game that night!! We were so excited to also share this fun experience with Liv as it's something John and I have enjoyed doing since long before she came along!

Here we are all watching the game from our bleacher seats!

Here's Livie with her Mariner Moose

Me with my hot dog

Oh and let's not forget mommy's boyfriend *swoon*

Liv did awesome for the majority of the game. We got up once or twice to walk around, but we ended up staying at least until the 7th inning stretch, which seems to me to be unheard of for a three year old. I was very proud of her. And her cheering skills.

I'll post again a little later today about the rest of our Seattle trip (visiting the zoo, family, etc...)

Play ball!! :)

Since when did my daughter become such a wuss??

2008-05-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, I retract that statement. It just wasn't nice.

But still.

We had the opportunity around the middle of vacation week to be treated by my Grandma and Grandpa (Livie's great-grandparents) to a ride on the indoor Carousel a few towns over.

Dream come true for a little girl, right?

Wrong.

This is how the ride started out:
(mind you, the friggin thing hadn't started moving at this point, hence the smile)

Once the little joy ride started, smiles faded and the fun was officially over. I didn't catch any pictures at this time because I was too busy laughing.
Oh I kid. It was simply moving too fast to get a good shot of her white knuckles secured tightly around Johns neck.

But have no fear, this little escapade didn't scar her for life because on the ride back home and for following few days, she talked about it like it was the most fun she had ever had in her life.

The snot has invaded my brain.

2008-05-22T11:10:00.000-07:00

No, really. I couldn't even think of a title for this post.

Between this incredibly revolting cold and the fact that my daughter has gained back every single ounce of energy and then some since having her nasty flu earlier in the week, well, let's just say I'm not quite on my game today, folks. Such is life.

ANYHOO...

I figured it's about time to fill ya in on some of the fun things we did on vacation last week. Compared to this week, it was pure heaven. If anyone knows someone with a time travel machine, could ya get me the hook-up? I would appreciate being sent back about 8 days. If you happen to come across one, just get 'er done, no questions asked.
Thankyouverymuch.

The beginning of last week, we got to help celebrate Livie's friend Conner's 2nd Birthday at the Childrens Museum.
Have I mentioned before that I'm not a big fan of other peoples children that I don't know well? Ok, well, try being surrounded by 8.9 million children in an enclosed building, where their negligent parents feel the need to let them roam like cattle. With unbrushed hair. And no manners. Yikes.
Never the less, we had fun. Livie LOVES her Conner boy, and it was fun to watch the two of them play...or, I guess I should say eat. They love to eat.

After a while, Liv evidently decided she was a little overwhelmed with all the goings-on, and decided to seclude herself from the rest of the group where she could fully concentrate on licking all the chocolate frosting off of her cupcake.
Thats my girl.

After yummy goodies and presents we ventured out into the museum and tried a little face painting:

Even Daddy got in on the fun:

Poor, poor Daddy...

We also saw Liv's true girly girl colors come out, when she was adamant about not climbing into the digging pit for fear of getting her feet dirty:

She was again reluctant to step foot into the 'water room'. Heaven forbid she get her dress wet. Oh Lord, what have we created...

As you can see, once we forced, I mean convinced her playing with the water would be fun, she became a total spaz and enjoyed every minute of it. I'm still trying to decide how much Crack they laced that water with...This is the face of a child that is most definitely on something...I'll blame it on all the chocolate frosting for now....

What the crap is a Meme?!

2008-05-21T10:18:00.000-07:00

My darling Vegas friend, Carey, passed on this little meme for me do. So, ya know, I just gotta do it. Here it goes:

5 Things in my bag:
Well, this one is a bit of a toughie. I'm afraid that carrying a diaper bag around for so long scarred me for life, so now that I don't need one, I only lug a wallet around...

1. Debit Card
2. License
3. coffee stand punch card
4. receipts, receipts and more receipts
5. coupons for childrens place and Old Navy
man, I'm so lame...

5 Things in my room:
1. My bed. My precious, precious bed. I heart my bed. Actually I heart any bed for that matter. I'm just lazy like that.
2. My book. I'm reading the Left Behind series. Lovin' it.
3. Tons O pictures of the man and I. I read somewhere once that your bedroom is that special place for your hubby and you. Who wants to look at pictures of your kids while having 'quality time' with each other?? C'mon, you know I'm right...

4. Tissues. This friggin cold is getting the best of me.
5. At this very moment, there is a crib mattress on our floor that Liv has been sleeping on while sick. For some reason I'm all paranoid that she'll vomit in her sleep and die, so it's better that I can hear her for the time being. I know, it's sick, but, well, I'm just not normal.

5 Things I have always wanted to do:
1. Go to beauty school. This is one thing I WILL accomplish once the kiddies are off to grade school at least. It's always been a dream of mine.
2. Adopt a child.
3. Pay someone to potty train my child.

4. Sky dive. On the flip side, I have NO desire to bunjee jump. Weird, right?
5. Go away with Johnny for at least a week, just the two of us, somewhere exotic, warm and with unlimited supply of 'big kid' drinks. With umbrellas. The drinks must have umbrellas.

5 Things I am currently into:
1. Blogging. Though my lack of posts as of late maybe prove differently.
2. Coloring with Livie. Ok, and trying to convince her that she wants to color so I don't feel like such a loser for coloring in her color books by myself. I love coloring.
3. LOST. Enough said.

4. Diet Coke. My forever love.
5. Whining that this baby isn't coming fast enough. I mean really. Couldn't God have made it so that they form in like a day??

5 People who should really really do this Meme thingy:
1. Mom. Seriously, you haven't posted anything in, oh, YEARS.
2. 'Shewwy' :)
3. Katie. Because I'm sure with your new little Hank, you have ALL kinds of time on your hands to do something like this. ;)
4. Devin. Because your computer cable finally came! Yipee!!
5. Leanne. You said you were in a bit of a blog rut, so here's something for you to throw on there! :)

Whats Up Chuck?

2008-05-20T16:30:00.000-07:00

Oh Dear.

I have been warned, no make that threatened, by a select few of you that read my bloggity blog that my back from vacation post is highly overdue. So, at the insistence of mainly my dear momma and Carey, I'll give it a shot.

You would think I would start at the beginning of our week and work my way down the line, but that would just be predictable, now wouldn't it? And since when have I ever been predictable?? Unless you we are talking about the fact that I would choose Diet Coke over my life. The choice is obvious there, but otherwise, I like to throw a wrench into things a bit...

I haven't been up to posting anything quite yet, well, because, lets just say I've had other things keeping me slightly busy. Like cleaning up Toddler puke for the last 12 hours or so. LOTS of toddler puke.

Today was Johns first day back to work, and what do ya know?? Liv decides to punish me by inflicting her bug on our home at 11:30 last night. Of course she waits until it's wussy old mom by herself all day to do this. Doesn't she know by now that Me and puke aren't like total BFF's?? And let me tell you: this child doesn't just gag and throw up, she wretches and ejects any and all goodies that have been inhabiting her stomach for the last month. Over and Over and Over again. Bless her little heart. It kills me to see her teeny body so sick.

In other bathroom news: we were making EXCELLENT progress in the potty training area this week!! YAHOO!! After a good three month LONG I'm-never-going-in-the-potty streak, things started looking up this week and she even went pee 4 WHOLE TIMES yesterday!! *sigh* I'm wondering now if I'm able to return my stock I purchased in those Depends undergarments....it's beginning to look like we aren't going to need them afterall...? We'll see.....

I'll pick right back up with letting ya all know via some pretty darn cute pictures about how our vacation week went tomorrow. Until then, pray that the puke doesn't invade my body (or Johns for that matter). I'm pretty sure Livie wouldn't think that cleaning up mommys vomit is oh so fun. OH but you better believe I would make her do that. Because I'm a really good mom like that. It's all about creating good life experiences, people.

Daddio

2008-05-14T18:10:00.000-07:00

I may be scarce this week for the simple fact that the big guy in the house is on vaca ALL WEEK!! YIPEE!!

I'll fill you in on all the fun things we've been doing to overly spoil ourselves and Miss Olivia at the end of the week. And who knows, by then I maybe be saying 'the big guy in the house is going back to work soon...YIPEE!!' hahah I kid. Kind of. :)

We LOVE LOVE LOVE having Daddy home with us all day!!! :)

P.s. I sincerely apologize for the ridiculous team he is lovingly supporting on his hat in this picture. Gag me with a spoon. Beavers are hideously smelly little buck-toothed creatures.
*ahem* go DUCKS. :)

Happy Mudders Day!!

2008-05-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

Hope all of you mothers, mothers-to-be, and women who hope to be mothers someday had a truly special day today!

May you feel blessed beyond words (even in the midst of those moments when you feel like pulling out your hair) as you remember what incredibly special and important parts you women play in the lives of those around you!

Thank you Miss Olivia for making me a mommy for the very first time 3 years ago and not acting like I messed you up too bad while learning this mom thing :)

Ok, I suppose I should thank this handsome devil who impregnated me in the first place to even make this mommy thing possible! ;)

Happy Mothers Day!

Many thank-yous from the head momma:

2008-05-08T12:06:00.000-07:00

This morning I got this email from my momma, and thought I would relay her message to all of you fine beauties that wished her a happy day!!

Here is what she said:
"Hey – Could you do me a favor? I’d love it if you could post something on your blog for me. I just wanted to thank many of your very amazing readers who took the time to wish me a happy birthday last week. That really brightened my day! Sigh…I just love bloggy-land…"

So, on behalf of my mommy dearest, Thank you for all of her many happy birthday wishes, that meant so much to her! :)

Listener of God!

2008-05-07T09:07:00.001-07:00

Many of you guys have asked if we have any names picked out for baby girl #2, and of course we have!! You don't think I haven't been thinking of names since the very second I found out I was pregnant?? C'mon....

We decided to name our newest little squirt: Samantha Jane!

I had looked up what the meaning of her name was, (because I'm just kinda dorky like that and think thats kinda cool), and discovered her name is a variation of 'Samuel' and means 'Listener of God'.

I think thats just completely and utterly awesome.

We wish nothing more for our little ones than to love God with all that is in them and to comfortably have a wonderfully intimate relationship with him. To think that they would truly listen to and follow Gods leading in their lives? Just beautiful.

Even though we named Olivia after our favorite character on our favorite show at the time: Olivia on Law and Order SVU, I have since discovered that her name evidently means 'Peace' as it is a variation of 'Olive' or Olive branch.

Seeing as she's not the most outwardly quiet creature on the planet, and while I NEVER want her to lose that vocal spunk that I love so much about her, my prayer for her is that she develops a beautiful inner peace as her relationship with her heavenly father grows.

I'm so excited to be able to watch my two beautiful girls grow up to be just what they were created be: Gods precious precious daughters!

Bombs away!!

2008-05-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

Who was the genius that decided to make hot dogs and baked beans for dinner last night??

Oh yeah. That idiot was me.

It was an exceptionally brilliant idea on my part considering earlier in the day we had McDonalds for lunch.

McDonalds = Gas.

Baked beans and hotdogs = Gas.

Any normal run-of-the-mill day around this house between John and Liv = Gas.

Combine those three last night and momma was sportin' a gas mask.

No joke, if you would have walked into our house at any point during the evening, I'm pretty sure a thick green smog would have been seen wafting through our living room.

'You guys stink!!' were the words most frequently hollered from this mommas mouth.

'Yeah, we do!' was all Liv would say with a smirk on her goofy little face.

I don't think John has to worry about things getting too girly around here with him being the only male in the house.

Olivia proved him wrong last night. That girl has got skills.

He was so proud.

And MANY morrrrreeee!!

2008-04-30T17:41:00.000-07:00

*ahem*

excellent singing skills, I know....

Today, is my very own special Mommys birthday!

I won't tell you how old she is, because, well, I guess when you become 'older and sophisticated', it's not polite to do so....whatever...

BUT you can stop here and ask her yourself, and while you are there, maybe wish her a happy happy day!

I love you so much momma and am so thankful for the special bond we share. You mean the world to me and I'm so lucky to be able to call you 'mom'. :)

Oh, and here's a little happy birthday wish from Liv: ffgjtggghjj jkll; lwerty 8iop[]ggxfcfvf!!

We love you NANA! :)

It's a bouncing baby.....

2008-04-28T19:29:00.000-07:00

Kidney stone?!

Ugh....

Last Wednesday I woke up at 3 in the am to what mysteriously felt like labor pains. I woke up and tossed and turned for a good hour feeling that crampy feeling in my baby maker and lower back. Initially I figured, 'eh, it's just the baby growing again', because often times I get a little crampy when that happens.

It started to get a little worse over a short span of time, so bad that I could not sit let alone stand in one spot for long. I spent the next hour pacing the living room floor and leaning on the couch doing breathing exercises.

Then it hit me.

I suddenly had that 'I feel like I have to poop, but I know I really don't need to' feeling. Most women that have gone through labor know this can be a tell tale sign for the fact that yes, you are in labor. NOT a good sign for a pregnant gal who is a mere 18 weeks along....

I immediately called my doctor at 5:00am and woke her from her precious, comfortable, un-crampy slumber and described in detail what that last 2 hours had been feeling like. She told me she would be in the office at 7 and to just show up, but if it got worse, to go into the E.R. immediately. She explained that sometimes these can be signs of kidney infection or stones, or a good old bladder infection.

FABULOUS.

After getting off the phone and trudging back up to bed, I realized, this was in fact NOT getting better and I was scared. And in pain. And scared.

Nana came down to stay with Liv while John and I raced over to the E.R.

You know what my favorite thing in the E.R. is? The fact that they feel the need to ask you every question in the book right down to your preference over ketchup or mustard, while they know full well that you are a pregnant woman 18 weeks along who is experiencing incredibly real labor like feelings. I guess the deep breathing and tears and leaning on the desk with eyes clothes just didn't give them the sense of urgency I thought it would. Maybe next time I'll scream, 'WHY IN GODS NAME DO YOU CARE WHETHER I PREFER BOXERS OR BRIEFS? GIVE ME SOME FRICKIN DRUGS!!'.

Yes, I think that might get the job done.

Eventually I was hauled back to a room and was immediately given some wonderful pain meds via IV. Beautiful beautiful pain meds. I heart the pain meds.

We then heard the babys heart beat. I cried tears of joy. I don't think I realized how worried I was about it until we actually heard it. John had the biggest grin on his face. The baby was good.

They then wanted me to pee in a cup. Because of the fact that I had been on the toilet for the last 2 hours thinking I was needing to poo, I couldn't pee a decent amount of urine into that tiny sized cup to save my life, so while chug-a-luggin' on a nice big cup of water, they wheeled me down to the ultrasound tech to check on baby and take a peek at my sexy little bladder and kidneys.

No really, they were HOT.

After all was said and done, everything looked great and after seeing what appeared to be a small amount of fluid in my right kidney combined with the traces of blood that was in my urine that I was finally able to squeeze out, it was confirmed that yes, in fact, I had kidney stones.

*sigh*

I'm proud to say that by the next morning I was the proud mother of a precious little kidney stone. *grin* I felt like I should have named it or put a little bow on it's head. But instead I sent it on to the lab. Bummer. I had such high hopes for my little rock friend.

ANYHOO...back to the ultrasound. We got to see the baby. Not like a tadpole-ish looking blob taking up residence in my uterus, but an actual baby. We saw the precious profile. We saw feet and toes and fingers. We saw perfection.
Which got me thinkin'...if I can see toes and fingers, maybe she can see a wiener or a hoo-ha?? You better believe I harrassed her until she looked. Oh you better believe it.

She looked.

She knew.

We now know.

IT'S A GIRL!!

Another girl!!

Oh crap, I'm so friggin excited. Aside from the fact that this will save us so much money due to 9 18-gallon buckets of clothes I have of Olivias to pass down, aside from that, it just felt right-for us to have another girl.

John had been secretly half-crossing his fingers for a boy, because, well, what man DOESN'T want a little boy to rough around? But the second she told us to expect a girl, Johns face grinned wider than I had seen in a long time. That was so cool
He later told me the same thing-that it just seemed right for us to have another girl. Like it just fit perfect for us.

And he's right. Because he is SUCH a good dad to the little girl we already have, to think that I'm going to have two of the luckiest girlies in the world to have a daddy like him. *sigh*

My little teeny-bopper groupie

2008-04-24T16:50:00.000-07:00

Livie and I are sitting here watching Oprah today. I was pumped about the segment on The Roloff family, because I secretly *LOVE* that show and heck, they are from Oregon, so shoot, doesn't that make ME famous in someway?? :)

Well, the last segment on the Oprah show today is The Jonas Brothers. The newest teen singing sensation. Evidently they are being compared in greatness to the Beatles.

Ish.

Well, they start singing this wave your arms in the air and cry kind of song and this is what I hear from Liv sitting next to me on the couch:

"*sigh* He's really good.....I think he likes me."

Ummm...WHAT?!?

Thats my girl!

2008-04-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

You know you are watching entirely too much T.V. during the day when you catch your 3-year-old singing along to the carpet store commercial song....AND the bedroom furniture store commercial song....OR when she hears a song on a commercial that she recognizes from her dads guitar hero game and she begins strumming her air guitar and rocking her head up and down, like, HARDCORE....

I guess I could just say we are just supporting her musical skills for when she joins the opera or becomes a one-woman band later in life?

Yes. I'll stick with that excuse....

A precious baby

2008-04-20T11:59:00.000-07:00

My heart is hurting so bad for my dear Katie friend and her family who just recently gave birth to their precious son Henry. You can read more about it here, but the gist of it is, he had some difficulty breathing shortly after being born on Friday and is continuing to have a hard time.
I have come to appreciate Katie and the awesome bloggy friendship we share. She's such a wonderful mommy.
I can't imagine how scary that would be for a momma to witness this with her precious baby, but as I told Katie, God has him wrapped in his arms and is continuing to stick by their side through the scary stuff.
Please as you think of it pray for this sweet family during this scary time, pray that they will be surrounded by a true peace.

Love you Katie girl :)

The proof is in the puddin'...

2008-04-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

Here they are, you know, those pics I promised in the last post, but didn't deliver on...

The before shot:

A few action shots:

Side view of the finished product:

TA-DA!

Somewhat of a 'hairy' situation

2008-04-18T10:24:00.000-07:00

I've been avoiding this post. I needed time to 'think about' what I've done.

I committed a horrible crime.

In fact, I'm certain some may say it could be a form of child abuse.

I, Abbie, cut my daughters beautiful hair. On purpose. Into a short bob.

Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT. And there is no mistaking that SHE and everyone who has seen it loves it.

I'm just dealing now with the fact that I have cut those precious curls which at one time took up residence on my babys mostly bald head. Her very first hair. I cut it. Off.

*sigh*

I had been dealing with wanting to do this for some time. It was just getting so scraggly and if we missed a day or two of washing it, you would swear a rat had begun paying rent somewhere in that mess of a nest.
So, Monday night I headed over to my moms house (for moral support of course) and amidst tears (mine) I began hacking away.
I'm embarrassed to admit that I actually layed awake in bed most of that night begging for forgiveness from the hair gods and trying to ward off panic attacks at the atrocity that had occurred earlier in the evening. I was SICK at what I had done.

Now I'm better and can't get over how absolutely freaking darling she looks with her new 'do' and how well it brings out her sassy little personality!

*note: hair gods, if you are listening, I DID save a few curls in a plastic baggy. I felt kinda creepy weeping and digging through a pile of a small childs hair, but I did it so you wouldn't curse me early with something awful like bald chunks or thinking that blue hair would be cool well before I'm ready for it. Thank you.*

AWWW CRAP. Blogger won't let me upload the pictures right now. I'll try again a little later!

Wait, what?? Was that SUNSHINE?!

2008-04-15T13:23:00.000-07:00

Rain Rain go away
Come again another day (Or never for that matter)
Little Livie wants to play (And mommy wants her out of this house)
Rain Rain go away

This 'Spring' if thats what you want to call it, has been a tad bi-polarish, if you will.
We started the Spring with snow. SNOW! Did you all get that?! We didn't even hardly freaking get a flake of the stuff this Winter!
Then, all of the sudden, last weekend, the skies parted and...BAM!! 80 weather. I didn't stick around for more than a day before the rains came, yet again, but it WAS here!

I HEART WARM WEATHER. Why in heavens name we ever left Vegas, I will never know.

So we (I) took major advantage of the beautiful weather and forced Livie to play in the Sprinkler.

Evidently she's not much of a sprinkler gal.

She would much rather just stand around and look good in her cute polka dot suit.

Eh, who could blame her. She WAS pretty darn cute:

Happy Birthday!!

2008-04-14T21:47:00.000-07:00

Carter, who had the privilege of making me an auntie for the very first time exactly 1 year ago, celebrated his birthday today. We actually celebrated with a big family party yesterday, but today he is officially the big 1!!

Yesterday he celebrated in style by planting his very first kiss on none other than...ME!! I felt so honored. *sigh*

I love you Carter, and I never could have imagined how much joy it brings to be an aunt! Especially to a kid as freaking great as you are!

You've got a friend in me!

2008-04-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

This is SO WAY overdue, but last week, I got this incredibly touching and totally AWESOME bloggy award from my Katie-girl!

It meant so much to me because I received it on a day where I was feeling particularly down. My little Katie friend has seemed to really sense those down moments with me lately-even just via internet-and she has been a huge blessing to me.

So thank you my dear pregnant buddy!

I would love love love to pass this sweet award on to Jenny and Kim.

Both of these awesome ladies are the greatest little bloggy friends a girl could find.
Each of them never fail to keep a smile on my face and I hope to be just like them when I grow up-because they are SO much older than me. Like WAY older.

HAHAHAHHAHA Oh, I kid.

The chicken, or the egg??

2008-04-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

Ok, I may lose a few readers over this, but here goes:

I'm generally a pretty smart gal. I know my stuff. Most of the time. However, I'm completely baffled by this:

Do chickens have sex??

I have never seen a chicken doing the nasty, of course it's not like I'm out LOOKING for freaky chickens, but still.

How do those darn eggs get in those chickens??

I know I could have googled this Very Important Question, but I thought I would ask you, my genius readers, because y'all look like an extremely educated bunch.

Oh, and I forgive you if you think I'm ridiculously stupid. It's worth the risk of finding out the answer to this question that has been plaguing my mind.

I'm just cool and willing to sacrifice like that.

Schools out....forever!!

2008-04-09T08:34:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged for a meme by my darling friend Carey.

I was never, oh how should I say this, academically advanced in school, but let me tell ya, if they would have graded purely on being a little social butterfly, I would have rocked the 4.0 without a doubt. :)

5 classes I wish they would've taught in school:

1. The art of using the 15 item and under line at the grocery store.
C'mon people: IT'S NOT THAT FRIGGIN HARD!! Count the dang items in your cart. If you can't count, get someone to do it for you. Just don't let that someone be me, I'm obviously in this line for a reason, I'M IN A HURRY.

2. How to birth a child painlessly
Enough said.

3. Make up application 101
FYI: that orange line under your jaw line?? NOT PRETTY. Learn how to blend ladies, just learn how to blend.

4. Geometry. Algebra. All Math.
Oh wait. They did teach that in school? Oh. Nevermind. Did I mention I was really good at the whole social thing??

5. How to end sales calls: FOREVER!
I'm pretty sure that calling me 5 or 6 times a day (no joke) to inform me via automated message that my car warranty is about to expire (which it's not) isn't going to get to me to give you all my god forsaken personal information thankyouverymuch.

So-called peer pressure

2008-04-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

It went something like this:

Livie: 'whew! Mom, lick my finger! It's really sour!'

Me: 'Um, no, I really don't want to lick your finger.'

Livie: 'Cmon! It's sour! You'll really really like it!'

Me: 'I really don't feel like licking your finger, Liv, but thanks anyway...'

Livie: 'Ooh! Ok, then smell my feet! (says this as she proceeds to stick her foot up in the air)

Me: 'Ew! Why?'

Livie: 'Cuz, they're really really stinky! Smell em!!'

Me: 'Gross, Olivia! I'm not going to smell your feet!'

Livie: 'But, whyyyyy??'

Me: 'Because I don't really like to smell stinky feet. No, I'm not going to smell your feet, thats disgusting.'

Livie: (in TOTAL teenager fashion) 'UGHHHH! Fine...'

Wow. Seriously, who's child is this??

You ready for this?

2008-04-07T21:24:00.000-07:00

Are you sure??

Ok, here it is....

Don't say I didn't warn you....

BAM!!

15 weeks, people. 15 weeks, and showing NO sign of slowing down....
*sigh*

Just an uppity update of sorts.....

2008-04-04T08:45:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are as mathematically retarded as I am, I thought I would translate my little countdown baby on the side of my blog page for you:
One hundred and seventy-some days until the baby comes means I'm now 15 weeks along! *whew*

For as much time that has passed since I first discovered I was 'knocked up', I'm certain I should be like 13 months along by now. WAY overdue.

Many of you have asked how I'm feeling...and I gotta tell ya, as soon as that 12 or 13 weeks hit, I miraculously felt quite a bit of the pukiness subside! I'm still UN-FREAKIN-BELIEVABLY tired 24/7, but I'll take that over being best friends with the porcelain god ANYDAY! I'm fortunate enough that Liv is still young enough that she takes naps daily and any genius knows that Livie taking naps=Mommy takes naps. I tend to still feel a bit yucky in the late afternoon/evening, but it's SO much better than it was.

In other news on the home front: My jubblies are still growing at rapid speed. God loves me.
My stomach on the other hand has seemed to pause right at that 'oh, is she chubby or pregnant?' stage. God laughs at me.

Speaking of knockers: I'm going to tell you a humiliating story, which is one of those that I now can look back on and laugh about. YES, those kinds of stories really DO exist!!

I believe it was about a month or two after Liv was born that I decided to don a halter top and skirt and take her down to the pool at our apartment for some nice relaxation in the summer shade. We both enjoyed being outside for a time but then that paranoid 'I'm going to suffocate my baby in this heat' fear came over me, so we packed up and headed back to the car, but not before stopping by the office to drop our rent check off and show off 'the new baby'. We stayed and chatted with the nice office ladies for quite sometime, then said our goodbyes and made our way back to the car.
Now, let me share this little side note before I continue with my story: I never breastfed Olivia. It was just a personal choice I made: I just didn't want to, and I have not regretted it since. Well, apparently your boobilies don't just 'shut off' all production EVEN AFTER TWO FREAKING MONTHS. APPARENTLY my knockers were pissed off at said decision that I had made regarding not breast feeding and decided to play a cruel, cruel joke on me.
So, here we are wandering back to the car and I stop to unlock the car door and happen to glance at myself in window, and *GASP!!* I had a GIANT wet spot RIGHT on my left knocker!!!

OMG.

I guess I should clarify that it was no longer wet but a dried wet outline on my shirt which meant that it had been there the ENTIRE time I was talking to those delightfully child-free office ladies.

*sigh*

And so motherhood reared it's ugly head at me quite early on, and has not relented in other ways since....

THUMPTHUMP-SWISH-THUMP

2008-03-31T13:48:00.000-07:00

I don't remember ever being this aware with my first pregnancy, maybe because now I've done this before and now I know what to watch/feel for....

Or maybe it's just because I'm an anal psychopath this time around, and anything that seems a little 'off' tweaks my brains...yeah, I'm betting on that one.

It had been subtly simmering in the back of my brain that I hadn't felt any little 'flutters' in my baby maker for about a good week now. Not that I had been feeling major kicks or anything, I mean c'mon, this child is the size of a lima bean...BUT, I had been feeling some and it seemed to have stop the last week or so. And the absence of those butterfly kicks coupled with having some pretty uncomfortable cramping off and on had my brain doing uncoordinated jumping jacks.

I didn't say anything to anyone last night until I 'casually' mentioned that I was looking forward to hearing the babys heart beat at this mornings appointment because I was a 'little' worried that I felt like I hadn't noticed any kicking for a while.

Oh, and then I 'casually' mentioned the same thing to my momma.

Note to self: Don't get the gramma riled up if absolutely unnecessary. She didn't skip a beat when I mentioned it last night, didn't sound the LEAST bit worried about it-Until I talked to her today after the appointment and she made it clear that after our little conversation SHE had then been stewing over it as well.

*sigh*

ANYHOO, the three of us (Liv, John and myself), piled into the car at what felt like the buttcrack of dawn, made our way to our monthly appointment and nervously sat and waited for the Doctor to waltz into the room with the baby listener.

Liv crawled up and peeked her little face over the table so she could see the little doppler thingy on mommys tummy and the instant the Doctor put it on my tummy we hear 'THUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPSWISHTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP'.

WAHOO! Nervous nelly over here got her already too-tight panties in a wad all for nothin-we heard a BEAUTIFUL heartbeat at a strong 150 bpm!!

In the midst of the incredibly strong heart beat we could hear baby swimming and rolling around. It's so funny to be able to visualize that kind of thing. So weird.

I WISH you all could have seen the priceless look on Livies face the second we heard the heart beat-like it was seriously the most unbelievable thing she has ever seen.

I will forever remember the look on her face at that exact moment. It majorly kissed my heart.

Ugh.

2008-03-28T09:27:00.001-07:00

So it's about this perpetual funk I'm in.

I can't blog. *SOB*

I've got so much rolling around in my head. Stuff I think about while laying in bed AWAKE at night, stuff I can't stop thinking about while partaking in my every-day activities, no matter how mundane those said activities may be (sitting on the couch).

But I can't blog about them. I've got this malfunction lately somewhere between my brain and the tips of my fingers that prevents me from tapping these keys to put down exactly whats going on in this crazy noggin. It's like my brain farts the second I try and type it out, and let me tell ya, it doesn't smell so good, like it's something of the 'silent-but-deadly' variety. *sigh*

So, for now, I'll just share one of my favorite pictures of that child whom I birthed from my loins.

That was gross, I apologize.

This one never fails to make me smile, no matter how wickedly toddler-ish she has been lately:

Just a 'lil peeky into my day...

2008-03-25T12:19:00.001-07:00

Notice the crazed look in my eye.

How about the unstyled hair and the smeared mascara that is slowly resembling the 'racoon look'? It's all the rage these days ladies, don't judge.

Oh, and I'm sure you didn't notice, but I will also direct you to the beautiful Easter stickers that Livie decided to wallpaper my face with.

Yes, my friends, it's just that kind of day.

Pop goes the question

2008-03-21T22:01:00.000-07:00

What an incredibly exciting night we had last night...

Maybe I'll just show you the pictures and let you see for yourself.

The subjects in the photos are my Sister and her Boyfriend:

*sigh*

Carter, (their son) was pretty excited for mommy and daddy too!

Oh. And yeah, she said yes. :)

Hooray!! Congratulations sissy-poo. Love you.

Note to self:

2008-03-17T19:51:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I should kept that in mind, say, 12 weeks ago??

You wanna have a 'special cuddle' honey??

Nah, I think I'll just get me some chocolate, but thanks anyways...

*sigh*

On a side note: I betcha didn't know that in my past life I was a super hot ad model huh?? Well, I now have proof, so eat your heart out ladies.

Reason #638,243 as to why we should not be allowed out in public...ever...

2008-03-17T09:02:00.000-07:00

John came home last Friday with the brilliant idea of 'going out' to get something to eat. This made momma happy.

We (the 3.5 of us) ventured over to this little mom and pop hamburger shop in town in search of something to satisfy our grumbly tummys. We quickly ordered and found a table in the middle of the diner, where there would be no lack of things to look at to entertain Liv while eating. Miss waitress brings our sodas out.

John and I are chatting away and I here 'momma look!!'. I glance at Liv and in record time she has ripped off half of her straw wrapper, has the straw in position, and is ready to fire...

And she fires.

Right into the back of the ladies head behind me.

OMG.

I quickly turn around, realizing my face has never felt so beet red in my life and apologize profusely while groping for the launched wrapper which has now lodged itself in between the two ladies sitting directly behind me. Luckily, one of them had a great sense of humor and picked up her straw and told us 'oh, this is war!'

*whew* Law suit apparently avoided on that one...

Remember I mentioned that we chose a booth directly in the MIDDLE of the diner, where there were lots of fun things to look at? Yeah, GENIUS idea on my part...

No sooner had we avoided a straw shooting from the lady behind me, and Liv saw something across the diner on the wall that REALLY excited her.

She was SO excited about it that evidently the most efficient way to show us this said item was to swing her arm at rapid speed to point at it. Well, she swung it directly into Johns GIANT soda. Full soda. His GIANT full soda which then spilled it's ENTIRE contents all over the table and all over the main aisle of the floor.

Did I mention we were sitting in the very middle of the diner? In everyones view? Yeah, just thought I would remind you.

John and I could literally do nothing but die laughing and just stare at each other as if to silently say: 'really?! Could she possibly do anything else?!'

Oh dear.

Well, we managed to finish our meal without a hitch-Liv even ate her ENTIRE hot dog! Anyone who has a toddler KNOWS how virtually impossible it is to get your child to consume more than a few morsels before deciding that they aren't hungry/are bored/or having something really cool to talk about for the next 15 minutes.

After managing to avoiding certain death by embarrassment, we then decided to head over to our local Fred Meyer to exhaust any remaining energy that Liv may have had before bed time.
John and Liv held races up the back aisles, tried on headbands, and oohed and ahhed over the toy aisles.
We then ventured down the produce aisles to pick up a few things before paying for our purchases.
Again, in record time, we hear 'OOH! AN APPLE!!', and just as we look to see what she's talking about she seems to think the one on the VERY BOTTOM of the pile is the perfect one and she snatches out.

Now, boys and girls, what happens when you grab an apple from the BOTTOM of the produce pile? Yes, thats right, any that were sitting contently on top of said apple go rolling to the ground.

Oh, and they did.

I'm pretty sure John pulled a groin muscle with his acrobatic moves while attempting to wrangle all the fruit up off the ground before anyone could see our little fruit fiasco.

Oh golly. People, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

I mean really. WHO on Gods green earth thought up the idea of placing the bottom of the fruit display just where little fingers could perfectly pluck one juicy item from the pile. WHO?? After our little apple adventure, I came up with many ideas of protecting their produce from grabby little paws:

How about an electric fence? Nothing to seriously hurt the child, just give them a little jolt. I'm sure it's a lot less painful than their parents aching egos after cleaning up the entire spilled display. I don't know, just a thought....

I guess you could say our lives certainly aren't boring....

Speechless

2008-03-11T19:23:00.000-07:00

This picture that my sister took out at the beach this weekend left me, well, absolutely speechless.

Aside from the obvious crud that surrounds us, what a truly beautiful world we live in....

The recap

2008-03-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

What better way to spend a weekend than with a bunch of seriously fun ladies??

I had such a great time this weekend-it wasn't necessarily restful in the fact that I got a lot of sleep (I didn't), but it WAS restful in the fact that I was just able to get away and enjoy being somewhere other than my couch.

It was so neat to enjoy each others company-sometimes you forget what it's like to carry on an extended conversation with someone over the age of 3!
I caught myself a few times saying words like 'tubby' (bathtub) and 'yucky'. *sigh* I'm sure they all understood. My brain, I've decided, is officially engraved with random toddler words, and I'm just going to have to live with that fact. If I start babbling like an infant randomly though, THEN you will need to start worrying.....

Though my retarded brain forgot my card for my camera in our computer at home, my sister and mom DID take some great pictures.
Here are a few images highlighting our weekend:

Here, we were split off into three big groups and instructed to create a team name and banner representing our team. We then had a sort of 'Survivor' competition, complete with a trek through the outdoors, and a blindfolded eating contest....
This was our banner for our team.

And yes, we won.

Throughout the weekend there were candle holders to make...

and nails to be painted. (yes, my sister is of a different breed. I often question my biological ties to this family.)

Over all it was such an awesome weekend. It was so much more than can be put into words. A lot was done on the inside.
I'm so thankful to have had such a special time with my mom and sister.
Yes, it was a good weekend!

All good things must come to an end

2008-03-07T07:09:00.000-08:00

My little stint on the front page of 'TopMomma.com' has now ended. How much fun it was to be recognized as a top momma blogger and to have so many new readers enjoying my blog! I also in the mean time got to enjoy a few new blogs myself-and ya all know I just love a good read!

Thanks for all the 'clicks' to keep me up there! That was so nice, gee golly!

It's now time for someone else to enjoy one of the coveted TopMomma spots, so I encourage you to head back over there and see what new faces are on there! HI-LARIOUS I tell you!!

Have a great weekend everyone, and I'll fill you in on my little beachy adventure in a few days!

I'm straight up busting out of this joint....yo....

2008-03-06T16:46:00.000-08:00

God is constantly astonishing me with his crazy-cool ways of orchestrating our lives....

I haven't attended the weekly womens bible study at our church for quite a while. For the last month and a half I've been feeling like a big bag of crap with all this morning sickness and just haven't had the energy to claw my way out the door in the morning, much less make myself look presentable. I've missed it. Oh how I've missed it.

I miss getting to just BE in the presence of other women. Any women. But these women in particular are just the coolest chicks on the planet. They have this absolutely INCREDIBLE desire to hold each other up and bless each other with encouraging words and prayer. Cool cool ladies I tell ya.

WELL, randomly I got up this morning and decided: THATS IT. I'm dragging my obnoxiously sick butt outta bed and Liv and I ARE GOING. They are women. They are going to understand why I look/feel/act like hell. And if not, at least I will pretend that they understand...

So I got there, slowly regretting every second that went by....I just felt so weak, so tired, so sick.

During announcements the yearly 'womens retreat' was mentioned. This was something I had been planning on going to-it's just an awesome weekend at the beach for a bunch of ladies from the church to be together, there may be 1 or 2 little talks/sharing times, but over all, it's a weekend to just be together, play games, do crafts, read, be by yourself, but to mostly just BE together in the presence of our awesome God. Last time I went I just happened to be pregnant with Liv, and here I knew this time I would be pregnant this round too. Oh joy. What I DIDN'T realize was that this little ladies get away snuck up on me and bit me in the butt about three weeks earlier than I thought it was going to be.

Yeah.

It's TOMORROW.

Aw frick.

I went into 'oh bummer, poor me I can't go now' mode thinking it was just too late to get childcare organized, things packed, snacks shopped for. Oh was I wrong...

WHY am I so darn good at doubting God??

My dear friend Aj just simply looked at me and my sulky face and said 'just go! I am, kinda last minute!' Oh. You mean I'm not the only goober that waited until the last minute possible to sign up?? I kid, Aj friend. Kinda. ;)

So, back to Gods little orchestration: John was THRILLED with the idea of me going and getting some wonderful time to myself, Livie's aunt and uncle were MORE than happy to have her come stay the night one night (she even gets a chuck e. cheese visit out of her stay!! Can you say SPOILED?!) AND, the most exciting part: I discovered that my mom and sister were also really wanting to go but had been debating whether or not to, but I convinced them and now we are all traveling down there together and staying in a cabin together all weekend!!

My mom made the comment that it was pretty obvious that God really wanted us to go! I think so too...

It's so funny to think that if I wouldn't have hauled my stubborn butt over to bible study this morning, then I wouldn't have heard the announcements, and my thick head wouldn't have realized until too late that it was this weekend!

And THAT my friends is how our awesome God works!

Boy meets Girl

2008-03-05T15:51:00.000-08:00

This week Liv and I enjoyed the company of our friends Megan and Conner for part of the evening while 'our boys' were out of town for the night.

What a treat it was to have someone to visit with other than each other for once! :)

Megan and I B.S'd about dream scrapbooking rooms and Conner and Liv, well, they did what they do best....

Made gaga eyes at each other...

Whispered sweet nothings into each others ears...

Smooched a little....

And kicked back and enjoyed a nice flick together.

We are gonna have to watch that one, that Miss Olivia. We've got a tigress on our hands. No question who wears the pants in the relationship, we may have to resort to locking her in her room until she's 30 if she keeps this up...

Preparing my acceptance speech

2008-03-05T09:08:00.000-08:00

Oh golly, who to thank first??

Of course there are those who have supported me all along, you, my bloggy readers. And then there is my daughter, who without her I would have never had as many great pooping stories as I have. Oh and my dear husband who makes sure to tell me how funny I am, even when I'm not. Thank you. THANK YOU EVERYONE!!

Ok, over dramatic much?

I was just informed via e-mail this morning that my blog made it onto TopMomma.com. Not really sure what that means, but oh-so-exciting at the same time?? Sure!

I guess the gist of it is, when you are a top-momma blogger, your blog picture makes it to the front page, and then readers can go and click on a referral link to keep your picture on the front page. I guess it's to see how long you can stay on the front page. Too much anxiety for me. One day is enough.

But alas, here is my referral link so that you know I'm not lying. :)

I'm the 'special' looking doggy with the glasses.

Looks like there are a ton of fabulous bloggers on there-so happy reading!

Sharing 101

2008-03-04T10:36:00.000-08:00

I've got one thing to say.

All you co-sleepers out there? You are a crazy breed. CRAZY I tell you!!

I've never been really good at sharing. Until I got married/had kids, that is.

I grew up with just one sibling, so the rivalry wasn't HUGE being there were only two of us to divvy things up between. I was older, so if I got to it first, I would take it. I know, I'm just selfish like that.

Since starting a family of my own, I've noticed my selfish wall beginning to crumble. I'm so disappointed in myself. There is just one donut left in the box? I without a second thought will make sure John gets it. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?

Well, my selfish tendencies were brought back to life last night.

John was gone all night, visiting some friends some 2 1/2 hours away, so it was just me and the kid. All night. Just us.

Now, Liv has been sleeping in her own room, her own bed since she was about 3 months old. It was a decision that John and I made very early: 1, to make sure Liv had no issues sleeping on her own, and 2, for the sake of our marriage, we felt having a little one squished between us in bed for the next 3 years probably wouldn't do great things for what we like to refer to as 'marital relations'. :)
It is a VERY rare occasion that Liv will come and sleep with us in our bed. In fact I could probably count on 1 hand the amount of times she has in the last 2 1/2 years. She's never had problems sleeping in her own room/bed, in fact she rarely whines about it and goes right to sleep after we tuck her in and thats how we like to keep it.

Well, evidently, when Dads gone, all rules are flushed down the pooper.

The spawn of satan appeared in our home yesterday and continued to rear it's ugly head straight until morning.

I lay Liv down like usual and don't hear a peep for an hour....
Then, as I'm going to bed I hear 'MOOOOM'.
*sigh*
'What, Liv?'
'I caaan't sleeep'

So, this stupid momma in all her pregnant, pukey glory made the ridiculous mistake of asking her if she wanted to come sleep in mommys bed with mommy.

Of course she did.

So, we get all snuggled into bed: Livie, Mommy, the Giant body pillow, Blue, Elmo, blankie and Baloo. And the fun starts.

Little Miss Chatty talks my ear off until I finally turn the light off and resort to ignoring her. She falls asleep. Squished up against me. SO comfortable...not...

I'm a roller and flipper and mover in the middle of the night. Evidently so is my daughter. JUST GREAT.

Off and on through the night, I'm pretty sure it was hourly, she wakes up numerous times to inform me that she CANNOT lay on her pillow. There are snakes on her pillow.
Frickin' snakes.
I 'wipe the snakes off' and all is well again.

Suddenly, at approximately 3:45 in the AM, she sits up and decides it is time to get up and eat lunch. Hmm. Really? Because I swear it is still the MIDDLE OF THE FREAKING NIGHT!!! For the next two or so hours I convince her that it is still night night time and to NOT even think about talking to me until it is light outside.

4:15- 'Mom, can I talk yet?'

'NOOO!'

*sigh*

And so I am reminded again why I HATE sharing my bed. I just deal with John because he rubs my back and legs for me.

Hey, it's all about the sacrifice people, sacrifice....

okay okay OKAY!!! sheesh....

2008-03-01T08:32:00.000-08:00

Since Jenny is SO eager to hear whether or not I attained a position in the entertainment industry pre-kids, and she WILL not leave me alone until I tell her, I figured I had better not delay on answering the rest of questions you fine ladies asked me as well.

Here goes nuthin' part deux:

Jenny asked: What job did you have before becoming a Domestic Engineer? And you HAVE to answer...even if you were a stripper! Were you? :)

So sorry to disappoint you my dear Jenny friend, but no. No exotic dancer past in this girls life. Unless you count dancing on the coyote ugly bar in las vegas during my 21st birthday. But that most certainly was for laughs, definitely NOT the exotic form. By the way, ask John why in heavens name he thought it would be great idea to call my mom and sister and tell them what I was doing at that very moment. Really, ask him because I have no freaking idea.
ANYWAY...I actually worked in clothing retail from about the year before we got married up until about 7 months ago. Whats better than being surrounded by cute clothes all day? LOVED it.
Other jobs I've had in my lifetime are: housekeeping for a camp and conference center, housekeeping for a hotel (ew), pizza maker, fundraising calling for my college, bridal store associate (lasted 2 days, another post for another day), bookkeeper for a tire store, stock room associate in a large chain store....I think that pretty much covers it.

Now, Kim-d said she would listen if I REALLY felt the need to talk about my bowels, but I'll go ahead a humor her and answer the question she's MORE interested in hearing the answer to:
"What I wanna know is this--name(s), specifically, for your new peanut. Girl? Name. Boy? Name. If Olivia would have been a boy instead of a girl? Name."

Well, If Olivia had been a boy, which I was SO sure she was going to be, we were going to name her Jackson and call her Jack. But alas, she very obviously is of the female persuasion, so we named her after our favorite character on our favorite show at the time: Olivia on Law and Order SVU. Cheesy, I know.
If our new little peanut is again a girl, we will most likely name her Samantha. Such a precious name. I have ALWAYS loved the name 'Ruby' for a girl, I just think that is the cutest little girl in pigtails kind of name. John isn't so fond of it. *sigh*
If it turns out that God blesses us with a boy, we REALLY like the name Sawyer. Jenny: one guess why, c'mon, I KNOW you can get this one :) We also still really like Jack, but it would have to just be Jack, Jackson has been used in our family since having Olivia. That would just get too confusing.

My Katie-girl jokingly asked me this (which led me to think she was trying to pick up on me?? Were you Katie, huh??):
What's your sign? LOL!
Well, I'm a Scorpio. Does that mean good things for us Katie? Do we mesh well as a future couple?

Melissa, who shares my addiction-I mean LOVE-of Diet Coke asked:
"Ok, how did you and your husband meet. If you've already told us this, forgive me."
No, Melissa, please forgive ME if I've already told you, I can't remember either....

I met John for the very first time in 7th grade. We had health class together and I thought he was oh so cute. You all know he has major boyish good looks, now put that on a 7th grader, and he was the cutest darn thing ever. I sat behind him and was 'flirting' by poking him in the back of the head with my pencil and he turned around to tell me to knock it off and I accidentally jabbed him in the tooth with my pencil and knocked his tooth out. In my defense, it was already loose, but there was blood. Lots of blood. He was totally hooked on me after that. What can I say? I've got moves....

Queeny asked me this one:
"OK, I've got one. What's the worst thing you've ever done behind your husband's back, since you've been married?"
QUEENY!! You saucy little thing you! What, are you trying to get me in trouble??
I'm having a hard time thinking of an answer for this one: honestly, the worse thing is probably lying to him about birthday presents or something like that. I know, I'm so scandalous. I've got too much anxiety to be keeping horrible secrets from him. Anything I've needed to come clean about in the past, we both have shared with each other and have left in the past. So for now, I'll just pretend that hiding presents from him is super bad.

My girl from Don Mills, THE Don Mills Diva herself asked:
"I'm wondering if you could give your children one attribute what would it be?"
Ooh, this is a good one. I think I would have to say patience. Not to be quick to anger. Patience with others. Patient in their faith.

And finally, Miss Amy asked me this:
"if you had a day to yourself, what would you do?"
Well, this one is a toughie. If you are asking the pregnant, miserable Abbie, I would without a doubt say my dream all-to-myself kind of day right now would be to find an awesome read and book a hotel room somewhere (I'm telling ya, even super8 would work right now) and lay in bed in my sweats ALL DAY and have uninterrupted sleep/tv/reading time. OH MY GOODNESS. I'm getting giddy just thinking about that.
Otherwise, normal Abbie would enjoy doing something like my sweet lady friend Kim did this last weekend. Hit up a Scrapbooking workshop and just sit for 2 days straight with good friends, good wine and scrapbook until my little heart is content.

Good questions ladies! I'm looking forward to finding out a little more about each of you as well! :) I promise not to ever ask you about your poop though. Though I love to talk about mine from time to time, I have no desire to know about yours.

Here goes nuthin'...

2008-02-29T12:38:00.000-08:00

I'm attacking the big question first, well, because I've been stewing over 'the right' thing to say.

I don't want to come off holier than thou, because of how firm I am in what I believe, but I also do not want to come off as one that is unsure about what I believe in.

Here's the question, asked by my favorite Carey in the whole world:

"If you had the opportunity to know, I mean really know, that religion and faith were just something created by humanity, would you want to know and would it change the way you live your life, teach your children, etc..."

The short and sweet answer is, no, it wouldn't change the way I live my life and raise my children, because I've grown up with my faith my entire life. It is 100% a part of who I am, and thats not something I would just be literally able to forget in a heartbeat.

God asks us to have 'simple faith'. Simply believe that he loves us more than any human on earth could possibly love another. And believe that he wants what is the absolute best for us, which is a perfect life in Heaven, with no pain, no tears, no crummy stuff.

To specifically pinpoint why I believe what I believe isn't something I can just put my finger on. It's an on-going transformation that God has done and is continuing to do on the inside of me. Something God is doing on the inside to constantly remind me that I am NEVER alone, and that I am SO incredibly loved.

While so many on earth can disappoint, hurt, and shame us, it's such a comfort to know that we have a PERFECT father, friend, and confidant in God to rely on.

I have seen God do absolutely beautiful things in my life! I would never be able to deny someone who has literally saved me from the very darkest pits of myself and proven time and time again that he IS LOVE. The very definition of it.

I hope I have somewhat answered the question for you Carey. It's the hardest question I have honestly ever been faced with, and I didn't in anyway want my answer to turn you or anyone else off of the beauty and grace that is God.

Thanks for putting me on the spot! :)

Yowza!!

2008-02-28T08:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my 100th post! My brain was too spent to attempt what I did with my 50th, which was to tell you 50 random things about me. I would probably start making things up, and while that would be fun for you, it just may get outta hand.

That being said, I got this rockin' idea from Don Mills Diva (fabulous read by the way): Ask me a question. Any question. Well, anything short of my SS# and/or the meaning of life. Although I'm sure I could come up with a pretty convincing answer for that one....
ANYWAY, just leave your query in the comment section below and I'll tell ya anything you ever wanted to know about me in a future post.

Sounds like fun, right?? OH you have no idea. If you happen to leave a question regarding my bowels, just be prepared to read an entire post dedicated purely to that. Because you all know how much I LOVE to talk about my poo.....

Kiss This!

2008-02-27T20:12:00.000-08:00

Livie has been TOTALLY enthralled with the idea of 'kissing the baby' lately. Any open shot she sees to my tummy and she is all over it. CUTEST thing ever.

Well, a little while ago after smothering my chubby tummy with slobbery kisses, she then pointed to my heart and asked if she could give Jesus a kiss in my heart. I smiled and said of course. So she planted one right on my heart and then leaned back in with her mouth right on my chest and yelled at the top of her lungs:

"YOU'RE WELCOME JESUS!! OK, GOODNIIIGHHT!"

Seriously, could I BE anymore in love with this child??

One of MANY 'duh!' moments in my life....

2008-02-27T10:43:00.000-08:00

Anyone who knows me well knows I'm a *total* Target/Walmart/Ikea whore. No, I'm not making sweet love in the toilet paper aisle, I'm talking about how GREAT I am at finding SAWEET deals and creating an aesthetically pleasing home out of my many finds.

Well yesterday, I actually got out of the house. Yes, I know, pick your jaws up off the ground. It's true. No really!! Ask Megan!

Megan, tell them! Tell them how I was even half way presentable-I was showered, blow-dried, and *gasp* had even painted my face a bit!

So there I was, out and about, shopping a nearby outdoor mall. Now, I'm not talkin' out door K-mart here people, I'm talkin' up-scale shopping, where a mini espresso is nearing $95 and a pair of mens underwear is, well, you might as well just give them your first born....

Lo and behold, we come upon a pretty popular home furnishings and kitchen/dining/livingroom accessories store. While paying my right leg for an incredibly gorgeous hurricane vase sounded extremely appealing, I thought, no, I'll just LOOK. You know, that walk-around-and-browse-with-no-intent-of-buying thing that us women do so well.

Our Dishwasher as of late seems to be ingesting our silverware. Much like socks in a dryer, I SWEAR way fewer utensils come out of there then originally were put in to be cleaned. So imagine my surprise when I come across some INCREDIBLY priced silverware sets in the kitchen area of the store. I'm talkin' some AWESOMELY heavy silverware for 18 buckaroos. So here I am, GIDDY from my crazy good find, thinking I have fooled the money Gods once again, and I pranced up to the nearest associate and told her which set I was interested in and she asked me 'ok, how many settings?' I replied nonchalantly with 'oh, just the 5 setting thing like it says on the tag'.

Ok, here's where I felt the need to crawl under the nearest $895,000 rug and hide: She replies back with this I-am-so-embarrassed-for-you look on her face 'oh, well, the price is for EACH place setting.'

Oh.

So I saunter back over to the display mumbling something about 'ok, just let me look a little more then' and as soon as the coast was clear made the nearest exit.

Turns out the sign said $18 for a 5 piece setting, and my dumb ass read that as $18 for a 5 place setting.

And THAT my friends, is why I'm not let out of the house often.

Put yer earmuffs on

2008-02-25T20:55:00.000-08:00

Have any of you ever seen the movie 'Old School'? Specifically the part where all the guys are in the kitchen, along with one of their toddler-ish aged sons, and anytime a curse word is about to enter the conversation, the dad of said son says 'earmuffs' and the son cups his hands over his ears to refrain from hearing said curse word?

We got the biggest kick out of teaching Liv at a super young age that same trick, (earmuffs, not cursing) whenever a questionable word was about to pop up in the conversation. You know, words like: Butt, shut up, crap....
We would laugh at how quickly her hands would fly to her ears the instant 'earmuffs!' left our mouths. Oh the good old days....now we can't get her to shut up about 'ouch, My butt hurts! Will you kiss my butt?!' *sigh* You choose your battles people, you choose your battles. 'Butt' just isn't one of them. Now 'whore', thats a different story. I think if I were to EVER hear that word come out of her mouth, (in the midst of suppressed giggles) I would slap that child to next Tuesday. Oh now don't go calling Childrens Services on me. You'd do it too.

Ok, but back to 'Earmuffs'. I'm going to go ahead and pull that word out of the bag tonight for any male readers I may have, because what I'm about to say is, well, none of your business and may be considered slightly inappropriate. Of course when am I NOT inappropriate? Don't say I didn't warn you.

EARMUFFS!!

All I'm going to say, and I know you ladies feel me on this one, is that I've suddenly realized that my belly is not the only thing growing with this pregnancy...

HOLY TORPEDOES BATMAN! Where did these come from? And where have they been all my life? These puppies certainly could have given a gal a little self esteem at 13 when my chest was flatter than my back....

Oh the joys of a miserable pregnancy.

It's a virtue? Really?!

2008-02-23T08:14:00.000-08:00

So there is this little thing I like to call 'patience'.

I say little, well, because I've never been one to carry a whole lot of it around with me.

I often am so discouraged with my lack of patience with Olivia. From her point of view, being a toddler is a whole new exciting world for her. Our days are filled with questions, giggles and jumping. Up and down. All. Day. Long.
Lately, this momma, in her nasty, pukey state, becomes this boring grumpy blob whose only known word appears to be 'No'. No wonder she appears to have been fed crack by the time Daddy walks in the door at the end of day. HOORAY! Someone FUN to play with!

My lack of patience has already transferred to the newest little one. Who the crap thought to keep these kids in their mothers bellys for 9 FREAKING months before making their appearance?? I'm only 8 weeks along and ready to punch myself in the face from discomfort. I'm ready to put together the nursery, ready to buy clothes, ready to send it off to college...

John and I came up last week with the greatest idea EVER. Why can't we just grow this baby the rest of the way in a big jar? That way we could wave at it whenever we wanted to, we could feed it a couple times a day like we would a fish, with tasty little flakes. John said it would be like our very own little sea monkey.
I think it's a great idea.

The Doctor didn't seem quite on board with it.

I don't think she took us seriously.

*sigh*

Ya wanna rock?!

2008-02-21T19:53:00.000-08:00

For his birthday last week, I got John Guitar Hero III for his XBOX 360.

I know, best wife EVER, right here....

That being said, I recently discovered that I have the most hard-core, head-bangin', kick ass family on the planet.

Case in point:

Yes, I do realize that my 2 1/2 year old daughter is flashing the 'rock on' sign.

*sigh* this momma could be more proud *tear*

Yes, I really am pregnant.

2008-02-20T21:37:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pics to scratch that itch that I know you've all had about seeing my belly. My enormously too-huge-for-how-early-along-I-am belly.

I'm alive....

2008-02-20T16:07:00.000-08:00

This will be brief, not much say.....

Had our big appointment this morning, and it turns out, we are not having twins.

Actually it turns out I'm not pregnant at all. Turns out I just couldn't put down the ho-ho's and doritos and it took a bit of a toll on my mid section. I'm just fat.

PSYCHE!! Totally joking. Sorry that was mean.

The morning started VERY early for me. My appointment wasn't until 8:30 but for some reason my anxiety decided to wake me up bright and early at 6. NO ONE in their right mind should be up that early. I guess I'm not really in my right mind though, am I?:)

I was having CONSTANT panic attacks all day yesterday and this morning, and just came to the decision that I COULD NOT go through with the actual exam part of the appointment until I talked to the Doctor about upping my dose on my medicine. I COULD NOT attempt this on top of all the anxiety I had been dealing with the past few days, and come out mentally ok. So, feeling slightly dissappointed in myself, as the nurse asked me to dress down and cover with those sheets that I SWEAR they wash with steel wool, I politely asked/told her that I just wouldn't be able to do the exam today. She sweetly smiled and told me that was just fine.

A short time later, my awesome doctor breezed in and smiled and said 'you don't think I expected to do an exam today, did you??' hahaha oh how I love that woman. She proceeded to tell me that she didn't want me to worry that she was going to harrass me at every appointment about getting it done, and that if we didn't end up doing one at all this pregnancy, then that would be ok. Would it have been weird if I had kissed her right then and there? Yes? Ok, well I didn't. I really wanted to though...

We carried on with all the other appointment crud: questions, questions, blood pressure check, more questions. And.Then.The.Time.Came.

It was time to see that precious little being(s) that I've been 'lovingly' growing for sometime now.

We piled into the ultrasound room and as soon as the wand was placed on my belly, I couldn't stop myself 'IS THERE MORE THAN ONE?!' I blurted out. Well, she proceeded to look around, and to quickly put Johns mind at ease, she said, 'nope, just one!'. PRAISE THE LORD. I'm pretty sure John blacked out for that quick second, but he seems to be fine now.

Best part of it? Remember how big I said I am getting already? I'M ONLY 8 WEEKS ALONG. What the crap. Fan-friggin-tastic. C'mon.

Anyway, turns out we have the CUTEST child ever grown by a human growing in my belly at this very moment. With a heart rate of about 171 bpm and the body length of a kidney bean (about 2cm), we grow 'em pretty cute around these here parts. 171 bpm! No wonder I'm so darn tired all the time! whew! Looks like our due date is: September 27th. HOORAY for a LONG, HOT summer! Blech....

Thank you for all thinking of me and praying for me today. These last few days I have had the most random people come out of the wood work to let me know they are praying for me and thinking about me. God is truly at work in my life, and I feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people. Thank you thank you thank you. :)

Oh, and I guess you are all interested in how Liv took the news, huh? :) Before we left this morning, we sat down and told Livie why we were going to the doctor. She was a little more interested in her cheerios. But, once we told her that she would get to see it on the tv at the doctors office, she perked right up about it and seemed pretty excited. I think it looked a little different on the screen than she expected. At one point during the appointment she layed back on the table where she was sitting with me, lifted her shirt, sighed loudly, and informed us that she too had a baby in her tummy. Black out #2 for daddy.
As we were leaving the doctors office, Liv let me know that she was ready for the baby to come out of mommys tummy now so that she could rock-rock it.

You and me both, kid, you and me both.

Few thoughts for today

2008-02-19T12:19:00.000-08:00

A lot of people do not believe in prayer, or the power involved in it.

I, on the other hand, whole-heartedly believe in it. I especially believe in it when a person is so down, so grief-stricken, that they are at a point physically, emotionally and spiritually where they are incapable of praying for themselves.

Thats where I am at right now.

These past few days, in preparing for my first prenatal appointment tomorrow, I have been literally unable to make my mind go there. Unable to sit and simply think about the fact that I will be getting (or attempting to get) an exam. In fact, simply typing that makes me physically sick and near tears.

Today I've been dealing with my heart racing to unreal speeds and sweaty hands and bouts of near blackouts. We are talking MAJOR anxiety attacks.

Today and tomorrow are those times that I talked about where I'm literally unable to cry out to God myself, and need you, my dear friends to call his precious name for me. I can't even begin to pray, because that means I have to be thinking about what tomorrow holds. I can't do it.

There are going to be some really neat things happening tomorrow-Liv will finally know shes going to be a big sister, and the three of us will finally see this sweet little being growing inside me-but all of those things are COMPLETELY overshadowed in my mind by the fact that I will be up on the exam table attempting to do what I dread most in the entire world.

Please keep me in mind today and tomorrow. I know God loves me. I know I am his precious daughter and as my mom says that 'he adores this little baby inside me'. I know that he will be with me holding my hand on the exam table tomorrow. But my mind and body believe such totally different things. My mind and body make this fear so real.

I'll get you all updated after our appointment tomorrow, and if you are lucky, I may even show you a picture of this little peanut growing inside me!

Laugh: you know you want to

2008-02-15T19:55:00.000-08:00

To celebrate the randomness that is my poo, I thought I'd tell ya a few jokes:

These are great.

You will laugh.

And if you don't, well, you are weird.

I'm just gross like that.

Joke #1:

Q: What do you call a vegetarian with diarrhea?

A: SALAD SHOOTER!!

Joke #2:

Q: What does a math teacher do when he/she is constipated?

A: Work it out with a pencil!

HAHHAHHAHAHA!! Freakin' hilarious.

And there, my friends, is a little glimpse into the life of my ever changing bowels.

Yeah, I said it....AND WHAT.

My newest Love affair:

2008-02-15T11:53:00.000-08:00

John surprised me on I heart you day with this glorious piece of stuffed fabric:

The Boppy full body pillow.

He was either genuinely feeling sorry for me in my uncomfortable state, or just wanted me to shut up in the middle of the night.

I've been in near tears every night due to how incredibly uncomfortable I am laying in bed. Constant tossing and turning, shoving pillows here and there, wrapping my legs around John, unwrapping my legs from Johns when I get too hot....it is a never ending battle. Every. Night.

But NO LONGER!!

I had a pillow similar to this when I was pregnant with Liv, and it was my savior, I tell you, my saving grace!! I used that puppy beyond my pregnant days until it could be used no more, and then it got tossed. But now, my days of sleeping like a Queen have returned! Wahoo!!

Move over John, Boppys in town, and she's here to stay!!

My Funny Valentine

2008-02-14T09:29:00.001-08:00

So there is this guy that I'm like TOTALLY crazy about on this Valentines Day, and it just so happens to be his birthday as well.

I'm going to blog-celebrate by telling you 26 things that I just love about my hubby on his 26th Birthday/Valentines Day:

* I LOVE his great sense of humor.

* I LOVE the fact that I can be SO stupid around him and not have to worry about him looking for another less stupid beauty to take my place.

* I LOVE the fact that he loves video games-even at 26, married and being father, it shows he's still a kid at heart, and I find that so endearing!

* I LOVE that he's the more romantic of the two of us. Lord knows if it was left up to me to plan a romantic evening, we would be sitting on the couch picking our noses all night.

* I LOVE that he laughs at me, even when no one else gets my weird comments or 'funny' jokes.

* I LOVE the incredible father he is. I honestly could never have imagined anything better for my child(ren).

* I LOVE that I can count on him to rub my restless legs in the middle of the night when I ask, and he doesn't even grump about it (out loud anyways hehe).

* I LOVE that he will watch a girly movie with me if I really REALLY want to, and he will even admit to liking some of them ;)

* I LOVE when he winks at me.

* I LOVE that we really don't like a whole lot of the same things (movies, books) but that we are both SO totally obsessed with the show LOST.

* I LOVE that he gagged when my water broke in the hospital with Olivia. I still die laughing about that to this day.

* I also LOVE that he cried when Olivia first came into this world. It is one of the very few times I have ever seen him cry, but by far the most meaningful.

* I LOVE how he will go to the store 8 times in one day for me because I'm sick and I remember '1 more thing' that we forgot to get the last trip.

* I LOVE how he never once has complained through this pregnancy while he has taken care of Olivia, cooked dinner for himself everynight, and cleaned up around the house everyday.

* I LOVE how his absolute favorite part of the day is when he walks in the door and Livie comes running screaming 'DAAADDDYYYY!!'. He says he looks forward to that all day, and I think thats just cool.

* I LOVE how he likes the fact that I've got a little extra junk in my trunk.

* I LOVE how he loves my family like they are his own and how comfortable he feels around them.

* I LOVE that I can discuss my bowel issues with him and he doesn't even die of embarrassment, but just laughs. *sigh*

* I LOVE being able to remember him in Junior high and how embarrassed I was to hold hands with him.

* I LOVE how excited he is about being a Dad again.

* I LOVE having so much history with him AND

* I LOVE knowing he'll be around for a real long time :)

* I LOVE the fact that he's just as happy with mac n cheese and wiener wraps as he would be if I could whip up steak and potatoes every night.

* I LOVE that it's more important to him that we have the things we need than getting a big new TV.

* I LOVE that we shared that special year and a half living in Las Vegas together right after we got married.

* Best of all: I LOVE that he loves me for me. That he thinks I'm perfect just the way I am.

I'm so blessed to be married to my best friend. I just wouldn't be me without him.

I love you sweetie. Happy Valentines Day and Happy Happy Birthday!

You are the ABSOLUTE love of my life!

Twice the fun??

2008-02-13T20:03:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned before about my middle of the night visions of sugar plumbs, I mean Twins, dancing in my belly.

I've mentioned about the fact that my tummy seems to have just exploded over night-No, I don't mean the 'd' word (diarrhea)-I'm talking about how incredibly HUGE I seem to have grown in my middle region in just a matter of hours. WAY too big, it seems, for a mere 2 1/2 months along.

I may have even mentioned that already, at 7 or 8 weeks along, I felt the baby kick. Many times.

What I have failed to mention to you, my faithful readers, is what occurred Monday Morning....

One Monday a month, my daughter and I are lucky enough to attend a MOPS group here in town. For those of you that aren't familiar with this little Momma get-together, MOPS stands for Mothers Of Pre-Schoolers. It's a cool 2 hour slot for moms of children who aren't yet in school to get together-childcare provided-for fellowship, food and friends. Every week we start out with announcements: Who's got a birthday this month, Who had a baby since last time, any prayer requests, and, who's been impregnated since last month.
Anyone? Any takers??
Oh yeah. ME.
Just little old me is the only unfortunate soul to be dealing with the morning sickness wrath.
SO, I reluctantly raise my hand amidst the 'awww's!' and 'yaay's!' and they ask me to come forward.

Evidently anyone knocked up since last time has the fantastic opportunity to blindly draw a candy bar out of the bag which will in turn predict the fate of their womb.

Oh Joy.

I picked a Twix bar.

Twix=twins

Shoot me now.

The Master Plan

2008-02-12T11:35:00.000-08:00

After taking note of a few measurements with a GIANT tape measurer that she found only God knows where, Livie just informed me:

'hmmm. This house is too too big for me. I need a little little house for me. A tiny one.'

Okaayyyy...so you are saying the whole set-you-up-in-a-dog-house-on-the-back-porch-and-lock-the- back-door idea that I had really may work out afterall?? SWEET.

My wheels have been a turnin' since discovering that little thing I like to call my child in my belly. We live in a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath townhouse with a 1 car garage. PLENTY of room. IF John wants to give up his play room. Which by the way he has NO problem doing. We have a giant master bedroom that with a nice little screen divider could easily be turned into Johns XBox room/our master bedroom. He's so selfless like that.

BUT, I have an even greater plan. If this child in my belly has been able to survive just fine through my stomach bug, my not being able to eat a thing, and 2 bouts of dehydration, he/she-once born-should do just fine sharing a nice bed of leaves under the front porch with Liv, right? Think of the things we could do with 2 EXTRA BEDROOMS!! I could have my very own scrapbook room! OOH! OR a room completely dedicated entirely to Diet Coke.

No?

*sigh* Fine.

DON'T go calling childrens services on me. I'll give them their rooms.

I would have at least given them a blanket or two....sheesh.....