Christmassy Things

Merry Christmas eve to you my blogging friends! As I sit here I can hear my sweet girl upstairs in her bed wearing her new snuggy Christmas jammies making her early morning noises. I would love to know what she does in there before the crying begins which is when I actually go in and get her up. She sounds like she is having the most wonderful time in there by herself. I would think she was playing with her bear but she usually throws him out before she goes to sleep, at some point she also throws out her blankets and paci so she must be talking to herself oh so quietly.
I haven't been doing many Christmas themed blogs lately and I am in the Christmas mood now so I shall share! This feels like its Annies first Christmas because she was only a few months old last Christmas so she was just a cute accessory. This year I want to share all the Christmas experiences with her. Show her just how we do it and what there is to love about Christmas.
My goal with Annie is to teach her that Christmas is the celebration of Christs birth. When I was growing up I knew that it was but I really have to say I didn't care. I was way more excited about Santa and have very fond memories of Santa related things. I would say that I was always grateful for what I received from Santa as well as gifts from others. However I was never excited about the birth of Jesus. With that said I am still having a hard time letting go of the whole Santa idea for Annie. So this year Santa is just filling her stocking and I am thinking that maybe that is what we will stick with. I love the story of St Nicholas and can tie that in with confidence, but I might have a hard time convincing my husband that Santa simply be a play thing right from the start so as to not steal the focus.....
ANYWAY
We have been doing lots of Cincinnati's Christmas finest. We took her to see the trains downtown with our friends Lexi and Tim, & Cousin Carter and Gram (because carter is a train freak). I don't have a picture of that yet because they are all on Lexi's camera. We also visited Krohn Conservatory with Kara, Elly & the Port Man.


I wanted Annie to be able to walk so that she could really get the experience and not have to ride around in the stroller. But she was most interested in the fact that I was letting her walk freely and wandered around chasing and running from Elly Beth ;o)
We also went to the Creation Museum for the first time to see the live Nativity. It was VERY COOL and I can't wait to go back when she is older because she was mesmerized by the commotion and the storytellers but she didn't get it and her attention span is not as long as the story's that the people have to tell. However she LOVED the petting zoo and I hear that is there all year round so I am excited to take her there in the spring so she can run around and get licked by a cow (some kid got licked by a cow in the face when we were there) We also have no pictures of this evening because it was freezing rain mixed with snow and well we just don't do that to our camera :o)
We have decorated the tree, baked Christmas cookies, sang carols, played with her little nativity scene for hours and hours, read books about St Nicholas, and a really cool antique book called "A child is born" that she likes to look through. We have watched Christmas movies and the one that captivated her the most was White Christmas! She has eaten moms garland off of the tree and stolen just a few ornaments (she is very good about pointing with one finger at all the prettys). My one last goal is to drive past a decorated house tonight. I love to look at lights but I am not a fan of doing it with a baby in the car who can't see or appreciate them. However there is one house in Highland Heights that we have visited every year since I was little and his yard is decked out! So I shall share this mans Christmas spirit with my baby. I am also looking forward to a phone call from my Momma who reads "Twas The Night Before Christmas" to us every year and since we are all grown up and in different places on Christmas eve she calls and we are all on speaker phone (one year Kara conference called us all in together) as she reads our bed time story to us.
So Merry Christmas To You All and I hope you are able to celebrate Christs Birth with the people that you love and have happy memories of those who can't be with you on this day!

Baby I'm Amazed By You

I was on call today and though I like getting paid $3 an hour to do my laundry and take a nap I don't like the waiting game never knowing if I am going to have to drop what I am doing and go to work. But I always get a lot done on these unexpected days at home because I can't leave for fear that I will get called.
Today was a lot of laundry and playing with my baby. I am blown away by her every day and I can't believe I don't get the video camera out more often. A few days ago I was driving in the car and when she gets fussy I sing to her. I have been singing Christmas songs lately and I was singing "Up On The Housetop" when I got to the "hohoho" part I hear this little "hohoho" from the backseat (only her HoHo comes out HaHa and I love it)! I was blown away! How did she know to do that at that moment in the song? So later when Aunt Kelly got home we were singing it for her and when I got to "click, click, click" she joined in with her own version of tongue moving and back of the throat clicking! Kelly and I screamed of course and we were super proud of her! How am I supposed to keep up with this smart kid? She has also added "Beth" and "Porter" and "Pawpaw" to her list of words in the past week. She has stoped with the Dog Dog woof woof so much and moved on to saying Doras name all day every day! She also tried to use a fork tonight at dinner and I did manage to get a few seconds of that on video. She thought it was super funny when she would get a piece on her fork, with much help, but then she would turn the fork around and put it in her mouth by herself. It was cute because she would laugh every time she saw the food on the end of the fork. So I decided that I need to go buy her some forks, I will put them in her stocking just to have a good excuse to spend money.
We took her to see the trains downtown last weekend and she liked them but was not overly impressed, she liked the free cookie the most. My friend Lexi took some pictures so when I get them I will be sure to share.
I think I have mentioned before that she is super addicted to her Daddy right now which I am really excited about. I think it has caused Joe to realize how much time he doesn't get to spend with her because it feels like he is always making her cry by leaving. So he has been making more of an effort to not work late and come home for dinner between work and practice. He has also been letting her tag along some now on his errands and just keeping her with him when he is working around the house. It makes her super happy and I love to see them playing together. Here is a picture from the day we got the tree, she was by his side all day and she wanted to "help" him prepare the tree stand which I thought was the beginning to an adorable friendship.

1st OB Appointment

I had by 1st OB appointment today. Silly brainless me scheduled it at 12:30 right in the middle of Annies nap time. Who wants to take a 14mo old to their OB appointment let alone the first one when you have to fully undress and sit for long questionnaires about your physical history! So my sisters being together today at Krissys house kindly accepted my child among their 5 during nap time and she showed them all up with her napping abilities :o)
So off I went (a little late) to my appointment (just a short jaunt from Walton to Clifton) and upon my arrival I was given a good natured hard time by the PA who is this older black lady who I LOVE! After my Q & A and dressing in the lovely warm comfortable pink "put it on like a poncho" top...wait I thought poncho's were supposed to warm you, there is nothing warming about this practically see through poncho, and the not quite big enough to wrap around my body sheet, I am sitting very strategically on the exam table when in walks the PA and says "Wrap up your gona get an Ultrasound" hmmmm what?!? I tell her I just had an ultrasound 2 weeks ago and she looks at me like I have two heads. hehe the number one thing about pregnant women is that they ALWAYS want to see their babies! And now this crazy pap smear refusing woman is going to refuse a complimentary ultrasound?!? Well OK! So I wrap up as best as I can (the usually busy office is eerily quiet today anyway) pad down the hall in my trouser socks, poncho and sheet for an ultrasound :o) Ertha (the PA) fires up the machine and confirms heart tones and then turns the screen towards me and lets me watch the baby move its little arms and legs buds. During this time she calls the phlebotomist in to kill two birds with one stone and draw my labs while I am watching my little pea bounce around in utero!!! I thought to myself that if I were anyone else or if this was my first pregnancy I would be confused offended and bothered by all of this craziness but personally I thought it was fun. :o)
The worst part of the appointment was when the nurse accidentally threw out my urine before drawing it for labs and so I had to do the impossible (pee in a cup) TWICE!!! Does anyone have any peeing in a cup secrets for this extremely inept patient???
After a long chat with my favorite OB I was off with my goody bag and an appointment set for the beginning of January back across the river to walton to pick up my little girl ;o)
I have to say that it was kind of fun going to my appointment without her, just like old times (0nly 8lbs heavier..grrrr). However I am excited about sharing this pregnancy with her and seeing if she catches on at some point.

Sorry that they are pictures of pictures, I didn't feel like digging out the scanner.

Predicament

I tried to look back at my blog to what was going on when I was nine weeks pregnant with Annie. I laughed when I found that I started my blog when i was 20+ weeks! I feel like I have been blogging forever. So in my memory at nine weeks last time I was feelin good. I thought that I was about nine weeks when I announced my pregnancy only to find out that I was only 6 :o)
I am shocked at how I feel this time but I wonder if its because I was a lady of leisure before and now I have someone else to look after. I am still working out which makes me very happy. Actually my best time of the day is between 9-noon and that is when I go to the gym because the playroom for Annie is open. I couldn't decide in my sleeplessness last night if I really felt good while working out or if I was distracted by my sheer exhaustion during my workout that I don't notice the nausea. I decided it was maybe a mixture :o)
About the gym playroom, here is my latest predicament. The manager of the playroom is this really nice lady with 4 kids 2 girls in middle and 2 boys in high school. She is very kind and always offering me mom advice (teething, sleeping through the night, etc...) She lives about 2 streets down from us and she loves Annie. This summer her youngest came to work with her and she was sweet and played with Annie the whole time. I appreciate the consistency of Annie knowing that Florence is going to be there every day and she seems to be very good with the kids as far as rules and discipline. But here is the hard part. She keeps asking me if I need her to babysit Annie. She would always offer to take her home with her if I needed to go shopping or run errands which is VERY kind. However I dont even know this womans last name! I feel like I would really appreciate having someone close by that I could have watch Annie while I run somewhere quick but I am not going to leave her with Florence. My biggest reason is her sons and husband. All the stories you hear about kids getting hurt, raped, etc are from neighbor boys. Now today she gave me her number because whenever she offers I just say "oh thats so nice of you" But I feel like I am going to hurt her feelings if I continue to blow her off. So what would you do? I don't want to offend her by telling her that I think the men in her home are rapists!

Mildly Amusing Annie and Pregnancy Updates

Thanksgiving at Grammys

Wild Crazy kid jumping in the couch pillows

Playing with my new camera lens

Do any of you ladies think in blog posts or facebook statuses? I have to admit sometimes I do. I love when I get a good blog post idea, good meaning I find it amusing enough to share with you my fellow bloggers. However lately I have wanted to blog and have no creativity in my brain. I feel like my posts lately have been whiny and boring. Maybe because that is my attitude lately? Have I been whiny and boring? Please let me know I am preparing my heart for constructive criticism.
I have too many thoughts and things bouncing around in my head. Its because I was gone from home for 3 days and my house looks like it exploded. I am slowly getting it put back together however I have always been the person who only has it together when things are clean. I could never study until my room was clean in college. I cant cook until the kitchen is clean and I am that person who has to organise the dirty dishes before I wash them.
Annie is saying so many new words, I really should get the video camera out and record her but I am just not that person. I have a LOT of still shots so I decided that that is my thing and I get credit for that.
She has said "Musket" (which is my parents new dogs name) a few times clear as a bell however now when I ask her to say Musket she says "aaaa-bus!" every time! Its pretty funny.
She is learning the meaning of Dinner, Snack & Lunch. When I say do you want dinner? She says "mmmmm"
She says "Dog, Dog, Woof, Woof", clicks her tongue and pats her leg in that order over and over all day long. She can spot and hear a dog a mile away however when we get close she doesn't want to touch them!
She loves to look at pictures and calls everyone in them "Dora".
When a phone rings she puts her hand to her ear and answers it, even when Joes phone vibrates which I think is funny.
She LOVES Joes new nephew Brady and when she sees him she pats him and says "awwww".
She also loves playing with her baby dolls and has me swaddle them and help her feed them with a bottle which excites me for the new baby next year because I think she will be soo sweet!

Pregnancy wise I am 8 weeks and 5 days along and feeling gross most of the time ever since last wednesday. I think my doctor put a curse on me when he told me last tuesday that there was still time to get morning sickness and the very next day I was nauseous all day long! Its worse at night after dinner and I have to eat every few hours during the day to keep from feeling crappy. Otherwise things are good and I get more and more excited every day. I started looking at baby names already because I was worried that I wouldn't like any. Our list with Annie was pretty limited and I wanted options this time. So I started researching using babycenter.com and I have huge list made! I know that as time goes along I will get rid of some and my husband will take an ax to quite a few which is ok because I pretty much deleted the whole list that he made :o(

So I realize that this post was only mildly amusing and more for my archiving memories purposes than your entertainment. But at least I got a few thoughts out of my head for now. I shall add a few pictures so that you don't stop reading my blog. :o)

Carseat Safety Freak

So I received a used car seat that I am uncomfortable using. Don't get me wrong I appreciate free things so I currently have it installed in my car. However I have no idea how old it is or how to properly install it. Some dear child over the years has torn every single sticker off of this seat so I have no guide as to where to put the seat belt or how far to recline it. Also the straps are all folded over themselves and so they dont slide very well. So I am researching this car seat and it seems like it is expired. Did you know that car seats expire? I didn't. So as I am doing my research I think "am I being ridiculous about this?" until I find this picture that some car seat freak of a mom had on her post and I couldn't help but find myself a little more normal.

When I make Annie sit in a booster at 12 years old then I will know I am rediculous!

Don't Yell At Me Rosie

My precious little baby has become a screamer! What have I done? When I tell her no and put my hand in front of her to stop her from touching, picking up, going too far, she yells ...EH! And then... she swings at me! She attempts to push my hand away and yell! :o( Oh my sweet sweet baby girl, where have you gone? She has also shortened Mama for yelling purposes to just MA! No lie as I typed it she was yelling it at me so I could put her sock on. Sock is another word that I wish that I could tell you she says however it is not one that I can type you would just have to hear the clicks and sounds she makes when she is trying to say sock. Anyway I am happy/sad to say that there is some serious discipline action going on here today. As well as spending more time paying attention to her so that she doesn't feel the need to yell at me all the time and encouragement for obeying. We will see how it goes over, so far its a little better.

A Little Bit Grinchy

My Christmas mood is directly related to the weather. I have just realized this, plus, is it just me or does it seem like everything is late this year? I feel like we JUST celebrated Halloween, wasn't it just yesterday that we played in the tractors during harvest (sorry U. Joe that one is true)? I feel like I missed Thanksgiving and I am being force fed Christmas and I am just not ready yet! My Christmas feelings are directly related to cold wintery weather and I'm sorry but its still just wet and gross and I have yet to wear my coat! I bought myself some Chai two weeks ago and it just sits in my pantry unopened because I simply can't get in the mood (plus sadly hot drinks repulse me right now). I am TRYING to get in the mood, I keep having little pre Christmas feelings, I went shopping and I thought that worked, but it only lasted a moment as it was 70 degrees the next day! Then we put up Joes moms christmas lights and I thought that would work... but I played in her yard in my tshirt with Annie and Carter in the 70 degree weather and that didn't work either. Joes mom put up all of her decorations and it feels fake, like christmas in july or florida (admit it Melissa christmas in ky is so much better than vegas :o)
So I am doing what I can, I borrowed good christmas music from the library, I bought Annie a stocking, I have my pine scented tart warming in the dining room and I am cleaning my house one last time before decorating, because I have to be dust free with mopped floors before I can decorate so I can at least do that much.
But I will admit it is beginning to depress me a little. I am usually right there with Kate and Margie counting down the days and decorating my still fresh pumpkins with santa hats! Oh woa is meeee!

Ultrasounds and Coupons

I had an ultrasound today just to make sure everything looked alright. I considered not doing it because of the cost and if I can put things off until the beginning of the year it would be cheaper because the bulk of my medical expenses would be in the same year which is better on the old deductible. But who can say no to an early ultrasound? Certainly not me, especially after the 5 I had with Annie :o) I also HATE the US tech at my OB office. She is soooo impersonal! Personally, as someone who frequently gets "close" to pregnant patients I think that the person should
1. Introduce oneself
2. Give adequate warning that the object is coming
3. Turn the FREAKING ultrasound screen towards the patient!!!!!
This woman (same as last time) says "I will look at everything I need to see (for the next 5 min) then I will turn the screen towards you and show you what I see"! NO! That is ridiculous, there is no reason why you cant do what you need to do with the screen turned so I can see it also.
Needless to say I will, like last time, schedule my 20 week formal scan in the Seton Center and NOT in my OB office. But little .5cm piece of rice baby is doing just fine and I have an official due date of July 8th however June 25th sounds nice to me (I had Annie at 37weeks 5days :o) Annie came to the appointment with Joe and I and Joe introduced her to the picture on the US as her worst nightmare. hehe. He also cracked jokes about her eating a pb sandwich while mommy was in stirrups. Why do I ask this guy along for these things?

So I came home and started making a grocery list and doing some serious coupon searching. I had a goal to save some serious cash today. My total before coupons was $145 my total after coupons was $88! However I stood in line for 30 min+ while the incredible slow older than the earth checkout lady caused the computer to crash trying to scan all my coupons! After a fit from Annie, 2 baggers, 2 managers, and 30 min I was on my way still in a good mood because of my awesome savings!

As an end to a decent day I made Lasagna which makes me very happy! If only I had a husband instead of a live-in basketball coach :o(

Thoughts In My Head

I have many thoughts swirling around in my head that I feel the need to lasso and rope down. So I will share them with you.
I always feel like wednesdays are recovery days from working a 12 hour shift on tuesdays. I never used to need recovery days before I was a mom but that's probably because I wasn't up twice in the night with a teething child and up early with morning sickness (just nausea, no vomiting for this gal!) So I sit here on the couch with a dirty house all around me thinking of what is the bare minimum that I can get away with doing today to feel like I am not a total lazy head.

Work was Crazy busy yesterday I worked in Triage and I don't like the revolving door feeling of get 'em in & get 'em out. But that is truly what you are doing all day. There is an emotional part of me that I give to each patient when I see them for the first time. Its a mix of genuine concern for those who don't feel good, mixed with excitement for those who think they are in labor (most of whom aren't) with a bunch of brain power that it takes to triage them and decide what it is that they need clinically and then exasperation when they yell at you because they aren't happy with
1.waiting on the overworked resident to come discharge them
2. Me wanting to poke them to draw blood or get urine with a catheter (well I am sorry but you come in complaining of infection symptoms you are getting a catheter)
3. me telling them they are not in labor when they have been up all night contracting (and they don't like to hear that they are not the only ones in the world who are 39 weeks pregnant and not having a baby today).
Then you have all the paperwork and routine stuff that has to happen to each and every patient that I see. I think I admitted and discharged 6 patients yesterday as well as helping see many others.
My last patient of the day was a dear soul who I will never forget. I had the privilege of encouraging her in her decision to make an adoption plan after deciding not to abort and coming in for prenatal care when she was over halfway through her pregnancy. She was a sweet girl and I appreciated taking care of her at the end of a long day.

I am tired of waiting for my crabby baby's teeth to come in if that is truly what is making her a snotty crabby mess of a child.

I am SUPER excited about being the nurse when my good old pal Laura has her baby in a few weeks! It is a joy and an honor to be able to be a part of every birth and I always thank my patients for allowing me to be a part of their special day. However taking care of families that I know is unexplainable. Its like I get to utilize my talent and help them by doing something that I truly enjoy doing. And this is a birthday that I am looking forward to immensely.

Do you ever feel like when you crave something that your body needs it? I always tell myself that I am not sure if its scientific or not but I will go with it. Sometimes I crave protein, whole grains, fruit and dairy all at once and when that happens I make myself a big PB&J on whole wheat with a mug of milk (I must have my milk in a mug I don't know why) I am not sure that its the healthiest meal but man is it good!

I suppose those are all my thoughts for now so i will leave you with this picture of my sweet baby in a handmade sweater and hat that her Great Aunt Alice made for her. Who I don't know at all, she is Joe's step dad Georges sister.

My Brain Is Doing Overtime

I know that two posts in one day is a little over zealous however I had to share some thoughts. Oh! Ill use bullets!

• I have already cleaned the whole downstairs and finished the laundry, I have my fall scented candle burning and I have been laying on the couch with a stuffy head for the past 2 hours except when I have had to get up to pee which is annoyingly often, I didn't think that was supposed to happen this early!
• While creating my baby due date ticker they had one for breastfeeding and it wasn't a countdown to when you would be free from doing so! AND you had the option to add a picture...no thanks!
• While looking around on Babycenter.com (because why not) I found the term "Elimination Communication" which was defined as "natural infant hygiene" aka infant potty training... silly people.
  

Gerber Shmerber

I found these nasty little meals on sale at Kroger and thought that they would be nice in a pinch when I need to find something for Annie quickly. Well laziness set in quickly and I gave one to her and she LOVED it! She begs for them, she gets in the pantry and brings them to me 5 times a day. She wants them for every meal and I can barely get her to to eat anything else. I hate it! They seem so processed and smelly. So I decided to try to replicate them. Her favorite two are chicken and vegetables with stars and turkey with vegetables and rice. So I bought some stars (there is something very fun about tiny star shaped pasta) and some frozen peas and diced carrots. I boiled a chicken breast and added some cream of chicken soup. Diced the chicken and mixed it all together and it made about 7 servings of soup! It was cheaper although only slightly however it smells AMAZING! I told Joe that if she wouldn't eat them that I would, however she did eat one today at lunch and I was SOO happy!

A Great Weekend

This past weekend was full of fun and surprises for our family. Friday we had a small version of the Harvest/Costume party at my parents house. There were supposed to be about 100 people in attendance however with rain in the forecast Mom and Dad cut it down to just us kids and their small group. We all had fun dressing up and competing in the costume contest. Although I voted for my adorable little fire breathing dragon JP, my favorite costume ensemble was Jen and her sister who dressed their 5 children up as fruit and the ladies wore t-shirts saying "Fruit of the Womb"! Very creative and VERY adorable!
Saturday morning I felt the sudden need to take Annie shopping while her daddy had basketball practice and got new wheels put on his big manly truck! Annie and I joined Joe in the afternoon and she sported her new t-shirt that I bought her that morning.


Thats right friends Zuerner baby #2 is within :o) Joe and I are SUPER excited! We have been wanting to add on to our family for what seems like a really long time. However I just stopped nursing Annie in July. I actually got pregnant in August and miscarried in September. I didn't know that I was pregnant until I started miscarrying and so it wasn't a difficult loss for me, more of a sad disappointment that I missed the opportunity to be pregnant. I knew that the Lord had a plan for our family and was VERY grateful to Him that I was able to get pregnant again right away. So Annie is due to be a big sister sometime around the 4th of July!

I Gave Up Trying to Think of Something Witty to Put Here

A friend of mine who is expecting her first baby recently posted on her blog questioning whether or not they should have a parenting goal. She asked for responses however all of my thoughts would have looked silly in her response box so I thought I would post them here.

I do think that you should have in mind when you are raising your children what kind of person you would like for them to be. If you don't then you have nothing to base your discipline tactics off of. Parenting properly is HARD and I have only just begun. Training in the way that will get you the results of a properly behaved child is time consuming! And remember you are not training them so that they dont embarras you. :o) Annie has starting giving me the "EH!" scream when I don't let her do something she wants! Her fists ball up and she raises up on her tip toes and screams at me! She even attempted to stomp her foot at me today! I want to know who taught her to do that. The problem is that its her sinful nature coming out now that she has the coordination to bring it. :o{

So now I begin on the long difficult road of training a child. My end parenting goal for Annie is that she would believe in God as the Father, Creator of the Universe, ruling still in her life, and that His Son died on a cross for her sins. This parenting goal makes not only my life but her life easier by leaps and bounds!!
It takes a lot of the worry away to know that I can find all the answers to parenting questions in one book. It gives an authority higher than me that she has to answer too if times get really rough. As Christian parents we have accepted the task of raising Annie in a Godly home and using the Word as our guide for what we require of her. The Lord created Annie and chose us to be her parents. She ultimately answers to Him, as long as I bring her up in the knowledge of Christ and instill in her the truth of His Word then I have done my job. Situations WILL arise in parenting that will bring forth lessons in so many areas. She will learn how to be respectful of others and putting others needs before her own, she will learn how to persevere through tough situations and about honesty. She will learn what her role as a woman is as well as what it means to be part of a family and working together all using your gifts and talents just to name a few. I am not worried that I am going to ruin her by not always doing what makes her happy, she needs to know that there are rules in life and that she will not always be given what she wants.
I appreciated Pr Brads mentioning of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Self Actualization being first and foremost in his modle. Christianity is completely opposite in putting God the Father in the center and letting everything else that makes up who you are and what you do center around Him.
When we were little we went to an outdoor, open air, wooden bench, Methodist day camp down the road from our house every summer and these traveling missionary/revival skirt wearing type families would come and teach us little lessons. The one that has stuck with me to this day was on the Fruit of the Spirit. They put the verses to a little song and that is how I remember them still. "The fruit of the spirit is Love and Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance against such there is no law". I bring these up because I love to reflect on their simplicity. Even though each task is most of the time difficult for our human souls to do they are simply put and the verse is not to wordy.
Example: Have Peace, don't fight with your sister instead Love her, I know its hard but it will bring Longsuffering, find the Goodness about her that will bring your relationship Joy instead of hate, be Meek and dont think of yourself as better than her. Maybe what you need is temperance and separate yourselves from one another for a while...ok that one is a long shot but I couldn't leave it out :o) But with applying these things to your everyday troubles will strengthen your Faith!

So these are by far not all of my thoughts on parenting. This subject could be talked about and argued till the cows come home but I have to end it somewhere. Sooo Tag, your it, What are your thoughts?

Gatlinburg

Last weekend Joe and I went to Gatlinburg for 4 days leaving our sweet Annie Girl with her grandparents. Sunday was difficult and I was very sad leaving her, Joe was also however I was pretty sure that after we got going that I would be fine. By sunday night I was in survival mode thinking that if I filled my time up and simply got through the days that I could make it to Wednesday. By Monday morning I was just fine and having a good time however not seeing much point in leaving her behind and after spending time without her I really don't see the point in leaving her again... however don't hold me to it because it will probably happen again eventually.


This was the cabin that we stayed in it was super tiny but adorable and had an AMAZING view. I really wished the trees would have changed a little more because I would have loved to see them in all their glory.


We went on a 5 mile hike Monday at Clingmans Dome. It was a lot of fun however exhausting and I grossly sweaty for these next few pictures.


We hiked to Andrews Bald and we were right at the top of the clouds, it was really cool to be above the clouds however there wasn't much to see once we got there.

We made the small hike up to Laurel Falls which was very pretty

We had some seriously good food while we were there full of menus that spoke to my husbands tastes.

And finally this was our back yard where I disappointingly never saw any bears :o(

I Only Understand Numbers With $ In Front Of Them

Basic math skills, these I have not :o( I have the ability to add as long as you don't need the answer too quickly, subtraction happens even more difficultly sadly taking away numbers confuses me. I never memorized my times tables which was almost a relationship breaker for Joe and I when I hit him over making me try to memorize them when I was taking a remedial algebra class at NKU! I have come to terms with this difficult relationship I have with numbers and I am ok with our understanding of agreeing to disagree.

However, I know a deal when I hear one! You see a few weeks ago it was time to renew my gym membership. I asked 3 days in a row at the desk for the man who I needed to talk with to renew always with a promise to have "Justin" call me. Finally on the 4th day they referred me to another kid who told me that he normally does new membership contracts however would try to help me renew. After scanning my key card he told me that my fee came out to $16/month! That is HALF of what I was paying before! I quickly signed the bottom line and left very, very excited about what a deal I got.
However I received a call the next day from the kids boss saying that he messed up and they couldn't POSSIBLY give me this rate. I told him that I signed a contract and if "kid" couldn't do his job then he shouldn't have done it. I received a call from "kid" a few hours later apologizing all over himself for his mistake. I thanked him for the unnecessary apology because he needed to apologize to his boss, not me. I told him to send the contract to corporate and I would wait to hear from them weather they wanted to accept the contract or not.
I recieved a call from the GM last week saying that corporate had rejected the contract but they would like to work with me on a renewal agreement. After we spoke awhile about what I great customer I was he said corporate would like to include Annies playroom fee with my fee.
I was paying $15/mo for Annie and $30/mo for me. = $45 (right?) They offered me a renewal price of $27/mo ........................ correct me if I am wrong but wouldn't that mean that instead of paying the forbidden $16/mo I am now paying $12./mo?

Embracing the Season!

I have officially decided to embrace fall. The wreath has been hung on the front door, the Mumm is on the front step (thanks Peg!) the pie plate with the Pumpkin Pie Recipe painted on it is displayed on the sideboard!

I made a salad for lunch with the most delicious tasty apple ever

I baked Donna Tarkingtons Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins!

A pot of Chili is simmering on the back burner

With Gilmore Girls on the tube for entertainment what more can a girl ask for?

And just because I can't get enough of my sweet girl and I know you were curious... her newest talents are: Roaring like a lion which is the cutest thing EVER! And she knows where her nose is, huh, shes brilliant!

Crazy Carnivorous Child

Last night we had a dinner of leftovers. My parents made ribs and cheesy potatoes and sent some home with Kelly for us (joe). I don't care for ribs but LOVED the cheesy potatoes of which I also figured I would feed to my precious little girl. I had veges and dip along with my cheesy potatoes (I had a late lunch and wasn't very hungry, don't think that veges is the norm for me). Annie was however not interested in my potatoes once her father gave her a taste of the ribs!



I am done trying, the child will forever eat like her father and there are no vegetables in her future! Can our next child someday look/act/eat like me!?!

Wonderful World of Waffles

I have always had an odd obsession for waffles. For some reason waffles and I have an interesting relationship history.
Once when I was13 while traveling in California with the Gautraud & Francis families as well as other friends we stopped at a restaurant. Waffles sounded good to everyone so it was waffles all around. However the waitress failed to mention to us that they only had one traditional waffle iron and she proceded to bring our waffles out one at a time for all 18 of us! It took hours for each of us to eat our lone waffle :o)
When I was 20 I decided that for my birthday dinner at moms I wanted waffles. So as to not repeat the waffle disaster of '98 we rounded up 5 waffle irons! We plugged them in and as our five star waffle recipe sat in the waffle irons not doing anything we realized something was wrong... we blew a fuse! We had to then plug the waffle irons in various plugs around the house. Even with the irons in every room but the bathroom we still kept blowing fuses and it took FOREVER once again to make a brunch of waffles! I swore off waffles at this time. I don't think I have had a waffle in the past 5 years.

Last week Kelly and I decided to make "brinner" (you know, breakfast for dinner) and I decided to dust off the waffle iron that I obtained as a wedding gift and tread into the dangerous world of waffles. Just one batch... just 4 waffles... just a bisquick mix... It WORKED! They were great! Kelly added cream cheese to hers and I threw raspberries on mine with pleanty of cheap-imitation butter flavored-far from real-syrup! Love it! And Annie loved it too!

Moral of the story, when dealing with waffles, keep the expectations low, stick with one iron and low quantity expectations.