Wow, does life come at you hard sometimes...

Wow, life has become a blur of craziness... so many things are going on. E is growing so fast... saying "hi" "mama" "dada". Xmas was very fun. E got a baby doll we call Shelby, a kalidescope, a bear tower, a gingerbread man doll and a way cool pair of pink Converse tennies. She is gonna be stylin in those shoes... Converse tennies are a long run inside joke between the family (especially between Kt and Dad) and they let E in on the fun this year!!

My fav gift is my coupon book (sounds stupid, but I love this thing cause it keeps me organized) and my expresso machine! I am paying $3 a day at work for a coffee and now can make it at home for a fraction of the cost.

G's fav gift is his wine making kit he got from his uncle and his golf bag he got from my parents. He's already gotten the actualy "wine ingredients" to make the wine (an early birthday present from me) so he's pumped to start making his black raspberry mix and hit the golf course.

Today we are down at a larger hospital in SE MN sitting with my mom... my grandpa has been sick. It all started about 2 weeks ago with pnemonia. He couldn't breath and called my mom to take him to the ER. After being in the hospital for a week, he wasn't getting his strength back and had to go into a nursing home for a short time (luckily the nursing home my grandma's in). He had been in some severe pain and wasn't getting any better and wasn't able to go the the bathroom (#2, gross I know, sorry) so somehow it was discovered that he had a torn colon. So now here we are, in this huge hospital in a family waiting room as I write this entry (kinda nice that they have this computer here). He had the surgery late last night. The biggest concern was having him breathe alone after the vent came out. They were going to try, but expected to have to switch it back on. Well, he has amazed everyone and is breathing on his own after the first try. He is also talking, which he was having trouble doing in the hospital. We were able to bring E in, which I think was the best medicine so far for him! We hope he gets better soon, these ICU rooms are kinda scary.

2 more days of my old job!! I am really looking forward to starting my new job on the 2nd!! I am excited to learn about the ins and outs of child support and all that comes along with it. It is bound to be VERY interesting. And who can complain about 8-4:30 m-f!!! Yeah for me :)

E and I are looking forward to our all girls sleepover this weekend! It is at T's house and it should be really fun! (Especially if J can get off work!) Then the weekend after that is our xmas with G's family. We are really looking forward to that also. A nice relaxing day at home, some yummy food and fun presents.

So no pics for now, since I'm on a hospital computer I can't download them... I promise not to take so long inbetween posts this next time!!

Happy New Year!! Everyone celebrate safely!!

K

Starting new in the New Year!

Wow, I have had a day of complete turmoil! I haven't really talked openly about my job search on the blog, cause you just never know who may see it... but today after weeks of waiting, I got a call and was offered a new job! Over a month ago I applied for this position with the County and was required to take a test. If I passed with over a 70, then my name was posted on a list of eligible applicants and I would then possibly get an interview. Well, I found out 2 weeks ago that I got a 93! Then last week I had an interview... and today she called me! I'm thrilled. Nice hours, benefits, etc. I accepted with a huge smile on my face... then reality set in. I had to give my 2 week notice. Now I've worked at my current job on and off for almost 10 years. This was something I was DREADING!! Oh, I was scared, nervous, and sad. I loved some parts of my job (customers, merchandise, coworkers) and hated some other parts (I won't go there) so it is bittersweet for me. I gave my notice today. Went ok, as well as can be expected after working there for so long and when they had NO CLUE it was coming. I cried, we hugged, there was shock and confusion and then simply acceptance. I hope that acceptance continues for the next 2 weeks. It is a step in the right direction for my future and the future of my family. I will be in a place where I can move up... continue to receive steady pay increases... make a career out of the job... have excellent benefits... have a desk (where I can actually put pics of my family) sounds silly but that makes me so excited!! I am so ready for this. I just hope my next two weeks of work go ok.

Ok, that was my turmoil day. It was hard, but it is over! G and E are already sleeping. Tomorrow we are both off and plan on heading to Sams Club and then to do some x-mas shopping. It will be fun, I'm looking forward to it. Don't think G necessarily is, but I am! Alright, I'm gonna sit down and have a glass of wine and relax. Take care everyone and here's a couple new pics of E. (M in ATL tell your mom I got the job! If she has the internet down there tell her to check out the blog!)

Yes, she still has a mohawk!

Sitting and Teeth!

Wow, things have changed since the last time I blogged! E can now sit up, she can't actually get into the sitting position, but once we put her there she is good to go for quite a while (til she falls over). She is doing some really awesome things right now (do I sound like a ridiculous mom or what?!) she claps, plays patty cake, giggles, screams, plays peek-a-boo, says da da, loves to bounce, eats rice cereal, drinks from her sippy cup, eats some baby foods, had some of Grandpa R's birthday cake frosting last night, drinks apple juice, oh I could keep going and going!

And the best of all!!!! This a.m. she woke up with a tooth! When I gave her the frosting last night on my finger, she seriously had NO tooth!! It literally came in overnight. It's just this little rigid white thing coming out of her bottom gum! I'll try to post a pic next time. A tooth, cute? Have I lost my mind.

Can you believe Christmas is going to be here in two weeks!? I can't wait. I'm looking forward to x-mas eve... we get to go to a nice buffet here for dinner, first church of course, then dinner, then a nice relaxing evening at my parents house. K & S do x-mas eve with his parents so it'll just be the 5 of us. I can't wait to see E open presents! I do think that she will kinda get it. Well, whether or not she does, she'll surely enjoy playing with everything when its all opened! Especially the wrapping paper!

Last weekend I dressed her up in her Christmas dress that AuntieV gave her... it is so cute, came with a hat and white fuzzy slippers too. The goal was to get a good Christmas pic. Started out ok, she seemed to be tolerant of me wanting to get the "perfect" pic for our x-mas card... these 2 are my favs!

then she started to get fussy and tired of the flashing camera...

then she fell over...

so, after much thought.... this is the one we decided on...

j/k

The last one makes us all laugh uncontrollably... she looks seriously wasted, does she not? She's gonna hate this pic when she's 16...

Ok, it is after 12 and I need to get to bed, since she'll be up in less than 5 hours for an early a.m. snack... oh, but now that the teeth are coming, the mommy snacky snack will be coming to an end!! I'm not getting bitten, there, with teeth. OUCH! Leaving you with such a pleasant thought, I know :) Take care and I'll write again soon!

K

What's up w/ this thing...

The blog doesn't seem to wanna work for me right now... I'm gonna post a new pic of E and see if this works... if so, I'll make sure to write more tomorrow...

Another day in this thing called life...

Wow, it is already Thanksgiving tomorrow! This month has just flown by. So many things going on, working, day care, packing up the diaper bag, packing up the pump bag, loading the car, bundling E up (since it's gotten colder out), transfering bases, keeping track of who has/who needs the base... how does any mom stay sane? I am loosing my mind. I'm not kidding. I am so over tired, exhausted, run down and pooped out (can we say it in any other way?) It is so bad that the other night I washed my face, got ready for bed and spent 10 minutes searching for my glasses... had I left them in the bathroom? on the nightstand? on the coffee table? in the kitchen? I had no idea where they were. Then I realized the were ON MY NOSE! Not even on my head, but on my NOSE!!! How ridiculous. Crazy.

E and I both have a cold again... which sucks. That probably doesn't help with the tiredness either. I hear there is some nasty flu going around... hope that stays away from us!

Work has been a challenge lately. So many more people work there now, it is much more stressful and other people there seem to be so on edge and belittling sometimes that is SO hard to be there some days. But, gotta keep the $$ coming in, so no choice there. I realized today that my day care lady earns more $$ per day with 2 children than I do at my job (after I take out the $25 I pay her each day). I could stay home with E and have 2 other kids and probably make more $$. That is Sooooooooooooo tempting... then I could sorta be the stay at home mom I'd love to be!

We're thinking about putting the house up for sale. We'll see how that goes though, kind of a bad time of year... plus the gossip around here would be hell to deal with... plus G just got on the city council and he'd kind of excited about that... so who knows?!

Ok, gonna pack some more stuff up for the Salvation Army... cleaning house feels SO DANG GOOD. I'm in the mood to get rid of stuff. Greg's thrilled :)

Take care ya'll and have a wonderful Turkey day!! Gobble 'til you wobble! Then snooze :)

K

Winter in MN

Couldn't we just skip this, this year??

It's been to long...

Sorry for not blogging in the past two weeks! Time is just flying by and we have been so busy. Halloween night went really bad, we put her in her chicken costume and she cried the entire 10 minutes she was in it. So the pictures posted today are from today when we dressed her up so that grandma m could at least see her in the costume!! She looks like a cute little chicken :) She didn't mind the costume at all today. But we did it in the a.m. when she is the happiest.

We received a Jumperoo the other day as an early x-mas present for E. It came from grandpa r and grandma j. E loves it, she gets in there and holds on for dear life and just JUMPS away. It is hilarious. Sometimes she jumps so hard that she gives herself the hiccups! We've gotten some good laughs with this toy. It makes noises, plays music and lights up the more they jump, it encourages her to keep going! She loves it and we certainly love toys that give us a nice little break, hee, hee :)


I think her face is SO FUNNY in this picture!!
E has learned how to patty cake! It is so cute and she just thinks its the coolest thing when we look at her and say "patty cake a patty cake a bakers man" she starts clapping and smiling... its so fun that she is getting to the stage where she learns new things and responds to us with smiles and giggles. Here she is patty caking!

Oh my gosh, we are watching an episode of Intervention. What Alcoholism can do to a person is AMAZING! This lady is crazy. We love this show. It's on the A&E channel on Sunday nights. Sunday nights are our favorite TV nights. We watch Extreme Makeover - Home Edition, Desperate Housewives and then Intervention or Brothers & Sisters. Sunday nights Rock. Especially when my hubby is home with me to watch them. Soon enough, sista... just be patient, I know.

I can't believe the holidays are already around the corner. I am so excited to celebrate this year with E. I can't wait to see her open presents, although she'll have no idea what she's doing... it'll still be really cute. Lots of pics will be posted... :) I also am really excited to eat a great Thanksgiving meal! YUM. I can't wait. I am also NOT going out the night before Thanksgiving, which is a huge night around here to go out... so that I can taste my food the next day. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I have to bring green beans. Just my style since I don't cook, at all!

Here's a few more cute pics. Playing with her favorite toy... ms. dinasour.






Hope you all have a great week and if we don't get back before next Thursdays... have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

BOO! or should I say... MOO!

We did a little Halloween preview on Saturday for G's auntieV. She came down to visit and we dressed E up in her first Halloween costume and took some cute pictures! The outfit came from his aunt! She looks so dang cute! The first picture shown was at the end of our picture taking spree, you can tell she was getting a bit annoyed! We'll have another costume tomorrow night. We'll be making the rounds to my parents, my aunt C's house, my friend sock monkey's house and the nursing home to see my grandma. I'll post the pics of that costume after tomorrow night... you'll have to wait and see what she is... I guarantee you will laugh... you'll have to check back! Take care and everyone have a safe and Happy Halloween!

p.s. i've decided to stop signing my "K" at the end of each entry since G doesn't write much anymore. If he adds anything I'll make sure he signs his "G" otherwise just assume it's me!

Sad times...

It had been a rough week. Have been home sick all week. Went to work yesterday, G called in sick again. E hasn't been sleeping good at all. She takes a short a.m. nap and then doesn't take one at all in the evening. Then it is a bear to get her to bed at night. Plus she's been getting up at like 3 to eat and again by 6. I just really want some sleep. Ya know when you are sick... you stay home and get better... well let me tell you life has changed. Now I stay home sick with a 6 month old, not so much the atmosphere for getting better. Then add a sick hubby on top of it, you catch my drift?!

On Thursday a.m. I got a phone call from my friend MR and she let me know that our other friend MD's 17 year old brother had decided to end his life. What an absolutely horrible thing to have to go through as a family. What's left of the crew in RW went to the house that night and offered our support to the family. It is just such a sucky thing and I don't understand it at all. So my being sick and complaining about E and my sick hubby are really put into perspective at that point. It is just so important that we appreciate each other every day. Don't take anyone you love for granted because you just never know if you will see them tomorrow. It is just so sad.

So to ALL our friends and family. We love you all. Take care.

G, K & E

Snotty noses

Being sick is no fun. It started Saturday with E being kinda fussy, sneezing, coughing and having a runny nose. Sunday was mostly the same. Then Monday a.m. at about 3:30 I woke up with a soar throat like I'd never felt before. Called in sick for work and layed in bed til E woke up. We left G sleeping (he'd just gotten home from work at 6:30 a.m.) and went downstairs for the day. Well I was SO tired I called my parents begging them to take E for a few hours so I could sleep. THANK GOD for them and my sister. Kt came out to get her around 10:30. And did I ever sleep good from about 11:30 to 2:30. Mom and dad brought her home around 3:30 when G got up. I had a temp of about 99.4 and G woke up feeling like crap to. So now it's Tuesday, G had mandatory training today (or we all would've been home sick) and I'm still feeling ishy, worse than yesterday. Higher temp (100.2) and lots of sneezing and stuffy nose, but no more sore throat thank god! E and G are already in bed and it isn't even 7:00!! I really should be up there to, I'll get there eventually, but this peace and quiet that I'm having to myself right now never happens and I wanna fight the sleep as long as I'm getting it!

Spoke to soon, E is up, I just took a break to go get her. She's happy as can be (notice the pics) apparently I thought she was down for the night... she thought it was only a nap. So much for G having daddy duty tonight and me getting to relax... I guess there's alway tomorrow. Anyone have any idea why she has had one rosy cheeck for over a week now? (you can kinda tell in the pics) I'd love it if anyone had any theories! Take care and night. K

Who's out there???

COMMENTS PLEASE!!! Hey you all, we want to know who is checking out our blog! PLEASE leave a message, comment or just say hey, so we can see who's visiting! We can also respond back to you... check the comment section often, you can see if we've responded to you and you can see what others have to say!! You don't neccessarily have to leave your name, just leave an obvious indicator of who you are so we know. Happy blogging.

Bath Time!

E is our cute little girl with a mohawk... she grows hair no where on her head but on the top in the middle and straight back. It is hilarious. Her hair is so thin (like her moms) that it doesn't lay down, it stands striaght up! She finally likes her bathtime and plays with her ducky and keys. There's nothing better than Johnson and Johnson nightime bath soap in the purple bottle. Smells soooooo yummy! K

Up North

We just got home from a nice weekend Up North at G's mom and grandma's house. It was really nice to just get away for a few days... yet we always think it is going to be a nice RELAXING weekend and we seriously do so much running around that the weekend is over before we get a moment to relax! We got up there around 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon. Had a yummy sandwich, fed E and then E and I both layed down. We had gotten like 3 hours of sleep the night before and were SO tired. Then Mom made a yummy turkey dinner (pretty much Thanksgiving!) it was so good. Then we played a game of shit on your neighbor... yes we know there are other names for the game but that's the most fun. :)

Sunday we woke up and drove to a State Park and walked the nature trail. It had the most beautiful waterfalls and rock formations. It was pretty awesome. The pictures are from our hike. We took the stroller and learned quickly that next time we have to take the carrier. There were way to many stairs, roots and rocks.

It is nice to be home... as it always is when you leave home for a trip. But back to work tomorrow... not real excited about that... would like to have a bit more of a vacation!! Time for some dinner, take care and we'll talk to you all soon! K

The one legged baby E...

Dad thought I would look best in one pant leg... :) Yeah for all the dads out there who try their best... ya gotta love em!!

Fun new pics!

Yummy, yummy... rice cereal!

Well, we tried the rice cereal with a spoon the other day. E has been so interested in watching us eat at the dinner table. She sits in her high chair and plays while we eat and watches us spoon food in our mouth like it is the most interesting thing she has ever seen. So we thought it would be time to try it... well, we think it was a bit to early. She kinda got it, but would often spit it all out... making an enormous mess. She was getting the spoon thing down though, almost like she knew what was coming, she would open her mouth whenever I started to come at her with a spoonful. It was funny... we only did a few bites before she really was no longer interested. We'll wait a couple more weeks before we try again :)

blog rules...

Just a reminder to you all... please don't use our full names on the blog... we prefer K, G and E... thanks!!!

I'm freakin cute!!

Brrrr... winter is coming...

Wow, can you believe it is already the second week in October! E will be 5 months old this friday! She is just such a joy to have in our lives. Every day she does something different that makes us laugh and amazes us. The newest thing is rolling, rolling, rolling... saying "ma ma" and when we try to get her to say "pa pa" all she does is mouth the word pa pa with no noise. It is hilarious. She enjoys pulling hair, sucking her thumb and petting our cats. She's started sucking on her lower lip now (like in the pic w/ the towel over her head) like it her nuk, its funny, but her poor little lip is getting so chapped!

She's loving her baths now and actually plays in the water. She's getting to big for our little sink (notice the picture on the left) so we've moved to her tub, in our tub. She plays with her duckies and splashes around... I'll have to get some pics of that.

We've had a major weather change here over the last couple days... went from 80's to now being in the 50's... it is chilly, but such a fun time of year. The cats have shifted from the window sills and the floor, into our bed, so that is a sure sign that winter is on its way.

We've been starting this "healty eating" thing over the last week. It SUCKS! If you ask me anyway. And I have a feeling G would agree with me to. Salads, veggies, fruit, yogert, water, cottage cheese... oh how I'l love a brownie. Mom and dad took us to McD's tonight and we splurged, boy was that good.

Well, just another week of work, we are looking forward to a weekend off, getting out of town for a few days and relaxing up north at G's families place.

Take care, K

Gotta wear shades...

She seriously let us put these glasses on her and leave them on. She didn't even try to pull them off. We laughed so hard we almost peed our pants. She's like cool man, look at me in my shades! Thanks auntie B for the cute sun glasses!