Evenin...

omg... it is SOOOOOO cold here. This a.m. my nostrils seriously froze shut when I breathed in. I hate it here sometimes. But I guess I wouldn't be anywhere else... Thank god tomorrow is Friday. I now LIVE for Friday's. They can't come soon enough. We have a busy weekend planned. I am going out with the girls tomorrow night. Not sure if I even really want to... some of us are definitely going in different directions and aren't quite the same... the thought of coming home and hanging out w/ E and G seems much more appealing to me than the smokey and loud bar. Not to mention then driving home in the freezing cold dark. Yuck. We'll see if J can talk me into it.

Then on Saturday J, E and I are going to the city for lunch at the Olive Garden (YUMMY!) zupa toscana, salad and breadsticks here I come! We are meeting our friend K, a girl we knew in high school and also went to college with. She is prego and due in May. I can't wait to see her! She's just gonna be the cutest prego girl!

Then that evening G and I are invited to an ugly sweater party. That will be interesting. G is going to the Salvation Army tomorrow to see what he can find. I've got a few... we'll for sure post some pictures of that! It'll be a fun night with LOTS of laughs.

Sunday is a relax day. We are doing NOTHING! And thats that.

Then on Monday I have the day off... thank god for our presidents... E has her 9 month check up at 9, then I'm hoping Grandma J will take us shopping w/ auntie K. Grandma J mentioned it the other day... may be kinda fun to have a girls day out. Rarely do K and I have the day off together to do something with mom.

Yeah for US!! Our wonderful daycare LA has offered to take E on full time!!! A couple weeks ago she had asked us to find someone else to take her one day a week. LA is 12 weeks prego and has been feeling like complete CRAP! So she needed some more days off. Well we did find a new dc... didn't feel 100% in love with her... there was nothing wrong with her... she was just a stranger... that kinda makes me nervous. Although I know we would've grown to love her. God seriously answered our prayers! I'm SO very happy. LA is kind, caring, understanding, patient, and so sweet to E. She genuinely cares about E and I love that. E is very lucky to have her.

Ok, I'm pooped. Gonna get to bed, everyone have a good Friday! I'll leave you w/ a few more funny pics... we came home the other night and E was just OUT! Usually she wakes up when we pull in the garage and shut the van off and the locks click open. She was so tired, she didn't even budge when we took her out of her carseat. It was funny. Enjoy! Night. K

LOVE all the comments! Keep 'em coming cause we love to see who is out there reading... and don't be to anonymous... leave us some pretty good indication of who you are!! Thanks.

Couldn't resist a few more cute ones for you tonight... going to bed already... these early mornings suck!

Daddy is responsible for the messy face picture!!

party, party, party

So we celebrated G's 30th birthday this past weekend. We went out for dinner on Friday night w/ my parents... it was a nice time. Then we went back to their place to crack open our first bottle of homemade wine. YUM, was it good. G did a great job on it. I love it, it is a little to fruity for him though. Saturday morning G, H (g's friend) and my dad went to an indoor golf simulator to golf 9 holes. They enjoyed it... since we live in MN that is as much golf as you can get in the winter! Then on Sat night we had a few friends over to have some snacks and plenty of drinks... we drank approximately 8 bottles of wine, a case of beer and 2 bottles of champagne! Unbelievably we all felt great the next morning and got up early and went to R shopping for a few hours. Exchanged a Valentines gift from my mom, G had a bunch of birthday money to spend, had lunch w/ my sister and her hubby and went to Sams club (and to our surprise walked out of there spending only $6.88!) That is unheard of. Just needed some Clementines :)

On Sunday afternoon, we had the pleasent surprise of E getting sick again. First she threw up a bottle on me and the couch almost immediately after eating it. Then a few hours later she at some sweet potatoes and a small bottle, threw it all up... continued to throw up throughout the evening and then before bed G gave her a small pedialyte bottle and she threw it up. Not to mention that her temp went from normal to 101.5 in a matter of 4-5 hours. I was a little nervous. She felt SO hot. I got up every 2-3 hours that night to make sure her fever didn't get to high (or we were going to go into the ER) but it didn't. Surprisingly she slept throught the entire night. She woke up Monday a.m. back to her usual self w/ not temp. After talking to the dr on Monday he is thinking it may actually be her teeth that are bothering her this bad. She's had the bottom 2 now for a few weeks and the top 2 are coming in together right now. She is drooling and sometimes real whiny. Plus I think she's getting a cold to top it off.

Well, I'm about ready to fall asleep here. It has already been a long week and I can't wait til Friday. I get a long weekend! It's a holiday for me on Monday!!! Yeah for me! Goodnight everyone...

K

She loves her bathtime!

Brrrrrrrrr....

Seriously, why do we live here? It is freezing cold outside and we choose this environment!? Are we insane...? Last night on the news I heard that there was going to be a -37 windchill today. That it will cause frostbite in 9 seconds. Like I said before... why??? I was supposed to work today at my second job, but E has been very sick this week (I'll get to that later) and because it was going to be so cold, I just decided it was better for me to stay home. Plus it is G's weekend off so we like to spend it together.

Work has been insane. I like my job overall, but it is SO OVERWHELMING! There is so much going on, so much to do, so much to think about all at once. I haven't gotten the training I need in alot of areas and I'm feeling like it is expected of me to know these things already... after never having seen/done them before. It is getting frustrating. I feel like my supervisor thinks I'm and idiot. That sucks. All the other ladies are nice, telling me that there is no way I should know all this already and that they understand I've had literally NO training. I'm so winging it everyday. I just pray that it starts to get better.

G's job is going good. Things are a bit more stressful than usual. Co-workers dating each other, when one is a supervisor. Imagine the crap/gossip/uneasiness that stirs up. That is what he is dealing with. Enough said.

So back to E. She started throwing up on Sunday night. It continued into Monday. No fever or diahrrea. We went to the dr on Tues. She had gone from 18lbs 8 oz to 17lbs 11 oz. She refused any solid food, and just was acting whiny and fussy. He had no idea what she had. We did x-rays (he was thinking she had intestine problems) that was negative. He did notice lots of backed up poop in her intestines, so the nurse gave her a baby enema! Her ears were clear, throat clear, nose clear. So we were to go home with pedialyte and give her small amounts every 20-30 minutes. Eventually going to 4 oz half strength bottles. She did ok. And boy did the enema clean her out! She unloaded all that backed up poop and then some. But then Thursday came... she was still refusing to eat solids. Didn't poop all day. Threw up a little bit that day and was still fussy and whiny. So on Friday she was home with daddy and was pretty much constantly crying. He called me at work and said we need to take her in. So back to the dr we go. She now went from 17lbs 11 oz to 16lbs 12 oz. Another pound in 3 days. Yikes, that scared me. I was thinking the worst... my mind always goes to the most horrible diseases like cancer, etc... but she had no temp again, ears, throat and nose were all clear. They decided to take a urine sample and test it for a UTI. Then we were sent to the lab to draw blood. WOW, was that hard to watch. I had to hold her while another nurse held her arm down and another lab tech drew her blood. SO hard to watch. Especially when they can't find a vein and have to dig around for one. In your little 8 months old arm. Not what I call fun. Then we waited and waited and waited. I was thinking the longer we waited the worse it was going to be (there goes my mind again) but he came back and said her blood was normal. So we were to go home and start full strength bottles and see how she does.

So far so good. She's drinking her bottles and keeping them down. She is much more herself this morning. She's had a bath and a bottle and is playing on the floor now. She's not whining or fussing at all. So I'm hoping we just had a nasty flu bug and it is on its way out. Now if we can only get her to start eating solids again... we'll see how that goes later today.

We have the nicest dr. He called us at 9:30 last night to tell us he forgot to give us the results of the UTI. It was negative. I just think it was nice of him to think of that and call us at 9:30 on a Friday night. I'm impressed.

Time for me to go clean up the kitchen and catch up on a little dr. phil and oprah from the week! Love that dvr!!

Stay warm!!

K

lazy sunday :)

Well I can say that today has been a great day. G has been watching football and between naps and eating E and I have been baking oatmeal cookies, muffins and chilli is next. I absolutely love Sundays. Especially when G is off work for the weekend. Plus tonight is our favorite TV night! Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters! How could the day get any better??!!

E has been a bit cranky today. We're thinking she may be getting another tooth. She's been pooping a lot today too, so maybe she's just got an upset tummy or a bit of the flu. No fever though. A little tylenol and a nap seems to be doing the trick. She ate mixed veggies today for the first time. She can't get enough Mangos and within the next few days we are going to be trying Guavas. Her favs are sweet potatos, carrots, squash, bananas and mangos. She hates peas, green beans and applesauce. She's growing great, weighs about 19 lbs and after only 8 months we already need to buy her a new car seat, since she's to big for hers. We get to buy an nice booster one that stays in the car. But since she's under 22 lbs and not yet a year old she still has to face backwards, which sucks. I can't wait till she can sit forward facing. So I can see her!

Well, I have gotten a new job. This week will be my 4th week. It is a challenging job. I always have to be on my toes, thinking about the next step. I truly know what is meant now by multi-tasking!! At every moment I have like 6 things happening at once that I need to keep on top of! Its crazy. It is a very busy office. Lots of people calling, lots of mail coming in and going out. TONS of paperwork! I am learning so many new things and have many, many more to learn. It is very interesting and very draining at the same time. I always go home exhausted. But on the bright side my days fly by! Which I love cause all I wanna do is get home to see G and E! Still get sad and wish I could be a SAHM :( p.s. I also now know what it means to be overworked and underpaid!!

It snowed so much again today! I was shocked when I woke up. I wasn't expecting it. I was thinking we'd get a light dusting. But now we had to have gotten a good 2-4 more inches. I hope we don't get much more than this for the rest of the winter! I don't like driving in it!

Here are a couple new pics of E from yesterday when G gave her a bath. Love the towel! It was a Christmas gift from G's aunt, uncle and cousins in Kansas. Thanks guys!

Well, I'm going to take the next few minutes to sit down and relax until E wakes up. Take care everyone and hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend!

K

Busy, busy, busy...

WOW! Ok, I apologize, it has been FOREVER since I've blogged, I've gotta get more of a routine here and blog a little each day... instead of never, and then I have tons to say!

E is doing more and more new things each day! She now has a second tooth (you can see them in the picture below) and says "hi" all the time... she's even started to figure out how to wave! We're working on high 5's right now... I think it'll be a while. She is starting to get up on her hands and knees (sort of) and kinda rock back and forth. I'm just waiting for one of these days when she starts crawling around. We're gonna have to start looking at baby gates. She is eating baby food, finally! She loves bananas, mangos and carrots. Hates green beans, peas and prunes (yes, I make her try prunes!) She still has this crazy hair that stands straight up and is as thin as can be. I really have been tempted to use some gel or mousse to tame it a bit, but it is kinda funny. Strangers stop me in the mall and tell me they love her hair, so I may just have to leave it.
We had x-mas with G's family the first weekend in January. Here's some pics of E opening gifts:

with G's grandma...

with G's mom....

(sorry auntieV, we didn't have any of you two on our camera!!)

these are from x-mas eve....

and these are from x-mas day at my parents house...

well, I told you'd I'd have lots to share and I haven't even gotten started on my new job! It is really challenging and overwhelming! I'm not going to say to much about it on the blog except that it is in child support. It is tough and keeps me on my toes. After only 3 weeks I already understand that there are way to many cases with way to few workers. They are overwhelmed with case loads! But everyone has quite a long history with the department and I look forward to a long career with them. So far so good... :)

G is doing good also. Still at his same job. Getting up at 4 a.m.! Yuck, I could never do it! But he keeps chugging along, picking up many overtime shifts to keep us afloat. He's going in for a sleep study next month to see if he is having some sleep apnea. That should be really intersting. For any of you girls who sleep next to a snoring man every night... you'll feel my pain. Ear plugs are my bff.

Ok, I've gotta go sit on the couch and chill. It has been a long 2 weeks, I've had a few 10 1/2 hour days driving 100 miles per day to training for work... and again this a.m. I had another training... I am SOOOO happy that tomorrow is friday! I need some sleep in time! E and G are already both in bed and have been since 7:45. I love them to death, but cherish this alone time!!! Take care all and I promise not to take so long in between blogs next time!

p.s. have you been watching American Idol??? OMG, I thought Minneapolis was bad, Seattle was TERRIBLE!! But I do really feel kinda bad about watching it, they are making terrible fun of some of these people. I'd rather see the people who can sing really well. Yet, I have to be honest, we couldn't help but laugh... is that mean?!? (god forgive me!)

night, night... K

Still here!

OMG! It's been almost 3 weeks since I've blogged! I have so much to write about! I don't have time now but wanted to let you all know that I haven't forgotten about you! I have to get better about doing this a couple times a week! I have a 3 day weekend this week so I PROMISE to write more then and post some current pics of E!!!! Talk to you all soon... K