Sunday, June 6, 2010

A Big Girl

Last night was kind of a late night.  Allyson and I made a double batch of banana bread which didn't get done baking until almost 9 pm.  Between the baking bread and the dishwasher running, the kitchen and living room became really hot!  But it was a beautiful night out so we decided to go for a walk.  Allyson rode in the stroller and talked a lot on the ride; about everything from the sticks on the sidewalk, to the birds in the trees to the bunny we saw hopping in the grass.  As I pushed her up a hill she said. "Mom, I love going for walks!"  Who wouldn't love getting pushed around in a stroller on a beautiful evening?

When we got home Allyson said we needed to watch one Wonder Pets episode and then it was bedtime.  It was already past bedtime, but since it was Saturday I agreed.  When it was time to go to bed she went and crawled in my bed as usual, but after a minute she said she would sleep in her bed and I should sleep in my bed.  We discussed it a bit because this is one of her known stalling techniques.  She said that she was a big girl now and she would stay in there all night.  So I agreed and followed her into her room, tucked her in and hoped for the best.  She stayed in there all night!  Yea!  Lets hope this continues.

In other news.... my niece is quite the trickster already.  She fooled her mommy into thinking she was coming yesterday, but it turns out she was just playing a trick on her and she isn't quite ready to make her appearance yet.  I think she's waiting until the 8th.  Then she will have a cute birthday, 6/8/10.  All even numbers in a row.  I can't wait to meet her.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Shopping

After work today Allyson said that she wanted to go shopping.  This really came as no surprise, because she says that pretty much every day on the drive home from daycare.  But today I kind of felt like shopping too.  I'm not sure why, since tomorrow I'm spending a crapload of money on new tires for my car, but we went shopping anyway.  Our first stop was TJ Maxx.  I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but ended up finding some great deals on toys.  I'm almost tempted to go back tomorrow and pick up a few more.  They had several selection of Melissa & Doug brand toys.  I love that brand of toys because they seem 'wholesome', most are made of wood, they are good quality, classic toys.  Today I picked up a cube puzzle.  It is 16 blocks that rotate to form 6 pictures of farmyard animals.  I'm debating about picking up the one with house pets on it since Allyson had so much fun playing with the one we bought today.  I also got a set of M&D set of toy food, item to pretend shopping or cooking, wood containers of rice, ketchup, orange juice, etc.  We also got a birthday gift for a friend of Allyson's. 

Then I decided to stop over at Shoe Carnival.  Allyson got a new pair of sandles for her birthday, but I don't think they fit the best (too wide or something) and she keeps tripping in them and in a pair of Croc's she has.  So we went hunting for something better.  Shoe Carnival was having a Buy One Get One for 1/2 off sale so I got her two pairs.  They are the first name brand shoes I have bought for her.  All of her other shoes have been from Target, Payless or similar stores. Today I got her a pair of pink Nike sandles that are not bulky and I think fit pretty well.  She also got a pair of Sketchers tennis shoes.  They are pink and white and instead of laces they have elastic laces and close with a velcro strap that tightens the elastic.  They are very cute but look so big on her feet!  She measured at a size 10 so that is what I got.  The pair of shoes she was wearing today all day (kind of a casual loafer-type) were a size 9, she toes must have been smooshed in there, but she said they weren't.  Her feet haven't grown much lately so I decided it would be alright to spend a little more on shoes if she could wear them longer..... I'm sure I just jinxed myself and now she will start growing like a weed again, haha!!

Once we got home we played with the new puzzle, cooked supper, watched Blues Clues on VHS (yes, VHS), Ally took a bath and now I'm watching Deadliest Catch on the DVR.  Allyson has been asking for Blues Clues the past couple of days, it's the frst time we've watched it at home, but she is familiar with it so she must have watched it at daycare.

Tomorrow will be another busy evening.  I have an appointment to get the new tires for my car at 4:30 so we will have to hurry over there.  I took the car in for an oil change yesterday and they told me that one of my tires has a nail in the side wall of the tire (those can't be patched).  But that wasn't the worst news, with an all-wheel-drive vehicle like mine, all tires have to have the same tread left on them otherwise they don't spin symetrically and it damages the car.  So if the tires have over 15,000 miles on them it is necessary to replace ALL of the tires when one needs replacing.  My tires have almost 30,000 miles on them so that is why I'm getting 4 new ones instead of just one new one.  The Subaru dealership quoted me a price, but I called around to 3 other places to compare rates and found a good set of tires for about $180 less than the dealership prices.  So instead of getting a digital camcorder I am getting tires.  Boo!!  Oh well, I need to drive and I'll save up and get the camcorder soon.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Bucket-head

What a goofball!  Last evening Allyson came out of her room with this bucket on her head.  As you can see she has the bucket handle over her nose, she thought it was SOOOO funny!  She laughed and laughed and tried breathing out of her nose and making piggy noises.  But with the strap over her nose it wasn't working and she thought that was even more funny!  I was laughing at her and that just made her get more silly.



Later in the evening it was raining so she put on her jacket and took her Dora umbrella outisde on the patio, she was amazed that she wasn't getting wet while under the umbrella.  Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of her out in the rain, but it was pretty cute.  After she had gone to bed I used the Dora umbrella to go across the street to the mailbox, it was handy to have since my umbrella is in the car.

(FYI: You may click on any pictures in the blog to see them larger, then just click the back button on your browser to get back to the blog.)

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Happy Birthday Allyson!

Happy birthday to my special girl.  Allyson turned three today!  I love you sweetie.



She has had three parties and to be honest I think she is a little overwhelmed by it all.  We had a great party last weekend when my brother was in town visiting.  Allyson had a Dora cake.  Then she had a party on Friday at daycare and we took rice krispie treats for snack.  Then this weekend we went to Harvey and had a party with her dad's side of the family.  The party was on Saturday and she had a fun time playing with friends and cousins and opening gifts of course.  At that party her cake had Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty on it. 

We came home today and were only home for 1/2 hour before heading to church.  After church we had a late supper and then colored a picture from a new coloring book she got as a birthday gift.

I am pretty much exhausted from this weekend, so the update is short!  But we had a nice time visiting everyone and the bags will havve to wait until tomorrow to be unpacked, I'm headed to bed.

Monday, April 19, 2010

A Nice Day

Today was a nice day.  Nothing particularly exciting happened but that's OK some times.  Allyson and I slept in till about 8:15, which is pretty good for the weekend.  After awhile I started sorting the laundry into piles, it was $10 worth this week.  I don't really count the number of loads of laundry I do as much as how much it will cost me.  $10 of laundry is five loads, pretty typical for us.  I probably do laundry 3 times a month and let it pile up an extra week once a month which just means more the next week.  So about $40 a month on laundry, plus the cost of soap and stain remover, I think it's ridiculous.  But I don't want to be smelly, so I do it, haha!  So anyway... I did laundry this morning and this by this evening it was all folded AND put away.  Usually I put off putting it away for awhile.

Allyson played with her dollhouse and dolly's a lot today.  It is so funny to listen to her talk for them.  Especially when she says the kinds of things I say to her to them.  For example, she tells them to listen, she asks them if they have to go potty and tells them to be patient. 

I was ready for a nap around 1:30.  Allyson decided to nap on the recliner, "like papa does".  So I tucked her in and went to my room to lay down.  She came in and checked on me, I sent her back to the living room.  She came back and said she wanted to nap in her room, I said fine.  She same in again and I ignored her.  She poked me a couple of times but didn't say anything.  She left and it got real quiet so I figured she went back to sleep in her room.  When I got up I took a quick shower and went looking for her (it was 3:45).  I foun her in the living room curled up in the recliner covered with a blanket and snuggled with about 6 of her stuffed animals.  I sat on the couch to read a magazine and she poked her head up to tell me that she was not napping (even though she clearly was).  Within 2 minutes she was out cold again, huffing and puffing in her sleep.  Watching kids sleep is great, they are so peaceful and cute. 

Eventually she got up and I started making supper.  I grilled some sausage and we had baked beans, pasta salad, watermelon and an orange.  Allyson pretty much just ate the fruit.  She agreed to taste the pasta salad but declared it was "yucky".  She refused to try the beans and kept saying "yyyuuuccckk, that looks like doggy poop!"  So supper was not a hit!

We went to church this evening and Allyson was really well behaved.  We had to take a trip to the potty mid-service.  She did really well this weekend with the potty-training.  She had a couple of accidents but ultiple success' with #2 which made me very happy.  After church we came home and had popcorn and watched Dora.  Bedtime went pretty well.  I sat in bed with her and re-tied the parts of her tie blanket which had come undone.  She kept scooting next to me and kissing me on the cheek and giving me hugs.  Such a sweetheart.

Back to work tomorrow. 

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Ketchup... whoops, I mean Catch-Up!

How can it be that April is almost over?  Time has just been flying by.  I've said several times this month that it seems like I'm in a time warp.

April 4th was Easter.  I was off of work on Good Friday which turned out to be a blessing because we had a major snow storm blow through and cause a lot of driving issues that day.  However, the cable-guy was working through the storm.  He came to my place soaking wet from having been outside, but he was nice and got my DVR installed in no time.  That's right, I have a DVR again!  I never have to miss a show again!  I love it, the only bad part is that I am so busy watching all of my favorite shows in the evening, I've been too busy to blog.  Saturday the weather was better and we were able to drive  to my parents house.  We dyed easter eggs and had fun outside throwing slushy snowballs at each other.  Easter morning Allyson put on her beautiful Easter dress and we went to church.  While we were in church the Easter Bunny stopped by mom and dad's house and hid eggs and Allyson's basket.  She had fun searching for everything and exploring the gifts she got.



I went to Ladies Night Out on April 8th and as usual had a great time.  This month it was at The Blarney Stone, and Irish pub that is fairly new in town.  Then on April 10th my friend S and I went to the Martina McBride/Trace Atkins concert at the Civic Center.  I really like Martina so I enjoyed the show.  S got us a great deal on the tickets by using her military discount. 

This week went by quickly too.  Friday was my dad's birthday so I baked him a quadruple chocolate cake, it turned out great!  It was a chocoate cake mix with chocolate puding added, chocolate chips mixed and drizzled with chocolate frosting as well as caramel and nuts.  Mmmmm!  We had also gone out to dinner with them and then decided to stop by a park  near my apartment to wear off some of Allyson's energy before going home to eat the cake.  It was a beautiful day, probably the nicest spring day we have had yet.


Today Allyson and I went shopping and bought a new grill, some b-day party items for her upcoming party and we each got a pair of shoes.  Allyson got silver Dora sandles that light up and I got a very cute pair of black shoes.  She refused to try hers on so I'm hoping they fit.  It took me over 3.5 hours to put the new grill together this afternoon!  OMG, it was crazy!  I have put together a lot of stuff, entertainment centers, dressers, baby gear and more but this grill was the worst.  But it is together now and I grilled myself a yummy steak and some foil-pouch potatoes this evening and that made it all worth it.  I love to grill!!  Steaks, brats, chops, chicken, even fish and vegies, it all  tastes better on the grill!

That is a very abbreviated version of the past couple of weeks!  We have fun stuff coming up this week.  My brother D is coming home on Saturday for a visit and we will be celebrating his birthday and Allyson's birthday on Sunday, each about a week early.  I still need to get a cake ordered for her.  She picked out Dora plates, whistles and stickers for her party.  Whistles, my dad will love it, haha!  Saturday we are also going to the wedding of one of my cousins.  It will be here in town and I know Allyson will have so much fun dancing all night long.

I can't promise to update more often, but I'll try!

Mary

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Cough, Cough

My poor baby is coughing and coughing.  It doesn't sound like a "bad cough" but it sounds like it's annoying for her.  I'm not sure if it is due to some sort of sickness or if it is spring allergies.  Last night she coughed from 3-5 in the morning.  She was still asleep while she was doing it, but tossing and turning alot.  It kept me up a lot too.  So this morning I called work and J to let them know we would be 1 hour late.  I thought it would be good for Allyson to get an extra hour of sleep.  She was in a great mood when I dropped her off.

Work was uneventful for the most part.  The exciting part was when water started dripping into my office.  I had been back in the breakroom snacking on the fruit we had been provided by COSE (Collalation of State Employees).  I got back to my office and sat down, then I heard it.  It almost sounded like a mouse crawling around or something at first.  Then I though it sounded like water dripping but couldn't see any water.  So I ran across the hall and barged in on one of my co-workers to get her to come over to my office.  By that time there was a small puddle developing on my desk.  She helped me clean the pictures and stuff off of that area and then I ran back to alert a manager who called the other maintenance person who showed up about 10 minutes later (he was off site).  In the interm the water just ran down the wall behind my cubicle wall and dripped into the trash can I placed on my desk.  We figured that it was from an overflowing toilet, since my office is below the bathrooms on the floor above.  I hear them flushing all day.  It's lovley! Luckily the water coming into my office was clean water.  The maintenance guy fixed the toilet so it quit running and will replace the two damamged ceiling tiles in my office once it dries out up there.  So in the end there was no major damage but it added a little excitement to my day.

I met with a guy about getting some additional life insurance for myself today.  I know it's something I need to do.  Adding up the couple of debts I have and the money that would  be needed for 'final expenses' and to raise Allyson and send her to college it really adds up.  I didn't sign up for any today, but might shop around a couple more places to see what the rates are.  The quote I got today was reasonable, but my budget is pretty tight right now, so I want to find the best deal.

Allyson was in a great mood when I picked her up.  The weather has been nice so J has been taking the kids outside to play.  Allyson loves playing outside!  When I got there they were going for a walk.  The kids love it, even though they really just walk up and down J's block.  Allyson saw me and ran a to me with her arms open yelling "mommy!!"  It was cute, just like in the movies only we weren't in a grassy field.  On the drive home Allyson took off her shoes and saw that she had gotten her socks dirty too.  So she took them off and then said, "my beet are stinky, I no want to mell 'em!"  She played in the tub for quite awhile and is now still struggling to go to bed.  It is something we are still struggling with but it's getting a little better.

Tomorrow is the last day of the work-week for me.  All state employees get Good Friday off.  I'm getting my DVR installed on Friday, I can't wait!!

I did six loads of laundry tonight.  The last two are still in the dryer and none of it is folded, but at least it is washed.  I've been putting it off for awhile. 

Saturday, March 27, 2010

A Poopy Prank

Another tale from our adventures in potty training....  Tonight I put Allyson in the tub after having an accident free day, despite going to an egg hunt, out for lunch, another egg hunt, and a visit and nap at Grandma and Papa's house.  When we had gotten home she tried real hard to go poopy on the potty, but just couldn't.  It was a good effort.  Anyway, she was playing nicely in the tub, so I went to the kitchen to finish cleaning up the Play Doh mess we had made a few minutes earlier.  She came walking out and said that she was done.  Then she got a guilty look on her face and said, "Mommy, I got poopy in the baff again.  I sorry."  I jumped into action and run to the bathroom, expecting to find the worst.  I scan the tub and then look again.  There was no poopy!  It was a poopy prank.

And I was very happy!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Two Days in a Row (a million more to go)

Whew.  I just "worked out" two days in a row!  That may not be much to brag about for most people, but for me its a pretty big deal.  For now I have been doing the 20 minute workout of Windsor Pilates.  Again, it's just 20 minutes, but trust me I get winded doing it.  However the best part is that it requires nothing more than me laying on the ground, kicking and  rolling around!  That's my kind of exercise, no equipment or special shoes or bra's required.  I did take some Advil after I was done to prevent the aches and pains that would surely follow for someone like me who hasn't exercised in forever.  This morning I felt great. 

Soon I'll be adding some variety to my workouts.  I ordered the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD last night (she is from The Biggest Looser on TV).  I'm a little afraid that it will be too hard for me to do but it was only $8.99 on Amazon.com and I've heard good things about it.  The DVD contains 3 levels of workouts, each 20 minutes in length (again, I like the short workouts).  They are progressively harder so you are supposed to do level 1 until it becomes "easy" and then move up to level 2 and so on.  I also purchased a digital scale that has numbers big enough to tell me my weight and a food scale to keep me honest with portion sizes.  I haven't weighed myself in forever, I think I threw out my scale when I moved, so I really don't know how much I weigh now but I'd be willing to bed that I'm at an all time high.  Higher than when I started Weight Watchers back in November 2005 and higher than the day I went in to the hospital to deliver Allyson.  Sad.  But I can't do much about it now other than try to get back down toward a healthier weight.

So what has inspired all of these changes?  Well, I see diabetes staring me in the face  when I look into my future and I'm hoping to prevent it.   Because I have polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) I have a much greater chance of getting diabetes than the general population does.  Yuck.  Plus after eating so much delicious food at the Abbey last weekend while scrapbooking I feel fatter than ever and my pants are tight! 

In general I'm not very good at following through with things like this, but hopefully I will be able to stick with it.  I did pretty well when I did WW a few years ago but don't really want to join now, I'll see how I do on my own first.  I know what the right things are to eat and how much of them to eat, it is just a matter of having the willpower to stick to it.  Lord knows I pretty much hate exercise of any type but when I think of putting it off I'm going to remind myself that I want to be around for my sweet Allyson for years and years and years to come.

I'll try to update now and then with my progress.  The Weight Watchers website tells me:  Your weight range is 136-184.  Frankly I can't imagine being in that range, but it is a nice dream.  I think for now I will aim for smaller goals.  I'll set one once I get my scale in the mail, probably 10 pounds or something.  I'm not going to post my weight on here, that would just be frightening, but maybe I'll post my BMI.  I don't know, I have to think about it, but that would be good motivation I think.  So we'll see how this all turns out.

In Allyson news... she is just asd cute as ever.  This evening we played outside on our patio with egg shaped sidewalk chalks she just had to have from the grocery store.  We drew pictures and she had me write the names of all of the important people in her life on the cement.  Then we had to play hopscotch.  Luckily there were no injuries this time!  Her slide is finially free from it's ice/snow cage it was in all winter so she had fun sliding down it that  in all directions, headfirst, feet first, on her tummy and on her back.  We played until our fingers got too cold.  Spring is always late to arrive here.

I can't believe it is Friday tomorrow!  This week went by so quickly, I love it when that happens.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Un-inspired

All evening I've been putting off sitting down to type.  I'm just feeling a little uninspired I guess.  But I haven't updated in awhile so I figure I should just do it.  Here it goes....

Last Thursday could just be referred to as "Poop Day."  There was good poop and bad poop.  When I picked up Allyson from daycare J said that Allyson had gone poopy in the toilet!  Yippie, good poop!  I hugged her and told her how she was a big girl and I was so proud of her.  J had given her a cookie and really hooted an hollered about her accomplishment.  The other girls at daycare told her she could start wearing real panties soon and even showed her theirs so she knew what they were talking about.  For the record she had pooped on the potty once before, but it has been a couple of months since then.  We got home and had a nice evening, until the bad poopy.  I put Allyson in the bath and she was having such a wonderful time in there that I snuck upstairs and put a load of laundry and then started packing my bag for my scrapbooking trip (more on that later).  While I'm packing up my bag I hear her say something about poop.  I thought at first she was talking about the little toy dog she had taken into the bath with her.  She said something again so I went to the hall bathroom to check on her.  Then I saw it.  Poopy in the tub.  It is a mother's worst nightmare. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck!  Luckily she had gotten out of the offensive water.  I made sure she was clean and set her down on the couch wrapped up in a towel.  Then I had to go back in there.  I'll spare the details other than to say it was gross.  Everything has been sanitized and beached; the tub is back in business.

Now this is not the first time this has happened.  A few months ago she pooped in the tub and I think I grabbed her out so quickly I traumatized her.  She was deathly afraid of the tub for about 2 months.  She had just gotten over that fear and now it happened again.  I was worried she was be afraid again, but I gave her a bath tonight and it went fine.  Before the incident a few months ago she had not done it since she was pretty much a baby.  Must be the warm water.  Anyway, we both survived.

Friday morning I took my sweet girl to daycare and then picked up my friend S.  We picked up fresh bread and some gormet tea and hit the road!  We were headed to a scrapbook weekend get-away with 26 other ladies.  We had the best time!  The facility we go to is perfect for scrapbooking and is affordable enough that I can afford to go for the weekend!  Perfect!  Friday we scrapbooked from about 10 am until around midnight, I think.... can't remember exactly when we stopped that evening.  Saturday morning we started at 8:30 and I went until my head hit the pillow at 1:53am!  Considering that we were in mountain time and I'm from central time, that was 2:53 "my time"!  Granted, I did take a 45 minute nap on Saturday, but it was still a long day.  Sunday we went from about 9:15 until 1:30pm when it was time to head home. Crazy, but so much fun.  I know many people wonder how we can go and scrapbook all day and night but so much of it is the social aspect of it too.  It is a whole weekend spent with friends.  Trust me, we pretty much cover every topic of conversation you can think of... and then a couple more!  I missed Allyson a lot.  She is such a sweet girl.  And just ask S how cute she is, everytime I looked at pictures I was putting on the page I'd say "oh, look at how cute she is here!"  Well, it's the truth.

When I picked Allyson up from Grandma and Papa's house she wasn't overjoyed to see me, which made me a little sad.  But I think she was tired after her nap and also she was crying when I got there because Grandma wouldn't let her put on her Easter dress.  But after awhile we were best buds again.  She had a great weekend there.  She went on walks outside, swimming at the Y with Grandma and all sorts of other fun stuff.   We both went to bed around 9:15 which was late for her but really early for me.  She was in a good mood when she got up today which made my day much better.  On the way to the garage this morning we could hear some birds chirping but it was still pretty dark outside so we could not see them.  Allyson said in a very loud, authorative voice, "Birdies! Where are you?  I can't see you!  Come here!" 

Work went pretty well today.  I think I did a pretty good job of getting caught up on everything after having been out on Friday.  After work I picked up Allyson and was pleased to hear that she had gone poopy on the toilet again!  She had gone in her Pull-Up's over the weekend.  I think that going poopy on the toilet will be a thing she does well at J's house for awhile before she starts doing it consistently at home.  Just like when she gave up her nur-nur and started going #1 on the toilet.  She seems to do things for J that she won't do for me at home, at least not for awhile.  I'm just happy she is finially catching on and starting to go in the toilet.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Hopscotch

Today was a good day.  Work went by super fast and aside from my right wrist hurting like crazy it was pretty uneventful.  I'm pretty sure I'm developing carple tunnel syndrome from all of the 'mousing' that I do at work.  I plan on checking with our IT guys to see if there is a mouse that is less physically demanding.  I came home for lunch today to check on the crock pot meal I had started this morning.  It was a really easy pork chop recipe that turned out pretty well.  I just browned the chops in a skillet (coated them with flour and some ground mustard, season salt and pepper) last night and then this morning I dropped them in the crock pot with a can of chicken with rice soup.  I added a little water to it this morning and more when I came homr for lunch, probably 3/4 of a soup can total.  But it was only supposed to cook 4-6 hours on low and I cooked it for about 9 so extra moisture was needed.  They were nice and tender and pretty good.... Allyson even ate a few bites!

This morning it was SUPER hard to get Allyson up, due to the time change.  I don't think she woke up at all when I got her dressed, but when I carried her to the couch she woke up, started crying and ran back to the bedroom.  Somehow I got her in her coat and carried her to the car.  Once there she demanded I take off her coat.  It wasn't freezing out and she has a big blanket in the backseat so I gave in.  I tucked the blanket up under her chin and we were off.  But before we got out of the driveway she had pulled the blanket (a fleece tie-blanket) up all the way over her head.  She stayed that way the whole drive to daycare, about 15 minutes.  She was not sleeping, just protesting being awake I guess.  I carried her into daycare like that and she was excited to hear that her daycare lady's (I'll call her J) daughter was home for spring break. 

I forgot to mention the other reasons for Allyson's sleepyness today, she was up WAY too late last night, it was around 11 (which before the time change was 10, but still late), then she fell out of bed.  I had to rescue her from between the wall, bed and heat register.  A couple of hours later she woke up whimpering, I reached over and felt that she was wet.  Her pull-up was soaked, which is odd because she has been staying dry through the night lately, but luckily she was sleeping on top of one of her blankets so that was the only bedding that got wet (not all of my sheets/blankets).  I changed her into a clean pull up and dry PJ pants and we both slept a little more.  Morning came too quickly.

On the way home she was telling me about who she played with and what she did at J's house today.  She said that we needed to play hopscotch when we got home.  The way she said hopscotch was just adorable, I can't even think of a way to type it like she said it.   So after supper, she set up the living room for hopscotch.  She lined up all of her dollhouse furniture in a row by the couch cushins she had pulled off of the loveseat and was ready to go.  Well almost... first she had to find her 'marker' which was a penny she threw  before she jumped.  She was having so much fun jumping all over and throwing that 'marker'.  She even got me in on the action and I took a few turns.  I got some cute video clips of her in action and some pictures too.  But then it happened, as I was filming she took a tumble and fell into that row of dollhouse toys she had lined up.  She immediately started screaming and crying, but after checking for blood and finding none I rocked her for awhile and got out her ice packs.  She was better in no time but not without a mark or two.  She has a big red spot that I think will turn into a bruise on her cheek and a mark on her butt/flank too.  Poor girl.  That was the end of our hopscotch game.  Hopefully soon we can make a real hopscotch grid outside on the sidewalk.  Spring... Are you coming soon?

Jumping on the love seat!

Getting ready to jump!  Quite the line up, huh?

She made it... this time!

Bedtime started  tonight at 9 with me reading some books to Allyson followed by some crying that she wanted to watch TV and then silence.  It was all over in 45 minutes!  Yeah!  I'll start moving it up to earlier in the evenings, but with the time change 9 seemed ok.

I'm noticing that my most frequently used blog label is "Sleep",  poor me :(

Friday, March 12, 2010

Mommy Time

Today after work Allyson and I stopped at our place to pack up her overnight bag.  She picked out her PJ's and told me she needed to take her MegaBlocks with.  I threw a few more things into her bag and we were off.  Mom and Dad are watching Allyson so I could enjoy an evening with my friends and not have to worry about waking her up when I pick her up.  They will watch her all day tomorrow too.

I met my scrapbook friends at a mexican restaurant for drinks and dinner.  We recently decided to start getting together once a month to just get out and have fun.  This time there were six of us able to attend; we were just missing one person.  We had a lot of fun, talking about mommy stuff, scrapbooking, shopping and all kinds of other stuff.  They are a great bunch of ladies and I have gotten some great advice from them.  We finished up around 9:30 (we're so crazy!) and then I headed out to Walmart for some solo shopping.  I think any mom of a two year old can appreciate how blissful a solo shopping trip can be.  No kids running around grabbing stuff, crying, yelling or even on a good trip Allyson usually gets a little restless in the store.  I browsed and browsed and looked at things I don't think I've looked at for years in a store.... Dishes, make-up, clothes, shoes, scrapbooking stuff, etc.  Of couse I ended up buying stuff for Allyson too, this time it was a few items for her easter basket.

Now I'm home, watching TV in my room and thinking about how I get to sleep about 1/2 hour longer tomorrow since I don't have to get Allyson ready and drive her to daycare. 

Mommy time is WONDERFUL!!

Thanks Mom and Dad for giving me a break!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

"I am the princess"

Ahhh, Wednesday evening, it feels nice to know that over half of the work week is done!  I am finally getting caught up on my worklists at work from taking time off for me being sick, Allyson being sick and going all the way back to my trip to Las Vegas & the Grand Canyon last November.  Missing a day makes a big difference at this job, I may have been gone but the work keeps coming! 

Before leaving for work this morning I grabbed my grocery list since I planned on going to the store after work.  I planned on looking at the ads and adding more to the list while at work.  Well, I couldn't find the list while I was at work so I ended up just making a new one.  Sadly, I forgot that one on my desk!!  So instead I just went to the store with the bits I remembered from my list.  I think I bought twice as much as I planned and missed a couple of key items I wanted to get.  Allyson was not in the greatest mood at the store, but didn't really throw a fit until we left the store.  She refused to hold my hand so I carried her and pushed the cart through the slush caused by over 24 hours of rain/snow mix.  She screamed, it was lovley!  But when we got home we took our fusteration out on the slush and had fun stomping  in it and kicking it all through the parking lot with our boots.

After that she was better and we had a nice dinner together.  Just a simple meal tonight.  We split a cheese quesadilla, had pickles, strawberries, cottage cheese and grahm crackers.  Odd combination, but tasty.  After dinner we sorted laundry and managed to get 4 loads done... Well technically 2 loads are still in the dryer and nothing is folded, but they are clean.

As we were coming back downstairs to our apartment after changing out the loads Allyson was so silly.  She was wearing a wide pink headband, purple beaded necklace and carrying a magic wand.  As she walked down the stairs she could see her reflection in the glass doors on the landing between floors.  She was walking with her head held high like a princess and her magic wand up in the air; all while saying in a sing-song voice, "I am the princess" over and over, it was so cute.  She was so prim and proper.  I wish I had the camera with, but I'm sure if I had it, she would have quit immediately, it seems that is how it works. 

Bedtime was it's usual struggle.  She got up and went potty, then requested to sleep in her bed.  I was thinking, "GREAT, please do!" So I tucked her into her bed and read one story (making it clear it was going to be ONE story since it was already 9:20).  She threw an asolute fit so I tried the Super Nanny tatic of putting her back in bed with out saying much to her, twice.  The third time she yelled she wanted to sleep in my bed.  I said OK and I haven't heard from her in 25 minutes.  I know, I'm weak and I caved in.  I just like to keep the peace.

Tomorrow night is Ladies Night Out (LNO) with my girlfriends, I can't wait!!  We are meeting for a late supper and drinks at a Mexican restaurant.  I can almost taste my margarita.  Gives me something to look forward to tomorrow at work.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Weekend Recap

We had a fun and relaxing weekend!  We took off to visit Allyson's daddy and great-grandparents right after work on Friday.  I picked up a kids meal from Burger King for Allyson to snack on and keep her entertained for part of the trip.  It was really foggy for about 3/4 of our trip, so it was a little bit of a white knuckled drive for me.  On the two lane highway oncoming cars would just pop out of the fog all of the sudden.  But we made it safely before it got dark outside.   Grandma had made supper for us so I ate there, Alllyson was full from her chicken nuggets and apple fries... I think the meatloaf was better!

That evening Allyson's daddy, B, came over and they had a blast playing together.  B chased her around the house and she kept saying, "Do it again Daddy!"  Grandma brought out a bag of hand-me-down clothes from some wonderful relatives who give us all of their daughters old clothes.  It is such a blessing!  Allyson loved going through them and even tried a few things on because she "loves them SO much". 

Saturday we had a nice, relaxing day.  Allyson and B colored a couple of pictures, built pyramid out of Allyson's blocks and ran around the house some more.  She took a nice nap that afternoon.  I ran to the grocery store that afternoon which was alittle traumatic for Allyson, she didn't want to be comforted by B, but she would go to grandma for comfort.  The state class B girls basketball championship games were on that evening so we watched those. 

Sunday was more of the same, relaxing and playing.  Grandpa made us a delicious breakfast that morning.  After lunch B wanted to take Allyson to visit some friends and their kids, but she refused to go unless I went with, so I did.  By the time we got back to grandma's she was utterly exhausted, so we took off for home so she could sleep in the car. She was out before we even got on the highway!  Sunday evening we met mom and dad at church.  Allyson was pretty well behaved so we picked up ice-cream sundae's on the way home from church as a treat. 

Today it was back to work and back into our routine.  After work I made supper and Allyson watched Pocahontas.  I had brought in a box of 4T clothes that was stored in the garage to go though and wash for this spring and summer.  I am about 3/4 done sorting them, but the laundry will have to wait for another evening.  Allyson went to bed and only got up once after I put her down, that is a pretty good  bedtime for us!  I spoke too soon, she just yelled that she needed to go potty again so I helped her with that and got her settled in again.

Not much else is planned for this week, but I'm sure it will be busy none the less.
One guess who bought her the shirt!  Haha!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

A Busy Evening

It's been a busy evening yet I feel like there was a bunch more stuff I should have gotten done but didn't!  After work Allyson and I headed down to Target.  She needed som more Pull-Ups since she still won't go #2 in the toilet.  I got the generic Up & Up brand ones and I have to say I'm impressed, they seem to be just like the name brand Pull-Ups, which are WAY better than the Pampers Easy-Ups, if you ask me.  I also picked up a few household items and got Allyson some toys.  That seems to be my latest addiction, buying toys!  Tonight she got some Mega Blocks so she can build pyramids and towers (in her words).  We also picked up the Ariel princess doll that is like the Polly Pocket style of doll.  She has all of the other princesses, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Belle so Ariel completes the collection.  Oh, I also got her a Barrel of Monkeys.  I always loved them as a kid and they should help with coordination and counting.

After that we went to Famous Dave's for dinner.  It was 6 by the time we got there so Allyson was getting pretty antsy, but luckily our food came before she got out of control.  We don't go out to eat often, but every once in awhile it is nice to do.  At first I was a little hesitant to go out 'just the two of us".  But the more I thought about it, this is my family and there is no reason we can't go out by ourselves.  We never have a lapse in converstaion, Allyson always has something to say.  I'm usually so busy trying to keep her entertained and make sure she doesn't spill anything or fall off of her chair, that I don't have time to notice if anyone stares at us whatnot.  I'm still not sure if I'd enjoy going out to a sit-down restaurant by myself, but I am quite comfortable going just me and my girl.  :)

After dinner we came home and packed up our bags for the weekend.  We are taking off tomorrow to go visit Allyson's Great-Grandparents and her dad.  I realize many people find this to be a strange thing, but  there are no "rules" for how to handle family situations after a divorce, so I just take it day by day and decide to do what feels right to me.  Grandpa & Grandma (technically my ex-G&G) have always made us feel so welcome that both Allyson and I really enjoy the trip to see them.  Having the ex living in-state again has been a bit strange, but it is a situation that must be dealt with.  So again, I go with what feels right.  I'd much rather spend the occasional weekend at G&G's than have him start exercising his right to take her every other weekend.  I don't know what I'd do!  At this point I don't think he has any plans of starting that.  Whew.

Anyway, I keep getting off track!  After packing we watched Cinderella III, again.  By the time that was over it was past bedtime for my girl.  She is still in there talking.  Bedtime has been a struggle lately.  I still have not gotten my layouts done for scrapbooking.  I would also have liked to have brought in the box of spring clothes I have for Allyson out in the garage to go through them and see what (if anything) I need to buy for her.  I also need to go through baby clothes some time in the next couple of months and decide what to send to my neice.  The apartment could use a good cleaning and there is laundry waiting to be done too.... The list never ends, but that is my Prettyful life and I wouldn't change it for the world!  On second though a maid would be nice, I would welcome that change!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

This morning as we were driving to daycare Allyson told me that her mouth was still tired.  She had been yawning and I guess it must be true, I am yawning right now and am pretty tired.  Today has just flown by!  Work actually went by very quickly, probably because nothing really stumped me (this is unusual) and I was able to get some claims out.  It feels good to allow someone when you know they really deserve the benefits and  I got to do that on a couple of cases today.  Other times a claimant is allowed, but it is really on a technicality, so to speak, and those cases don't give me "warm fuzzy feelings".  But I must follow the rules and be fair to everyone, right?

After work Allyson cried that she wanted to go shopping as we were passing the big stretch of stores we drive by on the way home.  I asked her what she wanted to buy at the store.  She answered, "Cinderella!"  So I decided we could go to the video store and rent it since Cinderella is currently locked up in the Disney Vault and not available for purchase.  However the video store we rent from only has Cinderella on VHS but has Cinderella II and III on DVD.  We have watched both II and III and III is WAY better if you ask me.  As far as Disney sequels go it is pretty high on the list.  So we rented that one again, this is probably the 4th time we've rented it.  But for 99 cents for 5 days it's a pretty good deal.  I picked up "Couples Retreat" for me.  I'm sure it will be predictable but I thought it looked cute.

I made sausage and Zataran's smothered rice for supper, the rice called for chicken to be added to it, but I just made the sausage seperate.  I like the Zataran's boxed rice dishes, they're all pretty good, but they are all pretty similar tasting to me. After dinner Allyson helped me bake chocolate and peanut butter chip cookies.  They are my favorite, always nice and chewy.  The recipe makes a huge batch so I think I'll take some to work tomorrow for my coworkers to enjoy.

After the cookies were done we did a couple of art projects.  The first one was with a packet of about 250 little foam easter shaped stickers.  I peeled the backing off of them for Allyson and she put about 30 of them on a sheet of paper.  They were shaped like bunnies, chicks, eggs, ducks, etc.  Next I let her color with her Crayola Color Explosion markers & paper set.  It is special paper that makes the marker colors really 'pop'.  She was attempting to draw circles and doing a pretty good job.

I put her to bed about an hour ago, we'll see how tonight goes.  Last night she got up and went potty three times before she fell asleep.  I think it's a stalling technique, but she did go all three times and I don't really feel like I can discourage her from going potty when we are still working on potty training.  Tonight she has gotten up once alreay to go.

I wheeled my big scrapbook tote out to the living room but I don' think I'll get started on that project tonight.  I have a weekend event coming up in two weeks and need to get some power layouts done - that is when I group pictures and papers together in the order I want to scrapbook them in.  Organizing like that saves a lot of time when I'm at an event and I'm able to get a lot more pages done. 

Monday, March 1, 2010

"It's a Girl!"

The big news today was finding out that I am going to be an auntie to a little girl!  After thinking for months that she was having a boy, my sister and her husband found out today that they will be having a girl!  I am so excited!  I would have been happy to have a nephew of course, but I just love baby girls.  Plus I am much better at shopping for girls.   I wander around the boys department thinking, where is all of the cute stuff?  Allyson picked out a shirt at Old Navy for her soon-to-be cousin today.  It is adorable.

In other news, this morning Allyson was quite sleepy.  She sleeps in my bed sometimes (OK, pretty much always these days) and in the morning I can take a shower, talk to her, turn on the lights and TV, clap my hands, pretty much do anything and she will still sleep.  Today I finialy got her to wake up by talking to her and asking her to show me her smile.  She sat up and smiled, rubbed her eyes a bit and then said, "Mommy, my eyes are very tired."  But I managed to get her out of bed and dressed.

Work was pretty uneventful and I felt like I actually got a few things accomplished.  After work Allyson and I went to Old Navy, like I mentioned above, and then we went to Grizzly's for supper.  Ashley was in Harvey for the weekend and was just in town to catch a flight back to Colorado.  It had been a year since I had seen her, so it was nice to catch up a bit.

Allyson is fighting going to bed tonight so she is sitting next to me here on the couch.  Hopefully by 9 I'll get her to sleep.  Maybe I need Super Nanny to come and help me for a few days.  Sometimes I know I'm 'being too nice' to her, but it is hard to be strict with someone so cute.  Seriously, how can you resist this cute-ness?


Sunday, February 28, 2010

"Holy Buckets"

It's Sunday evening already.  The weekends go by so fast!  We didn't have an exciting weekend, but it was alright.  Yesterday mom picked us up and we went to my cousin Lorie's bridal shower.  Allyson had been looking forward to seeing her cousin Mya there, but she had the flu so Allyson was the only kid there.  She was pretty well behaved.  After that we stopped at the grocery store.  I ran in to pick up things for both mom and I.  Allyson fell asleep in the car which was good because she hadn't had a nap, but bad since it was already nearly 5:00.  She continued sleeping at home until I woke her up around 6:30.  I had put a ham in the crockpot and made scalloped potatoes.  Yum! I love ham.

Due to the late nap, Allyson didn't want to go to bed.  She ended up staying up with me till I was ready for bed around 11.  The nice part was that we slept in till 9am this morning!  That is almost unheard of in this house.

This morning we watched some cartooms, had breakfast of Cheerios and fruit and play with the dollhouse and Disney figurines.  I can't remember exactly why she said it but Allyson's saying for the weekend was "holy buckets!"  She's such a cutie.  I sorted and packed up the laundry to take to mom and dads, since we were invited there.  Allyson didn't get a nap this afternoon so she was a bit cranky when we were in church this evening.  After church we came home, put away laundry and put the sheets on my bed and then made popcorn.  We have popcorn almost every week after church.  Allyson said she wanted to watch Happy Feet so I put that in.  Within 20 minutes she had fallen asleep on the floor with her pilliow and blanket.  I carried her to bed and now I have the evening to myself.

I'm watching the closing ceremony for the Olympics.  I'm a little sad that they are over, I was hooked on watching them everynight. 

I had intended on baking peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies this weekend, but time got away from me.  We'll try to make them one evening this week.  Allyson LOVES to help with baking.  I let her pour the ingrediants in.  Here is an oldie, but a goodie picture of Allyson from 2 years ago today, I found her checking out the contents of the fridge.  I really don't know how she got the door open on her own because she wasn't even walking at this point, she was just about 10 months old, I must have left it open for some reason.


This is the kind of exciting posts you can expect in the future.  Till next time!

Saturday, February 27, 2010

First Entry!

Welcome to my blog! I've been thinking about starting one for awhile now; reading great blogs that others have written has inspired me. I'm not really sure what my 'writing style' will be or if I'll even have one but if nothing else this will be a nice place for me to record the day to day happenings in our "prettyful" lives. There are so many things that happen as a parent that you swear you will never forget, but months or years pass and a persons memory does fade (at least mine does). I'll try to record all of the cute things Allyson does and says on this blog.

That brings me to the title of this blog, "It's a prettyful life". Prettyful is a word Allyson invented recently as a combination of pretty and beautiful. I heard her use it just yesterday when I picked her up from daycare, she said to Hatley "I love your shoes, they are so prettyful!" But it can also be split into two words and read as "It's a Pretty Ful(l) Life." Because my life is pretty full. I'm happy where I'm at, but there is room left for growth and change.

A note of caution, I'm a terrible speller and I'm never quite sure where to place comma's, so if that bothers you, please read no further :)