Eeeeeeek!!!!

New baby!!! Most of you guys know that baby #2 is officially on the way! I had tested like 3x before Christmas in hopes to break the news on Christmas day, but to no avail. I gave up and decided that it wasn't going to happen until on Sunday afternoon i decided to try once more and WAMMO! 2 lines! :) We're all really excited although i'm just crazy nervous since the first few weeks are so important! I have my 1st appt with the doctor on Jan. 5th so we'll see! Yay babies!

mmmmm soup!

i had to share this recipe for the sake of all human beings everywhere...all humans who like good food, good warm food on a cold winter day, and all humans who like to get good food with a cheap price tag! A girl at work brought this soup in for everyone to eat and it was AMAZING! Give it a shot sometime...it's soooooo easy....

Autumn Soup
1 lb ground beef
1/2 lg onion chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped potatoes (or you can do like me and eyeball it to the proportions you prefer)
basil
1 can tomato juice
4 cups hot water
dash of hot sauce
salt & peppa'
1 bay leaf (optional) (confession: i've never owned a container of bay leaves)

Cook the beef in a skillet and season how you like, i used a little hot sauce, salt and pepper, italian seasoning, and some garlic powder. Add in the onion when the beef is almost done and let it cook.
Start a large pot with 1 can of tomato juice and 4 cups hot water. Or if you're like me and didn't even realize that tomato juice COMES IN CANS? I used 1/2 can of tomato soup and about 2 cans worth of water. I think that actually works better. Throw your veggies in to the pot add seasoning and cooked beef (i didn't use the full pound of beef either). Bring it up to a boil and then turn it down to a low boil and just let it sit and cook and get squishy and yummy and delicious. Awesome soup!

2 posts in one day...I've gone crazy!?

Ok so now i'm in a blogging mood since i did the thing earlier this morning. Soooo you all get updated on our family life. SInce my last post (over a month ago) a lot has happened. Kenzie has gotten bigger, Joel and I have gotten financially stable lol and Thanksgiving has come and gone! We had an awesome Thanksgiving with everyone over at the house. Kenzie slept through the first half of dinner but it ended up working out...i got to eat a hot meal!! Then Kenz woke up and we all got to laugh and play with her. She ate some bread and a few bites of aunt San's sweet potato casserole but not too much. Guess she wasn't hungry!

Anywho....Joel and I are doing great these days...well besides our cars. My car idles really rough and Joel's car quit entirely. His uncle is lending us his extra truck though for now so there is no RUSH to get Joel's truck working which is SUCH a blessing! Hopefully Joel can get my car fixed up today but it is like 25 degrees outside so i'm not sure if he can do it or not. We had some snow fall on Monday morning which was awesome and some ice came down last night too. I don't think kenzie is feeling too well this morning, she woke up at 3am last night with a butt explosion all over the place and then just had another blowout....but i got to it before it escaped the diaper. Things i'm sure you want to know! :) Poor baby. She wasn't eating much today so i kinda figured something was up.

we're all looking forward to the Christmas festivities. We'll all get together on Christmas Eve and then come back to our house to have a gift exchange with Joel's uncle who can't come on Christmas day. Then Christmas morning Joel's mom will come over and make breakfast, we'll all get together and eat and open presents and then probably just watch Kenzie play all day long :) I'm so excited! I got Joel some good gifts too so yay!

I love my baby. She's on my lap now and just being so cuddly. She obviosuly isn't feeling great but it's almost nice because she isn't normally this snuggly.

I would post some pics but since i always post on FB i'm sure you guys have seen em and i'm not in the mood to go through all of that madness. Sorry! Nothing new anyways. We need to get some winter pics done for our Christmas cards as time draws to a close when we can do that!

I'm busy working on Kenzie's birthday invitations nowadays and hoping to get them in the mail REALLY soon.

Well i need to go and snuggle my sick baby girl. Hope it's nothing bad!

shout out to Vanessa...I'm the first friend to know about your new house and i'm sooo excited for you guys! I'm glad it all finally worked out in the end and you finally got your own house! What a great Christmas present! hurray!

What is blogging?

Ok i was tagged so i have to post!

1.) Have you started your Christmas shopping?

Yeop and i'm nearly done with it....a few more little things to get but thats it. This is the first year that i've been done early! wowza! and they are wrapped too!

2.) Tell me about one of your special traditions.

Every year on Christmas Eve we all get together at Joel's mom's great uncles house....or something like that...either way...cousins and aunts and uncles and 2nd cousins twice removed...everyone...gets together. We all go to Catholic Mass because we have one living Catholic family member left and what she says GOES. LOL. We sat out of church last year because there was no seating room and i was ridiculously pregnant....so we'll see how this year goes with Kenzie. Either way...we all eat and talk and exchange gifts and it's great fun.

3.) When do you put up your Tree?

Day after Thanksgiving...but this year it went up a few days earlier since i worked the day after turkey day.



4.) Are you a Black Friday shopper?
I have done it EVERY year but this year because again....worked!


5.) Do you Travel at Christmas or Stay home?
Staying home....kenzie needs the time to play with her toys!

6.) What is your funniest Christmas memory?
We always read the Christmas Bible story, and the Santa Christmas story when i was growing up. One year we all gathered around the little pop up book that we had and my dad set up a video camera and we all gathered around by candlelight to read the book. I couldn't see the pop ups well enough so i decided to lean over to get a better view. Next thing i know...my mom starts slapping the side of my head. Apparently i leaned over a candle and my hair caught on fire. Luckily it was all on video so you see us all reading together and then a spark of flame and my mom beating me :)

7.) What is your favorite Christmas Movie of All time?
Ooooh hettie has it....Elf! I like smiling, smiling's my favorite!


8.)Do you do your own Christmas Baking, what’s your favorite treat?
I like making my little chocolate covered cherry mice! :)

9.) Fake or Real Tree?
Fake because i leave it up too long for a real one.

10.) What day (as a Mom) does the actual panic set in to get it all done?
I actually didn't because we were able to get most everything earlier! No panics!

11.) Are you still wrapping presents on Christmas Eve?
Nope!


12.) What is your favorite family fun time at Christmas?
The entirety of the week!

13.) What Christmas craft do you like the best?
decorating the tree and making gifts from Kenzie :)

14.) Christmas music?
Everything at church

15.) When do you plan to finish all your shopping?
Goodness....with the shopping questions. It's done...well one gift left


Tagged by Hettie
I tag you Vanessa! you have a blog and you haven't touched it in forever either!!!!

Graduation!

Happy Graduation to Mackenzie! She has officially switched her carseat to forward facing!!

She had her 9 month checkup today and everything went great! She is 29'' long and 23lbs. She is healthy as can be and doing great with all of her developmental milestones. She had to get 3 shots today, the last Hep B, seasonal flu and H1N1. She actually handled it really well too....she of course cried right when the stuck her but after about 10 seconds she was over it and eating puffs. They take urine samples at 9 months as a standard thing so as long as we get no phone calls on that then we're all good!

As for last weekend....Kenzie happily celebrated Halloween with us and he/our friends. Our two friends and their two kids went out trick or treating with us and the friend's brother drove a tractor around with a trailer and some hay so we got a hay ride around town to trick or treat! It was a blast and Kenzie actually enjoyed it more than i thought she would. She was fascinated at looking around at everything that was going on, she sucked on a lollipop and was wide awake the whole time! It was cold out (45 or so) but bundled in her fleece outfit and thick caterpillar suit she was all good. Joel and I took turns taking her up to the doors for candy. She waved HI a few times but was otherwise just happy! She seemed to like the hay ride the best though. Such a good baby! I couldn't be prouder.

Soooooo hmm...what else.....

things are going well with my new job. Haven't had any problems of late and i'm enjoying the interaction with the people. I'm starting to recognize some of the 'regulars.' Last week a little old man nearly broke my heart. He apparently comes in every other week or so. He and his wife got married when he was 18 and she was 16. They ran off to a courthouse and got married and remained married until she passed away last year. I'd say he's about 85 or something.....so you can see howlong they were married. They appear to have been best friends and so happy together. Now that she has passed away he has started to shrivel away and lose weight and has had 2 strokes and a heart attack since. He has lost his short term memory and has trouble remembering to pay his bills....but his memories of his wife are sharp as a tack. Maybe it's not such a bad thing that his short term memory is gone. Every single time he mentioned his wife to me he started to tear up. He hung around the bank for a good 15 mins just talking to all of us tellers, joking around and telling life stories. He just enjoys the company i think. Anyways...just breaks my heart. :(

I'm not in the mood to work on posting pics of Halloween just yet so i'll work on that later. Ii really need to work on getting some GOOD pics of the outfit since it was so dark outside and none really came out good on the night of.

This weekend we are celebrating Joel's aunt's birthday as well as two other friend's of ours. They have rented out a room at a downtown Irish Pub, so needless to say, Joel is psyched about that. :) Gammy will keeping Kenzie on Saturday night so i'll miss my girly but it should be a fun night.

Well i'm gonna go and relax. Kenzie has been sorta fussy today, be it from the shots or her general allergy drainage and cough i don't know. Hopefully tonight she sleeps a little better though!

Hiiii!

So Kenzie's big landmark this week is saying HI and waving. Well sorta. SHe clasps her hand open and closed and says Hiiiii! She'll pretty much do it until she gets a reply too. It's sooooo cute.

These past few weeks i don't feel like i've relaxed for more than 10 mins at all. All weekend we were busy last week, and then this weekend will be the same i think. I'd actually just love to sit at home for one day and do absolutely nothing....but alas....things to do. AND when i am at home during the day all i do is clean since we've been too busy for a weekend cleaning session. It's exhausting. Today i took Kenzie out to KOHLS to use up $20 in KOHLS dollars i was given but it was a bust. I ended up getting a comfy pair of sweat pants....justified since i am home so much more now...a little silver ring with 2 hearts on it, and a little fleece sweater for Kenz. I walked that WHOLE store and couldn't find anything that i REALLY wanted. TONS of cute clothes for Kenz but i was strictly told that it was for me. Even though i broek that rule with the $4 sweater for Kenz. Shhhh don't tell.

Anywho...things are going well although we are still waiting on our FLIPPING money from the GI Bill. Tomorrow is my last hope...if it's not in tomorrow then we're going to have to call our mortgage company and talk to them because the month without a paycheck, and now the $15,000 per year pay cut without the gov't help we were depending on is REALLY hitting hard. :( I'm really praying that this comes through for us but it's just looking like slim to none chances. sigh. Please GOD provide a way for us.

Anywho...on to happier things....the weather is great, the fall leaves are gorgeous... and I'm loving life as a part time SAHM. Joel and I are getting to spend time together and eat together, even if it is only like 90 mins a day. Kenzie has learned to throw a ball so she'll sit on the floor and throw a big ball to you. She thinks it's the greatest and will clap everytime that she throws it to you. So cute.

Kenzie is set to get her swine flu vaccine on Tuesday next week. I'm nervous about it. It's not so much the vaccine that i don't trust because it's just a variation on the regular vaccine thats been around for years, but i'm worried of her reactions to it and if she'll get any signs of sickness or anything. Sometimes that happens. BUT with as many kids in our area that have swine flu...i feel like it's in Kenzie's best interest to get it for her.

Uhmmm....i don't have much of anything else to write about so i guess i'll wrap this thing up. Ok....bye bye!

New Pics!

So we went and had Kenzie's pics made in her fall outfit...professionally. Although i was blessed with a praise from Aunt Sandy's co-workers who all thought that these last pics were the professional ones. :) Anyways....i started out at work on Saturday...boo. Came home and we all loaded up into the car (Joel me kenzie grandma and Joel's aunt) and headed over to meet the other aunt. We met her at Olive Garden for some lunch where Kenzie then proceeded to eat like a PIG and ate breadsticks, salad, pasta, water, juice, peaches, a chocolate mint bite and something from everyone's plate. We then went on to JC Penney and Kenz got spoiled by the family with 2 pairs of shoes, 2 packs of socks, 2 pairs of tights, 2 tshirts, one fleece pair of pants/jacket, 2 jacket and shirt and pants outfits, 2 more pairs of shoes, a hat and gloves, and then her Halloween costume. Phew....i think thats it....oh no one more sweatpant outfit too. Thanks to everyone! We only bought her 2 shirts and the 2 packs of socks! LOL. Anywho...after that we went to the picture studio but they were running abour an hour behind and i had realized that i left Kenzie's pumpkin hat at home. That pretty much MADE the outfit so i called Gymboree and they had more of the hats, but only in like 3-4T. We said we'd give it a shot since we had an hour to burn anyways. We got there and the hat was HUGE...but then Joel found one in 0-3mos and since Kenzie has a small head it 'worked.' BUUUT while looking around i found a 6-12mos one so we traded it out and all was well. Soooo we went and got pics made and Kenzie did a great job. She had been up ALL day long but was barely fussy at all. I was SO proud!!!! good girly!
So without further adieu....

So thats that! We had a great day albeit a busy one. Sunday has gone well....church (i sang solo! eek!) and then lunch with friends, back home, and soon to leave again for night church. Kenzie is napping well and i cleaned up a bit and got the FRIGGIN ants out of the diaper bag again. I HATE ANTS!!!

So yeah...i should get ready and wake Joel up soon too. MUCH LOVE! :)

HAPPY AUTUMN!!!

fall pics!

i took some pics of Kenzie today while Joel ran out to his mom's house. SHe has come down with Smine Flu so we're having to stay away but hopefully she feels better soon! anyways...here we go!


Love these eyes!!! ugg...

Oops!

Well apparently the more time i have at home, the less i blog! Sorry! I've probably disappointed my 2 followers. Sorry Hettie and Nessa. LOL

So let's see here....updates.....Kenzie's tooth did finally come in and we don't feel any others that are imminent but the one right next to her current bottom tooth should be next i think. And so we wait...

I'm loving my new job at the bank. I missed working with real people and interacting with them. PLUS working in a small town it seems like every customer at the bank is a best friend of one of the tellers or managers or something. It's funny to see how differently they react then people in the 'big city.' I am also LOVING being at home ever other day and most of Weds. Kenzie and I are getting to play and snuggle more and i get to see and hear her laugh more which is always great. She has the cutest little laugh in the world and with that one little tooth it's just the best. If i laugh at her she'll laugh back at me. A big change from her early laughs that came maybe once a month. She loves to 'dance,' that is...bounce up and down anytime there is anything resembling music. This child will be into music in one way or another, whether she gets the voice from her mom or musical instrument talent from her dad she'll do something i think!

As for Joel....he's doing well in school and with me being home now i can wake him up so he doesn't sleep through his alarm anymore. That helps in not missing classes! I also get to cook him lunch every day which saves him time and makes me feel good. I get such a 'thrill' from my part-time SAHM 'work'. On Tuesday i got up before Kenzie and mopped the floor and did dishes and cooked her eggs and us waffles...all before 8am. LOL. Weds. since i worked a half day i relaxed all night, but this morning i got back onto schedule and cleaned and did laundry and organized Kenzie's stuff again.

I am NOT looking forward to work tomorrow all the much but at the same time it is sort of nice to get out of the house every other day. The worst part is that the day is so long. 8am to 5:30 with only a 30 min. break! Ack! BUT i enjoy the work and the people and environment so it's all good.

This weekend Joel has planned a little hiking trip with some of the guys from church. The weather isn't looking so hot though so i dunno if it will happen. It's going to be like 50 and rainy in the afternoon...yikes. Sunday will be church and then Autumn on the River. It's another local festival street vendor thing down here. Should be fun and the whole family is all going...MIL, Joel's 2 aunts and us. I was really hoping that our GI Bill money would come in on time to have some extra spending money for the event but that doesn't appear to be happening :(. Oh well...we're still relying on God to get it for us and provide. Joel's school appears to have been paid so i would THINK that our money would be on the way soon. I HOPE!

I'm watching the old re-runs of The Office right now and this show is friggin high larious. LOL. :)

anywho....it's freezing outside but LUCKILY since it's PINKTOBER day tomorrow i get to wear jeans and a pink shirt to work. How great! However...i will have to search for something pink and warm. haha. I don't have many sweaters as is, much less pink ones. Hmm......
well I'm off to relax after a busy day chasing a fussy baby. Kenzie has gotten addicted to her paci and if it's not in her mouth she fusses or screams or just jabbers. It's fine and cute for a while but after 12 hours it starts to wear on ya....so i occassionally give in and let her have it. I'm trying to get her down to using it for just bedtime and in the car...but it's rough. We still have time though.

anyways...i'm outtie!

Eating marshmallows....
Pig jammy bottom!
This is Kenzie and the other little girl from church. She is like 18 mos old and the two wear the same diaper size. She also has decided that Kenzie isn't allowed to play with any toys. She always says NO BABY!!
Kenz's fall outift
Kenzie watching tv with her new elephant from G-Ma!


I thought this was funny. This is our video monitor and the extent of what i usually see of Kenzie while she is sleeping. It's just a BUTT and some feet. I assume she's alive and go back to sleep. :)

Aren't we all a little tired of these pics Becca?

Me and my dapop!



I can has Rupert?

Oh no! Here it comes!!!

Oh no da-pop! Throw that baby!

Although it looks like she is crawling on the ceiling :)

Vote for Kenzie!!

http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/lmac11209/556346044/

And then she is entered again under ID#216346332

Vote for da baby!! :)

pics of Kenzie....

The girl from church that did Kenzie's newborn pics is leaving with her husband to his new job as Pastor of a church in Missouri. On Sunday night last week we had a casual Sunday to just hang out and fellowship together. Kara took some snapshots and here are some of Kenzie....

New job, new tooth, and a dead mouse...

So I'm 4 days in to my new job as teller at the bank. So far....I love it! :) I didn't realize exactly how much i missed working with people! It's nice to work face to face again. I am training in a branch right now that is more in the city but my actual branch is in a little town so i can't WAIT to get to working there and really starting to know people. It will be so much fun! We have spent 2 days in training and 2 days up front at the teller station now. I did 2 transactions today on my own and it's nerve wracking!! Dealing with so much money is crazy! There is so much responsibility and trust involved! There are tons of things i'd like to talk about with people and their monies but of course i can't. :) hehe. Let's just say that it's interesting! :)

On the Kenzie front....she got her first tooth in this week FINALLY!!! her bottom little right toothy has popped through her little gums. It's so sharp so i can def. see why it causes to much pain. I'm assuming that is what is causing her random screaming fits in the middle of the night now but i give her Motrin before she goes to bed to ease the pain so i can't really do any more than that for her. We've started letting her really cry it out for a little while now because she's doing it like 2x per night and that can't carry on. She is sleeping a little bit more now though because of it i think. She goes to bed around 7:30 and sleeps until about 6:30 or 7am. There is one random time of waking for a bottle but that is the status quo these days.

As for the dead mouse....LOL Dini bug has finally killed our mouse. It was butter sweet though really. Just yesterday my dog (Lily) was standing in my closet by the hot water heater and staring at it. I went to look and i see a little bitty mouse trying to climb up the pipes of the heater that lead in to the wall, carrying a blow-pop. LOL! It kept trying to carry the blow pop into the hole in the wall but it was too heavy on the one side so he'd drop it and then try to go and get it again. This went on for about 5 mins until he eventually finally accomplished the task. Joel said i shouldn't let him have the blow pop because we all know....if you give a mouse a cookie, it's gonna want some milk...etc etc :). We named him Ratatouille. :) Then today i went in to my closet and went to grab a shirt, but there was a dead mouse on it. Luckily i wasn't planning on wearing that shirt. I think i'll throw it away now. :) LOL. I'm just happy he's gone. Though he did give us a good laugh.

So in other news....i love bing home more! I'm still working every day for training but it's just so nice to get home so early! We've been getting off between 12 and 4 depending on the day so the sun is still up and i have time to spend with Joel AND Kenzie before we have to settle in for the night. On Wednesday Joel and I took Kenzie to the little pizza place in town and ate lunch together which was a welcome treat. Kenzie loves bread and pizza :).

Kenzie had her appt with the specialist today. Basically there is nothing more we can really do for Kenzie. She has 2 rectal fissures so we just need to keep her poops as soft as possible and make sure that pooping is a 'happy' experience for her so she doesn't get afraid of it. So we clap and say YAY Kenzie when she poops. LOL. Funny.

I think my friend and I are going to start up an Etsy shop. I make those little baby headbands with the big flowers, as well as baby pillows and blankets and stuffed toys...my friend makes taggies blankets and diaper cakes and we can both paint things and do basic crafting so i think it will be fun to create a site and see what happens!! If we sell something....AWESOME...if not....no big deal!

Kenzie is napping now so i think i'll take advantage and relax on the couch some, or maybe catch up on some blogging that i haven't done all week long! eek!

Bye Bye full time job!!

So i am officially no longer a full time worker! My last day of work at McCann was this past Friday. On the way in to work i got to treat myself to a starbucks frap...yummo. Then when i got to work i was just so happy! A bunch of my co-workers went out with me to Mimi's Cafe for lunch and we took a nice long lunchtime together. Mimi's is sooooo yummy! I just had a blackened chicken caesar salad and ugh...yum. Anyways when i got back to my desk i found 2 gifts from 2 of my other co-workers. So sweet. Anyways...5:00 came (slowly) and i eventually pulled out of McCann for the last time! Woot woot! It was such a great drive home. On the way i drove thru Little Caesar's pizza and got 2 pizza's for the family. Joel's mom and aunt came over so we just had a big casual family dinner. Joel's mom had taken Kenzie to get pictures done at her friend's house. I guess she has a friend who is a photographer and we wanted to get pics made of Kenzie in her Christening/Dedication dress. I"ve heard they are going to be adorable...can't wait to see!

Today was a busy day. Woke up at 5:30 with kenzie and she went back down at 6:30. Slept until 8....so nice! After that we got up and ready for the day, went out to breakfast at the little mom and pop place down here in town. We haven't been there since Kenzie was first born...like 1 week old, so it was great to see everyone again. :) Kenzie ate her own egg and a little bit of country ham and some hasbrowns. Loved it. Then Joel's mom came over to meet me for our shopping trip. We got in the car to go but my car would not start, no lights came on, i mean DEAD! We jumped it from MIL's car and it started up so we knew it was the battery. We picked up Joel's aunt and went straight to Walmart to get a new battery. I was expecting it to be over $100 so i was THRILLED when they said it was going to be $65. Got new battery in and car still wouldn't start. We figured out there was a bad connector so replaced that. Again, i was afraid it would be another $50 or something but the connector came out to a whoping $1.44. LOL PRAISE GOD! So anywho...that was that. Went to Target and shopped, got kenzie some of the CUTEST outfits in the whole world, hehe. Went to Old Navy and got her some clearance tee shirts for like $1.31 each and me one of the new sweater coat things in dark purple. So pretty! I got Joel a tshirt too for like $6. Then off to Olive Garden for lunch. Soup and Salad all the way! Then off to our main goal of the day...Toys R Us. (The babies r us down here is like an hour away...near my 'old' job). We needed to get Kenzie some more 'challenging' toys so we ended up getting her.....5 of them. 3 for now, 2 for Christmas. G-ma and Aunt Susie bought all but one from mommom so thank you everyone!!! She is loving all the toys! So overall it was a great day today! Tomorrow is church and then some relaxing, possibly with friends.

Well goodnight to all and to all a good night...it's movie time!!

Part Time here I come!!!

So if you know me (and I assume that you do otherwise you wouldn't be reading my blog) you know that I was FINALLY offered a job with the New Washington State Bank in Sellersburg today. I applied back in March and interviewed 2x and things looked great, all ready to get an offer, and then nothing. Gave up on that. Then they called me last Friday and told me about a great job....heard nothing for 3 days, then they told me the position was filled from within....THEN they told me about the other job and i said SURE why not. Since i was off for Kenzie's appt on Monday anyways i scheduled the interview for that afternoon. Went in, everything went great, and today while waiting for a phone call, i checked my email and there it was....a job offer. I was so psyched so i typed up my 2 week notice ASAP, turned it in, and spread the news. Everyone is saying they will miss me at work but are happy for me getting to be home more. I'm so excited!

But for the record....Kenzie's appt on Monday was no fun. Well...ok yeah it was. We laughed the whole time because my daughter is a medical mystery. We thought she had hemorrhoids, but no....neither doctor we saw knew what it was. They suspect it's perhaps infantile perianal pyramidal protrusion. How about them apples huh? LOL. We hope to be seeing a surgeon soon for advice on what to do with this now. Sometimes they hurt Kenzie, and sometimes they dont...so i don't know what to do now.

In other news....here is the pic i was trying to post before of Kenzie on her rocking caterpillar...

Tonight i made Kenzie some easy mac to practice her pincher grasp and eating skills...i thought she was doing great...until i picked her up and saw that practically every noodle ended up in her lap. Oh well...she had fun and it was fun to watch her eat...

Gotta feed the puppies too...


Now Kenzie is resting peacefully in bed now and i really need to wash some bottles so i really should go.........watch me go.................here i go......................i swear really.........................
ok i really don't have anything else to say so i'll go. BYEEEEE!

Well folks...

This is a special news bulletin.....

BABIES GROW UP!!!

And they do it too fast!

I've had to accept that Kenzie no longer needs 8 bottles per day...and that's ok, LOL. She is wanting to eat more and more solid food and has less interest in her baba! She still sucks down her morning and bed time bottles but has very little patience for spending 10 mins of her busy day eating a bottle. Too many things to do!! Although this is sort of nice since that means that we can stop buying so much gosh darn formula!! Geeeeeze. In fact...why am I even complaining? Praise God for less formula, LOL.
She can feed herself more and more every day and is enjoying tasting the flavors of life including brownies and mac N cheese and canned FRUIT!

I opened a can of mixed fruit that we had stashed away not thinking that she'd like it since it was pineapple and mango and stuff but she loved it and ate every last piece of what i gave her! Such a big girl!
She can also ride on her caterpillar without mom's help...much to mommy's dismay, but it does allow me the free hand for a pic or two...
((Too bad my photo program isn't working....so you'll have to wait! :)))

On another note....I haven't heard anything else about my job opportunity outside of the original email detailing the job position that was open. I am praying that this works out as it is just so perfect for me. I pray that God leads both the HR department and I in this decision and that everything works out in God's plan. I'd like to think that i know what God's plans are...but what do i know!? LOL
This weekend is looking like it will be a relaxing one full of grocery shopping and time at home snuggling on the couch.
Well i should get to bed. I've not gotten into bed before 10:30 all week long so today i'm aiming for 10 at the latest. Hurray for Friday! It's about time you got here!!

Can I get a Woot Woot!

Sooooo this weekend has been loverly so far and we still have one more day to go. Gotta love extra long weekends.
Kinda started on Thursday although that was no real vacation day. Kenzie and I had to go to the hospital alone for her 'u/s' since dad had school and MIL is only in her 2nd week of school. SO we got there at about 10 til 8 with her appt at 8. I knew it would take a few mins to register but it ended up taking like 35 mins. Oh well. Got back to radiology for the u/s and they sent us to women's imaging....shortly after mentioning that Kenzie would be getting a catheter ad xrays as well. I was so upset over that and wish my pedi would have told me!? Anyways...went to get her u/s and the tech was great and i just had to hold Kenzie down, annoying but not too bad and it only took about 5 mins. So then we went over to a dept. where they would put the catheter in but i was able to give her a bottle before that thank GOD! Got the catheter in with some fussing but really not too bad in general. It surprisingly didn't seem to hurt her too much to put it in. BUT Kenzie was tired of being held down by this point and started getting really tired. So i gave her the rest of her bottle and she fell asleep in my arms while i held her and her catheter pee bag. LOL. Waited for the xray room, finally got in and then waited another 30 mins for the doc....all the while trying to keep Kenzie still so she didn't pull out the catheter. IMPOSSIBLE. But we did it. XRAYS were pretty simple and easy so it wasn't too bad but over 3.5 hours of pinning Kenzie down, her barely getting a 20 min nap from 6am to 11am, and holding and comforting a baby all that time was just bad in general. BUT we did get the call the next day that all of her results were normal so she's off antibiotics and doing well.
Friday i went back to work for a half day (thanks to the holiday) and then when i got home Joel and I went to our friend's house for some dinner and hanging out. I ended up coming home without Joel to put Kenzie to bed and he helped clean out their basement since it flooded a while back. We relaxed the rest of the night.
Saturday we cleaned house ALL morning long but it looks great now and Kenzie is safe and free so roam everywhere. Good thing too because she can now go up the 3 steps from our living room to kitchen. Our Assoc. Pastor and his wife and two kids came over in the afternoon and hung out and we had a great time and had tacos for dinner.
Sunday was church in the AM and then we were going to go toa bday party for some family friend's little girl but decided to send Kenzie with Gma and Joel and I stayed home for some alone time. MUCH needed alone time. I painted and Joel worked on his knife and then we watched a movie and ate brownies and ice cream for dinner. LOL health nuts i know!
Anyways....tomorrow i'll be hanging out with Joel's mom and his aunt for the day. They had both gone to the outlets on Saturday and got Kenzie tons of clothes so i'm excited to start trying them on her. SHe got 4 pairs of pajamas, 2 for now, 2 for 24 mos. size...whenever that fits her. Then 2 little summer outfits with pants/shirt....2 skirt and tank outfits, an adorable dress, and another like 5 piece ladybug outfit with hat onesie pants socks and bib. All too cute. So Kenzie is a little spoiled, LOL. But honestly she is running lower on clothes now that she is getting so big so fast!
On my job front...i'm still looking forward to being a SAHM BUT that may change...but i'm ok with that. On my way home from work on Friday i got a phone call, assuming it was the pediatrician i answered casually....and i hear may i speak with Rebecca. I say this is she and they announce that it's Pam from New Washington Bank. I say OH hello! I had interviewed with her way back when Kenzie was first born for a job position, got to the 2nd interview and expected a call back but i guess they hired someone else. They both said that they really liked me and were trying to get me hired on to another position that might open up but i guess it never worked out. They said they'd keep me on file but everyone says that so i didn't expect much. I thought i had made a good impression on them though. I was going to try calling back but for the last month couldn't find their ph #s. So anyways....there is a position open and i told them that i would be interested in a part time position, doesn't matter how many hours. I would be fine with working at this bank part time because it's so close to home, they are closed every weds. and only open 5 hrs on Saturday AMs. THUS i'd be home a lot more and driving a lot less. AND Joel and I could pay off some serious debts with his school money. So i am taking this as a HUGE sign from God and really hoping it works out....but again if it's not his plan then thats fine too. So pray for us that this works out. I'd love to pay off some debt and be debt free sooner than 4 yrs but didn't want to continue in my job that i didn't like driving so many hours missing out on my kids growing up and never seeing my husband.
Well i should go and see the hubby now. He thinks i'm writing a novel. Maybe i did.

FIN

Crawling and some G-Ma time

Well she did it. She FINALLY did it. Kenzie started really taking off with crawling this weekend. She had been taking a crawling step or tow for over a week now but then she'd fall flat on her face and just lay on her belly. Well Saturday afternoon we were just sitting there watching tv and she was playing on the floor and she took off! So now my new favorite words are Don't touch that, No, come back here, oh no what does she have now? LOL. It's great though and I'm loving that if she wants a different toy now, she'll go and get it!
I called my mom to let her know that Kenzie started to crawl and she told me that she was off on Monday and wanted to get out of the house and was going to talk to her husband about it but wanted to come up for a weekend visit! So they drove up here and we had dinner with them last night at Don Pablo's and plan to spend the day with them today after church too. I'm so excited! Even though we are only like 4 or 5 hours apart i don't get to see my mom very often and she hasn't seen Kenzie since she was like 3 months old, LOL.
Anyways....in the past weeks Joel has started school and is loving it. He wants to treat his speech class like a debate class....well he wants to treat every class except math like a debate class, LOL. I had a feeling THAT would happen. I actually enjoy working with him on his math homework since i'm probably a LITTLE better than him with math, LOL. We took IQ tests this weekend and Joel got 116 which is on the highest end of average, but he still felt like he was dumb. So i decided to take it too and got a 136. I didn't want to tell him but he asked. :( But it made me feel good to score that high after being out of school for so long. hehe
Kenzie is so cute over there on the floor chewing on all of her toys. A tooth may finally be on the way soon since she is chewing like crazy on everything in sight.
We had our friend's little girl's bday party yesterday and it went great. She got tons of little girl clothes and i painted her the letter's E-L-L-A for her room. Thanks to Vanessa for the inspiration!
Vanessa and I also started talking about Kenzie's birthday and what we're going to do and we've pretty much decided that she will fly up here for Kenzie's first birthday to meet her and bake her an AWESOME and yummy cake! (Thanks Gian for letting her come and hopefully you can come too!)
Well i have to start getting ready for church and chase the baby around for a while. I don't even know what to do with her anymore while i'm in the shower. CRAP!


Oh yeah one more thing....not to try and brag but our child is a genius! Kenzie can say both mommom and dada. At the party i would point to Joel and say Kenzie who is this? and she would say DADADADADA! Then Joel would point at me and say who is this!? And she would say mommomomomomom! We are in for one heck of a wild ride with this one. yummmm cake!

Quick break...

We'll see how much i can get in here while the munchkin sleeps. I have the day off today since we didn't have anyone else to watch Kenzie. Kenzie FINALLY had her 6mo. check up last Friday and is now officially 20lbs7oz and 28.5 in.long. She's over 92nd% for height and weight and her head is like 50th %. My big girl.
I had a girl's night out with Jami and her friend Stephanie on Friday and we had a great time. Went down to 4th Street andate at TGI Fridays and then went to a few different bars. I probably drank more than i should have though. :( yikes.
Anywho...Saturday we did the grocery shopping and relaxed, watched a movie. Sunday was church and then a BATS game because our Pastor's work had a bunch of extras. It was great to get to hang out with everyone from our church and Kenzie was so well behaved. It was like 90+ degrees out but she did great. I think i was more fussy than she was!
Joel is all set and ready to start school next Monday. I can't believe it's finally here! He's sort of excited but also a little aprehensive i think because he'll be getting less sleep and lots of extra work. Hopefully when i start staying home it will really help things out though.
I'm loving being at home today and didn't mind one bit cleaning up the kitchen and doing laundry and cooking lunch. I oddly enjoy these sorts of things. Hopefully Kenzie gets a good nap now though because earlier she only slept for like 45 mins.
Well i'm gonna go and relax now for some mommy time. :::Ahhh:::: this is the life!!

S-L-A-C-K-E-R

I'm getting really bad about updating here huh? Ok well this past weekend was nice....Friday i got off work at 1pm and met Joel at the YMCA pool. Kenzie was tired so she enjoyed it, but was not so much 'happy' as just over-stimulated by EVERYTHING that was going on. It was great weather though and so we had a good time. Headed home in the afternoon and had dinner and relaxed for the night. Saturday AM we woke up and decided to go out to downtown New Albany and explore. While getting ready our washing machine hose detached from the wall and leaked water ALL over the hallway. We discovered this after about 3 gallons of water or so soaked the carpet. We used the wet-vac and sucked up TONS of water, but the carpet is still soaked. We kept fans on it all day but decided today to rip up the carpet and make sure that everything dries all the way through. Oh well. I guess one day soon we'll have to replace that portion of carpet....maybe wood...dunno. Anywho...so now we have a destroyed hallway, LOL. Anyways, on Saturday night i brought Kenzie over to her great aunt's house and she stayed half of the night with her while Joel and I met up with some friend's at a restaurant for some drinks and to watch the UFC fight. We stayed until about 12:30 and knowing that Kenzie wakes up around 6am, we called it a night at that point. Sunday was church and then lunch with a friend and then home. Joel's mom and I went out to a consignment shop and got Kenzie some toys and shoes and a little 'rocking caterpillar.' It's an adorable little caterpillar on rockers that she can grow into. She loves it already though. :)
Below i posted a video of her new 'word' that i guess she has decided to start saying, LOL. We aren't really sure what she's trying to say because she just busted out and started doing it. We call bottles ba-ba, but it's not like she was hungry or anything and wanting one when she said it. MIL also oddly calls Kenzie Ba-Ba-Loo as a nickname (not sure why lol) so maybe that's where it's coming from? Dunno...
Sorry this is sideways from my phone...



So now she is in bed but having a rough go at it since she had hardly any 'good' naps today she crashed into bed at like 7:15 tonight....so she's has woken up 2x since then and it's not even 9pm yet. Hopefully since Joel is up late tonight though i'll be able to sleep.

Joel is heading out on a hike this week since he had some vacation days to use up so he's getting everything together and thoroughly enjoying himself.
Kenzie FINALLY has her 6mo. check up on Friday this week...at over 7mos old. I called forever ago to make the appt and this was the earliest they had available. Oh well. She'll also get checked up on her UTI and get an u/s scheduled for her kidneys. Hopefully there is nothing painful involved or anything. With a baby everything is so different, doing anything is more difficult.
Kenzie continues to be spoiled rotten with clothing from Grams and aunts and mom. I bought her a cute pair of pants at Target in 12 mos thinking she'd grow into them...well she is wearing them now. LOL. My girl is so big!!!! Grams bougt her two more dresses and then 2 pairs of pants plus the shoes and toys today...she also went from 0 pairs of shoes to about 6 pairs of shoes in the past 3 weeks. I heart buying baby shoes, they are so cute and CHEAP!! for the most part. Well i'm going to head over to the couch to relax and soak up some tv before bedtime. Ugh...laundry calls my name though. Hopefully no more leaks! i'm so paranoid now, LOL.

Goodnight!!

(trying to eat spaghettiO's but she was NOT a fan. Oh well...it wasn't even fun because she just got mad and fussy, LOL)




Getting in some evening reading....Martha style....

mommom

This blog is more of a 'journal' than anything else to me. I'm a loser and often go back and read my own blog and reflect. LOL. I'm nuts.

I wanted to mark this past weekend though, before all of the sickness hoopla happened, because Kenzie said her first word. Kenzie said 'mommom.' She was getting laid down for a diaper change, which she never really enjoys, and so she was fussing. Out came the grunts and gripes and then came mommom. She reached her little arms out to me. I laughed and smiled and said yeah mommom. I looked at Joel and we both smiled assuming that it was a fluke and mommom just came out between blabideeblabberboomomom. But then she kept fussing and did it 2 more times. 3 times my people, is no accident. :) She did it again on Sunday night and it was just music to my ears. Yay for wordage!

Outside of that...hmmm...not much new! I hooked my old cell phone memory card up to the computer to look at the old pics on there and there were a bunch of Kenzie as a newbie. Where did that baby go? It's like two different people! Crazy! So for tonight we'll have some new and some old pics....here we go...
Now... (pardon the uber crappy picture quality...i'm a slacker and the camera batteries died and i haven't replaced them...so camera phone is as good as it gets...)
In her Auntie onesie...


Sitting in a restaurant highchair for the first time...


And this one was just taken tonight...i keep trying to put Kenzie down into the crawling position so help her learn how...but this is what i got...



The girl refuses to bend her legs, so she just sat there with her bottom up in the air until she got mad and cried for me to fix it. LOL

And now for the flashback...
Heading home from the hossy...little itty bitty baby



In her take me home outfit a few days later...


I love the ears!!!



and again sans NUK