Goodbye 2009

Last year I posted a blog on New Year's Eve with my resolutions... here's the link if you want to read it:
Goodbye 2008

Basically I had a handful of resolutions and hopes for this year.
1. Loose weight - FAILED!
2. Be more social - FAILED!
3. Contribute financially - FAILED!
4. Draw up wills of a sort - FAILED!
5. Sell our house - FAILED!

Wow! 0/5 I guess 2009 was a bust.

Overall it was a good year, though. No major health problems. No deaths in the family. We refinanced our house and are almost debt free. The kids are great - healthy and smart. Kirk has a good job. We have the basics, and I guess that's what's most important. I started a vegetable garden this year (I've wanted that for sooo long). We did a lot of things around the house this year. 2009 wasn't too bad. I will miss the kids at the ages they are now. I guess that will always be the case.... But I am also looking forward to the ages they will become in 2010. Four and two - what a handful that will be!

So I guess I should get to what my resolutions for 2010 will be... and in no particular order:

1. Loose Weight. Kirk and I got a Wii and a Wii Fit Plus for Christmas this year so I really hope that the exercise I've been needing will come a little bit easier this year. I am determined to up my intake of water. That one seems really hard when you need coffee all day to get through. Coffee plus all the water equals MANY trips to the potty. But hey, I'm a stay at home mom so I guess going to the bathroom 50 times a day isn't that hard. And spring will come soon enough and now that Logan is walking it will be so fun and easy to be out in the back yard all the time. We did it last year but it wasn't exactly easy with a crawler. So basically I have some high hopes of loosing some weight this year. I haven't lost any in all of 2009!

2. Garden Smarter. Last spring I started my first veggie garden and it was so fun! I loved every bit of it. (except the squash bugs and Japanese beetles!) But so much of what I planted went to waste. I planted things that no one wanted. I planted lots of herbs that I never used. I used my small space unwisely. This year I want to really concentrate on the things we will eat and work hard at producing the most successful crop I can. I garden organically, which just means no chemical anything... just dirt, seeds, water. It's as simple as that! But I did arm myself with a subscription to Organic Gardening this year to get some helpful hints. I'm going to use these next few winter months to really plan out a good garden. I'm sure there will be tons of pictures again this year...

3. Housewife Better. I am not and have never been a cleaner. I'm just not that into housework. Yard work is more my cup of tea. I don't like a messy house but I bet I can overlook a lot more than the average person. I can find an excuse as quick as I take a breath as to why I don't need to or can't get to something... I'm lazy, let's be honest here. I would rather play in my kids' messy room with them than clean it. BUT, I am getting better. Slowly. It like changing a way of life that I have had since childhood. I had no real chores or responsibilities as a kid, none that were enforced. So I want to try harder this year. Form routines. Break bad habits and form good ones. And I need to un-clutter. I am a border line hoarder. Nothing like the show on TV but I can see why those people get that way. I completely understand how hard it is to throw out things. Gotta work on that too I guess!

4. Make Time for Me. I need to make more time for myself to do things that make me happy. Having two young kids doesn't allow for this much but I need to insist upon the help from Kirk. Having a break once in a while does wonders (or so I've heard). I want to read more. I want to have more conversations with grown ups. I want to drink wine more, with friends. I want to have a reason to put on makeup, even if I choose not to. I want to have time to paint my nails, without having to paint my 3 year old's nails too. I want to get a nice haircut. I want to be more creative.

5. Be Nicer to My Family. I'm a bitch. I am bitchy. I have a short temper. I expect way too much of people, mainly the ones closest to me. I am rude and mean sometimes to people who I love. And I want to change that. I am who I am, so there will be no June Cleaver arriving as the ball drops... but I need to start paying more attention to my attitude. I snap at the kids and the husband a little too much. Maybe if #4 on this list happens I will be better at #3 and #5... I love my family dearly and I'm lucky my husband puts up with my crap as much as he does. And I'd like to keep it that way... So I will try to be not as much of a bitch as much of the time (hey, that's the best I can do... baby steps!)


So that's a year for ya.... Goodbye Two Thousand and Nine!

Such a Slacker!

Wow - it's been a while since I've even checked on this blog.... ooops!

We are about to embark on the second journey into the real estate market... I'm not at all looking forward to it. We had our house up for sale while I was pregnant with Logan... obviously it didn't sell. We took a break after he was born and put the house on 'maternity leave'. And by the time that was over we were just in no position to show our house. Leaving the house on a whim with a 2 year and 2 month old was not in the cards for me, not to mention having a clean house to leave behind. So we took it off the market. But we are now going to give it another shot.

In the next few days I am going to go through the house room by room making lists of what needs to be cleaned, repaired, packed away, thrown away, moved, etc. And then the work will begin. I'm sure I will enlist a Grandma or two to help out, either with actual help or just babysitting so I can actually get something done.

"Hello. My name is Mama Nae and I am a pack rat."

But it's just too hard to throw things away that I think we may want, need or use in the future. I've gotten over this issue with clothes and shoes. But things don't go out of style. Why throw away a perfectly good end table just because we aren't using it. That's what basements are for, right? We may have the perfect need for it in the new house. I'm telling myself that we will not store anything like that when we move. If we don't find a place for 'it' in the new house, it goes on the curb. But it will go on the new curb.

I have lots of kitchen things that refuse to throw out: a Kitchen Aid stand mixer (hello, those are like $400!), a pasta maker (what fun!), and several sets of wine glasses, two or three glass pitchers, tons of coffee mugs - none of these things get currently used. The mixer and pasta maker have (shame on me) never been used. But they will! Once I have a bigger kitchen with more space and storage, they will be used. But for now I guess I need to pack them up like we're moving next week.

With all my stuff I just fear that I will need something and it will be packed away. What if it takes a year to sell the house and in 3 months I REALLY want to make fresh pasta! What the hell do I do then? I guess I just buy some Pasta Barilla!

Goodbye 2008

So it's New Year's Eve, 2008.

Husband is working, all quiet in the house,
Not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse.
The kids are all sleeping, snug in their beds,
While we wait for celebratory gun fire to rattle our heads!
I'll be sleeping by midnight, completely sober.
And up by six a.m. and NOT hungover.
So maybe next year we'll go out and party
Have a drink for me, Happy New Year Everybody!

Yes, I'm aware I'm a dork.

But seriously, it's been a good year. We celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary, had a baby boy, got a new niece, found out of two other nieces on the way... Our family is growing. We tried to sell our home, gave up but will try again in 2009. We have become more organized and frugal than we have ever been. We are healthy and our kids are healthy.

I've made a few resolutions for the 2009 year:
1. I'd like to loose weight. (yeah, you saw that one coming I'm sure)
2. I'd like to become a more active person, physically and socially.
3. I'd like to find a way to contribute financially to my household.

And on a more somber note, this year we (Kirk and I) have resolved to create a plan. A will of sorts. We have 2 kids now and we need to think about what could and would happen if something were to happen to either or both of us. We're not going to get a lawyer and have official wills drawn up, but just write out our basic wishes and keep it somewhere safe. (By the way, for those of you who may ever need to find these documents, they will be in my file cabinet in the "Important Documents" file...) Also, if anyone wants our kids, now's the time to call dibs! Just kidding! Okay - enough of that.

So all in all, it's been a good year. And I'm thinking we will have an even better year in 2009. If anything, we won't have such high medical expenses (because we won't be having a baby in 2009). Hopefully we will have a larger place to call home by the end of the year. And if all goes well, we will have some more of our debt paid off. Kirk may be changing jobs, that will be good. The kids will be turning 3 and 1 (so we have a first birthday party to plan!). More cousins for the kids will be born - yeah babies! Logan will still be an only boy though, poor guy. And I might even think about quitting smoking... but don't hold your nicotine filled breath.

So Happy New Year Everyone - and Goodbye 2008!

Progress and Dead Roses

So I was laying in bed last night thinking about how I don't really make much progress around the house. I keep trying to make schedules and lists and plans... they just don't seem to work. Life just keeps getting in the way. It's hard to try and function as a productive person with a baby. (For me at least.) I'm always running on tired. I never feel like I sleep enough or rest enough. And I have a great sleeper too! He sleeps through the night (from around 9pm to 6am). I guess it's just that they are both so young and need constant 'something' all day long. Somebody always needs food, a new diaper, to play, to read a book, to color, to cry for no reason, to be held... So I'm constantly on call from 6am or earlier until about 9pm... no breaks.

So anyway - back to no progress... I feel like my house should be cleaner. For those of you who know me well, I've always been a little messy. I've never been a good housekeeper. I've gotten so much better though. My high school bedroom looked like a laundry room. My college apartments were better because there were other people there to help and to answer to... but my bedroom always looked like the worst room in the place (when the door was actually left open). And my apartment with Kirk was total chaos! He claims to be cleanly - but no, he's sloppy too. And I should say that neither of us is dirty, things are clean underneath all the piles of stuff - we just don't pick up our stuff. And we both had so much stupid stuff! When we moved into a house we were able to throw out things and spread what was left throughout a house as opposed to a one bedroom studio apartment. But now we are in a small house - with 2 kids... and the room thing has taken it's toll. We have things that have no place to go even when the entire house is clean and tidy. Like our son! He doesn't even have a bedroom! So his stuff is in our room, crowding it... and in Nola's room, crowding it up too. We need more space.

I sure do ramble on... anyway... So I've made progress in the cleaning department... But I need to make more. And I need to start teaching my kids how to keep a clean house or I'm going to send two more of me's out into the world... and we don't need two more messy houses out there someday.

Dead Roses - I think my clippings are dead. I'm truly heartbroken! Really. So much work - well, waiting. And a few days of neglect and boom - dead roses! And my giant rose bush out front, the one they were clipped from, almost blew over and snapped in two the other night during our howling wind storm... I went out at 10pm and grabbed roses and twine and tied it back up and saved it just in time - and have many thorn pricks to show for it!

Projects Update - November

• Loosing Weight - In Progress - No effort going into this these days... but I am still loosing a pound or two here and there... at least I'm not gaining them!

• Starting Roses from Clippings - In Progress - Still haven't put those suckers into real dirt yet - but I have new branches and leaves growing from the vase... I'm scared to kill it with dirt.
  
• 365 Project - 154/365 - In Progress - I'm still at least a week behind in photos and its getting worse... Holidays, doctor appointments... other projects... I'll catch up eventually
  
• Paying Off Debt - In Progress - well - this just isn't happening anymore. We obviously still pay our bills so technically we are paying off our debt, but my 3 year plan is out the window!
• Being 'Greener' - OnGoing - I bought a reusable grocery bag at Target... lame. I've started recycling all my formula can (even though half of them are on top of my fridge... I think I'm going to buy a composter for the kitchen... baby steps.
  
• Learning About my Camera - OnGoing - just taking pictures, no real effort here either. I need to take a photography class someday.

New Projects:

• ABC Photos - I'm trying to create a photo libraby of alphabet pictures. For my self and to give as gifts, and hopefully someday to sell. See this post to see what I'm talking about.
• De-cluttering my home - I need to get rid of things! I've become somewhat of a packrat! I think it's because I'm cheap (or frugal, or whatever you want to call it) but I have too much crap I will never use again! This will be a process! And I will need help!
• Potty Training! - oh the fun! It will be slow at first, but hopefully she will catch on and it won't be too hard.

And here's a picture - because posts are more fun with pictures:

American Idol - get ready!
And all you white toddler rappers,"Watch Out, Here I Pumm!"

My Day

(starting last night)
10:00 pm - go to sleep
12:30 am - wake up to feed baby
1:30 am - go back to sleep
3:00 am - wake to feed baby
4:00 am - go back to sleep
5:50 am - baby wakes up, fed him
6:45 am - toddler wakes up... and starts her day screaming!
8:00 am - wake up husband so I don't go insane, toddler still screaming
9:00 am - husband actually wakes up to help
10:00 am - do all dishes, they were piled up pretty bad
11:00 am - make lunch, with toddler and baby screaming
12:00 pm - baby to sleep, outside with toddler to play
1:00 pm - naptime for toddler, baby wakes as soon as she gets in bed!
1:30 pm - put baby back to sleep after feeding him
1:45 pm - husband goes to work, I fall asleep on couch
2:30 pm - baby wakes up - cuddle with him and sleep on couch together
3:15 pm - toddler wakes up - cranky
3:30 pm - go to sister's house with both kids
5:00 pm - make dinner at sister's house
6:00 pm - eat dinner, toddler refuses and throws fit! Huge fit!
6:30 pm - forced to leave sister's house because of fit!
8:00 pm - toddler to bed, feed baby
8:45 pm - baby to bed
9:00 pm - blogging about how sucky my day was

Anyone wanna babysit?

Random B.S.

BS can stand for many things... Let's start with the good things first.

Blog Stuff: I used to do digital scrapping all the time (when Nola was younger and didn't require as much attention...). I even made an entire book for her first birthday, and her birthday invitations with digital scrap booking. It's really fun, but you do have to have time, which I don't seem to anymore. BUT - I have run across several blogs that are WONDERFUL for sharing freebies of papers, elements and entire kits. So I have spent the past couple of days downloading several things for when I have time again. Lucy & Cayce (mostly) - check out this blog: GingerScraps. I am linking it on my favs over to the right. It's the best one I've found.... SO MUCH cool stuff to download! I'm getting addicted again. Maybe I will try out some of the things I got and post a scrap page soon.... maybe.

Birth Stuff: Well, I'm feeling pretty achy all over... My muscles are stretched to the limit in the belly area. I went this entire pregnancy without a new stretch mark until about 3 days ago! Now I have a whole crop of them right in front and to the sides of my belly button, like evil {(parentheses)}! I'm having more trouble walking and getting up, which is good if that means he is descending downward... and eventually outward! My hips are killing me, also good if they are getting more flexible. My heartburn (which was beyond bad) is all but gone, so I'm thinking he has definitely moved downward and off my stomach. All good signs pointing to oncoming labor **fingers crossed** (knocking on wood)

Bull Shit: So I called in to my OB's office to ask when they had re-scheduled my c-section in the case of no labor.... They said that everything is booked. Booked? What? Everything? So I guess we will just wait and see what happens. I still have my scheduled one for e 28th... (22days more of being pregnant!) But maybe it's a sign that I should just go into labor on my own. I think I will try and see it that way since that's what I want anyway. In other BS news, my husband's work will not let him have any freedom when it comes to his time off for this baby! He must have a scheduled vacation. How do you schedule for labor you ask? You DON'T! You CAN'T! Morons! I understand that his place run with a One-Man-in-Charge at a time schedule.... but geez people. So since the only concrete date we have (thanks to the hospital being totally booked up) is the 28th, then that's when he has scheduled his vacation to start. So if I go into labor today, I have 3 weeks of not having him home... Fabulous! I think too many people are scheduling their c-sections these days!

I think that's all my BS for today....

Too Much to Do!

Ok - so here is a breakdown of what's the haps for the next few weeks:

7/26 - Brunch/Playdate at a friend's mom's house who's in town
7/27 - Lunch/Visit with my cousin at my sister's who's in town
7/28 - Doctor appointment @ 11.15am
7/31 - Shopping for a wedding gift for a friend
8/01 - Brother & Sister-in-Law in town, spending whole day w/them
8/02 - Wedding for a friend (afternoon and evening)
8/03 - Going to pick up Nola from overnight babysitter (Grandma's house)
8/04 - Doctor appointment @ 9:45am
8/10 - Babyshower-ish Lunch w/Mom & Aunt
8/11 - Doctor appointment @ 9:45am
8/16 - Due Date!
8/18 - Doctor appointment @10:45am
8/19 - Brother-in-Law's birthday
8/20 - Kirk's birthday! and cousin-in-law's birthday
8/27 - Niece's 3rd birthday
8/28 - C-section scheduled if no baby has come by then

Boy am I tired! And through it all I still have to go through old boxes of baby stuff and get things ready for Logan's arrival... I have to shop for some things I will need. I have to keep up on housework (not that anyone has inquired about the house lately) but the laundry is calling my name from the basement! The bills have to be paid and the meals have to be cooked.... And the kid has to be read to and colored with and sang to... and bathed and dressed. Diapers are never ending and toys are ever cluttering. I can only sleep now for an hour at a time before pee or pain wakes me up and orders me to move. My feet swell now if I'm on them, or they aren't up, every hour or so.... And Little Lego is still up to his antics of seeing how hard he has to punch or kick me in order for me to double over or pee myself. (I have yet to pee myself - just for the record.)

Pregnancy is a miraculous, wonderful, joyous, splendid thing that I wouldn't change for the world... but when you're nine months in with a toddler and a husband who works 60+ hours a week and your house is for sale... none of those words come to mind... Cuss words come to mind. Very colorful, four-letter, top of your lungs, glorious cuss words.

On that note...
FUCK!

Mid Month Musings

So it's almost the middle of the month - which means I have about a month or so to go until I am a mother of 2... Well - as much trouble as this little one is giving me I think it counts already.

I have been feeling so bad the past few days. I am in constant discomfort, if not pain. Logan is flip flopping his way around my body, making sure to hit every vital organ along the way (mainly my stomach - which make my nauseous, and my bladder - which makes me have to pee constantly). I have a hard time walking, I just feel so much pressure, as if he were make of lead. I have trouble bending over, there are no functional ab muscles left. This makes it hard to function as a mother, or a person for that matter. And I literally can't walk from one end of the house to another without loosing my breath and feeling dizzy (and I have a small house). Maybe the dates are wrong and I am going to pop out this kid any time now... who knows.

Since I have never gone into labor before I have no idea what to compare my new crappy feelings to. (I went overdue and was induced last time, and ended up with a c-section.) The doctors have told me that since I am attempting a VBAC this time I will essentially be going through another 'first labor' which is always harder than subsequent labors.... yeah - glad to hear it doc!

In other news - I did find it within myself to file! I have been avoiding filing bills and paperwork by putting them all away in the file cabinet in a file labeled, "To Be Filed". Handy isn't it? Well - it's been almost a year so I felt the need to tackle the filing monster.... and I am 95% done. Just a few more things to look through and then away things go into the file cabinet, but in the proper places!

I have ordered all the pictures for Nola's baby book. I got a deal from SnapFish for 50 pictures for fifty cents. Couldn't pass that up - and it was on my list of things to do anyway. Also, I ordered pictures to keep her photo album up to date as well.... Grand total - $4.09!

Now I just need to start making plans for when Logan arrives - I've started a little, but I need a real plan... and some diapers to fit a little bitty booty!

We had a terrible rain storm yesterday but when it was over there was a rainbow for about 5 min - so I snapped a few shots. Here they are, plus a few more from my front yard yesterday (that's about as 'out' as I get these days).

Big Dorks on the Lawn


My Hosta plants about to bloom


The Rainbow....



Ok - well - it's time for me to take a nap... Have a super fun weekend everyone - do something fun for me (I won't be leaving the house!)

Baby Go-Gan's Room

Nola calls Logan, Baby Go-Gan. It's cute... She points to my belly when I ask her where the baby is. And when I raise up my shirt for any reason she points and says, "Baby Go-Gan!" Just thought I would share with you all my plans for the baby's room (if we ever get around to moving so there will be an actual room).

This is the fabric I am going to order to make New Baby's crib blanket and any other accessory that we may need. In case the picture isn't coming through, or you're just so inspired by this blue camo that you want to order your own, here is the link to the website I am buying it from:

http://www.vtarmynavy.com/blue-camo-fabric.htm

All the other stuff I am just going to mis-match from blue, blue camo, stars (blue and white)... Not a very cohesive theme - but hopefully it will be unique and come together enough to look good, and not like a military room. If you would like to see some of the other things I have chosen to buy, take a look at my Babies R Us registry.... (it's not for gift giving reasons, although feel free to buy me whatever you want to - ha ha ha - it's just a list for my own sake). Here is the link to that as well:

http://www.toysrus.com/registry/index.jsp

Search by my name or my registry #: 71443388

I have already made a blanket (crocheted from yarn) for him but I wanted to have the "quilt" type blanket too. Nola sleeps with both, the blankie I made for her and the comforter her set came with.... So I assume Logan will too. Here is a picture of the blankie that I made for him:

And since Nola's pronunciation of Logan's name sounds like the artist Paul Gauguin, I thought it may be appropriate if we find a print of his work to hang in the nursery somewhere.... Most of his work is of naked Tahitian women, but I think this one might work:

Breton Bather