Bigger boy bed!

We moved our old queen size bed into Dom's room. He's in heaven. He now has a queen sized bed all to himself...and he's not even three yet. :-)

What a lucky boy! I'll have to get a picture of him. He looks so little in it! But on the upside, Nick and I will never have to move in another bed. He can have that bed until he gets married and wants to buy his own! haha. But let's not even start thinking about that yet!

What a big boy. I can't believe I have a potty trained almost three year old sleeping in a queen sized bed. I am truly blessed.

No big deal

but I got A's in both my classes this semester...

And Dom is doing AWESOME with potty training...

GOOD WEEK! :)

Finals Week

So it's the end of another semester...I feel like I've been in school forever. Well I guess I kind of have. But there is an end in sight. If all goes well (KNOCK ON WOOD!) I graduate nursing school ONE YEAR FROM TOMORROW!

I had a final today (got an 81% on the final and a 91% in the class) and one more tomorrow (have NO idea what I'm getting in the class, but it better be an A) and then I'm done until all hell breaks loose on January 17th.

I'm so ready to be done and still loving every minute of school at the same time. Does that make sense?? I already know that I won't stop at my RN. I'll have to go back. I'll either go back for my nurse practitioner masters or a nurse anesthetist masters. One or the other. I just have to keep learning! :)

But for now, I'll be excited to get my BSN, RN.

One more year! :)

Time keeps on slippin, slippin, slippin...

Some updates for y'all who are still out there with me!

I honestly don't know how time is moving so fast! It seems like every day is over in the blink of an eye, no joke. I'm trying to keep up with everything, but it's just not happening.

I don't have much to tell you other than I've been super busy with work, school, kids, Christmas and orientation. I start nursing school in a few short weeks and I don't feel ready. As soon as I'm done with this semester, I'll get going onto next semester. I'm supposed to read the first 26 chapters of my pharmacology book before the semester starts...so I guess I better get going!

Kids are good except for a short bout of croup in this house. Dom had it the worst. He had to go and get steroids. They didn't want to do steroids with him, so we made it three days without them. But then his breathing got so labored we had to do it. Annabelle just started the bark on Saturday but I think we are already over the worst part with her, which is great. I didn't want to have to do anything more invasive with her, as she's already been through so much, with her allergy testing and what-not.

I just discovered pinterest today...not a good thing. I have a feeling this will monopolize more of my non-existent free time, but I do love it. I'm finding lots of good recipes and craft ideas...

This current semester is almost over. I have a final exam on Wednesday and a final exam on Thursday. Then I'm done for 1 short month...and then all hell breaks loose!

Nick is doing well except for working non-stop. Literally. Non-stop. They keep moving where he's working and changing his shifts. He's switching over to 2nd shift tomorrow night. Poor guy gets no free time and now no sleep! But he's doing what he can for us since I don't make much and I have a great respect for that. He's definitely taking care of us.

I'm almost done with Christmas shopping. I have just a few gifts left to get or take care of. I was one of the crazies who did midnight black friday shopping and it got me off on the right foot. I"m happy that there won't be any scrambling this year. We have enough going on!

I can't believe that Annabelle is 9 months old. This year has literally flown. Dominick will be 3 in a few short weeks. How in the heck did that happen!?

I got the privilege to witness a vaginal delivery last week and it was so beautiful. I got to hold the woman's leg and be up close and see the whole thing. It was amazing. Our bodies are so amazing. I still have all my clinicals to do but that night reaffirmed that I want to be a labor and delivery nurse. I loved it. We shall see!

I guess that's enough updates for now. I have to shower and get dressed and go to the grocery store and go to work tonight...I'll be off at 7:30 am and then it will be time to STUDY! Wish me luck on my finals! And I'll try to update again soon!

SO TRUE!

One of my friends had this posted to her facebook account and I have to say, I agree with just about ALL of these "adult truths"!!

Too funny....

I can't keep up!

Time is just FLYING by!!!!

I realized today that if I do well in my classes (please, Lord, let me do well in my classes) then I will graduate with my BSN just 13 months from TODAY!!!

Holy cow!!!

13 months is NOTHING. That will fly by before I even know it...and then I'll be a nurse!

EEK!

Halloween!!

One new post at a time!

So here we go, Halloween!!!

We had a great Halloween weekend!

Starting with Friday:
Dommie and Mommy day.
Dominick's been struggling a bit with me and Nick working so much, me in school, Annabelle not always with Dom at daycare, all kinds of things. So on Friday, I switched the kids and dropped Annabelle off and kept Dommie home. I had intended on going to the Magic House with him, but that couldn't happen (no comment on that) so we laid low. The one big thing we did do was carve our pumpkins!!

We went to the pumpkin patch (on a day Nick had to work...boo) and I forgot my camera (double boo) so I have no pictures of that, and we were planning on going back so I didn't get us a big pumpkin. Well we didn't go back, so on Friday, Dom and I went to Schnucks and got two pumpkins and then went to Target and got some Halloween stuff, including a carving kit. Dom picked out both pictures we carved and he helped with pulling out the goo (something he didn't like very much). Here are our finished products. I'm pretty proud! I think we did great!

How grown up is my baby??

Two ghosts on the left and a kitty bat on the right (and a handsome little man!)

Saturday:
We went to the Ketterer's house for a Fall Festival. There was food, beer, pumpkin painting, cookie decorating, haunted frisbee golf and other fun! Dom got into this costume for a bit but we didn't get Annabelle in hers for that night. I didn't want to risk getting it dirty since we had two more Halloween events to attend that weekend.

Dom did a pretty good job with everything but he's still struggling to listen sometimes. I guess that's just pretty standard for an almost two year old though. We're working on it. ;-)

Here are some pictures from the Fall Festival:

Dom and Celia on the hammock

Annabelle chillin' on a blanket

Our little fireman

Pumpkin painting!

A cute little kitty drinking her milk!

Sunday:
Halloween at Glen Echo Country Club.

I don't know when they started this but we went last year too and it was really fun! They had a lot of stuff like an amazing buffet, pumpkin painting, a haunted blow up house, a haunted hay ride through the golf course and more!

Dom and Celia had a blast. They spent a good 20 minutes just running around in the blow up house playing house. The haunted hayride was fun too. At the halfway point, the tractor stopped and there were 3 witches around a fire handing out bags of candy, so the kids had fun. The funniest part about the hay ride was that any time someone jumped out to scare us and everyone screamed, Dom and Celia didn't get it. They asked why everyone was screaming. We told them that it made the people in the costumes happy. They we asked if they could yell too. From then on, anytime someone jumped out, both kids would say (SAY, not yell) ahhhh. Very bored like. So clearly our kids weren't traumatized from the haunted hay ride!!

One of the best parts about this event was that my Grandma got to come! So Dommie and Annabelle got to see Great-Grandma for Halloween, something we weren't going to be able to do since Halloween was on a Monday this year. So yay for that! :)

Here are a few pics from there (with Annabelle in her costume!):

Dom, Celia and Aunt Angie painting pumpkins (yes, Dom's shirt got ruined during this process, but that's ok!)

Grandpa with his ladybug and kitty cat!

Daddy and his lady bug getting ready to go to the event (how cute is SHE?!?!)

Great Grandma and her sleeping lady bug.

Finally: Monday!
Halloween Night

This year (same as last year, and the year before, and the year before that!) we went to Nick's sister's house to do trick or treating with them. I do this for many reasons. 1) Dom is still too young to really have fun doing this by ourselves. It's more fun for him to do it with his older cousins. 2) He gets to see more family (cousins and his Nani) if we go there and I like to get to see some of my nieces and nephew. 3) Kate's neighborhood is a very private neighborhood so there aren't a lot of cars going through it and I feel like that's a little safer for us to be walking around there. 4) Last but NOT least, their neighbors hand out beer to the adults while trick or treating...who doesn't love that!?

This year, my mom came along. My sister's mother in law's birthday is Halloween so she was with her in-laws and I knew we wouldn't get out to my parent's house on Halloween day so she met us at Kate's house and walked with us. That was especially helpful because Nick (unfortunately) had to work this year during trick or treating and couldn't come. I needed the extra hands to have both kids this year.

So it was a great year. Dom even told his joke once!

Which was: Q) Why don't monsters eat clowns? A) Because they taste funny!
Or as Celia pointed out, an alternate answer could be: Because clowns aren't food!! (which is more true and equally funny when a 3 year old says it!).

Anyway, here are a few pics from Halloween night:

Cousins! (Dominick, Jilly, Sophia with Annabelle, and Henry)

Annabelle and Grandma

Dommie, our little fireman

The grandma's. My mom, Dominick, Jilly and Nick's mom with Annabelle

One more funny story about trick or treating. One man asked Dommie what he was. Dom told him that he was a fire man. The man then asked how many fires he had put out. Dom answered 2 fires! So the man told him that was worth 2 pieces of candy. Then he asked Jilly if she had put out any fires. She said yes. When he asked her how many, she thought about it for a second and then said, very proudly, "THREE fires!". Haha, smart girl. ;-)

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get another post done!

Time, time, time

I wish I had more of it!!!

I have so many things I want to blog about!

Halloween
Girls weekend
School
My sister's birthday

So many things!!!!

But right now it's 11:40 (and feels like 12:40) and I'm going to go to bed...

I'll leave you with a funny Dom story.

Today I picked up the kids from Nick's mom's on my way home from the winery. I was exhausted so when I picked them up, I told Dom:

"Let's go home and RE-LAX!"

Dom looked at me and said,

"You said it sister!".

Where does he come up with this stuff???

Too cute.

I'll try to write more tomorrow or Tuesday!

Dominick

I just read this about Dom's age:

Hello, Meghan! Numbers Game If your child can count to ten or higher already, is he a budding genius? Well, he certainly has a good working memory. Two-year-olds are just beginning to gain an understanding of numbers; they often learn to count by reciting the names of numbers from memory long before they understand the relative quantity of three or nine. Basically they start knowing the difference between "one" and "anything more than one." But hey, it's an important start!

I kind of find that funny because Dom can count to, understand and identify 1-20. He can count to 10 in Spanish. I didn't know that was something that most kids don't learn until now.

Not that I think Dom is super gifted or anything. I know all kids are different. We're still waiting on Dom to learn and enjoy the potty (any suggestions would be helpful!). But I'm proud that he has a good memory and is doing well in that department!

Go Dom! :)

Marriage Advice..

If anyone here is a yahoo email user, you probably see the stories when you go to yahoo.com. You know, there are 4 stories at a time and they rotate.

Well one caught my eye. It was Marriage Advice. Here's what it said:

If you knew these things, you wouldn’t need a marriage counselor, would you? This insider info comes from psychologist Karen Sherman and from psychotherapist Wendy Allen, Ph.D., author of How to Survive the Crisis of an Affair.

• Sixty-nine percent of all arguments between you and your partner will never be resolved. So don’t try so hard.
• A couple that doesn’t fight is in trouble.
• Having a “good enough” marriage is the most couples can expect and is actually quite an accomplishment.
• Letting go is sometimes better than discussing everything to death.
• Respect, not sex or money, is the most important factor in a happy marriage.
• There are marital breaches worse than an affair.
• A therapist cannot teach, train, or guide you to “be happy.” That is not a reasonable outcome to expect from therapy.

I'm just not sure how I feel about these...I agree that a couple that doesn't fight is in trouble...and I agree that some arguments will never be resolved. But a marriage that is only "good enough" is all we can hope for?...Maybe I'm reading that wrong but to me I picture someone shrugging and saying, "eh...it's good enough." when talking about their marriage. And not really thinking that their marriage is good at all. That makes me sad. And there are a lot of bad things that can ruin a marriage, I agree, but an affair has to be WAY up there on the list.

Every couple has their moments but I can honestly say that I have (for the moment at least, haha) a GREAT marriage. I'm extremely happy and I can't imagine being with anyone else.

So I guess I can sleep well tonight.

HOTY

That stands for "Housewife Of The Year" and if there was an award, I'd get nominated today. :)

WHAT A DAY!

I felt like I didn't sit at all. From the moment I got up with the Bananabelles, I was working until I just put the kids to bed.

Today I cleaned the whole house, did 5 loads of laundry, did the grocery shopping, cleaned out the fridge, freezer and pantry, reorganized the pantry, made baby food for Annabelle (carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, blueberries, peaches and raspberries), and took care of Annabelle all day and Dom part of the day (he went to Ms. Stella's for part of the day), packed up the kids and as soon as Nick walked in the door, we went downtown to get our race packets for Sunday, and there has to be more, I swear. I literally didn't sit (except to feed Annabelle her bottles or to fold laundry).

I feel accomplished!

However, this does mean I didn't sit all day when I have the week from Hell ahead of me, which was kinda silly to be honest. Here's my schedule for the upcoming week: Work a 12 tomorrow, 1/2 marathon on Sunday, school Monday morning-early afternoon, work a 12 that night, work a 12 Tuesday night straight to school Wednesday morning-early afternoon, school Thursday afternoon and a 12 Thursday night...

But then I'm off next Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday! :)

Until then, I better make sure my work clothes are clean and get to bed! I have quite the weekend ahead of me.

PS - GO CARDS!

The Quest...

As you know, I've been working on my quest to drink all 131 beers at Growler's Pub. It's a work in progress, but I'm doing fairly well in my opinion. I went to Growler's on Monday for lunch with a friend (Jimbo) and knocked a few more off my list. I was happy to get a few more beers crossed off but I was saddened to find out that they are getting ready to change the beers!

I guess I should've seen this coming. It's fall now and they'll change up some of the beer to more "in season" beers. But to me this was a shock and kind of a downer.

What if they get rid of some of my favorites?? What if they replace some that I haven't tried yet with something gross and horrible?? I will never have tried every single beer on the list and I'm not sure I'm ok with that. It kind of feels like cheating...

But I have no say in it so I guess I just have to get over it and look at the bright side. Even when my quest is over, there will always be a new beer to try at Growlers...

But before they change, so I have a record of it, I'm going to list the numbers and beers that I've tried so far. I won't have to re-drink any numbers, but they will be different beers, so if I've already drank a #10 and the new #10 sounds amazing, I'll be drinking it without it counting towards my quest. And let's be real, I won't do that. No point in buying it if it won't count towards the quest!

So here are the beers I've drank already on my quest:

# (number as listed at Growlers) - Name of beer, Point of Origin (type of beer)

1 - Churchills Draught Treat (I think it was a Summer Ale at the time I drank it - this one changes pretty frequently - Pale Ale)
2 - Hardcore Crisp Cider, MA (Cider)
6 - Avery White Rascal, CO (Wheat)
8 - Sam Adams Seasonal, MA (Another Summer Ale I believe - Pale Ale)
9 - Magic Hat #9, VT (Pale Ale)
14 - Grand Teton Howling Wolf, ID (Wheat)
19 - Schlafly Hefeweisen, St. Louis, MO (Wheat)
23 - Left Hand 400 lb Monkey, CO (India Pale Ale or IPA)
26 - Hofbrau Hefe-Weiss, Germany (Wheat)
29 - Affligen Blonde, Belguim (Blond or Golden Ale)
35 - Pabst Blue Ribbon, WI (Lager)
41 - Flying Dog "Doggie Style" Pale Ale, CO (Pale Ale)
50 - Abita Purple Haze, LA (Wheat)
52 - Pyramid Apricot Ale, CA (Wheat)
57 - Breckenridge Vanilla, CO (Porter)
59 - Founders Dirty Bastard, MI (Scotch Ale)
66 - Dundee Original Honey Brown Lager, NY (Lager)
75 - Sierra Nevada Kellervweis, CA (Wheat)
79 - Big Sky Trout Slayer, MT (Wheat)
82 - O'Dell's Easy Street Wheat, CO (Wheat)
84 - Samuel Adams Boston Lager, MA (Vienna)
85 - Samuel Adams Cheery Wheat, MA (Wheat)
90 - Point Cascade Pale Ale, WI (Pale Ale)
93 - Arcadia Sky High Rye, MI (Pale Ale)
100 - Woodpecker English Cider, England (Cider)
101 - Boddington Pub Ale 16 oz. Can, England (Bitter Ale)
102 - Young's Double Chocolate Stout, 16.9 oz, England (Sweet Stout)
103 - Spaten Optimator, Germany (Dopplebock)
106 - Warsteiner Dunkel, Germany (Dark)
110 - Fischer Biere Blonde, France (Blond)
111 - Estrella Damm Daura, Spain (Lager)
112 - Tona Cerveza, Nicaragua (Lager)
116 - Lindeman's Framboise, Belguim (Lambic)
117 - Hoegaarden 11.2 oz, Belguim (Wheat)
122 - O'Hara's Irish Red 11.2 oz, Ireland (Irish Red Ale)
124 - Pilsner Urquell, Czech Republic (Pilsner)
125 - Peroni, Italy (Lager)
126 - Red Stripe, Jamaica (Lager)
127 - Corona, Mexico (Lager)
128 - Chakra, India (Lager)

Breakdown of types of beer is:
Pale Ale - 6
India Pale Ale - 1
Irish Red Ale - 1
Scotch Ale - 1
Blond - 2
Bitter Ale - 1
Wheat - 11
Lager - 8
Cider - 2
Dopplebeck - 1
Dark - 1
Porter - 1
Pilsner - 1
Vienna - 1
Sweet Stout - 1
Lambic - 1

Breakdown of Countries:
US - 22
Germany - 3
Belguim - 3
France - 1
Czech Republic - 1
Nicaragua - 1
Mexico - 1
India - 1
England - 3
Jamaica - 1
Italy - 1
Spain - 1
Ireland - 1

That's 40 if I've added correctly, out of 131. So I'm making my way there. When you hit 50 you get a "beer tasters" t-shirt, so I'm close to that! :)

If you happen to go to Growler's, I have my name on a name plate there. It's on the right side when you walk in and on the overhead soffet on the left side of that part of the room. My name plate says "KONES" (which is a play off of my last name for those who don't really know me) and Jimbo picked it out for me. :)

One day I'd love to write about each beer and how good each one is and what I rank each one, but for now, here are the names and types of beer each on is. Happy reading! I hope I don't make you too thirsty (like I am!).

Being a parent is scary stuff...

Dominick had another "episode" this morning. I literally had 9-1-1 on the phone. I was in tears and terrified...

Let me start from the beginning...

I worked over night last night. I got home this morning at about 7:45 am. Nick had to leave by 6:15 so Nick's mom was over until I got home. Both kids were still sleeping when I got home. After she left I climbed into bed for about a 10 minute nap until Annabelle woke up. It was really rainy and yucky this morning so I had already decided to just keep both kids at home today instead of bringing Dom in to Stella's.

When Dom woke up, he was unusually crabby. Just whiny and crabby and crying and you name it.

I tried calming him down and asking if he wanted to stay home with me and sissy today. He replied, "NOoooooo!". So I said, "Ok. Would you like to go to Ms. Stella's today?" and I got another "NOOOooooo!!". After talking for a few minutes and getting nothing but screams and whines, I told him I'd be downstairs when he was ready to talk and get up, or if he wanted to lay back down that was fine too.

He started screaming. SCREAMING. At first I just let him do it, but then I got annoyed. He's been going through some real bad days lately and we don't know what is going on. I'm thinking it has a lot to do with the fact that I'm gone a LOT right now (and unfortunately that won't get any better until NEXT December). Anyway, I had made up my mind that he was going to go to Ms. Stella's because I hadn't slept in over a day and I wouldn't be able to handle the screaming all day long, plus he loves going to Stella's, it just takes him a little time to get there in the morning.

When I went upstairs, he was hyperventilating at this point. Couldn't catch a breath and was trying to talk but stuttering the whole time while crying and gasping for air. At first I was calm. I picked him up (and this is where he started flailing his arms and kicking me) and tried to get him to breathe. He wouldn't breathe. Then his eyes started rolling back and he was gasping louder and his whole body was shaking.

When you're faced with a situation that you don't fully grasp at the time it's hard to say what you might do...reading this now, it's like 'of course, just call 9-1-1 or the on-call pediatrician'. But you don't know what you'll do and I did what I always do when I don't know what to do...I called my mom. She and my dad both got on the phone and they could hear him. They both said to do the same thing. My dad said, "Get those kids in the car and GO to the doctor. Your mother will meet you there and if you have to, CALL 9-1-1!!". So I got off the phone and ran in to get Annabelle in her seat.

At this point Dom was looking at me but still hyperventilating a bit and not calming down.

As I started toward Annabelle, I ran back to Dom because I was honestly afraid of letting him out of my sight. I thought he was having a seizure or something.

I finally got him to calm down while putting shoes on and he even took a deep breath and looked at me. I asked him if he wanted to go to the doctor and he said no very directly (both kids had flu shots done last week at the doc so that is very fresh in his mind). So I asked him if he could take a deep breath. At this point I'm still 100% sure I'm taking him in, but wanted to see if he could calm down on his own.

He did take a deep breath. And then he looked at me and smiled. For the first time, I smiled. Then he looked me straight in the eye and said,

"I love you Mama. Can I watch Bob the Builder now? And I want some juice".

Well OK. I guess you're ok!

I called my parents back and told them to sit tight and I'd keep them posted, but he had no signs of barely being able to breathe just a few moments ago and he had no signs of a stroke or any oxygen depletion so I was going to let him sit and see what happens.

The kid was all smiles watching Bob the Builder. He gave ME a heart attack, but he's perfectly fine.

No matter what, you can't prepare yourself for being a parent. As he was gasping and I was dialing 9-1-1, I had these horrible images flashing through my head. Your child is your life. You'd do anything to protect them and lessen their pain.

I had no idea what I signed up for when I decided to have my 2 babies. I don't regret it. Not for one tiny second. In fact, I'd do it again gladly, and I hope I get that opportunity. Every scary minute, every hard day, it's totally worth it. Ten Fold.

But being a parent is scary stuff.

TWO

Annabelle has two teeth out now...no big deal. ;-)

NLCS CHAMPS BABY!!!

So I'm a HUGE Cardinals fan, naturally. And tonight was a HUGE night for us HUGE Cardinals fans!!! WE WON THE NLCS, BABY!!!!!! Which means, WE'RE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!

Nick and I were extremely lucky enough to be invited to Game 4 of the World Series in St. Louis in 2006. Our best man, Mike, brought us as our wedding present. (Best present ever, FYI). We were supposed to go to Game 4, because I was convinced we were going to sweep the series and win in four. Luckily I thought that, and luckily I was wrong. We didn't sweep. BUT game 4 was rained out (a TON of fun though sitting at the ball park and drinking beer and talking with friends). Game 5 then became game 4 and the make up date/time became the 5th game, but for Game 4 ticket holders.

Does everyone remember what happened at Game 5 (game 4 tickets) of the 2006 world series?????





THAT'S RIGHT!!!! WORLD SERIES CHAMPS BABY!!!!

So this year was Nick and I's 5 year wedding anniversary and thus the 5 year anniversary of the Cards winning the World Series. I think a perfect anniversary present would be another World Series victory...

What do you think?!

Learn to READ!

So apparently I can't read...

My eyes are still KILLING me and I'm waking up from sleep with my eyes still crusted shut. I told Nick that I was going to call the doc in the morning and get on some stronger stuff, because obviously this stuff isn't working!!!

Then, just to PROVE that I was taking the medicine right, I checked the label just now before bed. I was 100% sure that I was supposed to do ONE drop in each eye ONE time a day for FOUR days...

OOPS!

ONE drop in each eye FOUR times a day for FOUR days...that's *almost* the same thing.

No wonder my eye still hurts....

Learn to read MEG!

Gone With the Wind

So there totally has to be a Gone with the Wind part II. Seriously.

It ends with Scarlett finally realizing she loves Rett and him leaving?!?! And not "giving a damn"??

I still don't really like Scarlett, but I do feel bad for her to a certain extent. She had her moments of being decent. She did get her home in Tara back on it's feet and she did lose a baby while pregnant and lose her young daughter. She lost two husbands, one to the measles and the other while he was trying to avenge her attacker. She was hopelessly in love with a man who not only didn't love her back, but was married (to his cousin, no less) and had a child with her. So Scarlett had some pain in her life, but she brought a lot of it on herself. And the one man who loved her for exactly who she was, she treated like crap until the very last minute.

The movie ended with her looking to the sky and being determined to go back to Tara and finding a way to win back Rett...but I want to know if it happened. Do you think he came back to her? Or did she find a new (and fourth) husband? Does she go to Ashley Wilkes like Rett thinks she will?

What else happens?!?!!? I guess we'll never know...

But still a GREAT film and I'm so glad I decided to watch it!

Let's Go Cards!!!

So I have to admit that I'm completely obsessed with Torty Craig!!! I'm following Torty's Twitter page like it's a drug. I actually just had to run upstairs DURING THE GAME to see what he's saying. And Yes, I know he's a tortoise. :)

If you are a Cardinals fan and haven't checked it out yet, GO DO IT!

BIG news!!

Annabelle has her first tooth!!!

It's *barely* poking through the gums but you can feel it with your fingers and I'm totally counting it.

Yay for the first tooth!!! At almost exactly 7 months old.

My little AJ is growing up so fast!!!

Are you serious?!?

What am I, 4???

Seriously. I woke up this morning with pink eye...wth?? (and that stands for what the heck, people. No more cursing with Mr. Repeater living in our house).

At least I think it's pink eye. It might not be. I woke up with my eyes completely crusted shut and my eyes hurt so bad. I called the doc and got an antibiotic eye drop called in and I already feel better. There's no more pink, but my eyes are still killing me.

I worked over night Tuesday night so I was wearing my contacts for like 36 hours straight. After I got off work and then got home from school, I just slept on the couch in my contacts for like 8 hours so it's very possible it's an infection from that, but to play it safe I'm taking the antibiotics and the kids didn't go to daycare. Unfortunately, I had a presentation in school today so I just didn't touch anything and I kept to myself during that 3 hour class. I sure hope no one from school gets it!

I stirred up a lot of people's morning routine in my family though and I feel really bad about that. My mom usually watches my sister's kids and Annabelle on Thursdays and they didn't want Cecilia and Addie to get pink eye, which I understand, but then that put me in a huge pickle with Nick already being gone, me having to go to school and no one to watch my kids at all. Luckily my cousin Michelle was able to watch my sister's kids and my mom came out to help with my kids while I was in school but I was afraid I'd miss my presentation and lose out on a big chunk of my grade.

But all's well that ends well I suppose. Hopefully I got a good grade on my presentation after all that!

Gone With the Wind

So I've watched ALMOST the entire thing. I have about 1 hour left. It's a crazy long movie (2 DVD's!). But I have to admit...

I LOVE IT!!!!

It's a GREAT movie! Why did I wait so long to watch this? If you haven't seen it yet, GO WATCH IT!

I'll let you know when I finish it.

PS - NOT a fan of Scarlett....just sayin'.

The Mac is Back!! (Again!!)

So we had another problem with the Mac...but it's back again and this time they actually fixed it I think!

Last time, they told me they were going to replace the parts and then the computer miraculously turned on while at the Mac store, but this time they replaced the necessary parts and now we're back in business! Let's just pray it KEEPS WORKING this time! :)

Another 30x30 Check in

Original 30x30 post

Another quick check in since I've completed at least one more of my goals. Maybe more...I tend to forget what's on my list...

Here's my updated and revised 30 x 30. I have the completed tasks in Blue. I added some in Green if I am signed up for them or have them started. :)

1) Run a half marathon - DONE!

2) Go back to Europe

3) Learn a foreign language

4) Have 2 of my 4 children - DONE!

5) Take up golf

6) Be debt free (except the house) - Thinking about changing this one...see last post. Since I'm picking up more student loans, maybe I should make this a 40 year old goal...

7) Complete an indoor triathlon - DONE!! See my last post, but I think I did pretty well!

8) Watch Gone with the Wind - Not done

9) Watch the Godfather - DONE!!! Did this a few weeks ago! Woohoo!

10) Play in a poker tournament in a casino

11) Get a new car (or newer car)

12) Shoot a gun

13) Go back to school - DONE!

14) Learn to drive a stick shift

15) Learn to french braid hair - KIND OF DONE! I'm counting it. I practiced on Cecilia a few weeks ago. I need to get better at it, but I did it! And it looked CUTE! :) I'm totally counting it.

16) Get into cooking

17) Finish the entertainment center - DONE!

18) Register to vote in St. Louis City - DONE!

19) Fly somewhere 1st class

20) Go on a cruise

21) Make my own recipe - Started practicing...needs more work. I'll keep you posted.

22) Go back to the Signature Room in Chicago

23) Go on a family vacation with my family

24) Learn photo shop

25) Be in the audience at the Ellen DeGeneres show

26) Get into exercising consistently three times a week

27) Reach my goal weight.

28) Try every beer on the list at Growler's . But I have started!! I haven't been there in a bit either. Hopefully I'll go back soon! And knock a few more off the list.

29) Read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. - I am halfway done with the Fellowship of the Ring. My goal is to finish that one by the end of September. So I have one month to finish.

30) Become a nurse!! In theory this should be done in the next year and a half..we'll see!

So I really have a lot of work to do. I have a lot of laundry to fold so while I do that, RIGHT NOW, I'm going to pop in Gone With The Wind.

More updates soon I hope!

Indoor Triathlon!!

I did it!!! I did my indoor triathlon. And I must say, I did ok! :)

The "official" results are no longer posted (why would you only post results for less than one day!?!?!?!) so I don't remember the seconds of each portion, but I remember the minutes.

My 500 yard swim took me 14 minutes and 30ish seconds.

My 9 mile bike took me 21 minutes and 15ish seconds.

And finally, my 3.1 mile run took me 34 minutes 30ish seconds.

So total for my first ever indoor triathlon, it took me approximately an hour and 10 minutes.

I'll take it!!

My goal this time was to finish. Pure and simple. I had no idea what to expect and I didn't really train much.

My goal for next time is to do it in less than an hour. I need to shave ten whole minutes off. I think I can do it.

But the best part of finishing this mini triathlon is I can knock another 30x30 off my list! :)

Go Me!

Time to get running!

I realized last night that the half marathon is in just 4 weeks (well 4 weeks from Sunday but that's soon enough). It's really time to get in gear and get this booty running!

I'm now deviating from the original schedule since according to that schedule I should be doing 9 miles on Sunday, and yeah, I can't do that. So I made up a new one. It's a lot of running. Running pretty much every day. But I'll do one day with a lot of miles, then one with just a few. We'll see how this goes.

Today I ran 2 miles. I did it fine. I did 2.1 miles in 23 minutes, so just over 11 minute miles (which is what I averaged the whole half that I ran in September 09) so I'd be happy with that.

Next on the list is 3 miles tomorrow, 3 miles Sunday, Rest on Monday and 4 miles Tuesday. I think I can handle that...We shall see!

It's FALL!

I love fall TV. I really do. My old faves come back on. I discover new ones to love. I just love it.

Today I've been doing laundry and playing catchup with the DVR. Here are a few of my faves this fall:



First, The Biggest Loser. I mean, what's not to love?!?! People making HUGE transformations, not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. This show gets me motivated to get off my (way too big) tush and get exercising!! Also, I love watching these people get their lives back. I do get annoyed with some of the product placement, but all in all, this show is definitely one of my favorites.


Next, Unforgettable. This one is new this season and I really like it! I'm really into those cop finding bad guys (and gals) shows. This one is another but with a twist and an ongoing story line. I liked the first episode and it's definitely getting added to the DVR for recording the whole series. Also, I love Sean McNamara from Nip/Tuck so this is a no brainer for me!


DWTS: duh!! I love this show. Some people don't like it and some people get annoyed with it. I love watching people dance. I wish I could dance like them! I wish there was a Dancing with the Regular People show and I would totally try to get on it! I want to learn how to do all the dances. And I bet it's a great workout too! And last, but definitely not least, Derek Hough and Mark Ballas? Yes, please. :)

Survivor: This show has been on for how many seasons?!?! Like 30 something?? This is the first season I've ever watched. And I'm hooked. It's kind of like Big Brother (another all time fave) but on an island with no comforts of home (except this week the red team won blankets, woohoo!) and LOST (yet another ALL time fave!), but in real life and no smoke monster. Gotta watch this one!


Parenthood: I love this one because I can relate to SO many of the stories on here. And the ones I can't personally relate to, I can sympathize with them. I get so emotionally into this show that I actually lose sleep because I think it's me and my family. On season 1 when the dad bought an investment property and lost all his money and was going to lose the house?!?! OMG, I couldn't sleep for a week because I kept having nightmares that Nick did this. :) Ok, I'm a little addicted to some of my shows...



Finally, Up All Night. This is a new one. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed with the season premiere. They hyped it up so much, I thought it would be funnier. And I forgot to tape it last night...but I'm giving this one another chance. It's now on the DVR to record every week so we'll see how next week goes.

This is a great fall!! There are more shows I'm not listing, plus my sports (GO CARDINALS, RAMS, AND COLTS!!!) but we only have so much time to watch TV...right?!

Welcome back Fall. I missed you. :)

New Bed!!!

Nick and I splurged for the first time in a long time.

We bought a new bed. :)

We can't fit a king sized bed upstairs because the way our stairs are. There is a slant and there are only 5 steps, then a landing (with the slant) and then like 8 more steps. Something like that.

A few weeks ago though, we went to Costco and found a foam bed in a box. A KING sized bed in a box. Um, yes please.

So we looked and did some research and finally this weekend, we did it. (Well we had a $100 off coupon and that heavily impacted our decision).

I LOVE IT.

Already. I'm in heaven. We had a lazy morning this morning with the rain and what not and all four of us were in the bed. And NOT TOUCHING. Or we didn't have to touch. I was still snuggling my little man and baby girl, but we didn't have to touch and that's the point! There was plenty of room.

I'm not a cuddler. I like my space and I can't touch while sleeping. At all. So this is just so perfect for us.

Yay for a king sized bed! :) Oh the little things in life that make you happy.

Growler's Update

I went again to Growler's today (for lunch with Jim and Leslie) and had 3 beers. So that brings my total up to 33 beers on my card and only 98 left to go!

Under 100 to go!!!

And I have 2 years and 4 months exactly from today to do it!

Bring it on...

AJ - 6 month check up

Annabelle had her 6 month check up yesterday. She's doing great! :)

Here are her stats:

Length - 27" (96th percentile)
Weight - 17 lbs 7 oz (70th percentile)
Head - Don't remember the number - I never do for some reason (25th percentile)

So she is a BIG girl!

Her cold/whatever is still slightly here but no more coughing so we might not have to get rid of the animals! Yay! We're still playing it by ear though to see how she does.

She had 3 shots and an oral vaccine and she did great. She didn't cry at the first one, she screamed at the second one and she was calm again by the third. We go back in one month for her second flu shot and Dommie's flu shot. Then not again until her 9 month appointment.

She is still mainly in 6 month clothing but I put her in 9 or 12 month stuff if it's the only thing clean, haha.

So there you have it! A happy and healthy baby girl!

Remembering 9/11

I just watched a documentary that I had taped on Sunday. It was a documentary by 2 guys who were following Engine House 7 in New York on 9/11/01. I had never seen anything like this footage before.

You could actually see the first plane fly straight into the first World Trade Center tower. You could see debris and dust and pieces of building or airplane flying everywhere. You could hear people screaming. You could see people running, crying, frantically calling family and friends on their cell phones. And, in my opinion, one of the worst parts, you could hear people hit the pavement as they jumped from the building 80 stories above.

I'm one of those people who actually don't remember too much about that day. I remember where I was of course, but I don't remember much about it.

I was a junior in high school and I was at home. My parents were out of town and my sister was "watching" me from her apartment. I felt very sick and had been up much of the night ill so I called my sister early that morning (like 7 ish) and asked if I could stay home from school. She said yes and called me in sick and told me she'd be over in a few hours. I went back to bed.

I woke up a few hours later to someone banging on the back patio door. It was my boyfriend at the time, Andy. He went to college pretty close to my house and I don't know how he knew I was home but he came over. I opened the door and he didn't even look at me. He went straight to the TV and turned it on. I started to go back downstairs to my room and he told me to come and watch.

I remember I didn't believe it. Not like I thought it was an accident or anything. I knew this was an attack. But I was in such shock.

My sister had just moved back from New York. She called me and told me that she wouldn't be out for awhile. She was calling as many people as she could in New York. She knew her apartment building was close enough to see the towers and wanted to make sure her friends were ok.

I just sat on the couch.

I remember trying to get a hold of my parents. I knew they were in West Virginia or something like that and NOT in New York, Washington or Pennsylvania but I still wanted to hear their voices.

I can't even begin to imagine what those people faced that day. The innocent people in the towers. The innocent people on those airplanes. Those brave fire fighters and police officers and all volunteers in those areas that were attacked. Those INCREDIBLY brave people aboard United Flight 93.

They are truly heroes.

9/11
Never Forget

General Microbiology

I took my first Microbiology test today. I just checked on Blackboard to see if the results are posted yet...


TEST 1:
Last student activity: September 12, 2011 2:30 pm
Last instructor activity: September 12, 2011 2:30 pm
Grade: 92.0
Points Possible: 100



I'll take it!!!

Wedding Weekend!

We had a wedding week/end!

We went to a rehearsal dinner on Thursday night and then we celebrated our wedding anniversary on Friday night (by doing nothing really!) and participated in a wedding on Saturday!

One of my besties married another of my besties! :) I was honored to be in the wedding and had a blast all day Saturday.

We got up early on Saturday morning to go get our hair done, then we went back to the bride's house to do makeup (well I paid to have mine done because I DON'T know how to do my own!) and then off to the church. The ceremony was beautiful. Even Annabelle thought so, as I could hear her "talking" the whole ceremony long! Sorry Jim and Les!!! She doesn't cry much but she LOVES the sound of her own voice.

Afterwards it was time for some pictures and then out and about to take more pictures around the Lou.

Finally it was time to go to the reception. Drinks were awesome. Food was fantastic. Speeches were hilarious. Dancing was amazing. And we got glow necklaces at the end.

What's not to love?!?!

Thanks Jim and Les for letting me be a part of your amazing day. I can't wait to see pictures!!!

Here are a few pictures I stole from facebook just so you can see a few!

Jim and Les after the wedding

Me, Julia and Ash in the limo on the way to the church

Jim and Les kissing after the ceremony

Congrats Jim and Les! You were both gorgeous and it was maybe the best reception I've ever been to (minus my own of course!). ;-)

FIVE YEARS!!!

Five years ago today at this exact time, I was getting my hair and makeup done...





Soon after, I was putting on my dress....





I was putting on my shoes...





I was putting those finishing touches on like earrings...





And I was doing one final look in the mirror...





Because five years ago today, I married my best friend.

I can't believe it's been five years already. So much has happened in five years.

We've vacationed all over, including skiing in Park City, laying on the beach in Cabo, acting like kids in Disney World, laying low in a lodge at Big Cedar, and most recently, taking the fam on our first vacation as a family of four to Pigeon Forge, TN.

We've had two beautiful children.

We've bought our first house together.

We've done countless renovations on our first house. :)

So much has happened.

I don't say it enough, but I'm so lucky. I have the most beautiful children and the most amazing husband. I'm thankful everyday for the choices I've made and the chances I've taken that brought Nick and me together.

Happy five years Baby!! Here's to 50 more. :)

SuPeR WoMaN

I fell like lately I'm trying to be super woman and it's NOT working out so well. I feel kind of like I'm failing all over and that is not a good feeling.

*I'm trying to work. Which I'm doing. So I'm ok there.
*I'm trying to go to school. Which I'm doing. I'm doing pretty good there but I have a test on Monday which might tell me otherwise.
*I'm trying to take care of the kids. Which I'm doing. They both seem to be happy so I'll take that as a plus.
*I'm trying to train for a half marathon. FAIL. I've hardly ran. I should've ran this morning which I didn't and now I'm getting ready to go get a pedicure and I don't want to mess it up! ;-)
*I'm trying to keep the house clean. Kind of FAIL. The house is actually very clean right now but any day is hit or miss.

So many things on my plate and it feels like some are starting to take a hit. Hopefully I can get my stuff together and get all these balls back in the air.

That's my new goal. Forget blogging every other day. Get my life back in order!

Rehearsal Day!

So our friends wedding is finally here!!! I can't believe it!!

The rehearsal is tonight and the wedding is Saturday. Time sure does FLY.

I'm really excited about the rehearsal because the dinner afterwards is at a local bar/grill called Milo's. Our menu is hot wings, toasted ravioli, pizza, salad and buckets of beer. Oh and there's a boccee ball garden in the back.

What's not to love?!?!?

I CAN'T WAIT! :)

Holiday Weekend

I spent this past lovely 3 day weekend WORKING.

I had to work Saturday, Sunday and Monday 7am to 7:30 pm. It was a looooong weekend. But I worked with some amazing gals so it was ok.

Monday we decided to celebrate Labor Day but ordering in some nice Chinese food! I haven't had Chinese food in forever so it was delicious.

The best part about working this weekend is now I get THREE weekends off instead of the usual 2! Gotta love that. And I don't work again until next Monday night. :)

I have school all week and a wedding this weekend but no work and that's awesome!

Hope everyone else had a great holiday weekend!

Are you ready...

for some FOOTBALL?!?!?!?!

I'm so excited that football season is upon us. I can't wait for those lazy Sundays to sleep in and lay on the couch and watch NFL Red Zone ALL DAY LONG. Gosh, it's going to be great...

Tonight is my family's fantasy football draft. We usually do an automatic draft, but this year, we're doing a live draft just for fun.

I decided to not be so serious about it and switch it up.

Two years ago (our first year) I chose my team name from Bud Light's tailgateapproved.com website. There was a fantasy football team name slot machine. I pulled the lever and it said my team name should be the "Bitter Stinkin' Swarm". So I went with it. Last year, I shortened it to "The Swarm" and this year we're making things interesting. My team name will be "The Killer B's" and I have a plan for draft day (tonight, woohoo!).

Most of the players will have to have the letter B as an initial. There will be a loophole to pick a non-B initialed player but I'm going to try and avoid that and just stick with B's.

I'll let you know my team tomorrow! :)

Go Killer B's!

Annabelle Updates

So we didn't get a lot of answers...or no good answers I should say. Although in light of what our friends just went through with their baby girl, anything we face is fine; blessed even.

Basically they don't know what's up with Annabelle but they have some ideas. First, they checked her out and of course she didn't cough once while we were there. Little stinker. But they could hear the congestion while she was breathing. They checked her temp (98.9 F - perfect) and checked her pulse-ox (99% - as perfect as you can pretty much be!) and then listened to her chest. She checked her ears (no excess drainage) and checked her nose (lots of mucous but all clear, which shows there's probably no virus).

The good news is that the congestion is on the surface and not deep in her lungs. So that's good. But the bad news is, we don't really know what's causing it. But they have a few ideas. First, we're going to treat Annabelle as if she has a sinus infection. They don't think that's what it is, but the antibiotic won't hurt her and it's the easiest solution. So we're hoping that's what she has. If she finishes this dose of amoxicillin and she's not better, then we're onto Plan B. Plan B is Zyrtec...And an appointment with an allergist.

Because what they really think this is, is an allergy to our dogs and cat... :-(

She told us that most kids who are born into homes with animals don't have an allergy to animals, but it still happens.

I'm really bummed if we have to get rid of our animals. No one wants to do that. But I'll be happy to hear Annabelle breathing normal and not coughing all night. So we'll just play everything by ear.

So far, the amoxicillin isn't doing anything. She hates the stuff, first of all. She tries to spit it back out. Then last night I tried putting the syringe a little further back in her mouth so she wouldn't spit it all up and I must have triggered her gag reflex. As soon as she gagged, I pulled it immediately out but it was too late. She threw up EVERYWHERE. All over me, all over Nick, all over the floor, everywhere. It was gross.

And she just started laughing. It certainly doesn't bother her to throw up.

Anyway, so this morning, I added the meds to her morning bottle and so far she hasn't thrown it up. She's sleeping now, but this is probably just going to be the way we give her these meds.

Hopefully she gets better in the next week and a half (we go back next Friday for her 6 month check up) and hopefully we don't have to see an allergist. But I'm prepared for anything at this point.

30x30 Check IN

Original 30x30 post

Just a quick check in on my 30x30...I HAVE UPDATES!!!!

Here's my updated and revised 30 x 30. I have the completed tasks in Blue. I added some in Green if I am signed up for them or have them started. :)

1) Run a half marathon - DONE!

2) Go back to Europe - still not done, see last post

3) Learn a foreign language - not done, see last post

4) Have 2 of my 4 children - DONE!

5) Take up golf - for real! - not done. ok, still haven't even gone yet this year but I'll get there.

6) Be debt free (except the house) - Thinking about changing this one...see last post. Since I'm picking up more student loans, maybe I should make this a 40 year old goal...

7) Complete an indoor triathlon - SIGNED UP! I'll be completing this on October 9th. :) Wish me luck!

8) Watch Gone with the Wind - Not done - But I'm doing this one this week! I have the DVD. I just have to do it!!!

9) Watch the Godfather - DONE!!! Did this a few weeks ago! Woohoo!

10) Play in a poker tournament in a casino - Not done...probably going to do this one soon here in St. Louis.

11) Get a new car (or newer car) - Not done, but unfortunately probably doing soon. Stupid old cars...

12) Shoot a gun - Not done but soon. I'm going Target shooting with my neighbor one of these days.

13) Go back to school - DONE!

14) Learn to drive a stick shift - Not Done. Maybe I'll do that next week some time...or practice at least.

15) Learn to french braid hair - KIND OF DONE! I'm counting it. I practiced on Cecilia a few weeks ago. I need to get better at it, but I did it! And it looked CUTE! :) I'm totally counting it.

16) Get into cooking - Eh...getting there. Still need to get that oven fixed.

17) Finish the entertainment center - DONE!

18) Register to vote in St. Louis City - DONE!

19) Fly somewhere 1st class - Not done. Next time we travel, I'm looking into this!

20) Go on a cruise - not done. Hopefully we'll do this when I graduate too. Man, I have a lot of trips on this list!

21) Make my own recipe - Started practicing...needs more work. I'll keep you posted.

22) Go back to the Signature Room in Chicago - Not done. But we've talked about it! So hopefully somewhat soon.

23) Go on a family vacation with my family - not done. But soon. We've been talking about going to Kentucky Lake.

24) Learn photo shop - Not done. This isn't a hard one, hopefully I'll do this soon.

25) Be in the audience at the Ellen DeGeneres show - Not done. This will be a tough one, but I'm determined to make it to the show!

26) Get into exercising consistently three times a week - Not done. We had to cancel the YMCA to save money and it's so hot, but I really hope to do this soon. There's always tomorrow!

27) Reach my goal weight. - Definitely not done. But I have to do it...

28) Try every beer on the list at Growler's . But I have started!! I haven't been there in a bit either. Hopefully I'll go back soon! And knock a few more off the list.

29) Read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. - I am halfway done with the Fellowship of the Ring. My goal is to finish that one by the end of September. So I have one month to finish.

30) Become a nurse!! In theory this should be done in the next year and a half..we'll see!

There is more blue on this post! Not sure if you can tell, but I can! I'm getting there. Slowly but surely. Just have to keep plugging away!

As always, I'll keep you posted. ;-)

Colds

Annabelle has had a cold for seriously like 8 weeks now. (Holy bad grammar...don't judge me).

Every time I call in they tell me that she doesn't need to come in and to do the same old same old thing. Elevate the head of her mattress...Use the bulb syringe...Use a cool mist humidifier at night...Etc, etc.

But she's STILL coughing and STILL has a runny nose and I can't hardly take it anymore. So I called today and she's going in.

She also got a little bug yesterday and threw up about 6 times during the day. And she threw up more than she ate each time. I keep waiting for Dom to start, but so far we've been lucky. Hopefully he stays healthy.

I'm hoping to get some answers today. I hate that she's been sick for so long. I just want her to get better!

On a different note, while Nick was at his football draft last night when I texted him to go to Walgreens on the way home and get some Pedialite. He texted me back a recipe to make Pedialite at home. Our friend Colleen looked it up in a book she has and I made the recipe and I think it worked! Annabelle hadn't been going to the bathroom since all this throwing up started and I needed to get some fluids back in her. She drank the 2 oz bottle I made right up and had a wet diaper within an hour. Good girl!

Here's the recipe if you ever need pedialite and can't get to the store:

4 cups of water
1/2 tsp of salt
2 tbsp of sugar

I think they said you can add some gelatin powder for flavor but we didn't do that. We just did the water/salt/sugar combo and it worked great!

Hopefully we get some good answers today and she can FINALLY get better! I'm tired of hearing that poor cough all the time!

the iMac is BACK!

I have my computer back!! :) :) :) :)

YAY!!!

Can you tell I missed it??

I'll be back to blogging at least every other day! Well, I hope I will anyway.

Just for being so patient with me, here are some amazing professional photos of my kids!

Heaven is for Real...

Have you read this book?

If not, it's a story told by a little boy (through his father) about his trip to Heaven and back. He had to have emergency surgery due to an overlooked ruptured appendix and almost died. He tells stories about meeting God and Jesus and Gabriel the angel and all kinds of things. It's a beautiful story.

In all honesty, I wasn't sure I believed it all, but I'm starting to believe it all more and more. And I want to believe it. Especially now that baby Gwen passed away. I want to believe that she is in the special part of Heaven for children until they can be reunited with their loved ones.

In the book, the little boy mentions seeing lights coming out of people while attending mass. And seeing other phenomena that he explains as being part of Heaven or Jesus. I'm wondering how many kids see these things if they are real (which I'm hoping to believe they are).

I ask this because today was a special day for us.

This morning Annabelle fell. Not bad, and she landed on some clothes, but she fell and bumped her head. She screamed. I cried. And I called the exchange and talked to a pediatric nurse at Cardinal Glennon. They assured me she's fine. We have some things to watch, but she's been her happy smiling self all day.

That's not the point of this story.

I swapped the kids today at daycare. Dommie has been running a fever so I kept him at home and sent Annabelle in his place. I would've kept both of them out but I had class today at 1:30 and Nick's mom was willing to watch one child and I didn't want to TOTALLY abuse her and force her to watch 2 kids. (just kind of abuse her with one!). After dropping Annabelle off at Stella's (and explaining Annabelle's fall and what to watch out for), Dommie and I decided to have a good Mommy and Dommie day and go to Denny's for breakfast.

On our way home from breakfast, Dommie said, "Look Mommy! I see sissy!". I immediately turned around and said, "Where do you see Sissy?" thinking he was seeing a billboard or ad with a baby on it (he thinks a LOT of babies look like sissy). He pointed up. Well we are in a car. There's nothing up. Then he started moving his finger around the car. I asked, "What are you talking about silly? There's no one in the car but us!". He said, "Yes there is! I see Sissy! She's flying!!".

At this point, I'm remembering this book and thinking about Annabelle at daycare and knowing she hit her head. I'm kind of freaking out.

Then Dommie says, "Oh no Mama! She's flying away! We have to catch her! I can't lose Sissy!". I said, "Can we catch her? Where is she?". Then he started kind of crying and saying, "She flew away! I miss Sissy!".

So I called Stella. I was supposed to call her anyway, but this really freaked me out. She assured me that Annabelle was fine and acting normal.

Then I started thinking about it. Maybe Dominick just saw Baby Gwen.

He only met her a few times and wouldn't remember what she looked like, but maybe she remembered him for some reason. I'm not saying this is what happened. I know kids have crazy imaginations. But it was so odd.

I'd like to think that he saw Baby Gwen. And that she was happy and showing us that she's ok. Yesterday would have been her 1st birthday. Maybe she was telling all the families who prayed for her that she had a good birthday. I like to imagine that.

And I like to imagine that Heaven is for Real.

PS - Annabelle is still her happy smiling beautiful self. And her bump is gone. Thank goodness. :)

missed again...but

our iMac is ready!! :)

I have to work tonight and I might have both kids tomorrow since Nick is off on his family golf trip but I will have it again SOON! :)

Yay! I need it. Our laptop is literally falling apart...I should take a picture and show you how bad it is. Maybe I'll do that tonight before work..

Until next time though, I'm off to school and work!

Missed a day...

My goal for August was to blog at least every other day. I was supposed to blog Saturday to keep up with that...I missed it.

Our iMac is still at the shop and I worked all weekend. Hopefully I'll get my computer back asap and can get back to blogging consistently!

And another one!

I french braided Celia's hair tonight! It wasn't perfect, but it was definitely a french braid! woot woot!

Another one Down!

I just finished watching The Godfather!!

Another goal off of my list, thank you very much!

And I really liked it! Poor Kay...she has no idea what she got into. I have to watch the second one now!

But before that, I'll have to watch Gone with the Wind.

I'm getting there! Slowly but surely!!

"That's Awesome!"

I was listening to the radio this morning (Mason and Remy on the Bull in case you were wondering) and they were talking about a blog they found online. It's called A Thousand Awesome Things. Or maybe 1,000 Awesome Things. Something like that. In this blog, the person just lists things that they think are awesome. And not boring things like Airplanes or something but like "Tripping and realizing no one saw you - Awesome". That kind of thing.

They had people call in and say what they thought were awesome things. One woman called in and said that her son was in bootcamp and she didn't get to talk to him often and last night she got a surprise phone call from him. That IS awesome. I agreed with her.

Another woman called in and said that when she was shopping and went to check out, the cashier forgot to ring in half her stuff and she didn't have to pay for it...I kind of vote for not awesome, but stealing on that one, but whatever.

But here is mine.

I was talking to my mom and she mentioned that my Dad knew my stove and computer were broken. When she asked my Dad how he knew those things, he replied that he had read my blog.

Now THAT'S awesome.

I love you Daddy! :) I hope you keep reading!