Random things

It is funny some of the things I see people do during their commute each morning. This morning it was the following:

• Man smoking and drinking coffee with his window down
• Woman apply mascara
• Working on IPad (oh how I want one!!!)
• Woman smoking- with window up in Bentley (a crazy expensive car and spoiling it by smoking)
• And then there was me- trying to have Go-Go Gadget arms trying to play the DVD player for the kids!

After I did the drop off with Ella, Luke and I headed home, were he took a quick nap while to handy men worked on re-staining the entry way floors. After his nap we headed to Chick-Fil-A for some fun play and lunch. It was fun to watch Luke play without Miss Ella around and direct him.

We then headed to Lowe's and purchased some flowers for our front entrance and backyard. I was surprised I didn't go overboard.

Our realtor came over and discussed our next steps, well, it was more of Kyle and her, as I was trying to keep Luke away from the wet floors and ended up outside on the swings and kicking balls around in the backyard.

Now Luke is sleeping and I am watching the New York Housewives and shaking head! How wild and crazy their lives are. I need to work on the house and get it ready on the inside for the open house on Sunday, along with the endless laundry that seems to never end.

Ok, better get moving on doing some house work done. Hoping for a nice day tomorrow so we can go to a park or the zoo.

More to come!

Today

It is Saturday morning and I was rewarded with getting to sleep in- you know for all the middle of the night feedings or hall checks where I check to make sure both are sleeping, covered up and ok. I got to sleep in for all the laundry I folded and put away, rooms I vacuumed, trips to preschool and back, trips to the grocery store, Target, dry cleaners. I got to sleep in for being sick and taking care of the kids with a stomach bug and major headache the size of Texas.

I feel refreshed, have had a bowl of cereal and drinking some coffee and can hear Luke headed from the family room to the living room to see me.

Plans for today- deep clean the kitchen, some laundry, make a dip for a Super Bowl party tomorrow night, watch the movie we got from Netflix last week, and watch a friend of our's little girl while the tour a hospital in anticipation of their son's arrival!!!!

Tomorrow is Kyle's morning to sleep in, however, it is cut short by church - this is why I always choose Saturdays! Enjoy the day!

Commercials

Are they for real? I mean I have watched my fair share of info-commercials these days. But at 2 AM or 4 AM are they really creditors standing by to help me with my credit issues, or are their sales persons waiting eagerly at their cubicles waiting for me to order my Shark vacuum? Or the best, is a law office standing by for me to call and tell them about my most recent accident that has caused me not to be able to work! It just doesn't seem possible to me that they are reaching their core audience, unless it is mothers of new babies.

I will admit I watch a lot of late night TV, with no TiVo I have to get creative in finding something good to watch. 

Luke went to bed around 9:30 PM and rose around 2:45 AM and is wide awake now, so he is on the floor playing and I thought I would share my thoughts on commercials.

Nap time

I have done it, I have successfully gotten both children in our house down for a nap at close to the same time. YEAH for me. I know this may seem like a small accomplishment compared to what I used to get accomplished in the work place, but it is huge for me these days!

Today was a good day for us, Miss Ella slept til 9 AM, and Luke til around 6:40. I took advantage of both of them being asleep at 7:30 and took a shower and was able to blow dry and style my hair, put on a little makeup and think about what I wanted to wear. The plan was to go to Target for a few items, and then go to StrideRite for Ella, I think her foot has grown.

We made it out the door around 10 AM, made a few needed phone calls on the way, with Ella listening to her Walkman and Luke staring out the window. We were blessed with front row parking at Target and I was able to find everything I needed it record time. 

Next was to StrideRite, where we found two pairs of shoes under $25 dollars; flip flops and a pair of Kids for Ella. Her foot has grown from 8 1/2 to 9 1/2 since May. She is wearing size 4T clothes with little wiggle room. With Luke around, it really shows that she has grown up so much and is a little girl and not my little baby anymore.  Anyway, while checking out at StrideRite I was reviewing my Target receipt and notice that I was double charged. 

No time like the present to correct this wrong, so we go back to Target (no front row parking this time) and get issued back the 12 dollars overcharged. Next stop, McDonalds for lunch and then home. 

A couple more phone calls, bottles washed, Ella had a snack, Luke fed a bottle, living room picked up by Ella and I followed with dusting, one book read to Ella in her room and off to her nap (note photo is from a month ago Ella taking a nap in our bedroom), rocked Luke to arm fell asleep- now in his crib, and here I am blogging and debating a bowel of strawberry ice cream- why not- I deserve it. 

I purchased a Swifer dry/wet mop today, might assemble and take for a spin before the kids wake up. We have tumble class for Ella and Luke and I will make a quick trip to the grocery store for milk and few other essentials. Then home for dinner and some R&R when Kyle gets home.

A night solo

Luke and I had our first solo experience last night. Kyle had a overnight meeting, so it was just the two of us. I prepared well, stocked up on bottles and had diapers and wipes close at hand. Overall, it was a great evening, we went to bed around 10:30 PM and Luke was up for a short period of time- around 1:30 and then back to sleep until 4:45. Then he was wide awake until around 6-6:30ish and then slept til 10. 

This morning I was able to clean the kitchen and dining room wood floors, cleaned the bathrooms and finished going through all the toys and sorting and organizing, while Luke slept on the couch. I felt like I got a lot accomplished and then had two friends come over for lunch today. 

I talked to Ella this morning and I think our little girl is a bit home-sick, so she might be coming home tomorrow, Kyle is working out the details. Luke has a weigh check in on Thursday to see that he has reached his birth weight, I cannot see why not, he has a big appetite. 

I am feeling somewhat like a diary cow, trying to keep up with the feeding demands for Luke and creating a supply of milk for a later date. Me and the machine (pump) have become close friends, as we did with Ella, my kids just like a bottle better than me. But hey,  I cannot complain, I am losing the weight, though I don't see it.

On anther note, here are some more pictures of Luke and Ella.

Just Luke and I

It is day 12 and things are still going well. Ella and her grandparents left today for Oklahoma, so it is just Luke and I during the day and Kyle in the evenings. I am hoping the time away will help me establish a schedule with Luke, get rested and be ready to be a parent of two. Not that I cannot do it, but Ella has since she was born spent so time during the summer down south with grandparents- which has allowed us (Kyle and I) time to ourselves to recharge!!

Today I made the mistake of watching TLC's Baby Story and it was about a lady who was going to have a c-section, I cried through it all, reminded me of how scared and nervous I was! I have decided it would be better to not watch this anymore, the program is great, but as a new mom, maybe my emotions are too close to home on this particular topic. Funny, because prior to Luke, I hated watching the show, way to detailed and graphic. Kids sure can change everything!

I am thankful for all the help we have received and starting today for the next couple of weeks we have meals coming every couple of days- I am so appreciative of this, it makes life easier for us and I can remember how good it felt to give a meal to a new mom, too!

I am thinking I might need some new movies to watch this week, might be able to entice Kyle out to get some and maybe ice cream too!

Today

It is a beautiful day today in South Dakota!!!

We started off by sleeping in, hehe. Then we got the kitchen picked up and headed to a MaryKay party and picked up some lip gloss and a bracelet to wrap up my niece's birthday gift. Next it was to the library, were we stacked up on books and DVDs- they are all free to rent- awesome for the budget. Then on to Dairy Queen for a quick lunch and ice cream cone.

Ella is now watching one of her book/movies and I am going to go tackle upstairs- vacuuming and dusting and cleaning the fridge- not cleaning it out, but actually cleaning the drawers and compartments. Should be a blast. Then hopefully we will take a short nap and might attempt a walk to the park or around the neighborhood. 

I need to order some things for Kyle on EddieBauer.com and get my grocery list in order. I have to go to a job training this week for Department of Labor- should be loads of fun!!! 

So we have some items to tackle and hopefully accomplish today. The other goal is to get some of Ella's things off the one wall and one to her wall, as junior and her are sharing a room and I am not sure he would appreciate the purple and sage green decor on his baseball wall!!! 

Ok, better get moving, the house won't clean itself, as much as I wish it would!

Mother's Day

It was a good day. A busy day, but a fun one.

We started off the morning with Sunday School- which had a teacher's appreciation event, as a teacher I got a super cool daily scripture calendar and one of my student's gave me a awesome cross and sweet note. We celebrated with muffins and watermelon- yummo.

Next was church- we found a pew that had plenty of room for Ella, Kyle and I. It was a really good sermon and Ella regular goes to the children's moment by herself at the front of the church with the other kids. She always tries to sit so she can see us and yesterday gave us the thumbs up sign. It was really cute.

After church we headed home and Ella announced we were to have a picnic one the porch outside, so we heated up our meals and sat outside on the covered deck. It was fun and she was so proud of herself.

Later, Kyle started the makings of his famous pheasant gumbo for our friends to try later that afternoon. Ella took a nap and I worked on some small house projects. 

We had friends over to sample the gumbo- which they all liked and then Kyle went to the local car races with our friends for the evening. Ella and I headed to the park for some fun time and then treated ourselves to some Dairy Queen. Figure I might as well enjoy the ice cream now, won't be ordering for myself after Junior gets here. 

We settled in for the night and I watched "Brothers & Sisters." 

Overall, a very nice Mother's Day- lots of fun stuff with family and friends! Hope all you moms out there had a great day too.

These Days

Not much to report this week.  It has been kind of a off week for us so far.

Miss Ella has been suffering from a bad cough that has turned into a mild ear infection, I got her in first thing this morning and with the help of a Z-Pack we should be good as new in a couple of days. Her sleeping schedule has been off, so Kyle and I haven't gotten the best sleep. Last night around 3 AM she was coughing, and Kyle got up with her. I got up too and got the meds for her to help with her temp but she wanted her Dad. I went back to bed and could hear them talking and finally retreating to her bed and Kyle singing to her- it was sweet. 

Then a half hour later, the ladybug is in our room, requesting to sleep with us, and we said yes. She did ok, but around 7 AM I got a wake up call of a kick in the eye- I must of made a big fuss because Kyle thought maybe my water had broke!!!! Not the case. Junior is just fine where he is. 

I worked on cleaning the kitchen today with Ella's help. We moped (by hand) the floor, it seems to get a lot more dirty with us home and the traffic too. Then I did some dusting and finally cleaned the blinds- wow they have been avoided for a while. 

Now I am downstairs, Ella is watching 'Little Mermaid' and I am working on some stuff for MOPS. I am hoping to get out tomorrow, but it depends on the ladybug and how she feels. With us staying put no money gets spent and the house benefits. And I have been reading- something I haven't done in a long time! 

Hopefully I will have more fun news to report later in the weekend. It is sunny but not very warm!

I didn't pay her enough

Yesterday afternoon I was determined to get the upstairs of our house cleaned. The upstairs of the house consistent of two bedrooms (mine and Kyle's and Ella's rooms) along with two bathrooms, a living room, dining room, kitchen and entry way. We have beautiful Brazilian hard wood floors in the kitchen, dining and entry way. They look great clean and terrible dirty. 

With my current status of being a stay at home mom, I had to let our cleaning lady go. I have loved having this service for the last year and Kyle let me have a cleaning lady in Mississippi. But now with Junior on the way, I feel I can use the money I would pay her for other things and I can surely clean.

Since getting the green light from my doctor to go back to regular activities, I figured I could clean the floors, no problem. Well, a hour into it and my knees killing me, I came to the conclusion I did not pay my cleaning lady enough!!! Of course I do not use a mop to clean the floors, but a wet rag and a dry one, and work out the dirt marks with a little elbow power! The floors look awesome now. I cranked up the computer's iTunes and went to work. By the end I was pooped out and still had the bathrooms, dusting and vacuuming to do.

Luckily, Ella was more than happy to help- it was kind of like help. She loved seeing the toilets blue with cleaner and helped me get towels and rags together. 

Overall, after about 2 1/2 hours of cleaning, upstairs looked awesome. i even called Kyle so he would know what I had been doing, to hopefully lead to a complement later on that evening (he did comment on how nice everything looked). 

I don't think I will be going into the cleaning business anytime soon, though I took great pride in seeing the upstairs of our home look pretty good. 

Today I want to touch up the chips on the walls and organize the closet. This is something I could do sitting down if need.