Say Hello to my Little Friends

Here are a couple more Christmas gifts I got. These were courtesy of my momma! I'm going for the red theme in my kitchen.


At some point I'm going to get THIS and THIS, and then of course I'll need THIS....hmmmm...maybe next year!


But for now...here is the beginning of my collection of RED!

My New Best Friend

How on earth could I have forgetten to share that I got THIS for Christmas!!!!
Isn't she beautiful?!?!?!
Thank you eternally to my MOM and my Mom-in-law!!!!!
WWWOOOOOOHHHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BLUE? Uh, Ok....

I saw this on Minnie's blog and I had to do it too!

Your Hair Should Be Blue

Wild, brilliant, and out of control.You're a risk taker with an eye to the future.

What's" Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

Ladies and Gentlemen....

The blonde has left the building!

BEFORE

AFTER

UPDATE: I've posted a better picture of my new hair. I took about a trillion pictures and wasn't happy with any of them but this is the best one I guess. I have a weird fake smile that kinda makes my face look funny but oh well. I'm rarely happy with pictures of me but here it is.

I'm a Brunette now! Much closer to my natural color, only prettier. It's a reddish brown or brownish red....with some blonde highlights....I LOVE IT! Hooray!

Baby has decided to boycott naps, and I'm with her! She is only waking up 1-2 times per night and is sleeping about 10 hours per night. I know they say around 13 hours is good but they also say it varies depending on the kid...and this is how my kid is doing it. She looks sleepy, and will doze sometimes but she is in just as good a spirits at the end of the day as she is in the morning. And she goes a million miles per hour every minute of the day. She's going to sleep very easily at night with no fight and my nights are much better...THANKS!

It might have to do with our NEW BED! How much do I love it!

I can't wait until tomorrow so I can tell about the presents I got for everyone. I LOVE CHRISTMAS! This one is going to be great! I can't wait to see the faces as they open the presents....and, it doesn't hurt that I'm getting a DISHWASHER!!!!!!! THANK YOU BABY!

My oldest brother, my neice and my sis-in-law will be here on Thursday and so will my Uncle and Aunt. They will be here through the weekend and I'm SO EXCITED! I will post pictures.

Hmmmmmmmmm.....it's been a busy few days. I'm a last minute shopper but I'm done! I got exactly what I wanted for everybody. I don't mind the crowds and the traffic this time of year. It's fun to me...all part of the joy and excitement of the season.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS...yes I said it...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
It's the celebration of OUR LORD AND SAVIOR'S birth so

CELEBRATE ALREADY!

Get Down!!!!

My little climber strikes again.

This Morning's Breakfast

This table and chairs is one of my mom's Christmas gifts to my baby girl. She LOVES it! Here we are this morning eating breakfast together.

Ha Ha Ha Ha

(I now know that this website is all over the place with this video...but it's still funny!)

I found this video to be very funny. I am a big fan of George Bush, but I thought this was hysterical.

Thanks mom for telling me about this site!

Another Day

Mops was fun today. My baby had no intention of being in the nursery though. She was really upset, and I'm not talking mad...she was splotchy forehead, crying hyesterically...they came and got me and even after I had her in my arms she would just break out into tears. Not like her at all...I took her into the meeting with me and fed her some and she just cuddled on my lap. I think she was hungry and on top of that she had fallen asleep on the way there and I had to wake her up, so that in addition to new faces and a new place added up to a very unhappy little girl!

Naptime today...well, she cried again for about 50 minutes, slept for an hour then, well...she woke up due to some poopies in her diaper...I changed her and then nursed her a little and she slept another hour and a half.

Last night she only woke up 1 time! That's right...I was in my bed for all but 40 minutes last night!!! 4 full hours of sleep in a row! That's the first time in 11 months that I've gotten that many hours of consecutive sleep! She's asleep now. I'm going to bed right away hoping, and praying that tonite will be a repeat performance!

So, that was my regular old day.

3 days until my 29th! FYI................

Well Thank the Lord

Ok...so I've admitted to myself several things. One is that my daughter's problems with naptime are rooted in my inconsistancy. For awhile it was 12:00 naptime...2 hour naps...no problems...then I started changing it up and running late and trying to get her down earlier....not a good plan. She seems to really thrive with a routine that doesn't change SO...after a couple days of tears (mine) and her not napping because I didn't even want to deal with it, we ventured into the waters of naptime again today...54 min of yelling (I've decided to discontinue the use of the word "crying" because that is most certainly NOT what she is doing")....2 hours of naptime...HOORAY! I'm sorry, you didn't hear me H O O R A Y ! !

One of the other things that I realized a few weeks back but refused to acknowledge until now is that up until she was 10 months I nursed her to sleep every naptime and bedtime...I'm not saying that was a bad thing AT ALL....but when the times comes to wean her it poses a big problem...so I developed a pre-sleep routine ( I use the same for both bedtimes and naptimes...it works for us) and I allowed her to cry it out a couple nights (literally 2, the second much quicker). However, subsequently, she got sick, I began nursing her more again and we fell into the same routine of nursing to sleep...when I decided to end that habit I just replaced it with rocking her in my arms while I sang. When she would be sound asleep I would put her down...and then I wondered why she still wasn't sleeping through the night. I'm not talking 1 or 2 wake ups...I'm talking up to 5 times. She's 5 days away from being 16 months old and I'm going on 11 months of barely any sleep.

MY POINT BEING....A few nights ago, after much prayer came up with a plan. We watch her praise baby video and eat a snack...we say good-nite to everyone and everything in the house as we walk to her room, we sit and read 4 stories, i turn off the light and to the lullaby that plays (repeatedly) on her CD player I rock her...1-2-3-4, 2-2-3-4...it began by me counting up to 100-2-3-4...and no matter what state of sleep she is at the end I kiss her cheek, put her down, say ni-night and I love her, and I walk out....we are down to counting to 35-2-3-4...the last 3 nights she's awakened 2 times a night...AWESOME!....same times every night too. TONITE...I know she was awake when I put her down. It's been 18 minutes and not a peep...I put the monitor right next to her crib and I can hear her breathing...it's so cute and I know she's sound asleep. And she's been waking up SO HAPPY...in such a happy, silly mood....I actually sorta look forward to nights now.

We'll see how naptime tomorrow goes and I will be sure to let you know.

Thank you ALL for your prayers, advice and support! I'm sure this is not the end...indeed, it is only the beginning...I appreciate you ALL.

At Baby Boot Camp today I was invited by another girl I met to go to a MOPS Christmas party tomorrow. I'm excited. In the 4 years I've been here I haven't met many women my age and I've made very few friends. I've attended college with lots of kids 10 years younger than me, and my oldest daughter's friend's moms are 10-15 years older than me and very few have kids younger than 9 or 10...and our church is so big and I have yet to get really involved there since we returned to it in June. (for a year and a half we attended a smaller church but found they held some beliefs we disagreed with and that meant we couldn't be involved like we wanted, due to the fact that we had to sign a statement of faith that we didn't believe in....ANYWAY, I digress) My closest friends are back home in Virginia and that's really far from where I am now. I've never been one that just goes out and meets people easily and I very rarely find someone I would consider a close friend so that doesn't help much either. I'm excited that I've been making more of an effort lately to get out and meet people, first with Baby Boot Camp and now with this. I'm a homebody...I love being at home with my hubby and my girls and my mom. Typically I would turn down the invitation because of the akwardness of meeting new people but I'm just gonna do it.

Amanda really made me thing with her post about praying for a friend. I'm trying to do that. I've found many online (you guys rock)!! but I think I should be looking for a friend a little closer to home. Thanks for that post Amanda, you really opened my eyes to praying for things I've never thought of praying for.

So...it's 9:45 now...I'm tired. My house is clean, thanks to Fly Lady and my mom even helped me organize and declutter my desk...Thank the Lord...My home is almost completely clutter free and organized and clean.


Here is a picture of my baby and me as we found some reinforcement stickers to put on our faces.

So now I'm going to sleep. Hopefully for another good night of sleeping at least 3 hours at a time! (Now that's luxary!!!!)

Tuesday, December 20th...I am going to the salon and getting a manicure, pedicure and coloring my hair back to my natural color...I'm actually going to do it a little richer than my natural color. Something like Finola Hughes in both style and color.

ANYWAY...again...I'm tired and I'm taking forever to finish this post. Oh my goodness. It's 10:00. I'm squandering the precious time God has given me to sleep.

Love you all! Until tomorrow!

TAG!

Michelle tagged me with this so here is my stab at it.

Seven Things I want to Do Before I Die:
1. Watch my baby receive Christ.
2. Watch both girls graduate from High School and College
3. Visit the Islands of Greece.
4. Take a Cruise.
5. Go on a nationwide trip visiting amusments parks all over the country
6. Vacation along the east coast from NJ to FL…visit the towns I used to live in and my family.
7. Vacation along the west coast from WA to CA…never been to the west coast, my hubby has 2 brothers there and now my sis-in-law and neice will be in CA too!
Seven Things I Cannot Do:
1. Lie or even Keep a Secret
2. Imagine my life without my two girls and my husband
3. Part my hair on the left side or in the middle (I have a cowlick)
4. Curl my tongue (my mom, my dad, my brothers can…not I)
5. Eat seafood…any kind…yuk
6. Fly on a plane without being sick to my tummy for 2 days before hand and tearing up
when we take off and land
7. Go a day without chocolate
Seven Things That Attract Me To My Husband (Wife, Boyfriend, Girlfriend, Best Friend)
1. His sense of humor
2. His honesty
3. He’s an amazing father
4. His drive and determination to be better (husband, father, Christian, Real Estate Broker….)
5. His countenance
6. His desire to learn everything he can about everything
7. His ability to dream big!
Seven Things I Say Most Often
1. I Love You, I Love You, I Love You!
2. Time to go to Wal-Mart
3. Do you have a pee-pee diaper?
4. Time for the Teletubbies!
5. Are you finished with your homework?
6. Someone is stinky!
7. No, No
Seven Books, Or Series, That I Love
1. The Bible
2. I haven’t read an entire book since I was about 21….shhhh…except my daughter’s board
books
3. Sorry to be a bad example but at least I’m honest!
4. I’m working on it now. I have 3 in line to read.
5. Until then I have nothing really to write here.
6. I can’t even remember most of the books I’ve read. The last one was Amistad.
7. That was when I was 21.
Seven Movies I Would Watch Over and Over Again
1. Napoleon Dynamite
2. Elf
3. Hildago
4. Four Feathers
5. Man in the Iron Mask
6. Last Samuri
7. Batman Begins
UPDATE: 2 More...The Princess Bride and Labyrinth

Seven People I Want To Join In To
1. Shelley (now you’ve been tagged twice!)
2. Rebekah
3. Addie
4. Leslie
5. Dana
6. Robin
7. Anyone who reads my blog….just let me know you did it…these are just the first bloggers I came acrossed back when I started t

Too Much Teletubbies

Need I say more?

Three Things Thursday - Happy 4th Anniversary Edition

4 years ago today I married the most wonderful man on earth, and as a bonus, I got the most wonderful daughter too (at the time she was 7)! I can honestly say that 4 years later we are closer and more in love than that day. We still hold hands all the time, we still cuddle, I still kiss him goodbye every morning, we still say "I love you" EVERYTIME we get off the phone and we still are looking for ways to make it even better!

He really and truly is my best friend, the love of my life, the one God had chosen for me before I was even born. I'm so grateful for my husband, my marraige and my girls. I don't remember what life was life before them...

So here is a TTT about my wedding.
THREE THINGS THURSDAY
(1) It was originally planned for June 2002 in our current hometown. But at the time I was in Tulsa, OK and he was here so the plan was for me to move here in December, get my own apartment, go to school, get a job...SO....at the end of October 2001 he called and said, "Let's just get married in Tulsa in December...." uh, ok...so I planned and pulled off my wedding in 7 weeks. I wouldn't have changed it for the world either. It was absolutely perfect.

(2) My Uncle Don is a Lutheran minister and performed the ceremony. His son and daughter (my cousins) each sang a song. They both have amazing voices. My cousin Jon sang The Lord's Prayer and my other cousin Kris (the one with the son a day younger than my baby) sang Ava Maria. To make it a total family affair, I wore my Aunt Dorothy's wedding dress that she had worn 44 years before at her wedding to my above mentioned Uncle Don! We took pictures before the actual wedding. I don't believe in bad luck and my Aunt Dorothy said that 44 years earlier, on her wedding day, she ran into Uncle Don before the wedding...and they're still married (48 years this year!)...


(3) My bridesmaid (my sis-in-law Cheryl) and my junior bridesmaids (my neice and my daughter) walked down the aisle to Pachabel's Cannon and my Big Brother Reist walked me down the aisle to Nocturne from A Midsummer's Night's Dream(not the traditional wedding march)...a song I had picked when I was in Elementary School as my wedding song, and I had actually written it at the top of the sheet music my mom had....all these years later she had that sheet music with my little handwriting on it and the organist played it for me! I didn't do anything the traditional way!!!


**BONUS** I can't just share 3 things. There's too much to share about my wedding.

I was 24 and my hubby had just turned 36...I turned 25 8 days later (hint hint...8 days until my 29th!)

My mom and I did all the shopping for decorations, flowers etc...we didn't hire anyone outside of our friends. The girl who did the photography was an assistant basketball coach at the University of Tulsa, and I knew her because my work study job was in their office. She was a photographer on the side. She only charged us for the film and developing! We had cupcakes instead of a traditional wedding cake, that way there was a choice of different flavors. Those were baked by the cook at the school where my mom worked. We made the bouquets and coursages (except my bouquet, I did go get that with fresh beautiful flowers, but boy was it heavy)....

I also have to add...my other brother Cody and sis-in-law Kristina couldn't come because my Kristina was very, very sick and scheduled for surgery the Monday following my wedding...but she was still my bridesmaid from all the way across the country, and Cody would've shared in the honor of walking me down the aisle.

It was the most beautiful wedding. And my dream was always to have a Christmas wedding and I lucked out, the church where we had the wedding got their poinsettias a week early so they covered the front of the church.

There you have it...MY WEDDING!

Who would've thought 4 years later we'd have this little cracker jack too!

Naptime Woes AGAIN

So she's protesting again...42 minutes so far. She protested so much yesterday that I gave up so I think she's betting on that again today. I tell you what, that child is so tired. She fought for a second when I started her pre-naptime book but then...not only did she give in and stop fighting, she fell asleep while sitting on my lap...then I stood up and rocked her...she has been screaming everytime I sing her pre-bedtime songs (I trying not to take it as a reflection of my singing) so I've decided to let her cd play and I rock her to the rhythm of the song....like this....1-2-3-4, 2-2-3-4, 3-2-3-4...all the way to 100-2-3-4....She was snoring, out like a light...then I put her down and for 45 minutes now she's been yelling at me....she takes long pauses sometimes and then starts again. UGH...I'm not giving in today...nope...not today. I'm gonna be strong. I've already cleaned my sink until it sparkles and now I'm hungry so I'm gonna eat and watch a video of food shows, and home decorating shows...hooray...and I'm not gonna give in.

She's been doing so well going to sleep without a fight at bedtime and naptime...my only problem lately has been her nightwakings....I'm not sure what this is about.

Really, I'm about to starve so I better go eat something. She has to fall asleep sometime....right?

O Lord, Please let this poor sleepy child give in to sleep! Oh please, oh please, OH PLEASE!

UPDATE #1 @ 1:36pm
At 1:00 she was still crying so...I went in changed her diaper, read 4 books, sang (she actually didn't scream once) and she was out on my shoulder AGAIN...I put her down and (drumroll please)...36 minutes and she's still crying. Except for the 15 minutes I spent in there she's been crying for 2 1/2 hours. I'm not sure why. She's not gnawing on her little hand and she is fine if I'm holding her. Why, oh, why...if I go get her I know this will continue to happen day after day, but 2 1/2 hours, come on, this is rediculous.

For those of you shocked that I've let her cry this long let me tell you one thing, when I went in at 1 (after 2 hours of crying), there was not 1 tear, no red face, no messy hair...she stopped IMMEDIATELY and even let me change her with no crying.

If you're thinking (like me), oh, she just wants mommy...probably. I think it's a separation thing. But I can't sit day after day and hold her during her 2 hour nap. My back won't take it, i get hungry, I have to use the restroom, it just doesn't work. Believe me, I've done it before when she's been sick and it ain't pretty.

So she has to fall asleep sometime. That's how I've gotten to 2 1/2 hours without losing my mind. I keep hearing her pause for about 5 seconds and I think "she's slowing down, it won't be long"....

I have no plan at this point of how long I will wait her out. I keep thinking if I give in now I'm going to be doing this again tomorrow.

It's 1:43 now. We'll see what the next little while brings me!

UPDATE #2 @ 2:08
At 1:54 she stopped crying. I'm hoping she'll take a nice long nap...ha ha ha ha ha ha

I'm also hoping this means, since I went through this torture and I didn't collapse under pressure, that she'll go down much easier tomorrow....we will see.

But Thank the Lord!

My books and Fly Lady

Ok, you guys are gonna think I'm nuts. Remember back when I ordered those books and I was so excited about oraganizing my home and my life?? Well I did get started on my home and really don't have much left to do...but I have only read a few pages in two of the three books. Unlike Leslie I just can't find the time. (ha ha)

ANYWAY...my point is, I've discovered The Fly Lady. Now, my house is not in CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) but it does get really messy sometimes and she has a great system for learning habits and how to take care and love yourself as well as how to get your home clean. I'm very excited to start doing this. I signed up for her mailing list to receive daily reminders and stuff. I think it will be great.

I put my Navigation Bar back at the top even though it's still messed up. I hate not having it because when I want to find a post of mine I can just type in a keyword and hit "search this blog" and I find it...for example, the above reference to my previous post about books. SO...sorry it's so funky...I don't know why, I know how to get rid of it but I don't know how to fix it and I wanna keep it so oh well.

No baby boot camp today. My hubby has taken my truck and left his car because he needs to have it looked at, but I did go Monday and Tuesday. It will be nice to rest today...and clean really good. I still have decorations sitting on my front porch. I've only done a little bit to the front of the house, so I can finish it today maybe.

Now I have to go Shine My Sink.

Our Family

My reason for moving the Christmas Tree 

The Christmas Tree as it is now... 

Blah Blah Blah

I guess I'm not the only one. I've read a few of your blogs about not feeling like posting anything really lately.

I've posted a couple things but no real thought ornot really talking about what't going on here.

The baby has had an icky cold again (since last monday)...plus, she just got her 2nd Molars (before her first, go figure) and those were BEARS...i had one day where she seemed like she was over the teething thing for awhile (she's gotten 12 teeth in 10 months) but then her hand was back in her mouth and she was gnawing on it again, and following me around yelling wanting me to hold her. It's been a pretty draining week.

This is the last week of baby boot camp for this session but i'm going back next session, bound and determined that on the days i'm not there that i'll be here working out to my favorite, Denise Austin.

My brother-in-law and his wife came into town Saturday and Sunday from California. It was fun to see them again. We see them a couple times a year.

I decided to put my Christmas tree on the coffee table between the couch and the loveseat so the little one can't redecorate it. It actually looks really cool. I'll post a picture, cuz of course I took one.

So, I'm tired from the baby being up a lot last night. They say not to sleep train them when they are teething...but when is she not teething? You can tell that she's miserable though. When she starts crying and I go in her hand is just soaked and so is her sleeve. I can't let her cry it out if she's crying cuz she's hurting. Some nights she'll go back to sleep no problem right away. Last night, not a chance. I'm never gonna wean her from her night nursings. Day nursings are in the past, but night nursings are here to stay it looks like.

She's so precious.

Our 4 year wedding anniversary is on Thursday. I can't believe it.

My 29th birthday is in 2 1/2 weeks. I can't believe that either. I'm excited though. I'm glad to be getting older. I look foward to my future and I can't have my future without getting older so to me it's exciting to look back at how I've grown and changed and how my life has evolved. Plus, I think really you're only as young as you feel so the numbers mean nothing to me. In my head I'm still 22. I haven't changed much since High School. Just inside.

Thank the Lord for the Teletubbies. No kidding. They make my daughter so happy. I love to hear her giggle and laugh.

Wow, it feels good to type all this out. It's stuff that's been mulling around in my head cluttering it for days.

I'm very excited for Christmas. Not so much the actual day, but this whole season gives me such a feeling of hope and joy. The smell of cinnamon everywhere you go...people shopping for gifts everywhere. Although I know receiving gifts is not the Reason for the Season, I think giving gifts is a big part of it. Putting your own needs aside to bring joy to someone else. That was one of the things that Jesus wanted to teach us. This time of year I like to see people wrapped up in giving to others. The excitement of shopping for others. It really changes your shopping experience at WalMart...in my opinion. Do you know what I mean? Did that make sense?

I must go eat now before baby boot camp.

I'm sure the day will bring many things to share.

Find x

This is courtesy of the ladies at Girl Talk. Since I have naturally dirty blonde hair, and I've chosen, voluntarily, to make it even lighter blonde, I feel that this joke is perfectly acceptable...and funny!

A Blonde's Answer to A Math Problem

Beautiful Song

I Celebrate The Day
Relient K

And with this Christmas wish is missed
The point I could convey
If only I could find the words to say to let You know how much You've touched my life
Because here is where You're finding me, in the exact same place as New Year's eve
And from a lack of my persistency
We're less than half as close as I want to be

And the first time
That You opened Your eyes did You realize that You would be my Savior
And the first breath that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever

And so this Christmas I'll compare the things I felt in prior years
To what this midnight made so clear
That You have come to meet me here

To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me
In the hope that what You did
That you were born so I might live
To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me

And I, I celebrate the day
That You were born to die
So I could one day pray for You to save my life

Three Things Thursday

Ok, I've noticed most TTT player's 3 things are related to each other somehow so I'll try that. I'm more random but I can conform a little.

(1) I attended 3 different Elementary Schools in 3 different towns. Middleburg Elementary School in Middleburg, VA...WG Coleman Elementary School in Marshall, VA and Sudley Elementary School in Manassas, VA...4 different ones if you count Sinclair Elementery in Manassas where I attended for about 4 days until they found out I lived in Sudley Elementary's district.

(2) I attended 2 different Middle Schools in 2 different towns. Stonewall Middle School in Manassas, VA and Lychburg Christian Academy (now Liberty Christian Academy) in Lynchburg, Va.

(3) I attended 1 High School (in one town). Lychburg Christian Academy (in Lynchburg, Va)

BONUS! I have attended 4 different colleges in 3 different states and I still haven't graduated from college. I have about 48 credits left. I'm almost there! I did earn my Paralegal Certificate in 2000 from Central Virginia Community College in Lynchburg, VA.

There you have it. I gotta go back and finish cleaning now.

Get Down!

You just gotta love being a mom to a 15 month old!

Dancing with the teletubbies

First time I'm posting a video...i hope it works!

Awesome Christmas Lights

For those who haven't seen this you have to check it out!

HERE is some more info about it on one of my favorite websites (by the way). You can look up almost any email or urban legend you recieve or hear about and find out if its true on Snopes.

FYI!