Whoohoooooo...

...I made it to 100 posts! Quite the accomplishment, considering I've had this blog almost 2 years! And to think I've come such a far way...

At any rate, this is the 3rd post today and I want to make sure everyone is getting/reading what I've got. I noticed this post from March 16th had 0 views and it's an update about our ttc journey, which is a hot topic! ;)

Enjoy!

(ps: I also updated the recipe and family tabs up top^^)

way back...

...on October 20th, I started this post with just the following list: c25k diet museum formspring giveaway list free weekend alero...all the things I wanted to write about and figured that I would get to before too long. Yet, here we are on November 7th and I never even started writing full sentences, let alone the whole post! Hahaha. Silly me for thinking I would have time to do so in the last few days before Halloween. Let me begin...

C25k: Is going pretty well. I've started doing it inside (much to the dismay of my neighbors downstairs, I'm sure...but what am I going to do? I was failing miserably outside and I try not to make too much noise!) I use my Wii Fit game/balance board to time myself on the "Free Run" mini game-thinger and so far it's working out. I did notice that I make less stomping noise when I wear my sneakers. I thought I would be quieter without shoes, but I was wrong! Plus, I do it during the babies' nap time so it's midday and I'm sure the ladies downstairs would let me know if I was driving them wild. I did Day 1 of Week 4 today:

Walk Briskly-5 minutes
Jog-3 minutes
Walk-90 seconds
Jog-5 minutes (!)
Walk-2 1/2 minutes
Jog-3 minutes
Walk-90 seconds
Jog-5 minutes

Dylan did it right alongside me for most of it. The "(!)" next to "jog 5 minutes" is because it's a bit of a milestone, I couldn't tell you the last time I jogged for 5 minutes straight, which is sad but true. I feel so much better today after taking a (short, but needed) break during the Halloween week and weekend. I'm also glad I figured out the whole where-to-exercise deal because soon it will be snowing!

Diet-Has it's ups and downs like anything. Mostly downs lately, but I feel like I'm getting back into the groove of things and I hope to keep up the momentum during the holiday season. I do not have that voice that all the skinny people must have in their heads that tell them to not eat this and that...ha. :)

Museum-We went to the Museum of Play in Rochester on October 21st! It is super fun and Meghan, Dylan and I had a great time! Kim (mil) has a season family pass and had some extra guest passes so 15 of us went! It was a lot of fun and Meghan really enjoyed it. I thought she might be too young to get it, but she had a blast! There were lots of different things for her to do and see. I think the strawberry milkshake at lunch was her favorite! :)

Formspring-I made a formspring, check it out to the right--->
You can ask me anything-anonymously if you like! So, get asking! :)

Giveaway List-I thought about making a list of all the things I've won since I started entering giveaways online a few months ago, but not I'm just meh about it. I do think it's totally worth it, sort of like a part time job ;)

Free Weekend-I wrote this on my list of things to write about, but now I can't remember why! Maybe I had nothing planned for the weekend, except working on our Halloween costumes? I just don't know!

Alero-This really ought to be 'Alero/88'...Way back when we went camping in September, the Alero's exhaust separated from the car and was sort of hanging precariously and was just ridiculously loud, so we took it to a family friend's repair shop to have it replaced. We dropped it off on a Wednesday and on Saturday, Drew went off the road and totaled the 88! We went from 2 cars to none in less than a week! Thankfully, Drew was perfectly fine, but the 88 is not. :) We've been borrowing my Dad's giant Buick since then. I've been seeing losing the 88 as a blessing, even though it was our 2nd car, it didn't have any heat, no shocks, one of the windows didn't work right...the list goes on! I'm thankful that it wasn't our only car. Now the Alero is back in the shop for another reason. When I picked it up after having the exhaust repaired (note: repaired not replaced-the mechanic said he had the parts to replace it but ended up repairing it, my Dad said it would be stronger this way anyway) it started shutting itself off! Long story short, it was billowing white smoke and still shutting itself off, so back to the shop it went! It's still there and we've been using my Dad's car since then.

Well, I wrote about everything I wanted to write about weeks ago... :) Maybe one more post tonight-later that is!

gaaaaaah!

you would think that life would slow down, but it just keeps plugging along, with no concern for the fact that I haven't updated in forever! :) We have been super busy lately, now that the weather is (finally) nice out, we have had some event or get-together every weekend for the past couple of months. Also, it is full on graduation party/baby shower/bridal shower/birthday party season! This weekend we have a graduation party, 2 birthday parties, Drew has 2 gigs for the band on the same day! This past weekend we had father's day at my grandparents house and a double graduation/farewell party for Drew's cousins M, A and B. B just finished basic training to be a medic in the Army, he and his wife are moving to Washington state where B is now stationed.

M and A both graduated from high school (M did it in 3 year) and were both accepted to the same nursing school, so they have great prospects ahead of them. I am so excited for B and his wife, B has made such a turn around in his life and he really is an inspiration. He was headed down the wrong track in life and he really took responsibility for his actions and made a better life for himself. I hope he feels as proud of himself as the rest of us feel about him.

So, on Friday, my nephew Dylan is turning 3! I can't believe it has been 3 years already, it seems like yesterday I was in the delivery room watching him take his first breaths. His birthday party is on Sunday at my mother's house, which is now a certified petting zoo! It all started when my mother took in some cows-heifers that had lost their calfs in a tragic flooding accident a few months ago. Then she and her husband decided to get some chickens-to have their own fresh eggs and also sell the extra eggs in a road side stand. Then the geese started migrating to their pond. Then they got a couple of pigs. Then it was turkeys, ducks and pheasants. It was a natural choice to have Dylan's party be farm-themed!

I'm in charge of the cake for the party. At first, Lacie wanted an ice cream cake. She had some recipe that involved cookies and I don't know what else. That was quickly squashed. I did a little research and found this:

and I was like, "Hey, that's not bad. I can totally do that!" And Lacie was happy with it and Dylan was ecstatic, of course. But I couldn't just let that be the end of it, because that would be too easy then I found this:

and I was like, "Hot dang, I can really do this!" :) So, this is the one I'll be making for Dylan's party. It's definitely better in all aspects, including having the animal cupcakes that I wanted to do-cows, pigs and chickens. I had also made the invitations to the party, which had cows, pigs and chickens and a red barn. I am going to take a lot of little artistic license with the design and sub some things like graham crackers for the roof instead of Life cereal- I like the way the grahams look like shingles.

And that's how my Saturday will be spent...constructing barns and farm animals out of cake.

Bake on!

here we go...

...folks! A real post. For reals! So much has happened and I'm sure I'm going to forget most some of it, oh well! You don't need every minute detail, I suppose.

Meghan is now a little over 9 months! Time has flown by so fast, everyday I wish she would just slow down and be a tiny newborn again. I hated it at the time and now I miss it. I miss her sleeping all the time, I miss her tiny fingers and toes, I miss her sleepytime smiles. I do not miss ebf poops, projectile spit ups and that fussy period after dinnertime-I definitely do not miss that! Meghan is so sweet and devilish at the same time! She has a sneaky sly smile when she knows she's getting into something she shouldn't. And she does the most adorable "head hug" (as my sister calls it) where she lays her head down on the shoulder of whomever is holding her when she's sleepy or shy. Oh, she's soooo shy! It is the most adorable thing! I just cannot get enough of her-and I spend all day with her! :)

I'm still watching my nephew, Dylan, 4-5 times a week for my older sister, Lacie. He is just a whirlwind of movement and noise! Always on the go. Something to see, do, touch, or play with. He is a sweet boy when he wants to be, but also has only child attitude, too! When the weather is nice, we walk the less than 2 blocks to the playground and Dylan is just in his element. He loves to be outside, climbing on everything, playing in the dirt, and swinging on the swings. He does not, however, quite grasp the concept of "pumping" his legs to propel himself on the swing. So, if I'm on a swing and Meghan's in the baby swing, then I have to jump off my swing to give him a push every once in a while. He gets pretty cooped up when the weather's bad and it's rained every day here for the past 8 days in a row or something ridiculous like that. Poor kid, every day I have to tell him it's raining or too wet to go outside and that we'll go tomorrow if it the ground dries up. The playground is on a grassy hill but the ground is covered in wood chips where the actual jungle gym is at and they just retain water like it's their job! Much too wet to play!

Drew still has the same job at the computer repair company. He did get a small raise a little while back for his 1 year anniversary. I, of course, would like to see him in something with a better future. His dad works for the water treatment for our county and it's a great job. I want him to get something that he loves to do as well. He wants to go back to school, to finish his bachelors degree. He has always talked about being a teacher so he could get the summer off! :) Who wouldn't want that?

I spend my days watching the little ones, crafting, scouring the internet for good deals and making our apartment a home. Tonight for dinner I baked some marinated chicken from Omaha Steaks, and made white rice and broccoli to go with it. It was delicious! Tomorrow it's Lasagna, garlic bread and key lime tartlets so tonight was worth it!

My younger sister, Kait, is pregnant with her first baby. She's due on her birthday, 8-8-11. We (everyone I know!) were all in shock when she told us that she was pregnant. Apparently, she was not even in a relationship with the father (she had been previously) at the time she conceived the baby. And she's just one of the those irresponsible people who can't really take care of herself, so we were all mystified as to why she would want to keep the baby or move in with the father! (whom she is still not in a relationship with)

When she first told everyone that she is pregnant, our mother, sister and grandmother all told her to have an abortion because she wouldn't be able to take care of a baby. And I really think that just pushed her in the opposite direction, because she did end up deciding to keep the baby. She said she doesn't believe in abortion and wouldn't consider adoption, either. I advised her to keep all her options open and get all the information she could about all her options. In the end, she's keeping it and I will stand by her and her decision. I want her to have the birth experience that she wants and not the 3 ring circus that I did.

So, I have been trying to share with her all the information I've gained since I gave birth and I also offered to go and stay with her after she has the baby to help her transition into motherhood. Because I know it's going to be so tough for her, because it was for me. I suspect I had ppd but was able to work through it. There were days where I felt like I had been crying for 24 hours straight-and so had Meghan. When I was offering to go and help her out after the birth, I was telling her how that is the normal thing to do and our family isn't like that. It had occurred to me, as I was watching "Bringing Home Baby," or one of those TLC shows, that our family is not the norm. Of all the episodes I've watched, the grandmother goes to stay with the new mom and baby to help them adjust.

I never expected Drew's mom to offer to come and stay with us because she has little ones of her own, but I thought maybe my mom would want to come and stay or come when she could to help us out-especially because I was having breastfeeding issues. But, the offer never came and I never felt comfortable enough to reach out to her with all the questions and concerns I had. So, I turned to the electronic community for answers and I found so much love and warmth and knowledge. It's like an e-family! :)

Kait seemed keen on the idea and I would like to help her succeed. So, depending on our nursing situation, I may spend weeks or just nights or go over during the day to help her out. I'd like to be there at night, because nights are the worst! Right now, Meghan is breastfed on demand during the day and usually sleeps 7pm-7am straight through the night. If we are still in the same situation when Kait has her baby, I may put Meghan down for the night here and then go to Kait's house for the night and be back in the morning in time for the 1st feed of the day. I'm not sure, she may not want me there that much! At any rate, Kait mentioned the other day that I've stepped in for our mother and she's really appreciative-not in so many words, but I could tell from the sound of her voice.

It's getting late, babes, so I'm going to sleep!