Monday, December 3, 2012

I promise I'm alive

This past month and a half have been a doozy.  Life in general has taken me by the feet and wacked me on the pavement a few times.  Its not pretty.

I started getting sick towards the end of October.  I wouldn't say I was sick  persay, I just felt off.  Well then comes Halloween and I'm finally (after 2 weeks of feeling off) I am sick as a dog.  Literally can't get out of the bathroom calling Richard begging him to come home from work to take care of Leigha, sick.  I can't even take Leigha trick or treating and I still haven't gotten a picture of her in her costume (she was supposed to be an angel)

During all this I still have to get ready for a craft fair that I had entered.  I somehow make it through it, but ended up losing money.  Not a happy camper about this, but it happens.

I end up being sick on and off for the next couple of weeks.  Believe you me, I took SEVERAL pregnancy tests during that time because I just don't get sick like that, but they were ALL negative.

Then comes Thanksgiving.  We decide to take our first road trip to visit family in Memphis.  We get a hotel room and request a crib.  They give us a pack-n-play with no pad.  They just put blankets over the supports rendering it completely useless, so I have to co-sleep with Leigha who has never co-slept before except for maybe a couple hours at a time when she was a newborn and I accidentally fell asleep nursing her.  Turns out she is not my favorite sleeping partner. I truly think Richard got the better end of the deal by sleeping in the other bed while I slept with the wiggly one. 

Come back home and I'm sick again.  Its not fun.  Leigha has an ear infection now and has been battling with a cold for the last month.  She can't sleep well and therefore neither can I, and I truly think that my sickness can be attributed to lack of sleep because my parents came over one day and thankfully watched Leigha for a few hours while I slept and when I woke up I felt MUCH better.  

All this while I'm still taking orders for and making my toddler chairs and nursing covers and such for my store and friends babies and trying to decorate for Christmas and do the dishes (during all this my dishwasher decided it had enough and went kaput) and feed everyone and visit who needs visiting and call whoever needs calling and all the other countless household chores and I haven't even found time to change out of my PJ's most of the time. 

I think I need a few more me's

Let me know when they perfect the cloning process, I'll be the first one standing in line to clone myself LOL.

I'm off to keep sewing chairs.  Pray for my sanity please, I'm going to need it.  I'll do more updates sooner or later hopefully.


Friday, October 12, 2012

Discussions discussions.

The other night Richard and I were sitting at home trying to relax and play with Leigha for a little bit before she went to bed.  Well I was relaxing, he was playing.  He was across the room she was on her back and he was tickling her.  Just on a whim I asked him if he wanted to try to have another baby.

I said it in that "hey wanna freak my husband out" kinda moment.  Catch him while he's soft and playing with Leigha LOL.  Kinda like Monica did to Chandler when they decided they wanted to try to have a baby while Rachel was having Emma. (Sorry, that episode was on the other day, and I am a Friends FANATIC!) 

Wanna know what his response was? 

"Sure but we aren't trying yet, last time we did that we had Leigha and I don't want to have another kid in July so we'll try in December and then the baby will be born in August." 

UMMMM, WHAT?!?!?!

Last time I talked to him about it he didn't even want to mention it.  I'm kinda freaking out here.  I had thought we were on the same page and were going to wait till Leigha turned 2 before trying for a second.  Wow.

I don't really know how I feel about it.  I'm excited, because I want him to want more children, which clearly he does, but then I think back to the depression and I don't know if I want to try soon.  Clearly I need to talk to him about this LOL.   I have a little, but not much.  I also think I need to talk to my therapist about it too.  (That is going well too by the way.  The medicine is helping me see things a little more clearly and feel more at ease about things and not get frustrated as easily)

So what is the ideal age difference between kids?  2 years, 3 years, more?  I know its different for everyone, but maybe some of your insight will help me to not freak out so much.   I don't know anyone personally who has kids with an age difference.  All of my friends only have 1 kid at the moment. 


Monday, September 17, 2012

Sorry

Umm yeah, I just kinda fell off the face of the earth.

Since I started my Etsy shop things have kinda taken off.  I have sold several chairs, have orders for more and have several orders for blankets and burp cloths.  Between shopping for fabric and making things and taking care of Leigha and trying to find out if I get my unemployment from my other job (yeah, they still haven't decided that yet and its been almost 2 months) getting ready for my brother's wedding in 3 weeks (Yikes!) planning a wedding shower for my soon to be new sister, Leigha getting sick, and just taking care of normal everyday stuff, its been a little crazy. 

I've been asked to paint a painting for their wedding which I am almost finished with it.  How nerve wracking.  Its a painting that they will have forever that everyone will see.  Thankfully I'm not in the wedding or I don't know what I will do with myself, I may just go nuts.

So I'm sorry. 

Leigha is doing well.  She will be 14 months next Monday.  This may be my favorite age.  I wasn't keen on the 1-6 months because well, I just don't like guessing games, and the first month of course I was just so in love and jaded with my little squishy newborn.  7 months she started crawling so it got a little better, but recently she has begun to tell me what she wants.  If she wants cheerios, she brings me her snack trap.  If she wants juice, she brings me her cup.  She will point at the things that she wants so its much easier to figure out what she wants.

She definitely has a temper and will either bite or spit at you if she doesn't get her way.  Thankfully we have almost curbed the biting, and I can handle the spitting for now. 

She still only has the 2 bottom teeth.  Every once in a while she will have a run of super bad sleep or crankiness where she constantly chews on her hands, so we constantly are thinking that she is teething, but nothing shows up.  I'm beginning to wonder if she will only have the bottom teeth forever. 

She has gotten a little cold this past week and an ear infection, which thankfully we caught before it was too bad.  This little sickness doesn't seem to phase her though.  She is still as feisty as ever. 

She has also started to copy us.  If we put our hands in the air, she does too, she will dance when we do, tilt her head, scream, etc.  Its just gotten so fun to watch her little mind work.

She has not started walking yet, but its close I think.  She has taken a couple of steps a couple of times but only after Richard has been playing with her and has her super worked up so she doesn't realize that she is doing it, so I know its not that far off. 

I'm doing good too.  Super busy with my store, and I have been doing good with my PPD as well.  I've gone to see my therapist a couple of times and she is pleased with my progress and my level of motivation.  I do feel like myself more and more every day, and I'm finally setting a goal of losing 70 pounds.  Its something I should have done a long time ago, and this time I have some help in the form of the wife of an old high school friend LOL.  She is a very healthy eater and very in shape and has offered to help me out.  I have never had a problem with weight till now, and didn't really know how to do it effectively, so she has given me some plans to work on.

All in all things are good.  Just living life, working hard and hardly working.  I hope I didn't loose what few readers I did have in the last month that I have been gone LOL.

Hope you have a good evening. 


Friday, August 17, 2012

Stephy's Stitches

So I know it was only yesterday that I was considering selling my children's arm chairs on Etsy, but this morning I decided to bite the bullet and just do it! LOL. 

Check out my store Stephy's Stitches

I only have the one chair in there right now, but hopefully I can add more to it soon.  I'm working on some ideas that I can make quickly and post on the page. 

Thanks for checking it out!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

New business venture

On Richard and Leigha's birthday a couple of weeks ago I lost my job.  I used to do medical transcription from home.  Long story short, because of a mistake a doctor made, he wanted me gone and so they had to let me go, kinda sucks that I had to get the shaft for him to cover his butt, but its alright, I never really made that much money with that particular account anyway. 

Its kinda nice.  Even my therapist agrees that it was probably for the better because I get to spend more time with Richard and Leigha and essentially re-join the world because I had been working nights and weekends for well over a year.

Anyway, Recently I have learned to sew and have really enjoyed it.  I like making things for children. Clothing, toys, stuff like that.  I made Leigha an arm chair for her birthday and she loves it.  I brought it to her party and everyone there loved it too and told me I should try to sell it.  So I figured that I would make an extra one and give it a shot.





Here's the one that I made. I'm selling it for $50.  Its stuffed with a polyester filling and hand tufted, and has an enclosed wooden base to help prevent the chair from tipping over while a child is sitting in it.

I posted it on facebook and craigslist.  So far I haven't gotten any bites, but I'm still hoping.  I'm even considering opening an Etsy shop to sell them.  

I sure hope that this works out for me because I have a lot of fun making them.  Send up a prayer for me about this please if you don't mind.  Also if you have any advice on selling on Etsy, please let me know, I've never used it before.

Thanks.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Day in the life, 8/11/2012

 I don't have my normal camera this time around and I found it a little difficult to get my husband's camera to cooperate.  Sometimes it took a picture with a flash and sometimes not, with the same picture only seconds apart and sometimes it wouldn't take a picture at all or they were extremely blurry, so I didn't get many good pictures.  And if you go by the time stamp they don't match up.  I took some pics out of sequence because I didn't get a good pic the first time around, so I just took a pic about it a little later in the day ;)

Also a big Thank You to Laura at Navigating the Mothership for hosting the Day in the life project again.  If you want to read my previous days, click here and here.

1:00 am  I wake up because my leg is itching and I'm cold.  We have a door to our deck in our room and we left it open last night because the weather last night and today is supposed to be AWESOME!  It got down to about 60 last night and was a little bit chillier than what I am used to sleeping in during this crazy summer (heat wise LOL)  But because of the antidepressants that I am taking I'm up till about 4. Fun times.

2:00 am  I decide to get up and get a drink of water and turn on the TV to watch the Olympics because I just can't fall asleep even  though I want to so bad.  On my way to the bathroom I see a weird shaped spot on the floor.  Its a little frog that must have gotten in through the open door.  Richard has heard me get up and asked what was wrong and I told him there was a frog in the house.  I poke at it and its dead.  I wonder if I accidentally stepped on it when I got up, and hope that I didn't.

6:30 am Leigha is up.  I figure that its probably about 8 and get ready to get up but when I look at the clock and see 6:30 I bury my head back under the covers and will her to go back to sleep, but unfortunately that doesn't happen, so I go get her and we sit in the living room watching the news.
7:30 am  I can't believe that Leigha has sat quietly and cuddled for the last hour.  But she's up now, and so is everyone else in the house so she gets to eat breakfast.
8:15 am While she eats her puffs I check my facebook and when she is finished I change the channel to Threes Company (Mitt Romney is announcing his running mate BLECH, I hate politics!)  and sort out some too small clothes and next season clothes.  Leigha "helps"
9:00 am, I hop in the shower because we have LOTS to do today.  Surprisingly enough I actually somewhat style my hair and I am pleased with it.  Its a new cut and I like it, but haven't done my hair in so long that I forget how sometimes LOL.Leigha plays while I do this, climbs in her bathtub and into her rocker. 
 

9: 45 am  Out the door.  We have to meet someone who wants all the baby food jars that I had been saving in a half hearted attempt to force myself to make and store my own baby food.  Richard is thrilled to get them out of the house LOL.  60 something jars and lids.

10: 00 am  Walmart run to pick up 3 things...Dog food, toothpaste, and Thank you notes....$60 later ;) LOL

11:00 am is nap time.  I was running dangerously close to a major meltdown by taking Leigha to Walmart but thankfully we survived that one! :D

11:30 am I bite the bullet and start figuring out thank you notes for Leigha's party.  I forgot to write down what everyone got her so I have to do it from memory.  I'm doing pretty good, but there is one gift that I just can't remember who got it for her.  and one person who I can't remember what she gave, but I really don't think that those 2 match up.  Oh well. 

12:00 Leigha wakes up.  Richard and I have some plans to do some running around town but first the girl needs to be fed, and Richard sneaks a snack himself.
12:45 pm.  Richard mowed the grass this morning but had to go get his parent's lawn mower because he discovered a fuel leak in ours, so we return it now and visit with the in-laws for a while before heading up to deliver some tables for a local consignment sale so that I can get in and shop before everyone else.  We spend the next couple of hours driving all over town.
 
2:30 pm  We head to Best buy because for my birthday present this past week Richard said he wanted me to pick out a nook, then we head home with my new present, and lunch from Hardees.
3:00 pm.  Finally home I rush to put Leigha to bed for her afternoon nap while Richard gets the food ready and I plug in my nook and start playing with it and downloading books while it charges.  I spend pretty much the rest of the afternoon searching for and downloading free books.
4:00 pm Leigha wakes up from her nap so Richard gets her and we play and cuddle for a while.  She has started giving hugs on command and of course she loves giving Richard hugs all the time without asking.  Its so cute. But they don't last long as its now playtime and the first thing she grabs is her camera.
5:00 pm  I put some chicken in a pot to cook so I can make dinner a little later, and feed Leigha dinner.

5:30 pm  Richard starts cleaning out his man cave. While we were remodeling the kitchen all his tools and everything else ended up in there, and never got cleaned up.  It was AWFUL.  I hated that room,but as an agreement when we got the house I told him he could do whatever he wanted to with it, but I was not going to touch it, decorating or cleaning or anything else, it was all his. (Awesome deal if you ask me, he has TONS of collectibles in there that seem to require constant dusting LOL)  Anyway, Leigha tries to help him.  He has found an old keyboard so he gives it to her to play with, and that occupies her time for about 30 minutes or so.
6:00 I start to shred the chicken to make chicken tacos, add the seasonings and start getting the toppings ready.
6:45 pm.  Richard and I want to eat in peace without little hands grabbing at our plates so I quickly give Leigha a bath and get her ready for bed. She's asleep by about 7:15

7:00 pm.  Dinner time...and OH its is SO good!!!  We haven't had this in forever.
8:00 pm We turn on the olympics for the last evening.  I love the olympics.  I really wish that they would come more often.  We were talking earlier in the car during our errands today that I think this is the first year ever where I have watched all or nearly all of the events.  Not necessairly the whole thing, but I would see the highlights and things.

8:15  We go outside and try to see some of the meteor shower.  We didn't see anything

8:30  We come back in and I realize that Leigha is crying.  We had turned down the monitors and didn't turn them back up and forgot to bring one outside with us.  I don't know how long she had been crying, but when I went in I couldn't calm her down.  I end up having to nurse her to get her to calm and she finally went back to sleep about 9.

9:15 No such luck, she's up again.  I am not sure if it is teething or another ear infection so I get her some Tylenol and head to her room.  I rock her and she is asleep again within minutes.  This time till 5 am.  I make a note to call the doctor on Monday morning because she has been doing this for about a week now.  

9:30 Richard is watching TV, I"m not really sure what it is, and I curl up next to him and read some more books on the nook.  I love this thing.

10:00  We head to bed, but I stay up reading till about 11:30 when I finally call it a night.


Thursday, August 9, 2012

The cutest video EVER!!!

I took this video the other day.  Richard and I while watching TV sometimes will just randomly pick up a pillow and throw it at each other.  This was one of those days.  I happened to be holding Leigha when I picked up a pillow and threw it at him, he threw it back and Leigha started uncontrollably laughing.  Of course I made Richard grab the camera.  This is the best video I have of her to date and I can't help but laughing every time I watch it.


Oh and I FINALLY have Leigha's pictures back from her birthday party and I am working on a birthday post and 1 year letter and a day in the life post AND general family update.  Looks like August might just be a record posting month for me LOL.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

The End

I did it.  I breast fed Leigha for 1 year, 1 week and 6 days.  I accomplished my goal.  I had known that I wanted to wean her for some time, I just thought that the evening feeding before she went to bed would be the hardest, it was the only one we had left.

Today I decided that I was going to try not feeding her tonight before she went to sleep.  I had been dreading it for weeks.  I told Richard that it was going to be a rough evening.  I gave her her bath, put her jammies on, she got her good night kisses from Daddy waved goodbye to him and off we went to her room.

During naps I usually hold her and sing a couple songs and she starts to fall asleep in my arms and I put her in her bed.  Tonight I did the same thing.  She never put up a fight.  She cried a little when I put her in her bed but as soon as I shut her door she stopped.

I was crying as I left her room.  I never imagined that it would be this hard.  I knew that I only wanted to do this for a year.  I guess I enjoyed the private time more than I thought that I would.  Now its over.

I told Richard that I never dreamed it was this hard to stop.  He told me to look at the bright side that maybe now we can work on someone else putting her to bed.  That will be hard too.  No one has ever put her to bed but me.  I don't know how that will work.

But for now, its over.  1 year, 1 week, 6 days.  Its a wonderful accomplishment that went WAY too fast.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Postpartum Depression update.

So a while back I decided to go see a doctor for what I believed to be postpartum depression.  I didn't know who to see for it, so I decided to start by calling my OB/GYN to see who he recommended.  I left a message for the doctor, but his nurse called me back.  I told her my problem, that I hadn't felt like myself since Leigha was born blah, blah blah, and that I wanted to see a doctor and who did he recommend.  She said she would talk to him and call me back later in the day.  When she called back she told me that he didn't believe that it was PPD that it usually manifests itself shortly after delivery and I was more than likely suffering from plain ole depression and that he couldn't help me, but the nurse told me that if I sent her a copy of my insurance card that she would look up and find me a PCP who could see me...I never send the copy of the card.

Let me take a minute here and say that I realize that I just asked someone for help who had in the past proved to never really help me in the first place.  He (or his staff) never really took my concerns seriously, that I was treated like a money maker for him and that I felt like I was never that important.  Don't get me wrong I don't expect my doctors to see only me, but when a doctor doesn't give you reasonable explanations for questions other than "because I like them"  or completely blows me off because he is getting ready to walk out the door, that's not a good doctor no matter if he is the chief of the OB/GYN dept at the hospital or not.  I will NOT be going back to him ever.  I have given the office several second chances and they have never met my expectations.

Going back to square 1, I looked up our insurance to see if the visits would be covered, they were.  I looked up a doctor that was covered under our insurance, I found one.  I called and made an appointment....and then I canceled it because as it turned out there was a misunderstanding concerning the start date of the coverage, it didn't start when we were told it would.

Fast forward a month and now we KNOW the insurance is effective.  I look up that doctor and keep her phone number in my pocket for a week because I thought I was getting better.  I felt better, I had a positive outlook on things, I thought the worst was over.  But then the feeling of inadequacy came back.  The dread of naptime and sleeping, the constant frustration and crying...mine and Leigha's...and I knew in that first few days that I really needed to make that appointment.

When I called the receptionist told me it would take 3 weeks to get me in.  That was fine. I still had to get up the guts to actually go anyways.  I was so afraid she would tell me what every other doctor and person I talked to said.  That it was a chronic lack of sleep and that I needed to have someone take Leigha for a day or 2 and do nothing but rest. 

This past week I had my first appointment.  I talked, I cried, I told her that it had gotten easier but I still didn't feel like myself.  I told her how I used to feel back when I was pregnant and how I feel now.  I told her about Leigha and what a sweet girl she is and how I hate not feeling as bonded to her as I want to.  She asked if anything made me happy, and I told her about Leigha's party this past weekend (that post is coming, I am waiting on pictures to come back) and that I was excited for our anniversary dinner later that night. I told her about Richard and how I was nervous at the beginning but he proves time and time again what a wonderful amazing husband he is and father he has become.  She asked me what happened after Leigha was born and I told her about the rash and the colds and the flu and the not sleeping and the doctor telling me I needed more sleep and she listened the whole time.

She then told me that she believed that I do have what is now a mild case of postpartum depression.  That it was probably much worse but that I was able to work my way through it and she has put me on medication.  I go back in 3 weeks for a medication check.  She wants it to get in my system then evaluate me again in a few weeks and make a plan from there.

This is day 3 on the medication and while I can't really tell a huge difference at the moment, I can tell that I feel more at peace.  Leigha had a rough day yesterday and I didn't get upset or cry right along with her.  I am starting to feel more like my old self every day.  Its so nice to have a doctor that listens to me and wants to help me get better. 

I'm getting back on track and THAT makes me REALLY happy!

Sunday, July 22, 2012

The last days

I've been understandably nostalgic the last few days with Leigha's birthday coming up on Tuesday.  Tonight especially.  On July 22nd last year, at about 7:00 my best friend came over because she wanted to try her hand at taking some maternity pics.  I love her pics and I wasn't about to turn down more maternity pics since I had loved the last ones so much that another friend had taken a couple days prior. 

Kristy is more into the artistic pictures, and I love those.  I have shown lots of her pics on this blog, she is AMAZING.  She is a new photographer and I have been begging her for years to open her own photography business she is that good, and she is finally in the process of making it happen!  Anyways, if you are in the Nashville area and looking for a photographer, let me know, I am sure she would love the business! 

She had me lie down on the ground on my back, lie on my side, sit up, stand up, twist this way and that way.  Basically everything short of bending over and touching my toes (although if she thought it would make for a good picture, I'm sure she would have asked me to do that too LOL) 

I wasn't uncomfortable at the time.  Her and Richard both kept asking if I was OK.  Looking back I think I maybe had what felt like a little heart burn, but nothing I hadn't had before.  She didn't stay long because it was late and didn't take many pictures, but I love them all.  (I posted a few of my favorites.  I don't think that I have ever shared them before.)  After she left, Richard and I were both super tired so we went right to bed about 10:00. 

July 23rd at about 3:00 am (less than 5 hours after our photo shoot ended), my first contraction hit and our lives were never the same again. 

If I can get around to posting these next couple days, be prepared for some pretty sappy ones as there isn't a day that goes by without me crying at some point that my baby is turning 1!.

Take a look at Kristy's pictures, the pics that put me into labor.



I think this picture with the L is probably my all time favorite picture that I have, maternity wise.
 Richard just loves to be goofy, but I think I had him beat!
This is a pretty good one too.  Probably a second favorite of hers.
 

I hope that everyone has had a great weekend!!


Friday, July 13, 2012

Video bomb!

I have no idea if I have posted this video yet. The girl loves to dance.  I took this about a month ago and the dancing hasn't stopped, if anything its probably increased in amount.  Commercials, TV theme songs, the chime on the fridge that tells me its open....she will dance for anything.

She has recently outgrown size 3 diapers...of course she did this 3 diapers into the economy pack for 200 diapers, but whatever.  I had them all boxed up nice and neat to put up in the attic to save for babies later down the road.  One night while I was working and Richard was out, she was being super quiet.  When I went to investigate, this is what I found. (And just in case you were wondering, I didn't leave her to wander the house, the box was outside my office in the hall.  I had her blocked off to the rest of the house except for her room).

We knew that Leigha loves dogs, she tries to play with Espn and Allie all the time but unfortunately they don't care much for her and run and hide whenever she comes in the room.  We went over to a friend's house for the fourth and their dog LOVES kids, and so this is Leigha getting to know him.  And in one of those videos, it looks like he kicks her, he did, but it didn't leave a mark or phase her, she kept going back for more.

This girl LOVES strawberries and whipped cream.  My mom was eating a bowl of strawberries, and called her over.  When Leigha saw what it was, I have NEVER seen her crawl so fast to get food.  She is such a food hog.  She's already eating me out of house and home.  She eats a jar and a half of food at each sitting, (which is more than what her doctor recommends at this age) and a snack in the afternoon and drinks constantly, but she NEVER seems to get full!.

Just some cute recent updates.  We're in FULL ON party planning mode around here. 11 days till her birthday and 15 days till her party.  I'm running around town like a mad woman, poor Leigha won't know what to do with herself once all this running around is over and she can start naps in her own bed rather than the back seat of the car.  LOL.


Thursday, June 28, 2012

The countdown is on!

I think that I need to title every single post "A bunch of random stuff" because that's what they all end up being. LOL

In 26 days, it will be Leigha's Birthday (and Richard's too).  I have been in party planning mode for the last 6 months.  I know what party decorations we are going to use, I know what her theme is (Hugs and stitches) I know what people I want to invite, I know what food we are going to serve, I know what my plans for that day are going to be, but I am in NO WAY prepared for this, but then I wonder if any parent really is.

I finally ordered her invitations from Shutterfly the other day.  I am super happy with them.  I want to post them here but I can't figure out how to save the image and block out the address and stuff ;)  I kept hoping that if I delayed ordering them long enough then I wouldn't have to send them of and then I wouldn't have my baby turn 1.  No such luck I think.  

And how in the world have I not caught onto Shutterfly before?!  I not only ordered her invites, but also about 50 pictures (to fill most of the empty picture frames that we have around the house LOL) and have recently ordered a photo book, all free....well except for shipping, but still, not a bad deal to get a really nice photo book for $8.  (To see it, just click on the link, I can't figure out how to get it on the blog, if you know how, please let me know)


We were going to do lunch and grill out hamburgers, but Richard mentioned that someone will have to spend all that time outside in the heat grilling those hamburgers, which of course isn't fair to the person who has to do it (either him or his dad since the party is at his parent's house since our AC is out) so I am making everything.  I think I am pretty well set on the food.  I am planning on little smokies, meatballs, chips and dips, fruit...probably watermelon and cantaloupe, and pineapple, and of course the cake.  I think that should be plenty of food.  I have no clue how many people will be attending, I guess if lots of them don't come, I can adjust the amount.

I have also contacted a lady that I found online through Craigslist who has extras of the plates and cups and tablecloths that are in the design that I want to decorate with.  Problem is she lives over an hour away, and I really don't know if its worth driving that far to spend $20 to save $40.  She has lots more stuff than I will need, especially tablecloths and such, but I can always bunch them up and use them as banners or put under her highchair when she does her smash cake or whatever, or make a photo booth kinda thing with them.

All-in-all I guess, I'm pretty excited about it, she is 1, we get to see friends, I get to cook.  I just wish it didn't have to get here so FAST!





Monday, June 11, 2012

Weaning

The subject of weaning Leigha has been coming up a lot lately.  By me, by Richard, by my Mom.  I always knew that I wanted to make it a year, which I will.  After that, I am fine with weaning Leigha.  Although if you go further, that's fantastic!  Its just not for me. 

I have managed to get her down to 2 feedings a day.  Once before she goes to bed and once when she wakes up.  I am hoping to sometime in the next month get that down to one feeding a day.  However, I'm not entirely sure which one to cut out first.  I'm kinda leaning more towards the morning feeding and then leaving the bedtime one for after she turns one.   

Mom tells me just to stop.  Just don't offer it anymore, that she will get used to it, but I just can't do it.  I don't want to go cold turkey (which is what my mom suggested) because with me not being always very emotionally strong at the moment, I don't want to add that stress to my life, which of course, mom doesn't understand.  Now, the question is....exactly how do I do it.  With cutting out the other feedings in the past they have slowly been replaced by eating baby food and an occasional sippy cup and sometimes a stronger interest in playing with toys, but I don't know if that will work with these 2 feedings.  She doesn't take a bottle, so I don't know if I should just suck it up and go cold turkey, or if there is a better way. 

I have tried giving her a little sip of whole milk about a week ago which she immediately threw back up just seconds after swallowing it, so I'm also afraid of some sort of an allergy, and I haven't tried giving her any since.  I'm thinking almond or goats milk may be another way to go. 

Looks like I have some research to do. Or if anyone has any suggestions.

43 days till she's 1.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Random stuff

This afternoon it hit me....Next month, I'm going to have a 1 year old!!!  Holy heck, how is that possible?  Yes, yes, I know that she is only 10 months old, so technically she has 2 more months, but seriously at the end of July she will be 1.  I don't understand how time goes so stinkin FAST! 

This past week she has learned to clap, and now she doesn't stop.  No matter what she is doing she thinks she needs to stop in the middle and clap.  This includes playing, eating, diaper changes, getting dressed, taking a bath, etc.  We have to stop and clap for her. 

She finally has her second bottom tooth in.  Thank goodness, it poked through a couple of days ago.  Hmm, she has 2 teeth and I still have yet to learn what her teething symptoms are.  Yikes.

She has also learned how to 'dance' at some point.  She will stand (or kneel) at something and if music comes on, whether its from a toy or on the TV she will start to bounce.  Its so stinkin cute!  I can't hardly stand it.  of course when I try to get her to do it on video, she becomes more interested in the camera than dancing.  Oh well, one day I will.

She is starting to creep around the furniture.  She will also walk holding anyone elses hands but my own.  If she knows that its me holding her hand, she immediately lifts her legs in the air and hangs.  Apparently Mommies aren't supposed to help you walk.  I didn't know that ;)  But she is pretty good at walking too.  Its just a matter of time I'm sure.  I'm sure I will get in shape pretty quickly at that point because if its any indication of her crawling EVERYWHERE, she will take off running and never stop.

Overall, Its been hard.  It still is hard.  I know its going to continue to be hard.  I have recently come to the realization that I believe that I have PPD.  I denied it for so long because whenever I would go back to see my doctor and tell him about it and try to get him to help me, he just kinda blew me off and told me to take Leigha to her Grandparents house and get a good nights sleep.  I figured that since he's a doctor, he knew what he was talking about more than I did.  I know that's not the case.  But deep down I knew it wasn't a chronic lack of sleep.  I knew that something else was wrong.  I had to try too hard to be happy and it was exhausting, and oh the mood swings.  And I really feel that I have missed out on the first part of Leigha's life because I've been so unhappy.  I know I was there, I have the pics to prove it, but if I didn't there was no way that you could convince me that some of the things happened, I just clear don't remember them....at all....But since Richard's insurance has now taken effect (long story don't get me started) I have made an appointment to go talk to someone.  Hopefully this will all make me feel a lot better.  Hopefully I will be more in control of my life, and hopefully I will get back to normal again.

Monday, May 21, 2012

My Leigha

Dear little Leigha,

One day you will learn exactly how scatterbrained and forgetful your mother is (I started this post over a month ago).  You will realize that I say that I am going to do things and procrastinate until the last minute and then rush to get through them.  But you will grow up that way, so maybe you won't mind....too much.  Hopefully you will think its normal, but I HOPE that you won't take after me in that respect LOL.
(Such a happy girl in the mornings)
I haven't written your letter and update in a couple of months, and this technically isn't one now, but I thought that I would update the blog at least to have a reminder of what you are up to these days?

I took you to the doctor last week because you were super cranky and not acting like yourself.  Turns out you had a double ear infection so you are currently on antibiotics.  Thankfully you have returned to my normal little girl.  You are crawling up a STORM.  There is no where in this house that you don't love to be.  You will even try to run away if you know that you are headed for something that you aren't supposed to have, like the dog's water bowls for instance.  I can't tell you how many times I have had to mop up water off the floor because you want to use the bowls for drums.  At least its just water.
(She just looks so mischievous in this pic)
You are also now 20 pounds and 29 inches long.  You have about tripled your weight and grown 8 inches since you were born.  Holy COW!!!!

You also have your first tooth.  Dr. M says that the other one is right under the surface and should break through any day now, you are just taking your time with growing teeth apparently. (Its down there on the bottom right)
You love to wave and have been doing it for a while now, and you are just now getting the hang of bending your wrist to do it.  I'm gonna miss that whole arm wave, its pretty cute.  You were saying bye bye (ba-ba) for a while when you would do it, but you have stopped, but its OK.  You now have started telling me when you are done with something by saying 'all done' (ah-duh or duh) You say it after eating with a wave and after nursing you tell me you are ah-duh.  You are also pretty good at asking who'/what's that (oo-dat/ uh-dat)  Now of course this may all be in my mind, but I know that's what you are saying.  You're a GENIUS little girl, a GENIUS!  You may make your Dad and I proud and go to Vanderbilt after all...although you need to probably get a scholarship because there is no way we would be able to afford it in 18 years I'm sure.
(Mmmmmm....oranges)
I'm getting pretty sad/happy about planning your first birthday party.  Its going to be a joint party with your Dad, You'll probably get lots of those while you are still little and don't know the difference, You'll just be excited to see more and more people.  We are going to have hamburgers and hot dogs and a mini pool for the kids (it will be end of July here so we need something to cool off)  But other than that I'm not sure what we will do.  We are just going to have family and a few close friends over.  I'm happy because I get to plan a fun party and have people over to the house, which is something that I LOVE doing, but I'm sad because you are growing up.

You are getting to be a pretty odd character lately.  When you wake up from a nap you are pretty pleasant most of the time, and usually 75% of the time when I come in the room you are standing in your crib jumping up and down...OK well its more like bouncing, but its still pretty cute.  I need to try to capture that on video.  Also the other day you were in my office while I was working and you were playing and rolling around and squealing as usual and I look over at you and you are laying face down on the carpet with your nose to the floor and arms and legs spread SQUEALING at the top of your lungs for no reason other than to make noise I guess.  That for sure put a smile on my face and made me laugh super hard.

You are getting so big I can't hardly stand it.  You are definitely a stubborn little girl like your Dad ;)  But you have a sweet side too.  

I love you, I promise I always will.

Mommy.  (Just learn that really fast OK, ;)  I want you to learn those words now LOL)







Tuesday, April 3, 2012

I can't read (or spell)

So I was just bored while working, and decided I would go on my blog to read a few posts.  Yes, I'm weird like that LOL.  Anyway, when I was reading the about me section, right over there to the left under my picture (which I need to update if I could remember how to do it) I saw it.  The misspelling of Daddy where it says "happens to be her Daddly's birthday"  OMG.  I think I need to go back to 1st grade.  Maybe, when do they learn spelling?

The funny thing is with as many times as I have come on here to read this blog over and over and over again and edit and move things around and stuff you would think that I would have seen it.  I love that little paragraph letting you know who I am and what my blog is about and so I usually read that often as well.

Oh me.  Well, I'm off to attempt to make a pattern to sew Leigha's Easter dress.  Yes, I'm certifiable!

*I left the misspelling there so that you can laugh at me.  Its OK, feel free, if Leigha wasn't in the next room, I would be rolling about it LOL  :D

Friday, March 30, 2012

Just because

Just because I am in a crazy good mood, and  because Leigha has been crawling to me to give me kisses and just crawling up a storm in general, I am going to do this tagged survey thingy that has been flying around the blogs that I read just for kicks even though I wasn't tagged LOL. One good thing though is I don't have to entirely follow the rules that way either ;)  And because most of the blogs that I read have been tagged by Laura and I dont know of any others who would do it.

So I thought this would be fun.  Here it goes.
11 Random facts about me:

1) I won a patriotic art contest in High School and won $100 bucks for a drawing that I did of the Statue of Liberty with Ellis Island in the background.  I can't really stand the drawing now because I see all of the flaws, but I still think its pretty cool that I won.  I can't remember what I did with the money. 

2) I love cooking.  Not just regular ole dinners, although I do love doing that too, but I really love making complicated things that I make at least just once to see if I can do it.  In another life I would probably have become a chef, but I don't like a lot of foods.

3) I am a night owl.  I don't like waking up in the mornings AT ALL.  When I was in school and we were out on summer break I would stay up until 3-4 in the morning and then sleep all day.  I loved it.   I wish I could do that now! 

4) I love infomercials.  There is just something so over the top stupid about the "real life scenarios" that they show that makes me laugh.  I mean seriously do people really have that much of a hard time painting, or grilling a hamburger or weeding? LOL.

5)  I still think of myself as a girl as in a young girl.  I may be closing in quickly on 31, but I can't think of myself as a woman.  its super weird and I just can't do it.  It weird for me to hear people call me a woman.  I guess to me it just sounds old, and I definitely am NOT old!!  LOL.

6)  I always said that I was going to marry a rich man and have a maid who would clean up after me and someone to cook my meals so that all I would have to do is take care of the kids all day.  Obviously that never happened LOL.

7)  I love building things.  Growing up, my parents would get the "some assembly required" things for around the house and I would always beg to put them together, but they would always give the task to my brother.  I hated it.  The only thing that I remember ever putting together is a bookcase that they bought me, and I'm pretty sure that they only let me do that because they brought my brother an identical one.  I guess its a good thing that I married a man who would let me build almost anything I wanted.

8)  I can't do any kind of math without a calculator.  Well, except for super simple basics, but the rest, forget it.  I hated it in school, and never could understand why we had to learn it if they made calculators.  Seemed like a waste of my time.

9)  My husband is the first real boyfriend that I ever had.  I had gone on a couple of dates with literally a couple of different guys, but he's the only one I ever dated.

10)  I never liked any kind of sports until I met Richard.  He taught me to like them.  My favorite now is basketball.

11)  I had back surgery when I was 22.  I had a hunch back and it was starting to really hurt not to mention I was EXTREMELY self conscious about it.  I went to a doctor who suggested a surgery where they put metal hooks and screws in your spine which supported 2 metal rods that run the length of my spine from my neck to my tailbone.  Recovery was 3 weeks of pure hell, but its the best thing that I have ever done.  I'm convinced that if I hadn't done it, I wouldn't have gotten married to Richard when I did because it was when I was having surgery that he realized that he couldn't live without me and had to marry me.  Oh and I gained 3 inches of height!  That's how bad the curve was!  :(


1) What are your top five all-time favorite bands?
I was talking to my Dad the other night and realized that I have only ever been to 5 concerts in my lifetime, and those are really the only bands that I can remember at this point in the day, and I wouldn't go to a concert for a band that I didn't love, so....
  • Garth Brooks ~ Saw him December 2010 at a benefit concert for the victims of the May 2010 floods here in Nashville.  It was an AMAZING performance and the whole time Richard was worried that the baby's developing ears would be damaged by the loud music, and needless to say I didn't care at all....I was watching Garth Brooks IN CONCERT!  Weeee!!!  :D
  • Matchbox 20 ~ This was the first concert that I had ever gone to.  I went with my SIL at the time (although then it was just my boyfriend's sister LOL).  I had a BLAST!  It was so much fun, and they are one of the few bands/singers that I know most of the words to their songs.  
  • Elton John ~ Need I say more?  He's awesome,  I love his songs, He's one of the few that I can pick out on the radio every single time (I am horrible with bands/songs/lyrics) 
  • Kid Rock ~ Crazy pick, yes, I know.  But his concert was really cool actually.  There is something about his singing that I like.  I think its the whole bad boy image that I am attracted to.  
  • Aerosmith ~ No, I never saw Aerosmith in concert, BUT they are one of my favs.  Even though Steven Tyler is a little odd looking.  I really like his voice.  :) 
Oh and just for a random fact, the 5th concert that I have seen was for Earth Wind and Fire with Chicago.  Richard took me on my Birthday the year after we were married because our song is "your My Inspiration" by Chicago.  We were both very much disappointed, not a good concert at all, but still a nice birthday date with the hubby.

2) What are your top five all-time favorite books?

  • Lucky Man / Michael J. Fox   ~ Its a great story about him finding out that he had Parkinson's and his life with it.
  • Love Greg and Laura ~ A story about a woman who was injured in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and her Husband's emails to friends and family about her recovery.  I think I cried during the entire book.
  • I can't for the life of me remember the title but it is the autobiography of Christopher Reeves.  Another amazing story. 
  • Hunger Games ~ Honestly, I never even really wanted to read the book once I figured out what it was about (after I won it from Laura's giveaway) But then I told myself that I would only read a couple of chapters.  I ended up finishing it is less than 24 hours and it took me that long because I had to sleep.  And then I had to immediately go out and buy the other 2 books in the series.  Laura, you created a monster! LOL  (Thanks! :D )
  • Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. ~ I'm a sucker for a romantic book, and since I am almost finished with it, its becoming one of my favorites :)

 3) What is the craziest thing you have ever done?
Riding on the back of Richard's motorcycle without a helmet.  We went to Daytona back a long time ago when we were still dating and they have an optional helmet law down there, so I didn't wear one and we rode that thing all over the place.  Still makes me shudder whenever I think about it.  At least nothing happened except maybe the occasional bug in the face..Eww!

4) What is your favorite treat?
Anything chocolate really.  I will not pass up anything that has chocolate.  Although my favorite non-chocolate treat is the Raspberry Lemon Cheesecake from the Cheesecake factory.  To me it tastes like summer.

5) What are you the proudest of?
I recently learned how to sew, and I am super proud that I have even made Leigha some clothes that she has worn out in public and has even gotten comments on it without knowing that they were homemade!  I'm too afraid to try to make something for myself though.

6) What are you the most ashamed of?
That I dropped out of college, that I don't have a degree in anything.  I had once wanted to be a doctor.  Even took a bunch of pre-med courses, I just couldn't handle being away from home.  I just wish that I had stuck with it and gotten a degree in SOMETHING so that I could contribute more to our family finances.

 7) What is your guilty pleasure?
Buying clothes for myself.  I have to force myself to do it.  I have lots of gift certificates that I need to use, but I feel bad buying things for me when Richard and Leigha need things too.

8) What are you really, really good at?
At this moment in time, I have to say sewing.

9) What does your handwriting look like? (post a pic!!!)
Nothing fancy.  This is a shopping list I wrote a couple of weeks ago for a mug cheesecake I found on pinterest.  Its not all that. 

10) Which chores do you refuse to do (or do your best to get out of)
Any of them.  I don't like cleaning, but If I had to say one of them that I hate doing more than anything is moping.  I just don't like it.  The dirty water, whats in it, etc.  I just can't stand it.  Oh and dusting.  I hate them equally.  I like things, nicknacks and stuff, but I hate to clean around them.

11) Do you have any tattoos, body piercings, etc.?
I have my ears pierced but that's it.  I was going to have my belly button pierced a long time ago, but never did and now that I have had Leigha and my stomach looks all flabby and disgusting and looks like I was attacked by a tiger from all the stretch marks, I'm super glad that I didn't.  BUT I do plan on someday getting a tattoo with my Children's names incorporated in it somehow.  I just haven't figured out any of the details of it, but I think its a super sweet thing to do.


Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Look at what my Leigha can do!

For the past month or so Leigha has been one crabby little kid LOL.  She had been trying to learn how to crawl and sit up and all that kind of stuff, and when she doesn't get what she wants right away, or when she thinks that she can't do something she gets frustrated and crabby.  Well last week, my mom showed her how she could sit up by herself, and she has been doing that ever since.  She has started to learn how to wave hello and good bye, and just this morning she started crawling.

She has had the turning part down for a while, and she would slowly inch her way forward, but she would never crawl.  Last night she crawled 4 steps once, but never would do it again.  This morning however I set her on the floor to let the dogs out and when I had come back inside, she had crawled about 10 feet to get a hold of a plastic bag that I had on the floor from going shopping.

She wouldn't crawl for anything else, so of course like any good mother would I put the bag back on the floor and let her crawl to it and have a field day waving it around.  (Don't worry, she was supervised the whole time, and I never once let her put it near her face)

Of course this means that we have to quickly finish the kitchen floor (the last major thing left in our remodel) and start to really be serious about baby proofing and keeping things off the floor.  This is not a milestone that I was prepared for.  She totally needs to go back and be the cute little baby that I can lay somewhere and when I come back she is still in the same place....I'm not ready for this to go so fast!!!

And of course for your viewing pleasure, I took some videos.

 

 

  

 I know that they are all pretty much the same thing, but hey, I was here with her by myself and I had to take some videos so Richard could see his baby girl crawl for the first time!  :)

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Day in the Life ~ Winter 2012 ~ Feb 14. 2012

Laura from Navigating the Mothership is doing her quarterly "Day in the Life" project again.  I had so much fun doing it last October that I am doing it again this time too.

If you don't read Laura's blog, you really should.  She's one of the only blogs that I read right away when it appears in my reader and I really enjoy her wit and sense of humor and honesty. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 (I don't have many pictures till about 9am when I really start my day because before then I'm not very coherent and awake and don't think about it being my 'Day in the Life' day LOL).

12:00 am.  Since its a day in the life post my day starts with me watching some TV because as usual I can't sleep.   I'm watching  'My Wife and Kids'

Sometime between 12:30 and 1:30 I manage to fall asleep, even with the TV on. 

1:30 am  I wake up to hear Leigha complaining in her crib.  I grab the monitor and turn it down so it doesn't wake Richard up.  I wait to go get her because we are having issues with her sleeping through the night....she doesn't LOL, she usually tries to wake up about 2-3 times a night.  I'm so beyond exhausted I need to come up with a new word for it.

4:30 am She is up again.  She must have fallen back asleep because I did LOL.  So this time since it has now been about 9 hours since she last nursed and she is going nuts crying, and I am going to get up because Richards alarm is about to go off I get up and nurse her.  As I nurse her I think I'm probably sending her mixed messages, but her cries pretty much all sound the same to me in the middle of the night except for when she is complaining so I don't know when she is hungry and when she is just being cranky.

5:00 am She is finished and looking around.  Since I can't fall asleep when I go to bed like a normal person, I put her down in her crib and head to bed because I am SUPER exhausted.  I grab the monitor and crawl in and start to fall back asleep.

5:15 am Richard asks if I was able to transfer some recordings from his weekly meetings at work to the computer because he has another meeting this morning and they record them all because this job has been crazy and they need proof of things that were said in case anything were to happen.  Of course I had forgotten to do this last night, so I get up and head to the living room and start transferring the tapes.

5:30 am I'm finally finished transferring the files and Richard is getting ready to leave.  He wishes me a Happy Valentines Day and gives me a card and heads out the door.  I don't open the card because I want him to be around when I open them. (its a weird quirk, but it is what it is LOL) and I also haven't finished his present yet.  I head back to bed.

8:00 am.  Leigha starts to wake up again, but she isn't crying yet, so I quickly run to the bathroom and let Espn and Allie out and feed them, I turn on the kerosene heater because its kinda cold and then go get her change and nurse her.

8:18 am  Leigha is finished nursing and is starting to want to cuddle.  She doesn't wake up too well and DEFINITELY isn't a morning person, and who doesn't want baby cuddles.  

8:35 am  She is starting to get more active so I put her down on the ground to play a little and I notice that I am wet, she has peed through her diaper.  I strip her down and leave her to play and run and get some clothes.

8:38 am I heard some weird sounds coming from the living room and when I come back in I notice Leigha is not playing her music station with her hands or feet as she sometimes does, but she has started her new way of playing it which is with her mouth.  She has only started doing this and I didn't get a picture of it today, but I did yesterday (So I'm using that one because its SO CUTE!!!)  But this makes me laugh because she looks like she is trying to eat the thing, which of course gets her laughing.

9:00 am. I never did get Leigha dressed, I decided that I wanted to play with her on the floor.  Its really warm because of the heater and now we have carpet in the house (a new addition since last October) so I'm not worried about her getting cold. 

9:11 am.  While Leigha plays on the floor I check my facebook page because I can't live without facebook.  Wanna be my friend on facebook? I like 'meeting' new people, let me know and maybe I'll look you up  :D.  

9:20 am  I finish up my list of things that I need to get from the store and I get Leigha dressed.  I put her in a cute little heart outfit perfect for Valentines day with some warm fleece pants that I made her.  Very festive.

9:25 am  I set Leigha on the floor in my room so that I can get a load of laundry started and keep an eye on her.

9:45 am  I notice that Leigha is acting like she is tired.  I try and put her in her crib and of course she protests but is asleep within minutes. 

10:00 am  Good Eats is on.  I'm set.

10:30 am  Leigha is still asleep so I run and take a shower.  I take the monitor in the bathroom with me and decide to take a good nice long showed and take advantage of not having to put Leigha in her jumper and play peek-a-boo throughout the entire shower.

11:15 am Leigha is starting to wake up so I get out of the shower, yup, I took a 45 minute shower and it felt wonderful.  I haven't done that in so long.  I hurry up and get dressed and go get the girl.

11:18 am I bring her back to my room and set her outside the bathroom door with some toys so that I can dry my hair.

11:30 am We head out to get the things we need for today.  I have to go to Hobby Lobby and Walmart.  But I of course forgot my camera.

1:30 pm.  I'm back from Walmart after spending entirely too much money and getting things I didn't need, and I had to get some lunch too, taco bell.

1:45 pm  I get everyone and everything out of the carseats and bags and get ready to start the dinner that I decided to make for tonight, spaghetti.

1:50 pm I chop the onions and bell peppers, put the oil in the pan and cut the sausages in half and take off the casings and start browning them. 

2:20 pm I start browning the onions and peppers and then add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, paste sugar and add the sausages back in.


2:45 pm Leigha is fussy and I can't get her to calm down, so I feed her some veggies, peas I think, and nurse her and into her crib she goes.  She is asleep within about 5 minutes.
3:10 pm I start melting butter and marshmallows and measure the rice krispies.

3:15 pm I burn my hand trying to get the rice krispie treats out of the pan and into a Hershey Kiss shape, and then I sprinkle some chocolate chips on them and wrap them in foil.  I made the super big because I thought they looked better, but one krispie fed us both, so if I go to make them again, I will probably make them a little smaller.

3:20 pm  One of the neighbor kids comes over and gives me a Valentines day present for Leigha.  Its the cutest little stuffed rabbit with a cute little and written card and cut out hearts that is signed by the whole family.  I promise to bring Leigha by later to say thank you since she is still napping.

3:30 pm  I start cutting and gluing the paper I bought at Hobby Lobby to fit inside the box that I am going to put Richard's Valentines gift in, and painting it silver.

4:00 pm.  Ugh, I have to start working.  I really wish I had a day shift or better yet, could afford to just be a stay at home Mom and concentrate on raising Leigha, but I am super thankful that I can work from home for a company that is super understanding of me being a new Mom.  I spend the next couple of hours working, stirring the sauce, and making Richard's present.  We are pretty busy at work, although they are all pretty long reports, so I don't make much money and just end up getting frustrated.

6:00 pm  Richard is finally home.  He takes a shower and then he takes over watching Leigha, she's super cranky so we fast track feeding, bathing and getting her in bed, which I work during the whole time :( so I didn't get any pictures.

7:30 pm He comes into my office with a sleeping Leigha in his arms.  I love how he can put her to sleep, but she always sleeps on his shoulder and wakes up when he tries to put her in her bed, so I help him get her into bed.

7:35 pm, Since I have taken a break to get Leigha into bed, I decide to grab a quick bowl of Spaghetti

7:45 pm back at work till 10.  I know, super exciting, I'm sorry.  But I do enjoy a small dessert of mini chocolate chips.

10:00 pm.  DONE!!!  LOL.  I love 10 pm :)  I can finally give Richard his present and card.  He opens the box says thanks and opens the card, and I finally get to open mine.

10:15 pm.  I'm exhausted.  A crying baby and nothing going right in the afternoon really took it out of me.  My evening plans after I got off work were to spend some quality time with Richard watching a couple TV shows, and just enjoying the evening, but instead we went straight to sleep.

11:30 pm.  Leigha starts whimpering, so I'm awake again.  She doesn't fully wake up, but it doesn't help me to go back to sleep, so up for a while I am, and I don't fall back to sleep till about 1 am.

Will my sleep habits ever be normal again? :(

Oh and since I forgot to take a picture of me doing things throughout the day, here is a quick one I snapped while I was working.  :D