My version of 25 Random Things:

So this whole 25 random things is going around on Facebook. I swear I have been "tagged" at least 5 times. But I am against that viral junk and hate passing it along. But random things I can do. So here goes:

1. I recently got my hair chopped (super short) and I'm still not sure if I like it.

2. I love cats more than dogs. But don't tell Leo that.

3. If I would never gain weight I would live off doughnuts.

4. I hate my smile, I have never liked it and probably never will.

5. I love to watch the sun rise and set on the snow in MN. There is nothing more beautiful than that.

6. In my dream house there will be NO carpet.

7. I am too nice and get taken advantage of because of it.

8. I love being a mom, it really is the most meaningful thing I've ever done with my life.

9. Someday I would LOVE to be a professional photographer. (if time and money were no issue)

10. I wish we had more than one bathroom in our house.

11. Lily's giggle can make the grumpiest person bust a gut laughing.

12. My house will never be clean enough to eat of the floor and I'm OK with that.

13. I wish I could see my family and friends more. Everyone lives so far away.

14. I've never been on an airplane and I would like to keep it that way.

15. It's a lot harder to come up with 25 random things than I thought it would be.

16. Out of a typical 8 hour day at work I probably do about 2 hours worth of actual work. I'm not sure how I still have a job.

17. I feel so blessed that of all the guys on the Internet I ended up with Adam.

18. I don't really Need anything else in my life. I have all I need!

19. Of course there are always thing I WANT.

20. I only have 1 pair of shoes that I actually wear. And they are pretty worn.

21. I can't remember the last time I wore a dress or skirt.

22. But I LOVE getting dressed up and Love dresses.

23. I also love makeup but don't wear ANY on a normal day.

24. I have a cat who likes NOBODY better than me, and that makes me feel good. Even though he drives me crazy sometimes.

25. We bought a video of our wedding and haven't every watched it once and in fact I don't even know where it is.

What?

Well, It's Friday! Finally. I so needed it to be Friday, it has been a very long week for some reason.

Lily slept better last night. Not like Thursday night where at 12:30 in the morning she cries for an hour before I finally get up and take her downstairs and lay with her til 2:30 and then back to the crib for her and then i laid in bed wondering how long she would sleep before she woke up crying again. So needless to say yesterday I was in a very very poor mental state. I really wish I was one of those people who could function properly on just a few hours of sleep. But alas, I am not. I need 8 plus hours and sometimes with a baby that just ISN'T possible.

On a side note: It's Superbowl weekend and I think we might be the only people in the country that aren't planning on going to or having a party. In fact we probably won't even really watch it except maybe to check the score or to see some of the commercials.

So Happy weekend everyone!

The question is, can I keep it off?

So I lost 6 pounds my first week back on track with Weightwatchers! I am so excited even though I am fully aware that is is water weight and I will probably maintain or even gain a little back on Monday when I weigh in.

But man seeing that just really makes me happy! Makes me realize I don't NEED to eat everything in sight. Even when I want to.

I need to make time for exercise, I know it will make a big difference this time around since I have issues with my stomach now after having a kid. I just am good with the excuses and I really shouldn't because I can do my Wii Fit WHILE I watch TV. So tonight, I will workout. Even if it's short, it's better than nothing right?

Wish me luck. :-)

8 Month Update:

So what can the girl do at 8 months?

She can:

Sit up by herself and reach for things well without tipping over

Roll over both ways (finally)

Scream when you take a toy away from her

She laughs uncontrollably when you grunt at her or blow raspberries on her tummy

Reaches for you as if saying "pick me up", when you hold your hands out for her (in fact she did that the whole time I was dressing her this morning, she just wanted me to pick her up)

She also will refuse to go to you if she wants to stay where she is

She blows raspberries and smacks her lips

She is constantly pulling off my glasses

She (most of the time) sleeps straight through the night (and has been for months)

She loves to eat

She hates to nap

She loves All things Animal

She dances when you play music. Even throwing in some interesting head moves

She has a perma-smile

Cannot be left alone in a room without shrieking like there is an axe murderer in there with her

Loves to Jump Jump Jump

Can stand almost independently, but for sure hanging on to someone/something

Has no interest in crawling but is tolerating tummy time a lot better these days (probably cause she can roll back over now)

She STILL has no teeth

She has her first real cold

She Loves the "big girl bathtub" and her duck ducks

Happy 8 Months!

Mommy Loves You!

I sent this one to Adam at work! I also have one without the "I Love My Daddy" written on it.

She did NOT want to look at me, she just wanted to play with these ducks. She Loves ducks.

I'm not even trying to hide it.

I'm a quitter. I quit things. In fact sometimes I think I start things just so I can quit them. (OK that might be an exaggeration but you get my point here)

I was just thinking to myself. I have lots of things I haven't quit on (even though at times I may have wanted to). So I'm making a list, cause it's what I do best. To make myself feel better and prove I CAN stick to things if I truly want to.

1. Being a wife. Hey, it's hard work and I've made it almost 2 years already.
2. Being a mother, and there have been many times I've wanted to quit but she is so dang cute.
3. Scrapbooking. I love it. It's fun and relaxing, I wish I could do it more actually.
4. My Job, Again this is another one that I've wanted to quit several times but that whole "being an adult" thing is sorta holding me back.
5. My blog. I've been doing this since. what? August and still going, in fact I actually write more now than I did. I also really enjoy this and sometimes I yearn to type but have nothing to write about. It's sad really.
6. Caring for my furbabies. Yup my pets. I'm not sure I ever really mention them here but we have 2 cats and a dog and I've had one of the cats for like 14 years now. That's quite an accomplishment. (though Adam takes care of them mostly now.)


Um Yeah, maybe that isn't that many things. But it's still better than nothing right?

What IS Motivation Anyway?

I think it's something people have to have in order to workout, eat right. I have no problem finding motivation. It's keeping it that I struggle with.

My question I find myself asking myself is why can't I keep my motivation? Is the food that tempts me really that great? Is the shows on TV really better than getting a workout in?

I think my main problem is excuses. I think I could be dubbed the queen of excuses. I can always think of something else I SHOULD be doing. Like dishes, laundry, spending time with my family, etc. But really my health is important too. And I really need to learn to quit putting it on the back burner. It needs to be put on the front burner, and watched carefully, cause I'm tired of boiling over. OK enough with the puns. In all seriousness I am frustrated and angry with myself. I have committed and re-committed so many times and it makes me sad that right this moment I'm feeling motivated but in a day or too this will wear off and I'll be back down in the pits and eating everything in sight without caring.

I need to address WHY I can't stick with it. Why I have a hard time accomplishing even the smallest goal. I have even tried throwing the scale out of the picture and just going by how I feel about myself. I just don't understand the Why of it all.

Wait...What was I talking about again?

So the rest of the weekend shaped up to be pretty good. I didn't blog about the good things in my last post because I wanted it to be more dramatic (insert eye rolls here) Plus the baby was sitting with me while I typed that last one and she always tries to "help" mommy type. Bless her heart.

So our car shopping adventure is OVER! We finally got one. A Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. It's nice. Adam and I both love it, and in fact we are still undecided about who gets to drive it. So for now we are taking turns. Even though I will get more turns. (Love you honey) And I have it today too. But in my defense Adam is home today so it doesn't really matter right?

Friday night my sister-in-law took the baby overnight for us. I was thrilled, but I of course, wanted the baby to be good for her. Turns out she was great, slept all night. Lucky duck. Adam and I went to Red Lobster courtesy of the gift certificate we got from Sarah (my sister-in law). I felt like a real adult getting out of the house, with my husband, without the baby. After we ate we decided to go to the casino. Adam lost some money, I won some. But not enough to cover what he lost. BUT we had fun anyway and so that was nice. We got home and slept, and slept til almost 10 the next morning. It was wonderful. Then we went car shopping, got the Jeep just in time to go and pick up Lily.

Then there was the night of horror. *shudder*

And then Sunday I made a nice big breakfast of pancakes, hash browns, eggs, and bacon. It was good. Then I went and got my hair cut.

As of right now I'm having some mixed feelings about it. It's not styled right and looks nothing like I wanted. BUT it has potential. I just have to find some time to play with it. So for now I'm not thrilled but it will grow on me I think. Tomorrow I'll blow it dry and see if that makes a difference at all.

Then I ran to goodwill in the search of some plain, solid color sheets for photos for Lily. I don't mind doing them myself and actually enjoy it, but it's hard when you don't have anything to use as a drop cloth/background type thing. I found a few neat things and so I am just patiently waiting a week until Lily hits 8 months and then I'll give it a go and see what I can do. I think I'm going to try and read up on some lighting and stuff like that, Ideally I like to do pictures outside cause lighting is perfect. But what can you do when you have tons of snow in the way right? Wish me luck! People have given me many compliments on other photos I have done so I'm hoping I can get some more good ones. She's a pretty easy subject.

Anyway, Lily had a better night last night. Though she still woke up a lot, she managed to put herself back to sleep, which is always good. And at some point a circuit blew and her heater and nightlight went off. We just left it but eventually Adam had to run down and flip it back on. She likes the noise from the heater and I'm sure the light helps too. And she went back to sleep, and stayed asleep after that. Not sure what happened to the breaker though. Our house is full of mysteries.

Alright I suppose I'll quit boring you now with my babble.

All Times are Approximate...

7:30pm: Bedtime dress, bottle, cuddles, sound asleep crib time

8:00pm: Adam and I go downstairs and have some corn dogs and play some Lego Starwars

10:00pm: We decide to head up to bed

11:00pm: Lily wakes up and cries off and on for 25 minutes while Adam and I argue about sleeping

11:25pm: Adam goes in and gets her and brings her to me. I cuddle her and sing to her she finally goes back to sleep

12:00am: Adam gets her to stay in the crib without waking up screaming the first second you put her down. We are hopeful she will sleep the rest of the night.

1:00am: She wakes up again, but by her cry I think she might go back to sleep on her own.

1:15am: I was wrong, Adam goes in and gets her and brings her to me again.

1:30am: she's back to sleep, I am not.

1:30-4:30am: I am holding her while she sleeps, every time I close my eyes, she knows and starts crying and at this point I'm thinking she's doing it on purpose just to spite me.

4:30am: I lay there awake hoping for 6:00am to come so I can just GET UP ALREADY.

5:00am: I tell Adam I just am going to get up (I'm almost in tears) and we argue again about sleeping. I honestly just want to get UP. I'm wide awake and sick of laying there wishing for morning to come. So I get up and get her clothes and get her dressed and changed and feed her breakfast.

6:03am: I'm writing this with her on my lap giggling away cause she's in a GREAT mood.

And she was SO good for my sister in law on Friday night. Slept all night for her. Hopefully tonight will be better.

For now I leave you with a photo, since she's so cute and it's the only thing keeping her alive at this point.

Lily with her baby doll.

A Disruption in the Force....

So for Christmas my Sister in law gave us a "gift certificate" for a free overnight babysitting. So we decided to cash it in tonight. A free night. We really aren't sure what to do with ourselves. We are thinking maybe casino trip, maybe dinner out. I mean it's a tough call, we really don't want to waste it. We know for sure that we are going to sleep in tomorrow and then go car shopping. But what on earth do we do tonight? We could go to a movie, really anything. We decided to play it by ear and see what we feel like.

All I can say is after 7.5 months of doing a bedtime routine, EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. I will be at a loss as to what to do with myself come 7:30pm tonight.

What do you guys think we should do?

A Myriad of Photos

This is my alternate version of if Lily were a boy. LOL

I love my Leo!

Lily completely hamming it up for the camera.

It's electric, Boogey -woogy-oogy

Just Chillin'

My Productivity.

So yesterday Adam was so sweet and kind enough to get up early, get the Monster ready, AND take her over to my Mother-in-Laws house so that I could have a day to rest up and maybe get some much needed housework done. As you all know Lily has been rather needy as of late, which makes it hard to get anything more than a load of dishes done or vacuuming the living room. And I hate to admit it but I don't even remember the last time my shower and the floors had been cleaned. It needed it. Badly.

Stuff I got done yesterday:

Kitchen:
Dishes (all of them, dishwasher is empty as I type)
Counters
Fronts of cabinets
Swept floor
Mopped.

Dining room:
Got table cleared off
All Christmas decorations down and put away
floor swept and mopped
Table wiped off

Living room/Desk area:
All papers sorted and thrown out
dusted
All Christmas decorations down and put away
Floor vacuumed.

Stairs/hallway:
Floors vacuumed.

Bathroom:
Shower cleaned
Toilet cleaned
Sink Cleaned
Mirror cleaned
Liter box, cleaned
Swept floor and hand washed.
Washed shower curtain and rugs

Bedroom:
Bed linens changed/made
All laundry put away

I also worked on laundry all day and got that caught up. With towels, blankets and such.

I would like to have gotten Lily's room cleaned too but sometimes I had to actually rest. I was recovering from my surgery after all. But I was SO happy with my progress that I could finally relax. I had a nice long hot bath and felt so relaxed afterwords.

I think mental health days are So worth it. I feel more at ease in general too. And was SO happy when it was time to go pick up the Monster.

Day 2

Day 2 of recovery. It's not so bad today, at least I finally have some feeling back in my mouth. Holy Numb batman. But that's ok. I have pills. I'm home resting (mostly) And I feel confident I can make it thru all of this now. I think I will not be going to work tomorrow. They say day 3 is the worst. Plus a day without the baby at home sounds glorious. I will be able to really catch up on some stuff I can't otherwise do with her here. And since Adam said he would take her over before work I can't complain right? So I'm looking forward to it.

On a side note: This picture is of course our Lily, but that is so what she looks like as a boy. Just call her our little man for today! She got that train from my Mother-in-law for Christmas, she loves it of course, it plays music and moves and she couldn't be happier with it.

Who needed them anyway?

My wisdom teeth that is. They are gone. Out at 11:30 this morning. And I'm still numb several hours later. But otherwise ok. I mean I was knocked out so I didn't feel that part. The first few hours kinda sucked, (oh the blood) and they tell you to eat and take the pills. But my tongue was so swollen I could barely move it. Of course I bet it wasn't swollen but NUMB. Which makes it hard to swallow properly. But some ice cream later and I feel much better.

Tomorrow should be interesting...Being home alone with the Monster. But drugs are good and we can hang out and watch tv all day and hopefully Adam can come home early and help take care of her. Still undecided about work on Monday but we'll play it by ear. But if I do stay home on Monday I am still taking her to my Mother in Law's house for the day so i can rest and get some stuff done around here if nothing else.

We Are Trendsetters...

Or so I like to tell myself.

Our Birthing Center just released the most popular girl names for 2008.

Keep in mind Lily's actual name is: Lillian Grace.

Here they are:

The 10 most popular girl names were:
1. Emma
2. Ava
3. Isabella
4. Abigail
5. Olivia
6. Madison
7. Chloe
8. Ella
9. Grace
10.Lillian

Who would have thought? I know NO other Lily's or Lillian's. Or any Grace's for that matter. Oh well, I guess she'll have plenty of friends with the same name as her.

Monster or Devil Child?

You be the judge.

All went well last night, besides the Monster being a little over-tired the night started off good. It came to be bedtime, and I changed her and fed her and put her to bed, she went to sleep and to bed without a fight. So did I, I was asleep by 8:30 all excited thinking this was going to be a great night! Until 11:30 when she woke up screaming bloody murder. So Adam goes in and gives her the pacifier after letting her cry for 20 minutes or so. Which of course, in turn, makes her cry harder. *side note* I remember when that used to work, it was like magic and we were so happy to go right back to sleep. Anyway. So I go in and get her...and deal with her until about 3:00 when I finally decide to feed her, so Adam got her a bottle and we fed her. But she would go right to sleep but the second you tried to lay her down in the crib her eyes would shoot open and she would scream like you were trying to kill her. Which only made me MORE frustrated. So We Let her sleep with us and really all that means is she is the only one that gets any sleep. So I am tired, frustrated and terrified at what tonight will bring.

But then this morning I wake her up after my shower and get her dressed and as I'm getting her dressed I tell her this story about how Mommy is so much nicer when she wakes her up versus when she wakes us up. I mean How would she like it if we woke her up going WAH WAH WAH...and she smiles at me, and I can't help but fall in love with her all over again.

I told Adam that the reason babies are cute is so that we don't eat our young.

We are all hoping for a better night tonight. Wish us luck!

Picture, Pictures and More Pictures!

Have you ever seen anything so cute. Though I do have to admit I might be a sucker for the daddy-daughter photos. She was just so cute and snuggled in here. Who could resist that?

This is my nephew and his goofy fake smile. But I still think they are adorable and Lily REALLY liked him.

This is my grandma with her. We went up New years day to visit and Lily handled this visit a little better this go round! I was happy.

MMMMM Green veggies. I'm really not even sure HOW she gets it on her forehead though. Silly girl.

Lack of Inspiration?

All day I have been sitting here at work trying to come up with something to write about. I came up with several Ideas, all of which were negative and so I decided not to start the New Year off with my rant about Doctors and Dentist offices. I mean really? Who cares if my appointment gets changed from Friday to Saturday. Surely not you guys. So what else is there to write about?

Lily finally rolled over for Adam last night. He doesn't like it when I put her on her tummy and let her cry, but it gets her to roll over. And I am certain he was happy when he got to see her flip over for the 3rd time. So she's not a pro yet, but it takes her less and less time to do it each time she does, so I'm certain she'll be rockin' and rollin' before we know it. We really do need to get on with the baby proofing. And Oh my gosh, what are we going to do when we need to use the playpen and can't cause we have it piled full of extra diapers and baby bags and stuff. Oh so much to do with so little time to do it all.

I think I'm going to try and post again tonight, I need to get on the computer and get some photos ordered and stuff so I will *try* to get some photos put up, But we'll see. Adam went home sick and so I doubt I'll have him to watch Lily for me. Someday.

A New Year, A New Set of Priorities.

Well it's that time of year again. The time of year when we all set our new years goals that usually include some sort of weight loss or some goal to make us healthier happier people. I am always so hesitant to do this because I have a hard time sticking to that stuff. (like most people I assume.)

So here are mine:

1. Be more active in our family finances (sorry honey)
2. eat healthier (this is always a goal of mine, kinda)
3. Be more physical. I need to simply move more. (yeah, easier said than done)
4. Try and work on my patience.

So there they are. Laid out on the Internet for all to see (or my 3 readers anyway)

In Other News. Braces have been put on hold. Not a big deal, I wasn't really looking forward to it anyway. Maybe the end of this year, it will happen in the future, but the timing just isn't right, right now.

We Desperately need a new vehicle. So that is the plan for tonight, see what we can find.

I'm also hoping that now that Lily is back with my In-Laws that her schedule will slowly go back to where she was, this whole waking up all the time thing and the neediness is for the birds. I love her but man was I ready to come back to work after my 12 day "vacation".