I Know I Know

I must update more often, but I have been so busy at work and really don't have the time to. I could at home, but I'm busy there too! How do people with more than 1 child keep up? I feel like there is ALWAYS something to do at home. We still haven't taken down our Christmas village which is really starting to chap my ass. One of these nights, we're just going to do it. My house looks clean on the surface, but there is always crap and clutter lurking, especially on top of the fridge and under my bed. And don't even get me started on our basement. It's a disaster area. It's just one big room, so you can't even put your crap in a room and shut the door. Drives me nuts.

WHEW!!!

A few shout outs to my peeps:
Meredith: CONGRATS!!!! I can't wait to see baby Zavier!
Koren: I think we're going to get a flower girl dress off of ebay, but thanks for your offer!

Snowstorm Danielle (our weathermen name snowstorms, it's so corny) ripped through here over the weekend. I don't know how much we got, I'd say about 10 inches. We took Paige out to play in it yesterday and she had a ball. I hate watching the weather when we are expecting a snowstorm or some other bad weather. The weathermen are downright giddy and full of glee. I swear they are popping a woody underneath their suits.

Paige keeps growing like a weed. We took her to the doctor for an earache last week and she weighed in at a whopping 38.6 pounds and 41 inches!!!! YIKES!!! She has outgrown most of her 4T tops and 3T bottoms and is moving into 5T tops and dresses. I made a haul at TCP over the weekend for spring, their clothes are so cute! BTW, she just had fluid in her ears, not an infection.

I'm starting to get a little frustrated with WW. I've gained weight the past 2 weeks even though I've really been sticking with it. I worked out 4 days last week but still gained weight this week. It's not muscle either because I'm only doing cardio workouts. I do feel skinnier though. It's just so frustrating to step on that damn scale.

I'm also frustrated with my body. I bought a BBT for TTC but haven't used it. Just isn't my thing. I've been reading up on fertility and your cervical fluid (TMI warning here) and according to BBC calculator I should have been fertile last weekend, but I wasn't based on my cervical fluid and a negative OPK. But I used the average of my last 3 cycles, 2 were short and 1 was quite long. So I don't know if exercising has made them longer or what, but I know I'm not fertile right now. And Mike, bless his heart, decides that midnight on Saturday night is a good time to bring up the fact that I'm fertile this weekend and we should do something about it. I was too tired to hardly talk, so I told him we'd talk about it the next day. Good thing too because about 5 minutes later Duke puked on our bed. Nice.

The puke was caused by the fact that he chewed our spare bedroom door apart in the hour we went to church on Saturday. He chewed it all to hell, pushed his way in there and then couldn't get back out. Dumbass. At least they are cheap doors and on sale at Menards. Mike is picking one up tonight after work. So after that little incident and the fact that he is eating any food we leave out while we are gone, he's staying in the kennel while we are gone. I can't even trust him in the kitchen because he might chew up the cupboards in there. I felt bad about locking him in his kennel this AM, but he'll survive.

Paige is pretty much night potty trained now too! She wakes up early around (5-6am) to pee and announces "I stayed dry!!!" It's exciting, but not at 5am. Saturday night she woke Mike up at 12:30 am, 2:30 am, 5 and 6 am to pee. I must have been in a coma because I didn't hear any of it. Kinda worries me a little that I sleep so heavily.

We need to get a bed for Paige. She's in her crib with one side rail taken off and has been refusing to sleep in there, and is sleeping on the floor. Not a big deal, but her room is so small, that you can hardly walk in it with all her blankets, pillows and stuffed animals on the floor. We have 2 twin beds in our spare room and are debating if we should just pull one of them into her room, or buy her a double bed. We're thinking about buying a futon for the basement so company can sleep down there. I'd really like to decorate her room something cute and funky, but I don't know how. I like pink and brown together and want something that will last her a while. Any ideas ya yas?

OK, must get back to work. Hugs and kisses!!!!

I'm Grateful List

Inspired by Elisa, here goes:
1. Paige
2. Mike
3. Duke
4. my parents
5. my sister
6. my friends
7. my cozy little house
8. my ya yas
9. Weight Watchers
10. Tax refund
11. Coffee
12. My wonderful daycare provider

Off to pick up #1 from #12!

Four Things

A) Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Fitness Supervisor 2. Health Educator (current) 3. Babysitter 4. Cashier at a store

B) Four movies I would watch over and over:

1. Top Gun
2. Pretty Woman
3. Old School
4. Remember the Titans

C) Four places I have lived:
1. Oconto Falls
2. Hortonville
3. Clintonville
4. Racine

D) Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. Desperate Housewives
2. Friends
4. Amazing Race
5. Any MTV "reality" show

E) Four places I have been on vacation
1. Panama City Beach
2. Door County, WI
3. Jamaica
4. Caymen Islands

F) Four of my favorite foods:
1. Chocolate
2. Cereal
3. Chocolate
4. Cereal

H) Four places I would like to be right now:
1. Home vegging out
2. Somewhere warm
3. Somewhere with yummy chocolate!
4. Shopping with someone else's Credit Card :)

I) Four friends I think will respond:
My choices have all done it already :)

Monday

So AF came over the weekend which chapped my ass. Almost a week late...grrr. I started charting with fertilityfriend.com on Saturday. I'm using Paige's digital thermometer for the time being, I'll buy a BBT one off of ebay soon.

I ended up emailing my mom's group organizer the other night expressing my concerns, and she emailed back right away. She was very nice about it and agreed that it is a group for all moms and that the question was not meant to single out SAHM. So they changed it to some question about why did you choose the path you did (working, staying home, etc.) I was the only one that responded, but oh well! I did what I thought was best.

We had a really fun weekend. 2 of the movie theatres in Green Bay have kids movies playing every Saturday morning from mid-January to mid-March for only $2.50 per person so we met some friends there who have a dd 6 weeks younger than Paige to see Open Season. Paige LOVED it! It was her first time in a movie theatre and she was glued to the screen! She didn't fuss or squirm at all, she laughed and giggled the whole time, it was so cute. So we are definitely going back! This weekend is Flushed Away. I'm going to try to find a preview of it online to see if it's appropriate for a 2 year old.

On Sunday there was a free day at the Building for Kids in Appleton, about an hour away from me, but close to my parent's house. We met them for church and lunch, then to the museum. We got there right during Paige's normal nap time so she was kinda cranky at first, but then ended up having a great time. It was an absolute nuthouse there though since it was a free day. She ended up crashing about 30 seconds after we strapped her in the car. We stopped at Walmart on the way home; I ran in and Mike stayed in the car with her. Then we ate at her favorite restaurant on the way home. Got home in time for bath and bedtime and we watched Desperate Housewives. That show has gotten a little strange for me. Not a fan of the Zack Young story line, we just want Gabby and Carlos to get back together!

As I was walking out of Walmart I ran into my old college roomate, her hubby and Ds. I hadn't seen her in probably 9 or 10 years, it was CRAZY!!!! They live in Green Bay and their DS is only a month older than Paige and she's preggo with #2. We exchanged email addresses, so hopefully we'll get together soon so Paige can have another playmate.

I want to be pregnant so bad! We were at a potluck dinner with my mom's group on Thursday night and Paige was just loving on one of the mom's 8 month old baby girl, Ava. It made me ache watching her. I want to give her a sibling so much and I'm just kicking myself wondering why we didn't start sooner. I almost cried looking at her baby pictures this weekend with her.

Well I better get some work done here. I slept in until 9am, so I got in very late and haven't done a thing yet!

My Mom's Group

I'm seriously pissed right now and tempted to email our organizer about this.

So on the message board there is a thread that has a question of the week. This week's question is why did you decide to be a SAHM? WTF???? I thought this was a group for all moms, not just SAHMs. Basically the responses range from I couldn't imagine leaving them with someone else, I love being there for every milestone that I couldn't see if I worked FT, I couldn't imagine leaving my kids with someone else all day, etc. But this one takes the cake: I think MOST people respect me for staying home with my kids, and SOME people are jealous, because they send their children to day care.

I LOVE my daycare provider and feel blessed that we were able to find her, she takes such good care of Paige. I trust her completely.

Would you be mad? Any advice ya yas? This is supposed to be a group for all moms, even though the majority are SAHMs. Should I post that not all of us are SAHMs? I just think this is almost a slap in the face. There is NOTHING wrong with being a proud working mama and sending my daughter to daycare! I could just cry right now.

Hormones aren't helping. AF was due on Sunday, and every HPT I've taken has been BFN, and there have been a lot, and a few taken right away in the morning. It's like come on already, shit or get off the pot. I don't feel pregnant, but I don't have ANY AF symptoms.

I'm tired. Off to bed.

Recent Pictures

My baby is getting so grown up looking! I got a wild hair up my ass this weekend to start taking some pictures as I realized we've been slacking in that department lately. So here goes....

Her favorite purple outfit ($5 clearance at Walmart!)





Paige and Mama:




Playing Dress Up at a Friend's House:



Paige and Daddy before church on Sunday:


"Hugging" Duke:






My family:


CHEEEEESE!:


Dancing with Daddy:


Wearing her Halloween costume YESTERDAY:

Brrrrr

We headed for a major cold spell here. Highs around 0-5 for the next week. Damn I hate this cold weather. We have some snow so I'd love to take Paige out to play in it, but not when it's 0 degrees.

Weight Watchers is going pretty well. I've lost 9 pounds since I started back up in late November. I've been eating the Smart Ones or Lean Cuisine meals for lunch and still having my fruit smoothies for breakfast. Trying to find the energy to exercise at night is the hard part. I will not exercise in the morning, that's just not me.

Paige has been waking up around 5:45 am this week which is starting to get old. Luckily I can still sleep until around 6:20 am or so while Mike gets ready and Paige watches cartoons. Then I dress her, put her hair up and Mike takes her to the sitter's. It's WONDERFUL getting ready in a quiet house! She's starting to eat a little better. She'll actually try the food I make for supper now, it takes ALOT of prodding, but she'll at least try it. Most of the time she actually likes it and eats more of it.

Work is very busy, I'm spread so thin throughout so many different programs I'm wondering how I'm going to actually accomplish anything. Job security, like Mike says.

Random bitch here: on my mom's group message board there is a thread asking what our husbands or significant others do for a living. Most of them are SAHMs and have responded about how hard their husbands work so that they can stay home. That has really rubbed me the wrong way because Mike works SO HARD at his job, but it just doesn't pay enough for me to SAH, not that I'd really want to anyway. I mean, how many of those guys bust their butts in freezing cold weather and horrible snowstorms, and then 90 degree heat to make deliveries? Not many. If he worked for UPS I could stay home, but he makes about half of what an UPS guy makes. Just because I work outside of the home doesn't mean my husband isn't a good provider or hard worker; I'm making the choice to work to benefit my entire family. OK, will get off of my soapbox.

I can't believe it's February already! Easter will be here before we know it. I've been searching ebay for an Easter dress but haven't found any I like. I'm being really picky this year. I've gotten her Easter dresses from ebay and they've always been cute, but I don't absolutely LOVE them. Trying to find the perfect one this year.

OK off to work. Have a good day ya yas!!!