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!!!

I'll Play I'll Play

1. FIRST NAME. Sara

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Not that I know of

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? A few weekends ago at Ma and Pa's...had a big family discussion. Nothing bad just got some stuff out

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? it's ok

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? turkey

6. KIDS? Princess Paige will be 3 in May

7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yea Im a cool cat I think (me too Susan!)

8. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Just this blog

9. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? probably too much

10. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Nope

11. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Hell no !

12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Cinnamon Toast Crunch...YUM, but not WW friendly

13. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Nope, I'm lazy

14. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Hell yeah, I survived childbirth!!! Yes, emotionally and physically fairly strong

15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Chocolate chocolate and more chocolate

16. SHOE SIZE? 11 (Hey, I'm 5'10"!)

17. RED OR PINK? Depends

18. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? my post-baby belly

19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Probably my grandpa, wish he could've been around to see Paige

20. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Don't matter I love these no matter what

. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Light tan cords, brown shoes, maroon t-shirt, and chocolate brown hoodie.

22.WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? a Smart Ones meal, yogurt and baked chips

23. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? My fan cooling me off because it's about 80 degrees in my office

24. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Blue or pink

25. What is your FAVORITE SMELL? Coffee, Paige with lotion on right after a bath

26. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Someone who made a car seat appointment

27. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Height

28. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yes :)

29. Favorite drink? COFFEE

30. FAVORITE SPORT? College basketball...Go Wisconsin Badgers!!

31. EYE COLOR? Blue

32 DO YOU EMBRACE THE NEW TECHNOLOGY? Sort of

33. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Yes, I'm blind without them

34. FAVORITE FOOD? Junk food

35. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING? Happy

36. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? I don't even know..isn't that depressing?

37. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Maroon shirt, brown hoodie

38. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer if it's not too hot

39. HUGS OR KISSES? Either

40. FAVORITE DESSERT? Any kind

41. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? All yaya's likely will do this, we're freaks.

42. Least LIKELY TO RESPOND? Susan cause I already read hers.

43. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Just started up with my Catholicism for Dummies again

44. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? a black one with some message about mammography

45. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? part of a rerun of Desperate Housewives...was VERY upset that it was a re-run

46. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Silence

47. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Either

48. THE FURTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Panama City Beach for Spring Break 10 years ago!!!!

49. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Yes, I'm super cool

50. WHEN AND WHERE WERE YOU BORN? 1976 in Appleton Wisconsin

Tuesday Blahs

Ugh, I have a nice shirt on today and I just looked down and realized I spilled coffee on it. A great way to start my Tuesday! Damn cheap travel mug.

Well we are all feeling much better which is great. It took Mike a long time to kick it, but he still went pheasant hunting with some buddies this weekend. I took Paige to my parents and it was a long weekend. My sister was there too and we fought all weekend. It's extremely frustrating that I'm 30 years old, have a successful career, a wonderful husband and child, and my sister makes me feel like I'm a kid again, and we fight like we always did growing up. I love her a lot, but jeez louise that girl drives me nuts.

I escaped Saturday to shop and make a bunch of returns. I had to return stuff to Walmart, Target, Kohls, and Joann Fabrics. Of course I ended up spending money at each place except Joann's. I got Paige a couple of pairs of 4T pants THAT FIT HER!!! I can't believe how fast she keeps growing. I hit the jackpot at Old Navy for Mike. They had a bunch of men's pants on clearance and then 50% off the clearance price, so I got hime 6 pairs of pants! One pair was $5.74 and the rest were $9.99. WHO HOO!!! He needed pants really badly so I hope they all fit him. He seemed to like them all, he just hasn't tried them on yet. I also got him (well and me too) 4 long sleeved t-shirts at this outlet store near my parents house, buy one for $5, and the 2nd is half off. SCORE!! I also got myself this hoodie that I might end up returning: http://www.oldnavy.com/browse/product.do?cid=26196&pid=480441
I might exchange it for the dark chocolate brown one. Knowing me, I'll spill food all over the white one and stain it.

I also got the official "mom of a toddler uniform": the velour tracksuit. Here it is: http://www.oldnavy.com/browse/product.do?cid=26198&pid=400799
http://www.oldnavy.com/browse/product.do?cid=26198&pid=400830

I got them in the bead blue color. I really like the pink one too. And get this, I got them specificially for my mom's group get-togethers! They are so comfortable.

Our other big news is that Paige picked out four packages of big girl underwear on Friday! She had so much fun. I laid out like 8 different packages and told her she could pick 4 and she was so good about it. She got Dora, Little Mermaid, Little Pony and Disney Princesses. We of course had to make a big deal about it and she loved showing them off to my parents and to Mike. She's such a big girl! She is doing so good with the potty. I'm so proud of her!

Alright, time to start getting some work done. Hugs and kisses ya yas!

Videos

Wanted to share a few of these with you girls.

Shoveling (yes that's me talking in the background, and yes I sound nasal-y, that's how Wisconsinites talk!)



Eating chili:


Christmas Eve:


Hope you can view these!

Update on the Yuckies

Thanks to all my ya yas who made my day by posting 6 comments on my yuckie blog. You girls really cheered me up!

Anyway, I'm back at work and just got done meeting with my boss so my to do list is as long as my arm. Not cool.

We are both feeling better. Mike is still not 100%, but I'm just fine now. Stubborn old mule never did take Immodium and he's feeling it. I'm still a little PO'd that he told me he did, but whatever, if he wants to poop every 5 minutes instead of chewing up 2 tablets, it's his problem, not mine.

I have a mom's night out with my playgroup tonight at an Atlanta Bread Company so that should be fun. It's called "Ask Anything Over Coffee" and we're going to write down questions anonymously about any subject and we'll answer them. Should be a lot of fun. Tomorrow is a lunch at one of the mom's houses so I have to figure out something to bring and make it tonight.

Paige is still in full-on drama queen mode but I'm feeling better that we are not alone. Susan, I told Mike that Jenna tells you that you hurt her feelings and we both got a good chuckle out of that, but in a nice way. It was more like thank God Paige doesn't do that!

I'm going to my parent's house for the weekend after the mom's lunch tomorrow. Paige will have to miss her nap, but Grandma and Grandpa should be able to handle her just fine. I'm sure she'll be her usual angelic self at their house; she's a total angel for them and a hellion for me. Drives me nuts. We're going to stop somewhere on the way and let her pick out some of her own big girl underwears as she calls them. I would love it if they made Cars underwear for little girls, but I doubt it.

I ate leftover soup that I made last night and a banana for lunch with a Diet Mountain Dew. Aren't I healthy? I think I've already gotten my fruit intake for the day with my raspberry-banana smoothie and a banana for lunch. The soup had veggies in it too.

Off to tackle my to-do list. An hour and a half and I'm outta here for the weekend. WHO HOO!!!!

Yuckies

So the stomach bug has hit our house yet again. I started with it around 10pm last night. I puked once, and had the runs about 100 times. Luckily the Immodium finally kicked in and I haven't pooped all day. TMI, I know, but tough! I took Paige to the sitters and stayed home from work. I slept most of the day, and am feeling much better. Unfortunately, Mike called around 4:45pm on his way home from work and said he has the same thing I have. Great. I was still feeling pretty weak and out of it when we called so I was wondering how I was going to take care of Paige and bathe her since it's her bath night. But I started to slowly feel better and toughed it out. Poor guy had the poops for a while and then passed out a few hours ago. He has the chills really bad and looks terrible. I hate it when he's sick.

Paige has been very difficult to handle lately. This sounds terrible but she has turned into such a crybaby. Today I grabbed her hat and mittens out of her cubby at the sitter's, turn around to put them on her and she's bawling her head off because she wanted to get them. UGH!!!!! So she cried the whole time I got her jacket and stuff on, the way out to the car and the whole way home. She asks for something, I say no, she asks for it again like she didn't even hear me say no, I say no a little (OK, a lot) more firmly and she busts out crying. It's constant and it's starting to get really really really old.

On a happier note, we finally joined the rest of the world and have high speed internet!!! WHO HOO!!! We got it installed on Friday and are LOVING it! I can actually upload pictures and send them out from home instead of putting them on a CD and sending from work. Ah, the little things.

AF came with a vengence over the weekend which really chapped my ass. Old bitch came like 3-4 days early which is super annoying when we're ttc and my cycles are getting shorter and shorter. AF when not on birth control really sucks the big one.

OK, off to check on my sick hubby and then hit the hay. Hugs and kisses to my ya yas!

TheMany Meanings of PMS

Another good email!

The many meanings of P-M-S:

1. P ass M y Shotgun


2.P sychotic M ood S hift


3.P erpetual M unching S pree


4. P uffy M id- S ection


5.P eople M ake me S ick


6.P rovide M e with S weets


7. P ardon M y S obbing


8 Pimples M ay S urface


9. P ass M y S weatpants


10.P issy M ood S yndrome


11.P lainly; M en S uck


12. P ack M y S tuff


.and my favorite one..




13.

P otential M urder S uspect

And as an example

Q: How many women with PMS does it take to change a light bulb?

A: One!!! ONLY ONE!!!! And do you know WHY?


Because no one else in this house knows HOW to change a light bulb!



They don't even know that the bulb is BURNED OUT!!



They'd sit there in the dark for THREE DAYS before they figured it out!!



And, once they figured it out, they wouldn't be able to find the light bulbs despite the fact they've been in
the SAME CUPBOARD for the past 13 YEARS!



But if they did, by some miracle of God, actually find the bulbs 2 DAYS LATER, the chair they dragged to
stand on to change the STUPID light bulb would STILL BE IN THE SAME SPOT!!!!!



AND UNDERNEATH IT WOULD BE THE WRAPPER THE STUPID LIGHT BULBS CAME IN!!!



BECAUSE NO ONE EVER CARRIES OUT THE GARBAGE!!!!



IT'S A WONDER WE HAVEN'T ALL SUFFOCATED FROM THE PILES OF GARBAGE THAT ARE A FOOT DEEP THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE HOUSE!!



IT WOULD TAKE AN ARMY TO CLEAN THIS DAMNED HOUSE!


I'm sorry.



What was your question?

10 Things to Ponder in 2007

Got this in an email and it's hilarious!

TEN THINGS TO PONDER FOR 2007

10.Life is sexually transmitted.

9.Good health is merely the slowest rate at which one can die.

8. Men have two emotions: Hungry and Horny. If you see him without an erection, make him a sandwich.

7. Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

6. Some people are like a slinky... not really good for anything,but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.

5. Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in the hospital dying of nothing.

4. All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

3. Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars, and a substantial tax cut saves you thirty cents?

2. In the 60's, people took LSD to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.


AND THE NUMBER ONE THOUGHT FOR 2007:

We know exactly where one cow with mad-cow-disease is located among the millions and millions of cows in America , but we haven't a clue as to where thousands of Illegal immigrants and Terrorists are located. Maybe we should put the Department of Agriculture in charge of immigration.

Pajamas and Potty Training

So I just finished another pair of PJ's for my sister's birthday and sent them out today. They are so cute, I wish I would've made them in my size! I hope she likes them, I think she will.

Paige is off of the pullups now and only wearing cotton training pants! I want to take her shopping sometime to let her pick out her own big girl panties. She's staying dry during her naps, but still wears a diaper to bed. I think nighttime training is going to take a while, but I'm so excited at how well she's doing!

My dad's trial is now delayed until JUNE!!!! UGH!!!! I guess it's ok, because they are combining the two charges into one trial so we only have to go through this crap once. I just can't believe how slowly our legal system works. It will be a year and 3 months after the first charges by the time the trial starts.

Christmas and New Year's were so hectic with all the traveling so we are glad to be home. Christmas involved a lot more travel, on Christmas Eve, we went to 5 or 6 different houses and church. We spent New Year's weekend up north with Mike's family so it wasn't as much running around. Saturday at his moms, Sunday at his dad's and we got home on Monday afternoon. Paige did so well at all the places, she was very well behaved and did so good with the potty training. She didn't make a fuss about going in all these different places and didn't have an accident. She held up better than I did! She got quite a few presents so Mike and I spent last week Tuesday (a day off for both of us) cleaning out the clutter. Paige went to the sitter's so we packed up a bunch of old toys, moved her upstairs toys into the basement and kept her new toys in her room. We also took the changing table out of her room and it looks so much bigger now! We finally set up all that dolly stuff that we got her in the basement and made Paige her own little pretend house area. Her play kitchen, the dolly stuff, a pretend cleaning cart, a Little Tikes mailbox and a table and 2 chairs are all in a corner in the basement. She LOVES it! And I love not having her play kitchen and other toys in the living room! I actually have a toy free living room! It rules!!!! Well except for her art supplies box that we keep on a shelf in the entertainment center, but I can handle that.

I got a + ovulation predictor last week so Mike and I got after it. My boobs have been sore ever since and I have been a real bitch to everyone around me. I also almost puked when Paige pooped one day and normally it doesn't bother me that much. So of course I'm hopeful, but this 2 week wait is KILLING me!! I can't believe I have to wait another week to know. Grrrrr.....

I got a Magic Bullet for Christmas which is something I've been dying for ever since I saw the infomercial for it! I made a strawberry-banana smoothie today for breakfast and it was so yummy. I felt so healthy having 2 kinds of fruit for breakfast. It was a nice morning because Mike took Paige to Sandi's so I could get ready in peace and quiet. I think we might have to make that a permanent thing.

OK, yayas tell me if you're a good driver. Check out this website: http://www.107.peugeot.co.uk/peugeot.swf

It's a good waste of time!

Hugs and kisses!

Christmas Pictures

Ok, back at work today and trying to catch up from being gone for almost 2 weeks so a Christmas report will have to wait, but I want to post some (ok, alot) of pictures. Here goes:

Breakfast with Santa (a month ago):






Making an ornament at the Breakfast:




My Mom's Group Holiday Party:


The Bike that MIL gave her:


Christmas Eve:


Cars Sleeping Bag, Pillow and Lamp (her favorites!)


Christmas Day:


Shoveling:








More Bike Pix:






Sledding at MIL's:




Opening presents at FIL's:
(I look TERRIBLE, but I didn't feel like fixing myself up)

Playing with cats at FIL's:







FIL's dog:


PHEW!!! It was a very busy Christmas and we went to ALOT of people's houses. Next year, we are staying home. Paige held up very well, probably better than me, but we are relieved to be home!

Busy Busy

I know I'm a huge slacker and I must update this more often so here goes. This will be totally random as the thoughts come to my head.

I'm so sick of making pajamas I want to shove them up someone's ass. I finished a pair for my sitter Sunday night and right away started on my sister's pants. I made good progress on hers until my sewing machine had enough. I started acting funky and after three attempts I said fuck it and went to bed.

I have about 6 presents left to wrap and no room for them under my tree. We wedged the tree in between the couch and loveseat in our tiny living room so there is no room for presents and I don't want to making watering the tree even more difficult by forcing the waterer to move a crapload of presents. The presents are of course all for Paige.

BIL is so rude and cheap. We've exchanged presents with him and SIL and their 2 daughters. Well a couple of years ago we decided to only exchange for our kids and not the adults. Fine by me, less money to spend. So we always go out and buy nice presents that their kids will like and he sends us crap from his cheap gift closet. This year he went over the edge. He told us the 7 year old likes Polly Pockets and the 3 year old likes puzzles. So after one of my moms get togethers I made a point to go to Target (at like 9pm) and spend about 30 minutes trying to pick the best PP and puzzles. I wrapped them, packaged them, and took Paige with me on Friday to mail them. Was Mike involved in any of this?!?!? NO!!!!! AND IT'S HIS GODDAMN FAMILY!!!!! In the meantime, the BIL calls Mike and asks if Paige likes Dora and Mike goes "stop right there BIL I know exactly where you're going with this and no she doesn't need the Dora roller skates or scooter that are on amazon.com for $5 a piece" Mike had seen them on amazon.com and knew BIL did to. So we get a package yesterday for them and Paige insists on opening it and guess what's in there? GODDAMN F'ING DORA ROLLER SKATES!!!!!!!!!! Mike wasn't home yet so I called him up and gave him an earful while Paige whined and yelled for me to open them up. I'm THIS CLOSE to sending them back to BIL and telling him we're not exchanging presents anymore at all. I'm so sick of spending my time and money and putting thought into nice presents that his girls will want and we get crap from them. A few years ago while the adults still exchanged presents we got BIL a $25 GC to Home Depot and SIL a $25 to Target and we got some piece of shit picnic basket that we'll never use. And BIL had the nerve to say he wasn't sure who to give that to but figured we get the most use out of it. I wanted Mike to call BIL yesterday and tell him we're not exchanging for the girls anymore but he's such a puss that he refuses to do that. Christ we got more thoughtful gifts from our friends on Saturday; a Little People movie (Paige LOVES those movies!) and a Little Einsteins sweatshirt with Paige's name embroidered on it because their little 2 y/o likes Little Einsteins. I just want those damn roller skates out of my house. Who sends a 2 1/2 year old roller skates anyway?!?! UGH!!!

OK that's out of my system...what else? Oh of course PAIGE IS POTTY TRAINING!!!!! On Friday she saw her stickers on the calendar for pooping on the potty and decided she wanted to pee on the potty. I stuck her on and she went!!! She's even gone on public toilets!!!! She's had a few accidents, but that's to be expected. She's been telling us that she has to go, but we ask too. She only wears diapers at night and has been wearing the cotton training pants with the thick crotch during the day. Sometimes pullups during nap or if we're going for a car ride. I'M SO EXCITED AND PROUD OF HER!!! She peed 5 times at her sitter's yesterday and had a good long pee at our house right before we left this morning. My baby is wearing panties!! It's crazy!!!

WW is going OK. I lost 8 pounds the first week, but haven't lost any the past 2 weeks. I'm definitely eating better, but still too many sweets. That damn cookie exchange was bad news. I have way too many sweets in my house. I sent about half of them with Mike to work and I think I'll have to send more. I'm exercising as often as I can and keeping in touch with my mom.

I'm supposed to get AF Thursday or Friday and having been taking HPT's since last week Friday and they are all of course coming back BFN. Sometimes I think I'm PG and then other times not so much.

I have a cold and my nose is so stuffy. I'm blowing it constantly and it's not helping. I'm stealing Paige's humidifier tonight to help me sleep.

Dad's trial is in a month and I have so many mixed emotions. I want it to be done and over with, but then I want to go back in time and spend more time with him because what if he's taken away from us. It's going to be a hard Christmas, we'll all be wondering if it's his last one with us. Of course we all know he's innocent, but will a jury of his peers think so?

Off to meet with a co worker. Hugs and kisses!

Merry Christmas!

A cute "card" for my ya yas!
http://badaboo.free.fr/merryxmas.swf

Been a Long Time

I can't believe it's been over a week since I last blogged. I have good intentions of keeping up, but work and home has been so busy, the time is flying by so fast!!!!

Last Friday I was on my way to a mom's group meetup and ended up in the ditch on the exit ramp about 5 minutes away from the place we were meeting. I've never gone in the ditch before so I was like "uh, now what?" Mike wasn't answering his personal cell, and my parents weren't home. I debated calling 911 but thought I'd sound stupid, so I called Spee Dee Delivery's main office because Mike has a work cell that only Spee Dee can call into. They hooked me up to his phone as he was battling a major snowstorm, bad roads and unplowed parking lots. He thought someone died so he was actually quite relieved when I told him I was in the ditch and a little bit like "what do you want me to do?" But luckily he had a Green Bay phone book with him and gave me a couple of tow truck numbers. The tow truck was there in less than 10 minutes, and as I was waiting for him, a cop shows up. I was like, oh shit, and tried to blow him off and hint that he should leave, not realizing he had to write a report. Duh. So after I'm pulled out, he writes me a warning. Not a big deal. Unfortunately, I looked at the bottom of the exit ramp and I see a mom from my group in her minivan that plowed over a stoplight. Luckily, her and her 2 kids were just fine. Paige and I were both fine too. There's very little damage to the front end of the car; we're not even going to get it repaired. And thank you to the portable DVD player inventor!!! Paige didn't make a peep the whole time because she was so engrossed in Blues Clues! A few times she'd tell me to "go Mama" and then "Mama's stuck in the edge" her word for ditch, but other than that she didn't whine or get cranky and stayed in her car seat the whole time!

On Saturday morning we went to a breakfast with Santa thing at our church. It was so fun! Paige sat in Santa's lap and snuggled right into him for pictures! We snapped only about 100 or so. She wouldn't really talk much, but sat there like such a good girl. Then we made a snowflake ornament and she got her face painted. We also bought some homemade candy and books. It was really fun. We didn't really do much the rest of the day.

Sunday we went to church and then grocery shopping and then home. Watched the Packers suck it up again. Paige woke up from her nap, came out in the hallway and announced "I awake" with rosy cheeks and wild hair. It was so darn cute! After her nap we ran back out to the place where we got our Christmas tree and bought a few more soy candles.

I have been sewing like a madwoman! I finished my mom's jammies and have the shirt done for step MIL, just need to start on her pants. Luckily pants are easy. I'm for sure making one more pair for my sitter and one for my sister. I might wait and give my sister her pair for her birthday in January just to give me more time.

I've been doing WW again the past week. My parents and I had a long talk on Thanksgiving where they told me how concerned they were about my weight and I confessed how out of control my eating was. So I've been tracking my points and trying to exercise almost every day. I email my mom my progress every night to keep me accountable. If she doesn't hear from me for 2 nights, she calls to check on me. I need someone constantly monitoring me. It hit me not too long ago that I've been eating and shopping compulsively to help me deal with this crap with my dad.

So the exercising, sewing, WW points entering, and emails every day have been keeping me busy at night! Plus Paige doesn't go to bed until around 8:30pm, so my time at night is limited. I haven't been getting to bed until around 11pm and then sleeping until 6:30am which has made me late for work for the past few months. Luckily no one has said anything to me about it.

Happy St. Nick's Day everyone! We're not doing it in our house this year, but probably next year.

Pictures

OK, let's see if this works:

Christmas Spirit

I'm having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. I'm sure it has a lot to do with what's going on with my dad and that sucks. Paige is at such a fun age for Christmas, so I just have to start to get in the spirit of things. We've done a couple of fun things and have a few more lined up to make this a fun Christmas.

Yesterday since it was so nice out we went and cut down our own Christmas tree. It was a really cool tree farm that had free hot chocolate and popcorn, a lady that helped the little ones make a free ornament, and horse drawn wagon rides and a bunch of super cheap soy candles and Christmas decorations. The owners and everyone that worked there was so nice. I think we're going to go back again and go for a wagon ride and some hot chocolate. Should be fun.

We brought the tree in the house last night and put the lights up tonight. We'll put up the ornaments tomorrow. We're decorating in phases!

We're taking Paige to Breakfast with Santa at our church this Saturday. We're hoping that goes well. She seems a little friendlier now and not so afraid of new people. Hopefully Santa won't scare her!

We had pictures taken this morning at Sears. We had one of the first appointments which really helped. We had a 9:30am apt. and didn't get out of there until 11am! It took me FOREVER to pick out the sizes and pictures that I wanted. We got family pictures and a few of just Paige in her Christmas dress. They all turned out SO GOOD!!!! We ended up spending $250 on the pictures, but that includes 40 greeting cards too. I'll try to post them here. Paige did so good. She was so well behaved and the lady that took them was good too. She was actually posing Paige and Paige was going with it. She listened so well and actually smiled when she was supposed to! I couldn't believe it! They are so super cute. Then we went to the mall so I could get a gift card to Kohl's and to Bath and Body Works for the 5 for $10 antibacterial stuff. I stocked up on a bunch of soaps...they are good presents. Mike stayed with Paige in the play area while I shopped.

Off for more sewing!

Here's the Original Letter

I'm almost ready to puke:
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061110/APC0601/611100695/1036/APC06

I am THIS CLOSE to writing a letter myself. People are so judgemental and self-righteous. I've dealt with sexual assault center workers before and they are so annoying, I guess the idea that someone is lying their pants off never enters their mind. GRRRRRR........

There Are Good People Out There!

Check out this letter that a friend wrote in support of my dad in their local paper:
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061121/APC0601/611210556/1036

It's about damn time! I guess some chick from a sexual assault center wrote in about how brave crazy bitch was to come forward and how she had to live with the shame at the hands of "Coach Janssen." So a friend of the family wrote this letter in support of my dad. A few people have commented to my parents that it's about time for someone to do this and it's like well why didn't you write or call in? DUH!!!! But it's a positive thing and I guess we'll focus on that after the crappy day I had. Will update about that later. Paige is watching Cars and I need to start cooking supper!

Bye Deer

So how many of you can say that you saw a dead deer in your garage this morning? I DID!!! Mike shot a little one last night and it's in the back of our truck. It was kind of weird, but I'm glad he shot one. As we were leaving, Paige said "Daddy got a deer...bye bye deer!!""

Paige and I went to the Fox Cities Children's Museum in downtown Appleton on Saturday morning. It was supposed to be a meetup with my mom's group, but we all got separated. Paige LOVED it!!!! It is the coolest place, we're definitely going back again.

My sister picked out new bridesmaid dresses, they're Alfred Angelo in style #6128 and the color is butter. I really like them alot, I think they are very flattering. Now the big dilemma is finding a flower girl dress for Paige that Kristin likes and won't make me go broke. Any suggestions, let me know. She's still not sure about the date, either June 30 or July 14th. I really want to be pregnant soon, but don't want to be pregnant at the wedding. I guess I'll just have to suck it up. I was going to be the fat bridesmaid anyway, hopefully I'll have an excuse.

Took a couple of pregnancy tests the past few days and they are negative. I really think we BD'd while I O'd, but it's probably too soon to test. I'm not expecting AF until this weekend sometime.

We're going to my grandma's for Thanksgiving so we're taking a 3 hour car ride on Wednesday afternoon. Mike has to stay here because he has to work the day after Thanksgiving. I feel kinda bad about leaving him alone, but he said he doesn't mind. He's going to cut up the deer, so he'll be busy most of the day. Hopefully the ride will go well with just me and Paige. I bought an extender for the DVD car charger tonight, it wasn't quite long enough and the battery only lasts 2 hours.

OK, off to my pajama making. I'm hoping to finish the shirt for my mom's jammies tonight. WHO HOO!!!!!!!

Bridesmaid Dresses

Forgot to mention in my previous novel that my sister has picked out a couple of bridemaid dresses and wanted my input. I think she has it narrowed down to one or two, but if you want to take a look at them, go to the Bari Jay website (I just googled it, I'm sure it's barijay.com) and look at styles 244, 305, 306, 310 and 744. I guess she's thinking about the moonglow color. I love the light blue (cloud), but she doesn't want blue. I'm going to look huge in these dresses, especially if I'm preggo.

Bridesmaids dresses have changed so much from when I got married! Mine were navy blue, floor length, A-line and flowy with spaghetti straps, a scarf and a row of rhinestones across the top of the chest. They really were pretty, especially with the white and yellow calla lilies that the girls carried.

She's already having wedding planning drama with her soon to be MIL. MIL wants a fancy schmancy place and my sister and her fiance don't, so they keep going back and forth. I don't envy her at all!!!!

I found a Willow Tree wedding figurine on ebay last night so I think I'm going to give them that as part of their wedding present.

OK, I have to finish checking my email and re-open my pajama sweatshop!!!

This Will Be a Long One!

OK, I have not updated in a while, so here goes!

Friday: it snowed! Went to a mom's club lunch at another member's house. My parents were up for the day so I left Paige with them. It was probably more fun without her there because the LO's were giving their mommies a hard time and I'm sure Paige would have been too! Drove home in the snow, Ma and Pa left and Paige and I played outside in the heavy, wet snow. It's all melted now. Mike's dad and stepmom came up that night. I was downstairs watching Law and Order and didn't go upstairs to greet them until it was over. Rude, yes, but I really didn't care.

Saturday: Mike's SM (stepmom) went to Green Bay to hang out with her two daughters all day leaving me, Mike, his dad and Paige. A recipe for disaster. So I skipped out of there and went fabric shopping. I bought fabric for 5 pairs of jammies. I didn't get home until suppertime and Mike's dad had turned our kitchen into a war zone. He cooked spaghetti and veggies and you'd think he'd never cooked before. He used oil and butter on everything and used every pot and pan in our cupboards. I'm surprised we all didn't croak of clogged arteries after supper. That man drives me bonkers, but more on that.

Sunday: Mike's dad and SM leave around lunchtime and the house is QUIET. It was so nice! We put Paige to bed, watched the Packer game, had a little fun during halftime and watched the rest of the game. Watching football naked in your bed after just having sex while your child is napping...it really doesn't get much better!!!! We were bums the rest of the day.

Mike's dad drives me nuts. He is just SO MUCH!!!!! He stole my recliner from me on Friday night and claimed it for his own the rest of the weekend. Seriously. I got up from the chair Friday night and when I got back in the LR, he was sitting in it. He might as well have peed a circle around it because it was HIS all weekend. Drove me nuts. It's my chair! He kept telling Paige to come up and sit on his lap and she wouldn't. It made me chuckle to myself. I finally said "she doesn't SIT!" and I must have activated my superhuman strength of an invisible voice because no sooner were those words out of my mouth he said it again. GRRRRR.... He's diabetic and all weekend he ate: pancakes, bananas, apples, pretzels and spaghetti. Good food for a diabetic, huh? He laid on MY chair and snored all weekend. And I'm talking snore so loud you can't even be upstairs when he's snoring. He sleeps all day then takes food to bed at night and lays awake and eats all night. Thank god they left when they did.

I kind of put my foot down about not going up to his family's for Christmas this year. It's a 4.5 hour drive and his parents live a half hour apart from each other and it's a pain running back and forth. This is Mike's busy time of the year so he gets home late at night. Last year we didn't leave to go up there until 7:30pm, it was a LONG ride. It's just absolutely insane that they expect us to drive that far with a 2.5 year old when they could much more easily come and see us. Mike's arguement is that his mom works weekends but I could give 2 shits about that. If she wants to put work before seeing her grandchild, there's nothing I can do about it. She's only been here 3 times since Paige was born: for her baptism, last year January foe Christmas and her birthday this year. His dad's been here a few more times but only because his stepdaughter goes to college in Green Bay. I guess I'm refusing to go this year, if Mike wants to go up with Paige he can, but I'm not going. We'll see where this takes us.

I'm starting my own pajama making sweatshop!!!!! I'm making jammies for my sister, my mom, my sitter, Mike's mom and stepmom. Picking out fabric for everyone took FOREVER, but I think I made some good choices. I just hope they all turn out and everyone likes them.

I think Mike and I had sex when I was ovulating, so I'm waiting to take a pregnancy test! I don't know what we were thinking, but oh well! The only bad thing is that I'm feeling the same pelvic pain I felt when I had my ovarian cyst almost 2 years ago. I really hope that won't be a problem.

Paige has been so sassy and defiant lately. She bucks everything and every move I make. It's starting to really wear me out. Terri recommended the book 1 2 3 Magic so I'm checking that out on ebay right now. It looks like there is a 1996 and a 2003 version. Terri, what are you using? The 1996 is quite a bit cheaper. LOVE ebay! Just got 2 cute pairs of Arizona jeans for $8, shipped.

Work is SO BORING!!! I'm just killing time right now.

Congrats to Koren who welcomed baby Owen into the world on November 12th!!!! Hope all is well with you guys and looking forward to seeing pix of your new handsome little man!!!

OK, that's enough rambling. Back to killing time for another hour!!!

Car Seats

I wanted to put out some info on car seats that keep kids harnessed beyond 40 pounds so here you go:

(RF=Rear-Facing, FF=Forward-Facing)
1. Cosco Apex 65 FF only 22-65 lbs. harnessed, 40-100 lbs. booster; $139 available at www.amazon.com (titled Alpha Elite Apex Booster Car Seat)
****This seat can only be used in cars that have a high headrest. Once your child (harnessed or not) gets tall enough that his/her tops of ears are level with the top of your vehicle seat’s headrest, you must discontinue using the seat. Cosco has stated that the headrest is merely for the child to rest their head and was not designed to serve as a safety device of any kind.
****Also available at www.walmart.com for $100. May be available in stores.

2. Britax Marathon RF 5-33 lbs., FF 20-65 lbs., $249

3. Britax Boulevard RF 5-33 lbs, FF 20-65 lbs; $299

4. Britax Decathlon RF 5-33 lbs, FF 20-65 lbs; $285

5. Britax Regent FF only 22-80 lbs; $249
***all Britax seats available at www.elitecarseats.com

6. Sunshine Kids Radian RF 5-33 lbs, FF 22-65 lbs. and 49 inches, $199 available at www.go-baby.com

7. Nania Airway FF only 22-50 lbs. harnesses, 20-80 lbs. booster; $119, available at www.familyonboard.com

8. Fisher Price Safe Voyage RF 5-33 lbs., FF up to 55 lbs.; $180, available at www.burlingtoncoatfactory.com, click on “Baby Depot”. Also available at www.elitecarseats.com.

9. SafeGuard Go; combination vest and booster. Harnessed FF vest 30-60 lbs., booster 40-100 lbs.; $179 available at www.safeguardseat.com. (Tether required with harnessed FF use.)

10. Team Tex America Legend FF only 22-65 pounds harnessed, 30-100 lbs. booster; $129 available at www.team-tex.com
****Expected to be available late 2006

If your car is a 1999 or newer and your kids are forward facing, USE THE TETHER STRAP AND ANCHOR!!!! It is so important to use that to help reduce how far forward your child's head will go in a crash. It offers so much head protection.

Anyway, hope some of my ya yas find that helpful! I have to update from the weekend, but I just got into work. I should be productive for a little bit!!!!

Amazing

I LOVE this video. What a great dad!

http://cjcphoto.com/can/

Another Weekend Report

Friday: had a playdate at a Burger King with my mom's group. Most of them have a child Paige's age or younger and then a baby and are SAHMs. Paige had a BALL giving all the baby's hugs and kisses. The play area got a little crazy because a lot of other kids came, but we still had lots of fun. Paige actually got off my lap and played in the play area! WHO HOO!! She's coming out of her shell! I also got her home in time for lunch and a nap. She got out of bed, opened her door and yelled down to the basement for me to come and rock her, but after that one time she stayed in bed and has gotten out since for naps or bedtime.

Saturday: worked at a car seat check in Green Bay and then to the mall to make a bunch of returns at Old Navy and Kohl's. The mall was swamped. I had to stalk people walking out of a store to their car and wait for them to pull out so I could get a spot. It was like the weekend before Christmas or something! I'm like, WTF?, it's the first weekend of November! But it was crappy out and now that Halloween is over, the Christmas rush is officially on. Bath and Body Works had BOGO free on their Body Butters, but it was asses and elbows in there and the line was super long so I left after about 30 seconds. Came home, then went out for pizza with some friends who have a 2 1/2 year old girl too. Paige was not very well behaved. Kinda whiny and clingy and wouldn't eat. She normally loves pizza, but only ate salt and pepper and a few of the mints. Yep, salt and pepper. She'd shake it onto my plate or hers and lick it off her fingers. Ugh.

Sunday: took Paige to church and was forced to sit in the very front row because church was crowded. It's never like that so I don't know what that was about. Came home and went all Elisa =) on my house. I vaccuumed my house and furniture really good, vaccuumed the corners of my kitchen, the swiffered and mopped them and washed down the outside of my kitchen cupboards, dishwasher, oven, etc. It took an hour and I was sweating. Not fun, but I was sick of my dog hair covered house. That damn hair is EVERYWHERE!!!!! Watched the Packer game and did some laundry and went to Green Bay after Paige's nap to visit some friends who have a 5 week old baby boy. He is so cute and I held him almost the whole time we were there. Well actually, Paige and I fought over holding him. She held him for almost a half hour and just loved it. She would put her head by his, pat him and give him little hugs. It was so darn cute. Came home, gave Paige a bath, put her to bed, ate some cereal for supper, showered, checked email and then finally watched Desperate Housewives that we taped. OMG! That was the most intense episode ever. The writing is so much better this year. They got the writers from Frasier and you can tell the show is just so much better.

Now I'm bored at work and looking forward to leaving in a half hour. Have to stop at the grocery store on my way home and try to figure out what to cook for supper. I hate cooking supper!!!

Update and Correction

OK, I read the news wrong about my dad. There WILL be a 2nd trial for crazy bitch #2, but that's all we know right now. It's still to be determined if the charges will be combined or tried separately. The news released this yesterday so I will too, crazy bitch #1 and #2 are sisters...their family is WACKO. CB (crazy bitch) #2 lied on the stand for 2 hours...she couldn't get her facts straight and kept backing herself into a corner, but the judge still ordered a trial. And get this, the superintendant of the school was at this hearing too! I want his job...he must not have enough to do if he has the time to drive into downtown Appleton from Hortonville (probably 1/2 hour drive) sit in a 2-3 hour hearing and then drive back. This is after Hortonville school has had 3 bomb threats in 6 weeks. Don't ya think he'd be spending his time ensuring that his students and staff are SAFE rather than wasting time at hearings for a FORMER employee who hasn't worked there in almost 8 months? This is a fucked up world, I tell ya.

On a happier note, Paige and I had a playdate this morning and it was lots of fun! I even got her home in time for lunch and a nap. It's her first time napping at home in her big girl bed and she escaped once for more rocking with me, but now it's quiet on the monitor. I hope she takes a good nap. Mama needs some down time!

214

That's my total cholesterol level. Just got a call from my friend whose the nurse of the dr. I saw on Monday and my cholesterol is 214. Ugh. I know they want it below 200 and I knew it was going to be a little high because I've let myself get so fat. Maybe this will be the wake up call I need to lose weight. Heart disease runs in my family so I should do something about it. He wants me to come back sometime and have a fasting lipid panel done to get my good and bad cholesterol levels checked. Maybe my good cholesterol is high? That would be nice! I really don't want to run all the way down there for a fasting lipid panel first thing in the morning. It's WAAAYYY over on the east side of Green Bay. OK, I'm outta here now.

Keeps Getting Worse

A separate trial for the 2nd charges, which is the worst outcome of this:
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061102/APC0101/61102062/1979

I've lost faith in our justice system. This is supposed to be such a good time in our lives with having Paige and my sister's upcoming wedding and all we can think about is the fact that he might not be at her wedding and Paige might grow up with out her grandpa. I just have a bad feeling about this now...I've been fairly optimstic until now but I think the worst is going to happen now and we're going to lose him.

Another Milestone!

No, she's not potty trained, but Paige is sleeping in a big girl bed tonight for the first time! I can't believe it...my baby is really becoming a big girl!

She wanted to sleep in her sleeping bag on the floor and Mike and I were kind of unsure about that, so I suggested that we put the sleeping bag in her crib and Mike said well why don't I just take the one side off to make it a bed right away? I thought well hell, let's just give it a try and see what happens. So we went for it and Paige was all excited to sleep in her big girl bed! We always read 2 books and then rock for a few minutes before bed, but tonight she wanted to hop right into bed after her books and not rock...totally unheard of. So she climbed in, pulled her sleeping bag up, I took about 100 pictures and off I went and we didn't hear a peep out of her. I'm still kind of shocked. Mike said to her over and over that if she gets up in the morning that she can read her books before we come and get her, so we made a big deal about that and about putting a pile of books next to her on the floor.

So maybe if we're patient with the potty training, she'll lead the way on that too and let us know when SHE'S ready, not when we're ready for her to be trained.

Forgot to mention in my last post that my sister got engaged over the weekend! WHO HOO!!!! It's about damn time, she's been shacking up with him for over a year (no offense to those who lived together, but it's my little sister and I was not pleased with her decision to move in with him, but that's over now I guess). He's a high school tech ed teacher and she's a middle school Spanish teacher, so I guess it's meant to be! No, he's really a nice guy and my family really likes him. Him and Mike get along really well too. They're thinking about getting married next June already which means I'll probably be pregnant at their wedding which would really suck the big one. We shall see I guess.

Off to bed for this tired mama!

Weekend Report

Friday: took Paige to Green Bay for the moms meetup at the mall. Not a good idea. I had to stop at a few stores and do some browsing, but she was actually quite good. The only issue was that she wanted to push the stroller with no help from me which causes us to go at about a turtle's pace. Luckily the mall wasn't too busy. We got to the play area and she was quite good for a while and then the wheels fell off. I was being a selfish mommy and didn't want to leave because I was having fun chatting with the other moms. So we went to lunch at the food court and it was horrible. She wouldn't touch her pizza, she kept getting up and trying to walk away, and I spilled our soda trying to maneuver the stroller, Paige and our tray of food to our table on the opposite end of the food court. She slept for a total of 15 minutes on the way home and was a bear the rest of the day. I knew it was going to be a long weekend (Mike was gone up north getting ready for hunting)

Saturday: started off ok despite the super early wake up of about 6am but by mid morning we were both sick of each other. She was so tired that she fell asleep on my lap watching Wiggles at noon. I rocked her for about a half hour, laid her down and she woke up screaming instantly. So a half hour nap on Saturday. But the afternoon passed fairly quickly, we played outside for quite awhile and then she watched Dora while I started supper. Thank god my parents got there when they did, but the wheels really started coming off when they got there. She wanted their attention and they wanted to eat. So they scarfed down supper while Paige pranced around the kitchen yelling at us trying to get our attention. It was quite a show. By 7pm she was screaming and beside herself because she was so overtired and ended up crying herself to sleep.

Sunday: I wake up to "MAMA MAMA MAMA MAMA MAMA!!!!" at 5:45am and want to cry. I ignore her and my mom gets her up. At 6:45 am they wake me up and tell me they need my help because they can't understand what she wants. I go out to the kitchen and Paige is a wreck. Bags under her eyes, tired eyes and wild hair. I ended up going to 8:15am church by myself. By the time I got home she was in a much better mood. Grandma broke out the bunny costume which totally transformed her. They took her to the park so I could have some peace and quiet to drink my coffee and read the paper. It was SO NICE!!! So then she ate lunch and I put her down for nap, hoping she'd sleep at least 3 hours. No such luck, she was awake after about an hour. I almost cried and probably would have if my parents wouldn't have been there. But luckily we were all able to keep her entertained, mostly by playing outside WITH the bunny costume on. Did I mention she also napped in it???? By 4pm we were trick or treating and she did SO GOOD! She wasn't hesitant or nervous at all. She would go right up to the people, even the ones with scary masks and say trick or treat and then thank you! I was so proud of her!!!! She was so darn cute in that bunny costume too. We went around one block and then drove over to her sitter's house. We came back here, ordered pizza for supper, I gave her a bath and put her down for bed.

Today: mom and dad left early this morning after getting Paige up and dressed. It was so nice to have the reinforcements!!!! I had a doctor appointment with a new OB/GYN today. He was really nice so I'm glad I went to him. He said I should stay on the Lexapro while pregnant and that's it's safe to be on. Their official recommendation is to wait 3 months before getting pregnant to allow time for the crap from the nuvaring to get out of my body, but to also take that with a grain of salt, because women get pregnant while taking hormonal BC and their babies are fine. So we'll see. I'd really like to start trying this month, but maybe we'll wait a month. Mike got home tonight around suppertime and Paige was happy to see him. She was still really tired and just a total bear again tonight. I'm going to do some research on toddler sleep to see how much they need. I know I need to go to bed NOW!

Thanks Krista!

We got our Halloween goodie box tonight and it was full of good stuff! The "Little Devil" shirt is right on for Paige-a perfect expression of her disposition lately! And you included my 2 favorite candies: Reese's PB Cups and Kit Kats!!! YUM!! I'm sure the truffles will be good too! And the candle is so cute and smells great.

I hope my recepient enjoys getting their treats as much as I did!

Make Me Puke

More media coverage:

http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061027/APC0101/610270695/1003/APC01

I tried calling the reporter listed here and got someone else and chewed on him for a while. The headline is out of control-whatever happened until innocent until proven guilty? He hasn't even been tried yet!!!!! I'll be calling the news editor tomorrow morning and asking her to make a correction to the article and adding the word "alleged".

The hell continues.....

Here's What Happened

C&P'd from an email to Meredith:

On our way back from our wonderful, relaxing weekend on Sunday, my sister calls me and tells me that a child protective services worker from the county and a cop visited my parents house on Saturday because they got a tip that Paige would be here for the weekend (their words, they knew her name) and wanted to make sure she was safe. My mom had a breakdown after they left and literally collapsed. Thank god Paige was sleeping. She thought they were going to take Paige away. I work and live in Oconto County and my parents live in Outagamie County. A child pro. Services worker here left me a message on my cell phone on Friday to call her back ASAP, but I couldn't get a hold of her until Monday afternoon. Basically someone here (and I'm sure it's someone from work, no one else knew Paige would be at my parents) reported that I was placing Paige in danger by keeping her at my parents EVEN THOUGH my sister and mom would both be there. So Oconto County child pro services has no choice but to report it to Outagamie CPS and they "screen it out" which I assume means they have no grounds to pursue it further. This is all according to Oconto county CPS. So even though they screened it out, Outagamie CPS and a cop still stopped at my parents house on Saturday and told them they would stop by again, thank god they didn't. So I called Outagamie County CPS and tried to get more info, but the biotch I talked to on Monday was no help, she said they couldn't even acknowledge they received a report. GRRRRR...Put a call into the cop shop and the cop that was there will be in this afternoon so I'll be calling back and chewing her out too. My dad told his lawyer all this and they are trying to get an exemption to his bond condition to allow him to be alone with minor female family members. I plan to speak at the hearing for this, if there will be one. She's mine and I decide who she spends time with. I'm just so furious and angry and can't believe that a co worker of mine actually thinks placing Paige with my dad would be putting her in danger and that I would intentionally put her in danger. I would DIE before I let anything happen to her and I have nothing but 100% trust in both my parents. I'm going to be talking to my boss and letting her know that I'm looking for a new job. I can't work with these kind of people. This never would have happened if I didn't work here.

OK, so after I wrote that, I called my mom last night for some words of wisdom and she really helped calm me down. She made me realize that the anger and hurt I feel will pass in time and that it might not have been a co worker of mine here in Human Services, it could have been anyone in the courthouse that overheard someone talking. I'm trying really hard to believe that and to just put this out of my mind. I can't hold on to these feelings for ever and keep these thoughts in my head, I'll go nuts. So I'm working on the healing process, I guess....

Anyway, a couple of big news items...Paige slept on the floor at Sandi's yesterday for her nap! No more pack n play! I know people probably think I'm nuts for keeping her in a crib/pnp, but it works for us. But anyway, Sandi decided to try having her sleep on the floor in the living room like the other big kids and it worked! I couldn't believe it! So I'm thinking we might try letting her sleep in a a sleeping bag in her room for naps soon and see how it goes. We'll be needing the crib soon enough because.....

We're finally going to start ttc #2!!!! I know it's the right time because I'm excited about it, I'm jealous of a pregnant co worker, and am hoping for a little Christmas present/miracle in the form of a positive HPT. I just finished my Nuvaring yesterday so AF should start next week. I have an appointment with a new OB/GYN next week who is actually a male. I can't believe I'm going to a male doctor, but one of my very good friends is his nurse and she highly recommends him. Plus the hospital he delivers at is SUPER NICE and I think I'll feel comfortable with him since Erica (my friend) is his nurse. Her and I went to Country USA this year.

I signed up for a bunch of events with my moms group. They finally scheduled some Friday events so Paige and I can go. Tomorrow we're going to the play area at the mall in Green Bay, Paige really likes it so it should be fun. I'm also signed up for 3 of their Mom's Nights Out, those are fun too. We usually go out for coffee or out to eat. We're also going to a children's museum in Appleton in November.

I think every kid in the world has this nasty cold with the bad cough. A co worker of mine is home sick today and I'm assuming it's with her 3 year old dd and another co worker told me both of her kids had it. Terri's little streaker girl has it too...poor little ones. It's a nasty one.

Back to work!

Back to work!!!

36 Pounds and 39 Inches

That's how big Paige is already!!! We took her to the dr. last night because she had a funky sounding cough and was quite lethargic and didn't have much of an appetite. She had a 101 temp there, but everything else was fine. She's just got a yucky cold, so we bought her some cough medicine. Every kid in town must have this virus because all the generic cough medicine was gone! She seems to be better today, temp is between 99-100, the cough seems better, but she isn't eating ANYTHING and refuses to drink any fluids. Stubborn creature.

I stayed home with her again today because of the fever last night. She seems to have more energy today, but not as much as usual. I hope she takes a nice long nap.

I just can't believe how big she is!!!! No wonder my back is sore from hauling her around.

Got some really bad news yesterday that has shattered my trust in the decency and goodness of people. I really don't want to go into it, but basically my outlook on the goodness of people has totally changed.

Anyway, that's about it. Going to relax while Paige is napping!

Hangin In There

Yep, still here, and haven't heard anything new. I'm just so relieved that we got my dad home that I haven't been able to think of anything else.

Took Paige to a nearby pumpkin patch tonight after work; I think she's just a little too young for it. She didn't really want to ride the kiddie train, climb around in the kid sized tractor, or go in the petting zoo, corn maze, corn stalk tunnel, etc. All she wanted to do was walk around the pumpkins and attempt to pick them up. Maybe next year.

Mike got us new cell phones because we were due for an upgrade. It's a Motorola camera phone and it has WAY too many bells and whistles! I was just used to my last one and now I have to try to figure this one out.

We're headed out for the weekend. I'm taking Paige to my mom and dad's tomorrow, then Mike is meeting us there tomorrow night after work. Him and I are going to an hotel/indoor water park for the weekend; should be a fun getaway for us!

I'm so tired and Paige has been getting up around 6am so off to bed for me!

Update on Horrible News

Dad's home now; he got out on a cash bond. The preliminary hearing is November 2nd and one of the conditions of his bond is that he can't have unsupervised contact with a minor female, meaning he can't be alone with Paige. Absolutely ridiculous. But the good thing is that he's home and now we wait for the next hearing. Please more prayers!

Horrible News

More charges:
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061017/GPG0101/61017038/1978

I'm sick to my stomach and can hardly function at work. Lots of prayers please.

Very Quick Update

Work is out of control busy, but wanted to give my ya yas a quick update. OK, here goes:
1. I'm over the worst with my pinkeye. Still on the drops, but the I want to rip my eye out feeling is gone.
2. *Knock on wood* Paige and Mike seem to have escaped the pinkeye plague. Probably because we avoided each other like we had the plague.
3. I have a ton of pix to post of Paige, but I have no time to load them into photobucket.
4. I had 9 voicemail messages waiting for me since last week Wednesday at work and actually got another one while checking mine. Still haven't returned all of the calls.
5. Paige is talking up a storm...today she told me "I missed you Mama!" when I got her out of bed!
6. She's sleeping a little better, woke up at 6:30am the past few days instead of 5:30am. Would love it if she could make it to 7am.
7. We discovered she LOVES playing in leaves and she also loves her new tunnel thing we got for 50 cents at a rummage sale last week.
8. I have to pee bad.

OK, hope to post pix tomorrow!!!!

Pinkeye

I have PINKEYE!!!! What adult gets that? I'm so irritated! The pain started last night and actually woke me up a few times in the night. Luckily I was able to see a doctor at our clinic here in town this morning and he diagnosed it as pinkeye and prescribed antibiotics. It flippin' hurts..i thought pinkeye was itchy, not painful. So I'm going to try my best not to spread it to Mike and Paige, but I have a bad feeling it will. I feel like this house is crawling with pinkeye cooties.

The silver lining in this is that Mike took the day off to drive me to the doctor and also took Paige to the sitter so we've had a super nice relaxing day. I slept until about 10am when he woke me to go to the apt., then we stopped at the pharmacy afterwards, then to Radio Shack while waiting for my meds. Found out we can upgrade to camera phones for free during a promotion they're having next week so I think we'll do that. Stopped a few rummage sales afterwards and had so much fun! We'd never gone to them together before and got so much stuff for Paige! A brand new ez-bake oven, a bunny halloween costume, 5 pairs of shoes, a couple of pairs of jeans, couple of pairs of capris, a climb through tunnel thing, alphabet floor mats, hat, mittens and a xylophone for $20! So now we're just bumming around the house until Mike goes to pick her up. I also got out of a super boring mandatory work inservice today...WHO HOO!!!! It's so nice to have these "mental health days" every so often....just wish my eye wasn't burning.

Shots

I'm off work today so Paige and I got our flu shot at an immunization clinic here in town; one of the nurses I work with gave it to us. She also recommended a Hep A shot for Paige and I let her give one. I'm kinda second-guessing myself on that one, because Paige let out a pretty good scream while she got it because it stings; she was pretty clingy and tired when we got home. She gave me a hard time for her nap, but finally fell asleep not too long ago. She didn't make a peep for the flu shot, just tightened up her leg. My arm is a bit sore, but it'll go away.

We used two nightlights last night and they seemed to help a little. She seemed to fall asleep a little quicker. Of course she was awake around 6am this morning and shouting out to us to make her presence known. This morning it was actually pretty funny: "I'M AWAKE!!!! I'M AWAKE!!!!! I ALL DONE SLEEPING!!!!! I AWAKE!!! MAMA!!!! DADA!!!!!! DADA!!!!!!!"

I was about ready to fly through the roof though last night when putting her to sleep. As I was rocking her, she saw a pair of jammies sitting on her dresser and something inside of her flipped, she started throwing a fit and insisting on wearing these pink jammies. I tried offering that she can bring them to bed with her and she turned to me with fire in her eyes and screams "NO I PUT THEM ON!!!!" So I gave in, pick your battles right? So then Mike has to go in and rock her after a bit because she's screaming out for him. He comes back down and tells me he had to change her jammies back to the ones she had on originally. I almost screamed with frustration, what a manipulator! And poor Mike had no idea I had already changed her jammies or he never would have.

So anyway, Paige is now sleeping and I have a big stack of junk mail to go through, and Baby Story is on! My guilty pleasure!

Sleep Baby Sleep

OK, I've officially jinxed myself; Paige has been sleeping like crap lately. Last night I had her in bed by 7:30pm, she started crying out a few minutes later so I went in and rocked her. Went downstairs to walk on the treadmill, came back up around 8:45pm and hear her aquarium STILL going. Mike said he had to rock her once after I did too. She finally fell asleep around 9 or so. Woke up a few times in the night, but we didn't have to get her and was up at 5:30 again this morning! UGH!!!!! And it wasn't just kinda moaning and whining like maybe she'll fall asleep, it was all out yelling "MAMA MAMA MAMA DADA DADA DADA!!!!!!!" I'm like WTF? We were both rather cranky this morning and I was more than happy with dropping her off at Sandi's-it would have been a LOOONNGGG day today with it starting at 5:30am. I won't let her CIO because she won't quit crying, I just KNOW she won't. I think I'm going to have to get her a nightlight because she seems to be afraid of the dark. Of course she's napping like a dream, taking 2.5 hour naps at Sandi's...UGH!!!!!

Work is super busy right now and I can't get my head above water. I'm half listening to a work teleconference right now, talk about multi-tasking! I'm out the rest of the week so I'm trying to get things settled before I go. I'm afraid I'm going to come back on Monday to a full voicemail machine; I sent out letters to the businesses that sold tobacco to teenagers over the weekend. The bars can get pretty prickly with me when they get the letter. I need to talk with our sherriff's dept. about writing citations for these businesses.

We are going through stickers like they're going out of style. Thank God there's a Dollar General on my way home, they have CHEAP stickers. All she does is peel them off and put them on paper, but it entertains her like you wouldn't believe! She's gotten so silly lately, running around and making up songs, jumping all the time, etc. I think she forgot how to walk...she just RUNS EVERYWHERE!!!! It's crazy!!!

My Virgin Hair

has been violated. I finally broke down and got highlights this afternoon! I've colored it a few times, but it's been an all-over color, have never done the hightlighting thing before. But with this short, layered cut, I've been tossing it around for a while and finally went for it today. I got blonde highlights and mostly around my face. They're quite drastic at least to me anyway...I look almost blonde instead of my mousy brown. They'll take a little getting used to, but Mike really likes them and I think I do too.

I think Paige is FINALLY getting interested in art! I'm certainly no artist myself, but she has never been into coloring or other artsy stuff. But I bought some "washable" (read: they'll wash off if you get to them right away) markers earlier this week and suddenly coloring is like her new favorite thing to do. I bought a few other artsy things today at the Dollar General (my new favorite store): this window painting kit, stickers and a sticker album, a couple of sheets of Dora stickers, and play doh. Also some accessories for her princess Halloween costume. I broke the play doh out tonight and at first she wasn't sure what to do with it, but ended up LOVING it! She sat at her table and I sat on the floor by her and we played with that darn play doh for probably a good half hour...an eternity for a 2 year old!

So I came up with the brilliant idea (well not really that brilliant) of putting together an arts and crafts box with stickers, markers, play doh, etc. for rainy days. I think I'm also going to start looking for some cheapie dress up items like purses, hats, shoes, scarves, etc. and put together a dress up box too. Maybe I can score some cheap costumes after Halloween to add to it. I know Sandi has a dress up box that she'll break out every now and then and the kids go nuts for it.

Arts, crafts, dress up...my baby is turning into such a big girl!!!!

Not Much New

to report. Work has been super busy the past few days and I don't see it slowing down anytime soon. It's like feast or famine for me; I like being busy, but not quite like this. I'm meeting with my boss tomorrow which should be helpful.

Paige is starting to really test and push her boundaries, even at Sandi's! She's finally getting brave enough after 2 years there to see how much she can get away with! I wonder if she's growing or going through some sort of developmental change because she's gotten a little more sassy and bossy with me, and her sleeping has gone downhill. She's been waking up in the night wanting us to come and rock her and then waking up before 6am. She napped for two hours at Sandi's today, but was still super tired, so I had her in bed around 7:15pm. She started crying out 2 minutes after I laid her down (which NEVER happens, she always goes to bed so well) so I went back in and rocked her, laid her down again, and when I was on the treadmill downstairs I could hear her crying on the monitor. Mike went back in and rocked her for a while, and here it's 8:30pm and I still hear her aquarium going. AGH!

Trying to get back in the groove of exercising more often. I walked Monday night, did Pilates last night, and walked again tonight. My eating is so out of control and I don't know how to stop it. I ate about a half a big bag of M&M's on my way home from work tonight during my 15 mile commute. I just couldn't stop eating them. I almost stopped at Dollar General to buy more in case I ran out. But I have no cash and was running a little late so I didn't.

OK, off to make some banana bread. We have some seriously overripe naners!

Aaahhhh.....

Feeling a bit better and more refreshed. I took today off of work and kept Paige home with me this morning until about 11am. Dropped her off at Sandi's in time for lunch and nap, then came home and was a huge bum! It was so nice to be home alone in a quiet, semi-clean house, with most of the laundry put away! I did do the sheets and towels and hung them on the line. I cooked a decent meal (chicken noodles and veggie skillet thing) and Paige even ate some of it! I just got done with 26 minutes on the treadmill and I'll be taking a shower soon. One less thing to do tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow is going to be a crazy day work-wise, but my dad is coming up to watch her so I don't have to worry about daycare drop off and pick up. He's going to start coming up here every other Tuesday to watch her until the end of the year. Gives him something to do to occupy his time. However, it's a scary time to be in schools, and very small part of me is glad he's not teaching right now, just wish he could have left on HIS terms. Anyway, I digress...

Tomorrow, I have a car seat apt. at 8am, then have to pull together the materials for the booster seat presentations, meet my co worker for lunch, then off to the elementary school for the presentations. I enjoy those presentations, especially with the kindergarden kids. Once we get up to the 2nd graders they start to get mouthy.

Prayers for the familes affected in Pennslyvania. I can't even imagine.