Tuesday Toot- Therapy is Tough!

Filed Under Difficult Stuff, Memes, O.T., Two Years Old | 4 Comments

I have been taking Bailey to see an occupational therapist for over two months now. Her eating has improved SO much. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes, though. It’s a time commitment: Twice a week I drive about 20-25 minutes each way to get to her therapist’s office, wait 45 minutes for her appointment, listen to her cry in the other room… It takes time away from “fun” activities that we could be doing and also interrupts our schedule. It costs a stinkin lot of money. Today I even initiated a difficult conversation with our therapist and got some answers to questions I had. But I do it because I love Bailey. I want her to get better and to be able to eat normally, play and focus on “normal” activities, etc.

I think as moms we can be hard on ourselves. Take time to think about something that you have accomplished lately. It’s not bragging; we just need to acknowledge our hard work and it’s good to feel good about it! To read about what other moms have done, visit Mommy Community.

For Valentine’s Day

Filed Under Memes | 3 Comments

In Honor of Valentine’s Day
Where the Road Takes Us had this on her blog and it looked like fun…

? How long have you been together? 5 1/2 years

? How long did you know each other before you started dating? About 9 months

? Who asked who out? he did

? How old are each of you? I’m 28 and he’s 32.

? Whose siblings do/ did you see the most? His, because I don’t have any

? Do you have any children together? Bailey

? What about pets? Not now- we used to have a cat and a turtle

? Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? Being busy!

? Did you go to the same school? Nope.

? Are you from the same home town? Not even close- different countries, in fact.

? Who is the smartest? I think him…he thinks me

? Who is the most sensitive? Me

? Where do you eat out most as a couple? La Plaza or El Nopal Mexican

? Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? Jamaica

? Who has the craziest exes? No crazy ones.

? Who has the worst temper? ?? We can both be pretty bad if we get ticked off.

? Who does the cooking? That’s me

? Who is more social? He likes being with people more but I like getting out of the house to do stuff more.

? Who is the neat-freak? ?? neither.

? Who is the more stubborn? depends on what we’re talking about.

? Who hogs the bed? We both steal covers!

? Who wakes up earlier? Always him

? Where was your first date? Stir Crazy

? Who has the bigger family? Him, but we both have kind of small families

? Do you get flowers often? Probably just a few times a year

? How do you spend the holidays? With family, but we are trying to make our own traditions too

? Who is more jealous? Neither of us.

? How long did it take to get serious? About a month, lol

? Who eats more? Definitely him, he could eat a house

? Who does/ did the laundry? Me. He was banned after several unfortunate color mixing incidents.

? Who’s better with the computer? Well, that’s what he does for a living

? Who drives when you are together? He usually does.

Six or Seven Random Things

Filed Under Memes | 4 Comments

I was tagged by Sonja and Jen Rhodes for this one, so here we go!

List these rules on your blog.
Share six/seven facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
Tag six/seven people at the end of your post by leaving their name as well as links to their blogs.
Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Just for fun, I am going to include photos for my SIX things! Because I am borrowing my mom’s camera for the weekend and I’ve gotten a little snap happy.

1. I hate to cook but I enjoy baking.

2. I got a lot of awards at my Avon Christmas dinner on Monday. I wasn’t going to mention them, but Jen said that I have to post about them. One of the awards was #1 in sales in my category. So I got to wear this santa hat all evening. Another award was for winning the Black Friday sale in my district. I sold $1076 on Black Friday and I was actually the only person to sell over $1000 that day. Thank you all for your orders! We are still waiting to hear the results of the Miss America contest.

3. I have to have either Diet Coke or a latte every day. Preferably both.

4. I am not a huge fan of characters on kids clothes, but sometimes it just can’t be avoided. Someone got B this Elmo dress and she is in love.

5. I don’t really like decorating for Christmas. I know, I’m weird. To me it’s just annoying to haul that stuff out and then have to put it away in a month or two. One year before we were married, Jonathon put my Christmas tree away FOR me in February because he was tired of looking at it. (This picture is from last year- my mom showing Bailey the Christmas tree)

6. I love fun socks. Usually, they don’t match my outfit at all. I happen to have on my favorite pair right now:

So, now it is your turn:
Amy
Casey
Clear Epic
Daily Verses
Mindy
Wildmom

Sorry if you’ve already been tagged, I can’t keep track of who has done this one!

I am Kreativ

Filed Under Blogging, Memes | 1 Comment

It took me a while to post this- I am a slacker lately- but I got a blog award from Where the Road Takes Us! Thank you thank you!

The requirements for this award are to list six things that make me happy, then tag six more bloggers.

Six things that make me happy:

1. When Bailey feels the sudden need to snuggle with me and buries her face in my neck. Even if it’s just for a moment.
2. Diet Coke. It makes me so happy. Unless it is on the floor of my car. Then it makes me so angry. I’ll have to share that story with you sometime.
3. Sometimes after we eat dinner, Jonathon offers to do the dishes. Sometimes. And there are usually still pots on the stove afterwards. It’s the thought that counts, though, and that makes me happy.
4. Sleeping in late on a Saturday morning. Jonathon lets me do this about every other weekend since he is a morning person. And 9 or 9:30 really feels LATE now! Finally he will come in and put Bailey on the bed to wake me up, and I love that too.
5. Getting Avon orders from a lot of different states, especially because I want to beat this one particular girl at the contest. Because she thinks she has a big internet business. Okay, she really does sell a lot online- but I know I at least beat her with my first few states!! And they’re still coming in. Thanks guys.
6. Weight Watchers. Yes, I’m at it again. I would much rather lose weight “naturally” than by using weight loss pills. Wish me luck!

The final requirement for this award is to tag 6 more bloggers that are Kreativ.

I am being kind of un-kreativ and I am just going to tag anyone who wants to play! I know, so lame.

15 Years In a Nutshell

Filed Under Memes | 3 Comments

I was tagged by Jill for this meme, which I think was originally started by Canape.

How exactly do you summarize the last 15 years of your life?

1. I did a lot of stupid stuff in high school that I’m not proud of. Oh yeah and in college too. I’m lucky to be alive and healthy and not an emotional wreck. Let’s just not go there.

2. I graduated from high school in 1998 and from Central Missouri State University (which changed its name) just under five years later.

3. While in college I was very involved on campus. I joined Sigma Kappa Sorority my freshman year and lived in the house for two years. I served as the secretary and the Panhellenic representative, as well as several other offices. I was also part of the public relations students group, marketing club, a volunteer group, and the Baptist Student Union.

4. After graduating and moving back to St. Louis, I decided to grow up and settle down, ended a traumatic relationship, and soon after that I met Jonathon. We dated for thirteen months, got engaged, and got married in 2005.

5. We met at a large (not mega church but really big) Protestant church in St. Louis. We still attend that church and we both volunteer in the nursery and are involved in a young married couples group.

6. My degree is in Public Relations and I have worked at a children’s home, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and for a small publishing company. That last job, my boss was a pervert and I quit after three weeks. I picked up a newspaper to look for a new job and found an ad looking for a nanny. So I became a nanny and worked part time, with summers off, until I was 35 weeks pregnant. This is Henry, the little guy I used to take care of.

I went back to school briefly because I was thinking about getting my teaching certification. I also considered a job as a futures broker and also going to law school. I still don’t think I really know what I want to do when I go back to work.

7. We bought a three bedroom house a few months after we got married. It was in “move-in condition” but we have done a lot of updating and redecorating. We also had a fourth bedroom added to the lower level and we hope that one day the real estate market will get better and we can sell and move up a little bit. One of our favorite things about the house is the big deck on the back.

8. Bailey Sophia was born in April of 2007 and she is the light of my life. I think if something happened to her, they would have to bury me too. I know that sounds horrible but I think other moms probably understand.

9. I work once a week at a grocery store (in the evening or on the weekend) and the rest of the time I am at home with Bailey or selling Avon. Someday I hope to build my Avon business but right now it’s fun and a decent supplemental income.

10. We love to travel and we have been to Canada (Niagara Falls), Mexico, Jamaica, Nashville, Memphis, Kansas City, Oklahoma (okay so that was just to see his parents), and South Padre Island. This fall we are going to Disney World! Traveling is one of our big priorities and something that we have really missed since Bailey was born. We are so excited for our trip this fall. Here is a picture of us on a glass bottom boat tour in Cabo.

Wow, this turned out to be quite an emotional post for me, looking through the old pictures and thinking about the highlights of my life! I am going to tag these five people:

1. Andria
2. Groundhog Chaser
3. Amy- Radish
4. Amy- Everyday Mama Drama
5. Tubeless

Tuesday Toot- My business

Filed Under Avon, Memes | 2 Comments

This week for my Tuesday Toot, I am going to brag about my Avon business. I love having something that’s MINE and I can still feel like I am contributing, even while being a SAHM. It is going better than I expected. I spend a lot of time reading the Avon boards and learning new things to try. But honestly, I really enjoy it.

I have also tried a few products that I am very proud of and think they have done great things for me. The first is the new Mineral Makeup. It feels much nicer than a heavy foundation… and I feel good wearing it. I went into a store at the mall to check out their mineral makeup stuff. It was super expensive, so I decided to give the Avon stuff a shot. I think the powder is not quite as fine, but other than that I didn’t really notice a difference and I think it went on the same.

The second thing I have absolutely fallen in love with is the Superfull Mascara. It’s on sale right now two for $7.99. I posted about it before and shared this picture.

I feel like I can really stand behind these products and be proud of what I do. I am proud of being a mommy, but I am proud that I can build a (small) career at the same time. Who knows, maybe someday it will turn into more than just a side job

Me! Me! Me!

Filed Under Memes | 4 Comments

I’ve been tagged by Girl to give you all seven random facts about me. I have shared a lot here so I will try to think of some things you might not know.

The rules?

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I can’t stand sleeping with my arms or legs exposed. If I don’t have blankets covering me, I have to have long pants and long sleeves on. I literally CANNOT take a nap or go to bed if I am not properly covered.

2. I won a spelling bee in second grade by spelling the word “metamorphosis” correctly. Then again in fourth grade by spelling “satellite.” However, I lost the 7th grade spelling bee on the word “resource” because I wasn’t paying attention. Yep, I like to read and spell.

3. I have lived in the same state (Missouri) my entire life.

4. I am not truly an only child. I have a loser half brother from my dad’s first marriage. We don’t talk to him anymore; in fact we don’t exactly know where he is right now. If people ask, I always say I’m an only child.

5. I can wiggle my ears without moving other parts of my face or using my hands.

6. I love back massages/getting my back scratched/having someone play with my hair more than just about anything in the world.

7. I have at least five email accounts that I can think of, all for different reasons. One personal, one junk, one shared with Jonathon, one for “work,” one for eBay… I only really ever check one or two of them, though.

I am tagging:

Along Came Another

Everyday Mama Drama

Keeping up with the Laughlins

… and anyone else who wants to play!

7 Things Meme

Filed Under Memes | 6 Comments

I was tagged by my friend Harmony for this one-

Seven Random Things About ME:

1. I have secret crushes on weird people. In the past, they have included Simon Cowell, George W. Bush (no throwing tomatoes), Donald Trump, John Stamos, and Kurt Cobain.

2. I have a degree in Communication, which I haven’t used in years. I was registered for grad school (M.A. in Speech Comm) and was going to teach public speaking to fund post grad endeavor, but I decided I was tired of school and moved back to the Lou instead.

3. I have a Monica closet. And a Monica room, and drawers… my house is always very neat looking, but if you open any drawer or cabinet it is likely to look like a tornado struck. It drives Jonathon crazy, whereas he is just obviously sloppy.

4. Some of my best girlfriends are ones I have met online. We talk, we share secrets, we send gifts, we email, we read blogs. I have learned that you can find people just like you, and totally different, and connect with them and support them in a very real way.

5. I love reading celebrity gossip. I enjoy knowing who got dumped by who (whom?), whether Lindsay is in alcohol rehab again, and my FAVORITES are “Stars, they’re just like US” in US Weekly and “Fashion Police” in People.

6. My favorite food is basically anything that can be dipped in a sauce, like cheese or honey mustard or ketchup. Probably explains my love for The Melting Pot!

7. My left pinky finger keeps falling asleep.

I am tagging Baby Makes Three and Happily Ever After, two girls who don’t usually do this kind of stuff. We’ll see if they play along

5 Things Meme

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I was tagged for this meme by Canape-

Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

* Share 5 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog. or

* Share the 5 top places on your “want to see or want to see again” list. or

* Share 5 things you never pictured being in your future when your were 25 years old.

Tag a minimum of 5, maximum of 10 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.

Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

The tagees have a choice of which they want to do.

*I am choosing to do the 5 top places I want to see or see again… Cuz I have done the random things plenty of times, and I am only 27, so 25 wasn’t really all that long ago. Anyway, here we go:

1. I want to take a nice tour of Europe with Jonathon (sans kids) and see places like Paris, Rome, Venice, Berlin, London, Madrid, Athens, Dublin… um once we have about 20K we don’t know what to do with, that is…

2. I want to visit some places out west, including the Grand Canyon, which I want to see on horseback. Jonathon is not a huge fan of horses (in fact the only time he has rode a horse was on our honeymoon when we did a mountain ride in Jamaica). I think if we invested in some equestrian riding apparel and stuff to be more comfortable he would like it better. Oh and if the saddles aren’t English style like in Jamaica. That made for a long ride

3. I have been to Disney World several times, but I most definitely want to go there again. And take my kid(s) when they are old enough to enjoy it! And stay here- that is where I stayed once with my parents and I thought it was the coolest place ever.

4. I want to go to Haiti, to see where Jonathon grew up (in Port au Prince). But I want to go when it’s safe, and not when we have little kids with us. I don’t want anyone getting kidnapped or murdered. Yes, I am serious about that. I am also scared of the heat and the giant tropical bugs.

5. I sill want to go on an Alaskan cruise at some point, but really only because Jonathon wants to.

I am not tagging anyone for this meme. If you want to play along, feel free to.

Five Questions

Filed Under Memes | 2 Comments

One of my friends and favorite bloggers, Marriage-101, posted a 5 Questions meme and I decided to play along… She got it from this girl, whose blog I just started reading and who is expecting her first baby.

1) What would be your dream vacation? (Figured I’d start off with an easy one)

Normally I like vacations that involve beaches, pools, and swim up bars… and of course warm weather! But I have two totally opposite “dream vacations.” The first one has been my dream since I was about sixteen. It basically involves a luxury tour of Europe. We would see London, Paris, Rome, Athens, Berlin, Madrid- you know, all the big cities. We would also spend a week or two at the beach in the South of France. I would go topless. Of course at this point in life my boobies would not be dripping milk whenever I went topless. My second dream vacation is really Jonathon’s dream. But I have found that when you love someone, their dreams become yours because you would do anything for their happiness. So “our” dream vacation is an Alaskan cruise. They aren’t cheap- I’ve checked. First it involves not-so-cheap airfare to Seattle or Vancouver or someplace like that. Then the cruise is several thousand per person. But we’d see icebergs and whales and sea lions and all that stuff. He wanted to do it for our honeymoon but I wanted a Caribbean vacation and being the bride, I kind of won that one.

2) Finish the sentence: If I had a million dollars…

Well now that I have talked about vacations, I think the first thing I would do would be to book that Alaskan cruise for Jonathon. The next thing I would do would be put some money aside in a college fund for Bailey and perhaps our other future children. Then I would pay off Jonathon’s stupid student loan (really not much left though) and pay down our mortgage. Exciting, huh? I am way too serious about our finances to do anything wild with it. Well, maybe I would get a bigger house and pay down that mortgage instead. And I would replace my car, affectionately known as The Crapalier, with a Lexus SUV. It would be silver or black. Probably because those are the only choices for Lexus SUVs. The rich folk don’t like the bright cars these days, I guess. Hence my purple cavalier being slightly outdated looking. I would donate a little bit of the money to Big Brothers Big Sisters, where I used to work. Oh, and I would save some of the money to adopt from a foreign country in the future. That’s also part of our plan. Wow, is there any money left at this point? If there is, I get a massage every week for the rest of my life.

3) What is the most romantic thing Jonathon has ever done for you?

The way he proposed was awesome. Long story short, it involved a romantic winery dinner and carriage ride. That has been my standard answer for a long time. However, I think what he did for Mother’s Day really takes the cake. He MADE me a card, first of all, with markers and colored pencils. He drew a picture of me and him and Bailey on the front holding hands. He wrote some really sweet stuff inside. Then he got me a pair of butterfly earrings “from Bailey” (her room is decorated in butterflies) and a really nice diamond butterfly necklace from him. And, being a guy, he left the prices on the bottom of the little velvet boxes He really outdid himself! I think it makes it even more romantic because I feel like we are really a family now and this is the stuff I have dreamed about.

4) What’s the best part about being a mom?

Wow, I could be cheesy and say everything! I don’t think I can narrow it down to one single thing, so I am just going to cheat and list several. The first best thing is probably breastfeeding my baby. I love knowing that I am feeding her and that I can be enough for her to survive on. Talk about the ultimate feeling of being needed. Yeah, we supplement with formula here and there, but mostly it’s ME. And I love doing something that is so good for her. Another best thing is when she wakes up. She sleeps in a little swaddle wrap with velcro, so she is bundled up really tight. When she starts waking up, she squirms around for a while. She never wakes up crying- it’s always a really slow process so I hear her in time to come and watch. Once I undo the swaddle wrap, she pops her little arms out and stretches every direction for about two minutes. She makes the cutest faces while doing this. I love just watching her and thinking about how beautiful she is. It amazes me that she was once inside me. The final best thing is when she smiles. Up until now, I know it has been just random or because of gas or whatever. But this morning, I smiled at her and she looked right back at me and smiled at me. Then about a minute later I smiled at her again and she did it again. Wow. The world could have ended right there.

5) What do you miss most from your pre-baby days?

Sleeping late! I love to sleep really late and lay around in bed. Granted, Bailey is an amazing sleeper. She naps for about two to three hours after dinner, then I feed her and we all go to bed around 11. She sleeps about 4 to 5 hours that first stretch, then eats, then sleeps again for 3 to 4 hours, then eats, then sleeps again about 3 hours… so we don’t end up getting up until between 10:00 and noon unless we have somewhere to be. But my sleep is just not relaxing and uninterrupted anymore. Oh, and I also miss not having to run around frantically doing things while she is asleep or occupied.

If you made it this far and want to do your own interview, read on:

1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.” (If I don’t have your email address already, leave it in the comment. I can delete the comment once I read it if you would like. Or you can email me if you know my email address)
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.