Spring Fever

We are on the countdown. Scarlett’s baby brother will be here in about 81 days. I actually got to see him today when I had my sonogram. He’s doing great, and so are his kidneys. There was no reflux – YEA!!!

I’ve also had a big case of Spring Fever. I usually get this way at this time of the year. I am so ready to start working in the flowerbeds and getting outside spruced up. We spend a lot of time outside especially when it is warm enough to get in the pool. My project this year is our front flowerbeds. They look ok except for one side of our house where there is all the ground cover growing. It’s out of control! I met with someone today that is going to remove it all so that it will be a lot easier to plant something new. This craziness that is growing is very hard to get rid of, and I really hope that we aren’t battling it for years to come. I’ll post before and after pictures later.

Scarlett is doing just fine too. She’s now got 4 teeth up top. They seem to bother her some, but she really isn’t very whiny or anything like that. She does enjoy getting her bottom teeth brushed, but we are very gentle with the ones up top. She’s trying lots of different foods lately and loves to go out to eat. We rarely go out to dinner but have been going out for lunch 2-3 times a week. We pretty much feed her whatever off our plates that can be mashed up. She’s not picky. Well, she doesn’t like baby food that is a mix like chicken and veggies. It has to be separate, or she won’t eat it.

I’ve been trying to take more pictures lately, and here are some that I wanted to share.

Scarlett loves bath time!

Here she is holding on to our Red Bud out front. We picked the perfect day for this as the "red" is almost gone and being replaced by green leaves. Check out the "flowerbeds" in the background. That's all the ground cover that is being removed.

Here she is on the go. She's all over the place and mostly likes to crawl directly to the tv or to the dog's bowls.

Joe got this picture of her when they were at lunch and Bass Pro on Saturday. Looks like someone dropped their Cheerio!

I love this picture! Scarlett loves her books and would prefer to flip through the pages herself than be read to.

Scarlett loves to swing at the park! We walked there on Sunday and pulled her in her wagon. Check out her new cowgirl hat that Joe got her at Bass Pro!! :)

As soon as we got to the swings this sweet little girl walked up and wanted to push Scarlett. Scarlett loved her and her little friends. She also enjoyed watching them slide and laughed out loud over and over as she watched them.

Punkin and Peanut enjoyed the park too. Well, kind of.

Here she is with her cute hat again. This is the longest she'd wear it. Every time we put it on, she'd pull it right off.

Really?

I have been in shock over several things that I’ve either read about or seen on the news lately. I guess the main 2 things have been that woman in California with the octuplets and of course, the economy.

First and foremost, what is up with this woman in California?? She already has 6 kids and then signs up for more infertility treatments?? I honestly do not know of ANYONE that can take care of 8 infants with 6 small children already in tow. I think she’s mentally insane. She’s not married and is supporting all these kids on her student loans. REALLY? I wonder how she is planning on picking up the 8 babies from the hospital. Between Joe’s truck and my Jeep, we could fit 8 infant car seats though we would have to put one in each of our front passenger seats. Those other 6 kids would have to be in the bed of the truck. I read that the hospital costs were going to be around $1.3 million just for the care of the babies until they get home. Congratulations to the State of California! You’ll probably be picking up that tab.

Then there’s our lovely economy. Ok, so the main cause of the problem was mortgage companies and banks over lending to people that could NOT afford the homes they were purchasing. So, now these over-spenders are facing foreclosure. We had dinner with friends last night, and this was a major topic of the conversation. Why should our tax dollars bail out the $30K/year millionaire that has to live in the Mac Mansion on the hill? Everyone at the table was hardworking and responsible and didn’t see why we should be punished for a choice we did not make.

Of course, some people’s homes are being foreclosed on by circumstances out of their control….. like a major illness that causes them to stop working and therefore stops their income. I work with a lady whose husband had a heart attack between jobs (and insurance). Unfortunately, they were left with the astronomical bill from the hospital. They tried to work out a payment plan, but the hospital would not budge. They were left with no choice but to file for bankruptcy.

People have just been living beyond their means for way too long! If you can’t afford 14 kids, then get your tubes tied and quit having children. If you can’t afford that, use a condom or some other means of birth control. In the case of the nut in California, stop going to the fertility clinic!!! As far as people spending beyond their means, stop. You don’t have to live in a 3,000 square foot home that you can’t afford. Unfortunately, a lot of these people are stuck. Homes aren’t selling right now, and values are dropping.

The icing on the cake was this article I read this morning about a woman that has been out of the military for a few years and has been called back. Her husband works full time and travels a lot. She is now a stay at home mom. There is no one to take care of their 2 children. Read the story if you have time: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29441874/?GT1=43001

Anyway, I’ll stop ranting and raving now and give you all an update on Scarlett (probably the main reason most of you stop in to read my blog anyway….).

Scarlett is doing GREAT! She turned 10 months old yesterday. She’s got 2 bottom teeth and 3 coming in up top. She’s crawling everywhere and pulls up on everything. She now will let go of what’s she holding on to while standing and works on balancing. We all think she will be walking VERY SOON. She’s also holding her own bottle and even crawled up 2-3 stairs this morning! Coming back down isn’t so great. It looks like she’s going to roll (head first) while coming down. I think we may be getting another gate soon…

Speaking of gates, we had to purchase a pool safety fence last week. Of course, we aren’t thrilled with how this makes our backyard look, but when you see things like Scarlett sticking her hand out the dog door, you know it’s very necessary.

Baby #2 is doing great too! He’ll be here in exactly 3 months from today (if not sooner!). We’re both very excited about meeting him and completing our family. Unlike the nut in California, we know when to draw the line. I have another sonogram in a week. This time the sono tech is going to take a very close look at his kidneys to see if there is kidney reflux. There is a 40% chance that he could have kidney reflux too, and we are praying that he doesn’t. Finding this out early and via a sonogram is so much better than waiting on a high fever that sends us racing to the ER or a lot of testing after he is born.

Other than that, work is busy for both of us. Joe is working on several new groups, and I am tying up loose ends on several projects that I have been working on. All in all, everything is going great!

Less than 4 months to go!

I really try to update my blog once a week, but it is getting harder and harder. We’ve got lots going on especially with Scarlett. She is just all over the place and growing up so fast. I’m also worn out. It’s hard to believe that I was 6 months pregnant with her this time last year, and now I’m 5 months pregnant with her baby brother. When I was pregnant with her it was easy to go take a nap and or just sit in my chair and watch tv. Things aren’t that simple anymore…. I am very lucky to have Joe. He knows that I’m tired and does A LOT when it comes to Scarlett. He gets up with her in the mornings so that I can sleep in and stays on alert when I take a nap. I think I would fall completely over the edge if I didn’t have his constant help and support. As far as my tv time goes, well it doesn’t happen unless she’s taking a nap or down for the night. Otherwise, we’re all watching Finding Nemo or one of the Baby Einstein movies.

So, what have we been up to? Well, a couple of weekends ago we went to a nearby park. We were having an unusually hot day here in Texas, so we were in short sleeves, shorts, and sandals. Well, I guess the heat during summer isn’t so unusual… Texas weather is just all over the board! It actually SNOWED over Easter weekend a couple of years ago! Anyway, Scarlett had a great time swinging and going down the slide with her daddy.

Last week we went in for her 9 month checkup. Everything was just great! We did share with the doctor that she wasn’t crawling yet, but she did like to pull herself up on basically everything and stand. He said that was fine. All babies do things differently.

Two days later I set her in the hallway outside of the bathroom while I got her bath ready. I guess she didn’t like it there, so she just crawled straight to me, pulled herself up, and looked over at the running water in the tub. I was so excited!! Now she’s crawling everywhere, and we are on much higher alert.

We decided several months ago that we were going to enroll Scarlett in a preschool program. I luckily found one at a nearby church, and we went to check it out. We were very impressed and signed her up. The program starts in the fall and only runs during the school year. She will go Monday through Friday for 5 hours a day. There are only 6 children in the class so I know she’ll get more attention than she would at a regular daycare. Joe and I feel that it is very important for her to have interaction with other children. Hopefully she will really like it! We also need time during the week to work. I work from home 3 days and week, and Joe is here the entire week. We’ve managed to juggle our schedules this far without having to put her in daycare, but it has not been easy. It’s only going to get harder when Baby #2 arrives.

We took Scarlett with us to see the preschool. Here she is right before we left. Check out the bow in her hair. She finally has enough hair to clip a tiny bow in!!

Later that day we fed her lunch. We thought that chicken with vegetables sounded good. We were wrong. She didn’t like it at all! Joe had fed her something she didn’t like the day before and put a little salt on it to see if that would help. It did, but it didn’t help this chicken dish at all. She just refused to eat. That’s ok. I’m not going to force her to eat something she doesn’t like. It’s kind of like me and the babysitter that tried to make me eat a pimento cheese sandwich. To this day, I will not eat pimentos (I even pick them out of green olives), and I will not touch pimento cheese.

Isn't this just priceless?? :)

We finally got to work on the new baby’s room. Well, he’s actually moving into Scarlett’s old room. We moved Scarlett into the guest room this weekend. We took down the guest bed and bought her a new baby bed. The room is painted mauve. I thought we were going to have to repaint it before we moved Scarlett in, but it seems to work with all of her things. Now we just have to work on the other room, and we’ve got less than 4 months to get it done!

The Guest Room Before Scarlett Moved In

Scarlett's New Room

Updates

First and foremost, IT’S A BOY!!!! We were both so shocked to hear this news because my doctor had done a sonogram a month ago, and he was 60% sure that it was a girl. So, we had our minds made up that it was a girl. I think I’m still in shock, and Joe is on Cloud 9. Seriously, I haven’t seen him this happy since the day Scarlett was born. Now I’ve got to get this house in order for his arrival. I’ve got about 4 months to get this accomplished.

I also wanted to share a few pictures from Joe’s fishing trip last weekend. Gavin took about 300 and these were some of my favorites.

Gavin with his 1st fish EVER!!

Joe & Randy showing off what they caught the first day

Peanut eyeing lunch

Peanut enjoying his sushi

Out on the lake

Peanut refusing to get out of the truck and ready to go home

Weekend Adventures

A little over 7 years ago, Joe and I decided that we needed another dog. Punkin was almost 5 years old and needed a playmate (or so we thought..). So, we took our Christmas money and bought Peanut, a miniature black and tan dachshund. Well, he was supposed to have been miniature, but he turned out to be a tweeny which is in between a full-size and miniature. Punkin wasn’t too happy about his new brother and let us know this immediately as he went straight for Peanut’s jugular. It took a few days, and Punkin learned to tolerate this new thing in his life. I guess he realized that it wasn’t going away.

Since then our life has been enriched with this little creature that keeps us very entertained. Seriously, that dog can make us laugh like no other. He does the craziest little things that keep us laughing non-stop. Don’t get me wrong, he has his really bad moments, but overall, he’s a good dog.

I had been planning to take Scarlett to Atlanta this past weekend. The plan was for us to go and for Joe to stay at home with the dogs. Well, Joe isn’t much for staying at home if I’m not going to be there. That’s just a perfect excuse for him to go fishing, hunting, or camping. He decided to go camping and fishing. This was fine, but what were we going to do with the dogs?

Joe had taken both dogs camping before and that didn’t turn out too well. Punkin somehow got loose and went on a mission. Joe ended up spending several hours (in the middle of the night) searching for Punkin. He had to find him as he knew I would kill him if anything happened to him. He did eventually find him at another campsite tied up and eating fried rice. Punkin had wondered upon a group of Vietnamese that were camping. We think they were trying to fatten him up a little more so that they could cook him up for dinner. They do eat Chihuahuas over there!! Anyway, they wanted Joe to pay them to get him back. I guess they were under the impression that they now owned my dog. Well, Joe just took him and left. I guess they realized that they were not going to win this battle. Joe was bigger than them, and he had the motivation of his pending death.

Peanut is pretty good on camp trips. All four of us went a few years back, and it was fine. Well, it was fine until the big thunderstorm came. The dogs were nervous wrecks and they peed in our tent since they were too scared to venture out. The main concern about Peanut was the fear of him jumping in the lake and swimming off. A year or so ago Joe took Peanut fishing at a creek near our house. Joe caught a fish, and Peanut was very excited about this. He wanted the fish for himself and jumped up at the fish (that was still on the hook) and bit a huge chunk out of its side. Peanut was tied up on a long leash at the time, but nothing was going to stop him from getting this fish. Joe unhooked it and threw it back in even though it was probably about to die. This didn’t stop Peanut. He got loose and jumped in the creek and began swimming after the fish. He even kept going under water as he didn’t want his “treat” to get away.

We usually board our dogs when we go out of town, but we are trying to cut way back on this. For any of you that have ever boarded a dog, you know how expensive it can become. So, Joe decided to take Peanut with him, and I was going to take Punkin with me.

The ride to Atlanta was fine. Punkin and Scarlett were both great. The problem was with me. Anyone reading this that has been pregnant knows that the bladder becomes extra small during this time. My babies also enjoy sitting on my bladder. I thought I was going to die I had to pee so bad! But, what could I do? It’s against the law to leave your child in the car, and I wasn’t about to set her on the floor of some random bathroom. So, I had to hold it. I now know that I cannot travel without an adult when I’ve got Scarlett (or the new baby) with me. Does anyone have any suggestions? I came close to stopping at the Omaha Police Station. Since it was against the law to leave her in the car, I thought maybe one of the police officers could watch her while I used their restroom. I decided against this since they might think I was completely insane. But, this was the best idea I could come up with at the time.

We had a great weekend even though Punkin decided to become very rebellious. He refused to eat his food. This was probably because my mother spoils him rotten with table scraps when we are there. I am very against this practice but finally let her feed him a blueberry muffin on Sunday morning. He also ate many dog treats. Of course, I forgot to bring any, but my friend Autumn had a choice of about 35 kinds at her house. She’s got 5 dogs, and they are all very spoiled!

Scarlett with her cousins, Flint, Maddie, & Mary Claire

Scarlett and Gran Jan playing the piano

Scarlett in my old baby bed as I was getting her ready for church


Scarlett and Punkin

The ride home was fine. Scarlett was great even though I was very worried about having to stop and feed her on the way. Any stop time would add to the time that I had to “hold it” and that would not have been good!!!

We were happy to get home. I had missed Joe and Peanut! I was also ready to hear all about their weekend. Joe didn’t have phone service, so we didn’t get a chance to talk over the two days we were away from each other.

Randy and Gavin went with him and Peanut. It was Gavin’s first trip camping or fishing, so I wanted to know all about it. Luckily, their trip was VERY successful. They caught about 60 fish!!! Peanut was really good too. Joe told me that he didn’t use a leash, and Peanut was just fine. He went out on the boat with them and was treated with 2 raw fish to eat. Of course, the trip wouldn’t have been complete without some sort of drama….

I guess Peanut really needed to go to the bathroom. Instead of just going outside (where he was), he went into Randy’s tent. This probably wouldn’t have been a big deal, but Randy didn’t notice Peanut’s pile of surprise when he went in his tent. He stepped right in it and proceed to step on everything that was in there. I guess it made a HUGE mess!

Peanut was also ready to come home. On Sunday he got in the truck and refused to get out. He was done and was ready to come home. So, he sat in the truck while they fished for a couple of more hours. Of course, I understand this. Camping for more than one night can really take a toll on you especially if there is no bathroom or shower.

We all survived our weekend and saved some money by including the dogs in our plans. They had fun and kept us entertained along the way.

By the way, this coming Wednesday is a really big day!!! It’s my birthday, we find out the sex of the new baby, and it’s the Lost season premiere! Stay tuned!

Crawling?

Going back to work after being off for about two weeks was a shock to my system. I wasn’t looking forward to getting back into everything after being off and relaxing over the holidays. But, it didn’t take long to get back into the swing of things. In my business there are busy and slow times. I am currently in my busy season. I’m not selling much and probably won’t for a couple of months, but I am working on lots of new projects. A project can take anywhere from six months to two years before it goes to order. This can be anything from a bubble bath to a high-end anti-aging night crème.

I read an article the other day about the Beauty/Skincare business and whether or not it was recession proof. Well, it’s probably one of the better industries to be in especially during times like these. As everyone starts cutting corners on their spending, many don’t skimp on their skincare or beauty regime. I talked to a friend of mine today that had just had a chemical peel. She also mentioned that she had cut back on a few of her other expenses like cable and Blockbuster online. I told her about the article and then asked her how much she had spent on her peel. It was $150. Her answer verified the story for me.

The work part of my world is busier than ever and so is the Scarlett part. She is changing so quickly and doing new things everyday. Friday she refused to take her morning nap. This was driving me insane as I needed to call customers and had to get myself ready for a meeting. While I was trying to rush around downstairs, I would check the monitor to see how upset she really was at not taking a nap. She didn’t want to sleep, but she was having fun clapping. It was fun to watch and even more fun to watch her continuously do this and perfect it.

One thing that Joe and I have talked about quite a bit this week is the fact that Scarlett isn’t crawling yet. We’re not worried, but we’re just wondering when it’s going to happen. I read my friend Natalie’s blog this week and saw that her daughter had just started crawling. She had a video that we watched too. We were quite impressed as she is about one month younger than Scarlett.

We finally got through this crazy week and were looking forward to a nice and relaxing weekend. We went to Chili’s for lunch on Saturday and then decided to go across the parking lot to Target. I have been on a furniture mission. I basically wanted a piece of furniture that looked good, but would also store toys in the living room. Usually Target has some pretty fun pieces right after the holidays. They did have a couple that I liked, but they weren’t exactly what I wanted. That’s ok. We did find a ball that cost us $2.50 that Scarlett loves. She laughed and laughed in the store as we bounced it. So, we had to buy it. We also took her up and down the toy aisles. I think she was pretty impressed with this part of the store.

We got back home right before Scarlett’s nap. I decided that I needed to go to North Park mall for a little bit, so I was out the door as soon as we got back. On my way to North Park, I remembered that El Paso Imports was on my way. So I planned to stop there on my way back to see if they had the piece of furniture I was looking for. Luckily, they did! Of course the place where I planned on putting it didn’t really work for either of us. We did find the perfect spot which forced us to rearrange a little in our living room. We didn’t make huge changes, but we decided today to move our coffee table out for at least the next couple of years. Scarlett has been pulling up on it and has hit her head on it a few times, so it had to go.

Now Scarlett is pulling up on the sofa and chairs and her new mirror/sing along toy. She actually stands! We are very impressed and think that she might just skip the whole crawling part. Only time will tell…..

Happy New Year!!

It’s hard to believe that 2008 has come and gone. What a year it’s been! At this time last year we had just found out that we were having a girl and were in the middle of doing major preparations around our home for her arrival. Scarlett arrived in April, and life hasn’t been the same since.

She turned 8 months old this month, and she is growing up and changing so quickly. She’s sitting up on her own now, has 2 teeth, and has outgrown her little baby tub. She has also eaten her first Cheerio thanks to her Aunt Sonet and Aunt Carly!

Joe and I welcomed 2009 the same way we have the past few years by staying at home. Neither of us has any desire to battle the crowd at some restaurant, party at some bar, or take the chance of running into a drunk driver. We also didn’t have a sitter, and I really don’t think a bar is the most appropriate place for someone in my condition! Anyway, we had a great New Year’s Eve and a super relaxing New Year’s Day. So, 2009 has been started off on the right foot!

We’ve actually been taking it pretty easy since Tuesday. We got home from Nebraska the night before, and of course, we had been going 100 mph since before then.

Our Christmas celebrations started the weekend before Christmas. My mom and Larry drove from Atlanta so that we could spend time together for the holidays. They arrived with a car full of presents and toys! We all quickly learned that Scarlett LOVES wrapping paper. We knew that she liked paper, but she really likes the Christmas paper. It was not a good idea to take the paper away from her that she was eating or playing with as she would start screaming. So, we just let her play with it until something else distracted her. One thing that she really loved was her brand new Radio Flyer wagon. Joe especially loves taking her on rides around the neighborhood with her little hat and sunglasses. These wagons have changed a lot over the years. This one has two seats with straps, so it has plenty of room for Scarlett’s new brother or sister to ride with her next year.

Scarlett in her new wagon

Mom pulling Scarlett with Larry videoing

Peanut isn't too thrilled with the wagon....

This is how Joe has her dressed for rides around the neighborhood! :)

Our second Christmas celebration was on Christmas Day. Scarlett’s first Christmas morning was THE BEST!! She really loves this new mirror/sing along thing that I found. She played herself into total exhaustion on Christmas morning, so she was very easy to put down for her morning nap. This was great as I still needed to get ready and work on lunch. My dad, uncle, and Pat joined us for Christmas lunch. I was a little worried about a couple of new recipes that I tried, but they turned out great! It was a very nice day.

Scarlett with her new bear


The music/sing along toy that she LOVES


Her new giraffe that she can ride


Surrounded by everything she loves..... paper!

Christmas dinner with Uncle Jim, Pat, Scarlett, Joe, and my dad

As soon as we were done with lunch and rested a bit, we started packing up for our trip to Nebraska. In the past we usually leave around 6:00am or so. We had to wait until after 8:00am this year as we had to drop our dogs off at the doggie hotel. We usually do this the day before, but they were closed on Christmas, so that wasn’t an option. The drive up wasn’t too bad. It took us about eleven hours, and Scarlett was really good. Joe and I were both worried about how she would react, but it turned out ok. I was afraid that Scarlett would be too tired to do much of anything once we got there, but she was ready to play! She got to meet her Aunt Sonet, Uncle, Rick, Uncle Jeff, and all her cousins – Dalton, Sadie, Elizabeth, and Tommy.

Her schedule was really out of whack because she didn’t sleep much at all that night. It’s been A LONG time since either of us has had to get up with her in the middle of the night. She usually sleeps for 12-13 hours, but not this night. We ended up surviving and ended up having the best day ever the next day.

Joe had been talking about taking us sledding. I had never been, so I thought it was a great idea. Joe’s sister Carly really thought ahead and brought a pair of Elizabeth’s old snow pants for Scarlett. We all bundled up and headed out to sled. Oh, I think I forgot to mention that there was a lot of snow on the ground when we arrived. I mean there was more snow than I have ever seen in my entire life. When I stepped out of the truck at Joe’s parents, I stepped in snow, and it came half way up my leg. It was insane! Of course, everyone up there didn’t think that was much at all.

Anyway, we arrived to go sledding, and there was a pretty good walk to this big hill. So, we started trudging through all this snow. People, if you’ve never walked in high snow, believe me, it’s not a piece of cake. It’s like having cinder blocks attached to the bottom of each foot. Joe carried Scarlett through which was smart as I would have probably dropped her.

After taking a closer look at the big hill, I decided that there was no way in hell I was going down that thing and neither was Scarlett. So, we did a very small sled run down the bottom part of the hill. Oh, the thing we sat on, the sled, is not called a sled up there. It’s a toboggan. That’s what we call a stocking hat or sweater type hat. Anyway, Scarlett and I got on a small toboggan, and then just sat on it and watched the others sled away.

After Joe had gone down the hill a few times, we decided it was time to take Scarlett back to his parents. Our nieces, Elizabeth and Sadie, decided to come back with us. I decided to get a picture of them with Scarlett on the sled. Then Joe told me to get on there with them for a picture. I did and then he offered to drag us back to the truck. This was lots of fun and so much better than trudging through all that snow! I just don’t understand why I wasn’t pulled along to get to the hill when we got there….

All strapped in and ready to go to Nebraska!

Aunt Carly and Scarlett

Dalton, Scarlett, and Aunt Sonet

Scarlett with her cousins, Elizabeth and Sadie

Me, Joe, and Scarlett all bundled up ready to go sledding!

Joe, Elizabeth, Sadie, Dalton, Tommy, and Carly coming down the BIG HILL.

Me, Elizabeth, Sadie, and Scarlett as we were being pulled back to the truck. Check out Sadie's big gloves!!!

Grandpa, Scarlett, and Gigi

We had a really nice visit and headed back home Monday morning. The drive home wasn’t nearly as nice as the drive there. Scarlett did not like the scenery or being strapped in or something. It took us twelve long hours to get home. As Joe and I unloaded the car, I put Scarlett in front of her new mirror/sing along toy. I have never seen her so happy to be playing. I think she was just enjoying the freedom of not being strapped down!

I was completely exhausted, but woke up at 4:00am on Tuesday. I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I got up a little before 5:00am and started taking down Christmas decorations. Since then we’ve just been doing things around the house, going out to eat for lunch, and just relaxing. I’ve got three more days of this and then it’s back to the real world.

I wish everyone a Happy New Year and hope it finds you all well!! I have a feeling that 2009 will be just as exciting at 2008….