AWWWW

New Year

This time last year I had just finished getting a 3D ultrasound of Miss Libby. I remember the owner of Lexington Fetal Photography commenting on how pretty her lips were and how active she was. We went to dinner that night with Jackson and Stacy and then came home where I fell asleep on the couch with company over. (pathetic I know).

Well not much has changed for this year. We are currently waiting for Libby to wake up from her nap to go to Nana's to watch the game (which it's looking like we will definitely miss some of it), then out to dinner with Jackson and Stacy. They will probably come by where I will probably fall asleep on the couch again. haha. It's funny when you get older and have a family the last thing you worry about is what you are going to wear on New Year's, getting a spray tan, or what party you are attending. I am so glad that my life has changed where those things don't matter to me anymore. Spending time with Libby and my hubby sounds like the best plan there is!

I am loving this 56 degree weather today! What a great way to bring in the new year. I have been so blessed in 2010 and I cannot wait to see what 2011 has to bring!

Christmas is over : (

I cannot believe that Christmas is already come and gone. It seems just like yesterday it was Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful Christmas and were really blessed. We received a Canon Rebel camera with an extra lens for it as well. I can't wait to read up on it and figure it all out. Santa was good to Libby as well. She was very sick Christmas day so she didnt notice anything she received. We called the dr. and he told us not to go to the E.R. and that he would meet us. He met us at his office at 8:00 at night. He is a wonderful peditrician. Libby ended up having a double ear infection and a virus. She got to discover her toys this morning.

Brandon and I were really blessed this year. Brandon received an unexpected bonus. We are praying about donating some money to a cause or charity with some of the money he received. I have learned this past year that my plan doesn't really matter. Everything is according to His plan. I have to remind myself there is always a reason for the way things end up working out. I am looking forward to what 2011 will bring. I am sure we will be surprised!

Lots going on

I was so excited for this week because Brandon took off and I was thrilled to spend time with him and my baby Pig. Time has flown by. So much has gone on. On a positive note, I won 1/2 half a photog session with the wonderful Amanda Mitchell Photography. Pig has not been sleeping well this week. I have been exhausted. She cries out in her sleep. I think she is having teething pain..no signs of any teeth yet though. We got word that Brandon's gma was not doing well at all. She had taken a turn for the worse. We went to visit her thinking we would be lucky to even see her the next day. We went to visit her today and she is doing some better. The doctors are talking a little more positive about her situation and I am so glad. It's gives us some hope cause yesterday there wasn't much. I was proud of myself for saying Merry Christmas to a mother and daughter on the elevator before I got off. Sometimes speaking to someone can make their day. It felt good.
Santa Claus came to visit Camdyn and Libby at Gigi's house. Libby cried, which was odd because she cheesed it up when she saw him at Lexington Green. Tonight we are cleaning mom's and then we are unsure of what tomorrow brings, then on Friday begins our Christmas celebrations. And before we know it...Christmas will be over : ( I am so sad that it goes so fast. The next couple weeks I am going to blog about my new obsession...budgeting and being fru-gal. It is actually a thrill when you save money or get a good deal. I might start a series or something or maybe give a budgeting/money saving tip a week. Who knows. I have to ponder it. Well I am going to get off her and relax and enjoy my time with my hubby before the Pig wakes up! Merry Christmas everyone!!

The Nativity Story

I highly recommend you watch the youtube video below. My dad shared it with me and I give it a thumbs up. It's a cute way to show that even though technology has changed, the story remains the same and to remember the true meaning of Christmas..which is to celebrate Jesus' birth. I have to give a shout out to Youtube. I absolutely love it. I use it on my phone to play music videos (mostly Christian ones when I sing and rock Li Ro to sleep). I use it from my phone for Addyson to watch videos. I also absolutely love how easy they make it to upload videos to this blog or facebook. Love Love Love Youtube!!

I must share something that I am not fond of. I love to check out moneysavingmom.com and myfrugaladventure.com on a daily basis. I found a wonderful deal on a photo gift idea from SeeHere.com. I had never heard of SeeHere.com until I saw the deal advertised on one of my frugal websites. SeeHere from what I gather is a cheap snapfish or shutterfly type of deal. I purchased 6 photo gifts for an awesome price plus got free overnight shipping. One of the photo gifts arrived broken into several pieces. I wrote SeeHere an email, I called on several occassions and left a message. I have NOT heard at all from SeeHere.com. I guess I am going to have to consider it a loss. I will not be using SeeHere.com again. It's back to whatever works out to be the cheapest from shutterfly or snapfish from here on out!

THE DIGITAL STORY OF THE NATIVITY

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

I love this time of year! Christmas is..hold on let me check my iphone ap...9 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes and 35 seconds away! Woohoo! I love spending time with family, eating good food, and opening presents of course! However..the flip side is it is such a stressful time. Brandon is stressed to the max wrapping up end of year stuff at work, I am worrying about what few gifts I still need to purchase and which ones still need to be wrapped. Or the gift that came broken and no one will answer the phone to help me correct the problem...sigh. The weather is nice to look at but annoying to get out in but in the end it is all worth it. I am so blessed that I have a healthy baby girl, that Brandon is amazing and he has a great job, and we have money to buy gifts. I think we get wrapped (I feel like I saying this word a lot..sorry) up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays that we forget what it is all about. It's about celebrating the birth of our loving and forgiving God, about being with friends and family. I ask God to help me remember what it is all about and help me to stay focused on what is important and to concentrate on my blessings and not the little annoyances. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year!

Embarrassing Moments

Sorry I haven't posted in a while...I just haven't had anything exciting going on to report. I have had a few embarrassing moments that I thought I would share..just for fun.

As many of you know, I should have been born a blonde. I do ridiculously dumb things but I am glad that I laugh at myself after. My friend Megan and I could entertain people for hours with our embarrassing stories. In fact everytime one of us does something embarrassing we call each other and try to top each other's embarrassing moments. A couple months ago I couldn't get into my car. I couldnt figure out why the key wouldn't work only to discover it wasn't my car that I was trying to get in and saw that I had an audience of people in the parking lot watching me. Couldn't blame that on pregnancy brain..pig was at least 4 months then. haha.

Last Sunday Brandon and I had a random craving for McDonald's after church. We were so hyped and in such a good mood, laughing and talking about how we couldn't wait for lunch. We get to the window only to discover that neither one of us had our wallets...Brandon says a quick "no thank you" and rolls up the window and speeds off. haha. I am cracking up all over again thinking about it. Then we get home and instead of unlocking the car door to get Pig out he pops the trunk open. I burst into tears laughing so hard. I thought I was going to pee on myself. (oh just an fyi..Brandon asked me a couple of weeks ago to lock his car doors before we went to bed...when we got up the next morning his trunk was open..I had popped the trunk instead of locking the doors..lmbo!). A couple days later we had Bible study. (you know the one I was looking forward to...). We pulled up to the house and Brandon thought it was the house next door. There were no cars there and I knew which house it was but I let Brandon's doubt get the best of me. We saw them look out the window but then we got nervous that it was canelled and we didnt get the memo. In a panic we jumped in the car and drove off. We contemplated turning around and going back but we were too embarrassed. haha.

Let's hope I don't have any horribly ridiculous moments like that this week. It's all in good fun though. I love to laugh, especially at myself.

Pig is asleep...might as well Blog...

Well since I have nothing else to do (totally kidding) thought I would share what all has been going on lately since my last post was just some pics of Libby and Santa Claus. I have to share a wonderful accomplishment today...I typed up almost 100 addresses in a template for my Christmas photo cards. That took almost Libby's whole morning nap to do it. I am so glad it's done. I should get the photo-cards in the mail tomorrow, then I will slap the address on and send it out. Can't wait! I used Libby's Santa Claus picture for the photo-card. It ended up being too good not to use.
Got some potentially bad news from a friend today. I am hoping and will be praying for her that everything works out according to HIS plan. I am wishing her the best.
Brandon and I are going to Bible Study tonight and I am looking forward to it! It was cancelled for various reasons for a few weeks and then we couldn't go last week because Brandon had to work late.
Looking forward to the upcoming things: a potential spring break vacay, Christmas (enough said!!), Brandon's work Christmas party (because Josh Carriell is bringing choc. cake), and Brandon getting time off during the holidays.
I guess that's all I got for today..gotta wake the pig up to eat before going to Bible Study : )

Santa Baby

We had a great relaxing weekend. The snow was beautiful. I think these pics say it best. She did so good with Santa! We are proud of our Pig!

Tv and Bon-Bons

I have been bothered by the impression I get from people's response when I tell them I stay at home with Libby. One mother of four (which bothered me the most) asked what I do all day as if she is a "real" mother because she stays home with four and I only stay home with one. I guess people think all I do all day is sit around and watch tv and eat bon-bons. So I decided to give an example of a couple of my typical days. For those that don't know; I go pick up a three year old from mom's day out and watch her for 3 hours two days a week and pick up a girl from high school and take her to diving practice three days a week. I also clean my parent's house once every two weeks.
Tuesday- I got up and fed Libby a bottle. I vacuummed as she played, washed bottles, put a load of Brandon's dress shirts in, changed a poop diaper, played with Libby while watching some of my dvrs ( I have to be attentive to her every second now...she is pulling up and falls quite often). I got her back down for a nap, took a bath, got dressed, cleaned out my underwear and sock drawer, hung Brandon's shirts up to dry, prepared her cereal and waited for Brandon to come home for lunch. Brandon came home so I left to pick up the diving bag for the high schooler, picked up Addyson's car seat from her mom's work (all in the rain p.s.), picked up Addyson (as she walked slowly with her umbrella up while I had on just my sweatshirt hood), got her home, fixed her lunch while I ate, watched the girls play, bribed Addyson to poop on the potty while I fed Libby a bottle in the bathroom floor, wiped Addyson's butt, got Addyson out the door with her Nana only to bundle Libby up and put her in the car to go get the high schooler, dropped her off to practice, put Libby down for a nap, took a 30 minute nap myself, steamed 7 of Brandon's shirts, woke Libby up to feed her, ate dinner, hung out with Brandon and Libby to watch UK play then took a shower and off to bed.
Wednesday- woke up with Libby at 7:15, gave her a bottle, changed a poop diaper, played with her, put her down for a morning nap, got dressed, cleaned our bathroom in our bedroom, vaccummed our bedroom, sucked up Brandon's underwear (had a minute of panic), in frustration threw all his clothes on the bed, sent him a not so nice text about it, swept the living room and kitchen, rinsed bottles, fed Libby her cereal, got her dressed, cleaned the downstairs bathroom, hung up some of her clothes, took the recycle stuff out, got her dressed, picked up the diving bag, picked up Addyson, played with them, put Libby in the car to get the high schooler, dropped her off, and that brings me to now.....
Okay is that sufficient enough for all of you who think I just watch tv and eat bon-bons? Do I watch tv..yes...do i take a 30 minute nap occassionally..yes...but I dont just sit around all day and do nothing? NO! When you come to my house it is always clean, errands are done, laundry is done, things are taken care of. I feel as though some people judge me and think its crazy I stay home for just one child. I consider myself a pretty open-minded person and pretty understanding and flexible. I would never consider myself conservative or traditional...in fact far from it. However when it comes to raising my child I am traditional in the sense that I will do what it takes to be the one to raise her and take care of her. I think staying home with her is the best thing that I could do for her and I am willing to make sacrifices and do what it takes to do that. I have put Brandon and I on a strict budget and we have been so blessed. We are better off financially now then we were when I was working. I have pretty much all our bills paid up until February with money in savings, and money in Libby's savings. We buy generic, don't eat out, use coupons, and get by with the bare necessities and I would not change a thing. I am so blessed and I thank God everyday for our good health, that I can stay home with Libby, that we have food to eat, wonderful family and friends, etc. I may not be clocking in and out everyday but I sure do work 18 hour days and I am loving every minute of it!