30 Day Challenge: Day 25

30 Day Challenge: Day 25 - Your day, in great detail

Sunday, 7 am - I'll count this as the time my day "started" since that's when Claire woke up for the day. She always announces to me that she's going potty in the morning. I rolled over and nursed Alex and tried to doze some more. She noticed my phone and wanted to play the "Talking Tom" application. This bought me some more time dozing. SCORE! By the way, you should totally get the Talking Tom app if you have kids. It can become incredibly annoying, but it's so worth keeping them occupied. It is a Tomcat that repeats whatever the kids says in about 5 second increments.
7:30-I roll out of bed and shove Claire out the room so Alex can sleep some more. I get her and I dressed for church directly out of the laundry baskets sitting in her room. Awesome. Fewer items to think about folding. I have some leftover pizza for breakfast, but Claire just wants a granola bar. She eats about 1/4 of it. She's not a big eater in the mornings. I fold 2 baskets of laundry in Claire's room before Alex wakes up about 8:30.
I get Alex dressed and change his 42 lb. overnight diaper. He is wearing his "Little Brother" shirt and Claire has on her "Big Sister" shirt. I nurse him again and get the dishwasher fired up for the day. I load the paper recycle in the car and call in a refill for my anti-depressant script. If you missed my post about my PPD, you can read that one here. And sidenote***can I just say how awesome all of you gentle readers are! I got so many messages on facebook and email, I haven't even had the time to respond to them yet. I even got a couple of real life cards! AWESOME!
9:30 - We are leaving for church! Claire wants to wear her pink princess high heels since they are dress up for church. Sigh. I tell her that she has to wear regular sandals, or we can't leave. She immediately puts on sandals. This doesn't always work that well. I'm surprised she complied.
9:35 - I dump all the paper recycle at the bin in front of Wal-Mart. I drive thru Walgreens and pick up my script. Clearly, I love the drive-thru pharmacy with 2 kids. No need to lug two kids in. And Alex has fallen asleep again, you know, since he was up an hour!
10- We get to church and I check in the office about his baptism scheduling and talk to the pastor about a few things.
10:15 - We get to the nursery and get settled in there. We put our street shoes in the cubbies and put on special "church" socks to keep the nursery floor clean. It's my turn to "work" in the nursery this week, but the pastors wife is in there most of the time to help. The kids color a picture when the sermon starts so we can try to hear it over the speaker system. I nurse Alex again. He is happy to play on the floor or in the saucer until we leave.
Noon- Try to leave church and sneak past the cake/refreshments, but Claire sees the spread. I decide that it looks good enough to eat lunch there, so Claire and I eat there while Alex falls asleep in his carseat carrier, again.
1- Arrive home. Josh is up and happy to see us. Claire wants some pizza with Daddy for lunch, which is fine because the only thing she ate was some frosting off of the cake that they had. I see this opportunity as hmm...time for me to go take an afternoon nap with Alex! So I sleep with Alex until about 4. He is such a great sleeper. It was quite possibly the best nap ever.
4 - I get up and we decide to watch an episode of GLEE! since it is raining outside. Josh holds Alex and Claire wants to nurse since she didn't see me for GASP three hours! So I comply, plus she has a bit of a stuffy nose, and I know it will help clear her up faster if I let her nurse more. Well, she fell asleep. LOVE THAT ABOUT NURSING! :) Did you know that there are chemicals in the breastmilk to help kids fall asleep...just like a baby. So I enjoyed holding my big baby Claire for awhile before my legs started to fall asleep! I slid her on the couch next to me and she stayed asleep so then I could nurse Alex again. BTW. I'm sure you don't want to read about all the diaper changes or nursing sessions here, so I'm just putting in what I remember.
5- I get up from the couch and not sure how to think of GLEE! and fold some more laundry. I am always behind on laundry. I pick out Claire's outfits for the week for her color days and lay them aside. Alex rolls around on the floor and is starting to scoot. He spends more time on his tummy than anything. I put him on his back when I lay him down and he flips on his belly right away!
5:30. I start wondering if I should wake up Claire since I don't want her up at midnight since she had a long late nap.
5:45. Claire wakes up on the couch, next to Josh and does a "FTFO" (what I affectionately call FREAK THE F OUT! as only Claire can do). I was actually glad Josh could see what she does when she wakes up most of the time.
6 - We eat leftover pizza. Dang pizza. I am so sick of it at this point. I NEVER WANT PIZZA AGAIN! I paint Claire's fingers and toes yellow for her "YELLOW!" day at preschool tomorrow.
6:30 - There is a rainbow from the rain. Claire and I go outside barefoot to see it. I think our footprints look really cool on the concrete so I snap a photo. Alex is getting fussy so I nurse him again and pop him in his carseat for an evening walk. Josh comes with (YAY!) and we walk the big loop in our neighborhood. Claire takes turns 'chasing' me and then Josh then vice versa.
7:30 ish. I am reading my facebook status updates after we get home and read that my parents dog is not doing well. :( It is 14, had a seizure and was taken to the emergency vet. It will have to be put down. :( I tell Josh I'd like to take a bath (ALONE!) and so he watches both kids while I am able to bathe in peace without one or 2 kids in the tub with me. I relish my "me" time by being able to take care of my personal hygiene. LOL!
8:30ish I feel completely refreshed after shaving my legs. I get Claire ready for bed. I brush and floss her teeth while I tell her what we are going to do tomorrow. Then I read her and Alex some books. Alex likes to sit up with us now and smack the pages. We read some books about Clifford's puppy days, the Everybody poops books, the Disney Seek and Find Princess book (and I know where EVERY item is) and she's also fascinated with this Winnie the Pooh goes to school book. We also read the "Do your ears hang low?" book which irritates me because I want to sing when I read books that are really songs. I think we read a couple more but don't ask me what because they all tend to blend together after you've read them more than 10 times each. I try to "hide" books and rotate them, but this doesn't always work.
9:15. We tell Josh goodnight. I nurse Alex first, then Claire. Alex falls asleep pretty easily and quickly. Claire snuggles my back when it's not her turn. I think about this post I read recently on NATURAL WEANING. I don't always "love" nursing my kids, but I know it's the best for meeting their needs. I know that I can easily love my daughter to sleep in the most gentle way possible if she wants it. Sometimes she will pop off and roll away, but most nights she wants to fall asleep nursing still. I don't want to wean her because society says that I should or because some individual says I should or need to or it will help her sleep better. As a matter of fact, I think taking away her security would tear her small soul apart. I think many of these terrible tantrums I read about kids having on facebook could simply be solved by gentle parenting and natural weaning. Now I'm not saying that you should nurse your kids till they are 8 but that's another post. I just know that when I post stuff like this, I'm saying that this is what I do and it works for us, and that why I like it. I'm not saying that it would work for everybody or would even be right for everyone. But it sure as heck makes my life easier! I think about what I'm going to blog about and let my mind wander a bit as both kids fall asleep. I always sing Twinkle, Twinkle; Jesus Loves You; and Micheal Row Your Boat ashore. But I've change the line in "Michael" to bread and honey vs. milk and honey in case it's not Claire's turn to nurse so she won't think about nursing...ha.
9:45 - Sneak downstairs and eat a pumpkin muffin my neighbor gave me the other day while I check facebook and some blogs. I wonder how I can read blogs every day and forgot my own. :) I talk to my mom on the phone for a bit. I put some stuff in the car for tomorrow. I sit back down and read some more blogs. I am always behind on my blog reading as well. I follow too many of them! I start writing this post.
More than you wanted to know?

30 Day Challenge: Day 1

My favorite song was/is the song that Josh and I danced to at our wedding 9 (!!!!!!!!!) years ago called "Truly, Madly, Deeply" by Savage Garden. I am going to embed it here, so click on the play button to watch it or if you use a feedreader, click here to watch the lyrics. It's also a super-relaxing song.

A 4-Starr Hotel * * * *

We now have a "4 Starr" hotel! And here are the 4 Starrs: Me and my little guy:

Super daddy:

A Not So Lazy Weekend

I think the vomiting thing was a total fluke. I think she gagged herself because she had no fever on Thursday and no other vomiting incidents. Just the one time several times in a row on Thursday. Odd. But to be on the safe side we stayed in on Friday. That and I had a major project to put the car/carseat back together! My parents rolled in for a visit yesterday in the evening for the weekend, so Claire had a blast playing and reading with them. :)

We went to breakfast at Blueberry Hill where Claire had almost an entire cup of hot chocolate...holy cow!!! Then we got a new mattress for her at Sam's since we had jacked one out of the guest room. Ha...my parents got it so they'd have a place to sleep. What a deal. And guess where Claire is sleeping? Yup. On her "Princess Bed!" SCORE!

Then we swam at the Wellness Center. I think swimming while pregnant is quite possibly my most favorite thing in the world. The baby totally wakes up like when I lay down to sleep and goes crazy moving around! I wish to have an indoor pool and swim every day. Chop, chop Joshie. I'd also like our own personal hot-tub and steam rooms. Again, Chop, Chop. :) Claire had a blast and insisted on me letting her go so she could swim/float on her own. What a big step! That is the first she's wanted to do that! She had a life jacket on of course for me to let her go! :) It's a good quality boating one with complete head support. I wouldn't buy any other kind though!

Then we went to a Bday party at Monkey Joes for her friend Abby. Fun. Claire bit her lip jumping in a toddler jump area and bled, but wanted to go right back and play! Then after the party fun was over, she was playing again, went down a slide and smashed heads with another kid. This place was great though...really busy and fun. We'll have to go back! Poor Claire went to bed with a red spot on her face ... between her eyes/nose area from the head smash. Hopefully it won't bruise, but boy did she cry. I don't think I've ever actually heard her cry that hard before. :( I sat down and snuggled/nursed her and she was back to playing in a few minutes. Gotta love that "reset" nursing button.

THEN...we went to get some pizza with my parents/Josh at Mozzis. Claire dumped half her juice down her shirt from an open container, but luckily...I had an extra outfit for her :) Ha...pure luck.

So we got home and Claire wanted to sleep on her new mattress. Sweet. Knock on wood she'll be happy there all night!

Science and Industry Museum

Claire's favorite display at the museum of Sciene and Industry was the baby chicks. You can see how excited she is here. I am laughing at her.
Baby animals are so adorable!

I think the chicks had just as much fun looking at us!

The Christmas Around the World Display:

Trying to pose by some of the trees...they had about 50!

The fairy tale castle. Claire also really liked this but kept asking "Where the Princess go?" since there was no Princess actually in the castle. I said she went to the store. :)

Group Photos Xmas 2009

Gingerbread House

I love making Gingerbread Houses. I find the kits awesome. I've even made my own Gingerbread and cut the pieces to size in the past, but it's really hard to get them uniform and the same height/thickness. The kits are super-cheap. It doesn't matter what it tastes like because it's not like anyone's actually going to eat the icing or Gingerbread after it sits out for weeks. I got this Gingerbread Kit for $9 bucks which included the premade icing in a bag and lots of candy. We did add some extra candy we had laying around and some random leftover Halloween Candy. I like to always put the house on a sturdy cookie sheet, so we can decorate around the base, too. Plus it makes it easy to move around and catch fallen candies. Watch as Claire and I chat with Daddy about the house and stuff here:

Like Goldfish?

So today Claire helped me make banana bread. Basically she sat on the counter and dumped stuff into the mixer while impatiently waiting while I measured out the next thing. Then after it went in the oven, we sat down to read. There were 45 minutes on the timer when we sat down to read. Before I knew it the timer started ringing. Man. I can't imagine her sitting for 45 minutes at this time last year to read straight through...we looked at about 5 books. And she didn't want to get up when it started ringing...but I promised to let her taste some bread, which we added chocolate chips to the banana bread recipe. Mmm.

But here's a cute story. When we were reading, she started playing with my wedding ring. She loves jewelry and is fascinated with it.

C: Daddy give that to you?
Me: Yes.
C: When you got married?
Me: Yes.
C: That you wedding ring?
Me: Yes.
C: What is it?
Me: It's a special present from Daddy.
C: What is it?
Me: It's a wedding ring.
C: What is it? (LOVES TO REPEAT QUESTIONS NOW.)
Me: It's a ring with special rocks called diamonds.
C: What is it?
Me: It's got a band made out of gold.
C: Like GOLDFISH!?! (She was referring to the little fish-shaped cheese-crackers.)

(FINALLY SOMETHING SHE KNOWS!)

I just started laughing.

Reading with Daddy

I just realized that I haven't posted any videos since my Dad's birthday at the beginning of August. But that doesn't mean I haven't been taking more videos! Here is a cute one of her reading with Daddy.She wanted to know where the mouse was on the pages where the mouse was gone...Josh told her the kitty ate it. So then she wanted to know where the cat was on the pages the cat was gone...yeah...he told her the dog ate it!

Good Ole Grub!

We recently meet Daddy for lunch while Matt and Brooke while visiting. We went to YATS on MASS AVE!
This is their funky ceiling:

They don't have menus, just a chalkboard with today's offerings.

Their food is pretty spicy, so we just got Claire plain white rice with butter, which she of course, loved!

Here are Matt and Josh ready to dig into the good old sloppity-gloppity grub!

Their food may look like vomit, but it's always really thick and hearty stews and chilis...and VERY CHEAP! You get a HUGE plate of food for like 5 bucks. They also have all the funky Cajun stuff like gumbo, jambalaya, crawfish, and shrimp.

Newly Framed Pictures

We got some new pictures framed of Claire. We had to get this for our little July baby! I can't believe she is turning 2 in 2 weeks from today! We had to miss two 7-7-07 weddings because I was ready to pop any day! I REALLY wanted her to come early and have that awesome birthday, but no, she came late!

Don't you think she could be on the cover of a magazine? I like this because she is always in front of me, so it's like the view I see of her all the time!

And I really like the frame on this one. It's my favorite family one because we look so natural. Claire isn't exactly looking, but she has a great smile. I figure she has enough other photos of her around the house of her looking! :)

So next time you're over, you'll have to take a look and see where we hung them up!

Happy 8 Years!

Well here is a photo from the Spring of 1998...we have been together for 12 years, and married for 8.
AHH! Josh's dorm his soph. year of college. This is a photo from a webcam, hence the poor quality!

This is from when I was studying in Germany, and Josh came to visit me. I thought I would include some photos in the post from before we were married.

Yesterday, Josh and I celebrated our 8th anniversary. We have done many things in the past 8 years. I highlighted several things that we have done since being married. Of course, there is having sweet baby Claire who is going to be 2 soon! Here she was not quite 2 months:

Josh got a job in Indy, hence, why we ended up here!

Josh at his job. I think we had to bribe him to get this photo:

Here I am about 33 weeks along with Claire:

And with good times, come bad. My car was totalled by a jerk turning left in front of me on my way to school one day. You can see the airbags in the window:

We lived in an apartment complex with this awesome view of this lake:

We started going to the Melting Pot every year for our anniversary:

I shot a gun other than a BB gun for the first time with Josh!

We would spent quite time in parks when we lived in TH. It was calmer than campus life!

Ahh, the joys of playing with camera settings!

This was another house we rented, hence the horrible curtains, but I loved this arched doorway. Here is Josh on his way to an interview in college. I also had to bribe him to get this photo.

Aww, just a couple of college kids at the park!

This is another one of the places we lived, which was above a flower shop. It was my favorite rental ever!

Ahh, this was a new car "Once-Upon-A-Time." It was then smashed by a HUMMER while we were signing papers to get the car I drive now after my Red Dodge was smashed. I only wish I were kidding. It was parked, and fixed, but it was never the same to us. :)

So then Josh adopted his first baby:

We continue to enjoy dressing up for Halloween parties and pretending to do silly things, like bite Snuggles:

I was a "Vampire." I was obsessed with pretending to bite things for pictures this day!

We decided to rehome our Snuggles and Yoda to some college friends, because, although I am more of a cat than dog person, we were *sick* of changing the catbox. And since women are not supposed to change catboxes while pregnant or breastfeeding, and Josh did not want to do it...either...

We have spent a lot of time on the road to visit various family and friends!

We almost died in a little airplane crash. Never again will I fly in a small plane like this! LOL!

I substitute taught for a year. Then I taught English for a year. Then I taught German until having Claire!

We settled into our newly built home. All the dirt shall be ours!

We settled near Indy, and we still enjoy eating downtown often!

We took obsessive amounts of pictures of our new house being built stick by stick!

During college, we spent a lot of time hanging out with my sister Holly, including trick-or-treating ;) LOL. I was a naughty teacher or schoolgirl, your choice! She was a much tamer butterfly.

I told you that I was naughty. I am going to make this so you can't blow it up when you click on it. LOL:

We both graduated from college. I would upload one from my college graduation, but I think we were between digital cameras at that point. And I don't feel like scanning in a paper copy. Here we are in front of the house where we lived behind the tax agency. I think I have all of our apartments represented on here, except the dorms and our first place together.

We did the backpacking around Europe to celebrate college graduation. It was the hottest summer on record. Most of Europe does not have A/C. Oh joy. This is blurry, but it was the only one that showed the bags!

We met up with my bro Richie who was doing a HS program in Austria. We also hit up Germany, Amsterdam, France, and met up with my friend Anja....it was a busy 2 weeks!

Josh lost his wedding ring while wakeboarding. I tried very hard not to laugh at him while he looked for it in the lake. I got him a new one a half size smaller!

We went to Vegas and the Grand Canyon in March. Don't go in March. You will freeze your tail off!

We've been to FL several times to see Josh's mom and family as well as enjoyed traveling other places.

Well that's all I have time for! Happy 8 years Josh! Here's too many more! I love you to Infinity and Beyond! You are a great Daddy to Claire. She misses you every day while you are at work. I'm so glad you're mah baby-daddy. I tried to not make this post too much about Claire. Hehe. It was very hard for me! LOL!