The Week of Christmas

The weekend before Christmas we had a get together with family for Carter's birthday. He had a lot of fun and opened a ton of toys. It was like pre-Christmas with all the cars he got!



The next day (12/18/11) we upgraded Carter to a toddler bed and moved Amelia into his crib. Of course in typical Carter fashion he managed to bang his head on the dis-assembled crib. He's a hard-head.



Real estate inside Tom and I's bedroom is now at a premium.

Monday, Carter had his two year check up. Our doctor removed the staples from his forehead from the incident a week prior. He is healthy as a horse and didn't receive any shots. He weighs 27 pounds and is 34.5 inches tall.

Later that day, I met with the OB for my six week check up. Everything is fine but the doctor did tell me that there is a one in a thousand chance of becoming pregnant again since I had a tubal. I don't really like those numbers and suggested to Tom that he get a vasectomy...he thinks not.

Tom went to the doctors Tuesday and was informed he had high blood pressure and after some lab work he also found out that he has super-out of control diabetes. He also discovered that he has lost 70 POUNDS!!!!...unfortunately this was due to the diabetes.

Wednesday, Tom and Hannah constructed a gingerbread house and later on I helped her decorate it. Carter was the taste tester of all the candy pieces that fell on the table during assembly. I'm convinced gingerbread houses were created to torture parents.



Hannah enjoyed her last day of school before Christmas break:



We celebrated Christmas Eve at church while Tom was working, this was my first time taking all three kids to church at one time.



Christmas was pretty laid back, opened presents, Tom's family came for a visit, Tom went to work and the kids and I headed to my brother's for supper.

2nd week of December

Monday, Amelia had her one month check-up. She is doing really good with her head control and has started smiling. No issues or concerns which is always a good thing! She weighed in at 8 pounds 11 ounces and 21 inches long. We also had family pictures done and that was a debacle but at least I have my Christmas cards ordered.



Tuesday, Hannah brought home a glitter paper bell ornament for the tree and a construction paper christmas tree from school. She is still practicing for her school program and made Tom and I a present that she was able to gift wrap.



We've decided to stop giving Carter juice in order to help his behavior. In hopes the lack of sugary juices would prevent a sugar high. His new favorite thing when receiving discipline is to laugh at you afterwards. It's been super fun at our house lately as you can imagine.

Tuesday afternoon we took the kids to see Santa. They all did very well sitting still for the picture, praise God!!!



Now we're just finishing up shopping and all those little things you try to get done before Christmas catches up to you!

 

1st Week of December

This should be a post about the week of H but Hannah's school has taken the month of December off of show and tell and the alphabets to focus on Christmas.

Han has begun to learn songs for her school Christmas program. It's super cute how she wanders around the house singing her Christmas songs for us. She has also been crafting it up with Christmas themed projects.



Tom and I took the kids on a train ride with Santa. They had a lot of fun and the view from the train was beautiful!



Carter has learned to crawl in and out of his crib this week and will be getting a toddler bed very soon. Tom and I decided that if he can crawl out of his crib that he no longer needs a pacifier so he lost his precious "suckies" this week too! He's been doing pretty good without them and will only occasionally steal Amelia's.

Happy Halloween!

Something Old, Something Blue

The other day I was checking the blogs I enjoy reading when I came across a post by my BF. To summarize she was discussing the tradition of women getting a gift from their husband when they have a baby. This got me to thinking...

Tom will usually get me a present as finances allow so it isn't usually the same time the baby is born 'cause babies are expensive. I'm a big jewelry person, I've loved jewelry since I was a little kid. I can still remember going through my mother's jewelry box, the carpet fibers pressing on my legs,  looking at all of her rings and necklaces. Now I have my own collection and I imagine one day I'll find Hannie looking through my jewelry box too ;)

I've really lucked out in the children's birthstone department. Hannah is aquamarine and Tom bought me a very beautiful pear shaped aquamarine ring with white diamonds around it. Next is Carter and Tom again bought me another beautiful ring this one is a cushion-cut blue topaz for Carter's birth stone with black and white diamonds around the topaz. Both rings are very beautiful and both rings are a shade of blue. This gave me the idea that one day when/if my kids get married I will give them these rings on their wedding day as their "something old and something blue." Carter of course could give his ring to his future bride.

It then dawned on me that I never researched what the birthstone is for November, which is when Amelia will be born. Can I tell you folks, it's Citrine. For those of you not familiar with that stone it's like a yellow-orange color. Gross.  I immediately went online and did manage to find a beautiful ring, that is of course sold out. (Story of my life) The more I thought about the Citrine the more I decided this warranted a call to Tom which went something like this:

H: Amelia's birthstone is not very pretty, it's a weird orange color. Maybe we should switch her birthday to the day prior.

T: (Slight pause) No, we are not making her birthday Halloween!

H: Well, one day, when I have lots of money and can have my mother's ring custom-made the Citrine won't be as pretty as an Opal would be...

T: That's selfish Heather, we are not switching her birthday to Halloween just so you can have the ring you want.

H: I did always want an October baby and Halloween could be fun...

T: No, Heather.

So, I didn't quite get my way but I thought my argument seemed reasonable at the time ;) Truth be told I did always want an October baby but our option was Halloween so we vetoed that before I made the surgery appointment for 11/1. The thought of Citrine made me quickly change my mind that Halloween really isn't all that bad but Tom declared it otherwise. I guess one day when I'm old and gray I'll have a very pretty cluster ring that contains: Aquamarine, Topaz and Citrine. And if Amelia doesn't like Citrine I'll let her know her Dad is to blame...blahahaha!

Head Spin

I set forth to the Hallmark to purchase cards for Mother's Day and my niece's communion. Once I stepped foot in Hallmark my pregnancy brain kicked in:

• Start off with my Grandma. Check! Oh wait I need to get a card from my kids to her...3 minutes later I find the perfect card. Grannie's done!


• On to the "Mom" section. Found the perfect card for both Moms and done. Oh crap, they need cards from the kids too. Back to the "Grandma" section. Why do all of  these cards say "Grandma" or "Nana" who calls their Grandma "Nana"? Four minutes later found Grandma cards for both Moms.


• Crap don't forget communion card...Oh geeze why do some say "First Holy Communion" and some say "Communion," I think it's first holy communion...should I phone a friend? No it's definitely the first. Five minutes later the perfect  card is chosen.

It took me 30 minutes to buy seven cards. Thank God we don't have any Step-Moms in the family, I would have had a melt down.

The End

As much as I love the holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas), I am so thankful they are over. They are not very friendly to my waistline ;) I did a ton of laundry last night, I went to put my jeans on this morning for work and they were tight. Not just the fresh-from-the-dryer-tight but the, you've-gained-10-pounds-from-the-holiday-eating-kind-of- tight. Nice.

That's was the reminder I needed to love my meal plan, stick to it and bust my butt at the gym today. I will not be regressing, staying stagnant in weight loss is bad enough but going backwards is not an option.

My friend told me something the other night that are truly words to live by. "It's not what you do from Thanksgiving to New Year's,  it's what you do from New Year's to Thanksgiving." I couldn't agree more!  

As the year draws to an end I would like to wish  everyone a terrific and healthy New Year! Here's to losing more weight!

I <3 NY

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of visiting NYC. It was so wonderful and almost magical. We stepped out of the train station and I immediately had a smile on my face and couldn't help but stand in amazement of the impressive buildings and the hustle and bustle that surrounded me. Our first stop was of course to a Starbucks because we all had to relieve ourselves and needed a warm beverage to keep us from freezing to death. After that we grabbed a hot dog from a street vendor, walked to fifth avenue, stood in awe at St. Patrick's Cathedral, watched street performers, meandered around the Plaza Hotel, perused FAO Schwartz, ate at Pop Burger (delicious!), walked to Central Park, watched the ice skaters, ogled Tiffany & Co, fought our way to get a glimpse of the Rockefeller Tree, walked 4,000,000,000 miles to Times Square and then an additional 4,000,000,000,000 miles back to the train station. I even spotted Laura Linney and she smiled at me, I just love her! It was a terrific drama-free day and I would do it again-in a New York Minute ;)



Photo Credit: Kaila Regina Wedding Photography

Dear Santa

Tom and I don't do gifts anymore. We haven't for at least the past three years. It was a bummer at first but I've since gotten used to it, if you don't have the money-you can't buy the gift. (That was our determining  factor in the no presents rule) That being said there are still some things out there that I really, really  need want.

 Here is what I've been coveting:

1. Tassimo Brew-Bot LOVE! How awesome would it be to be at home and decide you really wanted a super delicious coffee concoction and all you had to do was walk to the kitchen? Heaven I tell you!


2. A Glass Cake Stand with Matching Lid, I think this is a bakers essential that I have never bought. I usually make layered cakes and for whatever reason have yet to buy one of these. I saw one yesterday and almost bought it (because it was only $10.99) but decided to get cookie cutters instead.


3. Pandora Charms, I love my charm bracelet, love I tell you. Don't you just love this? 'Cause I do!


4. A Funky Sweater from Lane Bryant, the colors are bizarre but I love it!

Is there something out there you have been in love with recently?

Wordless Wednesday-Right Down Santy Claus Lane

Adventures in Advent

We started our adventure heading up to 202 in hope that the Christmas Tree Shoppe would surely have an Advent Calendar. Go to the store, super excited and every single one was broken. I kid you not, a door was missing or a knob was broken off. It was ridiculous. For a second I thought about buying two and combining them into a Frankenstein calendar just so that I had one. That seemed like too much work. I left unsatisfied.

We then headed to the Concord Mall to get keys made. While there we thought we'd look around and just check to make sure no Advents went overlooked. Leave it to Hallmark, we found the cutest Advent Ornament with a Nativity theme, score!

You turn the blue base of the ornament and everyday it will read you a verse from the Christmas Story. I love it!

While there I noticed they also had book and ornament combinations (not advents). While reading the book you can press the buttons on the side and the ornament lights up and talks to you. Hannah loves this.





Last but not least, we also found a paper Advent from the Calendar store that when you open a paper door each day you will get a chocolate and a Bible verse.



I'm so thankful we stopped to get keys made at the Concord Mall ;)

Advent Calendar

Or the lack thereof.

Hannah is at the age where she knows and remembers what is going on. It's now that I've really been trying to be on point with what I teach her and how I shape her holidays. With that being said we don't have an Advent Calendar. I never had one growing up but wanted to start the tradition for my kids.

Do you know how hard it is to find an Advent Calendar that does not cost  a trillion dollars and does not look gaudy/tacky? It's hard, I can assure you. Every time I find one I like it is either out of stock or a million dollars. I am determined, so hopefully I can find an acceptable calendar shortly.

I did find this little number, but was saddened by the price:



Any suggestions would be helpful!

Why You Should Give An Opinion When Asked...

I always, always, ALWAYS ask my husband his opinion on things. His typical reply about 85% of the time is "I don't care, whatever you think." This is his first mistake and mine for thinking that is really his opinion. It never fails, once decisions get made I will typically get some sort of negative feedback.  Shopping for Christmas is no different.

At my leisure yesterday I took my lunch break as a prime opportunity to get my Christmas shopping done. It was easy, convenient and fast; bonus, Toys 'R Us has free shipping going on right now. Score! I got everything done and then sent my husband an email with the name of the toy and a picture. A little while later I get a call:

T: "You got Carter cool stuff and Hannah gay stuff."

H: "And by gay you mean the games I bought? I got those because she doesn't play by herself so this way I can play with her more."

T: "She doesn't play by herself because you bought her gay toys."

H: "Should I get her something else?"

T: "No, what you got is fine. Carter's is just cooler."

I love the Christmas season, don't you?

Corn Makes Rain...

(Really, the song states that Rain makes Corn but that is no longer how my brain will sing it.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBFrGn6h3Vg

Girl's Weekend 2010. Super Fun!

We traveled to Mahanoy City, PA about  2 1/2 hours from home to begin our wonderful journey into our no-stress zone. We had a lovely time visiting the small town where we stayed as well as the small towns around there. We went antiquing Friday which is always a wonderful adventure! I love scouring the various booths searching for the perfect item. While I was there I came up with the marvelous idea of  framing old comic books and hanging them in my entry. So that gave me a task to find the best and funnest comic book cover I could find! I was also able to grab a few with Captain America on them for Tom! :mrgreen:



The next day we went to Pottsville, PA and took the tour of Yuengling Brewery-America's Oldest Brewery. SO cool! It was a nice little history lesson and you get to have a free beer when the tour is over! The one downfall of the tour was how hot is was.  My Lord I think they were trying to melt our flesh off! Thankfully they have their own cave that averages at 50 degrees year-round so there was a small amount of time that we were not in the blazing heat.



While in Pottsville we finally convinced Emmy to get the same tattoo as Laura and I. It is so cute and makes me want to have mine touched up so it is vibrant once more.



Sunday, we enjoyed a torrential downpour while playing monopoly, reading and cooking dinner.  So relaxing.



I love my girls and am glad we are able to share a few days with each other every year. Amazingly after 25 and 12 years we still learn new things about one another. Thank you Tom for watching our babies and I am SO looking forward to Girl's Weekend 2011...Nashville here we come!

A Sweet Little Angel

I was so pleased with Hannah yesterday at the mall. While getting her ready to go I'm running through all the possible issues we may run into especially since we are going to the dreaded mall. I wanted to get her picture with Santa and I am running out of time...especially since I avoid the mall on the weekend.

We get to the mall and I made the executive decision of no stroller. Typically I bring the stroller she doesn't want to sit in it and then she ends up walking or being carried. I could just see me trying to carry her and push a stroller by myself, that would for sure end in disaster! So we walked hand in hand through the parking lot and through the JCPenneys all the way to the Santa area. We entered the line and she peered through the rail to look at Santa. When the line moved forward I called to her and she came. If we stood for a little longer she would sit on the floor and wait. I could not believe my eyes! No matter what if she started to wander just a little I would call her and she would come. I was so impressed I wanted to cry.  It was eventually her turn, she smiled and seemed to enjoy her Santa time, we paid and walked back through the mall. With no incidents, no crying and no meltdowns!

I was astonished and glad to see that we can go to the mall and it is not a total disaster. Her next test will be doing actual shopping!

An Interesting Week

Monday, Tom had gone to have his vasectomy consultation, he's pretty adamant about getting snipped. We talked it over and part of  me is okay with it and part of me still feels unsure. He is totally sure, so much so that he is going a couple of days after his birthday to have it done.

Yesterday was a debacle, Tom and I went to my last OB appointment and then afterwards we went to the last ultrasound appointment together. The OB went great, we are both ready for the C on Monday. The ultrasound was just obnoxious. Everything was fine, heart rate was good. Carter was doing his practice breathing  the whole time. Then it was time to look for the body movements and he was sound asleep. He didn't kick or punch or wriggle his body, he was out like a light. I was perfectly fine with this but the policy is that if after 30 minutes the baby doesn't move they then put you on a fetal monitor. So 30 minutes comes and goes with no movements. She puts me on the monitor and as soon as she shut the door he started going berserk! My stomach was visibly moving, I could feel him kicking and wriggling around. It was almost comical. Then he moved off of the monitor and she comes back in. He again does not move a muscle, it's like he knew the woman was there and he did not care for her one bit! After an hour of being there we finally got the all clear to go home.

Later that night we headed to Babies R Us and Hannah cried through the entire store. I couldn't concentrate on looking at anything so I got what I could remember and we headed home. I swear she knows the baby is coming. She has really been wanting held A LOT lately and by me only. She has also been crying a lot more over anything. She doesn't give a warning just starts crying about whatever it is that she wants. I guess she's trying to get all the attention now before she has to share it with another!

Fun Times or Something

• Hannah had a fever that lasted from Thursday until Sunday


• Therefore she woke up Friday morning at 1:30am and did not go back to bed until 7:30am


• I called out of work Friday


• I am still feeling sleep deprived


• Had a super nice day for Mother's day (Thank you Husband and Hannie)


• Went to my first OB appointment today


• NO: Sex, exercise, lifting heavy objects, caffiene or artificial sweetners


• I will be having another C-section


• My blood pressure is high (it's no wonder, see above!)

Wordless Wednesday-The Hannah and The Bunny

The Mystery of the Sippy-Cup

How in the world do you get your child to use a sippy cup? This is my great mystery currently. Hannah is not very cooperative when it comes to drinking from a sip-cup or holding her own bottle. I fear it is something I am doing wrong so if anyone out there has a clue on what is best to do I would love to hear it!

In other news it seems like for the past three months Hannah is spitting up constantly. The doctor didn't offer any help on how to get her to stop this so Tom and I decided to switch her formula to gentle and it still hasn't helped. Before she would never spit-up ever and now it seems that is all she does. I also bought a can of the "Next-Step" formula to see if that might help (Haven't given it to her yet). I am running out of  ideas on what to do. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

When did everyone's child stop drinking formula? Hannah is 10 and 1/2 months old and she doesn't want her bottle any more. She will drink around four ounces in the morning but after that she will only drink one, two or three ounces every few hours during the day. I am telling myself she is full from her other foods but I know they are still supposed to be drinking formula so it makes me concerned. It seems like she decided on her own to be done with her formula.

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I  have lost Thirty Pounds!  *Pats self on back!* I am so excited! I have really been working hard at the Y. Even though I didn't go yesterday I plan on making it up today. Yesterday it was cold and snowing so I didn't want to have to bundle Hannah up so that I could go to the Y.  I stayed home and  enjoyed the last day of pretending to be a stay at home mom!  :lol: 

Well after three days off of work it is back to the grindstone, argh. Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

Just Leave Me Alone!

I am so in that kind of mood this week.

It seems like every moment I am at work I am pulled in a thousand directions. Then I get home and enjoy Hannah and when she goes to bed I am ready to just lay in bed watching TV or reading a book until bed time rolls around.

I haven't exercised in a week due to schedule conflicts and Christmas thrown in for good measure and just when I think this week is going to go well I ran late at work-what would have been my first day back exercising. Needless to say I didn't exercise Monday.

I am hoping my trainer doesn't think I am ignoring her on purpose because I was on a roll and hope to continue my progress sometime-eventually this week. I have also decided I am going to join the Y! I am pretty excited for that and am really hoping my husband will agree to come as well! My mom is going to go with me so that will be super fun. She used to be a fitness fanatic in her younger years so I am interested to see if she becomes that way once again.

I have set my goal to lose a minimum of 80 pounds by next October. With really trying to lose over 100lbs but I don't want to feel too overwhelmed so I just keep telling myself 80lbs. I have high hopes this will work! I need to lose at a minimum 10lbs a month and will feel successful with my goal. Hopefully the world around me can offer there support and encouragement with my goal. I need to get this body to a healthier weight to carry a child again!

As a side note, I find this terribly ironic and insensitive all at the same time...we had secret santa at work and my santa gave me DOVE CHOCOLATES! WTH! and HOT CHOCOLATE! This person mind you knew full and well that I am exercising and eating healthier so why on earth would he give me candy!

Other than my unsually crappy mood, Christmas was a lot of fun! Hannah opened her presents herself and played with all of her toys! I was pretty impressed since a lot of people were telling me that this Christmas wouldn't be fun. I beg to differ.

My MIL said to me, "Next year will be a lot more fun, she will be more interested in her toys." Don't ask me where that comment came from because neither Tom nor I complained about Christmas not being "fun." Sometimes I think people just talk to hear themselves talk.

A friend acquaintance of mine has recently made several attempts to re-kindle our friendship and even though she was given my phone number and email two months ago, she just now sent me an email on 12-23. I thought it rather interesting because I have not spoken to her in close to five years, our friendship did not end on good terms and I was fine with it. When I stop a friendship it is justifiable and the fact that she turned super shady and never paid my mother back a substantial amount of money was all the reasoning I needed to stop seeing her. So any-who, she sent me an email about how sorry she is and how she thinks about me often...blah, blah, blah. At first I replied that what happened that long ago is not a big deal anymore, etc, etc...but the more I think about her the more annoyed I get. I have all the friends that I need and really don't want anymore. If I cut you off it was for good reason and I am really not looking to re-kindle our lost friendship. I have two best friends that I have never had a falling out with and that is all I want. I don't need any fair-weather friends. Thankfully I managed to rid myself of all of them and don't want them back. Is this mean of me? I kind of feel like I am being mean, unkind and unChristian. But I really just don't want to let people that have done me wrong in the past back into my world...maybe that is too much to ask?

I think I need a vacation, but for now I'll settle on venting on this blog. Thanks to anyone that actually made it to the bottom of this post, your comments are appreciated!