Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Not too much has been going on around here. Anthony is teething, Amelia is not sleeping much and I'm still trying to get to the gym every day. I will be going tonight after Jeff gets home.

It's been hot as heck here, which means we're all a little uncomfortable even with the AC running. Our house just doesn't stay cool very well. Jeff had his first day as an official employee of his new company yesterday. ( He had to do a 3 month trial period first.) Woohoo for the benefits to start up again.

Our condo complex is repaving the driveways right now. At first Amelia thought it was cool, then it got loud and it all scared her. So today we have the curtains all closed up so it won't freak her out. And hey it helps keep things cool in here too. Although it does feel like we're in a cave. LOL

We have been working on getting rid of more junk from our house. There is just too much stuff in here ( as always. I think that will be the story until the kids are grown and gone. :-) ) Anthony is napping right now and Amelia is curled up next to me with a book. She has been really clingy lately, she sleeps with us, and wants to sit in my lap a lot. Not sure what that's all about. Maybe she is just now reacting to her baby brother being born.

My back is killing me today, not sure why. Maybe I need to get some better shoes for when I'm at the gym? It's been bothering me since I started going. Maybe I need to get a massage chair. That's probably not going to happen though.


Okay this is the most boring post ever! I'm sure my two readers are really sad about that.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Project runway.

Yay! Project Runway is coming back with a new episode in July. Ooh I better make sure we keep our cable until the season ends. (We've discussed getting rid of the cable to save money. We spend a fortune on it every month.) And I have to get the DVD recorder set up properly again, so I can be a good friend and record it for Kathy. :-)

So anyway, I'm excited to see what this next season brings. I'm so not a fashion person (unless gymboree for my 3 year old counts LOL) but I love this show. I think one of these years they should have the contestants design some men's fashion, that way we can see some hot male models. LOL

Monday, April 21, 2008

Can you type?

75 words

Speedtest

New Toy


We got a new toy for Amelia and Anthony this weekend. Amelia loves it and it's small enough that Anthony can go in the swing. We moved around the patio furniture so there is actually room out there. Amelia has been out there as much as we will let her playing on it.

Random

Another Random post. You're all shocked aren't you? We're home today because Amelia had a fever last night. She slept a ton and seems better this morning. Not sure what was going on with her, but after a long nap yesterday, and sleeping 13 hours last night, she is fine now.

Anthony is doing well. He is doing great with a mix of formula and breast milk. He is sleeping better and he's generally happier over all. Makes me know that I made the right choice giving him formula too. I am having a hard time convincing Amelia to not feed him food. She is trying to feed him some corn flakes as I type this. Be right back.

Okay I'm back now, crisis averted. The funny thing is he usually loves whatever she tries to feed him. He gets so mad when I take it away from.

Oh and since you all already know I'm kind of obsessed with buying a house, I thought I'd share about a cool place I found for homeowners. It's called directbuy. They actually were talking about the company on the news the other night. This woman wanted to redo her kitchen, but didn't have the $60,000 to get the dream kitchen that was shown in her first quote. So she joined directbuy, and saved a fortune on her cabinets. She also ordered everything herself, and bid out the installation to different installers. She got the exact same kitchen for $20,000. It was a beautiful kitchen!! You can't buy online from this company, you have to go to the store, and you have to pay a hefty membership fee, but it sounds like it's really worth the cost.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Menu Plan Monday

So I liked doing two weeks worth of menus. It was a little more work initially, but I got one weekend off from menu planning and I think we spend less on groceries overall. Speaking of food, Anthony is now eating avocados, sweet potatoes, peas, bananas, pears and bananas. I'm not sure what food we'll try next, probably whatever fresh fruits or veggies are on sale.

Breakfasts
Pancakes, Spinach Eggs, Toast with Peanut Butter, Protein Shakes, Fruit

Lunches
Sandwiches, Leftovers, Pasta, Fruit, Cucumbers, celery with PB, Soup, Frozen meals

Dinners
Sunday Salmon, Rice, Salad

Monday Meatloaf, Mashed potatoes, Salad

Tuesday Creamy Pasta Bake, Salad, Veggies

Wednesday Chicken Pot Pie with this pie crust, Salad

Thursday Leftover Buffet

Friday Pizza Night (home made)


Saturday BBQ Chicken sandwiches,

Sunday Grilled Cheese, Sweet Potato Fries, Salad

Monday Chili


Tuesday Leftovers
Wednesday Stromboli


Thursday Turkey Hamburgers, Sweet Potato Fries, Salad

Friday Pizza Night (delivery)

Friday, April 18, 2008

Amelia quote of the day.

Mama, I'm gonna grow bigger and bigger and bigger all they way to up there. (Points to the ceiling) I'm gonna grooooooooooooooooooww so tall. (Stands up on her tip toes.) But first, I need some more food.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Ugh

So I think I am weaning Anthony. I was really hoping to make it to a year breastfeeding him. I did everything "right" with him, but I am having the same supply issues I did with Amelia. I was able to keep her going longer by nursing her, then pumping, every 2 hours, plus drinking mother's milk tea, and lots of water, and eating lots of oatmeal and stuff. And I'd still have to suppliment. And honestly, I just don't think I have it in my to try and do that with Anthony. I'm just tired. I'm tired of him screaming at me because he's hungry and isn't getting what he needs from the boob. I was sort of okay with this decision until we went to playgroup today. All the other moms saw the bottle and asked if I was weaning him. It broke my heart to say yes. I cried all the way home. None of them were meaning to upset me, they weren't being judgmental or anything. However, it made it more real. I had to tell other people that I have issues with my supply and then I feel like I"m not good enough. Like it's not working because I'm not trying hard enough. And partly I feel like maybe I'm making excuses, because really, I hate breastfeeding. It's painful for me. I don't enjoy the snuggle time with my baby because I'm trying to watch TV or read to distract myself from the uncomfortableness of it. While I fed Anthony a bottle last night, I noticed that I enjoyed it so much more than nursing him. I got to cuddle him, and smile at him and just enjoy snuggling him.

Good morning....

I love the mornings when everything is quiet. Anthony is laying on the floor playing with his toys. Amelia is in bed sleeping, and Jeff is at work. We spent yesterday at Disneyland with our friends, it was a lot of fun. Our passes expire in July, I wonder if we'll renew them or not. It's a little spendy, but Amelia sure loves going.

My husband cracks me up sometimes. Yesterday we were cleaning out the garage, and he starts telling me about CAT6 cables like I should have a clue what he's talking about. I just love when my hubby talks geek. LOL

Today we have a playdate at the park. Seems like we've got quite the social calendar these days. We have library story times, playgroup at Kathy's, play dates at the park, not to mention the extra stuff like strawberry picking and disneyland. No wonder my house is a wreck lately. I'm never home! Speaking of which, I need to get some laundry done before we go to the park today.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Hmm

So does anyone know what low vision aids are? I keep getting emails that are getting through my spam filter, and 4 of them are for low vision aids. Maybe it's just a high tech name for glasses. LOL

Tackle it Tuesday

Tackle It Tuesday Meme

So my tackle this week isn't housework. It is definitely about cleaning up and getting rid of clutter though. For me, it's clutter from my body. I just signed up to join the gym. I've been procrastinating about this because I didn't want to spend the money, but there is a great deal right now and it's $29 a month for any 24 hour fitness club. SO anyway, it's something that needed to be done, and I've finally done it! Working out is probably the best way to lose weight, along with eating healthier. It's better than the best diet pills or any fad diet.

Ramblings...

I just saw an ad on craigslist for two popcorn machines. How cool would it be to have a full size carnival popcorn machine? Probably not something I actually need, but it would be cool anyway.

I need to post some new pictures of our strawberry picking. The kids had so much fun. It was hot and Anthony was a little fussy, but we still had a good time. I'm off to work on my tackle it tuesday, I'll be back later to post it.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Which Disney Princess are you? W. Pictures!
Cinderella
Cinderella
Wow! You are such a sweetheart! Your kind and generous personality is what makes others attracted to you! You are a social butterfly because people can't get enough of the way you treat them! Your pretty style is classy and elegant!

Take the quiz!
myYearbook.com

Hmm

So I need new furniture. Doesn't it seem like I always do? I need something to contain the computer and modems and all that stuff. There was one at Ikea that I liked but it doesn't seem to be there anymore. I don't want to spend much money though(see my previous post about saving up money.) In fact, I was hoping to stay under $200. Maybe I should check craigslist.

Random searches

I was looking for stuff on the net about one of my favorite shows(Doctor Who in case you're wondering) and somehow ended up on a website called Cobra golf. Still not sure how I managed that.

houses

We went looking at houses yesterday. The housing market out in riverside county is crazy! We looked at a house that I loved it's still a little high in my opinion, but we could probably afford it. It was so nice. It has 4 bedrooms 2 bathrooms. It's on a huge lot and was built a few years ago. It has a decent elementary school and is only about 20 minutes from our house now so the commute wouldn't be too bad. The coolest part is it has a playhouse (with electricity and AC and everything), and a nice wooden jungle gym/swing set. I don't think we'll be moving anytime soon, we want to get more money saved and see how much further down the market goes. I read somewhere the average price in riverside county is going down $5000 a week. But it's nice to see what's out there!

Part of saving money is trying to be conservative and not spend as much money. I'm trying to put as much in savings as possible every month. I guess I won't be looking at hotels in Vegas anytime soon. A vacation sure sounds nice right about now.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Skin, cute babies, Etc

So since having Anthony, my skin seems to be pretty clear. I guess having a baby is like the best acne treatment or something? Who knows. He sure is a cute little man. He's laying on the floor playing with toys grinning at me.

Friday, April 11, 2008

What I really want.

I'm a mom. I don't need hot lingerieto make me happy. Just get me some flowers, or make dinner or even better clean something. That's really all it takes to make one happy mommy. Sad huh? LOL

Thursday, April 10, 2008

The hunt is on.

We've been looking at houses to buy for a while and we're just not finding what we want. There are some nice condos out there but they tend to be in horrible school districts, or aren't big enough for us (with a girl and boy we need at least 3 bedrooms. They can share now but that won't work once they are high school.) Or when we do come across something nice it's out of our price range. Seriously, how do people afford a $400,000 1000 square feet condo? And then pay 300 a month in HOA fees, plus home insurance, plus 4 or 5000 a year in taxes? I guess that's why the housing market is doing what it's doing, people just can't afford it.

It's sad, but we've been looking at moving further out towards riverside. We haven't decided anything, it's not like we're in a big rush to move, we like the place we are renting now. But if we are going to move, I want to do it before Amelia starts school. We would miss being close to our friends though and I'm not sure how I feel about that yet.

Monday, April 07, 2008

It's oh so quiet...

Everyone's asleep. The house is sort of picked up, the babies and Jeff are all asleep. And I'm watching the Hills. Yup, I'm a dork like that. I don't normally watch this krap, but it's kind of entertaining when I want to watch something mindless while I'm doing other stuff. I'm going to make some baby food for Anthony. So far he's eaten cereal, avocados and bananas. I need to make some more avocado tonight. It goes in the food processor, then gets frozen in ice cube trays. Once it's frozen it goes in freezer bags. It's a pretty simple system, and I love that I can make healthy and cheap food for my baby. I really think it has helped Amelia to be the pretty good eater that she is. She eats quite a bit of veggies for a 3 year old. Although we have noticed that she doesn't seem to like tomatoes. Jeff thinks it's hilarious since he hates tomatoes. Like father like daughter I guess!

So I just saw a commercial for go rving.com or something like that. I think it would be fun sometime to rent a class A motorhome and go off on vacation. I love to travel and I love to drive. There are so many places I'd love to go see. I don't know that Jeff is as into that kind of vacation as I am.

Random stuff

Today is my dad's birthday. It's been two years since he passed. I hope he's having a big old slice of cake wherever he is. :-)

Anthony's first tooth showed up. I've been trying to get a picture for the last half hour but he doesn't want to show it off.

Amelia is still asleep. Which is good since she wanted to be up playing half the night. Anthony is almost back to sleep, which means I can go take my shower in peace and quiet. Wahoo!

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Let me start by saying, I LOVE my children. I am so blessed to be able to stay home wit them. But some days, I am certain they are trying to send me to the looney bin. Amelia is especially good at this. Here is my latest tale of how Amelia is trying to make me crazy.

I am not a good breakfast eater, so a lot of times I'll have a shake or smoothie concoction for breakfast. One morning I made the mistake of not putting the smoothie powder away. On this particular morning, Jeff had some pancakes or waffles and left the syrup out on the counter. ( You can see where I'm going with this can't you?)



















Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books


(Yes, that is a straw she has so she can drink the syrup and powder up Yum yum.)

Now if I could just figure out how to keep the ink pens away from my furniture I'd be good.

Menu Plan Monday


Menu Plan Monday ( as always its early around here.) I'm going to try something new this week, I'm going to do two weeks worth of planning, and I'll just go buy fresh veggies and whatever else we still need next week. We'll see how it goes. My new recipe last week was the Slow Cooker Spaghetti sauce. It was great! The only change I made was to put the chunky tomatoes through the food processor since Jeff doesn't like chunky tomatoes. Other than that, it was great! (Oh and on a side not, my blog is still having issues with links. They don't show up as a different color so you have to mouse over the name of the recipe to see the link. I'll try and fix this.) If you want to see more recipes, go to http://orgjunkie.com/.

Monday Taco Salad Bowls

TuesdayCrockpot chicken and stuffing Salad, Veggies

Wednesday
Erin's Homemade Baked Macaroni
Salad, Veggies

Thursday Pulled Pork Sandwiches, sweet potato fries, Baked Beans

Friday Leftovers

Saturday Chicken with Salsa

Sunday Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Monday Meat Loaf, Veggies, Salad

Tuesday Chicken Pot Pie, with this pie crust Salad

Wednesday Hamburgers, Sweet potato fries

Thursday Slow cooker spaghetti sauce With Pasta, Garlic Bread and Veggies

Friday Pizza/takeout

Saturday, April 05, 2008

7 things

I got tagged by My Life with Boys

Here are the rules!

1. Link your tagger and list 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.Growing up I was such a picky eater. I have gotten much better, but still won't eat pickles, olives, or mustard.

2.I get really anxious in large groups of people, especially when I don't know anyone.

3. We have a lot of girls in our family. My great great Grandma had all girls, my great Grandma had all girls, my Grandma had all girls, and my Mom had all girls. This generation was 9 girls when I got pregnant with Anthony, so we just assumed he would be a girl too. Amelia was the first one of the group to end up with brown eyes.

4. When I went on bed rest with Amelia, it was the longest I had taken any time off from working since I was 14 and had my first job.

5. I need 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night. If I don't get that, I just can't function well. I am tired and grouchy.

6. I am kind of a wanderer at heart. I have a hard time living in one place, or doing one particular thing for a very long time. I get bored easily. I have lived in 3 states and a lot of different houses in my life. Maybe someday I'll end up on some Branson property.

7. Sometimes I miss having a job outside the house. I love my kids and I love being home with them, but it is by far, the hardest job I've ever had.


I am tagging the first 7 people that pop into my head! If you've already done it, that's okay, you can do it again or skip it. Either way. :-)

1. Marlene

2. Watch Peanut Grow

3. Brianna

4. A Few Bytes

5. Naptime Musings

6. Di

7. Jenn

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Pictures

My little dancing girl.
My sweet baby boy


Easter morning

Playing at the park

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Paperbackswap again



I am really loving paperback swap. If you missed my last post, click on the banner to find out more.