I Bought Myself a Book...

This past week I bought myself a book, a grown up book. A book without pictures or ryhming words. A book without lessons on being nice, how do to something, to say please and thank you. This book was a huge recommendation on Pinterest.com. I read up on the reviews and decided that yes I can buy myself a book and darn it I WILL read it. It worked out great because I had just enough Amazon points that the book only cost a few dollars. So a present for me at a low cost.

So I have had the book 'Fall of Giants: Book One of the Century Trilogy' for 4 days now. I opened it once, read through the long list of characters and closed it. I have yet to open it again. This book is over 1000 pages, I am excited to read it. But to find the time is the trick.

I carried it to work with me one day, thought I would read it on my lunch break. Wasnt that a joke in the making? I usually eat through my lunch at my desk especially on busy days. So I carried the heavy 2.5 lb book to work and back home without even taking it out of my bag. Right now its in my nightstand. There's where it will stay until I get to read it.

Tonight I did read a few books with Ava. I got to ryhme with her, count, and sing the ABC's. There will come a time I guess that she won't enjoy reading with me and then I will read my own books. I just hope that at that time that 'Fall of Giants' isnt still unread in my nightstand waiting on me.

Who has time for Post Partum?!?!

The other evening, when I was sick and thinking how as a mom I don't have time to be sick and that it needed to leave my body very quickly, I also began thinking, where is this post partum stuff that should have happened. Granted yes I am 3 months post partum and maybe it has passed. After I had Ava, I wasn't depressed I would say, I was just lonely, Kenny was very busy and not home a lot while I tried to figure out the stuff called parenting. I got lucky, I had my crying and fits and after about a month it was done.

During my pregnancy with Hailey, I cried all the time, way more than I ever did any time before that. I am not a crier, things don't make me sad, and I am more aggressive. However during those 9 months, I would cry at a commercial that wasn't even sad! So I thought, 'okay I have been a cry baby for 9 months, post partum is going to suck because I will have 2 people to take care on top of recovery.'

Life has been so busy that I just realized this week, that I haven't really had a bad post partum moment. Not that I am asking for it to show up and turn me into a crazy lady or a weeping woman but just surprised. I thought for sure as strong as my hormones have been that I would be worse this time than last. I am very thankful that I haven't. Kenny hasn't been as busy as he was with Ava, yet he still has his schedule and isn't home when he isn't home. I have had my moments, but they have been more 'I am going to lose my mind if I don't get 10 minutes to myself' instead of crying and feeling overwhelmed. I am chalking it up to being busy. Life with 2 and working full time I don't have time to be sad. Sad over nothing. I don't sit up at night after they have gone to bed, I am sleeping too. I don't have a break in the day to ponder this or that, thinking too much can cause a lot of issues. I have been lucky. Some women have a really bad time with post partum, some need medication, and some need time by themselves.

My time to myself, my bath, yes I can take a bath again! My time! My 20 minutes in the tub, at that time, I go through a to-do list, what I didn't do that should have been done; things I would like to do, and listen to the noises outside of the bathroom. Sometimes there is just the TV, sometimes Ava is screaming at the door for me to come out, sometimes Ava is laughing, running through the house being chased by her daddy, Hailey can now be heard cooing or crying. It's amazing how calming just sitting in the tub can be sometimes.

I don't know what I would have done if my post partum would have been worse, just a few crying spells, mainly when both girls were upset and I was just exhausted. Now we are in a good spot. I know the post partum phase can last a while after delivery, it can affect you at any time, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that my time is over and my hormones are shifting back.

Hormones are weird, I wish husbands could just have one week of the ups and downs and they would never want them back. I felt out of control sometimes while pregnant, angry for no reason, or snapping at someone for a something that they didn't even mean to be put into that context, and like I said, crying for absolutely no reason at all other that the feeling was there and it made me feel better.

I hope life continues to balance itself out and my hormones adjust as challenges come my way. Life can get pretty crazy and unpredictable at times but I hope to keep it under control (or at least try to).

Pampered Myself

Yesterday, my personal hairstylist, my sister Jess, cut and colored my hair for me. Don't you feel like a new person after some pampering to yourself? Tell me how you like to pamper yourself!

Thought I would share the new do, it's not really all that new, I basically get the same style (or some version of it) but got some caramel highlights to boost.





And I love the fact that it will be easy to keep up while taking care of the kiddos....

2012 Changes

So a few things will be changing in 2012. Our routine will be different. Our schedule will be a little off. I thought earlier today I should write the things I would like to see change, maybe this will hold me accountable. Maybe it wont. Maybe this time in 2013, I will be thinking that I was crazy for even thinking I could do some of things that I write on here, but hey lets give it a shot.

1. My schedule at work is changing due to the change of babysitters. Instead of getting there between 730 and 800, I will now arrive between 830 and 900. Since I will be leaving the house a full hour later, I want to continue getting up at 530 as usual and getting myself ready.
              a. I want to clean up some of the clutter off the floor
              b. I want to start laundry so I can finish in the evening (tired of spending my entire weekend doing laundry instead of playing with the girls)
              c. I want to straighten up the kitchen, maybe even get the dishwasher running
              d. I want to take another glance of myself before walking out the door (so many mornings we are rushing)
              e. I want to eat breakfast instead of leaving the house hungry
              f. I want to sit on the couch with my girls and watch cartoons

2. Working 40 hours a week doesnt leave a lot of time, but I would like to visit more with my friends and give Ava some playdates. She will be home with Kenny a little more and I think playdates will help the transition of being only with Hailey (11 weeks old) alot. Everyone is busy, but I think I can make time to see my little girl happy playing with her friends. She needs to be social.

3. Girl time: I need to make time for ME and my friends. Its really hard to do anything and I hate leaving the girls sometimes but I need to make a habit of maybe once every 6 months going out with a friend or two and getting out of the house. Work is not a fun time out of the house. This one will probably be hard to do but it may happen.

4. Couponing and Saving-I got into couponing a little bit before Hailey was born and completely quit after she was born. I continued to clip just not shop. So I need to make a better habit of shopping to save and not just buying whatever. I want to make a big effort to stock up when the sale is good so maybe that item wont have to cut into the budget next time. I have my binder all cleaned out and ready for the new year. I need to watch the sales, work on checking the websites to help me, and try to get as many match ups as I can.

5. Potty Training-Ava has tried potty training, but we havent become anywhere near serious about it yet. She'll be 2 1/2 here soon then 3 in September, this spring, I want to work on that hard with her and see where we get. She does well when she wants to but when she is stubborn and decides she isnt going to, she refuses. So far I am not pushing the issues, she's still young, but I know she can do it, she has done it, and soon enough I hope its a done deal.

6. Patience-(enough said right?)

7. I want to continue working on my training at work and getting better at my job. It can only help my chances in the future and the more I know, the more I can help someone else. Gotta take my time and make sure I am covering all my bases and helping the mariners out the best I can.

8. Housework-we are pretty good at keeping the kitchen clean, however the rest of the house lacks. If I can keep up with #1 then maybe I will have more time on the weekends to tackle the big areas I always put off. Its just going to get harder with 2 little ones, eventually Hailey will be rolling, crawling, then running through the house with Ava. But it needs to get done.

These are just a few things on my mind right now. I would really like to stick to them. We shall see. I would love to not get lazy in the mornings and sleep in when I am given the opportunity. Even if the girls adjust to the new schedule and begin sleeping longer, I would love to get up and get the easy things done in the middle of the week. The weekends should be for relaxing, family, and friends, not laundry, cleaning, laundry, organizing, laundry, and more laundry.

New Years Day

Well first of all I want to say how different our New Years celebrations are now from when we began dating in 2004. Now we dont even try to make it to midnight. One thing that hasnt changed though is we celebrate the New Year with our friends. I first met Jamie and Katy on New Years 2004-2005, it was Kenny and I's first New Years together. Jamie and Kenny worked together at Southern States and they had invited us over.

I didnt know anyone there, a house full of people, but Katy made me feel welcomed and we became friends. Now 7 years later here we sat at their house, except now we are married to the men that we were just dating and we have kids running around. She had to work on New Years Day, so we arranged to have dinner at their house and let the kids (men included) play for a while.

It may sound boring to some, but to us it was a good time. The kids watched cartoons and played. Katy and I got the opportunity to catch up with each other and the guys got to hang out in the basement away from the women. It was a nice evening. We were home by 10, asleep by 1030 and wake for New Years day by 6am.

My youngest, Hailey was up at 5:45 moving around, about ready to yell for a bottle, when I took her out to the living room so she wouldnt wake up Kenny or Ava. We watched some sportscenter and Hailey ate her breakfast (formula, yuck, just the smell). Ava wasnt too long after us, asking for chocolate milk and cartoons. So our day began.

Kenny's family has a reunion every year on New Years Day. Its a hit or miss event for us. We had originally decided we werent going to attend. Kenny was working and I didnt want to try to go and keep up with 2 by myself. It would just be easier to stay home. However, Kenny was able to get off, so we decided to go. Its always a nice time, good food, and lots of company. Ava had a ball, she and her cousins ran around and screamed and played the whole time.

After the reunion, Ava's cousin said she wasnt ready to quit playing with Ava. We laughed and invited them over. We were having a great time catching up and the kids wanted to play. So that evening we had a great time with our cousins, extended the family reunion to our living room and watched football while the girls played.

I can say that in a previous post I had said that for this year of 2012 I wanted to become closer to friends and enjoy their company. I was really happy to see that on the first day of the year we were doing that. There is nothing like taking time out, stopping the grown up responsibilities, and just hanging out. We dont get to do that anymore. I hope that we continue doing it and growing closer with our family and friends.

And the Stockings were hung..

So Christmas Eve is here! It was a very busy day with my dad's side of the family. Ava couldnt have had a better time. We are now home, after being gone since about 10 am and both girls are in bed. I probably should be too. Hailey will be up soon for a bottle, but I am so excited for tomorrow morning. This will be Ava's 3rd Christmas but the 1st which is she understands what is going on, well KINDA.

So "A Christmas Story" is on the tv. Kenny and I are relaxing in the living room while each girl is in their own bed (for now anyways). The house is quiet. I am just waiting for tomorrow to see Ava's face.

Santa has been here.


This feeling is great.