Intruders and Shrinkage

Fall has arrived and brought a few little treats with it! Willa woke up the other night and I was sure for just a few seconds that somebody was breaking into the house. I kept hearing "walking" on our porch. But then it hit me, the crab apples were falling off the tree! They are like missiles if you aren't careful, we almost need to wear hard hats. It was nice to realize we were safe, but I am ready for the rest of them to fall so our porch doesn't look like a blood bath and we stop hearing them fall.

I have always heard that pregnancy changes your body, including your feet. As in your feet get a little bigger. A year or so ago I bought two pairs of boots, black and brown. Same boot, different color and I only tried on one. Well, my brown were a little snug, like a little narrow. I just couldn't part with them but I had a hard time wearing them because my feet would hurt. I put them on the other day and lo and behold they fit just fine. So I am not sure if your feet can shrink or if I was just low in my water retention but I am excited!

Our little Chicky gets more stubborn each day. She comes by this trait honestly, but man it can wear a parent out! I heard a phrase the other day that I think is so true. When they are newborns you are mentally exhausted and when they are toddlers you are physically exhausted. Her stubbornness is pretty funny, except it's probably going to get her hurt. She is fearless and has no problems throwing herself on to things. She ran into her car seat the other day and gave herself a black eye and I don't think it phased her one bit. She likes to walk when we are doing things instead of being carried. I like her Independence, but it makes me nervous for next week when she needs to set on my lap for the flight to Kansas. I am pretty sure it may not go well. I know I am going to be tired by the middle of the afternoon.

I am not complaining by any means just flabbergasted by it, but our kid has no interest in the TV except to turn it off or play with the remote. It amazes me because we always have it on, typically ESPN or music or just anything for noise. She might watch part of a music video but other than that she couldn't care less. I turned on the Sprout channel while I was getting ready one morning thinking it would interest her for a few minutes. Oh No, she didn't care and I was a little bored with it myself. But I guess we are doing something right if we don't turn her into a couch potato. Now if we could only get her interested in actual potatoes and other vegetables we might get back some parents of the year points. She loves her carbs and fruit (yeah, that's me too), but put some meat and veggies on her tray and she feeds the dogs.

When we named Willa we weren't trying to give her a different or unique name, we just liked it. But it's almost been a game when we say her name to people. They either say they know a Willa, or "that's different." After she was born a co-worker said there was a children's show with the name which is kind of neat. In the OR when she was born, all the nurse's and doctor's said they had never delivered a Willa which was special I think. A couple co-workers and I always check out the hospital babies for names since one gal needs ideas for her new baby and I was a little disappointed to see another Willa was born this week. It's not like we have a copyright or anything on the name or that I think nobody should use it. I'm not sure what it was.

We have some packing and painting to do this weekend and if B gets home from his class at a good time I hope we can head out to the corn maize sometime.

100, 1,000, 100,000

That's right folks, the Bumblebee has crossed into six digit mileage. When the Bumblebee was purchased on September 12, 2002 there were 12 miles on the odometer. I watched it click over to 100, 1,000 and on Saturday September 25, 2010 witnessed the 100,000 mark. I have been very lucky with my car. Really no problems, and only few repairs scratches and one dent so I have few complaints. When I got pregnant everybody said I would need a new car but nobody was willing to pony up the cash for one. Go figure! I stayed loyal to my Bee and Willa has enjoyed her first year riding in the back seat with no problems what so ever getting in an infant carrier and now the convertible.

Thanks Bumblebee! Maybe one day you will Transform.

365 Days later

One year has passed and I am still in awe that I am a mom. Or maybe it's disbelief, I don't know, but she grows on my heart more each day. It continues to amaze me how much a person develops in the first year of life. It feels just like yesterday that we were bringing her home and just excited for what was to come. It's here now and everyday there is something new that she has learned or trying. She has morphed from a little lump to a walking, chatty cathy.

The birthday party was a lot of fun. She got to see her friends and dig into some cake without remorse. We had visitors from Kansas and Townsend, MT. She was so spoiled with toys, wonderful books, and lots of love. What more could a little girl ask for I am not sure.

Everything didn't quite go according to my perfect little listed plan, but that is ok. I may have overestimated my time, energy, and talent. Lesson learned! Good thing my mom and sister were here to help. I ate way to many sweets in the last four days but I think you have to do that every once in while in order to enjoy life and remember what is important. Five years ago, I couldn't have pictured these moments if I had tried, and now I can't imagine not having them. Our little family is probably complete, which is good, because I don't think you can improve on perfection.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I might be crazy I decided. Who in their right mind hosts bunco and 1st birthday party within three days of each other along with having overnight company. Yeah, that's me. I think I have about 5 lists going, at least 50 cakes to make (ok, not 50, but I have a lot to do). Plus, I have to find subs for the bunco group. None-the-less, I am excited but crazy.

So the Grammy and the Rudy arrived last night and Willa was a little skeptical at first. Despite web-camming all the time it had been a while since she has seen them. They provided food and she was won over shortly.

She has been more chatty lately and told one of the daycare ladies NO when she needed he diaper changed. Of course she has never said that to her Mom because she is such a good little girl and minds her mom. :) Otherwise, she is her same busy self.

The work-spouse and I created another cake. We didn't know this person so we were a little nervous. It was the first time a cake was predominately fondant and my hands paid for it the next day. I rolled and rolled and rolled fondant it seemed like all day. But it turned out wonderful and she wants us to do a few more, and we had a few more requests.

But pictures to come of all the fun this weekend.

A Laborous Weekend

So I took Friday off to get the bathroom painted, plus DirecTV was being reinstalled. We began the morning taking the Kid to daycare and finishing tidying up the house. Next I battled Tricare for like the 5th time in a week trying to figure out why my faxes were going into NeverEverland. Finally got a chick that got the problem solved and semi-officially we are re-insured. So another trip back across town to the office to try a new fax. I say semi-officially because I am still not seeing it online. Though I must give props to their customer service because each time I called they sincerely seemed to be trying to figure out the problem and answer all my questions.

Next B tackled the dismantling of a few bathroom fixtures. This led to us realizing we needed a few more supplies. So off to ACE I go where I even found a few extra things, including a shamrock cookie cutter for our sweet baby bum cake coming up. We puttied and textured sprayed and I finally got to paint. Usually I am a terrible painter, which my dad will attest to, but I think I did a pretty good job keeping my mistakes to a minimum. I took my time, used my edger, wiped up drips and wound up with a blue bathroom.

Saturday I broke out the laser level and drill gun to hang the towel rack and my pictures. Cheapo laser level rocks! I have officially decided I am semi-handy to have around the house.

Sunday brought more rain and still no stained deck. Our little chick did not appreciate having to sit and be quiet during Mass. It was really a sad thing too, since we were trying a new church. We really liked it but we might have to try a different Mass since we were by far the youngest people there at 8:30. They glared at our pretty little lady for being loud.

We broke out some yard work on Monday trying to finish up the tree business. B knocked down the rest of the swing set. It was so rotted he basically just pushed it over. I moved roughly 20 wheelbarrows full of wood chips into all the flower beds in the back. It is so amazing how much the yard has changed since cutting most of the tree down and the neighbor moving his camper to the other side of his yard. It feels like we can see so much more. We have a few more stumps to get rid of and some more chips to move the front flower beds and we are in business.

It was so nice having 4 days off. We watched football, played, made a trip to Wally World, organized the office a little bit and planned for Willa's birthday party. I think I finally decided on the cake designs and menu....just need to figure out what I want to do for favors and buy the rest of the supplies. Most things can't be done too far in advance so it feels like I just keep adding to my list of things we still need to get.

Tonight we learned not only can she take things apart or out of their container, but that she can put them back in. Her and B played with her tub of dinosaurs and she had great fun taking them in and out. She also tried to chug the bucket of dinos, which was hilarious! Hopefully we will expand on her cleaning up skills and she can help put away the massive amount of toys she drags out every night.

But I leave with these sweet shots; me being chased by her, and Bosco deciding that if the changing pad is going to be on the floor he is going to use it as a pillow.

September has arrived

I am not even sure where I want to go in this post as we have had a sort of eventful week.

Sunday we headed off to Mass and while there was some crying and whining it didn't go so bad. She did however smack herself in the face with her sippy cup so it could have gone better. Sunday also brought sickness, of the doggy variety. Poor Bosco was throwing up all day and we couldn't figure out what was wrong. Finally on Tuesday it dawned on us. Our dear child was inadvertently trying to kill him. She loves to share her food with the dogs, usually making a game out of it. She had been feeding him her raisins!! We knew grapes were bad but never translated it on down the line to raisins. We stopped that little game and he seems to be feeling better.

Wednesday brought some interesting news for our little felon. Apparently, our daycare ladies feel she has been saying a four-letter word that rhymes with sit. We think she is probably trying to say sit, as she hears that all the time. Never in the history of our daycare have they ever had this problem in the nursery and they are not sure how to deal with it. They even think she has taught it to another kid. I was embarrassed beyond belief especially since there are not very many words she says consistently. I mean, really, she only says Mom when she is desperate to get her way. None-the-less we are really trying to watch what we say around her as we know we are no angels and have probably slipped in her presence. So if you are keeping track, so far, before the ripe old age of 1 we have a bully, a walker, a potty mouth and an attempted murderer. :) We love her anyway, all her sass and toothy smiles put together.

We can also add to her list of words besides the bad one. Dad, dog, mom, tickle tickle tickle, and EIEIO.

I got into the mail a special craft project for a little girl back East. Hopefully she likes it as much as we enjoyed making it. It only took me three times to find a box to ship it. We also got the invites in the mail for a 1st birthday party. It just doesn't seem possible that she is going to be 1 in a few weeks.

B and I both have a 4 day weekend since I finally got to take a vacation day. I finally feel like I am making some headway on the audits I am working on and it is just in time too. I was out doing fieldwork again today and it went so well that I am probably jinxing the wrap up by gloating.

We plan on painting the spare bathroom tomorrow. I would really like to replace a few other things in there but not sure we should undertake that right now as we get ready for the new windows, Bunco, and the birthday party.

But Happy Holiday weekend to you. If you hung with the rambling you deserve the days off. I had planned on talking about my love of Fall this week, so maybe I will save that for the weekend.

Thankful Thursday

So I will do a full blog post as soon as I am not falling into bed at 9:30 one night. Believe me when I say we had an eventful week. Until then....

I am thankful:

For my brother and sister, how we can bash on each other one minute, and figuring out our problems the next. Though if they buy my kid a 4-wheeler I might reconsider.
For college football starting this weekend. I have missed it.
For a little girl that now says E-I-E-I-O and a few other words.
For a vacation day on Friday! Whoo-hoo
For figuring out a craft project, even though it was a fail, I know it will rock the next time. Even the hubby thought it was cool.
&
For my B, who finally appreciates my crafts.