Last one

Matt goes back to work tomorrow night. It was a much needed 6 day break. It's always needed though! Today we're still trying to get our act together. Me especially. Matt let me sleep in and then brought me breakfast in bed!! Such a sweetie! It was awesome, I got some much needed sleep, and then got to eat in peace and watch some of the Today's show!
My Dad is taking the test today to get into Matt's work. Matt's brother, Chris, and his cousin took it yesterday. Hopefully one of them will get to the next round of the process. 1200 people signed up to test for 20 spots, the odds were similar for Matt when he applied.
We're still going back and forth about moving. We thought we came to a decision about just jumping in and moving to New Jersey. And now we're going back the other way. It's been this way since he started this job. I feel like we're never going to come to a decision. It's just so hard. We just never pictured ourselves as living there. We wonder if we will fit in to the 'Jersey' life. I just don't know how to explain it. So we think that we're going to take some more time to try to decide what to do. We did find a house we really really liked over there but just don't know if the area is where we want to be. So in case you haven't figured it out, I just don't know and it's soooo frustrating.
Grace is starting to show more interest in the potty. Soon hopefully we'll get there. Ev is much better. We figured out what he was doing. He's so silly. And so smart. And i'm feeling a little better and hope to be 100% in a few more days.
For now i'm going to get some stuff done around the house. It looks even more like a bomb hit it when Matt's home. He's like my 3rd child.

Where to begin ~

I have trouble organizing my thoughts somedays. Today is one of those days. I have so much going on right now, it's hard to pick one thing to talk about since I want to talk about all of them. It seems I have a better outlook on things one i've written them down.


I spent most of my day sick in bed yesterday. It was awful. I'm just not feeling very good lately and can't quite put my finger on what will make it better.



I'm a little worried about Evan. He's been doing some strange things lately and we're keeping an eye on him. If things don't seem better by next week, we're going to take him to the doctor. He's been my main focus lately. Soon we're going to shift the focus to Grace potty training. I don't think she's quite ready yet. She sometimes wants to sit on the potty and other times she's very against it.



Grace and I went shopping today alone. It was nice to be out just the two girls. She loved it. She loves walking around holding my hand getting all of my attention.

Slept In

I don't know where to start. It's been a busy weekend. We decided early Saturday morning to just pack up and go to the mountains for the day. We were all ready and on the road by just before 9. The kids were excellent in the car, and both got a pretty good nap. We ate a little fast food in the car for lunch, yuck and went right up to the cabin and hung out for a few hours. We went down the mntn and saw Grandpa who was so happy to see the kids. Then we went down to Debbi & Rob's new house and surprised everyone. I think Debbi and Rob were both very glad we all came. I think that their new house is going to be amazing when they're finished. I'm happy for Rob about his job and can't wait to hear about how his first day went. We all went to dinner after everything was all moved in. It was nice to have everyone all together, minus Greg. The kids were awesome all day. So well behaved. We changed then both into their PJ's and left for home about their bedtime at 7. Grace was watching dvd's in the car and Ev fell asleep almost immediately. Grace stayed awake the entire ride home. We got home at 10!!! She was asleep here by 10:30 and we thought she would sleep until at least 7. Nope. This child doesn't ever sleep in. She was up by 6!! But, she's a good kiddo.
Today was a little errand running and some much needed chill out time.
My computer is out of battery, maybe i'll finish this one tomorrow. I have so much more to get off my chest, about moving, and the kids, and a bunch of stuff.

Friday happenings

Today holds the one 'job' that I hate the most, grocery shopping. I especially hate grocery shopping on Friday's and really really hate grocery shopping on Friday at Walmart. It's like torture to me however I refuse to go anywhere else b/c it's so much more expensive elsewhere. So for a little pain I save a decent amount of money.
I contacted a realtor in NJ. We want to move, now. We're just still really scared about selling this house. We are still thinking about renting it out but don't want to rent it to someone we don't know. So if you know someone looking to rent a 3bd 2ba house...let me know!!! We still aren't sure where to buy in NJ so we may end up renting over there until we figure out where we want to be. I'm just ready to jump in with both feet and make the move.
My parents might come here tonight and watch the kids so Matt and I can go out to dinner. I hope so. We could really use some alone time. And we think we're going to take the kids to the Aquarium on Monday for something fun to do. I think both kids will really love it.

Thursday, one more to go...

Matt is supposed to be off tomorrow but he has steam training. He goes in for 8:30am and is supposed to get done around 2pm but get paid for the full day so it's not so bad. At least he gets to "sleep-in" tomorrow.

We were going to go to the mountains this weekend but as of last night plans changed for reasons I won't get into right now. Matt isn't too happy but he's the one that made the decision not to go. Granted, I agree with him for sooo many reasons but if he said let's go, I would go. We're now trying to come up with a new plan for the weekend, something different just to get away for a little bit. Cabin fever has set in big time in this house. The kids are bored with their toys and doing the same things all the time so i'm going to think on it and see what I can come up with.

Today hold more errands for us. Big fun.

I think Ev will start walking soon. He is now standing alone without holding onto anything for long periods of time. I hope he does it so that Matt can see his first steps.

Heat wave!

It's supposed to go up to around 40 today so i'm taking the kids walking. It's one of my goals for this year, if it's over 40 and not raining we're walking. I bundle the kids up so they're snug and cozy and we get outside! They love it. It takes me about 10 minutes to do a one mile lap so usually we'll do 2 and be in and out within half an hour, it's nice to be outside and I get the exercise. My pedometer is getting overtime today. I hope to log 12000 steps today instead of the usual 10000. We will see.

Grace fell off of her tricycle last night. She has some nasty bruises on the side of her face. She's ok though. But after is happened she told me that she wants to put her tricycle in the trash. lol

I got the new car seat the other day, now I have to go exchange it. Ug. It has a tear in the fabric that I didn't see in the store. So back to Exton we go! Then I hope to get to Dad's after nap time to clean out the truck for our little excursion this weekend.

as usual, more to say and no time to say it.

Brrr....

Being cold seems to be the theme of today. Our heater seems to have been running all day today. I'm not looking forward to that gas bill. I'm not feeling good today. I just feel 'blah'. There's nothing really wrong, I just feel like the best thing for me to do would be to curl up in bed and sleep under my warm covers with my heating pad until the morning. Never going to happen, I know. They claim that today is the 'most depressed day of the year'. Something about lack of daylight, holiday hangover, blowing your new years resolutions and being cold....maybe there's something to it. I have spent the majority of the day in fleece yoga pants and a fleece top. I'm a fashionista, I know. So glam. But it's the only thing that seems to be keeping me warm. The kids are in their Old Navy fleece today also. Ev has been sleeping all afternoon, he must be toasty in his bed with his blankets and fleece on! I needed the little break. It was a hectic morning, more about that later maybe. Right now, I guess I have to do something productive and start the rest of dinner. We're having stuffed shells out of Cooking Light, made from scratch. I cooked a whole turkey yesterday with all the fixins, again out of CL. It was so tasty, as Grace would say.
Random comment, Matt's brother Greg said he might go to the mountains with us this weekend. I hope so. I know that Matt misses him and so does everyone else. He's busy and we understand, but it would be nice to see him.
again, more later.

Frigid...

It's so darn cold outside! It makes me want to just stay inside all day and hide from the cold. But I don't think I can do that today since I have some errands to do and coupons to use before they expire tomorrow. We are going to buy another carseat at Babies R Us so that we will have 2 in each car. Right now we have 3, so that means only Grace can ride in Matt's Jeep. I don't like being stuck without any way to leave when Matt takes the truck to work so we're getting Grace a modified booster seat for the truck and moving her old seat into the Jeep for Evan. I decided on the booster thing since it still has a 5 pt harness and will hold her until she doesn't need a car seat or booster anymore. I don't want to spend the money but I think it will be worth it.

Matt put my sewing table together the other night, I love it! I can't wait to get started! I organized everything yesterday but didn't find the time to do anything. I hope I can use it today at some point. I do need to go get more thread though, the outfit that i'm making for Grace needs pink and I don't have any that matches. I also need to find a table cloth to throw over the table when it's folded so that it just looks like a decorative table in the corner of the dining rm.

Matt just found out his turnaround at work starts Feb 9th and should end the 22nd I think. That means he will be working everyday during that time. He's still unsure which shift he's going to be on. Last time he was on nights; I don't know which is worse, days or nights. When he's on nights, he can see the kids in the middle of the day for a little bit, usually around 2 hours. When he's on days, he only sees them for about half an hour before they go to bed. But, then I get to see him at night, selfish -- I know. It gets lonely sometimes though, I'm here all the time with the kids by myself and at night I like to talk to an adult. I have been staying at home a lot more lately b/c we're trying to save money so it's been pretty lonely.

More to say........

Hair Pictures

Here are a few of the haircut pictures. They aren't the greatest but they're still cute!!

Simply Amazed...

I am constantly amazed at my kids. I took the kids to get their hair cut today at Snip It's in Exton. They both were amazing. Evan just sat there like my good little man in the big chair, he was so cute. He now looks like my little man. I have to admit that I cried a little bit. I always thought that was a little silly to do. It's just a haircut, but there I was with tears in my eyes. Grace climbed up in her chair and sat down, and stayed "still as stone". She was amazing. I thought it was going to be an absolute battle with her. She ate some m&m's I had brought and watched Ev getting his hair cut and let the woman cut her hair. I will post some pictures soon. More to say but no time to say it.....

Are you sure Saturday mornings start this early?

5am came real early this morning. O well. I'll sleep when i'm dead.

The plan for today is to go to my parents house and drop Matt off, and pick up my Mom. Matt is going to go pay Barry for the Jeep he bought from him and start work on it, and i'm going to pick my Mom up so that we can go to Joann Fabrics and then go get the kids haircuts. I am hoping that the kids end up with their hair cut...I'm a little worried! We will see!

Matt's cousin and his wife bad their baby last night. It's a boy, named Brayden Micheal and weighed 9lbs. From what I understand she was induced b/c she was a week late and then ended up with a c-section. I think that both of my kids would have been well over 9 lbs if they didn't each decide to come 2 weeks early! And Ev was big enough at 8lbs 13oz!! I'm happy for them! I remember that first baby feeling. How happy and naive I was! lol...And the second baby feeling, how I knew what was coming and thought it would be 'old hat', but how I was just as happy and probably more naive!! lol....Who knows how I'll feel when we have a 3rd!

I better get moving....it's already getting late. It's 7:30AM!!

Happy Saturday!

HAVE TO SHARE!!!!!!

I have lost 2 more pounds this week!!!! Boo-ya!

So sweet

I have to post this picture. Last night, Evan was soo tired. He didn't take an afternoon nap so by 6 he was fighting to stay awake. He is such a cuddlebug and when he's tired he just wants to cuddle up to someone and suck his thumb. Grace was laying on the floor last night in the living room and Ev crawled over to her and curled right up on her. It was the sweetest thing. I grabbed the closest camera, which happened to be Grace's and took this picture. Ev looks so big compared to Grace.

Friday and your "low heart"?

Matt is upstairs sleeping since he worked last night but now he's off until Monday! I'm so happy! I took the kids outside yesterday in the snow even though it was really wet. Grace loved it! She built a ton of snowmen in the back yard. It was so cute. Evan just hung out with me and looked around I couldn't let him sit in the snow too long since it was so wet but he had fun anyway. I wish Matt could have been here to see them playing. I'm not sure what we're going to do today. Probably nothing fun. I have to go to the grocery store and do some errands because whenever possible I like to do them during the week even though it seems like more and more people don't work on Fridays. I have to put together the sewing table that I just got. My Grandmother bought it for me. She's too much sometimes.

I never watch Oprah. Yesterday I decided to record it so I would have something to watch after I put the kids to bed just in case there wasn't anything else on. Oprah had her "favorite Ob/Gyn" on for "all of the questions you're too embarrassed to ask your doctor". So I'm just confused. You're too embarrassed to ask your doctor in the privacy of your doctors office, yet you'll sit in a room with 300 of your 'closest' friends and ask them, just to have it be watched by millions of viewers?? I just don't understand. This Ob/Gyn was a little nutty if you ask me. She kept talking about your "high heart" and your "low heart". Meaning your actual heart and your vagina. Um..what? And chi and alternative medicines and how your mind and feelings can cause things like fibroids? Again, um....what? Now I'm all for trying alternative medicines within reason but some of the stuff she was saying was just plain wackadoo.

We're going to the mountains next weekend. I have mixed emotions about it. One one hand I'm excited to go away for a little bit. On the other, I'm afraid that Evan will be a handful with not wanting to sleep while we're up there. We are going to let Grace spend the night Saturday night with Nana and Pop. I know that she won't sleep at all up there b/c there are too many people in one big room in the cabin. I hate leaving her 'behind'. I am going to miss her like crazy but I also don't want to not go to the mountains, again, because of it. She will have so much fun at Nana's anyway. She's going to do crafts and 'sew' with Nana, play the piano with Pop, watch the Jungle Book, get 100% attention all the time and go to a kids birthday party. I'm sure she's have more fun at Nana's than she would in the mountains.

Eyes

I woke up this morning just like every other morning, I heard one of the kids waking up. Before I even opened my eyes, I could tell it was early. I listened to see which child it was, it was Evan. I was very still, almost holding my breath, to see if he was just stirring or really awake. He was awake. I wrenched my eyes open and alas, it was 4:58am. I went in his room and there his is, standing in his crib, talking and smiling. He was ready for the day. It's sooo cute to see him so happy to just be awake and to see me, but a little less cute at that hour. I took him in my room so I could get dressed and we came downstairs, knowing full well that just by the look of him, putting him back to sleep just wasn't an option. So, needless to say, i'm tired. I didn't go to bed until 11:30 last night, I was cleaning and then sewing and then got sucked back into the book i'm reading and before I knew it, it was 11:30. I should have been in bed way before that since Evan fell asleep at 6:40 and Grace was in bed asleep by 10 after 7. However, I like having that time to myself at night. To get things done, do something for myself every now and then, and to spend time with Matt when he's home. (which he wasn't last night)
I'm off to cook dinner for Matt. It's his last night work until he starts day shift on Monday, then he's on 4 days and one training day and off for 6!!!!! Can't wait!

My two favorite men!!!!

Finally

Matt is still on nights, today he had to go in 4 hours early. He's working a 16 hour shift now. He had to go in early for training at the fire station on a new gas detection wand of some sort. They give all the guys on the Fire Brigade free stuff as incentive to stay on it, it's so dorky. The jacket he just got is a really nice jacket too bad it says Valero Fire Brigade on it. He's just not a 'fire guy'. kwim? Anyway, he left here at 12:30 so we didn't really get to see him at all today. Now there's talk of the turn around starting Feb 9th. It's 2 weeks straight of no days off. The money is good, but the kids miss him and so do I. It's also hard to be here that amount of time without the adult interaction I get when he's home.

Finally!!!! Finally Evan is putting himself to sleep. I can take him upstairs and lay him in his crib fully awake and he will put himself to sleep!!!! He's not yet a pro at it but hey, i'll take it. We're getting close. Pretty soon he'll be sleeping 10-12 hours a night in his own bed and I won't have to rock, sway, sing, or shush him to sleep at all!!!! I'm so excited. I'm proud to say that neither of my kids ever slept in bed with us. Both of them slept in a co-sleeper for about 3-4 months next to our bed, but then it was right into their crib. I like it that way. I don't want them in bed with Matt and I, that's our 'adult' space, we can relax and talk and watch tv without the kids in bed with us.

Our Day...

My sister is an avid scrapbooker, and on some design teams for scrapbooking sites. They always post challenges and silly little things to do and questions to answer. One of her blogs recently was on what her day is like. I thought I would steal that idea and write one of my own....So what our typical day at home is like is as follows....Usually we are all up by 5:30am. We come downstairs and Grace gets to watch something silly on TV, there's not much to choose from at that hour but it gives me a chance to get my act together. Next it's breakfast and then playing for a little bit. After the kids seem into playing I sneak off to get a shower, Evan sits in the pack and play while I shower. After I shower, it's time for everyone to get dressed and get ready for the day. Next we clean up all the dishes from breakfast and start a load of laundry, I try keep up on the laundry so that I only have one load to do a day. (That wasn't the case this weekend!) Now, depending on the weather, we will go for a walk around town and maybe to the playground if it's nice. If not I try to do something 'artsy' in the morning, Grace loves stickers and markers so lately that's what we've been doing but she also loves to string beads to make necklaces and paint. I'm trying to find washable stamps so that she can do that because i'm sure she'd love it. While she's 'crafting' I usually read with Evan while i'm helping her. He's so eager to get in on the action! Pretty soon! Once Grace is finished, they both go play in the living room while I clean everything up. Next is lunch , and after lunch we usually read books before it's nap time at 1pm. When they're up from their naps, lately around 2:30/3:00, we have a snack and play upstairs for a little while before it's bath time and then back downstairs for playing/tv while I make dinner. After dinner, we go back upstairs and play and read until it's time for bed at 7. So, in a nutshell, that's what we do when we're staying at home all day. I know if you've made it this far your bored to tears but I wanted to post a blog and didn't have anything else really to talk about!!

I'm back

It's been a while since i've written a blog. I just didn't have enough time. But now my sister is doing hers again so I decided to try to keep up with mine again. Plus it's a good way for me to think about the day, and what's going on in my life and how the kids are doing...soooo....I'm baaaack!

Tonight is the first night of a night rack for Matt. He's on until Friday morning, then has the weekend off. I can't wait. We have lots to do. I'll get to that at some point.

As far as the kids go, Grace is defnitely a talker. You have a hard time making her be quiet. She always has something to say and her take on the world constantly amazes me. Evan is cruising the furniture and like being able to 'walk' around like his big sister. But if you try to get him to walk on his own he sits down. He'll do it when he's ready I guess. Evan is climbing the stairs like a pro now. He loves to follow Grace upstairs when it's time for a bath. Oh, and bath time is his absolute favorite time of day, well, that and eating!!! This kid puts Grace to shame. She's so dainty...he's constantly just shoving food in. He's not much for food he doesn't chew, it's got to be 'big kid' food!!

I'm still trying to lose the rest of the baby weight...I guess I should just call it weight now though since Ev is 9+ months now.... or maybe i'll call it baby weight until he hits a year?!!! I only have 12 more lbs to lose. It's just soooo hard. I feel like i've totally hit a roadblock and need to figure out how to lose the rest. Matt and I are trying to decide if we're going to get a pc of excercise equipment for the house.

That's all for now. I'm going to try to write more later after the kids go to bed.