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Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Little or Big decisions

Today I decided to pull Jackson from our church's preschool program. It was a hard decision to make but I just couldn't work out the logistics of getting Amber to kindergarten from 9-11:30 2 blocks from my house & then getting Jackson to preschool from 9-11:30 20 minutes from my house. I tried to get the preschool to work with me, my husband could drop jack off; I was hoping to pay for extended care to hold Jack til I could pick him up, but they could not accommodate that. I visited a local church run preschool and was less then impressed. The room was dark and the toys were old. The staff had very bland personalities. I left there wondering what I was going to do and had to drive right past the park district. I wanted to register Amber for fall ballet classes so I was hoping the fall brochure would be out. It was not BUT the preschool teacher was in and setting up her room so I talked to her and we are registering Jackson with the park district preschool. It will cost $55 less then our church (however it is 2 day not 3 day) and she showed me the curriculum and it was very impressive. Very similar to the curriculum at our church's program. I brought the forms home with me and filled them out. Bob is there with Jackson right now registering him.

Our haggy neighbor finally let us put up our other side to our fence in the back yard. It's kind of nice to have a little yard privacy now. I wonder if this will help settle her down and she'll stop being so evil. That woman was just absolutely atrocious.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Back to it

Wow, it's been over a year since I've blogged.

What's new?
Alayna Grace is new since my last blog. She was born 7/23/12


We bought a new house.


Our old house we decided to keep and rent out. Our renter is great.

Our new house is nice. Needs some improvements but nothing to extreme.

Our neighbor is a terrible hag.






We've had a fun summer with the kids.
Alayna turned one, Amber turned 5. We've gone to lots of fun parks, zoo's and farms.
We even took the kids to the water park.





Thursday, May 10, 2012

I can rant if I want to

I can rant if I want to & it doesn't have to make sense. I love that we are completing our family & having our 3rd child but I hate being pregnant. Even though I have suffered many losses, I don't like charlies horses in the middle of the night, throwing up in my mouth randomly 24 hours a day sucks and having problems breathing & needing to pee frequently kind of sucks. Monday I'll be starting week 30! I can't wait! I can't wait to meet this little peanut. We picked Alayna Grace for her name!

Now about family. My mom is obnoxious. That's about it. She calls when I tell her I can't talk. During the day when I'm with the kids and during meal or bath time or at 8:37am when she knows Amber starts pre-school at 9am. Obnoxious. I email her about mother's day and she never replies. Then she never offers to babysit or help me with the kids but last weekend my sister was babysitting for us so she offered to come over & help her. Uhm, my sisters a teacher, if she can handle a class room she can handle a 2 & 3 year old. My mom basically sucks and it's getting on my last nerve. She's never around, never has anything to do with the kids and can't even respect the 1 thing I ask of her; to call after 8pm when the kids are in bed. I don't have time to talk. She gets annoyed that I am to busy being a mom and can't hear her on the phone and deal w/ her insane ramblings. She called me just now while I was trying to deal w/ my 3 year old (trying to wake up the 2 year old). She's on a day trip in Michigan, there's no need to call. This was the 3rd call from her this morning. She called to ask me if $6 was to much for something at the Carter's outlet. WTF? Seriously? I had the heating/air co. here this morning, ran lunch up to my husband & father in law and am taking care of a 2 & 3 year old and she (who has plenty of $) is asking is $6 is to much for something at Carter's. That warranted 3 phone calls!

On to something that makes me happy, my escape!  Books. I just finished the Carrie Jones "need" series. It was good. I knew Zara would end up w/ Astley. Lots to keep track of w/ all of the "gods" in the book and the pixie killing spree got a bit out of controll at the end but it was a good read. Last week though; the wings series concluded w/ Destined. That book was AMAZING! I read it twice in 2 days! LOVED IT! I was team tamani from the start and I think it was written very well.

Now I need a new obsession to latch on to. I'm thinking of another fae series but I'm not sure. Money is a bit tight right now and I have some books here I could read. I'm really into these fae books though. I might start the wicked lovely series by Melissa Mar when we get a little extra cash in our accounts (so I can dowload to my ereader).

Well, the 2 year old is napping & the 3 year old is quietly watching cartoons. I think I might sneak in & take a nap since I'm pretty exhausted. I think we will be going to the park later today and I don't want to be to exhausted.I have to cook dinner tonight and I absolutely hate cooking dinner. I have a list of things our next house MUST have and one is a see through kitchen so while I'm cooking dinner my kids cannot bite each other or escape out of the house. Dinner is not my friend. Meal time in general is not my friend but dinner is the worst. Breakfast is fast. It only takes 30 seconds to pour a bowl of cereal, they can't get into much trouble in 30 seconds. Lunch is usually lunch meat, a veggie and some cheese or some soup & crackers & fruit. That's pretty fast too. Dinner though......I hate dinner. Dinner is c omplex bastard that requires a meat, veggie and side dish and includes a pile of dirty dishes. This provides ample time for anarchy to break out in the toddler/preschooler realm aka the living room.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

27 weeks!

Wow it's been a while since I've posted! So I'm nearly in my 3rd trimester now! Time is flying. Life has been crazy.

As of lately my children have been crazy little munchkins. Jackson has learned how to take his pants & diaper off & apparently feels it's a good idea to pee all over his bed. We only have 3 onesies in the house because he's a t-shirt and jeans boy so now I need to make a mad dash to the store in the next day or so for more onesies.

I can't believe my little man is already 2 years old! These 2 years have gone by so fast!

Amber is doing well in pre-school. She has about 1 month left. Once she's out I plan on potty traning Jack. I'm really hoping that I can get him potty trained before #3 gets here.

This year with Amber has flown by. She has learned so much. She's learned how to write her name, all the letters of the alphabet (how to write them in upper & lower case) and the months of the year, days of the week, and her phone number! She's one smart cookie. She also is very well aware of the fact that she's 1 smart cookie!

The dogs are the same. Rocky still wants to eat the little dogs that live behind us. Carl is basically the most amazing rottie on the face of the earth and Duke.......oh Duke. A few weeks ago somehow he managed to rip out a bag toe nail! We took him to the vet to be sure there was no infection. He was fine. He wouldn't stop licking it so we had to put a cone on him (per the vet) and then he still managed to lick it. Apparently we have the most flexible dog alive. So we decided to tape a tube sock to his foot to prevent him from licking it. Then we realized in the morning, when the grass was wet, the sock would get all wet & dirty. So we started then taping a plastic bag over the tube sock on the cone wearing dog so he could use the yard a few times a day. OMG. Can I just say he is one SPECIAL little creature.

As far as family goes. Family is still family. My mom is still the absentee grandma. She comes around when it's convenient for her. Amber was in a trike-a-thon last week and my generous mother donated $10 and made a stink about getting a receipt for tax write off purposes. Uhm....it was $10. Seriously? Then she stopped by for all of 5 minutes and darted out of the house to run (in her words) "1,000 errands".........At least Bob's mom has been making an effort to be around the kids and in 2 weeks my sister is babysitting! That'll be nice. She hasn't babysat since Amber was under a year old. She's never babysat both kids. Should be interesting.

My Brother-in-law was laid up from his city job. Funny thing about being laid up. He informed my hubby that he could only pick his child up from school (or take her), go out for food or go to church. He's been going to family parties, to the movies, on nature walks and even out to gamble. So my poor hubby has been working all those shifts. My kids started asking him "daddy? do you live here?" because he hasn't been around. FINALLY, now that tennis season is nearly over my mother in law can work some of those shifts so my husband is off on the weekends. This past weekend was the first weekend since January that my  husband was off for 2 days straight (other then when he had his vasectomy and I took the kids to my mom's that weekend anyways so he could rest).

We still have quite a bit to buy for baby #3. We need a high chair and dresser. We also are considering cloth diapering so I want to pick up some ecobums and give those a try. I need to find my breast pumps and then I think I'll feel much better. My Hubby did buy me a moby wrap last weekend and I'm super excited about that! I need to be a baby wearing mama since I'm going to have 3 kids so close in age!

Onto more exciting news, we're hoping to move. We would like to list our house by next Spring at the latest. We've found our target neighborhoods and we're very excited about it. The hubs has quite an extensive list of things he wants in a house though so I'm hoping we can find what we want in our price range. He wants a 4 bedroom w/ a 2 car garage and it has to have 2 bathrooms. He also wants a family room in addition to our living room and we definitely need to have a dining room or an eat in kitchen that can accomodate a table that seats a family of 5. A fenced in yard would also be nice because of the dogs, but worse case scenario, we'll have to tether them and let them out for potty breaks only until one can be installed (and that would be at the top of our to do list!).

We were hoping to move this summer but it seems unrealistic. The family has to sell the extra house and then the grandkids get their portions (inheritance from hubby's grandparents). That, along w/ the money I have saved will be our down payment. We're just hoping not to have to many problems saving our house. We are prepared to not make a penny off this house, but we don't want to come to the closing table owing money either.

I'm very anxious for the release of Aprillynne Pike's last book in her Wings series to be released on May 1st. I read the 1st three books of the series last year and I've been going nuts w/ anticipation for the conclusion! I can't wait! 4 more days! If I'm up having problems sleeping due to the lovely pregnancy induced restless leg syndrome, heart burn, acid reflux, braxton hicks, round ligament pain or just ten thousand pee breaks I might just find myself purchasing it online at the ereader store shortly after Midnight on May 1st while DH snores away in a blissful slumber LOL.

My friend Caletta is in town now too. It's nice for the kids to have their godmother in town but she's been in for over a week and has only seen us once so far. I am meeting her for tea tomorrow though. I know she's staying about 45 min to an hour away and she has a lot on her plate in her life right now but I feel like she's making time for someone else (plenty of it too) and that's not where she should be focusing her attention right now because she has so much to do and figure out. Not that I'm against her hanging out w/ this person in any way at all, I think it's good for her but I know she's only here for a short time and really does have a huge to do list. I guess I just thought I'd hear from her more. Tea will be nice tomorrow though (especially in the lychee bubble tea form from Bello Tea). Then I plan on stopping at Sweet Pea Consignment over in westmont to look at more adorable baby items for the munchkins, I don't know if she'll want to come with or not but I plan on going either way.

And while I'm talking about shopping. My mother in law actually has brought up going to the outlets with me twice now! I'm really excited. I love shopping for baby stuff but in all honestly, I'm not going to be the size of a beached whale all summer (god willing) and I'd love to check out the liz claiborne outlet and find some cute comfy tanks (preferably ones that will work for nursing since I plan on being a baby wearing, breast feeding, cloth diapering hippy mom it seems LOL).

My mom also said she's going to buy number 3 a new mobile. We like the fisher price one because it is battery operated and has nice lights. Our fish tank finally bit the dust after almost 4 years of use and I never liked the crank to start mobile 'cause it never lasted long enough.

OH and we have a name. Alayna Grace. I'm so excited! So we'll have our Amber Rose, Jackson Robert and Alayna Grace.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

14 weeks

I can't believe I'm 14 weeks pregnant already. I'm starting to feel a little better. I can go to the grocery store w/ out getting sick (unless I walk past chicken). I'm tired but not as exhausted.

Jackson has been in 2x2 at our church (amber's preschool). Next week will be his last class for the winter session. He's been doing really well and is coming out of his shell.

Amber is doing really well in preschool. I talked to her teacher today & it was very reassuring to hear that she does have small issues (not listening) but she's only 3. The teacher told me not to worry that she's a respectful child. :-)

It's been like spring in Chicago latey. Fluke 50 degree weather (60 yesterday). This time last year was snowmageddon w/ 18 in. of snow and me up being a nervous wreck while Bob was out plowing in it.

We really could use some more snow though because we have quite a bit of debt to get ourselves out of.

I've been running around like a crazy woman w/ the kids lately. Monkey bizness last week. The arboretum & cosley zoo yesterday and the park today after 2x2, preschool, lunch & naps. We even went to the produce market & I cooked a nice home made meal. Which has been something I have not been doing much of lately.

Bob's mom bought us a beautiful cradle for the baby.
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I started a registry at Babies R Us. I wasn't going to but my friend Liz told me about the boppy give away where one person who put $50 or more worth of boppy products on their registry would win their entire registry! I also will get a registry completion coupon a few weeks before my due date so I can get stuff cheaper.

We don't need much. Just some new bottles, binkies, sheets (bassinet & crib), baby bathing stuff (since Amber & Jackson are onto the suave kids products), a new high chair (ours was ruined from barf fest 2010) and a new crib soother. Our fisher price ocean wonders held up through 2 kids but it finally bit the dust. I think my mom might get us one though as a gift to the baby. I also want a few new nice blankets, we have some saved but they're kind of ratty after being washed so much. I put the chicco booser seat that attaches to the table on our registry too. We only have a table w/ 4 chairs & we're going to be a family of 5. It's an amish table so I have to look at amish stores for a matching chair! So in the mean time....the high chair I picked is just $44 and the booster for later is $35 so I don't feel so rushed to go out in search of matching chairs! I don't know how long baby #3 will stay in a high chair, but if he/she is anything like Amber & Jack....he'll/she'll want out by 8 mo. to be part of the table (or try climbing out if we don't make things happen!)

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Utter Hatred

My rottweiler Carl has an utter hatred for the mail man. It's unbelievable. He charges the wall, window and back door while barking & growling trying to get outside. As soon as I touch him he calms down and if the kids are in the room he'll settle but still want out but it's obnoxious. Of course both kids are finally napping and I'm getting computer time and he starts his growling/barking insanity. A bark that comes out of a 120lb rottweiler is NOT anything like a bark from a smaller dog. My mom once compared his growling rumble to a bear LOL. So both kids starting moving in their beds. I'm hoping they settle back down. I love my Carl but sometimes I wish he would just settle down a little bit, he gets the other two crazy hair balls going with his shannanigans and that leaves me trying to settle down not only a 120lb rottweiler but a 60lb lab/coonhound mix and an 85lb lab/cane corso mix. GAH.....So at least now he's outside charging the fence 'cause the mail man is still on our block. And the funny thing is, he loves all people, I really think if the mail man came to the door that Carl would wag his nub and want to be pet.

Monday, January 2, 2012

short fuse

I just feel like I have a short fuse lately. I'm so tired and sick to my stomach and the kids are driving me bonkers. I can't wait to start to feel better. Between the constant screaming and messes and then the crying and fighting and then always needing something I find myself shaking and sick most of the day. Once I can eat w/ out feeling like crud I know I can handle the very day normalness of a 3 year old and 21 mo. old. I just need to make it a couple more weeks. I'm so happy our babysitter is coming over 2 x's a week from now on. Mondays and Fridays 1pm-5pm. It'll help me to get cleaning and shopping done w/ out worrying about the kids and I can even squeeze in some much needed naps. Amber goes back to preschool Wednesday too. Having only 1 kid in the mornings helps a lot!!! Even if it is only for 2 hours. When Jackson's alone he doesn't have anyone to fight with so he just plays or goes through books and puzzles while I get ready at my slow (trying not to vomit) pace. I feel like such a cruddy mommy lately.