New Years Resolutions

I have made New Years Resolutions in the past, but never really stuck to them. Life gets in the way, or I just became lazy and decided that my resolutions were stupid. Well, in an effort to improve myself, I am going to list a few of my resolutions and hope I can stick to them.

1) It's something I have struggled with for about 7 years, but I want to get myself down to a healthy weight again. I've had some really great stretches, getting myself within 15 pounds of my goal weight, and then awful setbacks where I gain all the weight back again. I've done Weight Watchers, and had great success, but when money is tight, that is not something that is high on the spending priority list.

Me at my largest, just before Hannah was born.

Me in summer of 2005, in the bright pink shirt.

Most recent picture of me. Christmas 2012.

My friend has been working on a plan to take baby steps towards a realistic goal, and I think I am going to do the same. If we go slowly, there is less room for failure. 

2) Become a better parent. I will admit it, I am not the best mother in the world. My kids, like every other, are flawed. There are many more bad days than there are good (between the fighting, hitting, screaming, crying, etc.), but they are kids. I sometimes have a hard time remembering that. There will be messes, there will be struggles. These are things I need to remember. 2 and 4 year olds do not realize that grabbing something the wrong way will probably cause a ginormous mess. Or that pouring their own glass of milk while mom is in the shower is probably not the best idea. What I need to realize is that messes can be cleaned up. Being hard on your kids for stupid reasons is not a good way to build a relationship. I do not want to be the kind of parent that has a terrible relationship with their children. I do not want them to fear me. I do not want them to go through their teenage years hating me, counting down the days until they get to leave my house. Again, this will probably involve baby steps. 

3) Continue my education. I have completed 3 semesters, and have 3 to go, and am so far thrilled with my progress. 13 classes down, and all but one completed with a 4.0 (that pesky 3.5 will haunt me forever). It has not been easy, juggling kids, school work, a once a week job, but it will eventually be worth it. It has been exciting for me to prove to myself that if I put my mind to it, I can achieve it. When I was a senior in high school, I didn't care about grades or college. I was more worried about boys and having fun, and picking up my life and moving it across the country. Looking back now, I wish I would have gone to college right away. But when you're 18 years old, you don't always do the right things. 

So, what do you think? Doable? I really hope so. The past few years haven't been stellar, but they haven't been awful either. I am hoping that 2013 rolls in and will be the best year that I've had in awhile. 

Happy New Year to you all!

Oh, hai!

Remember me?

I'm still around! Life has been hectic. Cameron goes to school, I go to school, I clean a house on Thursdays.. Yeah. Hectic. Not to mention, Christmastime? Yeah. Life in overload. But, for the next 2 weeks, I am free from my school, and next week will be spent at home with no trips to preschool or to the house I clean, so life will be good. I'm kind of excited about the idea of jammies all day long. 

Speaking of Christmas, we're ready! Christmas cards were mailed weeks ago (I'm talking days after Thanksgiving), packages have been mailed for family and secret Santa draws, and our tree is bursting at the seams on December 20th. Let's not forget that we haven't put our presents out for the kids, and neither has Santa. These kids have so many people in their lives that love them. :)

Fall 2012 semester wrapped up last week, and I am proud to add four more 4.0s to my transcript. My GPA remains at 3.98, but that is still something to be very proud of! 

The next few days are consumed with Christmas parties and family get togethers and a teeny tiny bit of snow. I am probably the only person in SW Michigan who would prefer a green/brown Christmas, but it appears that I will get my wish. Yay! When you have as many places to go as we do, we kind of appreciate nice, clean, and dry roads. 

Until next time, Happy Holidays!

Shutterfly Giveaway Winner.

Congratulations, Robert Tuesley! Enjoy your Christmas cards!

It's that time again..

Believe it or not, folks, Christmas is just a little more than 2 months away. What?! It honestly seems like I just took down my decorations and got rid of the snow. 

I don't know about you, but one of my most favorite holidays is Christmas. I love the atmosphere, the decorations, the food, shopping (especially on Black Friday), and just about everything BUT the snow. ;)   I absolutely love Christmas trees and Christmas music and look forward to the day after Thanksgiving (I try to respect the bird!) so I can get all my stuff around. 

For the past 2 years, I have worked with Shutterfly to produce the Christmas cards my family sends out. I have been so pleased with what I've received and love sending the cards out to my friends and family. I absolutely love the Christmas Photo Cards  that are offered from Shutterfly. The quality is amazing and the pictures look so crisp and clear. We are always receiving compliments on them as people start getting them in the mail.

The cards offered by Shutterfly are surprisingly affordable for the quality you get. They have great deals year round on their products as well. Visit this link to check out their Special Offers page.

AWESOME ALERT! If you are interested in winning a $50 credit towards Christmas cards on Shutterfly's website, leave a comment with your name and I will enter your name into the contest. (The giveaway will end on October 26th!)

I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with for Christmas cards this year! Ho ho ho!

*this post is sponsored by Shutterfly*

Conversations with an almost 4 year old.

Cameron is quite a creative little guy..

He loves to give compliments, mainly to me, and often says 'Mommy, you look fabious (fabulous)!'
So when he went up to his room and picked out his own outfit and dressed himself this morning, I told him, "wow Cameron! You look fabulous!" He was quick to reply with a "NO MOMMY. I am not fabious. I am cool." Lol, okay then!

He has quite an interesting taste in music. He lives for going in my car and listening to the Yo Gabba Gabba cd, but has recently started to like different music. Like, Call Me Maybe for example. I played it once in Josh's car and he insisted that we replay it 3 more times afterwards. I think Josh's head was ready to explode.

I don't know if it's something he learned at school or if he just picked it up somewhere, but he has been thanking me after I make him meals. The other night, he was so thankful for the french bread pizzas I made. This morning, he came to me after he ate his pancakes and said "thanks for making me pancakes, mommy." My heart? It melted.

There have been others, but this kid is getting so smart. He asks every morning if it's time to go to preschool. I feared he would be 'afraid' of school and wouldn't want to go, but that is the farthest thing from the truth. He is learning and growing every day and I'm so proud to be his mom.

Cameron's first day of preschool.

He started school just about a week ago, on September 5th. He goes Monday, Wednesday and Friday but hard to start on Wednesday last week because of Labor Day.

We woke up at our normal time (because let's face it, that is early enough) and got ready while Josh took Hannah to Nana's house. It was a half day, so we didn't have to be there until 10. Before he headed out for breakfast, we stopped in the front yard to take some pictures.

We headed to my friend Nicole's house to take some pictures of her son, Nicholas, who is in Cameron's class. 

By this time, it was close to 9, so we got in the car and headed to McDonald's for breakfast. We got done early enough, so we headed to the school to take some pictures there.

As soon as school actually started, it was pretty difficult to get pictures of either of the boys because they were like blurs. Running from activity to the next. I think they like their school. :)

His very first 'art project'!

And because I LOVE these collages..

I wonder how much that will change over the years..

He's been to preschool 3 times now and has had a great time each time he's been. He is always excited to go and it is next to impossible to get him out of the building when it's over. 

Today..

this happened.

More on his first day of preschool (with TONS of pictures) very soon!

I heart Chicago

For the past few weeks, the girls I've 'known' since we were pregnant the first time (so like 4.5 years ago) have been planning a huge get together in Chicago. I have yo-yo'd like a crazy person with so much happening this month (and receiving bad news about a family member), but decided last minute on Friday afternoon to go. I had enough time to take a shower, do my hair and makeup and throw together an overnight bag before I left. I hopped a train in Michigan City and headed to Chicago. I love it there.

I arrived in Chicago at 6:30 and patiently waited to meet up with the other girls. I met one right off the bat and we listened to a tour group guide tell a story about how the hotel we were staying in was haunted, and other ghost stories. Interesting..

As soon as (most) everyone arrived, it was off to dinner at a pizza joint. Holy yum. 

a picture of our pizza, courtesy of Ashley

And I took some awesome pictures of me and a couple of the girls.

Caroline & Me

Tara & Me

Ashley & Me (photo courtesy of Ashley)

Amaretto sours with Tara at the hotel bar

Looks like I really needed more to drink. Oye.

And after that, it was all a blur. To say I had a good time is a massive understatement. While the other girls stayed throughout Saturday and part of Sunday, I was on a train headed home Saturday morning. I had other things I needed to do (and my cold kicked into overdrive on the train), so it was for the best. I'm still holding out hope for another get together in the spring where I can stay the whole time. I had a blast and can't wait to do it again!

Hannah's 2-year check up.

Today was Hannah's 2 year old well child exam. I'm not sure if everyone knows this, but taking 2 toddlers to the pediatrician right around nap time is kind of dumb. Stupid of me to schedule an appointment at that time. But oh well. I anticipated lots of screaming and tears (from immunizations), but was delighted to hear that she is up to date. No shots for her for a year (minus the flu shot). Yay!

Anyway, let's see how the girl is growing.

She has stayed pretty consistently in the 50th percentile for her height and 50-75th percentile for her weight. She is doing very well, according to the pediatrician - who, by the way, was quite impressed by her vocabulary. :)

And for comparison, at Cameron's 2 year appointment, he weighed 26 pounds, 4 ounces and was 34 inches tall. 

TGIF

Ah, yes. Thank God It's Friday indeed. This week has been nothing short of exciting, that's for sure. Let's recap, shall we?

Hannah developed a weird cough last week and it stuck with her for awhile. I took her to the pediatrician on Monday to have her checked out just in case. Well, after waiting for an hour and a half, seeing the doctor and having an x-ray done (just to make sure it wasn't pneumonia), sister is just fine. Must be some sort of virus going around. By the time that visit was over, it was 3:45 (appointment started at 2:15, we were there at 2) and it was definitely time for a nap. Ahh.

Tuesday morning was spent checking out the big trucks at the library. We didn't last too long there since it was heating up really fast outside. We had lunch afterwards and I'm pretty sure we bummed around the house for the rest of the day. I couldn't really tell you what all we did, if I'm being honest.

And that brings us to Wednesday. Freaking awesome Wednesday. The morning started off like they have been lately. Cameron wakes up at 6:30 (I know, right?!) and Hannah starts banging on her door around 7:30. Between 7:30 and 8:30, Cameron has an accident in his underpants. I am busy trying to clean poop out of the carpet in my bedroom when I hear it. A super loud thump. I thought it was just Hannah falling over like she does fairly often. But the cry/scream that followed didn't belong to Hannah. It was Cameron. I ran out into the hallway as soon as I heard it and Cameron was running towards me bleeding. I couldn't tell exactly where the blood was coming from at first, but I just saw that there was a lot of it. I am the world's most squeamish person, so blood and I do not get along very well. I take him into the bathroom to get him cleaned up and calmed down. After about 5 minutes, the crying and bleeding has stopped. He bounces back in no time at all and is back playing in the living room.

I called my husband and MIL to tell them about what happened. At some point in one of those calls, I decided that I would call the pediatrician to get their advice on what had just happened. I explained to them that I hadn't seen what had happened but he seemed to be okay now. They convinced me to take him to the ER, just in case. Fantastic. At this point, it's 9:30 and he is acting completely normal. I call Josh to come home to watch Hannah so I don't have to wrangle 2 toddlers in the emergency room. I also call MIL again to see if she will come with us to help keep Cameron calm. (Just in case). Well, long story short, after sitting in the ER for 3 hours, Cameron walked out with one shiny staple in his head. It was heartbreaking. Like I said before, I am squeamish, so I waited in the hallway as MIL held Cameron while the doctor put the staple in. The curtain didn't camouflage the sound of the staple going in or the cry he let out afterwards, but after a minute or so, he was fine again.

Here's the proud boy playing with some of the toys the PCA brought him in the ER. He thought it was super cool.

Both MIL and I were super proud of him, so she took us to McDonald's to get him a happy meal. And before we were done with the day, he was also the owner of a brand new toy from Toys R Us. I think she loves him. :)

Thursday.. let me try to remember what happened on Thursday. We didn't do much because it was raining. We met Josh for lunch and came back home. Super thrilling day Thursday was.

And today. It's finally Friday! (Insert Rebecca Black song here). We don't really have much going on in terms of plans for today or this weekend. The house needs to be cleaned (will probably work on that at some point today) and the basement needs to be organized (again). I would love to find something fun to do with these kiddos, but I guess we'll have to wait and see. 

Hope you have a fantastic weekend. Here's to an easy week next week! (Not likely, ANOTHER pediatrician visit and a trip to have the staple removed are in my future). 

Big Trucks!

For the past couple of years, our local library has brought in big trucks from throughout the community for kids to come look at and sit in. We went last year (see the post here) and decided to go back again this year. Even thought it was pushing 100 degrees while we waited in line to test out some of the heavy machinery, Cameron had a good time (Hannah stayed in the stroller) and I got some priceless pictures.

Hanging out in a tent before we saw the trucks.

Waiting for the safety video to start.

Making silly faces.

Still making silly faces..

Sitting in the first truck! I don't remember what this one was..

Pure Michigan

Sitting in the 2nd truck. A snow plow. (It was starting 

to get pretty hot at this point!)

In the backseat of a fire truck!

He impressed one of the firefighters by sitting down

and buckling his seat belt. 

Now riding shotgun in the firetruck.

Hanging out with a fireman!

Hanging out with Nick on a fire truck.

Cameron loved it. He is already talking about going back next year. It's the little things in life. :)

Hannah's Second Birthday!

Yesterday, Hannah turned 2. To celebrate our sweet girl, we had 2 parties. One on Saturday and one on Sunday. I didn't get any pictures from the Saturday party, but Josh's aunt posted one on Facebook for me. When did this child turn 7?

She got a pretty new dress and some bags and became a teenager in front of my eyes. This girl will have a shopping addiction just like her mama one day.

I brought my camera (out of the closet for the first time in MONTHS) and got some shots at her party yesterday. We went swimming at nana and papa's house.

Aubrey and Nick came!

(these boys swam for HOURS!)

(love this shot of this boy and his eyes)

little miss attitude

cupcakes!

Everybody had a great time celebrating our little girl. She (along with her parents) was exhausted and slept almost 13 hours afterwards. Her next well child visit is next Monday, so we will be able to see how she has grown in the past few months then. :)

Want to win a trip to the Bahamas? Enter Shutterfly's Long Live Summer - Facebook Photo Contest by visiting this link.  http://bit.ly/sweepS 

From Shutterfly's page:

Win a trip for four to The Bahamas and a professional photo shoot so you’ll remember your vacation forever.  All you need to do is upload your favorite photo and caption based on the theme of the week.  Get a gift from Shutterfly just for entering! You can enter at any point during the 5-week sweepstakes period.

PHOTO THEMES

•       Week 1(7/9): Americana

•       Week 2 (7/16): Great Outdoors

•       Week 3 (7/23): Water Fun

•       Week 4 (7/30): Sports & Activities

•       Week 5 (8/6): Parties & Celebrations