Photo Hijacking

I have pictures on the camera (thanks to Jenn) that I need to download but until then I'm hijacking this picture from the Weires family just so I can update my blog.

Kendall has another ear infection, poor little Buggy. But, it does explain some clinginess and her Sunday fever.

Kendall obviously hasn't gotten the memo that UGGS are now out of style. She thinks they feel oh so toasty on her little piggy toes and that they just look smashing with her denim skirt. Gotta love this kid.

P.S. Remember this? I hardly do. What a difference a year makes!

Honey Buns

Kendall has been sporting honey bun hair lately, so very stylish and cute.

Yesterday we spent the morning with Anna and Jennie and this wee
kend we're planning on visiting Jenn and Justin in Cincy. Lots of fun times!!

Don't You Hate When This Happens??

Yep, that's toliet paper. At least her skirt is not tucked into her panty hose...I mean diaper.

Bawk Bawk

I got Kendall's Halloween costume this weekend. At first I wasn't positive that I would use this one since I've had these grand illusions of making her costumes but I put it on her when we got home and she LOVED it. Even after I took it off of her she wanted (tried) to carry it around. Since she wore it she has been saying "bawk, bawk, bawk" all the time.

We had a nice relaxing weekend. Brian mowed the grass (much to the relief of our neighbors). We just hung out and watched football on Sunday afternoon. Sunday after church we met Jennie, Nathan, and Anna for Panera it's always nice to get together with them.

Today is another nice day. It is just barely raining which I love since I already planned on staying home all day. I have one of the kitchen windows open so I can hear it hit the deck and I have the spicy candle burning so the house smells like fall and rain...mmm so nice.

From Bathing Suits to Tights

We're home! We had such a nice week visiting with Ron and Susan in Florida. Kendall did really well with the doggies and she picked up a new habit while we were there...sleeping in! I'm loving it, she is sleeping about an hour to an hour and a half later then she was before we left, I'm hoping she keeps it up! Kendall spent a couple of days with her Gram and Pop while Brian and I took a little vacation of our own to Longboat Key. We spent a lot of time out at the beach and pool, spent a couple hours at the bookstore and took our time eating our meals, reading the paper...ahhhhh. On Monday the boys played golf so at the last minute Susan and I decided to take Kendall to Disney World. She really enjoyed and was only afraid of a few of the characters; she wanted to 'honk' all of their noses though.

Something wonderful happened while we were gone though...it turned cool! I LOVE the change of seasons! There is the perfect crispness in the air this morning. This kind of weather makes me want to do a lot of things like: clean, burn spicy scented candles, bake, eat squash, go the soccer and football games, decorate in maroon and orange colors, drink red wine (although I wont), buy school supplies and clothes like tights and fleece vests. I'm looking forward to cooking winter dinners like stew and bundling up next to the fire with a cozy blanket. Another thing that I learned this morning that I really love is stepping out of the car into cool air and then going around the car to get Kendall's cozy warm and snuggly little body out of the car seat. Just makes you want to hold her close!

Well, I'm off to do some fall like things.

It's A.....Peanut??

For those of you who haven' heard, we're pregnant! I had my first sonogram this morning and everything looks great. Actually everything looks like a peanut but that is how it is supposed to look at this stage. The baby is right on schedule
as far as growth, it measures just as it should at 9weeks and 5days. the picture on the left is a 3D ultrasound (very cool) the head is at top and the little arm (bud) is also visible...so is the little tail, ha. The photo on the right is a regular 2D shot & the head is on the right hand side. We're so excited!

Vacuum Hijacking

This Little Piggy

My little girl is growing up! She is currently looking oh so sweet in her new hairstyle, piggy tails. And I have a new favorite word. Kendall used to call me MAAA (usually said

at the top of her voice) but she now calls me "mommy"!!! Sometimes is comes out as "Me-Me" but often times it is Mommy...love it. She usually uses it to call me from the other room but will also say it repeatedly to get my attention.

A while back I put half of her toys in a box in the basement with the intent of switching them out in a month or so. Yesterday I decided to pull out the "new" toys and she is having a ball, of course currently ALL the toys, old and new, are on the living room floor but I plan to change that today. Funny thing though, when packing up the toys last time I unconsciously packed up most of the ones that made annoying noises so we are currently surrounded by quacking and singing. Hmmm, this toy turn over may happen quickly.

Kendall is looking forward to seeing her Gram and Pop next week, I can't wait to see how she responds to their babies...the doggies!

Long Time No Blog

So Brian has been out of town for almost TWO weeks now (he'll be home soon). He took the camera with him and I have not really felt like doing much of anything other then crashing on the couch lately. I have managed to keep the house clean but still Kendall and I decided to get everything super spiffy for him today. Kendall has always thought that the vacuum was funny and our rooms have always had Kendall sized spots that were not vacuumed (since she would sit in the middle of the floor and laugh at it) but now that she is walking she thinks that she should be doing the vacuuming. So now I have a little "helper" that stands between me and the vacuum cleaner and pushes with all her might. When we get to a wall she goes around and pushes it back toward me with the air blowing her hair out behind her. She also had to have her own sponge to clean the coffee table with. She has her own broom but she has decided that it is much more fun to run after mine.

She has been really good since Brian has been gone, especially when you consider that she has an ear infection and crazy diaper rash. I'll spare you the info on the nose drainage. She has such a great sense of humor and is so sociable (with strangers!). Lately I've been camping out on the living room floor while she plays all around me and she'll come over, do something silly to get my attention and then crack up at herself. She will just come over and kiss me at random points too, such a sweet girl.

We are looking forward to having Brian home with us again though. We both miss him so much. Usually Kendall wakes up while Brian is getting ready for work so she goes to the bathroom door and bangs on it, the first few days he was gone she would just yell "DAAAA" at the door. Brian usually holds her on the way from the church nursery to the car so when I picked her up on Sunday she was looking around like crazy trying to find him.

Quick Update

Sorry I haven't been posting, I've been in recovery mode. Don't think that I've really made it to "recovered" yet but I'm certainly on the way. I've been really pacing myself and just doing a little bit of productive stuff and a little more resting. Yesterday Kendall took a 2.5 hour afternoon nap and I took full advantage of it by.....Sleeping. I had a really hard time dragging myself out of bed when I heard her too.
As of this afternoon Kendall is doing more walking then crawling and I promise to get a picture tomorrow. At one point I was on the phone with Brian and she walked through my legs and kept going. She is turning around and bending to pick things up too. One thing that she doesn't do regularly is stand up on her own in the middle of the floor, instead she will usually crawl to the nearest object or leg and use it to help her get into a standing position.
Today I had a doctor's appointment that went well. That's all I'm going to say about that for now.
Brian will be going out of town soon, I'm a little bummed about the solo parenting that goes along with his business trips. I'm looking forward to a couple of days off when we go to visit Susan and Ron. I told Brian tonight that I want to do two things when we are on our own: a) go to breakfast and relax with a newspaper and take as long as I want and b) go to a bookstore and spend a couple hours just browsing. I miss both of those things, it's too hard with a baby.
Pictures to come tomorrow

Oh one more thing. This afternoon I was sprawled on the living room floor "relaxing" while Kendall played around and on me (she thinks I'm a jungle gym). At one point she toddled over with her new book (thank you Jennie, Nathan, & Anna) and plopped it down on top of my face...subtle isn't she?

Home Sweet Home

Here are a few fun P'cola pictures. If you want to see the rest go to the link that I added in the below post. I had such a fantastic time and was reminded how awesome my family is. I loved spending time with Jenn, she is one cool chick. It is good to be home though. We had a great day today with just the right mixture of productivity and laziness. I vacuumed out my car, washed and folded laundry, and weeded our back flower bed. I also spent the entire morning napping and laid on the floor a good portion of the day with Kendall crawling/walking all over me. She has become SO kissy lately, it is really sweet. The three of us took a bike ride this afternoon and then after dinner (very yummy meatloaf and mac-n-cheese) Brian mowed the grass, Kendall played next to me with her blocks and I weeded. Her nap schedule was back to normal today but she was up later then usual tonight. It's going to take a little while to get that back to our regular schedule.

More Fun Times

It's hard to make yourself blog, email, talk on the phone when you are out of town but here are a couple of the day's highlights.

Jenn, Jessy, and I went out on the fishing pier and saw a sea turtle and dolphin. Alex and Dani had the better show when they went later in the day and saw a six foot shark caught (yes, it is very close to where we swim!).

Kendall proved to be a genius, ha. We had a lot of different colored rings on the floor from one of the Survivor challenges and Kendall was using them to play her favorite game...put them all on the coffee table then put them all on the floor then repeat.... well, when she was putting them on the table she sorted them by color. WOW! I was so impressed. She is being really good but a little bit clingy. I think that she knows her daddy isn't around and is very afraid that I'm going to go missing too so she doesn't want to be away from me much to the dismay of her aunts and cousins!

Other then that just the normal everyday stuff such as beach time, eating, and the usual drama that you get from having a lot of emotional women sharing a house.

Fun Times

We are here in P'cola having a blast. Monday and Tuesday night we had Survivor challenges for Sara's birthday. My team was not one of the winningest teams but we did dominate one challenge. Jenn's team won the entire games, they were fantastic. You can find LOTS of pictures here.

Going to get suited up for the beach....more later

Home at Last

We made it home after a 12 hour car ride today. We had such a great time but it was nice to walk into our own house tonight. I'm dreading another 10 hours in the car and I hate to leave my home after just getting her but I'm anxious to be with my mom and sisters at the beach house! I'm so excited that Jenn is coming along, I think we're going to have a blast. Okay, I have to go to bed now...here are a few fun pics from this week

Cause I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...er I mean in an SUV

No access to computer for one week and temporary access the following week. I'll update when I can.

Wanna see my bicep?

Spunky Monkey Gets a Haircut

This post is a warning: However fun brainless reading can be it can also be very depressing. DO NOT read "Trading Up" by Candace Bushnell.

I picked it up at the YMCA (they have a 'trade em out bookcase) and it really depressed me. It was so superficial and shallow. However, I did not stop there after that I read "Shopaholic Ties the Knot" which was very funny but still slightly depressing. So now I'm going to focus on my two non-fiction books "Love and Respect" & "The Tipping Point" (with a little brainless reading at the beach thrown in for a well rounded reading diet).

Kendall had her haircut this week. I like it more and more but I'm still a little sad about the bangs. We've gotten a few comments from people saying that she looks like one of the Olsen twins from their Full House days.

Note: some of you may have noticed the comments from my last post. When Brian saw the title of my book he laughed as though it was the funniest thing he had ever seen. From that point on everything was 'Shopaholic this' and ' Shopaholic that' ex: Shopaholic goes to the zoo, Shopaholic get groceries...well, I think Brian looks like Curious George thus the "Curious George Goes to Harvard" comment. What book title would your life be??

Three cheers for the red white and blue.

My brother-in-law (on the right) is in Rome right now competing in a military pentathlon. USA ranked 1st in the swimming event. They have to swim in full fatigues and pull themselves over and under obstacles, cool huh? They are currently ninth overall. Today (I think) was orienteering so we hope to hear soon how they did.

Kendall and I went to the pool today she was so good and actually sat in her stroller a lot of the time watching the wild kiddos running all around. Tonight she had a fever so we are going to watch it closely and just hope that it goes down. We had planned to go to the blueberry farm with the Fornwalts tomorrow but Kendall may change those plans!

Like Mommy Like Daughter

I played with my hair this morning and I do like it. She had made it all flat in back which made it look a lot shorter. Brian and I both wish it were a little shorter/spikier/funkier on top so I may go back in. Here are a couple of images:


Here is a fun picture of Kendall posing in her b-suit. Also, I couple of pictures that show how Kendall likes to mimic her mommy...cleaning up and talking on the phone. Kendall is also like mommy in that today (at the request of her daddy) she will be getting her own little hair "trim". I'm more nervous about her's then I was about mine but we both hate how her hair hangs in her eyes when she doesn't have a baret in it.

Just a relaxing (?) day at the spa

So today was the big day, I get so excited about haircuts and I had one scheduled for today. If you are a faithful blog reader you will notice that my last one was.....uh (shamefully) Valentine's Day.

Anyway, so I made my way down town to the spa, had zero time waiting and actually had a nice chat with my colorist. Usually I don't like small talk (at all) but she was pregnant so we talked about babies and little girls with their daddies and it was nice. Once my hair was nicely highlighted I received a gloss (complimentary...I love my salon), I was reclined in the chair having the gloss applied when I feel something on my face. I'm thinking, "WHAT THE?!?!?!" and then hear, "just a little makeup touch up for you. Hmmmm, un-asked for but maybe I needed it. I close my eyes again enjoying the feeling of being pampered and it happened AGAIN.... "A little bronzer for you" I was beginning to wonder if I looked that bad when I came in. Don't worry about it, I think to myself, and then the final straw- I feel some sticky, foul tasting "lip gloss" being painted on my lips. I must have given her a look because my seat was pushed back up to the upright position and I was directed to the lounge area. I settle in and open my book. At some point I glance up and kind of smirk when I see a woman sitting across from me with far too much make-up on...But then the smirk fades away as I realize I'm looking in a mirror (groan).

Finally, my stylist comes to pick me up, ushers me to the sinks to remove my gloss and before I know it she's asking me if I had my makeup refreshed yet. "Uh, yeah" I stammer, "she's got me covered" (literally and figuratively I think). On to the cut. I proudly pull out the picture that I have brought along for her to use as a guide and after a brief "consultation" she starts to snip. I notice a problem right a way, she is hardly cutting at all! I keep having to say, "I'm envisioning this a lot shorter here on top and on the sides" and "this is just looking a little heavy to me". Centimeter by centimeter the hair starts to fall. At some point she says, let me just tell my next client that I'm running a little behind. Finally she is finished and as I had feared the finished product doesn't quite (or more accurately doesn't at all) look like my photo. She realizes this though and tells me to come back in a couple of days if I'm unhappy with it.

And now, I'm going to leave you hanging and not put a picture of it. SORRY! I've now taken a bath and removed all makeup and it's such a startling contrast to pre-bath face that I can't post pictures of it online :) Once I'm able to style my hair on my own tomorrow I'll post pictures.

P.S. Brian's comment when he came home tonight was "I thought it would be good shorter on top"
P.S.S. Yes, make-up was applied to my face, however I may have over embellished the drastic-ness of it for the sake of story telling (but, still I wasn't expecting it and I didn't quite recognize myself in the mirror).

Grab Bag

Not too much going on here. My sweet little girl is finally herself again. Yesterday I cleaned all day. This morning we had Bible study and then Jennie and I got lunch. Kendall entertained us all by covering her head with her blanket and then peek-a-booing out of it.

The second picture shows the front seat of my car. Yes, I love bags but obviously they are put to good use. Bag 1 (on floor) books for used book store, bag 2 books for library, bag 3 Oh, so cute diaper bag (gift from my cutie patootie sister Sara), bag 4 Bible Study stuff, bag 5 (not shown) gym stuff. In highschool it was cool to carry all your books without a bag. Now that I also have to balance a baby that just isn't happening so a bag for all occassions is necessary.

We're going to play for 15 more minutes and then head over to the gym. Just a couple more weeks before I have to wear a bathing suit and I'm going to cram every workout I can in between now and then!

That's My Girl