5/14/12

Well, another weekend has passed, way too fast, and here we are at Monday again. Work did go by pretty fast though, so it could have been worse.

This morning I started up my new workout, Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred. I think this one is more about toning and strength, so the weight might not come off as quickly, but I can definitely use the toning. And, a huge bonus, is that it's only 25 minutes long, so I can get up and do it before work. It's SO nice being able to get it out of the way before work and have the evening open to do whatever I want. The view was much harder than I remember - I contemplated skipping Level 1, and I am sure glad that I didn't!

After work, I stopped into Target. Christian and I both need swimsuits...my hope was to be swimsuit ready by the end of the summer - BUT, we're heading to Wisconsin Dells on Sunday, so I had to move that up a couple months. I wasn't super excited about the whole swimsuit business, but I've vowed to have a good attitude about it, and think positively. I did end up finding one that I really like, and a cute coverup to go over it, so I'm satisfied with it.

After Target, I met Christian at home for dinner. We had leftovers - Olivia was insistent that we shoudn't be having Chicken, because it wasn't Mother's Day anymore. LOL. After dinner, we were off on a family walk around the neighborhood. By the time we got home, it was time for baths and bed, so the day definitely flew by!

Today's Photo a Day in May is Grass. The girls spent some time rolling around in the grass before we took off on our walk tonight, checking out the clouds along the way...

5/13/12

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

Today was such a wonderful day, from start to finish. I have to give it up to Christian - he really impressed me, and stepped up this year!

The girls were up bright and early. Christian did get up with them, but they are so loud, I couldn't sleep. He made us waffles and sausage for breakfast. YUM. Then, we all got ready and we were all off to the grocery store to pick up some food to grill tonight.

On our way home, we grabbed some Thai food for lunch, DOUBLE YUM, and the girls went right down for a long nap. Christian and I cleaned off the patio tables and chairs, got everything set up, and he fired up the grill. My mom and his parents came over just as the girls were waking up from their naps, and we spent the rest of the night enjoying the weather outside. Christian grilled, the girls played in the bounce house for a while, we ate and chatted away the evening.

After dinner, our parents were on their way, we cleaned up, and it was pretty much time for baths and bed. Christian surprised me with some roses this morning, and I got my mother's necklace we ordered a few weeks ago. My mother in law gave me a little rose bush that I can't wait to plant outside. Mixed with the crafts the girls made me at school, and with my mom, I was showered with so many great figs this year. It was definitely a the best mothers day yet!

Today's Photo a Day in May is Mum. So, here is a photo of me and my mum, then and now :)

And, here are some other pics from today...

5/12/12

Today was a very exciting day! Today was my BFF's Bridal Shower day :)

Christian worked some OT this morning, so it was just me and the girls. Luckily I got a lot of stuff done yesterday for the shower. We're having a taco bar and rice for lunch, so all I really had to do was make the taco meat and the rice, and load everything into the car. The girls were pretty good this morning. They played, ate some breakfast and just kind of did their own thing so I was able to get my food cooked. The problem started when I decided it would be a good idea to take a quick shower...I got out to find them sitting on the bathroom floor, covered in lotion. I suppose it could have been worse!

My mom stopped over right as I got out of the shower to watch the girls for a while, so I could load up the car and head over to Kari's house. She took them over to Walmart (and YAY, bought Olivia a new pair of school shoes, and each of them some sunglasses!), and got them some lunch. Until Christian got home from work, then she came over to join the shower.

The shower went great. The food was delicious, and games were a hit, and Kari and Jay got some great stuff. It was a really good day, and it seemed like everybody enjoyed themselves, which is most important. While the girls napped, Christian cut the grass and got some yardwork done.

After the shower, Kari's mom, sisters, and their families hung around for leftovers, so Christian and the girls came over to hang out. The girls had a blast playing with Kari's nephew, and they were exhausted when we got home. It was a long day, but definitely a good one!

Today's Photo a Day in May is Something That Makes You Happy. Of course, being with my BFF!

And, here are some more photos of the shower. I didn't get many "people photos", but at least I captured some of the set up...

5/11/12

Another Friday! Another great weigh in...down 2lbs this week, for a total of 23.6. I have finally lost 10% of my body weight, and I'm 3.5 pounds away from my next goal. AHHHHHHH, feels so damn good!

Work was actually pretty good today. I had a few issues to deal with, which helped move the morning alone. Tied up all of my usual end of the week loose ends, and then I had the afternoon off.

I was off to get groceries and a few last things for the shower tomorrow. I always get so nervous throwing parties like this - hoping everything goes well, hoping everybody has a good time and hoping that I don't forget anything or screw anything up. Pressure!!!!

After shopping, I was off to pick the girls up early - my mom seemed to have found the migraine I lost the other night, so I picked up my noisy toddlers and brought them home. I wrapped all of the prizes for the shower tomorrow, and started packing up all of the stuff I need to bring over there. I'll just have to cook a few of the food items in the morning, and I'll be ready to go! Fun, fun :)

Christian of course worked late, and we ate dinner as soon as he arrived home. He had a BIG surprise for me tonight...he was able to cash in some of his leave time at work early, and brought home a nice check. Such a huge relief, and I'm super impressed that he actually thought to ask about that. Some more good news, is that now that he's "staff", instead of "factory", the rules are a little different. In the factory, they received leave time, but it was pretty frowned upon to actually use it. Now that he's staff, their leave time doesn't roll over, or pay out, so they have to use it or lose it...and are actually expected to use it. SO, he's actually going to be able to start taking time off if the girls are sick or need to stay home for some reason. Since my time does roll over, it will be nice to save those hours/days since he has to use his anyway. That will be a nice little break.

After dinner, Christian was off to have a couple beers with a friend from work. I got the girls in bed, and spent the night updating the blog and catching up on some shows. Speaking of bed...Amelia is still doing amazingly with her big girl bed. She has fallen out a few times (we have her bed surrounded with pillows), so we are going to have to invest in a bed rail. Hopefully it will just be temporary, but she is such a wild sleeper, it will probably take time for her to learn to stay put. I can't believe how easy the switch was. She's never once tried to open the door or leave the room. She doesn't even really get out of the bed at all anymore. BIG GIRL indeed!

Today's Photo a Day in May is - Kitchen. These are a little old, but this is basically our kitchen. We do have a couple stools at the sink bar that aren't here. We still need to do a backsplash, put in new countertops and get a table and chairs for the breakfast nook, but I love our kitchen! It's open, bright, light. It's just perfect :)

5/10/12

Well, today was indeed a better day. No headache, much less stress, and the day actually went pretty fast. I plowed through a ton of work which felt good. A lot of my office was gone today, so the quiet definitely helps me stay focused and get a lot done.

Olivia insisted on going to grandma's again tonight, and wouldn't let it go, so Christian and the girls were off to his mom's again for dinner. I was a little annoyed with it, but it did give me time to get the house picked up and relax for a while, so I really couldn't complain.

When they finally arrived home, the girls both had a card and some crafts for me for mother's day! OMG, it made my day. Seriously brought a tear to my eye. They were SO excited to give me their surprises - even though Olivia kept trying to take hers back. LOL. Man, I love those girls!

Today's Word a Day in May is, Favorite Word. Of course, "Mommy" is most definitely my favorite word. I never realized what an amazing, powerful word that is until I became one, and heard it mummled from a squeaky little girls voice. Yes, no word compares.

5/9/12

Well, as expected, my day was filled with "figuring it out".

First up, I finally talked to our Credit Union about our home loan. We, of course, are completely upside down in our loan right now. I talked to a mortgage broker a few weeks ago to see if we had any options for refinancing. He said because we had a 30 year conventional loan, he couldn't help us. He said because of our clear history, and our excellent credit rates, our current lenders may be able to help us, and suggested we talk to them. So, today I finally did. After explaining our situation, and the advisor having a conversation with the underwriters, they found out that we qualified for a loan modification. Our loan term will not start over, which is great, and our loan will be modified from what we currently own, regardless of the appraisal results, which is also great. Our fees will be minimal, and in the end, we're going to go from our current 6.875% rate, to a 4.75% rate, which in the end should save us about $300 a month! I'm so excited, it's such a huge relief. By the end of the afternoon, I paid our appraisal fee, and now we're just waiting to hear from them to schedule the visit.

Christian and I will also finally be changing our claims on our W4. Right now, we both claim 0 (I know, most people cringe when they read that). We're finally going to up it to 2 I believe, and see what kind of difference that makes.

I'm currently looking into internet and cable options to see what we can do. Other than that, there isn't a ton of changes we can make right now, other than just keep watching what we spend and being careful. Hopefully all of this will make up the different of full time daycare. Which, by the way, I did check with the center, and they do have room for both girls full time, so they are ready to go whenever we need to. I'm still hoping it will be a couple months before we have to make the switch so we can save up a little once everything is taken care of. Fingers crossed!

In the end, I ended up with a migraine around lunchtime. My head was pounding, I felt nauseous and it just kept getting worse. Stress, numbers, too much thinking! I left work an early, got in my jammies and hopped into bed. Christian offered to bring the girls to his mom's house so I could rest, so they ate dinner over there. I took my meds and didn't move from the bed for a few hours. I started feeling better around dinner time, and ate some leftovers, which also seemed to help. Have not had a migraine like that for a while!

Christian and the girls didn't get home until pretty late, so the girls were right off to bed. Christian and I were not far behind, hoping for a less stressful day tomorrow!

Today's Photo a Day in May is, "Something You Do Everyday". Like it says, Everyday I thank myself for my sweet, challenging, beautiful, brilliant baby girls - the best gift ever. Everyday I log my food, my exercise and I work on myself. And, everyday I spend time on Facebook, catching up with my friends and family.

5/8/12

Today was a looooooooong day. I'm not sure why, it just felt like time was moving so slow. It was the day that would not end, that's for sure!

I talked to the girls' school today about the summer schedule, and to ask if I'd be able to adjust the girls' schedule a few of the weeks so they wouldn't miss out on some of the bigger "field trips". They were more than happy to accommodate us, which made me so happy. I swear, every day I'm happier and happier we chose to go with them. I just love it there so much - there is no doubt in my mind that we made the right decision.

After work, I did my last task from the weekend - dishes. LOTS of dishes. Christian and the girls came home and he started up dinner while I finished. Then, Olivia and I made some cookies to sent to school for Teacher's Appreciation week. She is SOOOOO excited to bring her teacher her present, it's mega cute.

I was given some slightly unsettling news tonight. When my mother in law stopped watching the girls all week, she said she was going to look for a second job. At that time, it was supposed to be another part time, evening kind of job in addition to the bakery on the weekends. Well, I found out that today she had an interview, for a full time, Monday-Friday job. I was really upset at first (well, I'm still pretty upset), but there's not much we can do about it, so I had to shift into "figure it out" mode pretty quickly. We're going to have to come up with quite a lot of money to send the girls to KinderCare full time. Not looking forward to that stress, but I actually would love to have them there full time. I know they would LOVE to go there every day, and I would keep my schedule the same, which would give me every other Friday all to myself - which sounds AMAZING!

So, tomorrow, my mind will be racing all day long, trying to figure out what to do when all of this comes to fruition. Back to the budget, bills and money headache!

Today's Photo a Day in May is, Scents You Adore. These are definitely my favorite scents...Lilacs in the spring, fresh cut grass, Victoria's Secret Heavenly perfume an a nice clean baby. YUM

5/7/12

Monday. Gross. I did leave work early though, so that made it better.

After a long, slow day at work - I was off to pick up where I left off yesterday. I did our weekly grocery/"stuff" shopping, and shopping for the shower this weekend. Picked up some prizes for the games and a few other things I needed. Then, it was hope quick to get everything put away, and get my workout in. Meanwhile, I finished the last couple loads of laundry. Next up, dinner and our usual evening playtime with the girls.

Finally, time for baths and bed. Just a standard kind of Monday.

Today's Photo a Day in May is, Someone That Inspires You. For me, it's my girls. They inspire me to want to be a better person, the best mom and provider that I can be. They keep me motivated in all aspects of my life...make me work hard to help provide for them, make me stick to my girls so I can set a good example for them, make me work on my patience, my ability to forgive, my desire to show affection an express my love. They truly are my inspiration, for pretty much everything.

5/6/12

Well, Amelia did AMAZING last night! She did fall out of bed once, but she's a pretty wild sleeper, so it may take some time to adjust. We'll probably see how it goes before investing in a bed rail. Never needed one with Olivia, so hopefully we won't have to resort to that.

My day of not really doing anything yesterday came back to bite me in the butt today. I had mounds of laundry to do, a sink full of dishes to wash, LOTS of picking up to do, our weekly shopping trip to get done, and a ton of shopping to do for my BFF's bridal shower next weekend. To top it off, Olivia was up a few times last night complaining that her ear hurt, so a trip to urgent care had to be squeezed in.

So, first up...breakfast. Then, cleaning. I worked on laundry all day long, cleaned the kitchen and the entry way, and all of the general picking up around the house. Got the girls' clothes together for the week, and actually put away clothes as I folded them for a change. I went through the ads and my coupons and made my shopping list. Then, urgent care was finally open, so Olivia and I were off. Apparently everybody in Apple Valley urgently needed care, because the wait was an hour. Olivia entertained herself with the fish and some books - THANK GOD she deals with those situations so well. Finally, we were into see the doctor. Sure enough, no questions, another ear infection. UGH, poor thing - cursed with my crappy ears. She had a few ear infections her first year, but hadn't had one since until a few weeks ago. Now here she is again. The clinic pharmacy was closed, so after the appointment, we were off to pick up her prescription.

I do have to share...my first really embarrassing "I can't believe my kid just said that" moment. The urgent care doctor was a bigger guy. My father in law is a bigger guys as well, so I didn't really think the girls thought much about it. Well, as the doctor walked out of the room to get our appointment recap sheet, Olivia looks at me and says "mommy, he's a big man". AHHHH, my heart sank. I just prayed he couldn't understand what she said and tried to change the subject. He came back in and said "Yeah, I've always been a big guy" and tried to laugh it off. I felt so terrible. As we left, I stopped her in the hallway, knelt down and explained that we never say things like that. That you can really hurt somebody's feelings when you say things like that. Hopefully it sinks in...

Also, while we were waiting for her appointment, my from work, Kelly, texted me and asked if we would like to join her at Pump it Up tonight - she had some passes that were expiring soon. Even though I had a TON of stuff to do yet, I couldn't pass up the fun opportunity - so, shopping and the rest of the cleaning/laundry would just have to wait!

After we picked up her medicine, we grabbed some lunch, ate and she went down for a short nap before our playdate. Amelia woke up from her nap a short time later, and before I knew it, it was time to get Olivia up and head out. She was pretty exhausted still, and her ear was obviously bothering her, but she enjoyed it for a while. We ended up leaving before jump time ended because she just wanted to relax. So, homebound we were. We ate a late dinner, and she was off to bed. Bringing another (fairly) great weekend to an end!

Today's Photo a Day in May is - "You" - meaning, ME! This is me, and of course, the most important pieces of me. I see so much of myself in each of my girls, it's truly an amazing feeling.

I also got this cute picture during today's rainstorm.

5/5/12

Today was a great Saturday. The girls were up bright and early (OK, so that's not so great). After a little time to wake up, we were off for breakfast at Perkins. Delicious, and some good quality time together.

Shortly after we got home, Christian's dad stopped over to help him work on the basement a little. They got the wall mount for the TV hung up..so, so as soon as we get a new stand for the cable box, DVD player, etc, he can drill the holes and get the TV hung. Until then - the basement is yet again a disaster! I can't wait to get done and get everything in order.

Finally, it was time for lunch and naps. We had a big storm roll through around lunchtime, and it lasted a few hours. Of course, our Satellite went out, just in time for some R&R. So, it was a perfect excuse for a little afternoon movie date. We watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It was actually a really good movie - didn't really know what to expect.

After naps, we had some dinner and hung out for bit. This weekends task - converting Amelia's crib into a toddler bed. Yes, just writing that makes me cry a little bit. My baby - where is my baby?!? She's been getting her legs caught in the crib a lot lately, and she just doesn't seem happy in it. She definitely covets Olivia's bed..she does great on the cot at School, and sleeps on a mattress on the floor at my in-laws, so we felt like it was the perfect time to make the switch. So, off went the railing - and she was SO excited about it. Let's see how it goes.

Christian went out for the night...a little Cinco de Mayo celebrating/watching the big Boxing match. So, I was left to see how the new bedtime ritual would go. I was surpassed by how well it went. After I tucked her in, she did get out of bed a couple times and wander around the room. But, she never tried to open the door or come out, and she eventually hopped right back into bed, covered up, and passed right out! I was so proud of her, my big girl! Now, we just have to survive the night :)

Today's Photo a Day in May is, Birds! We have these two ducks that come back every year, and hang out around our yard. It's so cool. Today, they were being chased by a huge, cross crow. Jerk.

Of course, had to add in some pics of Amelia's new sleeping quarters...