I am.

Thankful. I don't say it enough. I'm not the best at remembering to constantly thank those around me for all they do, such as SJ going to work. Maybe I don't show it too much, or mention it enough but, I am so thankful for all the many things I have in my life. Though I didn't stick with my thankful posts for all of November, I want to write my list of 30 now, because today my heart is full with thanks. 

• I am thankful for my beautiful, healthy, happy daughter, Miss A, who changed my life the day she entered it.
• I am thankful for my wonderful, understanding, hardworking husband, SJ.
• I am thankful to have my family close.
• I am thankful for my parents.
• I am thankful for brothers. 
• I am thankful for sisters.
• I am thankful for my two sweet SIL's B & Edna.
• I am thankful for nieces.
• I am thankful for nephews.
• I am thankful for my God-Daughter.
• I am thankful for my little puppy, he was my baby when I was waiting for Miss A.
• I am thankful for my beautiful home.
• I am thankful for my religion.
• I am thankful for the opportunity to be a SAHM.
• I am thankful for the time I am able to spend with Miss A.
• I am thankful for late night cuddles.
• I am thankful for sweet baby kisses.
• I am thankful for the friends I've made blogging.
• I am thankful for an outlet, this blog. 
• I am thankful for Miss E, who I will start to watch tomorrow, she is also helping me learn patience. 
• I am thankful for music, especially now as holiday music fills my home.
• I am thankful for answered prayers.
• I am thankful for chocolate, it keeps me sane, and at a more than healthy weight. Ha!
• I am thankful for caffeine.
• I am thankful for my new dryer.
• I am thankful for Netflix, it is background noise when A and I are home alone and not close to the radio.
• I am thankful for warm clothes, especially with the winter coming up.
• I am thankful for the willingness of my family to help whenever I need it.
• I am thankful for my Scentsy warmer, it's making my house smell amazing right now!
• I am thankful for my laptop & internet!

Though my heart was heavy with gratitude, and not with hurt or frustration this time, I have linked up with Shell, to Pour My Heart Out. If you haven't linked up before, take a look.

No post.

That's right, no post tonight. Nothing exciting at least, my computer is acting up so I can't get on and post pictures and such. In other news A learned to scream, loud. She's also very grumpy today, which is another reason for no post. Hope everyone is doing well!

Nerves.

I didn't think I would make it to posting tonight, and it looks like it'll probably be a short one as SJ wrangles A, trying to give me a quick break. Today was Miss A's 9 month Well Child Care appointment. All the details (weight, height....) will be saved till Monday when Miss A is officially 9 months. I can't believe it's been 9 months just about. Anyway I've been debating writing this post for quite some time now. I don't want to seem so weak and crazy, but it's something I think...hope.... other people feel too. I get terrified taking Miss A to her doctor appointments knowing shots will be happening. This isn't just the night before, its the Thursday before. (Her appointments are always Mondays). I can't sleep, my stomach starts to turn with butterflies. The thought of my baby girl hurting from a shot makes me sick. (I know she needs shots, I know they will keep her healthy.) This morning on my way to her appointment, I started to get sweaty (attractive, right?), I started to want to turn around. I was alone this appointment, no SJ. This was her very first, besides her flu shot run in, that just the two of us were going. I don't know why I get so worked up. I need to find a way to stay cool. I'm calm when we get there but so anxious all the way up to walking into the office. It's crazy. I think with time and experience I'll get used to it. Anyway, I have some fun posts coming up this week which includes a guest post!

Need your help!

Alright ladies, I didn't want it to come down to this. I really didn't. I tried & tried & tried. Okay maybe just two tried's. I've been linking up for:

 PYHO 

ICLW

 Things I love Thursday

 and I've gone on a commenting spree every chance I get. So tell me how do I get more followers? I'm trying to be better at blogging, I post more frequently, I try and post plenty of pictures, I try and be positive, ask questions. 

So what should I do? 

I'm thinking I'll have some guest posts. Anyone interested? I'll get a list of questions together for you, unless you have something you want to blog about! So just let me know if you want to guest post!

Merry early Xmas to me?

Looks like Miss A isn't the only one who got a Christmas present this week & got to use it now. So I posted last week, with PYHO, that our dryer had gone out a couple weeks ago.

Well we finally did it. We ventured out to RC Willey and got a dryer.

And it's awesome! I mean any dryer would be awesome. I'm so happy to have this back in my life. I mean you never really know how much you appreciate your appliances till one decides to die. Oh the time we'll have together. Can't wait to get through all this laundry. Anyone else get something early?

Black Friday.

So we didn't make it out shopping, I've never gone Black Friday shopping. Well we sorta went shopping, we went to Shopko to see if they had this toy for A there but it turns out they ended their deals at noon, (would have been nice if the ad would have said so in a much bigger noticeable print) but we ended up finding this great little Playskool Explore & Grow toy. It was meant for Christmas. A saw the box and was very sad when it was leaving the room with me, which made SJ feel bad and she ended up getting a Black Friday gift!

She loves it. We're thrilled! It'll give her something to ride on and to walk with when she's stronger. I know we should have saved it but we plan on getting her a few more toys. Anyone get anything good today? Were you one of the crazies out this morning? Ha :)

Thanksgiving.

Just a picture look at our Thanksgiving.

It was a great Thanksgiving, spent at my parent's house. All my siblings were there, minus L, who is Stinky's mom, they are in Vegas. It was so nice. We played Taboo, I even made the ham this year!! 

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Pigtail

We were able to give her, her very first pigtail this last week. It got a little crooked thanks to the squirmy miss A. 

Tuesday's Treat

We picked up some lunch from Arctic Circle. They have courtesy cones there, and A loved it.

Later!

Sorry everyone! My last couple mornings/nights have been quite crazy! I'm exhausted, so the blog has been abandoned till tonight! I'm working on some posts from my phone! Be ready!

Headbands & Hats

Must find a cute one for A, one that fits.

Christmas Tree headband

Gingerbread man headband

striped Santa hat

Furry pink, black & white striped Santa hat.

I love them all. I want them all, but they're all too big. 

 I did pick up this hat today from Tai Pan, a little big, but its shaped like a baker's hat and says Santa's little helper.

Decorating.

So it is time for me to start decorating for Christmas. I'm ready. I'm going all out this year for Miss A. I can't wait to see her face as the lights are put on the tree, ornaments are hung. I will most definitely be posting pictures of our Winter Wonderland as I'm decorating. I know it'll take a while, so this morning while SJ takes his lazy man nap, I started finding ideas. Here are just a few.

We have this great archway from our living room to dining room/kitchen, I really want to put this up there.

Via here

Ornaments hanging from our dining room light fixture.

Via here

That's about it so far. I'll post as I find more ideas!

LaLaLa...LALALALAAAA

I don't know about you, but I'm definitely in have the holiday songs running through my head

 and

....

I

....

it!!

I'm one of those people that hate waiting till Black Friday to decorate for Christmas. I would have Christmas stuff up now if I weren't so lazy. I know last year it was up right after Halloween, (I was super excited) but this year it's still waiting for me, boxed up downstairs. I'm sure it misses me.

I absolutely love her Christmas CD. I'm usually all country when it comes to my music choice but I love her Christmas CD. I love her voice. I also love 

This CD. SJ is tired of me playing this CD he's had enough from last year. I don't get why he doesn't like it. It's wonderful. I have Christmas songs stuck in my head. I just love love love it. 

What are your favorite Christmas songs/CD's?

Just Stinkin' Awful.

I am that is. Just Stinkin' Awful. The title should say it all. So maybe you need some more of an explanation. When it comes to going through with things, I'm awful. It takes me a long time to do some projects. My Etsy shop, ya that isn't up yet. I'm working on it. My Tabby Bow's blog, hmmm it's still got a give away on it that now 1 person has entered. But I stopped posting then. I started cleaning my kitchen drawers, and stopped. I'm working on a puff stitch hat for A and stopped. Working out....

 I'm just not that best with sticking through and getting things done right away. Sometimes I'm really motivated and get things done, like my closet, ya I can sit there and organize it all night. Doesn't bother me. Other things, if I know it needs to be done, I pick around at it. Don't really do anything heavy. It's a problem. I really need to work on it. I mean things get done alright, usually it's because I'm on a tight time line and people are coming over. But see if no one is coming over to my house, why should it look perfect? I think it's me rebelling a little. Saying you know what, if you won't be my friend and visit, then I won't clean up for you. I don't know that doesn't make any sense. Anyway I think I may be breaking this cycle, I have started to blog, regularly this month. Maybe it's easier knowing what to blog about, I meant 30 days of thankful stuff. Can't be that hard right? So ladies what do you think of when you go to write a blog post? I mean you don't want to just hear about my boring day right?

PYHO: Enough Already!

I wasn't sure I'd be linking up today, actually I didn't have anything to post about, until now.

 It's 6:17 am I've been up for at least half an hour sitting on my couch waiting for Miss E to get here. Was told she would be here between 6 & 6:30 Tues-Fri, yet I haven't seen her between those times yet, the earliest she's been here is 6:45. Now that's not what I'm going at yet, see I don't mind watching her or that she's not here on time, I'm just tired. I watch her because I want to help out, but when you get down to it, I need the money. This past month or so everything has been coming up. It all started with 1 thing in July SJ's car needed $2000 put into it, all at separate places. Then SJ's side business that was bringing in about $2000 a month dropped, to maybe $80. Then last month my dryer broke which when we get one will be at least a few hundred, then I found a leak in my basement, which cost us $2000 so far to fix, thats with free labor from my brother & nearly free machines from my brother in law. Then SJ's school payments decided to start popping up, about $500 a month. I mean come on already!!! How much can we need to spend in such a short amount of time?! I don't want to need this little bit of money to help us maybe scrape by. Im ready to start beating my appliances and screaming at my house, letting things know not to break, I can't do it anymore right now. I budget so much already that there isn't room to budge. I'm so blessed to have the opportunity to stay home, we've added up daycare costs and what I would make full-time or part time and it just doesn't make sense for us. I've had enough. I just need some more answered prayers, watching Miss E was one, just a little more help, just a little less breaks. I don't know how much more I can stand. It's getting hard. I just need answered prayers, specifically directed at $. I know it's not a very deep post, I don't know what else to post about. I just really need to vent.

Wordless Wednesday

(Taken Tue Nov 15 2011 - gotta love my nakey baby)

Plans.

As I was sitting here last week, it finally dawned (? if I'm using that wrong, oh well) on me that Thanksgiving is next week. Where in the heck has the time gone?! I'm worried. Time is going to fast. Anyway back to Thanksgiving. As I was there sitting, thinking, I decided to start making decisions. 

Decision #1, I'm going to do better with keeping up with the house work,

 #2 I'm going to have a wonderful Thanksgiving, 

#3 I will NOT be seeing my in-laws for Thanksgiving.

Wait a minute, before you start saying... oh gosh, not stupid stuff with her in-laws AGAIN, I want you to keep reading. I don't want to travel over an hour to go to Thanksgiving, then have to travel over an hour back home, when Thanksgiving is being held just up the street (seriously like 3 minutes away) at my parents' house. Really. Why would I want to drive out somewhere, starving, then drive ALL the way back home, completely stuffed, uncomfortable? I know I know, Thanksgiving is about family, well I just can't do it. I will be seeing family, mine that is. SJ's will have to wait till they do it up this way, then we can make a quick stop to say hello... from the car. HA kidding about the very very last part. What are you gals doing for Thanksgiving?

Babies

1.Prayers will be answered. That being said, I'm now watching my nephew's great aunt's  two year old daughter, E.
2. E & A are pretty good friends.... now.
3. They will learn to be friends by E constantly getting in trouble the first couple days for being mean to A.
4. To do daycare you will be asked to watch Miss E from about 6 am to 3:30 pm. Not too bad.
5. The only thing is, you're up at 5:45.
6.Worse than that, Miss E won't actually get her till 7, or today 8:30.
7. Meaning you're slightly sleep deprived.
8. E will cry when she's in timeout.
9. This will make A cry.
10. If A is tired and crying... E will cry.
11. These two will be sympathetic criers for each other.
12. This will cause you to freak out... on the inside of course.
13. You love E.
14. You realize that you CAN care for two kids.
15. This will make you want another baby.
16. Making you wish next summer would come faster.
17. Then you'll realize, holy crap A is almost 9 months.
18. That's almost a year.
19. And you'll remember that not too long after that you want to have a baby.
20. Then you'll see that time is going to fast.
21. Making you think A needs more time as a baby.
22. But... you'll remember how long it took to conceive last time...
23. And you'll be ready, yet again to have a baby.

Things I love..

Things I love...d this last Thursday.
  

Straws.

Yup good old drinking straws. Ever since A learned to use them she's made sure that she gets the chance to use them and drink whatever we're drinking. I never thought I could have such a love/hate relationship with straws. Today I love them, I know later I won't. It's wonderful to see her get excited about a drink and being a big girl with a straw, makes my heart break and swell at the same time, my baby isn't too much of a baby anymore. So though it means she is growing up and now demanding drinks ALL the time, I love straws and I love the fact that she can use them now.

Sunday Pics & Thankful 13

A is crazy.

She loves her prunes.

And her baby puffs.

Today she had to have both...at the same time.

Thank goodness for high chairs. Thank goodness for a brother that leaves a high chair behind when he moves out so you can now use it. Thank goodness for baby puffs too.