i'm supposed to be reading, praying, bathing, working out, and going to bed b/c i have to be up early for work and what am i doing? blogging...not at all a waste of time!

i am happy to report that i can officially fit into a jean size SMALLER now. thank you thank you. i'm sure the brownies i've had the last 2 days had nothing to do with that but that's nothing a little hard tae bo won't take care of! i'm down 10.5lbs (have i already posted that) and don't want to go back up!!

little bit has absolutely amazed me the last few days. i took some medicine yesterday that made me VERY nauseated b/c i didn't eat first (brilliant) and thought i was going to be sick so i took little bit and some toys to the bathroom with me and was dry heaving. she, in the meantime, was standing behind me holding her toys and mocking me gagging up a lung. it would've been really cute had i not been so sick.

she "told" me that the cats were eating yesterday and she also "told" me about her cat book and the dog in it that says "woof" (or "ooof"). and then she "told" me that daddy went outside tonight. it is so fun to interact with her beyond my yapping and her looking at me wondering if she's really related to me. and we went to the park yesterday...or the day before maybe...yeah, the day before. she didn't really like the park that much and seemed glad to toddle out of there.

this will be a relatively quick post:

first of all, can i just say that i love my blogging buddies. you guys made me feel tons better after the whole dress "issue." update--it has still not been discussed with the husband but it's coming (probably right before i try to dress her in it for the 1st time).

2nd--little bit updates:
*she can "say" all done, outside, and cat with her sign language now. about time too! she can also tell you what sound a dog makes, say "uh oh," and is trying very hard to say "thank you." she has been working on the last 2 for awhile but up until the last week or so they sounded the same. she's now trying something a little different for "thank you" ("tch uh").
*little bit is officially a walking child...ok, so that may be extreme but she's trying darn hard! as i said before, she took her first steps on sept 11th but last night she decided that she no longer needed to be coaxed by a book or mommy's kitchen tools. she just stood up and walked. she'd take a few steps and catch her balance, take a few steps and catch her balance, take a few steps and fall down. i think she got about 8 in one time but i was very impressed with her courage. it just happened all of the sudden.

she amazes me every single day with her growth and development. thank the Lord she was brought into our lives :)

it's me (finally)

i'm really slacking on this blogging business but i just haven't had the energy.

little bit took her 1st steps on sept 11th (great day, huh). just 3 here and there is all it has been since then (7 in a row one time but just one time). i still don't think she's quite ready for walking. i think she's scared.

ww is going good. i'm down 7lbs. last week was a really bad week b/c aunt flo had come visiting and i couldn't get enough chocolate! it was bad! but this is a new week and i'm doing really well this week.

went to a consignment sale last night and got little bit some new clothes. i feel like i got a lot of good deals but i'd like to ask you, my dear internet, your opinion on something.
i found this dress. cute, right? i thought so too. it was $6.50. not too terribly bad but one of the more expensive outfits that i bought. well, for some UNKNOWN reason b has a major problem with leopard print. however, i don't think of leopard print as black and white. and even if it is (which it isn't), i'm not dressing her in a black/white leopard print bathing suit and sending her to nursery school! i honestly didn't think b would have that big of a problem with it but boy was i wrong. he said absolutely not and when i said that i didn't think putting my (almost) 11 month old in blk/wht leopard print would send her to a life of prostitution, he replied that he wasn't talking about prostitution but it is "a slippery slope." INTO WHAT?????? i doubt she even remembers the dress. what is she going to slide into?? GRRR...i'm a bit peeved about it!

here's the real gripe: i went to a lot of trouble to get stuff together to sell, hung it on only metal hangers w/ no rubber or plastic and the hangar facing to the left, tagged it with the tags you have to download and print from the internet on the right side of each item with only medium or large safety pins, filled out the tags, put my code number on masking tape inside each of the items, separated and tied together the different sexes and sizes (and yes, i had boy clothes for some reason), waited outside with my 10 month old for 45 minutes at 7:45am 2 saturdays ago (while he went bike riding) to drop the stuff off so that i was one of the first 150 so i could shop the sale early, and then went and fought with all the insane mothers trying to save a buck...and I CAN'T EVEN PUT THE CHILD IN THE STUPID DRESS! *sigh (big exasperated sigh)* and no i'm not kidding about all the stuff you have to do to sell items...they are really that picky!

and the rest of my argument--I CARRIED HER FOR 9 MONTHS AND LABORED FOR 10 HOURS AND PUSHED HER 7LB 9OZ SELF OUT OF MY BODY AND HAD "ISSUES" DOWN THERE FOR 6 MONTHS AFTERWARD AND I CAN'T DRESS HER IN WHAT I WANT TO!

it's my baby and i'll whine if i want to! (sorry you have to listen though)
please leave me a comment and make me feel better.

step back ladies!!!

here come the milk daddies :)

(author's note--i should add this i guess--i think this is totally creepy! hope i don't offend anyone. you have to do what floats your boat but...well...ewww)

where were you?

on 9/11/01 i was sitting in history class. it was my first semester of college and only my 2nd month being out of my mom's house. one of the professors came in and asked to speak w/ my history teacher. they walked out in the hall and when she came back she said she had some news but she was going to finish whatever she was talking about and then tell us. she finished and said a plane had hit the world trade center and school was being cancelled for the rest of the day. honestly, not being a travelled person, not being a history or geography person, i had NO clue what the trade center was. i just knew it had been hit. so i called my mom from the pay phone (don't know where my cell was) and she was in a panic. so i went back to my apartment and turned on the tv and saw the towers burning. it wasn't too much longer and they fell. it was hard to watch knowing people were dying and there was nothing anyone could do. that afternoon my husband (then boyfriend) came over after work. he had to leave to go back homee for some reason andi was scared to death so me and my fish went to my mom's house and stayed the night. i had gotten gas earlier that day and thank God b/c the pumps were backed up many many cars deep.

the only thing i remember about the days following is nonstop television. i couldn't tear my eyes away from all of it. i finally just had to cut the tv off. i already had anxiety issues and it made it so much worse. i still have all of the newspapers, magazines, internet articles, etc. that i collected in the weeks after the attacks.

i don't typically watch the stuff that plays on tv all the time about it (now). the documentary stuff is interesting but it just reminds me of all the pain i felt for those families. however, last week i watched a nat'l geographic documentary called Witness 9/11. it is about 6 people who were in manhattan or nj that day and had their own cameras. i saw footage that i had never seen but also footage that disturbed me more than the news documentaries do. one of the guys asked "is it september 12th?" that just amazed me b/c 9/11 is such an infamous day. it is just automatic, but that day it wasn't. that day was just another day for every single one of those innocent people. i wake up most days and think "what day is it?"

my beautiful 10 month old

if you tried to see baby suri's pictures via my last post--you may have missed them. sorry! i should've figured they'd have to take them down. the magazine will be out in a week or so though.

this week has been long! i'm tired! i haven't done that much but i'm tired!

i lost a half of a pound at weight watchers (pretty much what i was expecting). i was hoping for a pound (or 2 or 5) but at least i didn't gain right? according to my really nice new digital scales i've lost 2 since tuesday though so i'm excited about that. i've really been doing good sticking with the diet except for last night. it was my step dad's bday and you all know (if you read my journal) of my love for a longhorn chocolate stampede...well, we went to longhorn. my mom and i split a dinner though so that was a little better and then we split dessert. it was great! then b and i walked a mile and a half :) so i didn't feel horrible about myself

speaking of chocolate stampede--i was trying to find nutritional info on it the other day and when i googled it, my journal pulled up about 4 times :) how funny!

go see baby suri

the inside spread"

the cover"

she's a real cutie! looks a lot like both of them. but i have to admit that on the cover, her light colored eyes and jet black hair is a little creepy.

weight watchers tonight. i'm afraid i haven't lost anything b/c my scale hasn't moved (or doesn't seem like it has). it is really hard to tell though b/c it isn't digital...i should get a digital one. maybe i will.

b's best friend is going to iraq in november. please be praying for him. he has a 4 month old daughter (if you periodically read my blog, they are our friends from maryland that were down several months ago). it will work out really well for them with the whole money thing but i don't think money is worth him going overseas.

more new news on the house: my aunt and uncle may end up buying it. we went to my dad's for a labor day get together yesterday and b was talking to my uncle about selling our house. well, my uncle (tim) kept asking questions and b realized he was interested. turns out that tim and ann (my aunt) were thinking of buying a travel trailer type thing to put down on their land at my grandparents but ann wanted something bigger. anyway they said for the price they were going to pay plus having to furnish it, this is a better deal. they have a house they are selling right now (one they fixed up) and are supposed to close on it on the 22nd. tim said they'd let us know something between now and then (probably around then). he said he'd go ahead and buy it and let us just pay them rent until we find a place (which would be awesome!!!). that would give us time to find a place and not have to move twice. God will take care of it if it is meant to be. don't want to get excited but how can i not?

it's been 10 days since i posted last!

things have been...i would say crazy but a better word would probably be lazy. i have worked some though and *ahem* tried to keep the house clean (which is what i'm s'posed to be doing now but am blogging instead) so the last 10 days haven't been a total waste.

little bit is doing great. changing every single day. she had some little virus or something last week where she just ran a fever but nothing else. it is still a mystery. she now plays peek a boo by herself (we don't have to hold the blanket up anymore), she is starting to sign "cat" (thank God b/c we've been working on these signs for 5 months now), her sense of humor has developed quite a bit more (she laughs at a lot of stuff now), she dances to every bit of music she hears, and she's added "n" to her vocabulary. there's something else she just started doing but darned if i can remember what it was. she amazes me every day!

she has also weaned herself almost completely. by no doing of my own, we are down to one nursing a day (just in the morning) and i have NO idea what i'm doing now! i can't get the whole bottle/food/sleep schedule figured out. we aren't scheduled people really but i do like to have a bit of a routine. it just isn't happening with the bottles now. on the bright side of that, i bought 5 of the big formula cans for $25 (total). that's about $100 worth of savings. i love good deals! i also found gerber organic 2 packs (stage 2) on sale for $0.50 and $0.75 with over a year until expiration. no clue why they were on clearance b/c the store just started carrying them and still has them. they had the whole selection on clearance though.

weight watchers is going good. today hasn't been the best day b/c it's friday so instead of going out for ice cream (like we normally do) i decided to make my own. of course i had to taste test...but that's what flex points are for! and i have to say, what i made is quite tasty!

hobby lobby is now open. no more going to the local VERY expensive scrapbook store. cheers to that!

i have to work this weekend. thankfully i don't have to work 2 full shifts but even a little bit of work is draining. thank God i have a job that's flexible though!

the end...