It's been awhile!

I haven't posted in God knows how long so I thought I'd update my 2 readers on life.

*First (and probably the biggest/most important news) I'm pregnant. 13 1/2 weeks to be exact. It is going by SOOOOOO fast! I feel like I just found out (although I knew before I was even 4 weeks along). We have heard the heartbeat and had 2 ultrasounds b/c I've been bleeding but everything is going well. I first felt the baby at about 10 weeks and am now feeling him/her pretty regularly. Any suggestions for names? We are totally at a loss. I think all the goods ones have been used. We are due in May so I guess we have time to figure it out but I don't feel connected to this child at ALL and I think a name would help.

*2nd-Little Bit is growing at an amazingly fast rate! I can't keep up. She is forming sentences--very short--3 words but sentences none the less. Her first was "See Mommy's car" and her 2nd was "Cat open door" b/c my cat was trying to open the laundry room door.

*3rd--We won our apartment complex's pumpkin carving contest. I was happy. We got a gift certificate to our local mall and got almost all of Little Bit's Christmas presents. We have 2 things left to get. Yea!

*4th--I have decided I'm useless at my job. B doesn't think so but I totally do! I do all the crap no one else wants to. There are now 3 of us marketing girls which I really don't mind but I don't have any definition to what I do. I just do whatever comes along (make copies, sort out coupons, and run Family Fun Night which they will be changing in Jan. and I won't be able to do it anymore). I have cried a lot about it and had to remind myself a THOUSAND times that I'm just pregnant and crazy but I'm not really buying it. I did really well until last week. I haven't cried through this WHOLE pregnancy until last week and I cried like 4 times.

*5th--2nd most important-OXICLEAN WILL BLEACH YOUR CLOTHES!!!!! OXICLEAN WILL NOT REIMBURSE YOU!!!!
I called them after I successfully bleached a BRAND new pair of maternity pants and the lady was a real jerk! She said "well, it contains bleach" (like I was ignorant). I responded with "my bottle doesn't say that" and she replied with "well, it says it contains hydrogen peroxide...that's a bleach agent." HELLO????? Do they realize that not everyone knows that?? Why do they not print that on the bottle??? It is now my goal to inform EVERYONE I KNOW that it WILL bleach your clothes! I yelled at the lady on the phone. It was my first breakdown of my pregnancy and resulted in my first set of tears. I told her I was a marketing major in a PR job and I would ensure that I spread this to everyone I know. She didn't care.

i hit my 100th post like 6months ago and am now on 113. how sad is that? life is really getting the best of me!
first things first--we sold our house and moved to an apartment. yea! i thought the 2 weeks with my mom would be absolute torture but they weren't bad. only the first few days were. i was an emotional wreck from leaving the house i had lived in 5 years, had come home to from our honeymoon, had brought our firstborn home to, etc. and my mom thought everything i was feeling was a personal attack on her and that she hadn't done enough for us. go figure. my husband listened to us argue one night and was blown away by her side of the story (or lack thereof). i think she was basically trying to make an argument for herself and it just wasn't working. anyway, we are now in an apartment where the square footage is about the same but we have so much more space! it is such a better design. i have no idea where we're going from here but we'll be here until next august anyway.

little bit has been an angel since we moved. i don't know if it was the change of scenery, if it is b/c the house is more open than the other house was, i really don't know but her attitude has done a 180. as a matter of fact, she has been teething (cut her first eye tooth yesterday--top right if looking at her) and i haven't give her motrin one time. she hasn't had one grumpy day and i've heard the eye teeth are the worst. i swear she is a different child! don't get me wrong--she does have her moments but they just aren't stretched out into days anymore. i'm so thankful! it has been this turn around of events that has led us to realize that we can handle one more. for a long time b and i wanted 3 kids (2 boys, 1 girl in that order). i think God laughed when we thought that. first of all, we the girl came first, then i got pregnant and realized i didn't want to do that 2 more times, then i had her and realized i wasn't even sure i wanted to do it one more time. but things really do get better and this age is my favorite thus far. she's trying to repeat everything we say. i've never paid attention to how she says it (like how her tongue falls in her mouth) until emma pointed it out about ella but i have since realized that little bit doesn't put the tip or back of her tongue to the roof of her mouth when saying words. like "g" sounds or "n" sounds. she can say an "n" at the beginning of a word but definitely not the middle. she just isn't a detail oriented child. i'm not either, though, so she gets it honestly. she just wants to get the big picture out there.

her eating has become a little more picky in the last week or two. she's still eating the same things but only a bite or two and she's done. if you have one bite of 10 different foods, she'll typically eat every single one but not 10 bites of the same food. tonight b and i stopped and got ice cream and i tried to give her a little and she wouldn't even take that. she loves loves loves sweet peas, carrots, and broccoli though. she hates meat! i can barely get her to eat it and wouldn't even try if it weren't for the protein. and she loves bread

elmo is quickly becoming her best friend. she loves elmo's world. and yes yes yes i know that television equals brain damage but i can't help it if i have to get work done and need a 30 minute distraction. that's the price i have to pay for not putting her in daycare i guess. is it better for me to watch her, get work done, and put elmo on for the occasional entertainment or is it better for someone else to watch her where God only knows what goes on? i'll choose option "a" thank you! if she sat mind numbingly in front of the tv all day everyday, i'd worry but i can barely get her to watch a 10 minute elmo segment. she's just too busy for that! plus, i will always stand behind that elmo is educational! we got a new dvd a few days ago and she can "sing" the songs and do the hand motions for them. don't tell me she isn't learning! i also heard the other day (in one of these many studies) that of kids who A-watched tv unsupervised B-watched no tv and C-watched tv with their parents, group C scored highest in aptitude tests. i LOVE to sit and watch tv with her. i don't do it everytime but i do it a lot! so there's my argument on the brain damage i'm exposing my child to. i still think she's going to be brilliant. and if you don't believe me, ask her to sing for you.

hope all is well in blogger land! comment if you will :) i love to read 'em (even if blogger picks and chooses what it wants to email me)

oh and these pictures--that is our new backyard (complete with a lake that we absolutely will never swim in). b says he doesn't know who this kid is b/c he doesn't have one this old. gosh they grow up fast :)

WOOHOO!!

we're moving...that's right--we sold our HOUSE!! hallelujah! I'm so excited! I'm not excited about the fact that blogger is going really slow though....hmmm...

it all happened really really fast. We showed our house on a Thursday. The following Friday the guy selling our house for us called and said the people wanted to buy it but wanted to see it again. So we showed it again on Saturday. Then, the next Friday (last Friday actually), we had the check in hand and our (little) profit! Woohoo!! We are officially spending our last night here tonight. It is bittersweet. We have lived here for 5 ½ years now so I will be a little sad to leave the house but DEFINITELY not the park we’re in. they cut our grass yesterday and charged us $35…I was TICKED! I’m a little concerned about my cats and little bit but we’ll be fine

we are going to stay w/ my mom for 2 weeks and then we’re moving into an apartment. I’m excited. My most favorite time of my life was living in my apartment. That sounds really bad. Don’t get me wrong, I love my life now but looking back, that is the part that I’d LOVE to relive. Please pray for us as we stay w/ my mom and step dad…it could get ugly. We get along great but…well, you know how parents can be. Thankfully, I have to go to a training course the 2^nd week, so I’ll only be there 1 week but my poor husband and child will be there 2. it is going to be HORRIBLE moving little bit out of their house. They are going to spoil her rotten. My cats will be locked in a bedroom for 2 weeks (poor babies). We were going to stay in an apartment that a friend of mine owns for a week and then go to my mom’s for a week to keep my cats from being locked up but it just didn’t seem smart to do that. That would be 3 moves in 2 weeks! Yikes! We have packed up our entire house in one week, though. I feel like that is pretty good packing!

Harry potter comes out tomorrow night. I’m SOOO excited. Yes, I know it is witchcraft and wizardry but I stand firm in my beliefs and am old enough to know better. Thankfully, little bit is too young to get psyched up over the HP mania so I don’t have to argue with her about why she can’t go see the movie or read the books. Maybe when she’s my age. I have read the spoilers online. They seem fairly reliable but so did the original spoiler that came out a month ago. They conflict with each other but I would assume that spoilers a week from the release are more accurate than spoilers a month from the release. The ones I found today actually have all of the chapter titles listed and what happens in each chapter. Supposedly someone scanned pages from the book and posted them online. I never saw those b/c they were immediately removed. I am one of those people that reads the last page first so I’ll know what happens at 12:02am Saturday. if anyone is interested in the spoilers, feel free to post a comment and I’ll get them to you. It took me about an hour to find the ones that seem accurate so I’ll save you a little effort…

Little bit is continuing into her journey of the terrible twos…she’s only 20 months old!!!! How do you deal with throwing things and stomping feet in the middle of a fit and hitting??? I mean, we spank but you can only do that so much! Frustrating…….. She’s still cute as ever though and learning at a rate that amazes me! Her speech is really clearing up too. It is so fun to watch her development

quick update

b/c i don't want to forget--
little bit learned to turn a flip today. she was standing on her feet with her head on the floor and flipped on over. she proceeded to lay on her back and try to figure out how to go backward. she kept signing/saying "help" (sounds like "up") until one of us would go turn her over backwards. then, she got up and forward flipped about 10 times...it was too cute! she laughed about it a LOT!

she jumped off of the pool side on sunday for the first time. she was with my niece and nephew (who are both 4) and my little sister (who is 8). i was in the pool, she saw them jump, and she decided she wanted to. i SO wish we were around them more often b/c it is SO good for her to be around the older kids. she also went half way down the water slide...we sat her half way up it and let her go (daddy was in the water to catch her).

she is also saying "yeah" to everything right now. it is really funny when i ask b a question and she responds with "yeah."

she helps pick up her toys SO well! we got her a sandbox and she loves it, she helps me load the dishwasher...i really have found that little things like that make my life a LOT easier!

ok all of these are random thoughts in no particular order but things i want to remember

back from the beach

this past week we went to jax, fl to house sit for family. it was SO nice! free gas (company car), free place to stay (their house), and free food (some chick-fil-a but we did pay for a lot). plus, we brought back all of our clothes CLEAN!
little bit LOVED the beach and hated the ocean :) the first time we went to the beach, we walked toward the water and she was fine but shortly thereafter she turned around, saw a wave, freaked out, and fell in the water...all 4" of it. that did it for the ocean. the next time we asked her if she wanted to go to the beach she said "no" but after a few visits (when she realized we meant the sand) she was excited to go.
one funny thing--we went to longhorn one night (chocolate stampede baby!!!) and she was just GRUMPY (to be nice about it). we made it through dinner and finally (i'm forgetting what she did) b had to take her out of the restaurant. he took her to the car, explained what she did, and spanked her. that was a few days before we left. for the next few days, everytime we'd drive by longhorn, she'd say "no no!" her memory AMAZES me!
a few weeks ago i was telling her where we lived (the state). it was a one time conversation, not really reiterated. then, yesterday, i saw a car w/ a new york tag. i said "i wish we lived in new york" and she said "the state we live it." i was SHOCKED that she remembered. i can't for the LIFE of me get her to understand colors though!
recently (about 3 weeks ago maybe) i told her we needed to cut her fingernails. she proceeded to the drawer where we keep the clippers, pulled them out, and brought them to me. that is the same drawer that isn't baby proofed and she gets in trouble for playing in. i let her get the clippers but nothing else. so yesterday, she got in the drawer and got in trouble for it. today, i was telling b's mom about her getting her own clippers out of the drawer and she started saying "no no!" about the drawer :) now, if she can remember when we are sitting at a hospital no where NEAR the drawer, why can't she remember when we're looking at the drawer?

tell me where your kids are...colors? numbers? letters? counting? phonics? i feel like i'm slacking on the teaching aspect with little bit. i know i work and i don't have much of a choice but i feel like our time spent together is often wasted. i don't know what activities to do with her though...reading a book-out! she won't sit still if you're sitting there with her. she'll "read" for a long time by herself but not with me! puzzles--out! she'd much rather hide the pieces somewhere other than the puzzle. she will play follow the leader pretty well (put her hands up, on her head, touch her nose, etc) and she knows the parts of her body for the most part. she can climb up steps by herself (for awhile now), loves putting things inside other things, and can do motions to songs (twinkle twinkle little star, if you're happy and you know it). she understands coloring and loves to but is by no means trying to trace or draw what i do (read the article)
**side note--i do think this is a pretty good page and definitely relates more to what little bit can do than some of the other sites i've read.

how about potty training? are they ready? are they showing signs? little bit definitely tells me when she poops and that she wants to go potty (sit on the potty) but she won't go in the potty (not even peeing). i know it says most kids aren't ready until 2-2 1/2 but then people in my sunday school have super kids who go before they're 2.


so having said all of that--also tell me this--do you get annoyed when people tell you how their 18 month old can count to 40 and sing 25 songs, and knows their abc's? i know they are just proud but geez! a friend of a friend does that w/ her 2 year old. "oh, she knows blah and blah and can blah and blah" and it drives me batty! i want to know how my kid measures up but i don't want people to brag about the wonder that is their child!

another post! i'm on a roll!

little bit is still teething (or just generally cranky). she can't do anything at all without fussing about it!! thankfully, b has been home the last few days and i'm in an ok mood today so it isn't bothering me. hopefully it will stay that way :) a few things i keep forgetting to write about: she can "sing" jesus loves me (it really amounts to "jee jee jee jee" but she gets the beginning tune) and the backyardigans theme song (she just carries that tune--no words), she tells everyone she loves them "wub-u," she says "otay" for everything but has also recently started saying yeah or "wah." i love "wah!" it is my absolute favorite although i want her (eventually) to say yes ma'am.

my "friend" sara (i have to say that w/ quotation marks as i'm not really sure how i feel about our friendship at the moment) hasn't bothered to call me. she's been back 5 days, i asked her to call when she got back and she hasn't. i know she's back though. i saw her car at her workplace today. she was concerned enough to email me the first day of her honeymoon wanting to know what we needed to talk about but not concerned enough to actually call? i really think she knows what is going on and just doesn't want to talk about it.

my friend rachel (long time friend from high school that i only talk to twice a year or so but that i love and miss DEARLY) is getting married. i'm so happy for her but i really hope she doesn't ask me to be a bridesmaid. i might just be flattering myself even thinking that she would but i really hope she doesn't. i SOOOO don't want to be in another wedding.

my boss at CFA told me he would get me a new phone. i'm SO excited. i just hope he follows through with it. it is a SUPER nice phone (pda/phone w/ all microsoft programs, flip out keyboard, internet, etc). i'm excited about it.

did i blog about picasa last time? if not, go to google, search "picasa" and download it. it is the absolute BEST photo software EVER and it is SOOOOOO easy to upload your pictures to web albums to share them w/ friends. it is also SUPER easy to edit and add special effects to your pictures. for example--this picture is lillee (the not really but kind of honorary flower girl from the wedding). i took this w/ an awesome camera but in just regular color. i edited it w/ picasa...in about 20 seconds.

we have vacation coming up in a few weeks that i couldn't be happier about. we NEED it terribly bad!! the beauty of it is that my aunt and uncle live near a beach and we are going to stay in their house while they are away at camp! so it will be FREE :) plus, b's company pays his gas so it will also be FREE to drive! and i have Chick-fil-A coupons so again--we can eat for FREE. the best vacations are FREE :)

2 posts in one week! wow!

i am feeding my daughter cheerios and while i have a moment to think (in quiet) i thought i'd post (very quickly b/c i just noticed my battery is about to die).

per my last post--i have now moved from total anger to totally heartbroken and i'm still really confused. i don't understand what happened but i also don't understand the problem i have hanging onto friends. my best friend in the whole world in high school and i "split up" several years ago. she moved a few hours away and that was hard but we made it work for a few years. then we ended up in a heated argument stemming around my changing my major (she thought i was selling myself short), she moved and didn't bother telling me or giving me her new phone number, and things just haven't been the same since. we hardly ever talk now (like twice a year--MAYBE). after my 1st 2 years of college i met sara (the bride from the last post). she was in a serious relationship, i was married, her old friends were partying and weren't in serious relationships and we just kind of...worked. for about 2 years everything was great. then i got pregnant and hormonal and never wanted to talk on the phone (but selfishly always wanted someone to talk to me when i was ready) and things changed with her. but we talked it all out and i realized how much i stink as a friend (back to the selfish comment) and started to work through that. however, little bit came along w/i just a few months and i don't know what happened after that. i guess maybe she thought that i was too busy or she was intruding...i don't know. we still invited her over frequently but she would only stay a few minutes, she stopped asking me to go shopping or have my nails done or anything really. but her old friends had now settled down some and she started hanging around them again. then there's andi. we got close while i was pregnant (she was pregnant too) and after her little one was born, she stopped calling (little bit is 3 months younger than her's).

so i definitely see a pattern (life changes, friends change) but i feel like a friendship should withstand and pull through life changes! i am heartbroken to know that i may not ever have a lifelong friend again. how do i stop this cycle?