Hmmm.......

Let's just say that that Lily has that "Jones" personality. I'm not trying to discredit any other genes but she is a mold of me. I see her in me, me in her. I laugh sometimes because I can read her like a book. I know what she is thinking because I'm thinking the same thing. I wish got some of her Dad's easy going genes or her Gigi and Big Mama's (they are both very easy going people). I'm not going to be the mom that makes excuses for her but can I say, she knows what she wants, how she wants it and when she wants it. I'm working with my little determined one. My independent one! She is almost more independent than me. That's a hard one to understand. She is that baby that when she gets to be 4, I will have always known that she has been determined since birth. She will also be the one at age 16 that I hopefully won't have to worry about. I don't think she will be easily pressured. She is independent and not a follower by all means. She has slept through the night since 4 weeks, in her own crib. Now today, we are working with her having to do everything all by herself. She doesn't seek my assistance, she will try and try to do it alone. She is too big for a highchair, walks up and down stairs like she is 4, plays in her room without having to have me there ( I still check on her every 5 minutes), tries to dress her monkey, wants to put her own shoes and socks on, wants to drink out of a regular cup, thinks she needs to blow my coffee to cool it down. I could go on and on and on.

She isn't a big cuddler, neither am I. Neither of us are very touchy feelie girls. The sad thing is that Daddy is the biggest teddy bear. I can see him approach her and know what is coming next. She pushes him away as if to say Dad, give me some space. D can be a little overbearing at times and that is hard for girls like us who aren't big touchers. Love and cuddles has to be on our terms. She is even like that with me, I wait for her to need love from me. She isn't that baby/toddler that wants to be held. She will occasionally come up to you from behind and give you a big bear squeeze. The only other person besides us that she is affectionate with is her Doda and Uncle Eric. Other than that, you are chopped liver.

She says words like go, Daisy, momma/mimi, daddy, rye rye (riley), B (blankie), baby, Dakota (our friends barking dog), Na Na (NO), and shakes her head yes and no until you get it right. I work with her everyday. She sits in timeout at age 16months because of hitting or throwing temper tantrums. However; please be aware that timeout is only 1 minute. She has become quite the drama queen in timeout. She throws herself to the ground but always makes sure she lands safely on Daisy's bed then she bangs her head on the bed. She actually is smart enough to know how to land on safe grounds.

I love my little determined one. I won't make excuses for her behavior nor will I apologize for it. I will just continue to work with her independence and be thankful that God gave me a child that has a mind of her own.

16m going on 16

How does a 16m old know exactly where to do with makeup? Picke is obsessed with anything that I do. She wants to be just like Mommy. It's so cute to see her explore in my makeup and pick and choose what she likes best. She always manages to dig through and find my Chanel makeup brushes. She already has expensive taste when it comes to her cosmetics of choice. Forget Bonnybell for this little one, she wants the good stuff. She walks around and puts lipgloss on her lips and tries to also put it on Daddy and Daisy. They are very willing to amuse her. I'm just nervous for when her little brother comes around. Also please notice her head band. Too cute and she did it all by herself.

God's gift to me!

My babies.....

I think that there is nothing more beautiful than a pregnant belly. A pregnancy is a true gift from above and I think it's time in a women's life that should be cherished. I had maternity photos taken when I had Pickle and I wasn't going to have them done again until D demanded that we take some with the new baby too. I love these photos because I think there is a level of innocence that was captured.

So, if you are one of those old fashion people who think that a pregnant women shouldn't bare her belly than I'm sorry to have offended you and your are more than welcome to exit out of MY blog.

Everyday girls/women go around wearing bikini's, mid-drifts, half shirts exposing their muffin tops. But if a pregnant women shows her belly you better look the other direction.

A little high strung

Can I just say, it's 3:35am and I'm suffering from insomnia.  Yes, I'm about to have a baby in a matter of a month and need all the sleep I can get.  I have been up in the middle of the night for the past week.  It's so annoying to be sleeping like a baby, wake up to pee and then come back to bed to find yourself wide awake.  Today, I even went a step further and cut out all coffee.  Most of you know what that means for a coffee lover.  Nope, didn't help one bit.  I'm one of those people who have a pretty high anxiety level especially with things I can't control.  I'm a little bit of a control freak and when things are out of my hands I get really worked up.  You could say I like what I like when I like it.  I worry about everything from the most minor of things to things that are major but most of the time my worries lie around things that are pretty minor.  Oops and now I just woke up my husband.  Okay, until my next sleepless night.  Gotta go....

Take a deep breath

Ahhhhhh, sometimes in life it's important to realize when it's time to let go and learn from your mistakes.   It's hard to realize you might have acted to quickly or maybe made the wrong decision.  Lesson number one, never buy a new home without selling your old home first.  

We learned this the hard way.  About 3 years ago Donny got a new job 70 miles away from where we were living.  We were so excited for his new opportunity so, we put our house on the market and attempted to sell it.  The house never sold so we decided to rent it out and use it as an investment property.  Ha ha, mistake number one.  

At the time we were both working and found what we thought would be our dream home.  A much larger, newer, cleaner, more updated BEAUTIFUL home.  A dream come true in comparison to our older starter home.  We have lived here now for a little over 2 years and have made a good life for ourselves. We like our house, love our neighborhood and have built a support system for our family.  Lots of things that are hard to find.  

However; times have changed.  Almost 2 kids later, I'm no longer working full time and D's job has restructured his commission (like most companies are doing during this economic crisis).  With all those things in consideration we have decided to downsize.  It's time to be honest and admit we are living beyond our means and as Suzie Orman (my favorite financial planner) would say that is the first step to financial recovery.  Being honest!  A hard one to swallow.  This will be news to a lot of you but we had to make the decision based off the shoes we are standing in.  We made the decision this past weekend after debating it for months.  Just meeting with the realtor felt like a big relief.  It feels like a big weight has been lifted off our shoulders even bigger once is sells.  The timing isn't the best with the housing market and a little one on the way but we figure there is no better time then now.  I figure it's just a house, we were still in the process of making it our home, we don't have kids in schools yet and we can always buy our dream home when the timing is right.  We still have the things that matter most to us and that is each other!

So, if you know of anyone house shopping send them our way.  I've got a beauty I'm trying to get off our hands.

Going Green

In the past year our family has had to make some drastic cuts. Cuts like I never imagined. I proudly went from working full-time to being a stay at home mom. We both agreed that it was very important to us for me to stay at home with Pickle. We didn't want to drop her off at daycare for 10+hours a day. Thankfully, we were in a position to live our dream and have me stay at home with our kids. Trust me, I feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to stay at home. I know there are a lot of mom's who would rather be at home with their kids but don't have the means to quit their jobs. I truly feel bad for them. I also know some mom's would rather work full time and I don't judge that either. It's a personal choice. Staying at home isn't for everyone and there will be a day when I look forward to going back to work full time. For me personally, I feel like babies and children grow up so fast. I feel like this is my opportunity to enjoy every second. Next thing I know, I'm going to wake up and my kids will be leaving home. This time in their lives is irreplaceable and I will never get this time back.

We have learned to make daily sacrifices in order for me to stay at home. I constantly turn off lights, keep the heat low, wash clothes on cold, hang dry some items, clip coupons, eat ramen noodles more then once a week, use daytime diapers that cost .14 cents and conserve the .29 cent diapers for night use when you need more absorbency, we sadly left our pimp daddy gym and joined the YMCA, and we are still living happily! I call it going GREEN. I used to take pride in not wearing the same outfit twice in one month, and staying up to date in the latest trends. If In style magazine said I needed to let go of my hobo bag and replace it with a clutch I would in a second! I had the financial means to look good and stay up to date; that was my mission! The tables have now turned. My idea of looking good is by grabbing my dress velour sweats, throwing on some shiny lip gloss and maybe wearing my hair down. I have discovered a new means of shopping. A way to get my shopping fix and staying within our household budget. Going GREEN, it's such a high. It's called shopping on Craig's List, garage sales and thrift stores. Can I say, OH MY GOD! It's the best high in the world. Deals like you couldn't imagine. 2nd hand designer clothing for Pickle for 10% of the cost. GAP clothing for 1.49-2.99 and on some days 50% off the ticket price. Now that is an extra good day! Practically brand new baby items for a fraction of the cost. 2nd hand toys that can be bleached down and are like brand new. I feel a different sense of pride by providing for my daughter differently. It feels good to reuse, buy 2nd hand, and most importantly get a bargain! And when people compliment Pickle's wardrobe I take pride in saying, thank you, I got it at the ARC.

New Years Resolutions.....

I'm a girl with many words, there aren't many times in life that I'm caught speechless. Unless it comes to our blog. I sit and sit and try to find the words to explain what is going on in our lives. I can't find the words so instead I post photos. I have a friend and she has words. She has so many words that her blog is almost all journaling. Very few photos and all words. It's her Dear Abby, her way to express herself. She always has something to say. She also has a huge following to her blog, even strangers read it. It's quite entertaining. She should actualy have her own column. My sister reads her blog and hasn't even met her yet. That is how entertaining she is. I envy her. I want to be more like her. Which leads me to my New Years resolution...........FIND THE WORDS AND EXPRESS MYSELF. I often find myself trying to censor what I post, I think about who is reading it and who it could offend. Not anymore, I'm just going to unleash and write. WORDS, WORDS and MORE WORDS! I will try to write about what I'm feeling, write about what goes through my brain, write about anything. So, prepare yourself and get ready to read.
And yes, I will still post our adorable photos.

Coffee time

Lily is absolutely in love with her new table and chairs. So much that she wants to eat every meal at it. She is especially fond of coffee time. We call it coffee time because she wants to do everything like her Mommy. She acts exactly like Mommy with her afternoon coffee. She even dips her pretend cookies into her cup. It's so cute!

Peek a boo

Christmas snapshots

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Our Christmas was a lot of fun with Pickle. She spent the season tearing down oranaments from our Christmas tree. We enjoyed the holiday with D's family in town for a week. Grandparents, Uncle Eric and his girlfriend Jess came to visit. They drove 13hours with a sleigh full of gifts. There were gifts, gifts and more gifts. So many that our entire dining room was filled to the brim. Knowing they would buy tons of things we decided to go very sparingly with Lil Pickle. We bought her a few books and Santa brought her a new chair. The chair was a HUGE hit and her grandparents got her a table and chair set that was also a hit. The joke of the day was when she took it upon herself to stand on top of the table and dance vs. sit at the chairs. I hope this isn't setting her up for her future. Lil Picke also loved the cleaning set that Doda and Glenda brought her. She loves to do anything that Mommy does. She spent the day walking around with her new broom but was very annoyed with her fake food. She would take a bite of her fake food and then throw it because it wasn't real however; her cousin Dessa thought the food was really cool. Pickle also received a beautiful engraved bracelet from her Nomie. The bracelet made her feel like a big girl but the box was the real hit! She loved the box that the bracelet came in, so much that she screamed when I took it away from her. She still is a little young for actual presents. It was great to see her play with the random toys and boxes. You never know what will be a hit with toddlers.
Glenda and Doda stopped by on Christmas Eve to drop off presents and we had our friends from Chicago over for Christmas Eve. My brother and his family came over on Christmas day. Needless to say, it was nice seeing all of our family and friends. My brother's daughter, Dessa was such a flirt with everyone. She is the most outgoing little toddler! She hugs and kisses anyone and is so warm and friendly. She is an absolute doll! And then there is our little Pickle. She is very stand-offish. She is just a girl on her own mission. She doesn't try to impress anyone and if she doesn't want anything to do with you it's obvious. She loves her Daddy and Mommy and when we are around she doesn't careless about anyone else. She is also a huge fan of Doda, Uncle Eric and my mom's husband Tom. Forget about it if you are a girl. I love the fact that she is so independant and determined.
Normally during the holidays we go to different houses to spend time with family. It was nice to be at home this Christmas Eve and Christmas. The hustle and bustle can get overwhelming and I have to say, it will be hard to get us to leave in the following times to come.

Bath time!

Pickle loves bath time. She is pretty daring in the tub. She puts her face straight down in the water and trys to drink like a dog.

Baby bootcamp party at Little Gym

Happy Thanksgiving!

We went on a early morning Thanksgiving walk in the cold. We wanted to start a tradition to exercise before stuffing our faces. We were headed to Tommy's for the day to spend time with family.

The face says it all

I have never met a 1year old with such a BIG personality. Pickle is such a stinker! Yesterday we took her to the park. She played on the play set and has learned how to go down the slide backwards all by herself. D put her on the swing and she was having a great time. Laughing like crazy. Well, it was time to leave and he grabbed her to go. She threw the biggest fit we have ever seen. She started slapping D in the face and pinching his nose. Then for the next hour she wouldn't look at him. When he would get in front of her face she would push him away but not make eye contact with him. She holds grudges already!

Feeling overwhelmed? Blogs, emails or facebook??

I received a great question the other day through email from a person who may consider themselves technologically challenged. The question was "what is the difference between email, blogs and facebook". This is a great question that I'm going to try and answer......

A blog is s specific address that you have to check for updates. Similar to a website.

An email is a way to contact one specific person. Email is great in many ways but can also get overwhelming with all the company emails, jokes and junk emails you receive. It seems to always feel like a to do list task.

Facebook is the best way to stay in touch with people in your past or people you currently correspond with. The great thing is that you look for old friends or people contact you to be friends with them. Only your friends can see your profile. FB gives you the option to post things happening in your life, photos, videos, etc. If you want to see what someone specifically is doing you click on their page. If you don't give a crap you ignore them. I like it because it says Frankie is........(fill in the blank) you can see what someone is up to and comment on it. Like my latest was Frankie is shopping for boys names. Any Ideas? And some people commented on names for me. I have found a lot of old friends and it's nice to see what they have been up to. They also have a lot of things to raise money or awareness for different causes. Like there is a green site, you can send trees, plants to your friends and each thing sent raises money for the rain forest and many other causes. Personally I like facebook over my space because I feel that it's a more mature site. It's also more interactive if you choose to interact.

This is the definition I found on Wikpedia for facebook.
Facebook is a social networking website launched on February 4, 2004.[1] The free-access website is privately owned and operated by Facebook, Inc. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profile to notify friends about themselves. The website's name refers to the paper facebooks depicting members of a campus community that some US colleges and preparatory schools give to incoming students, faculty, and staff as a way to get to know other people on campus.

I hope this helps everyone and I hope that in may encourage some of you to join facebook! It's a lot of fun.

Just the girls vacation

Pickle and I spent two weeks in Florida visiting my mom. She treated us to a fabulous getaway! The flight was a little tough. Pickle doesn't know how to stay still and the fact that I'm loosing my lap by the day didn't make it easy. We haven't been out to visit my mom yet in Florida so it was a great time to getaway before the new baby comes.

Pickle is quite the onorey one. She wouldn't let Big Mama (grandma) hug or kiss her. My mom isn't very patient either about letting the kids warm up. Big Mama would try, try and try to get kisses from her. Finally, Picke decided she would just hit her to get her away. It ended up being a game to Picke and she would tell Big Mama "GO!" My Mom never let up and Pickle continued having a power struggle with her. I finally told Picke that nobody wins a power struggle over Big Mama. Of course when Pickle wanted a kiss she would head right over to my mom and give her one. It just had to be on her terms. Hmmmm, reminds me of somebody.

The weather was great, 80's almost the entire time. We spent almost everyday at the beach. The beaches were breath taking. I have been to a few beaches and this one is by far the prettiest! The white sand is what did it! Sand like I had never seen before, fine and white. It took Pickle a few days to get used to the sand. At first she would get it all over her and then try to wipe her face clean with her dirty hands. It was hilarious to watch her struggle with the sand. It was EVERYWHERE, that is the only down fall. We would take Thai food to the beach everyday and picnic next to the water. The dolphins would swim by to say hi which was nice to see.

The two weeks went fast but we were eager to get home. Pickle had the Daddy blues and so did I. Toward the end of our trip she would walk around the house saying Dada or when we went shopping she would yell at all the men that would pass us "Dada?". She changed a ton while we were away. She grew a ton and did so many funny things. Needless to say, Daddy was shocked at how much she had grown and changed. He said, "You guys are never leaving me again!"

Attention Mom's to be.......can I just say.......

Can I just say, I'm in love with the store the Pumpkin Patch! They seriously have the cutest kid clothes I have ever seen. They don't have one in the city I live in but about an hour away is the only one in the state. I believe it's an Australian company and they have the greatest ensembles for kids. Bright and lively! Everything is made to coordinate so, you can have a variety of different outfits with a few pieces. Not to mention the quality is top notch. These pieces can be washed and washed and the shape and color stay true! I have noticed as Pickle has started walking that quality does matter. Being a stay at home mom, you have to pick and choose where you spend your money. I have decided that I will sacrifice and buy all of my clothes at Target just to splurge on a few pieces from the Pumpkin Patch. I'm also a huge sucker for clothes at Gymboree, The GAP and Old Navy. Their quality is also made to last!

This is a funny story, I'm a huge fan of purchasing kid items on Craigslist. It's a great way to buy gently used items for a fraction of the cost. Most of Pickles toys have been purchased on Craigslist. I buy anything that can be Clorox down and washed. Well, I see an add stating Gymboree Mom's selling all their gently used kids clothes at a garage sale. So, it's sat morning and I head to the garage sale. It was like nothing I had ever seen, mom's swarming around with arms full of clothing. I look and find a few cute outfits, I then look at the price tags and realize that they want 15+ for their used clothes. I couldn't believe it. I had no idea of the resell value of brand name kids clothes. So, I leave empty handed because of sticker shock. I go home and look on ebay for the same thing and realize the same thing. Pumpkin Patch, Gap and Gymboree selling used at top prices. Who knew?

The photos shown are the latest outfit from the Pumpkin Patch. Cute huh? Thanks again Marcia!

Happy Halloween!

This was Pickle's 2nd Halloween. We decided to go to trick or treat street at a small local town near ours. This is a really quaint town with great little shops and restaurants. We were meeting the baby bootcamp gang for the festivities. We loaded up the kido's in our wagon and they were crowd stopping. ADORABLE!!!!!! One little chic and one mean lion. Both kids are a week apart. We gave them their first lollypops and they were in heaven! At one point I had to take Pickle's candy bag and then she realized it was in her best interest to steal Riley's halloween candy. What a stinker!

Diana's Pumpkin Patch

We made the biggest parenting mistake ever. Watch us on the next evening news. We had been driving for 3 hours on our way home from Glenda's. Pickle had been in the car seat way too long. We were on a mission to find this famous pumpkin patch. By the time we got there Pickle was crabby and wanted out of her seat. F and D unloaded and shut the doors to realize that D had dropped his keys. CRAP the doors were locked and we were in the middle of no where and to top it off........Pickle was in the car. We were in po dunk no where! AHHHHHHH, we freaked out. We called 911 in a panic. Oh my god, we locked our infant in the car. Pickle was silent but huge tears were rolling down her face. She was scared and quite as can be. Sweat was rolling down her forehead. Tears were rolling down my face and I was boo hooing. Within 5 mins a police officer was there to calm us down and within 10min a lock smith was there to save the day.

The pumpkin patch ended up being wonderful! Our two pumpkins only cost us 60 bucks(including locksmith fee's). Not bad I guess, we actually thought it would cost more. We learned our lesson! Carry a spare key!