Park fun and other stuff

We went to the park today. Here is some of the fun that K had.











The baby wasn't as impressed


We had an overcast day


all that playing really wore K out.




other stuff~
I got a speeding ticket. The cop was a jerk about the carseats. I understand the need to make sure car seats are safe but I believe in this case he went a bit overboard. I have written to the sherriff's department requesting some information and based on that information, I may go to my court date. My carseats are new, properly installed and not past their useful dates. I had my kids properly fastened in and the car seats are in excellent working order. I was not beligerent to the officer either. Although, I really wanted to scream for all the frustration he caused. I was speeding, although I do not believe I was going as fast as he said I was. Whatever~ :eyeroll:

The girls are doing good. We have been enjoying the mild weather and spending hours and hours outside.

K is potty training and is doing very well. Funniest thing. She pooped in her potty last night and wanted to show me and daddy so she wrapped the poop in her underwear, brought it into the livingroom and dropped it into my unsuspecting hand. Ewwww. But you gotta love her logic.

I have been 1 week with only 1 cigarrette. I got one from my brother when he was here. The day I got my ticket.

My friend stopped over last weekend. The baby really loves him.


That's it for now. Gotta go be mom again...

Reason #123498765

Why I love my hubby!!

I balanced his checkbook last night and the balance was lower than we like to see. Not overdrawn but pretty low. I looked back and realized I have spent over $100 at our local grocery store in the last week. OUCH!

I told hubby what his balance was and he was fine with it. He asked what I bought. I told him about all the sales and how I stocked him up on soda and bought more meat that was super cheap. He said he was ok with that. He said he likes to see his balance higher but if I spent the extra money stocking up on groceries he is fine with that. We talked and the last time we bought anything unnecessary was November for him and December for me. Wow! I couldn't believe it but yeah, it's true. In December I got my concert tickets and in November he got a new video game.

I love that my hubby does not freak out over money or what I spend. I do not have to account for where the money goes. It is fantastic.

Scared and more

My mom has a lump in her stomach. Dad told me today. Mom did not want me to know. As much as we sometimes argue, she is my mom and I love her. I am scared. I PRAY that she does not have cancer. I pray it is just a benign mass. She is going in next week to get some tests done.

O is teething and she is by far worse than K ever was. K would pop 2 teeth through without so much as a whimper. O hasn't even popped any yet and is whiny and just awful. AYE! It was a long night last night.

My parents took the kids for a few hours today. K went sledding and BEGGED to spend the night at my parents' house, so we let her. It gives up a little bit of peace and gives her some much needed time away from the house and the whininess that is a teething baby.

My hubby got a raise. Makes life a little easier.

My ol' reliable finally went kaput! My bissell carpet shampooer has died. I freecycled it to a lady that runs a daycare. She said they would try to fix it. Good riddance! I talked Hubby into buying a Bissell proheat steam cleaner. I am in LOVE!! I cleaned the whole house today and it smells fantastic. The carpets look like new again. It was a good deal for $160. I clean carpets every other month in the whole house and do the kitchen (yes, I have a STUPID carpeted kitchen. The dumbest idea EVER!!!) every month. Just in rental fees alone for getting one every other month would come to almost $200. So even if the new one only lasts 18 months, I saved money!! I love have a carpet shampooer. My house doesn't feel clean unless my carpets are clean as well, probably because of the kitchen.

Hubby and I went out for a burger and a beer today while the kids were with my parents. Very relaxing. I love doing that once in a while.

Allergic reaction

So I *think* I have discovered what is causing my chest pains. They have been coming at random times but they have been getting increasing violent and last night I had them again. They were by far the worst I have yet had. As I laid in bed clutching my chest and praying that it ends soon so I could sleep, it occured to me that everytime I have had the pains I have eaten something with peanut butter in it. So they are not so random after all. I will spare you the gory details of last night but suffice it to say...I got violently ill and scared hubby so bad he was going to take me to the ER. I am better this morning, no pains but I feel so tired and weak.

Will it EVER end?

Said Family member is causing trouble again. Said family member called my hubby last night and said he needs part of K's money back for "taxes". If we give him back what he said he is probably going to need, her inheritance will be "taxed" at almost 65%. Does he really think I am that stupid? There is no way there is that much tax on it.

I am so done with all of this. I have been thinking. The mean streak in me is pretty active today and last night. I was thinking I should take out what he wants all in quarters and throw the rolls of quarters at him. If I throw them hard enough, they could leave some nice bruises. A$$hole. Anyway I called him back after he talked to hubby and we are discussing it this weekend, Sunday to be exact. And if he thinks he is ripping us off, he can think again. I am about to the point of just telling him to leave me and my children alone. Don't buy my kids any gifts with your stolen money, just forget we exist. Don't call, don't send cards. Just stay away from us. I have seriously had it with everything and just want it to go away. If hubby still wants contact with him fine, and the kids can too if Hubby wants to take them both to visit but I want nothing do with them. My stress level is that high right now. All over some money that my child could do without. She is not any worse without it.

A side note on that, Hubby is such a softie at times. So much of a softie that he ordered almost $200 in parts for said family member. I am not really pissed that he wanted to help out but I am pissed about the amount of money he spent without getting some of it up front. I informed hubby last night that under no circumstances will said family member get those parts without us getting the money first.

Random things today...

let's see....

I took K outside with me while I used the snowblower to make a path for the propane delivery man to reach our tank without having to trudge through a 3-4 feet of snow. I am pretty sure there isn't that much back there but it is alot. Anyway I was watching K and she was playing in the garage. I turned my back for 2 minutes, finished the path and checked the tank's gauge. I turned around and she wasn't there. I ran to the garage. GONE. I ran into the house. NOT THERE. I run back outside and start screaming her name. NO ANSWER. I was in a full blown panic. I was about to run into the house and call the police and here she comes, happy as can be. OH thank GOD!!! She went to the front porch and was swinging on the porch swing.

I got hubby's name put on the kids' accounts today. Hubby and I decided that we needed to get our wills, medical directives, etc all in order so that if something should happen to either of us, there are no questions or fighting. We have been meaning to do this and did it somewhat before I had that baby. We officially did it today though. I drew up our wills the other day and we just had to have them signed, witnessed and notarized today. We had to have our medical directives witnessed and signed but they did not have to be notarized so we did that later this evening with a couple friends. Now we just have to make copies and give them to our doctor for our files at the clinic and the hospital. We decided to finally get off our butts and have this done now because there is some in-fighting on hubby's side of the family regarding hubby's deceased brother's money. Said family member is being a jerk and if it was all written out we would have a legal recourse, but because my deceased brother-in-law was not much of a planner and never thought he would pass away so young, there are problems. We don't want that so we decided that we best get this done now. We did our wills and medical directives with this program that cost $30. You can download a free trial at the link. The free trial will not allow you to save or print. The program itself comes with a lot of great features besides will writing. It has request letters for records, cancelling accounts; lease agreements; sub-lease agreements; reciepts; many types of notices; and pretty much any legal document you could ever dream of.

We ordered a new car seat for K today. We got this one. I did not have the money to spend on a car seat but my daughters' safety is first. She is almost 40 lbs and has just about outgrown the car seat for her in my car. The one in the SUV goes up to 65 lbs so we have a ways to go there. I could have gotten her a cheaper seat but I wanted her in a 5 pt harness as long as possible and this seat will go to 65lbs with the 5 pt harness so I feel much safer with her in this seat versus the one we have for her for the sitter where she would only be secured by the car's seat belt once she is over 40 lbs. She very rarely rides in the car with the sitter, but we are in the car frequently. This is the cheapest seat I have found with the 5 pt harness that goes up to 65 lbs.

We really do not need to have 2 car seats for K and 2 car seats for O but it is such a pain to continually move car seats back and forth, especially in my car. Hubby doesn't drive stick shift so he can't just take my car if he needs to take the kids somewhere. Plus he is really bad at installing the car seats so if I install it, I won't worry so much. I told hubby this should be the last car seat we ever have to buy. He said "thank god!" In total since having K we have spent $740 in car seats!! Can you believe that?

Here is how it breaks down:
Infant car seat~$45-ish dollars. I wasn't going to get one and just go with a convertible to start but a wise momma told me that the infant carrier type car seats are really nice for going into stores or visiting with someone. You can carry the baby in the seat and the baby has someplace to sit, etc. I am glad I listened to her. There were times even after K outgrew the infant seat, that we used it as a seat for shopping carts, etc. before she could sit up on her own.

Britax Roundabout for my car~$199. At the time I bought this seat, we were both working and had money to burn so I bought the highest reviewed seat at that time. I do not regret this purchase at all. It is a fantastic car seat and will last through O as well

Graco Comfort Sport for hubby's car at the time~$80-ish. We tried this seat for 2 trips. Hubby HATED it with a passion. He could never get the straps to tighten right, he could never get the straps to loosen. So we gave this seat to my mom and she loved it. We now have it back and it will go in the SUV for O to use as soon as she gets moved to a convertible seat, which will be within the next month.

Britax Marathon for Hubby's car~$240-ish. I did not want to spend this much on that car seat but hubby fell in love with the speedway pattern and he loved how easy the Roundabout in my car was for him to use so he bought it. It is K's current car seat in the SUV.

Cosco Scenera for the sitter's car~$40-ish. Once K outgrew the infant seat, the sitter asked that we get her something for K to use if she had to take her anywhere. I wanted a 5 pt harness and this one was cheap enough. It is easy to use and installs in seconds but I wish I would have looked a little closer at the specs for the harness before I bought it. Live and Learn I guess.

Apex 65 for my car~$136

YIKES!!

We filed our federal taxes today. We have to wait to do our state but that is done.

I was driving the SUV tonight and slid coming into the driveway. We have a giant ice pond at the end of the driving from the last thaw and re-freeze. It snow a bit today so the ice was slicker than usual. I hit the snowbank on the side of the driveway but I was going so slow that it didn't do any damage. Our driveway is just wide enough at the end for the SUV because of the massive snow banks, that you have to pull in just right with it or you don't get in. Seriously, they are like 6 feet tall.

so stressed...

Hubby's leg and back are killing him. The kids are whiny, clingy and crying and I just want to curl up into a little ball and go away from it all. All day long K has been doing everything she can think of to get on my nerves. EVERY THING!!! She has taken to hiding her crayons so she can color when SHE wants to color. I think I finally have found them all but not before her little sister's bedroom wall sustained some damage. The baby is having an allergic reaction to something my mom was wearing (I'm guessing her tanning lotion). Mom was cuddling her and must have rubbed faces with the baby because the baby's face looks like it has been sunburned or windburned. I washed her with a cool rag, it didn't do any good. Hubby fell asleep right after work, I woke him up for dinner. I had to repeat something to him 5 times before he finally answered. He didn't even realize I was talking for the first 4 times I spoke.

I WANT TO RUN AWAY, of course it would be only for a short time because I would miss my family too much.


My dad gave us an old snowblower that he fixed. I am happy about that. No more shoveling for my poor back or shoulders.

Rolling

The baby rolled for the first time today. She has been rolling onto her side and then almost over but she made it completely over today. We are not telling Hubby though because he was trying so hard last night to get her to roll (he missed all of K's firsts), he really wants to see her first roll so we are just going to let him think he did. I am sure she will do it tonight for him so it really won't make a difference but he will be happy.

Thank God for My husband

I am so grateful for my hubby. Last night when he got home from work, he shoveled the sidewalk and when he go tback into the house, he sent me to bed. He took care of the kids, he made dinner, he put them both to bed. I am so grateful for the sleep I got. I went to bed at 4:30 last night, slept until 7:30, got up for a bit and was back in bed by 9 and slept until 5 am. I still feel terrible today.

last night and this weekend

Starting today our high temperatures for the next week or so is only going to be in the single digits. AYE! so cold. I can say for certain that me and the kids will be staying home. If I do get out in the afternoon, it will be when hubby is home so I can leave the kids here. The only thing nice about temperatures that low is that it rarely snows here when it is so cold.

Last night was a bit difficult in mi casa. The baby went to sleep fine as did the older kid. I should have known they had conspired against me. You see, my shoulder has been hurting so I decided to take 1/2 of a prescription pain killer before bed, 1/2 because the full one sometimes leaves me feeling worse in the morning than if I had never taken the pill. 1/2 is enough to numb the pain yet leave me coherent and able to function fully. I fell asleep almost immediately last night. At 1 am the older child woke up scared. She had a nightmare of some sort. I am still not sure what, she has no recollection this morning of screaming and scaring the daylights out of her mom, who was in the midst of a very peaceful, drug induced, relaxed sleep. So of course I had to go to the bathroom and check on the baby since I was already awake. I finally fell back asleep about 1:30. At 5:30 the baby woke me up. She was happy and just a cooing away in her crib. Daddy was awake but daddy is no help in the morning because he is slow as it is getting ready for work, the last thing he needs is to feed the baby. He gets out the door just in time every morning. So the baby gets fed and starts playing. Just as the baby starts to fall asleep, I curl up on the couch, hoping to catch a quick hour or so nap before the older child wakes up. No such luck this morning, K woke up 1 hour earlier than normal. So K is wide awake, the baby is sleeping and momma feels like lying on the couch and not moving for the whole day. Definitely not taking any painkillers until nap time. Today is going to be a nap day for momma as well as the kids.

cops eat donuts

That is the newest phrase from the mouth of my 2 year old. Tonight the fire whistle was blowing, Kaitlin calls it a cop whistle. Anyway she came into the livingroom and proudly announced "cops all gone. cops eating donuts." I have never heard her say this but evidently last weekend sometime there were a couple police cars at the gas station. Kaitlin saw them and mentioned it and Hubby told her the cops were there eating donuts. Yep, this is going to be interesting.

Whine and Cry

All K has been doing since waking up is whine and cry. UGH! (whine) I waaaaaaant milk Mooommy. (whine) where is my cup? (whine) I waaaant cereal. Is this day over yet? Is it nap time yet? Hubby is going to be pretty useless to me today. He stayed up until after Midnight playing his game.

more friends, more fun

We had a girls night tonight over at a friends house. She has 2 kids that are a bit older than K. K had fun playing with them both. Then our single friend had made dinner for us. It was delicious. Strips of streak with these amazing onions. K ate more onions than anyone else. Then there was ice cream for dessert. I passed on the ice cream but K had some and really enjoyed it. It was a great night. I have never seen my friend with the kids so happy. She is in the middle of a nasty divorce. She has started dating again and this guy makes her so happy. It is wonderful to see her happy.


While we were gone, Hubby got some precious time to himself. He really enjoyed that. He needs some alone time once in awhile and I am happy to oblige him when I can.

a down day and a new favorite snack

I don't know why, I am just having a down day. It helped some to get out of the house for a bit and it helped even more to find out that we are FINALLY getting the money that we are owed from the previous employer. Hubby and I previously worked for the same employer and it is a long drawn out tale that I won't get into but suffice it to say, I was forced in Medical Leave during my pregnancy and subsequently fired. Shortly after my termination, they started to go after my hubby for stupid crap, so he found a new job. They "forgot" to file some paperwork that we needed so we have been waiting since November for this money. It is a nice sum of money. Enough so that we do not have to worry about vehicle payments anymore.

My new favorite snack is Quakes rice cakes, I found them in the cereal section at my local grocery store. I tried the chocolate ones this time. They are good. 60 calories 10 fat calories in 7 mini rice cakes. I am not a big fan of rice cakes but these are good.

It is snowing pretty heavily outside. I am glad Hubby is home from work. It started just as he got off work. Our "ice"way is going to be incredibly slick tommorrow. Our driveway has a layer of ice over the gravel because of the recent thaw and refreeze. Not even ice melt salt will not completely get rid of it.

When I have a day like this, I like to step on the scale and see that I am below 250. That is a big achievement and it brightens me up a bit.

ugh!

We decided on a whim to take lunch to Hubby at work. Since it was already 11:30 and his lunch is at 12:00 and we had 20 minute drive, I stopped by Mcdonald's. I did good though. I got myself a plain hamburger and shared a small order of fries with Kaitlin. I took a bottle of water from home to drink. I really did not need the fat or salt in my diet but we wanted to surprise Hubby and it was too last minute of a decision to make him something or stop at Subway. I could have eaten worse. My total calories for the meal was 375. That is not that bad considering it is fast food.

whew!

I worked out to the Cindy Crawford video again today after having done my new one for the last 2 days. WOW. The other one is definitely a breeze compared to the Cindy one.

It is not yet 8 am here and I have already started on my water intake for the day. That is good. I did have a diet cola when I woke up. K and I are cleaning the upstairs today so I will get a workout carrying the vacuum and the carpet shampooer upstairs.

I asked Hubby if we can buy a better carpet shampooer when we get our tax return. He said I could. I really don't need to ask his permission to buy things but because I want one that is almost $200, I felt I should discuss it with him first. I would also like to get a better vacuum cleaner as well but the shampooer is more important right now. Our current one only picks up about 1/2 the water it lays out. Not cool. I have to go over the carpets 2-3 times in order to get it partially dry.

I have been asked on a board I am a member of what my fitness program is. So here goes.

I work out a minimum of 6 days a week. Because I can't get outside for cardio and I do not want to pay for a gym, I am doing light strength training everday but doing a different video. I recently bought a cardio video so I am going to mix it up a bit. My plan is to do my Cindy video one day, my cardio the next, Then either the Cindy one or the Kathy one and so on. The light strength training also has bits of cardio in it. I know that once I can get outside with the kids, I will slack on the weight training so in the end it will work out ok. I will probably only strength train once or twice a week in the summer, not because I don't like to, just because I LOVE being outside and will spend a lot of my time taking the kids for a walk or playing in the yard with them.

I am eating between 1500-1800 calories a day, keeping my fat % below 30, but shooting for below 25. I try to eat 1600-1700 a day but wanted to give myself a range for those hungry days. I eat 4-5 times a day. Dinner is my biggest meal. I work out in the morning as much as I can and then finish up when the kids are napping. I am drinking a minimum of 8 cups of water a day. I don't eat withing 2 hours of bedtime. Nothing is off-limits in my diet. I can eat whatever. I just have to write it down and eat it in moderation. If I know we are having a dinner that I love, I eat a lighter lunch and smaller snacks.

new bedtime routine

We started a new bedtime routine for K. She is not tired anymore at 7:30 when her usual bedtime is so we started a new thing tonight. We put her in her room at 7:30. I read her a couple of her preschool golden books, and then she can play until 9 pm, if she doesn't fall asleep before then. It is going to work out really well, I think. She won't have to go to bed so early, but Rodney will still get his time to unwind. She gets few minutes of alone time with me. I get some quiet time too. I used to read books to her every night but after O was born, it got really hard to do. I tried to still do it but it got put on the backburner. She has over 300 little golden books. I started collecting for her right after she was born. I have not been collecting like I once was but I still browse the new ones when I see them.

compromise

Marriage is about compromise and that is just what hubby and I did. Because of his concern over my dieting and exercise, I will be taking 1 day a week where I do not count calories or worry about what or how much I eat. I will still exercise but I will not be concerned about food.

100th post!!!

Wow that did not take long at all.

Anyway I got a great deal tonight at the grocery store. I went for milk and soda and came home with 3-12 packs of diet cola, milk, 2 packages of cut up whole chicken for 79 cents a lb, 2 containers of turkey breast lunch meat for 98 cents a container, round steak for $3.09 for the 2 lb package, a 3 lb bag of boneless chicken breasts for $5.00, and a 2 lb roast for $3.00. Hubby was not impressed by all the grocery bags when I came in the house but once he saw all I got for just over $30, he was pretty impressed.

I am not....

Hubby told me tonight that he thinks I am overdoing the weight loss thing. I don't see it. He said so because he saw me measuring out my portions for dinner tonight. I measured out 1 cup of green beans, 1 cup of potatoes and 1 cup of milk. I did not have to measure out the country fried steak because that is from a bag and the calories are listed by a 1 patty serving. He doesn't understand.

I am losing about 2 lbs a week. Some weeks a little more, some a little less. I am doing this healthy. We didn't fight over it. He just said that I need to be careful. I am being careful. I want this to be the last time that I ever have to diet. I am making healthy living changes.

It makes me feel like he doesn't support me, almost like he wants me to be fat. He is not fat. He is 5'11" 155 lbs. So I am feeling a bit down tonight. I am trying so hard to do this for myself and the family and to hear him say I am overdoing it, hurts. It is like he just doesn't understand. I know that he doesn't understand because he has never dealt with weight issues. I don't think he realizes how hard it will be for me, if I just let myself continue to overeat. I am grateful for his concern but yet I feel defeated at the same time.