Monkey's First Christmas

Monkey had a wonderful first Christmas. He didn't quite have down the ripping off the paper part, he preferred to just eat it. He enjoyed his presents, but I think was a little overwhelmed by all the new stuff. Kyle and I have a real desire not to overdo it when it comes to gift giving. We bought him 1 "big" toy and a few small things from Ikea. His favorite toy was a stuffed soccer ball we bought at Ikea. He LOVED it, he rolled around on the floor, stuffing his face in it and having an overall good time. It was just too cute. I caught a little video of it and if I can figure out how to post it on here I'll give it a whirl.

Christmas day ended up being a quiet day and was really enjoyable. We ate breakfast, opened gifts, played some Carcassonne, ate Swiss cheese fondue, then watched National Lampoon's Christmas. We stayed up far too late the 3 days Kyle's dad was here, but isn't that what vacation is for?

Merry Christmas!

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas filled with remembering the joy of Christ's birth and what it meant for us!

Merry Christmas!

I Feel Old Today...

As I was preparing to get in the shower I was looking in the mirror and towards the front of my hair line I saw something glisten at me.

Yes, you read that right, glisten...

Glistened right at me.

I dug around a little bit, found the root and pulled it out.

Yes, I did, indeed pull out my first gray hair today. The hair was about 3" long and half of it was gray. GRAY, people! I'm not like my sister-in-law Shelley that happens to like her 5 gray hairs. I'm not ready to accept this. She's almost 30 and just started getting gray, I won't be 25 for 4 more months!

I'm not ready, nope nope nope nope....

Christmas

This is Kyle and my 3rd Christmas together and obviously, our first Christmas with Monkey. The past 3 years we have gone to either my hometown or to visit Kyle's family. Kyle's dad wanted to take us to Tahoe, NV, but couldn't find a timeshare there, so plans fell apart. We thought it was just going to be the 3 of us.

But, Kyle's dad called us a few weeks ago saying that he wanted to fly up here to celebrate with us. We were of course thrilled to bits to have him come. So, he is flying in on Sunday afternoon. He can't stay for long, just 3 days, but we're so excited that he'll be here to celebrate with us.

We're excited to have a nice quiet holiday this year just the 4 of us. Kyle's mom might come over, but at this point her plans are up in the air. She wanted to bring her boyfriend over but we told her that he wasn't invited due to the circumstances of having Kyle's dad in town.

Christmas Eve we're going to have a nice dinner, either fondue or ham and then go to our church's Christmas Eve service (we've never been to the one at our church because the holiday has been falling on or too close to Sunday to be able to stay in town for it). Christmas day I'm sure we'll all sleep in as long as we can (Monkey will dictate what time we get up) and get up and have a simple breakfast of eggs, bacon and coffee cake. We'll probably open presents and just spend the rest of the day enjoying each other's presence. Monkey usually is plenty of fun to watch and then we'll have Christmas dinner of whatever we didn't have on Christmas Eve (fondue or ham).

I'm excited and I know that Kyle is, too. Monkey doesn't know what is going on this year!

Play Dates

Tonight, Kyle went and hung out with 2 friends and I went with Maddox to hang out with one of Kyle's friend's wives and their son who is 1 month older than Monkey. It was great fun to watch the boys play together. Although, I realized something vital tonight...I need to do this more often with Monkey. Watching the two boys fight over the same one silly toy all night long showed me that it really isn't too early to have Monkey playing with other kids to teach him how to share. There is only one other baby in the nursery his age at church and she is a real go-getter and doesn't stay sitting long enough to play. Of course, it's also good for him socially. I guess I'm at a loss of where to know where to go to meet people who have kids Monkey's age for play dates. Obviously, there isn't anybody in the church, so where do I go? How about I start stalking people in the grocery store who have babies his age. Doesn't that sound like a swell idea? I guess I'll just have to keep my eyes and ears peeled for another mommy who might be in the same boat.

graphic from art.com

Thursday To Do

Here we go, off to start another day! I'm focusing on the spare bedroom today because Grandpa Paul (Kyle's dad) is coming for Christmas in just a few days!

1. Quiet time
2. Exercise
3. 1 load of laundry- washed dried
4. Wash spare bedroom sheets & make bed - washed dried
5. Put away ironing board
6. Put away gift wrapping
7. Put suitcases under the spare bed
8. Vacuum Spare Bedroom
9. Clean toilet in front bathroom
10. Wash mirror in front bathroom
11. Sweep front bathroom floors
12. Mop front bathroom floors

Reviews

So, I'm doing two reviews right now. I was sent a package of Pampers diapers and corresponding wipes that I am using on Monkey and then I am going to write a review to be read here on my blog once I'm finished with them. The other one is about beverage consumption. A market research company sent me a palm pilot to use for 2 weeks and I record every beverage I consume throughout the day. It's really not bad and at the end I'm supposed to get $60. They already sent me $10. The other one with the diapers was kind of nice because I got over a weeks worth of diapers and a months worth of wipes for free. I won't complain :-) Any way, I'm feeling like a lab rat, lol. Except that I'm not having chemicals pumped into me to see how I react...I think I prefer what I'm doing!

Wednesday To Do

I'm going to be much more specific in my To Dos for today. It helps me stay on task.

1. Quiet Time
2. Exercise - I know, I let one of the most important things slide today
3. Put suitcases away - Kyle and I will get this done in just a little bit
4. Fold laundry
5. Dry and fold laundry
6. 1 complete load of laundry - Started 2/3 of the way through
7. Pay bills
8. Pay taxes for church (work)
9. Call Joyce (work)
10. Take out paper recycling
11. Fill yard debris container with wood
12. Straightened up Monkeys room, hung 2 things on his wall, changed sheets
13. Vacuum Monkey's room -I'm going to move this to tomorrow since it's almost Monkey's bedtime.

We'll start here and if I'm really efficient, I'll add things to it!

Tuesday Favorites: Wishlist

I'm joining Kristen in her Tuesday Favorites. Her topic this week is Fantasy Christmas wish lists, the things you want, but would never buy for yourself.


1. A Dyson. I don't care which one, just any old Dyson will do. Okay, I know it's probably the dorkiest thing to want for Christmas since it is just a vacuum cleaner. But, it's not just any old vacuum cleaner, it's a Dyson. It spins the dirt right out of your carpet without clogging filters. I know, I know, I'm a walking advertisement.




2. I totally have to go with Kristen on this one. The Republic of Tea - Tea of the Month club looks awesome! I adore their tea and getting that cute tea pot and cups with a new type of tea coming every month, it would be heavenly.



3. A pair of tall dark brown boots. I'm not particular about what type, but I really like these and they only retail for $145. Pennies, really. They're Hush Puppies. There were the cheapest ones I liked, too. The next ones for around $250. I guess I have cheap taste.


I guess I don't really want much because I can't think of anything else at the moment. If I come up with more ideas, I'll let you know.

Tuesday To Do

I'm going to keep going with my "Daily To Dos". Shelley has joined me and I'm hoping that she'll help keep me accountable on this one! Here my list:

1) Quiet Time
2) Exercise
3) Decorate Christmas tree
4) Put Christmas decoration box away
5) vacuum rug in living room
6) straighten up living room
7) 2 loads of laundry (washed and dried one load and started another)

Monkey's napping, off to start my To Dos!

I failed miserably today :-( It's always rough coming back from vacation and today I was just behind. But, tomorrow is a new day and I'll start off where I left off!

We're Home, We're Exhausted

Traveling is truly a lot of work. No matter how easy you try to make it, it just isn't. Plain and simple. The flight from here to my hometown is about 1 hour. That's it. But, from the time we leave home to the time we get there, it's 5 hours. You can drive it in 7. So, I ask, is it really worth it fly? The only plus to flying is that it's much more leisurely and you don't have to worry about road conditions. The cost is about the same for two of us to fly as it is in gas. Once we have to start paying for Monkey's plane ticket, too, I'm sure we'll be driving it much more often. Plus, he won't have to stare at the back of the seat for hours on end. His car seat can be turned frontwards in less than 2 months! Woo hoo!

On an entirely different note, in fact, so different it should be on a different blog post, Christmas is just around the corner. 1 week away, almost exactly. Kyle's dad is coming on Sunday for a few days, we're really happy that he can make it. We didn't find out until last week and we really are happy that he can come. It will be a really small, leisurely Christmas and we're very excited about it. We're hoping to go get a Christmas tree this afternoon, but we're waiting for a call back about whether we can go cut some from some friends from our church. If not, we're probably going to go buy one tomorrow. I'm excited to get the house ready for company and feeling much more Christmasy. I have a lot to do, but it will be fun.

Mr. and Mrs. Tyler

They're married.

The wedding was at 2 this afternoon and it was beautiful. It was like a beautiful Winter Wonderland. Nicole looked gorgeous!

I love weddings, so beautiful.

The Cold State of Idaho

Monkey and his Uncle Tyler and Auntie (to be on Saturday) Nicole

It's COLD here! I mean at 1pm this afternoon it was 29 degrees. Yes, you read that right, 29 degrees.

Brrr...

Apparently, it snowed a couple of days ago, but it's all gone. What's the point of this cold of temperatures without snow? Who knows...

At least it's warm inside.

My brother's getting married in 3 days! Go him!

Getting Out of Town

I have one goal today and that is to get ourselves out of town! So, I have errands to run and packing to do and that's it!

Bank
Post Office (mail a Christmas present and buy stamps)
RiteAid (need to buy inexpensive chocolate!)
Safeway (buy a gift card as a "thank you")
Walgreens (need to buy more inexpensive chocolate!)
Drop Faile off

Pack up and head out of town!

Kitchen Time.....SCARY

I'm telling you right now, I think I bit off more than I can chew for today. I really do have a rather long list of things. I am just trying to take it one thing at a time and see how far I get.
Refresh Your Spirit

I was able to spend some time reading the Bible on verses that talk about the Peace of God. It was refreshing to be reminded that when we have complete peace in God we should not be frightened or troubled and that when we are we need to take it God, first, through prayer.

Do Morning Routine

Take Time to Plan

1) Finish Bathroom Floors - I'm not going to be able to finish this today
2) Change Cat Litter
3) Cut Monkey's Hair
4) Give Monkey a Bath
5) Pack

Over on my right side bar, I have a running list of smaller tasks that I would like to complete today, as well.

Dinner Plan

I have a woman's dinner gathering at the church tonight, so I will make Kyle's favorite for him. Spaghetti. Luckily, it's really easy, so I'll just put the noodles on the boil and heat up some jarred sauce. I already have enough finger foods ready for Monkey for dinner.

Project of the Day

I don't know if you all remember The Great Kitchen Disaster of August. But, sadly, my kitchen is back in that state. So, I'm going to roll up my sleeves and tackle it yet again.

I just spent about 1 hour scrubbing my kitchen. I wish I could say I'm done, but I'm not. At this point, I need to move on to other pressing matters while Monkey is still sleeping. I have to be at the church in 2 1/2 hours and still need to fold a load of laundry and start packing since we leave tomorrow afternoon to go to my brother's wedding. Yah!

Graphic from art.com

Making Due With What You've Got

Kyle and I have an old 50's dining room table that my mom bought at a garage sale for us. It's really cute, it's red formica with metal legs and it's actually quite large when both leaves are in it. I have 4 antique wood chairs that I upholstered with red and white plaid cushions (really very cute). They're fine and they've suited us fine most of our marriage.

There's just one problem...

They're old.

The table sags slightly in the middle when the leaves are in it and a couple of the chairs are starting to break. Actually, I think that they've been broken and the previous owner tried to fix them only to have them start to break on me again. We both really want a new dining room table. The only problem is that we don't just want any 'ol dining room table. We want a dining room table that is going to last us for a really long time. A nice big wood one with matching chairs. Maybe in a nice dark wood. Maybe something like this:
The only problem is is that a nice wood table like that costs a lot of money. Especially one big enough to see at least 8 people. This really isn't in our budget right now. So, I'm trying to make due with what I have. A great simple, inexpensive solution that I have found is table cloths! My grandma gave me a nice red one with gold-ish swirls on it and I put it on my table (without the leaves in it) and I made a cute center piece and it looks so cute. In fact, it looks cute enough to make me feel content with what I have right now. I've decided that this will be my cheap fix until we can afford to buy a new table. I can buy new ones to match the seasons and to mix things up a bit. I found a nice Thanksgiving colored one last year at TJ Maxx for around $7 and it fit my table fully extended and for when it's smaller I just fold the cloth in half.

Today's Plan

Friday is the day that my family takes as our Sabbath, since Sunday is a work day for Kyle. So, I'm playing it pretty low key today, I have a very short list and if it doesn't get done today, that's okay.

1. Return cans/bottles
2. Take load to thrift store
3. Straighten up the dining room area and kitchen

I'm also watching a little girl from 1-5:30 this afternoon. I watch her about twice a month and it's actually easier having her here because she and Monkey play together and I can get stuff done!

How I Feel...

Honestly, it's been awhile since I've felt this good.

I know that the word "this" isn't a very good descriptive word for how I'm feeling.

But,

I'm feeling GREAT!

I've been really productive the last few days as you can tell by my posts below and it's making me feel really good about myself, about being a good wife and about being a good mom.

I feel like I have more time for myself, which is weird because I've been doing more. I just realized how much time I could successfully waist in a day reading blogs and surfing the web, oh, and playing video games. Yes, you heard that right, playing video games. Not one of my finer things to admit, but I really do enjoy them and they suck the precious time I have when Monkey is napping.

If you walked into my house today, you'd honestly see a lot of things out of place, but that's good because I'm actually forcing myself to either find places for the out of place stuff or get rid of it. But, I have a few VERY clean areas and those make me feel great!

Oh, and about the laptop, it was a VERY sad moment. It was on top of Kyle's dresser plugged in and when he came to bed last night he tripped on the cord and it fell just right and totally broke the screen :-( It was so nice, too, because the church just bought him a new one on Monday so he didn't have to use ours any more and it was going to be so nice to have it around for me to use. But, like I said earlier, at least it was just a computer. We're trying to decide if we're going to replace it or not. It's not really something that we need, but it is really nice to have one. I was hoping for a Dyson this Christmas, but we might be replacing the laptop with an Eee PC, instead. We're evaluating things right now. Really trying to think things through.

Monkey just woke up, better go get him!

Bathroom Time!

I don't know about you, but this challenge has been SO good for me and I can already tell my husband feels blessed! He couldn't believe how good the laundry rooms looks (which is good because it's centered in the middle of our house, right inside our entry way). For some reason when I post this stuff on my blog I can't NOT do it! I have successfully done 3 days and am looking forward to another great day!

Lucky for my husband it's bathroom day. He's been promising to clean our unsightly master bathroom, but I guess this is a great way for me to bless him tomorrow. Since he doesn't read my blog, he'll never know it's coming :-)

Refresh Your Spirit (5 minutes)

I was able to do my quiet time this morning in the company of Monkey. He sat there quietly for 15 minutes, not enough time to complete my daily portion, but I was able to get a good chunk of it done.

1. I'm thankful that our catastrophic late night accident resulted in the injury and death of our laptop and not Monkey, Kyle or myself (the cord was tripped on and it fell about 4 feet:-( )
2. I'm thankful that God keeps me on my toes and never gives me days like I planned.
3. I'm thankful for Thursdays because of great TV (bummer The Office isn't new, tonight)

Colossians 1:19-20

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.


Take Time to Plan (5 minutes)

1) Coffee with a friend Canceled (she has a sick girl)
2) Exercise
3) Clean off tables in living room (my "hot spots")
4) Put laundry away
5) Organize Recycling
6) Clean out the car

Do Something (10 minutes) More like 1 hour!!!

I'm not kidding, I just spent 1 hour in my master bathroom and it's not even done! The toilet, counter, sink and mirror are clean and I got about 1/4 of the floor done (I'm scrubbing it on my hands and knees; it's gross). That will be on my list of "To Do's" tomorrow, finishing the floor. But, it does look great and smells great!

Dinner menu:

Cheesy Gordita Crunches

Left over Pesto Pasta - I forgot to defrost the beef, I've been work too hard. I suppose that's a good problem to have:-)

Graphic from www.art.com

Haven Challenge: Day 3

I'm jumping on the laundry wagon today! We're leaving town in less than a week to go back to my home city for my "little" brother's wedding and I, of course, need all of my cutest clothes clean to wear :-)

1. Refresh Your Spirit (5 minutes)

Spent some quality time with God through working on my Bible Study and praying.

3 Things I'm Thankful for:

1. My wonderful family. They are such a blessing to me!
2. A warm place to live. Sometimes I complain about my house and really, I shouldn't, it's warm and dry inside.
3. God's total provision for us of good health, financial security, etc.

2. Take Time to Plan (5 minutes)

To Do List:

1) Exercise
*got side-tracked by a phone call- I should have called back later!*
2) Make applesauce
3) Grocery Shopping
4) Take care of church utility bills
5) Organize cabinets in laundry room
6) Sweep and mop laundry room floor

3. Do Something (10 minutes)

My laundry room is CLEAN! It looks so nice and sparklie!

Dinner:

Pesto Pasta
Salad
French Bread

I have only started one load of laundry.

Even though I was up earlier than normal, I had a clingy baby, so I'm getting off to another late start. But, here goes nothing!

Breastfeeding

My day definitely started off earlier than usual, but not by my choice. I'm not sure what's going on with my little Monkey, but he's not sleeping well. I've been suspecting that my breast milk has been lacking as of late and I'm starting to wonder if he's hungry. He'll lay in bed and just cry, really whiny like, forever and he's never been like that. He did it for 1 1/2 hours last night between 9-10:30 and then again from 11:30-12pm. He finally fell asleep "for the night" after I nursed him at midnight, but I could definitely tell that he wasn't getting enough to eat. Same thing this morning, I fed him at 5:30 and he was acting just ravenous, he never fell back to sleep, just cried. I really don't want to switch to formula, but I also don't want to be starving my child. I've been struggling with keeping my weight on since I had him almost 10 months ago and I wonder if my body is just saying that it's done? I really don't want to be!!! I don't know what to do at this point. I was thinking I might buy a container of formula and just supplement at night and see if I can boost my milk supply by eating more calories and drinking more water during the day. I know I don't drink enough, maybe that's it? I just hope it's not too late. Does anybody have any advice?

Making Your Home a Haven Challenge: Day 2

I have been ever increasingly sad at the condition of my house. I don't feel like I have done a very good job at keeping it nice for me and my family. It is often a source of stress and frustration for me. Crystal is doing a challenge over at her blog to do little little things every day to keep our houses nice for our families. I'm going to join in and see if things will help me to stay motivated each day to do lots of little things that end up making a beautiful place for us to live and feel relaxed.

This is the outline of what I'm to do today and I'll keep updating my blog as I complete them.

1. Refresh your Spirit (5 Minutes)

I'm going to work on my Beth Moore study for my women's church Bible study.

I spent about 15 minutes working on my Beth Moore study learning about the peace of God.

2. Take Time to Plan (5 Minutes)

Make a tangle list of things to accomplish in order today.

Here is my list for today:

1. Exercise
2. Shower
3. Make lunch
*Here I left with my husband to go shopping for supplies for our youth group 3rd Annual Christmas Extravaganza *
4. Fold Laundry
*Here I made dinner- BBQ Chicken Pizza- I used a yeast-free pizza crust recipe because I didn't have any yeast, hopefully, it turns out!**update: it turned out and was a HUGE hit!*
5. Put laundry away
6. Vacuum rug in living room
7. Sweep floors - In Progress
8. Shine Sink -In Progress

I feel so good now that I've finished everything on my "To Do" List. It's only 9pm :-) I still need to clean off my dining room table, but I feel pretty good about what I got done today.

Tomorrow, my goal is to start my day a little earlier, hopefully, by 7. I have a really hard time waking up in the morning especially since Monkey wakes up to nurse around 5am.

3. Do something (10 Minutes)

I'm going to do my daily "Flylady" routine as well as straighten up my living room.

So far today I've gotten off to a very late start. It's almost 10:30am and I haven't done anything besides get Monkey up, feed him breakfast, get him dressed and play with him. He has another cold, so he's been rather clingy, so I'm going to tackle my daily "to do's" when he goes down for his nap in about 30 minutes.

This is how I'm hoping my day will play out:

1) Bible Study
2) Workout (can't remember the last time I did this- maybe 9 1/2 months ago?)
3) Shower, get dressed, put on makeup & do hair
4) Spend 10 Minutes cleaning

Of course, this is how I'm hoping it will play out and all things are subject to change without notice. I'll keep you posted on how my day is going.

Tata for Now!

Image from Art.com