Hunting Season is Now Open

_{Kaylee in her camo dress that Allison got for her}

So, November 6th has arrived. What does this mean? Basically, that I will be alone for a lot of weekends until the season closes in January. It's ok though because I love the fact that we don't pay for any red meat - only chicken and occasionally pork. Venison, Nilgai, Beef... mmm all super yummy! Our freezer, however is still pretty full.. so I need to start cooking more of this meat before it goes bad.


_{"Awww shucks! I am cute, aren't I mama?"}

Tonight begins my big goal for 2011. TWENTY ELEVEN. O M G... I can't believe how time flies... So, my new goal is a real budget. I've always had a spreadsheet for budgeting, but never a long term goals budget. I imagine it will be many hours and lots of rearranging, but I have fun with this type of stuff. Here's hoping Brian can understand my craziness once I get it complete and ready for him to look over and approve/make changes.

I hope to include menus, shopping lists with current 2010 prices at 2 different stores, projects to be completed with budgets and supplies needed and of course our bills. Those dreaded things that suck the life out of everyone.

My hope by doing all of this is to maybe pay off one and a half of my stupid (I meant to type student, but it came out stupid.. so I'll leave it.. fingers have a mind of their own) student loans in 2011. Because it means we'll have to cut way back, that means I have to start cooking more things from scratch. I'm talking, make your own pasta type from scratch. This is where the family who want time with Kaylee come in.

Here's hoping I can stick to it, because man all mighty, I'm sick of being so strapped for cash, knowing full well that it's my fault. If we can survive just ONE YEAR, it will free up quite a bit. If we can make it a lifestyle change, we'll be sittin' pretty in 3 years.


_{Kaylee sleeping in her carseat}

Four Months

Kaylee, you turned four months old on October 29th. FOUR MONTHS. How did we even get here? It seems like yesterday we were bringing you home. I'm almost positive I'm going to say that every month until I really realize that you are really here and not just a figment of my imagination.

Everyday you manage to do something that makes me giggle. You do a crab crawl on your back while I change you. You discovered your hands and now play with toys. You laugh. Ohh, it's so sweet.. but I haven't caught it on video yet. When I'm not paying attention to the clock, you will let me know by standing up on me, grabbing my shirt and smoshing your face into my chest while screaming. Yes. I do laugh. But, then I feed you and all is right with your world again.



This was a big month for you. And for me. It was the first time I ever left you for more than a day. It was the first time you were on your own against the world. Well, not really.. but that's what I had built up in my head. Would you make it FOUR DAYS without me? Would I be able to survive four days without you??

I realized a few things on my trip to Montreal.
* I have some really awesome virtual friends who I can proudly say are now IRL friends. (yes, I'm a dork.. so shoot me..).. I wish we were all closer because I want you to meet them so badly!
* I can survive without you and you can survive without me... but it still sucked being away while I was off having fun in another country.
* I never knew I could love so hard and deeply.
* You are my best friend and I hope that we will always be close, but I hope I never forget that I am your mom first.

You are developing such a little personality. Happiness is an understatement. While you have your moments, for the most part, you are a very sweet, content and happy baby - everything I have ever wanted for you. I love your little smile... your little hands and feet... your belly... and most importantly the smell of the top of your head after I give you a bath... I will admit, I have almost licked it. But I have refrained.. so far. :)~

Halloween was a big deal for me. I love Halloween. It's my favorite holiday. I decided not to decorate because of time and energy, but next year will be so awesome because you'll be walking. I searched a lot of places for the perfect 1st costume for you. But, the selection was "ehh"... I settled on a really cute bunny outfit, which ended up working out ok. You didn't like it much, but you were adorable in it.

Montreal - picture blog

I decided to do mostly a picture blog this time because I still haven't recovered from the absolute awesomeness of this past weekend.

Brian and I started our Thursday at a lovely 4:30 AM. Our flight was at 6:40, so that should have been plenty of time, seeing how the airport doesn't even open until 5. As we were making our way to the airport, he realizes that he forgot his wallet. We made a mad dash back to the house, but thankfully, he found it a few minutes later. Even so, with leaving the house 15 minutes late and taking an eight minute u-turn, we almost missed our flight. Like to the point where they were paging us!

We arrived in Atlanta where we discovered our flight was delayed 45 minutes. No problem. Brian's brother had given us 2 club passes, so we hung out there for a while. When we get boarded though, the crew discover a missing placard. Something apparently required for flying the plane. We all waited an hour and a half for them to get it replaced. The plane took off around the time we were supposed to be arriving in Montreal. Lovely.

The plane landed around 4:30pm but of course took forever to taxi. We got to the customs line at 5 and I almost passed out. The line was LONG. And I needed to.. well, relieve my boobs in the worst way. I decided the sooner we get in line, the sooner we'd get out.

At 6:30pm, we arrive at the custom agent's booth. This was not my first time in customs, but boy did it sound like it! I actually took the lady we were meeting people we met on the internet. HELLO CRAZY! What I should have said was "We're here on vacation." Lesson learned.

Notre Dame Bascillica - built in the 1600s


Another view..


The colors inside were AMAZING!


The organ


The church


Closer view of the front


Pretty fall colors... maple trees


Clock Tower


Scorpion and Tequila Worm Lollipops

Where part of The Score was filmed


Of course... we found Laser Quest.


Mr Steer for breakfast... Peep show for dessert? HA!


Poutine... absolutely disgusting.. but apparently, the Canadians love this ... stuff. :)


Ye Old Orchard Pub... this place was FANTASTIC. And right across the street...


Firegrill for dinner with the girls (and Brian)

Brian pretending to be Canadian... aww.. cute, eh?


The gang! I have never spent 2 days with so many wonderful women in my life... I miss them so much!

Doing better with this blog thing...

One of my goals is to blog better. Include pictures. Include video. Update more. I used to blog every.single.day. back in the day. But, then life got busy and my blog took a backseat to just about everything.

So, here's my first attempt at doing better.


_{Kaylee's beautiful blue eyes}

A few months ago, I was casually talking to Brian about wanting to meet a certain group of ladies I chat with daily. These ladies are in Canada. That's right. Another frickin' country. One that will take 9 hours (with a layover) by plane to get to. They had scheduled this really awesome weekend meetup. And this is where our journey begins....

Brian jokingly mentioned to his dad.. "Yaknow, if you sent us on vacation, you could watch the baby."

The next thing we knew, we had airfare. What the hell just happened here??

We are going to Montreal. THIS WEEK. As in, we fly out Thursday at the butt crack of dawn. Our trip will be 4 days, so we'll come back Sunday afternoon.

I think I might be the craziest person on Earth. Thankfully, I have had zero depression since having the baby. But, I have had a lot more anxiety than I thought. Not so much with having to keep her day in and day out, but being alone at night and being away from her really gets my heart racing. And now... with her being a mere 3 and a half months old, I will be traveling without her to another country. Insanity.


_{Family Picture at the Pumpkin Festival}

Here's hoping that we are so busy laughing, playing and site seeing for me to really worry. I hope that I am able to allow myself this vacation. It was about this time last year that I found out I was pregnant (October 16th to be exact). And it was no picnic. I was sick. I quit my job. I found my dream job that I couldn't keep. I had a baby. I started working from home. I struggled with keeping up with everything.

But, she sleeps through the night. She smiles at me. She coos and gurgles. When I hold her, she grabs my shirt and won't let go. It's pure sweetness to rock her to sleep in the recliner, only to fall asleep myself.


_{Kaylee Rolls Over}

11.5 weeks

Dear Kaylee,
You are 11.5 weeks old and time sure is flying. Last Saturday, we traveled up to Dallas to hang out with some friends. At Rachel's apartment, I had you laying on your baby futon when all of a sudden you popped your head up and started looking around! Your head control has always been pretty good, but you've never really looked around while laying completely flat before. I knew that you'd be flipping yourself over soon for sure now. You almost had it last week...



Sure enough. Yesterday you rolled over from your tummy to back. I was thinking (hoping) it was a fluke, but at 1am this morning you woke yourself up by rolling over. And then just a few moments ago, you rolled over 2 more times. I was able to catch your forth ever rolling onto your back on video. Momma is doomed! I really enjoyed having you be this little blob, but now you have a lot of personality and are learning new things all the time. Next thing I know, you'll be crawling.... and talking... and getting married.

You'll always be our little girl though.

Love,
Mom

7 weeks and counting

Kaylee is 7 weeks old. Man how time has flown by, yet stood so still. We spend our days rocking in the recliner, eating, going through diapers and now, playing with toys with noises. She's a relatively good baby, thankfully, although she has her moments of uncontrollable crying fits. Stupid gas. It is funny when she scares herself with her farts :p

She burps better than most frat boys, which is hilarious and disturbing at the same time. Her first smiles started happening about 2 weeks ago. Now, I can provoke her and get them (well, as long as she's in a good mood). Her head control is pretty decent and she loves to scoot around when I put her on her tummy - also disturbing..

Overall, things are really good. I'm trying to freelance while staying home with her. That is proving to be a challenge as she will not sleep much during the day. So, I end up working when *I* should be sleeping with her... like now.

I do have her on somewhat of a schedule. She eats just about at the same times every day and sleeps just about the same intervals... we try to play some in between all of that. I'm starting to just let her cry a little more instead of rocking her to sleep, which has worked at times with getting her to take a day time nap. Maybe she'll get the hint that she is tired and needs to sleep...

Sorry the posts are few and far between... I just don't have the energy to keep up with this thing atm.

Baby Kaylee is Here!

Kaylee was born at 1:06pm Central Standard Time on June 29th, 2010.

I was born at 2:07pm, so we are almost exactly 30 years apart. She sleeps very well, eats great, and is a champion pooper.

I am doing great mentally, which was something I was soooooo worried about. Hopefully, it will last. :)

Hubs has been amazing. He's done all of the diaper changes and is really taking every opportunity available to learn. This experience most definitely changed our marriage for the better.

I'll write up a birth story sometime in the near future, but while I'm sitting here patiently waiting for the breakfast hotline to open, I figured I could give a glimpse.

I went into early labor at 5:40am on 6/28. We had an appointment at 9:20am already, so we went ahead and had her check me. I was only dilated 1cm, but effaced 85%. She was convinced I'd be back that afternoon.

Well... I labored all day - it didn't get intense and consistent until about 1am 6/29. By 2am, we decided to go in. I was only dilated 2cm! I was so discouraged because I just KNEW they would send me home.

The contractions from 2am to 4:30am were intense so they figured a few more hours of me laboring there couldn't hurt.. so they kept me (whew!)

My doc came in at 8:30.. still only 2cm.. boo... and it is confirmed - I am the biggest wuss on the planet. I thought I was dying. Then this lovely nurse came in and offered statol (I could be butchering the spelling...) to "take the edge off"... I <3 that stuff... haha but it was only a short term.

They offered the epidural about when the statol was wearing off. And I took it. Yes early and I was worried that would slow things. I don't recall the exact time... about 2 hours later, they did have to give me pitocin because my contractions just wouldn't regulate and my water had already broken.

Doc came back at 12:30pm and said I should be about 6cm. LOL was she in for a hell of a surprise.. I was 10! I kind of figured I was because around 11:45, I told the nurse - dude, I could totally touch this kid if I wanted to... she didn't want to check me though since Doc would be back shortly (meaning 15 minutes, but she took her time with lunch... whatevs).

Anyway.. after she checked me, it was a mad panic to get everything ready... I wanted to laugh. This kid was literally falling out of me without any help.

I started pushing at 12:55ish.. she was here 4 pushes later at 1:06pm.

CRAZY!