My Great Day!!

Today started at 6:45 AM. No ones fault but my own. Elliott woke half an hour later with a smile on her face! We enjoyed a nice shower, bananas for breakfast and I worked on hand sewing the new cushion cover for my rocking chair (I'll have pictures for that in some other post.)

We left the house about 10:30 AM. Nice and sunny! Took the bus to the little strip mall that's about a mile from home. In target I immediately found the perfect socks to make sock monkeys!! They were 2 pairs for $5!! So I got 6 even though I'm only making 5 monkeys.

One each for: Elliott, my two nephews, my little cousin and my little sister! I of course get the last pair of socks to enjoy and add to my growing collection of knee socks (I have over 25 pairs!!)

Next we went to Micheal's and got embroidery floss so I can embroider their names into their monkeys, and buttons so the monkeys can have eyes!!

The entire time I was out I resisted the urge to go to Starbucks! Matt is going to be so proud of me. =) Oh and there were at least 3 Starbucks that I could have  gone to while out today! One of them right next to the book store that I went and got the final installment in the Eragon series. (it's about freaking time that book came out!!)

After we were done shopping (also resisted the urge to go into Old Navy, Plato's Closet and Ross!! Although going through Micheal's and only getting buttons and floss was more difficult than resisting clothes!!) We went to 5 Guys Burgers and Fries. I'm not a big hamburger person but it was tasty! And a much better choice than McDonald's!

Elliott stayed awake until we got home and nursed to sleep with out a fuss 10 min after we did get home! So there you go, 2 updates in one week! I know it sounds kind of like a boring day, but it was so great to get out on such a pretty (and warm!) day! Elliott and I are in great moods and I'm glad we got some fresh air! Now I'm going to go work on my projects!!

My Forced Post

I feel like if I don't write a post than my sister will fly all the way from Texas and beat me up! =)

I know, I know. I'm a horrible blogger. I don't really have a good excuse. Although my daughter keeps me very busy...I guess I could always write at night after she goes to sleep...But don't count on it.

As many of you know, my husband was laid off a little over a month ago. The same day we signed a lease for a new apartment. Thankfully after only one real week of job searching he found a new job! He is going to be the lead tech at Firestone in Lake Oswego. It's a bit of a commute but he'll survive. He starts tomorrow (Tuesday 11/08/2011) We are actually really happy with how things turned out. We put up with a lot of sh*t at his old job, but this new place offers over 31 benefits! Including, but not limited too: Health, dental, vision, 401K...The important stuff! It will be nice to have that kind of peace of mind. Knowing that *if* we get sick we can actually see a doctor about it!! haha

Our new apartment is...ok. We will definitely not be staying more than one year here. It's a townhouse connected to 4 other town homes. Unfortunately we have neighbors on both sides. The neighbors to the right are quiet and I hardly ever notice them. The neighbors to the left however...5 or so college students. And yeah, they like to party and play drums at 1 am, and go out and converse very loudly on their front porch well after the "quiet hours" They have gotten better since we filed a complaint with the managers, but every now and then we will hear their tv/drums/music louder than our tv.

Some of you may have heard that we signed our new lease with my best friend. Scott. We have also taken in a "lost puppy" who had no where else to go. To clarify this "lost puppy" is actually a human not a dog. The first month of her being with us where...frustrating. There was a lot of miscommunication and personality clashing. Finally we all sat down for a pow-wow and got things settled. Mel (the puppy) has also found a job that she will also start tomorrow. She'll be working at Bath and Body Works.

Elliott has a cold right now and is still trying to cut more teeth. So she's pretty cranky. You know, I'm excited that is didn't take very long for Matt to find a job...but I will be sad to see him go back to work. It was nice having someone else to help out with Elliott so I didn't have to do everything. He's actually better at putting her to sleep than I am, so I'm really dreading nap times after he goes back to work.

Me...well having Matt home, and Mel and Scott has probably actually been a good thing. Matt has watched Elliott so I can go out with Mel and Scott. I even got a new outfit and makeup! So I feel great. Tired and frustrated at times but great about myself! =)

Ok that's it for now. Here's some pictures!

A Messy Post

As well all know...I suck at keeping a blog. It's been months since I wrote and a lot has happened. I'm not sure what I last said so forgive me if I repeat anything.

So, Elliott turned 1 this last Thursday! ONE! Holy freaking cow! She's so smart too. She's been walking since before 10 months. She is now trying to say more words and she knows how to wave "hi/bye" and the sign for "milk" She still sleeps really crappy at night unless she's in bed with Matt and I which means I sleep really crappy. She still has no interest in solids. She's even getting tired of Nilla Wafers. Everyday I offer her snacks and food aaaalllll day long and every now and then she'll taste something but usually only once or twice. And by taste I mean bearly put it to her mouth and then pull it away with a funny face. It's tough but I think she'll get over it when she's ready.

We went to Minnesota to visit Matt's family this month. That was very fun. We stayed with Matt's mom. We went to The Mall of America and Valley Fair. We went to the aquarium under the Mall which was pretty awesome. Valley Fair is an amusment/water park...pretty freaking amazing! We went on a nice warm day but hardly anyone was there. Our longest wait for a ride was only 5 mins. I went on a bunch of rides I thought I never would. Roller Coasters, water slides...we even got a characature done of Matt, Elliott and I. We gave it to Janice.

So I had two root canals done in May and I'll be getting the crowns and fillings on some cavities in July. I have 3 appointments in July...ok the last is August 2nd but close enough. At least none of them are on my or Matt's birthday. Hopefully I'll be all done with teeth probably for years and years. lol Yeah right, I have terrible luck when it comes to my teeth.

I know I shoud be writing more since it's been forever since my last post...but I'm done writing for now. =)

Sorry it's sideways

Yoga, Zoo, Nap, Sewing, Food

YOGA:
I recently decided to take up yoga. I've managed to do it for 3 days in a row! Yay me!! Anyway, instead of actually going to a class I found a video on Netflix that isn't too cheesy and I actually enjoy it. I try to aim for Elliott's nap time to do it, but that has only happened once and she woke up 10 min before the end. Haha. I'm hoping to keep up with it and do it every day.

ZOO:
Yes we went there today. We were going to go with a group of ladies and their kids from church, but after a misunderstanding (and being forgotten) we ended up going by ourselves. Which I completely enjoyed. The sea lions and otters where very nice and swam close to the glass so Elliott could see them. The sea lion kept doing circles and his belly would touch the glass on his way around, Elliott never took her eyes off him. The animals that were sleeping and/or far away she didn't really notice. And I think the only reason she noticed the zebra is because of his black and white stripes sticking out so brightly against the green grass. We walked around for an hour and then went to the cafe and ate lunch then went home.

This was at the zoo.

NAP:
Unfortunately Smelliott didn't get much of an afternoon nap so she fell asleep around 5:45, woke up at 6 and has been super cranky ever since. She is currently taking shower to calm her down. She loves showers and baths, they work like a charm. As soon as she hears the water she stops crying.

SEWING:
So, (haha!!) I'm sewing again. I'm finally making some cloth wipes so we no longer have to buy disposable ones. I've got a recipe for some solution (if you want it just ask.) I'm just taking Elliott's old receiving blankets and cutting them into 7in x 7in squares and sewing them together. I'm also using some of the receiving blankets and old towels to make some breast pads. Eventually I'll get some water resistant material and make some menstrual pads as well. None of these things are fancy or the prettiest fabric but I don't care. They work, they do what they are supposed to do and they do it well with out us have to spend money every few weeks to a month. Which is awesome. Here are the first two I made. They are two pieces of flannel sewn together. The one on the left was sewn with the right sides together than turned inside out and top stitched. But I don't like how that turned out, it seems stiff and bulky. But the one on the right was sewn with wrong sides together with a zig-zag stitch, to prevent fraying. I wish I had a surger (serger? surgur? sergur? how do you spell that damn word!!) The rest I will sew with the wrong sides together and the zig-zag stitch. They rest will probably be different colors as well. The first two I was just trying to see how I wanted to sew them.

FOOD:
Elliott doesn't like it very much.We tried giving her the baby food from a jar, which she gagged on (if we could actually get it in her mouth!) but most of the time she'd simply refuse to open her mouth for a bit. So we are now moving on to different foods. The soft real people kinds of foods. Like yogurt, bananas, avocado and whatever else we can find that is easy to mush between gums and 2.5 teeth. The first night we offered her yogurt she went crazy and ate a ton!! (Well like 5 spoonfuls, so to us it felt like a ton!) But we've tried since then, same flavor of yogurt and she refuses. We've tried the bananas, avocado, soft cheese...I even cut them up and put them on the tray for her to pick them up her self, thinking that baby she just wants a little Independence. She'll pick up a few pieces, accidentally drop them, and then suck her thumb. Looking at me like "I'm not touch that crap again...now give me some booby milk!" *sigh* Her pediatrician is starting to get a little worried about her weight gain. Well...more worried that we will have to start to worry. Does that make sense? Any way, the ped said to feed her what she'll eat and add butter to it. Elliott isn't gaining as much weight as a baby that is actually eating solids, so we need to load the food she will eat (though we haven't found one yet) with calories. Here's a picture of Elliott "eating" yogurt. This is the second time we offered it to her and she didn't want it. So I gave her the spoon and poured a little of the tray to let her play with it and get acquainted with it. lol

Ok. That's it for now. If I kept talking I'd go off on a rant about how stupid Matt's work is and how much I hate everyone who works there (besides Matt of course.)

Cleaning and Roger's visit.

This is the first time I've actually sat and played on the computer for an extended amount of time in a while. I've completely forgotten about my blog until now. Sorry! =) Anyway, I've had a busier day than normal. I've moved Elliott's bed into her own room. Scary, I know. It's going to be hell until she adjusts to not being in our room. I'm sad, but it's time. I'm taking a break for a moment, but I'll get back to cleaning soon.

To Do List:
`Vacuum Elliott's room
`Vacuum my room
`Put the rocking chair in Elliott's room
`Continue doing the laundry
`Fold all the previously cleaned clothes
`Put Elliott's clothes in her room
`Move my bed (So Matt can have more room on his side now that Elliott's crib isn't in our room)
`Clean the living room
`Vacuum the living room
`Clean the kitchen
`Make dinner

All of this may or may not actually get done today (or this week, depending on if laziness comes back to soon). And depending on Elliott's mood.

Matt's father was here last week to visit. It's the first time he met Elliott. She fell in love with him. She likes trying to scratch his tattoo's off, and chewing on his watch. We took him to the beach because he had never seen the ocean before. Unfortunately Elliott got sick and was vomiting all the way there and back. We stayed there not even 2 hours. While we were there Elliott was super happy, talking and laughing at the top of her lungs. It was funny. But as soon as we got back in the car she got pissed and was throwing up within 15 minutes of being on the road. Poor thing. Oh did I mention she had pink eye too. It's gone now, but her poor little eye was all goopy and some times after waking up she couldn't even open her eye because the goopies had turned to crusties.

OK I feel like there was more I wanted to say, but the cleaning bug is nibbling at my toes again so I better get crackin!

Here are a couple of the pictures I got of Elliott with Roger.

Fail

Ok So It's obvious that I have already failed that the 30 day picture challenge. Let me catch up real fast.

Day 02- a picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest.

Tarek. My cousin. (No that is not Harry Potter)

Day 03- a picture of the cast from your favorite show.

Scrubs is probably the best show ever created! We've seen the entire series twice. 

Day 04- a picture of your favorite memory.

I know it's cheesy and all...but I'd have to say the birth of my daughter was a pretty awesome memory. 

Now I know that technically today is day 5 so I should be posting one more picture. But the picture for day 5 is supposed to be "a picture from your night" And since tonight is still happening I will wait until tomorrow to post that picture. Let me give you fair warning...it won't be anything spectacular.

So since I just got home less than half an hour ago, after standing in the literally freezing cold outside for 45 min waiting for the bus to take me home...I'm going to make some hot chocolate.

A Week Late and Day 1

Do I have you scared? lol I'm only a week late on my New Years post. (Nothing else is late!)
Christmas was pretty awesome. Holly and Peggie were here, we won Super Mario Bros Wii and got really close to beating Mario Galaxy 2. We played LIFE, 1/2 of Monopoly, plenty of card games, and some new games Peggie got us called Privacy, and Truth be Told. I don't know about everyone else but I had fun. I had forgotten how easy it is to mess up the house and how hard it is to clean with so many people. They've been gone 3 days and I'm just now finishing up the kitchen/downstairs. Haven't even begun to clean upstairs. Which of course is not entirely their fault. I seem to slip back into my childish ways and get even more lazy than I am regularly and didn't fold any of my clean clothes...they are spread out on my bedroom floor.

We had a slightly...anxious...holiday season. Just before the sisters got here I found a lump in breast. Rather than waiting we went to the doctor straight away. I had 2-3 screenings, an ultra sound, a mammogram and finally a biopsy just to find out that it was something to do with breastfeeding. But I'm glad we went in sooner rather than later. I'd rather know what it is and be safe, than not know and end up dieing from breast cancer because we didn't catch it in time.

Elliott is doing more "proper" crawling than army crawling these days! She's amazing and gets were ever she wants to go. She has already even attempted to climb the stairs. I was there watching her, just seeing how far she would get. It's time to invest in some baby gates. We've finally got out the play pin, because she is to big for the bouncer now and I can't just leave her in the middle of the floor when I need to clean the kitchen or vacuum.We've been toying with the idea of moving her crib into her room, hoping that since I won't immediately hear the tiniest noise she makes, than I won't jump up to get her before she's actually awake. But I'm still not sure I am ready for that. If/when we do that I'll be getting up and sitting to nurse her, rather than bringing her into our bed and going back to sleep while she nurses. Which will make me more tired come morning...but with the chance of her waking up less often...Well after a few nights (or weeks) we all might get more sleep. It will happen eventually...just not tonight. =)

This post is kind of jumping all over the place...sorry about that. I just have one more thing I want to share. And that is...

I think that sometime (a few years from now) I want to become a surrogate mother for a couple that can not have a child of their own. I'm not old enough at the moment, and I want to be done breastfeeding Elliott before I even begin the surrogate stuff. I want to spend time and enjoy my own daughter. In a year or two when Elliott is older Matt and I will talk and if we decide we want another child for ourselves...then that is what we will do. If we decide that Elliott is the only child we want, than we will discuss me being a surrogate further. If we do have another child for ourselves...than I'll wait a few years after that child is born to entertain the idea of being a surrogate then. This is not the first time that I've come across this idea, but I know that right now is not the right time, and I know that I will need plenty of time to thoroughly think about this (and maybe some counseling) before I will know if I am truly able to carry a baby for 9 months and then give it away at birth.

OK I think now one last thing.I've come across a "30 Day Challenge" That I would like to try. For the next 30 days I will post once a day with a picture of some sort. Sounds a little stupid but at least it will get me writing right??

DAY ONE:
A picture of yourself.

This is the most recent picture of me. Taken before Matt's work Christmas party.

Learning a New Language

So we've all heard of American sign language, and some have even heard of it being used for infants. Making it easier for our children to "tell" us what they want, before they can verbally tell us. Well of course I'm a seriously interested in this. It's so neat. I've always wanted to learn to sign, and what better time than when I'm teaching my daughter? =) I've found a really neat site that shows you how to sign a whole but of words. We will in no way be fluent, but with the site I've found (click here to visit site) Elliott will be able to tell me that she wants to wear "red socks" or that she needs a diaper "change" or that she wants some "milk"

Elliott probably wont sign for a couple of weeks to a couple of months. Right now is just a learning stage. Even Matt is helping with the signing. We are having fun learning and teaching Elliott.

Oh and here as a special treat is a video of Elliott's first full out laugh. It's dark, but that's ok =)

No More Disposables!

We are officially and totally out of disposable diapers! We now have 32 cloth diapers for Elliott. I'm so excited! The ones that just came in are pretty awesome! They are a bunch of different colors and are not as "puffy" as the first ones we got. Which means we'll have to change her diaper a little more often with the new diapers but they fit a little more like disposables so she's not stretching out her onsies all the time. We still have the older ones, I use them at night and for when we got out and might not be able to change her diaper when we should. (We all know it happens) Here are some pictures. I got Elliott to model one for the camera. =)

Aren't they simply adorable! I love them. When I ordered them, they said I could pick which colors I wanted and I specified the number of each color I wanted, but I didn't get what I wanted. Which irritates me. There was a cute one with bunnies on it that I didn't get. But before any of you repeat "Complain" I'm not going to. It's not that big of a deal. I'll just have to live with what we got. Ok now that you are all caught up on the cloth diaper situation I must go. 

Change of Pie Plans

Well...more like the cancellation of pie plans. That idea died out within two days of writing the post about it. Sad, I know. But really, thinking about it...it just won't work.

Fortunately I've come up with a new idea that has stuck with me for a couple weeks now. As you all know I've recently started cloth diapering my daughter, as well as looking into many homemade/natural alternatives to everyday cleaning products. I want to start making these products, test them out and if all goes well...sell them. I'm still in the research stage, trying to find the best recipes for everything. When I get to the testing stage, I will need a few volunteers to help "test" my products. (Unfortunately the testers might need to make a donation, since I can't exactly hand out stuff for free.) Anyway, here is a list of natural homemade products I am thinking of making and selling:

Lip balm
Deodorant
Bath Salts
Reusable cloth breast pads (for lactating mothers...or the few men that might have a lactating problem)
Reusable cloth menstrual pads (washable, comfy, money saving, eco-friendly)

That's all I can think of right now. Depending on how the making and testing stages go, I may or may not drop/add items. I am going to be making laundry detergent and hair care but I'm not sure if I want to sell them. I can however still give you the recipes I end up using.

For this next part of the post if you are opposed to talking about a woman's monthly cycle I suggest you discontinue reading.

I know the idea of cloth menstrual pads sounds a little gross at first. But if you think about the benefits for you and the earth than it's not so bad. That is one reason we switched to cloth diapers for Elliott. They are more comfy for her tiny tooshie, they cost friendly, eco-friendly  and come in many cute colors and designs (I know that no one will see them but we woman like things pretty even things that don't get seen.) Disposable pads can be scented, and feel to much like a plastic diaper, added chemicals to make them smell can cause infections or allergic reactions. And NO ONE wants an infection *down there* When making these cloth pads I will also be making a storage bag, that you can put the dirty pads in until washing day.

Ok I'll finish now.

Oh and if you made it this far I want you to comment! I want feed back on this idea and feel free to ask questions. =)

Here's a cute picture as a reward for reading through this slightly awkward post.

Sisters

Sisters are pretty amazing. I have 4 of them and I love them all. They are pretty much amazing. =)

We all have our faults, we all mess up but we are all there for eachother when we need it the most. I would do anything for those 4. And I know they would do anything for me. I love my sister and miss them very much. I can't wait for Christmas! They (excluding Laura) are coming to my house! It's going to be amazing. We'll spend the time picking on eachother, playing games (maybe even hide and seek! and karate!!) Eating and just having fun. It will be epic. =)

Tree Hugging.

So as many of you know I've recently decided to switch to cloth diapering Elliott, rather than using plastic disposable diapers. We just recieved our first pair of cloth diapers and have been washing them daily so she can use them at night. We love them! They are easy to use, and you can tell they are 20 million times more comfortable than disposables. With all this cloth diapering excitement I've also done some research and have recieved a few recipes on how to make your own laundry soap, softener etc. Which got me doing even MORE research and looking for MORE ways I can make cheap and all around better soaps for my home and family. I've found some interesting stuff on homemade hair products which I can't wait to try! So not only is all of this stuff I am finding better for our wallet, better for our lives (chemical free and all natural) it's better for the enviroment! Who knew that I would be hugging trees!? =) Maybe I will post recipes and new ideas as I go. For now, here is a couple of pictures of Elliott in her new cloth diaper!!

She had just gotten out of the bath, she was hungry and she was exhausted! But she was nice enough to let me take these three pictures to share with you all. =)

Plastic to Cloth

I have finally convinced my dear husband to try cloth diapering Elliott, instead of using those icky plastic disposable diapers. I'm really excited about this. Not only will Elliott be less likely to get diaper rashes, she's less like to have a blowout, and we save a ton of money in the long run! Did I mention I was really excited? Cloth diapers come in pretty colors and designs, and you just through them in a "wet bag" (From what I gather it's just a laundry sack, made for cloth diapers, probably water proof so the icky diapers won't soak through and icky-fi anything else) then every few days do laundry. There is also cloth wipes, that you can wash and re-use, but I haven't looked into them much. For now we are just doing the diapers.

See they're cute! And they look so much more comfy than those plastic crappy (pun totally intended) ones. =) And of course there are endless possibilities for color and design.

Who doesn't like Pie??

Seriously!? There is a pie out there for every single person:
Fruit
Chocolate
Vanilla
Lemon
Sugar-Free
Gluten-Free
Vegan
Organic

There is no end to the kind of pies you can make. And all this pie talk brings me to my "IDEA" that some of you may have read on FB.

I want to start my own little at home business of making and selling pie!!

Isn't that the best idea ever?! I'll start out by just practicing, since I haven't had the oppertunity to bake in quite sometime. I'll bring the practice pies to Matt's work and let the guys test them for me. (I think I'll find plenty of willing particpents, they know my baking skills and I havn't heard a bad word about anything I've brought in before.) Oh did I mention that cheesecake is in the pie family? Yep and it will be on the menu as well. It's going to take sometime and little (lot) a bit of money to get started, but I think in the long run it will be good for me. It will give me somthing to do on a daily basis besides sitting around on my tushie forever.

Some plans for after I get this thing up and going:
Shipping. I know there is a way to ship temperature sensitive foods. When my little pie business gets going I'll figure out exactly what that is, and I can start shipping pie out to people, over night. It will of course cost more...but be totally worth it!

Oh and one of the best selling points, especially up here in Portland, is that all of my pies will be home-made with only locally bought ingredients. It will cost more for me, therefore more for you. BUT I know how much Portland loves to buy local. =)

I really hope this idea works. I like baking, I love pie, and of course wouldn't mind a little extra money. =)

I'm not completly sure on a name for this little business. But I'll come up with something. Or I'll have a contest on here and who ever comes up with the most original creative name gets a free pie. Haha, we'll see.

They were playing with the cars. =)

Sad and Lonely

So, talking with Peggie and Matt...we've all decided it's best if Peggie stays in Utah. She's got so many more oppertunities there, and she's doing amazing in school. I would hate to disrupt that with dragging her back to Portland. I am completely ok with this. The problem is...well see I posted an ad on craigslist for friends, pathetic I know. And it seemed to work out. I had 7 people respond. 2 didn't write back after I did. I asked the other 5 to all get together at once and have a ladies movie night. We all needed friends so why the hell not right? Well only one ended up able to come to that movie night. That's fine, I did ask only 3 days before the planned day. So I made plans for next week. A full 7 days before the movie night. The one who showed up to the first movie night still talks to me and we are still making plans to hangout. The other 4 havn't written me back. Sigh. I know this is all pointless and annoying crap that you don't care about but, for the moment..deal. Then I had plans to go to a play group today for church. But that didn't work out. So all plans I had for human interaction have gone down the drain and I feel like crying...again, because I already have a little.

I've thought of trying to host a foreign exchange student. I've talked to Matt about it a little, but we havn't talked about it extensivly. I think it would be awesome! Maybe we could get a kid just for the spring semester of school. Of course they would be in school so they wouldn't always be around, but they would be here earlier in the day. Give me someone to drag around to the Saturday market. Or if school is canceled, we could go to the mall. But now it's sounds like I'm ordering a live-in friend.  Haha even more pathetic than craigslist. There are a few things holding me back from persuing the exchange student route. First, the fact that Matt and I are so young, with an infant...would we actually qualify to host a student? I know any kid would LOVE to live in Portland, and we are right on a bus line so it's about perfect. Second...do we have enough money? Matt managed to support me, Elliott, Holly, Gabriel and himself rather well for 3 months. And an exchange student would have their own spending money, so all we really provide is a roof over their head, a bed, food and transportation. Which brings me to my third problem...transportation. We have one car, and I don't even have a license. I'm thinking that might cause a problem. But will it? We live on a busline. The kid will be in school during the week so there's not many places they can/will need to go Mon-Fri. And if they do we could probably get there via bus.  But I'm sure a car of my own would be plenty helpful. What if there isn't a bus (school or public) that could get them to and from school? I can't take them.  Oh! and what if they get in trouble at school?  Or hang out with the "bad kids" and drink and smoke and do stuff they aren't supposed to? How am I supposed to dicapline them only being 2-5 years old than them? Which 15-18 year old is going to listen to a 20 year old. It would be like their older sister trying to get them in trouble. And another thing...what if they don't like me? What if they're a little stuck up bitch? (Pardon my French...no pun intended.)

Ok I'm done with that long and boring subject for a moment.

And now Elliott is awake so I must go. =)

Yep, she's a thumb sucker. =)

Just the 3 of us.

Elliott is helping me write this one, because she decided we should wake up a whole 2 hours earlier than normal. Thank we normally wake up around 9, so waking up at 7 didn't completely kill me. It also helped that when I went to get her out of her bed she was happy and excited to see me. =)

She is getting so big! She rolled over the other day. Rolled from back to belly, and then back again. Rolling from belly to back again was deliberate, you could totally tell she knew what she was doing. She's such a chunk, turning into the cutest rolly-polly you've ever seen.

Mom, Holly and Gabriel left on Sunday. It's just Matt, Elliott and I in this big ol' place. It almost seems to big now. The biggest thing I don't like about this place is the spiders. There are a million of them out back, and it seems that I am getting bitten by them, but I'm not sure when. I just randomly find new bites. And all the bites would be covered by shorts, that's where they all are. In my hip area. It's crazy.

I made bananananananananana bread today. Elliott helped. And by helped I mean hindered. She sat nicely in her bouncer for the first half of the making part, then decided she was tired of sitting in her bouncer. So I ended up finishing mixing with her in my arms. I of course had to put her back in the bouncer to put the bread in the oven...which pissed her off. I think she's just jealous that she can't have bananananananananana bread yet. =)

Lazy Days

We've got most of our stuff over to our new place. The kitchen is complete and unpacked. But the livingroom and bedroom are messy.

Did I mention that Elliott is laughing now? Well she did one day but hasn't since (about 3-4 days ago) I got some of it on video. She's been cranky since that day, teething. She drools through 2-3 bibs a day. She's only taking 15-30 min naps so she's always tired.

I made an ad on craigslist for friends. Strictly platonic of course. And I had about 6 replies (all female of course, because I obviously didn't ask for males.) so I am going to start a weekly or bi-weekly movie night. It should be fun. It will have to wait until next week because it's too late now. =)

FIRE!!

Oh wait. False alarm!

Two nights ago we woke up to the sound of the building's fire alarm, at 3 in the morning! Who knows how long it was going on before we woke up. But Holly, Matt and I all came to realize it was on at about the same time. We got sweaters and flip flops on. Made sure to grab a blanket for the baby and grabbed the portable hard-drive that has all our pictures. Matt kept saying it was probably a joke by some immature jerk. But I think the risk is too much to take. We then walked down all 6 flights of stairs. Elliott and Gabe were both awake, but were happily confused. Elliott ended up falling back to sleep in my arms as we were standing out on the sidewalk.We're not sure why the alarm was going off but as we walked back in the building the firemen said it was false. (Thankfully we could take the elevator back up to the 6th floor. Can you immagine walk UP 6 flights of stairs at 3 am?!)

I don't see how grown people can be so freakin immature as to pull a fire alarm just for the hell of it!! Especially in the middle of the night. People need to grow up and get life!

Ok vent over. =)

There' s No Place Like Home.

As many of you know, we are currently residing in an itsy-bitsy little tiny one bedroom apartment. It is approximately 550 sq feet. Perfect for the young newly weds we were when we moved in last September. Not so perfect for the parents we are now. There is just not enough room for the 3 of us. Our lease is up September 30th. So for the last month we've been out apartment hunting every chance we get. We've toured more places then I can remember. We go on craigslist often, searching for 2 bedrooms (or larger) that are in our price range.

After touring about 10 places we decided that among those 10 there was one that we could handle living in. We planned on going back to this one place that we could handle and turning in applications. The night before this was planned I once again got on CL in hopes of finding something better. I did.

There was an add for a 2 bedroom 1.5 bathroom TOWNHOME for only $875 a month. 1200 sq feet! It just so happened to be in the area of town that we wanted to stay in. So we decided to visit this place before heading over to the apartments we had settled on. I called that night and left a message. Matt called the next morning and made an appointment to tour the townhouse. We were the first appointment of the day. Got there at 10:30 am. The outside was not impressive. The paint on the sign was peeling. The next door neighbors had boxes and a stroller on our shared porch. I was NOT impressed.

However, as soon as I walked through the door I fell in love. You walk in onto a landing. You can either go up, or down. There are only about 5 steps going down into the living room/dining room. Once in the living room you can turn back to the stairs and notice a closet under the "UP" stairs. Also known as "The Harry Potter closet." And it is large enough, that even someone a little over 6 feet can lay down comfortably. There are two sliding glass doors that lead out onto a patio that is walled so no one can see in. It's the perfect little patio for a BBQ and patio table/chairs. The kitchen as almost triple the counter space we currently have. It has a full size oven, dishwasher and full size fridge. All things that we have not had the pleasure of using for the last year. Off the kitchen is the laundry room with full size washer/dryer and the half bathroom.

Now lets go up stairs. As you reach the top a hallway takes you to the two bed rooms. Peggie's is the first door on the left. It has two closets. One has shelves that go all the way to the ceiling. The other has one shelf and place to hang up clothes. There is also a sliding glass door that leads out on to a rather large deck.

If you go through the door at the end of the hall you'll find the master bedroom. You'll find yet another sliding glass door (Leading to the same deck mentioned above...is big!) This room is large enough for our queen sized bed and a full sized crib. We also have two closets There is one shelf that goes through both closets and then a wall from the shelf to the floor that separates the two sides. Both sides have individual clothes racks. (I won't have to shove his hangers aside to get to my clothes!!) We also have our own private entrance to the bathroom. (Which can also be reached from the hall)

I was not the only one who fell in love with this place. After viewing the up stairs we went back to the kitchen and Matt asked if we could fill out applications then and there. The two ladies giving us the tour reviewed our apps and said that everything looked good and that we can basically call it ours! Right now we are only waiting on the reviews from our current and previous places of residence. We'll know Monday for sure if we got the place. I'm not worried. We'll be moving the 9th of September, giving us plenty of time to move and get settled. And to get back to the old place to do a nice good deep clean.

And speaking of the 9th...It's our one year anniversary. And it's also the day we plan on signing the papers and making our marriage legal. =) It's going to be one heck of a busy day! We'll have our car, mom's van and a friends truck, so we'll be able to get everything moved that day. (We don't have that much stuff) The moving will happen in the morning. Later that day is when we'll sign the marriage license and legally become Husband and Wife. We'll then go out to dinner and celebrate. No unpacking, that can be done later. We'll just make sure that our bed and Elliott's bed is set up so we have a place to sleep.

I am so very excited!! (If you couldn't tell)  I went online and googled "floor plan designer" and found a free 7 day trial of a really cool program, and I made a floor plan of our new place from memory. I showed it to both Matt and Holly, they agreed that the floor plan is perfect. (Not exactly to scale, but it will at least show you what it looks like.)

First Level ^

Second Level ^

And here is a picture of Elliott. Just because I love showing her off. =)

Keeping Tabbs...

Thanks to my amazing friend Emily, we now have a new name! Yay! I guess I could wait for more suggestions, but...well I won't. =)

I'm sure you are all smart enough to understand why the name "Keeping Tabbs" is so perfect, so I'm not going to explain it.

So, on to other more important news. My mother has given us 100 dollars to make everything legal. I've done all the research and we will be going to the court house Next week to get the license. Once that is in our possession and the waiting period is other (3 days after the license is issued) then we will be going to the court house again with Holly and one of Matt's guy friends, as witnesses, and we will be signing the papers. Although that will be our our "legal wedding" we will not be celebrating that day. To us, we have been married since September 9, 2009. That is our wedding day. The day we go in front of the judge to legalize it is just a technicalities, that day wont be remembered.