Happy Spring!

I love this time of year...perfect weather, birds chirping, green grass. What is there not to like? We spent the last week outside, weather permitting. Alivia could live outside if we would let her. She plays on her playset, bikes and spends hours at the neighborhood park when the weather is nice. Chris finally completed the garage organization. Looks wonderful! I need to take of picture of his masterpiece. It is SOOOO much better.

Spring also brings spring cleaning. I watched as our neighbor MAN of the house washed his windows and wondered if my Dad had ever done that job. I actually look forward to the day I have a few moments to get a few of our windows clean. Chris and I continue to do our financial cleaning, so to speak, too, & are excited by our progress! My new favorite magazine is MONEY. They have great advice in there for self professed penny pinchers like myself.

This coming week looks to be a busy one. My boss will be here for a couple days keeping me company. I hope to start our spring cleaning at night so we can start wearing weather appropriate clothes. Until next week...

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Quiet time?

My good friend, Heidi, sent me an email on Friday telling how important "quiet time" is and suggested I try it with Alivia who gave up her nap a few months ago. So, I tried it on Saturday and today. Worked like a charm! I told her she could read books or play with her babies as long as she was quiet in her room unless she had to go potty. Both days she ended up asleep. I got so much done during this time and felt energized for the rest of the afternoon into evening to play. However, she is having a more difficult time going to sleep now. It is 9PM now and she is still in her room talking. The same thing happened last night. I will probably continue with the quiet time next weekend and see how it goes.

The good news is that Alivia has been dry all night for 2 nights now! Knock on wood, though. I hope this is a continuing pattern because I am about to wear out our wash machine.

Chris spent the ENTIRE weekend in the garage! He put up the shelving system all the way around the garage - including above the garage door. Today he painted the walls white. He just has to place all the stuff on the shelves. I will post an after picture, but I wish I would have taken a before picture! I can hardly wait to park my car inside again. Chris wants to just sit a while and let the bruises on the backs of his legs heal (from leaning against the ladder as he installed the shelves!).

Have a good week!

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Easter Pics

 

 

Easter Pics

Well, after having Addison sick this week, we finally got into get the Easter pictures taken yesterday. To view, go to:

http://www.capturetoday.photosite.com/Album86/

Alivia and Addison both really liked the bunny. Chris and I learned why it is important to keep a male and female bunny apart. :) We did not know we were going to see THAT at the photographers!

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Addison turns 8 months

 

Addison 8 months old!

Addison is now 8 months old. We can hardly believe that much time has passed already (do I say that every month?). She was sick tonight - so I did not even get a picture! She gets her pictures taken tomorrow with Alivia for Easter if she feels better. I will post the proofs when they are ready.

Addison is crawling really well now. She is talking some, "Dada" mostly. Addison is now pulling to a stand while holding onto something and does cruise some along the sofa. I have tried having her stand alone in the middle of the room, but she just falls into me and then laughs and laughs. She thinks I am playing a game. She gave up the bottle pretty much on her own and has finally mastered the sippy cup (Although she will only drink water and juice in it). Addison's favorite game is peek-a-boo right now. You will never believe this...Addison's favorite toy...anything with a tag! She will crawl acrossed the room if she sees a tag hanging off of a blanket, stuffed toy, UNDER the couch! Anything that has washing instructions or something. So, how does she put herself to sleep at night or at naptime? She crawls to her bumper pad, finds the tag, and with her tag in one hand and her thumb in her mouth she falls fast asleep. Ahhh...  

Hopefully she is feeling better in the morning. Tonight she fell asleep on me right after I took her out of her highchair after dinner. This is highly unusual. She napped through the evening while I held her outside, too. Hopefully she is able to sleep all night.

Happy 8th month Addison!

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Zoo of a week...

Penquins!

The girls at the zoo

Great Grandma & Addison

What a crazy week and into the weekend. Alivia started her new gymnastics class last Monday. It is her first class without Mommy and Daddy. Uh, that did not go over well. She is very timid and does not like to go it alone quite yet.

On Friday, Chris went with his brother to see the movie 300 (I think that is what it was called) so I had a party of my own. Just kidding. My parents and my sister decided to drop by and bring pizza. That was a nice surprise. On Saturday, we woke to a beautiful day. So, we decided to go and see how the new zoo pass worked. Alivia loved the penquins and Addison liked the aquarium. A lot of the animals were still inside for the winter. We spent the rest of the afternon outside. Addison loves the swingset. I am telling you...that was a pretty good investment. I may not recommend the rainbow brand itself, but having a backyard playset is great.

After Mass on Sunday (which arrived much too early for us), the girls and I went to visit Great Grandma Marci. She was happy to see us. We spent the rest of the day playing outside while Topher cleaned and started to reorganize our garage. Seriously, if we ever move, that would be why. How many big wheels, trikes, cars, motorcylces, lawn mowers, snow blowers, etc, can fit into a 2 car garage. You just have to see ours. You would be amazed! We are parking in the driveway for the moment. But, when he is done, it will be so worth it. I look forward to getting into and out of my car without the risk of a rake or a hoe (or a bigwheel for that matter) falling on my head. 

Well, this week will be another crazy one...but we will have fun along the way.

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Getting old?

Mommy's birthday

My birthday usually comes and goes and I never feel older. Maybe it is because Chris is older than me that he makes me feel young by default. This year was and is different though. It was the first year people said I was getting old or "Wow, I did not realize you were THAT old." Now, what does that mean? It is all just a number and I really should not care. It makes me stop and think about all those grey hairs I am getting, though. Chris got me a cake, and he and Alivia tried to sing to me, which was sweet. I got my long awaited zoo pass so we can go any time for just a while or a long while. I can hardly wait to start going! Now I just hope "THAT old" body can walk through the zoo! :)

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Running in place

I have a close friend, who shall go nameless for this blog :), who is single without kids. She asked me tonight if I planned on running the 1/2 marathon this May in Lincoln. That was a goal for this year to do, you know. It is so funny that she brought that up considering I can not recall the last time I ran. Running used to be a hobby, a passion almost, of mine. But now, all I can do is run in place. Chris always wants to do stuff and go places on weekends. Today was exhausting for me just to go to 9am Mass and a baby shower. Especially knowing how much work I had to do at home. So, do I run? Not unless you count running in place. :)

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Addison speaks...

...and says, "Dada, dada, dada, dada." I am going to see if Chris can load the video.

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We are on my space!

http://www.myspace.com/ckaustin

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Fun in the snow..

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There's no place like home

Oh, what a week! I missed being home so much! I left on Sunday morning to Tuscon, Arizona making my way through horrible street conditions and sick conditions. I made it to the resort and got my own room since I was sick. Then, Monday I had off since I was sick. I stayed in the room and ordered fruit smoothies. I sat on my patio in the afternoon sun and read magazines. It was not that bad.

Grandma Kathy came on Sunday night after Chris put the girls to bed. She stayed through Tuesday afternoon. Alivia was able to handle me being gone better because of the Grandmas. Grandma Bet came on Tuesday and stayed through TODAY! She was stuck here with the interstate being closed. My Dad took back roads to get to here today since I-80 remains closed. Crazy.

Let's see what I learned this week:

1. There is no place like home

2. The bathroom at the airport is not a fun place to use a breastpump (I pumped more than 7 1/2 hours while I was gone! Now that is dedication!).

3. Never leave a breastfed baby at home who is weaned from the bottle and does not like the sippy cup. (Addison drank very little milk while I was gone opting for juice finally! I don't know how she is content at daycare everyday!)

4. Grandmas are lifesavers

5. Moms should not have to leave their children

6. Find a family friendly job (one who understands that 4 pm conference calls on Fridays may not be the best time when you have kids in daycare you have to pick up by 5 pm!)

7. The airport may be open, but if the streets are closed everywhere...stay in Arizona where it is warm and dry!

8. Being stuck in an airplane buckled in for 2 hrs and 15 minutes on the ground is never fun (I can see why people are sueing for being stuck for 11 hours on the ground. I was about to lose it in 2 hrs!)

9. If the pilot says we will depart in 15 minutes...he is lying.

10. Never drive on I-680 at midnight if there was a blizzard, the streetlights are off, no cars are in sight and a snowplow has not cleared the road! It makes for a VERY long and scary drive home in the middle of the night without 4 wheel drive (oh, didn't you know...I do not live in the snowbelt! Could have fooled me!). I-680 was closed.

11. Co-workers are just that...Co-workers.

12. There is NO PLACE LIKE HOME!

I missed the girls and Chris so much this week. Addison was so excited to see me, too! Alivia acted like I had never left. I will enjoy the next couple days more than ever...and who cares about the 15+ inches of snow. I am AT HOME!

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