Random Thoughts

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything. However, I've felt quite overwhelmed lately with work and the baby coming. I've got so much to do and don't have the energy to do half of it. Here are some of my random thoughts today.

I didn't make cinnamon rolls to give out to friends and neighbors this year. I'm so disappointed about that. However, I realized it's something that takes a lot of time and energy and I just couldn't do it. Hopefully I'll be able to do it next year with a ten-month-old!

I realized late that I forgot to send Christmas cards to several people on my list - that's what I get for hand addressing them!

My house is a total disaster, more than normal, but at least I got the laundry done Saturday. I washed the baby's clothes up to 6 months and now there's no room in her closet! I saw an ad on tv today for these "closet extenders" or something like that where you hang up five things on on little rack and it saves on closet space. I'm going to see if they have them at the "As Seen on TV" store at the Great Mall. That could give me some much needed space in her closet!

I feel like I'm 40 weeks pregnant instead of just 35. Lance is tired of me complaining but I'm tired of not being able to sleep, having no appetite and then starving because nothing sounds good, and feeling like my stomach is going to rip open at any second. Seriously, my stomach burns most of the time and feels like it's going to tear apart. It's ok right now but this little girl is moving like nobody's business.

Lance's car is not working . . . again! Thankfully he works close and we have one car that still runs.

Ok, enough of this. Brett had a really great Christmas. His favorite toys are his Lincoln Logs, his Big Wheel, his Marble Run and his Elmo stove. Very cute. I'll post some pictures one of these days.

Christmas Cards have been mailed!

I mailed our Christmas cards yesterday. So, I'm guessing that some people might actually be getting theirs today (love the US Postal system!). For some people that means you are visiting our family website for the first time - welcome! I hope you enjoy looking around, seeing what we've been up to. I plan on revamping the site in the next week or two, so make sure you check back to see the new look and updated photos, etc. I had planned to have it done before I mailed the Christmas cards but I've had a lot to do lately and didn't get it finished. But, that'll give you something to look forward to.

I also want to encourage everyone to feel free to leave comments on my blog. You don't have to be a registered user or anything to leave a comment. You just hit the "leave a comment" button and you're done! I think it's a lot easier than an email even!

Well, I need to go eat lunch. Hot dogs. Brett has been on a hot dog kick lately. He ate 2 1/2 for lunch yesterday and 2 the day before! This will last for about a week and then we'll be on to something different. But, at least he's eating!

We're also watching the snow today. It's been snowing since around 10am and has been pretty heavy but there's really not any accumlation on the ground. Big bummer for us since I have a three-year-old that's been wanting to build a snowman for weeks! I'm hoping that it will continue to snow enough for him to play in it after his nap! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Bad Dreams

I just put Brett to bed. He wasn't in there 5 minutes and came out saying "Mama, me have bad dream." This has been going on for about a week now. He's obviously not having a bad dream, he hasn't even had time to fall asleep. He's just using it as a tactic to not go to sleep and come out to see what we are doing. Often he has a smile on his face as he's saying it, like just now. We began using the Supernanny technique last night to "cure him" of this. Whenever he comes out and says it, we simply usher him back into bed without even saying anything. It seems cruel, I know but it works and it's really necessary. He's not suffering from a real bad dream - if he was we would react differently. He's just stalling. About a month ago he was using the potty excuse so we had to resort to this method. After about two nights of the Supernanny technique, he stopped getting up out of bed. I expect he'll stop in a night or two and then in a few weeks come up with something else. It's kinda funny but something we can't let continue to happen.

Especially because since I've been writing this blog entry, he's now gotten up two more times. I'm actually surprised it's at three already tonight. But, hopefully the Supernanny technique will work soon! I'm off to finish assembling the Christmas cards. Maybe not having the light from the office shine under his door will help him go to sleep faster!

Birthday Wishes and another room idea

First of all - HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my good friends Jobi and Heather! They are both former neighbors (it's still hard not to have them in my cul-de-sac) who are great friends that just so happen to share the same birthday! So Happy Birthday girls! I hope it's a happy day!

Ok, I think this is what I'm going to do for the baby's room on the walls. I had "recolored" several more pictures with all the various color combinations and wasn't really in love with any of them. I knew I wanted to put flowers on the wall somewhere but wasn't sure where when this idea hit. What do you think? I'm in love with it! It totally repeats the pattern in the rug I'm going to buy and isn't too overwhelming for me. I think before I was trying too hard with too many stripes on the wall - it was giving me a headache. But I think having the flowers in the middle breaks it up a bit. Plus, I love the green above and below the brown flower stripe.

So, unless Lance totally objects this is what I'm going to do for my little girl's room. I'm going to order the rug (let's hope they still have it!), get some paint samples and test them on the wall, then let my husband paint the stripes. I'll ask my doctor about painting. I don't mind waiting until my little one is here to do it, although it would feel good to get it done before she gets here.

Now, if anyone has any good ideas for Brett's room I'm all ears. We're going with a vintage airplane theme. I'm thinking red and blue for paint colors, but am open to options. I think Lance wants me to paint another mural on his wall and then hang airplanes from the ceiling. But, I need some ideas first!

I'd rather be working?

Ok, so I'm really supposed to be working right now. I've started - even made my "to do" list. But I have serious ADD and am trying to get my "desk" cleaned off before I start. This is what got me so distracted.

One of the things sitting open on my "desk" (I say "desk" because it's an ugly 4-ft brown table that I use) is the recent issue of Better Homes and Gardens. I used to really love this magazine and lately haven't been that inspired. However, as I was reading it the other day (during Brett's speech class - this is when I catch up on my magazines!) I saw something really awesome!

It's a website called http://www.tastebook.com that lets you create a hardcover cookbook online! You can add your own recipes or find recipes you like from their site. They'll print it all for you. It's only $20 for the binder with 25 pages and you can add future recipes! I have been trying to figure out what I want to do with my recipes for over a year now. Not kidding. At one point I thought I wanted to type them on 5x7 cards and put them in a box. But then I got this really cute stand that sits on my kitchen counter and just the other day decided I wanted to put them into a binder/actual cookbook. But, I was wrestling with the size, etc. Then I saw this Tastebook thing! Oh my goodness! I could not believe it! I am so excited about it and that's why I can't seem to close the magazine where it's listed. I want to enter all my recipes NOW and make my cookbook.

But, I have work to do. I have a new website to create (yeah!) and several more updates to make on other sites. Plus I have a lot of pending Hospital Hill work to work on. All of that (which I get paid for) and a lot that I don't! I need to work on Christmas cards - as soon as our pictures get here, work on the baby's room and Brett's big boy room, and finalize my plans for the baby's announcement (yes I'm working on the design this soon - that's a very important thing you know!). Oh, and I forgot finishing Brett's scrapbook and uploading pictures. (And I haven't even mentioned housework in all of this - don't tell Lance!)

Anyway, that's what's on my mind right now. Maybe this short little interlude will help me focus. I certainly don't want to be up late tonight, 6am comes very early.

Pictures for Sale!

Brett has two pictures he would like to sell. They are pictures of rainbows. If you're interested, email me.

He was so cute just now. He drew these pictures and said we need to sell them. How he thought of this is beyond me. But, next week at his preschool he gets to buy Christmas presents in a little store so he's all about getting money for that. So, I told him we would put them on the computer and see if anyone wanted to buy them!

The price he tells me is $5 each. That's the price. Once again, I don't know how he came up with it but that's what he wants for them. He's my little Alex P Keaton I guess!

The Baby's Room

Ok, so these are my ideas for the baby's room. I am definintely using pink. No question about it. But, I'd also like to use the orange chair and curtains from Brett's room so I need to factor in orange to the design as well. There was this adorable pink/monkey/floral crib set from Pottery Barn Kids but I waited too long and now it's sold out. So, change of plans. Which is actually fine because who has that type of money right? And, I'm not sure if the bedding really matters a ton. Something plain and simple should work fine.

So yesterday I got a Pottery Barn Teen catalog in the mail. Usually I just recycle it but I decided to look through it as I was cooking dinner. I found the prettiest rug (see above). It's cheaper than the other one I was planning on getting and has pink, orange, brown and blue in it! I love it. Plus it's floral - something I need for my little girl! And I think I can paint some flowers on the wall to coordinate with it - not a big mural like in Brett's room, just some flowers in clusters on the wall. I wish you could see inside my head - it's a really cute idea.

So then today I was searching the web for ideas on how to paint the walls and found this picture with stripes that I recolored using the colors I want to use. I just can't decide on which combination I like the best. What do you think?

I haven't really been stressing out about her room and I'm not going to start now. I'm just going to try to work on it and hopefully get it done before she's two! I did decide though that I want to have something that I won't have to redo (like we are doing with Brett's room) when she gets a big girl bed. I think these colors will last for a while, don't you?

My friend Sally

I wanted to let you guys know about my friend Sally and what she's up to. She is a Stampin' Up demonstrator, has her own blog where she posts a cute project everyday and is currently hosting a holiday card contest. Sally is a super sweet gal, very type-A like me, and a good friend. If you need anything to do with stamping or scrapbooking be sure to check out her blog: http://stampersally.blogspot.com/.

I'm going to make a more concerted effort to post more on my blog. I used to think that only my mom and sisters checked my blog but I now know that other people do as well - such as my friend that I've known the longest (since the 4th grade) - Karen.

Ok, that's it for tonight. I need to save something for tomorrow right?

Closer to my goal

I went scrapbooking Friday night with my girlfriends. It's always a lot of fun to get together and scrapbook. It's my socializing time - kinda like a playdate for mommas. I never used to get a lot done on a scrapbooking evening - usually I'd only complete a double-page spread. But, ever since I've figured out my scrapbooking system (thanks Becky Higgins!) I've been able to get 3-4 double-page spreads done when I go scrapbooking for an evening. And this is with all the gabbing I do! Impressive, I know.

So my goal is to get Brett caught up before the baby arrives. This is a pretty big goal, probably more of a dream. However, I'm determined to get as much done as I can. I'm in a scrapbooking groove and don't have too much work at the moment. Plus, I'm too tired to do anything else but sit on my you-know-what so it's really the perfect time for me to try to get this done. I completed 4 layouts Friday night and 2 more last night when Brett went to bed. I also edited pictures for several more layouts.

Now I only have about 45 more layouts to do! Wish me luck!

Momma's Preschool Time

Ok, so I'm feeling a little bit guilty that for the past two hours while Brett has been at preschool I've been scrapbooking. I've been feeling quite pregnant lately so I decided to take a break and get some layouts done. (Although I need to do some laundry, make my dinner menu, sweep and vaccuum!) Oh well, that stuff will eventually get done. Plus, Lance doesn't read my blog so I don't have to worry about him "checking in on me"!

Check out the layouts I've done: http://home.everestkc.net/nrjordan/layouts

The Ladybug Bite

Learned something new today. Just now in fact. Ladybugs bite. I didn't think it was possible, but I have a crying 3-year-old as proof.

Here's what happened. Lance was out in the backyard mowing. Brett was in the front yard playing. I was up in the office "working" (scrapbooking ok?) and could hear Brett playing and talking out the window. All of a sudden I heard crying and screaming. I immediately ran downstairs and found Brett hysterically crying. I asked him what was wrong and he said the ladybug bit him (the ladybug was still sitting on his arm). Not believing him, I took the ladybug off him and asked where it hurt and he pointed to the exact spot where the ladybug had been. It was kinda red but I still really didn't believe him.

So we went to the backyard where daddy was and told him what happened. By this time, you could see two little welts on his arm, which clearly looked like a little bite. Lance still didn't believe it was a bite, but it was clearly something. I took Brett inside to put some medicine on it (that made it better - medicine and a band-aid). Then I came up to the office to research ladybug bites.

Apparently, the bug that bit Brett is actually an Asian ladybug (the yellow ones) and it's not really a ladybug but a beetle (I did know that from teaching insects in 2nd grade!). And these Asian ladybugs can pinch you which feel like a little sting - I'm sure a big sting to a 3-year-old! So, although these little bugs are cute and pretty - beware they do bite!

Happy Halloween!

Definitely a Girl!

I had a Level II sonogram today and it's definitely a girl. I was a bit unsure, just because it's harder to tell with a girl than a boy. However, it was very clear today that we're having a girl. I'm still in shock over it. I just can't imagine what she's going to look like or what it's going to be like to have a little girl to take care of. I'm excited but also nervous. She's pretty adorable though:

My OB ordered the Level II because Brett has a heart condition and she wanted to make sure that this baby didn't. Thankfully the doctor who did the sonogram said that everything looked good (or as good as it can). My little girl was very cooperative (that made me happy & proud). She weighs 1 pound, 15 ounces and all her other organs look good. She's sitting on my bladder - I knew that already!

Brett came along and was quite bored through the whole thing. His preschool teacher said he was talking about his baby sister this morning at school (I had told him we were going to see the baby on a tv after school). I'm sure he was expecting to actually see a baby, not the black and white images he saw. The sonogram lady asked him what he wanted to name the baby and he said "Lark". This is a name I threw out there (not one we're actually considering - I like it, Lance doesn't) and he thinks that's what we should name the baby. He's having a hard time understanding that he doesn't get to name the baby. I told him that when he's a daddy he can name his own baby. He liked that idea.

Pumpkins and My Pumpkin

We went to the Pumpkin Patch today with Brett's preschool class. It was a really nice pumpkin patch in Gardner and Brett and his little friends had a lot of fun. It was so cute seeing how he interacts with his friends and his teacher. He's becoming a little boy, being able to do so much more than I give him credit for. I am so proud of him.

I love this time of the year. With the cooler weather and the pumpkins! Specifically, pumpkin bread, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin rolls - you get the picture. Last night I had to go to Twisters (our local custard shop) and get a pumpkin pie twister. YUM! I know I should blame this craving on the baby, but in all honesty it is simply the time of the year rather than the bump in my belly. I can't get enough pumpkin this time of year! In fact, a pumpkin pecan concrete from Culver's sounds good right now. (I might have to run an errand after I'm done with this blog! I'll tell Lance the baby wants one!)

Look at the ADORABLE photos of my little pumpkin ("Hi pumpkin" is the first thing I said to Brett when I saw him after he was born). Isn't this photographer amazing? Post your comments and let me know which one you like best. I'm having trouble deciding which one to get a large size of!

Scrapblog

I didn't get any actual scrapbooking done Saturday night. I sat down and went through pictures (the first step in my scrapbooking process). Right now I'm working on editing and developing pictures from NOVEMBER 2007! That's so sad, but I have a process and it works for me. Once I get on a roll, I do good. But I've been so busy with everything else lately that I haven't had the time to work on my hobby.

So, because I felt guilty about not having anything to share with you, I decided to upload some pictures I had taken a while back of the first several pages in Brett's scrapbook. A few months ago I took all the pages out of his scrapbooks because I was moving them into new books. I had this grand idea that I would take a picture of every single layout. After several photos I decided it was too time consuming and just put them into the new scrapbooks. What I went ahead and uploaded for you to see is what I did actually take pictures of.

Below is a link to where I uploaded them. It's a site specifically designed for scrapbook page sharing. The quality isn't as great as I'd like, but it was fast so it'll work for now. It's called Scrapblog. Enjoy!

http://www.scrapblog.com/viewer/viewer.aspx?sbid=726461

What I should be doing right now

Right now Lance and Brett are sleeping. Lance is working overnight night tonight and Brett is taking a late nap (better late than never!). I was taking a nap too but got woken up by my sister - thanks Ann!

So I'm sitting at my computer, not wanting to go downstairs because I know Brett is going to wake up anytime now. I'm sitting here thinking about all the stuff I should be doing but just don't feel like doing! I want to redesign my website, I need to add pictures to my website and to my facebook account. I have several work related things I need to do. And then there's my scrapbooking.

My goal is to get "caught up" in Brett's scrapbook before the baby arrives. That was a good goal. One I don't think is going to happen. I think I've only scrapbooked once in the past few months - mainly because I've been so busy with work and the free time I do have is spent with my boys or catching up on sleep! Plus, I have to get motivated to scrapbook. I tried to sit down the other night and do some digital scrapbooking but I just wasn't feeling it. I'm an orderly type person and I need to know what pictures I've already printed and what layouts I have waiting to go before I can just start something new. So, I didn't scrapbook the other night - although I was in the mood.

Right now I'm thinking I should get my stuff out and start sorting through it since I have an evening all to myself. But instead, I'm sitting here typing this blog. Maybe I'll get out of Lance's comfy computer chair (I stole it from him the other night and haven't given it back!) and get to work. Or maybe I'll just continue to surf the web and look at things I can't afford on eBay. If I do get any pages done tonight, I promise I'll post them!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! Also known as Grammy to one little guy in our house.

Funny story for Mom's birthday. Brett now knows how to potty standing up. Can you believe it? Apparently he learned how to do this at pre-school (just the first of many things he'll learn I'm sure). He's so cute standing at the potty, barely tall enough to reach. But, he gets the job done. And to be honest, it's a lot easier for me. I don't have to worry about carrying the potty seat everywhere we go now.

My Life Right Now

Ok, so I love being 33 and a mom. I love my husband and that I'm still in love with him after 11.5 years of marriage! I love where I live and my group of friends. I love scrapbooking and being able to stay at home. It's a good life.

Now don't get me wrong - there are things I don't like. But, all in all I'm happy.

I have to admit that I'm still in shock that I'm having a girl. I was looking at the sonogram pictures today thinking "How can they tell it's a girl? Maybe they just missed the little wee wee." It's a good thing I have another sonogram scheduled in late October - just to make me feel better about it. It's totally weird calling the baby "her" and thinking about the girl things I'll get to buy and do.

We're still trying to decide on a name for the baby as well. We had a girl name picked out for Brett but we're not sure if that's the right name or not. I have four names I really like. I keep asking Lance if he's thought of names and he keeps saying no. We have less than 19 weeks left! That's not a lot of time to come up with a name! :)

And don't ask what the name is once we've decided. I like for there to be some surprise when we call and tell people that she's here!

Facebook

Ok, so I've done it. I've joined Facebook. I really only did so because my friend Adrienne joined and Iwanted to view her pictures. It's interesting and strange to see/connect with people you haven't seen/heard from in YEARS. We'll see how it goes I guess.

Naming Rights

So, we currently do not know what the baby's name is going to be. I thought we had a name that we were going to use, but Lance wants to keep looking. We joke all the time about "naming rights" - giving the other person sole authority over the baby's name. He loves Ashley and Nicole for names. I don't like Ashley and my good friend's daughter is named Nicole. So, obviously those two names are out - but I know if he had "naming rights" he would pick one of them (probably Nicole).

We were watching football today and he was commenting about how all the analysts have picked the Jets to win over the Patriots today just because Tom Brady is out. I told him that I'd pick the Jets too. He of course thinks I'm crazy so I asked if he wanted to bet. He said "sure" and when I asked what we were betting on he said "naming rights". I told him there's no way I'm letting the name of my little girl be decided on the outcome of a football game. It did make me laugh though.

I'm still going through with the bet, we just have to decide on stakes.

Our good news!

Happy Birthday Pumpkin!

It's hard to believe my little guy is three years old today! It's amazing how fast time flies. I love being a mom and am so grateful that Brett is my son. Here are some pictures from today (these are for you mom). The last picture is a picture of his Elmo cake I made for him for tonight.

So Naive

I'm so naive. I was just watching the Royals' game and thought how cool it would be to surprise Lance with a dugout suite for his birthday. He's going to be 35 so it's kinda a big year. I thought it would be so neat to reserve a suite and invite family and friends and have a very unique experience. I thought I would be able to do this for around $500.00. Boy was I wrong.

To reserve a dugout suite, the cheapest package starts at $4,600.00! Yes, that's not a typo - four thousand, six hundred dollars! I'm in shock. With that you get dinner and tickets for 30 people. Only $150/person. That's all. No biggie. I'll just dip into my checkbook and write a check. No problem. Whatever.

We could go on almost two cruises for that price! That's such a bummer. I've always wanted to sit in a dugout suite, ever since they first got them. How cool would that be to be that close to the field and see everything close up? But for that much money? It will never happen. That's too bad.

I guess Lance and I will just have to go The Melting Pot for his birthday. Maybe I'll splurge and we'll get sodas with our meal! So, I guess if anyone has some great ideas for a birthday surprise for Lance I'd love to hear it - my budget is around $500.00!

Sleepy Boy

So just now Brett was watching "Little Bill" right before it was time for nap. I was upstairs working on the computer (getting it ready for it's clean up - more about that later). Then I heard Brett's rocking chair and look over to see Lance rocking Brett. This is strange because I hadn't heard them come upstairs or anything. So I tiptoe in there and Brett is asleep on Lance's shoulder!

Lance rocked him for a little bit more, then put him in his bed. When he came out he said he was watching Little Bill, laid down on the couch, then when he looked over he was asleep! You have to understand, this has NEVER happened to us before! Brett has never fallen asleep while playing, watching tv, in our arms, NEVER! We were both shocked. I'm still in shock. I hope he sleeps well. We had a very tough morning so I knew he was super sleepy, but never imagined he would fall asleep on the couch!

Now, on to my computer clean up. My brother-in-law, who works for one of those Nerd Herd places, is taking my computer tomorrow to clean it up. He's going to wipe my hard drive clean and reload all my programs. There's so much junk on my computer that I don't need and since I'm the only one using it now, there's no reason for him not to do this. I'm hoping he'll be able to reload my Outlook so I can have all my emails and contacts back! Although I have to admit, it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would have been. All the people I regularly talk to have already emailed me so I have their addresses. But, it will be nice to have all that data back! After I write this blog I'm going to be backing up all my photos on DVD's. I have it all backed up on my external hard drive, but I'm paranoid and want that data in another place as well!

I'll still be checking emails until I get my computer back (on Lance's computer) but I won't be able to digital scrapbook or work or anything! Maybe this clean up is a good thing after all . . .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASEY & Sorta good computer news

First of all - HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASEY! Casey lives down the street from me and has three little ones. It's so much fun having friends live in your neighborhood so you can quickly and easily do things with them. Casey is a scrapbooker too which makes her extra special in my book! We're going to lunch today to celebrate Casey's birthday, after swim lessons. She laid down some "ground rules" which were no paying for her lunch. Whatever! It's her birthday, like I'm going to let her pay!

Ok, so on to computer business. My brother-in-law came over last night and looked at my computer and the whole Outlook thing. There's sorta good news in what he told me. First, the reason my Outlook crashed is because I had too much stuff in it. He said if it gets over 2GB it crashes. This is what happened to mine. I save EVERYTHING work related and don't even like to empty out my sent items. Just recently I went back into my sent items from 2004 and found something I needed!

Anyway, he went through this process to get everything back but it didn't work. He left before it was completed because it was going to take a while. I've emailed him asking him what to do so I'm sure I'll hear back from him shortly. But, it's sorta good news that everything is not lost - at least not yet!

And thanks mom for your email yesterday. It's nice to know that your momma reads your blog! Brett had his first swimming lesson yesterday and that's where we're off to today.

It's a new blog day!

Ok, so right now Lance is sitting at my computer trying to restore my Outlook. I'm at his computer, working on this new blog. I really think I'm handling this situation quite well. I haven't gotten upset about it (as I have been known to do when computer problems occur) or cried (although I'm pretty close to that point!).

Actually, I'm ok. I think I know the email addresses of most people I regularly email and for the others, I'll just ask around if I need it.

So as you're reading this you've probably noticed that I have a new look to my blog. I've decided to use an actual blogger site to post my blogs. This is something I've been wanting to do ever since I started my blog. I want people to be able to post comments - not that too many people will. But, it will be fun to see. So, I've given up the idea of trying to make the blog match my website perfectly and just decided to go with what's out there. I anticipate the look of this blog changing often, as I get more familiar with this blogging system.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the new blogging capabilities. If you want to visit my "old" blog entries, go here.