Crafty Weekend

As I write this post Adam is hard at work in the garage building this...

A picnic table the perfect size for our little Addyson! (not in these colors though)

We have been busy doing home improvement projects this weekend which has required 2 trips to home depot. The first night we went for "inspiration" on indoor and outdoor projects and today has resulted in a large purchase of building materials, paint, tools, and other misc. items!

We bought enough materials to build two of these little tables, one for Addyson and one for Jordan since his birthday party is tomorrow! I got paint for his in BRIGHT orange and BRIGHT blue (colors of the Florida Gators), but I haven't decided what to do with Addyson's yet...

I will post pictures when we have the final product!!

Until next time...

Bridal Shower Weekend!

After a 2 hour drive to the airport (it should have taken 1) Adam and Christie made it safe to Colorado and to their respective homes =)

I know Adam just got back from a business trip but Christie was also in town so most of my weekend was spent at Christie's parents house.

On Saturday my bridesmaids Christie, Courtney, Julia, and I got together to make favors and some snacks for my wedding shower on Sunday. Times like that remind me of high school and how we had all the time in the world to hang out with little to no responsibilites...Courtney brought her sweet little puppy Willow so she was my distraction while the girls got to work on the bridal shower things =) When we got finished with everything Courtney had to head home so Julia, Christie, Aimee (Christie's younger sister) and I went out to dinner. Since Christie is not in town very often we wanted to go to places she can't get in Indiana, so Saturday was Jim's wings night! Jim's wings is a staple in this college town and we got hooked in high school. They used to have a special on Monday's of .25 cent wings which meant we were always at someone's house on Monday's eating wings and watching TV while doing "homework".

Sunday was my bridal shower and I first off have to thank everyone who was there, you all made my day very special and I will never forget it. Christie and I had prepared this menu and everything turned out beautifully. We had a chocolate fountain with many different "dippers" and a few savory items along with frozen peach punch =) It was delicious! I would put pictures but I have to blame Courtney for not sending them to me yet =) It was a blast and we didn't stop the party when everyone left.

Adam brought Addyson over to pick me up and we ended up staying there until 930 when we had to get home since it was Sunday and Adam had to work at 630 the next morning. Since Jim's was on Saturday we decided to pick up food from Big City Burrito on Sunday. I freaking love Big City. But the only good one to eat at is in my hometown. The ones in the surrounding cities is just not...dirty enough...=) there is just something about hippies and mexicans that make it excellent!!

This weekend was just perfect and I can't thank those who participated enough for making it so memorable!

Yesterday we went through our gifts and got them distributed throughout our house or put away to exchange/return. So this afternoon we will head into town to do some shopping and hopefully finalize our wedding favors so I can cross another thing off my list! I need to get my wedding progams finished too so if anyone has creative ideas on how to spice them up I would appreciate it!

Until next time...

Today is the Day!!

Adam comes home today!!! Addyson and I are so excited to have Daddy home again, we have missed him so much =)

As much as I love Colorado this whole snow in March is NOT cool. I know that March is sometimes our snowiest month but I am OVER IT. If all of this snow nonsense inhibits Adam coming home and Christie coming in for the weekend I am going to FREAK OUT. It is coming down pretty bad, and it's not pretty, it's ugly and hateful snow and I want to punch it.

Ok, time to settle down....So I leave for the airport today at about 3:30 so I can navigate through this awful weather to meet Christie at the airport!! Then we get to wander around and watch the planes for an hour until Adam's flight comes in! yippie!!

Before going to the airport the plan was to pick up my bridesmaid dresses that came in so I can deliver them this weekend since we will all be together, but this snow is really messing with my motivation. I just do not want to take Addyson through downtown Denver in the snow just to try and find parking and end up parking across the street in the resturant parking lot and then have to find the elevator that we could not find last time and ended up carrying addyson in the stroller up two flights of stairs and all of this in the snow. SNOW, YOU RUIN MY DAY!!

In case you can't tell, I do no like the snow today. I try to stay indifferent most snowy days but I have big plans today and those big plans do not include driving on icy streets to pick up two people from the airport.

Until next time...

Stuck in the Middle...

...of a very LONG week.

I wish I could be full of Irish cheer right now but at this moment right now Addyson is screaming at me from her high chair because she wants apple sauce for dinner and I am not giving in. I am more then willing to give her what she needs but it is my responsibility as a parent to present the food, it is the toddler's choice to eat it or not. At least that's what I learned in Nutrition of the Preschool child...shh i think she might take a bite....SUCCESS!! Mommy is not a horrible cook.

Anyways...

This week has been very tough for me without having Adam around. I am used to being a stay at home mom so Addyson is not getting to me, it's just the loneliness of adult interaction that I crave in the evenings. Adam gets off work at 3 daily so we have the evenings as a family to take walks, make dinner, watch tv, and cuddle on the couch. But since Adam is out of town on business I am very lonely in the evenings and have forgotten how to entertain Addyson for 12-14 hours of a day. There is only so much I can do that keeps her happy at night since she is anti-nap right now, which I am sure does not help things at all.

I made it through Sunday with a few tears shed and vowed to make Monday a great day with my daughter running the many errands we had scheduled for the week. Unfortunately my parents called Monday morning and told me they had to put our family dog down which we have had for 16 years. When my mom and I spoke earlier in the morning she said they had to bring Trixie to the vet but I had no idea that they were going to return home without her...I told my parents I didn't want to know when they had to do it because the anticipated grief is something I have had to do before and didn't want to survive again. My poor little Trixie puppy, our little schnauzer mutt with the maple leaf on her belly...she will be missed but I know she is playing around with Missy and cuddling up on Grandma's lap up in Heaven...

I made it through the rest of the day as well as can be expected with the help of my parents and brothers, but with Adam gone coming to this empty house was very rough.

On Tuesday I forgot that I had set up an appointment to get my wedding dress altered. So when I got the reminder call on Monday my mom and I made many stops around the city trying to find the undergarmets and shoes that I needed for my first fitting. We did make it on time and my dress should be done in two weeks for either my final fit or 2nd fit, depending on how things end up. I was hesitant to leave my dress because of the fiasco I had getting it but I trust the alteration woman and I trust that she will bring my dress back and not go bankrupt and run away...

After my alteration appointment I met up with my mom and future sister-in-law Morganne for a happy hour drink at Carino's. I dropped Addyson off with my Dad and sipped on an italian margarita with some much needed alone time.

I think Addyson is done eating so I must attend to my beautiful daughter.

Until next time...

Food Network Challenge

Our "cake lady" (the amazing woman who is making our wedding cake) was asked to participate in a Food Network cake Challenge!!

It is going to be filmed on the 23rd in Denver and I can not wait to see how it all turns out! She couldn't tell us what the challenge is because of rules so we just have to wait and see with the rest of the world.

GOOD LUCK RACHAEL!!

This is a 25th Anniversary Cake she did with her associates. Rachael is the one on the left =)

Until next time...

Missing him already...

Addyson and I dropped off Adam at the airport this morning for his 5 day business trip to Iowa. I am very sad. That might sound really dumb and loserish but we haven't spent 5 days apart in probably over 3 years. I know he is going to do great at his kaizan this week but I already wish he was home with us right now...

So, what are my plans for this week? Absolutely nothing.

Today all Addy and I have done is sleep and watch movies all day. Waking up early on daylight savings is just a recipe for disaster without plenty of naps throughout the day.

I will need some type of adult interaction this week so I will probably end up at my parents for dinner one of these nights.

The good news is on Friday I get to pick up 2 people at the airport! Adam comes in at 540 and my matron of honor Christie comes in just an hour earlier! Christie will be in town just for the weekend to throw my bridal shower for me on Sunday.

Hopefully this week will go by fast I just need to find some distraction!


Until next time...

Most Boring Weekend EVER

Last week we had a lot going on becasue of Addyson's 2nd birthday. Last year we went to Toys-r-us/Babies-r-us and got her a birthday crown and baloon so we decided to make it a tradition and go again this year. We decided to opt out on the balloon however because she already has enough at home from her party=) We wandered around Toys-R-Us forever letting Addyson pick out a special birthday toy and ended up getting her a plastic chair and some sand toys, we tried to talk her into getting a pool or something but all she wanted was the chair for $6. Who am I to argue?!

On Thursday I went to Courtney's house for a relaxing night with the girls and it was so much fun. We made an amazing dinner together, Courtney in charge of the shrimp scampi, I was in charge of the pasta side, and Julia cut up fruit. While we were making dinner Courtney started to get a phone call from a number not listed in her phone. We all stared at it for a while and thought we recognized the number but didn't want to answer it until the last possible second. It was a good thing Court did answer it because it was Esther RSVP'ing to my bridal shower on the 21st! It was pretty funny. We spent the rest of the night talking and playing with Willow and watching Pam have her baby on The Office. I love our random nights together, and I am even more excited for our melting pot date tonight!! We have had this planned for about a month and I am just glad the night is FINALLY here, can't wait to get some yummy cheese and chocolate fondue...my mouth is watering

I hate admitting this on my blog because of fear of screwing something up but I had a job interview on Friday and it went absolutely amazing! I had 3 people interviewing me and it just went really good. It was an hour long interview but I think that was just becasue we ended up chatting after the regular job interview questions were over. I hate to jinx myself but one of the interviewers said that if it were up to her then they would be done interviewing after me because I did such a great job. I know, shocking, I suprised myself. I think it helped that I had some of my nearest and dearest friends and family sending out prayers for me so I owe a huge thank you to all of those thinking of me at noon on Friday. Also thank you Lord for calming my nerves and giving me confidence to do such a good job.

Here is my fear however, I had to tell them all the time that I had planned for vacation for the next 12 months and I told just my honeymoon. They just got excited for me that I am getting married but it still makes me nervous that this could be applied to my availability and they wouldn't like that I have to take time off so soon. I would like to have an "oh well/it wasn't meant to be" attitude but I really need this job to work out for my little family. So some additional prayers and good thoughts would be appreciated as I try to stay calm throughout the rest of this week waiting for an answer.

This weekend was...the most boring weekend ever. Addyson came down with a cold on Saturday so we didn't really want to bring her out on Sunday so I spent the day nursing my sick little girl and reading "Everyone Worth Knowing" by Lauren Weisberger.

Alas it is time to sign off because my kitchen is a wreck and Addyson needs some quality cuddle time with her favorite mommy =)

Until next time...

My Birthday Princess

Yesterday was my little baby girls 2nd birthday. I simply can not believe that she is TWO! How did time go so fast?!

I don't feel like blogging about her first two years but instead I would like to share her birth story =)

My contractions started at about 11 pm on March 1. I wasn't really sure what was going on because I never had so much as a braxton hicks contraction so I just went to bed and tried to sleep. There is no other way for me to describe it other then uncomfortable. Any direction I laid down I just couldn't get comfortable so rather then toss and turn to keep Adam up I moved my pillow and blanket to the living room.

I got some sleep here and there but about 2 a.m on March 2 I woke up and decided to try and time what I thought were contractions just to see how much longer this was going to take =) I decided to get in the shower because I thought the warm water would loosen my muscles so I can get some sleep.

** the following paragraphs will be full of too much information =)
After my shower I decided to call the doctor because the few days before I had a discharge and I thought it was my mucus plug but it had kept coming over the next few days so I wanted some reassurance.

The on-call nurse thought my "bag of waters" might be leaking so I should come in to get it checked out (even though I knew it wasn't my water breaking I just wanted to know what was going on so I agreed to go). So I woke Adam up at about 3:30 a.m and we headed into the emergency room. Let me just say that during all of our birthing classes when they explained what doors to go into during the off hours I didn't pay attention, because in my mind I would never go into labor in the middle of the night so it didnt matter, right? wrong.

I got checked out in hospital and I was only at 2 cm dilation so the said they would hold me for an hour to see if I made any progress and we would go from there. Well, an hour later I was at 5.5cm and had no idea. By 6:00am my water had broke on it's own (WEIRDEST feeling ever! btw) and I was set to have our baby girl on my due date =)

I never had an intention either way of doing a natural birth or using some type of epidural so when the time came I just decided to try it out and see if I could do it without any drugs. We walked the halls of the hospital and watched TV and by noon I was at 9cm and ready to get pushing.

My contractions were never an even interval apart so I had no idea if I was progressing or not so when they started prepping the room for delivery it hit me that this baby will offically be out and in my arms within a couple of hours and I would have to do it completetly natural because it was too late for an epidural.

To be completely honest the pain was not that bad until I got scared and at that point I was just begging my Mom and Adam to pray for me. Between each push I would take a drink of water and say a prayer and just ask for reassurance that this is what my body is made for and I can do it. And I did.

Addyson Jean was born at 1:23 p.m on March 2, 2008.

She has changed our lives in so many ways I can't even list them and yet we can never imagine life without her. It is impossible to go through a day without smiling because she brings such joy to our lives in all of the little things that she does. While I hate to see her grow up so fast I am amazed to see the personality that has come out of such a little girl.

So, Happy Birthday to the best thing that has ever happend to me, my precious little girl, Addyson Jean.