Identity Crisis

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I am pulling my hair out over the way my blog looks right now. I hate it. I hate all the options that blogger has and I just want something fresh and new. SOOOoo I am trying to adjust it right now and I am not sure if it is my Mac or blogger or firefox, but I can't change anything right now. Ugh. I would love to have a super cute blog like most of you have, but I have no mulah so how about I ask Santa to gift me a pretty blog?? Sounds good to me!

Oh and as you can see, there is a little preview of our Christmas pictures! More to come, as tonight we are taking Logan AND our doggies to see Santa tonight. SO FUN!

i heart faces-b&w photo contest

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So folks, this is my very first time entering in the "i heart faces" photo contest. I have been following their blog for a very long time and have never been brave or confident enough to enter a photo--until today.

I LOVE black and white photography. My parents gifted me a coolpix camera back in 07 when I graduated from college and I was THRILLED to learn all the fun features. Black and white and sepia were both options and I often switch back and forth.

I would love own a more professional camera someday, however, I think my little camera does a damn good job when it wants to! Check out that photo of my wee man! This pic was taken on the beach of Lake Huron while on our visit to Michigan. Logan had been having a particularly bad day and taking him outside always cheers him up. It was unusually nice for an October day in Michigan so we all spent some time camped out on the beach relaxing and playing bocce ball. It was lovely.

If you want to follow the contest or see what this photo site is all about, click the button below. Enjoy!

This one time, on Thanksgiving Day...

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So yesterday I worked all day. It was actually fun. And I was able to eat some yummy food. Our plan, after I got off work, was to go to Denver to my aunts house. We arived around 4:30 and we had a great time.

My cousin is 17 and OMG I cannot believe how grown up she trying to be. I say trying because she's still a kid people!! Anyway, she and her best friend had apparently been hitting up the bar all night long under the supervision of their parents, of course. Both B and I were shocked, to say the least. I was not allowed to drink AT ALL with my parents until I was 21. The first time I got drunk I was 20! So needless to say I never drank in high school.

So around 7, the girls started to talk about how the get TPed all the time. We pulled up and there was TP all over their yard. My cousin was still pretty drunk and really wanted someone sober to drive them to the store to buy TP so they can go get their neighbors back. She, however, was not 100% certain that her neighbors were the culprit, but screw it. Let's do it anyway!

So my uncle (not her father) drove them to Rite Aid and they bought 40 rolls of TP! Mind you, it was barely 20 degrees outside! B was drunk as well at this point and he was in no way going to miss out on the fun. So they ran across the street at 7:30pm(!!!) and proceded to TP this house with huge trees. B did not inform me until we were on our way home that he had my camera all along but did not take one picture. Bummer. It was a fine job. I won't lie. The best part was that we (the more mature, sober adults) could see everything they were doing right out the front window. At one point, a car slowed down and yelled at them. B said they were just giving them high fives for doing such an awesome job. LOL

They were not home from the escapade for 20 minutes before the mother called my aunt up and proceeded to tell her that her girls had been in Chicago all week. OOPS!

Thankful Thursday

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There is nothing on this green earth I am more thankful for than my family. I am beyond blessed and today I thank Jesus for blessing me with a husband who is my best friend first, lover second. And who gave me the gift of motherhood. That face up there is priceless. His cheeks are so delicious and his "ra-ra-ra-ra" chatter is one of the best conversations I have all day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

SOL

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Yeah.

So long story short: we have no child care starting on Tuesday. Our sitter did not accept the changes we needed to make to our schedule because it means one less day for her and saves us $200 a week and so her last day was yesterday. I have been trying everything to find child care. Home daycares in town have no space for a child under 1, daycare centers are too expensive, and I cannot find one decent human being on craigslist.

I called a home daycare this morning and wanted to meet her this afternoon. I dragged my mom along with me as she has been in the early childhood business for 20+ years and would know what kind of "red" flags to look for. Well, the simple fact that as we drove up to her "house", a mobile home, should have been the first obvious red flag, but I did not want to instantly judge the situation and give it the benefit of the doubt. Bad move. We walked inside and the TV was blaring Hannah Montana. There was an older boy in a chair, a girl (maybe 5) running around with make up all over her face, an infant in a car seat that another older child was rocking on the kitchen floor with their foot....it smelled. Bad. Like a mix of smoke and just plain old dirt. The lighting was terrible. There were no infant toys and in no way was this place even close to child proof.

Then there was the so-called provider. She's not licensed. In Colorado, if you do not have a license to have a home daycare, you are only allowed to care for one FAMILY. The licensing in CO is pretty strict. There are two different types but the same rule applies that you cannot have more than 2 under 2 or 2 under 1. I asked her what she fed the kids and she said chicken nuggets and hot dogs. Ummm hot dogs are a huge choking hazard! How many years had she been doing this? 10 years of course. She did not offer to show us around (not that we wanted to see any more!). I sat on the couch and THERE WAS NO COUSHIN! My tush landed on the wood in the seat. Yeah, that was nice.

So I guess that was longish. I have no idea what I am going to do. I may just have to take some time off next week to figure things out. Who knows. Please pray I can find someone, or, something for me. This is so frustrating. Although, after walking away from this so-called daycare today, I was actually laughing. I could not believe anyone would take their children to this home! Even out of desperation would be just too much. OMG...

Anyway, have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

41 weeks Old

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For some reason, motherhood has made me incredible nostalgic. This is me 41 weeks ago. I am posting it because I was pregnant with Logan for exactly 41 weeks. I went into labor at 12:01am on February 8th, one week after my due date. So hard to believe that the last 9.5 months have gone so fast! Pregnancy sure was not that quick. I know I posted something similar a week ago, but I just had to note it with a lovely pic of me drugged up with the epi. Ahhh heaven!

Please notice how nice my nails look in this picture. My nails are nothing close to that now!

So if you're reading this and are nearing the end of your pregnancy, just remember that I have been pregnant longer than just about anyone I know (minus H with A @ 11 days) and YOU WILL HAVE YOUR BABY! I swear I began to think I would be pregnant forever.
So anyway...Happy Monday!

Thanksgiving, my fav.

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Thanksgiving is my most favorite holiday. Not because we are celebrating our so-called victory over those Indians (chill..I'm Cherokee!!). No, I love the holiday because two of my most favorite things come together one one day:

1) Family

2) FOOD!

I realize that these things come together quite often, but not in the same way and not with the same food. I am a Green Bean Casserole junkie. I happen to enjoy watching football and the smells! Oh the smells of baking pies and gravy flooding the house is just so delish. OMG.

Thanksgiving also happens to be one of the only holidays in which I have never really had a "bad" day from. It was almost ruined back in '04 when I was a junior in college. The weekend before I fell terribly ill. I had been dating this guy and I later found out he was playin me--loser. Anyway, he insisted that we go out on the Thursday night prior so I gave in and as he was dropping me off at my house (yes, house. not a dorm!) he wanted to kiss me. I had been having the most horrible sore throat all night but I did not complain about it once. I told him how I felt and that I didn't want to get him sick. I think he thought I was playing him so I never heard from him again. That's a good thing.

The next day (Friday) I woke up and could not swallow. My skin hurt to the tough. I had that nasty white shit on my tonsils. And my glands were so swollen I had no neck. This is one of the only times in my adult life that I truly wished my mommy was there to take care of me! But no, I was a good 5 hour drive away on the other side of the mountains.

So I went to the doc and was diagnosed with mono & tonsillitis. Double win! I can't remember if she gave me antibiotics or not, but by that evening I had not eaten anything all day. One of my roomies ran out to the store to buy me some pedialite because I could not eat or drink anything. I sipped on in through a straw. I tried to take a bath and my skin hurt so bad. That was the weirdest symptom...

Saturday morning I was beyond miserable and my roomie drove me back to the doc (campus docs on Sat-gotta love it!). She prescribed me vicodin and sent me on my way. The pain relief helped and by Tuesday I was eating normally. Thursday I was eating my beloved Green Bean Casserole, drugged up, but enjoyed it nonetheless. This is also how I found out I am allergic to vicodin.

So what is your favorite holiday?