Friday Funday!

Fridays I get off at 11:30 which happens to be what time Betsy gets put down for a nap. I went to the gym for an hour and arrived at daycare at 1 thinking the babies would be awake from their naps. They were not awake, I came in to a completely quiet classroom and saw all 12 babies snoozing on their mats or in their cribs. Betsy had an incident report today, she was bitten twice by another baby. Once on the cheek and once on the arm. Her teacher told me she didn't do anything to provoke the other babies, I guess she's just edible.

I brought the sleepy girl home and she slept for another 3.5 hours. That gave me a chance to file our taxes, work on the laundry and organize around the house. Once Betsy woke up she and I took some pictures in the backyard (post to follow!), she had a snack and we headed to the soccer field to see Ben's team play.

When I arrived at the field I squinted in the distance and noticed the players...they had ponytails! I called my father-in-law and found that Ben's team was NOT playing at home. *sigh*

I didn't get upset, this gave me an excuse to hit one of my favorite places (MARSHALLS!). Marshalls has the best dress clothes for babies at great prices. So I found an adorable pink ruffled dress and some white eyelet ruffled sandals, and a two pack of casual dresses for Bets to grow into. I also bought two really nice brocade baby blankets that don't look babyish at all. I had one a while ago and it sold about a day after I bought it, I think they are really plush and pretty.
And finally my favorite buy are these wine glasses for my mother and sister-in-law for a great deal.







Bets and I got home at 7:30 and to my shock she crashed again. I'm watching What Not To Wear and snuggling with Maddie!

Sweet Betsy pics.

Last night was girl's night at our house. Poor Ben called and talked to Betsy (I've got pictures of that) but he got home not five minutes after she went to bed. He was pretty bummed out to not get to play with, hug, or kiss Betsy tonight.
Betsy is SUCH a chatter box lately. I can tell she understands what we're saying, she 'obeys commands' (sounds like I'm talking about a puppy). She's saying thank you more often as well as other words (mostly food related). She says cheese, drink and Nahnah (her version of Nilla Wafer). She's doing great at school . She constantly runs around giggling. Two nights ago we gave Betsy a bath and turned the jacuzzi jets on and she LOVED THAT. She squaled in delight and when we took her out of the tub she kept trying to crawl back in. She is miniature Ben, he sure loves bathtime too. Last night I realized she has finally mastered the use of the sippy cup. What's funny is Betsy has been drinking out of a normal straw or regular cup for months, just now has she figured out how to tilt a cup and drink out of a sippy by herself. She's become so independent lately Ben and I talk about that every night. Betsy has mastered talking on the phone. She's also trying to text message but since she hasn't mastered reading or spelling she hasn't been super successful with that. The first picture of Betsy crying is just so you can see how she goes from one extreme to the other when she wants a bottle. It's amazing to me that she is SO happy all the time, the only time she gets really upset is when she remembers she wants a bottle then BAM! tantrum. Oh well. For 30 seconds a day (that's how long it takes to heat up the bottle) I can handle a melt down. As soon as she has her bottle she's back to her happy self (as these pictures show).













I tried to get a picture of myself with BB last night and this was as good as it got. Can you believe how different our coloring is? She has gold hair and blue eyes. Whose child is this?!

I'm thinking vacation

With the recent discovery that we will be getting a decent tax refund this year I'm contemplating a family vacation. Ben and I leave home travel pretty often to see my family (or his Texas family), however those trips are centered on bonding with the extended family. I think we need a trip where we do something different.

First I was considering a cruise, however I have no interest in leaving Betsy for several days (and i don't see a cruise being as fun with a toddler). So now I'm considering a few days at Disney World. The beauty would be we can get to Florida, spend some time at my parent's house, maybe leave Betsy with Gee Gee and Grandbuddy for a night or two and Ben and I could stay at a Disney resort! Ben has never been to Disney World and it's been about 8 years since I have too.

Mainly we will be using our refund to get the custom entertainment unit built in our living room that I've been dreaming about for at least a year. I might meander over to the Unfinished Furniture store with BB this weekend and get some solid details ironed out. It's hard for me to put this amount of money into one thing but I guess I should look at it as an investment in our home (because we will most likely leave it with the house should we sell it in the future).

Need a laugh?

Every day I walk upstairs in my building to send faxes and drop off documents I've prepared to another department. Every day I walk along a hall of inspirational people and faces.

This poster of Mother Theresa emphasising charity.
This picture of the beautiful Princess Diana showing her compassion for a little one.
Here is the graceful Kristi Yamaguchi whose self-confidence just shines, don't you think?
And then there's Tiger Woods. COMMITMENT? REALLY?

Oh yes it's lady's night!

Last night I spent my night getting the house in good shape. It was pretty chaotic after our long weekend away but the laundry is caught up, the bathrooms have been cleaned and everything is in its place again. I didn't get to watch my favorite shows last night so I suspect after Bets goes to sleep I'll get a super long workout in while I catch up on the DVR :)

Ben always asks what I'm having for dinner on nights when he's away (I'm sure because he thinks I'll just not eat rather than having to cook for myself). Not true, I'm making myself a complex meal of cereal, banana and milk. (No dirty dishes to clean). Other than that Betsy and I will have fun in the playroom, a super long bath (it's still her favorite) and I endeavor to get a video of her running and flinging herself on the pillow pile. Maybe that's not what 'Lady's Night' meant to me 5 years ago but it's fun now regardless.

This weekend we have some fun plans, we're going to see Ben's high school senior musical, this year they are performing Seussical the Musical. Also the Super Bowl is Sunday and we have friends coming over to watch the game.

All for today I'll post pictures tomorrow.

I'm mildly amazed

It's pretty shocking to me how much farther food goes when I'm conscientious of what I'm eating. For example a case of Diet Coke has last us almost three weeks. We used to go through one case a week. I bought a couple boxes of Girl Scout cookies before I started Weight Watchers. I've had a couple with my lunch but one box will last a couple weeks for me. There might be hope for my self-control yet, though I certainly don't have enough faith in myself to bake cupcakes yet!

Healthy living update, week 1

After 1 week of working out and tracking what I'm eating with Weight Watchers I'm down 4 pounds. I'm feeling fantastic. I'm particularly happy with that result as I spent a weekend in Atlanta eating out several times and not closely regulating what I was eating.

I want to stay accountable publicly so I think I'll post my weight gain or loss every Monday.