Gross and Disgusting

So this past Monday I was diagnosed with Hand/Foot/Mouth virus. But unfortunately it's all in my mouth. It's quite possibly the worst thing I've ever had to deal with. I have sores on my lips, gums, cheeks, tongue and back of my throat. It hurts to breathe, drink, and swallow. It hurts to eat, which I thought would be a bonus and I could drop a few pounds, but no. The things I can eat are ice cream, pudding, etc. Basically it sucks.
I thought you could only get this disease if you touched someone with an open sore, but no! It's transferred through the air just like the common cold!! My doctor said I probably got it from a shopping cart or something! So word to the wise, use those wipes to clean the handles!

The Perfect Storm

Today we took Peanut to see Santa. It was a Breakfast with Santa event and there were a lot of people there and a lot of people talking to Maya. She didn't really care for that. And it was around nap time AND she has a tooth coming in. So you can probably guess how things went, right? As Franklin set her down on Santa's lap she let out a glass shattering scream. I guess a room full of strangers, being tired and teething created the perfect storm and Santa should have been avoided. Below the pictures speak louder than words:

Still happy, next in line to see Santa.

Screaming, crying and jumping off Santa's lap.
Recovering with Daddy

Christmas Traditions

Last night Peanut and I sat down to watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." This was something I watched every year as a child so I was excited to see she was so into it. Yeah, she was into it for about 2 1/2 minutes and then she decided to get down from my lap and go play. So much for our bonding moment.

Sheriff Franklin

Last weekend Franklin, Peanut and I headed out to the barn where our neighbor keeps her horse, Buddy. It was a lot of fun to see Peanut's reaction being that close to a horse. And as an added bonus we all got to ride Buddy too. This was Franklin's first time ever riding a horse! Although at first he didn't look quite comfortable, by the end of the afternoon he was riding without anyone holding the reins!! Now he says he's ready to be a cowboy!

Congratulations Kiel & Erin!!!

It's official, we've crossed over to the (gulp) adult side!! On Saturday Franklin and I attended a wedding where we were the guest of the (gulp) parents!! That's right, I've now gone to a wedding where I was a friend of the mother of the groom. Sigh. Oh well, it was a gorgeous reception and we had an awesome time! Here's a picture of the lovely couple:

Happy Halloween!!!

Our Halloween Party!

This past Friday Franklin and I hosted an awesome Halloween party! We had over 50 adults and kids and everyone had a great time. Some of the costumes were hilarious!! Franklin and I dressed up as K-Fed and post-breakdown Britney. Enjoy the pics!

Yummy???

What is Peanut enjoying so much? Ice cream? No. Cool whip? Nope. It's sour cream. That's right, my baby is enjoying a spoonful of sour cream. Bleh.

Such a big girl!

It's amazing how grown up Peanut is becoming. Every day she's talking more, usually not words we understand, but still talking. And today she successfully ate spaghetti with a fork! I'm so proud of her!!

Weekend in KY

Franklin and I just returned from a weekend in Lexington, KY. It was just lovely. We were down there for a work thing for him, but that included going to the horse races at Keeneland and then visiting a horse farm. Franklin got to get up close and personal with the horses! He was a little nervous but did great. I did well betting at the tracks, I won 5 out of 7 times. I probably won $20 but still. :)

Peanut was taken care of at home with Nana and Papa. She had a great time too!

And my birthday is today, the big 31 Franklin says. I don't feel any different than I did yesterday, probably because we spent the day driving back and then just visiting with my parents and Peanut. Although, my mom did make me a cake. :) Thanks Mom!!

Mommy time

Today I cashed in my Mother's Day gift certificate to the spa. My Mom is visiting so she watched Peanut and I headed off for 3 1/2 hours of total relaxation. A steam shower, an hour massage, a pedicure and a lunch topped off with a mimosa and a glass of wine. It was a great way to start the week!! Thank you so much Franklin!!!

Too flippin hot!

I should not be sweating while putting out Halloween decorations!! It's hard enough to do those damn spider webs when you don't have sweat in your eyes! Damn global warming!!!

Where do you think it's going?

When we were on the turnpike we passed two trucks with tons of celery. Cut up too small to be packaged so where's it going? And let me tell you, it was quite fragrant!

Peanut's 15 Month Check Up

Franklin and I took Peanut to the doctor today for her checkup. She hasn't grown too much, still 31" tall and 22 lbs. She has moved into size 5 shoes though! We have to get our picky eater to eat! The Dr. said to put butter on everything. :) She does have a yeast infection from teething. :( She's getting her molars in! But other than that, all is well.

Wrong number

Okay, I have a question to pose to all of you. If you get a call on your cell phone and the person hangs up before you answer it and you didn't know who it was, do you call them back? That irritates the hell out of me! I messed up, I punched in the wrong number realized it mid-ring so I hung up. The next thing I know that person is calling me back. Seriously, if I really wanted to talk to you I would've let it ring or left a message. Geez! So, what do you all do? Do you call the number back?

Peanut's Sick :(

Well, it finally happened, our little Peanut got sick. We've been very blessed that it hadn't happened until she was 14 months old. It started out with a runny nose and dry cough and last night we took her to the ER for an ear infection. :( It was also the first time she had her temperature taken rectally, at least in our presence! She did great though and really only showed her irritability at home. We've wrestled with two doses of antibiotic so far and she's already improving. :)

Peanut's Love for Spaghetti

Peanut has pretty much loved spaghetti since the first time she tasted it. Well now, when she takes a bite, even after she's sucked in the noodles, she sucks the sauce off of her lips. It's the funniest thing and I tried to capture it on video today. Unfortunately she only did it once for the camera and it's quick, if you don't have the volume up high you might miss it. But hey, she's cute enough to watch anyway. :)

Update: the stupid video upload won't work. Bummer. I'll try harder for a video that's more worth it. :)

Kennyitis!!

This past Saturday Franklin and I went to the Kenny Chesney concert!!! It was awesome!! Not only did we see him, but we also saw Pat Green, Sara Evans, Sugarland and Brooks & Dunn! We had so much fun. We fully intended to get trashed, we even had our wonderful friend Dana as our designated driver. We were off to a good start at Hockeytown with our buckets of Voodoo Juice, but they weren't sold at the concert and our buzz came down fast. And getting drunk on $8 beers at the stadium is way too hard for me. :)

Parents Let Loose

Our friend Dana came to visit this past weekend and we had a great time. Margaritas by the pool and a night out with no baby!! We went to the local country bar, Dirty Cowboys. There were five of us and we all rode the mechanical bull!! Although none of us did very well, we all had a lot of fun.

Here's a look at Franklin on the bull:

Peanut's First Year Portraits

We took Peanut to get her pictures done last week and we have a sneak peek of some of the proofs: http://lisapflaum.blogspot.com/

Peanut's new love

We went to the county fair with my parents, sister and nieces last week. Peanut really liked seeing all of the animals and of course, all the people. She had her first carousel ride and fed llamas. She then decided that she LOVES the inflatables. Fortunately it wasn't very crowded and she was able to play on one of them by herself most of the time. However, she was not happy when it was time to go.

Saw this in the grocery store...

I have no words.

Harry Potter Mania!!

Last night I went to the Harry Potter Fest with my sister, her husband and my niece. We had a great time going through all the stores in Diagon Alley. One store even had Mandrake babies!! And the bathrooms were Harry Potties!! I dressed in Gryffindor's colors, good thing too because I was placed in that house by the sorting hat. :) We had to wait till 12:01am to get our books and it was just like sleeping outside for concert tickets! Ahh...the memories.

Added note: the book was awesome, it took me a week to read it which I think is pretty good for having a 1-year old. :)

Peanut's Checkup

Peanut went for her 12 month check up and she's doing great. She's exactly 21 lbs and 31 in long. That's still 95% for height and 50% for weight. She's my skinny, tall girl! She got three shots but took them very well. Well, not the first one so much, she screamed on that one, but the other two went smoothly. :)

She's walking more and more every day and I swear she broke out into a run today. She's also learned she can get behind the tv, which is great fun. And still trying to climb everything.

Life with a toddler is an adventure!

Peanut's First Birthday Bash!

This past Saturday we held Peanut's birthday party in MI. We had a great time with all the friends and family that joined in the fun. Peanut was very tired having not had a nap but she did great anyway. As the wonderful parents we are, we had the Blue Angels perform. LOL, just kidding, the air show was taking place nearby so our guests had some entertainment.

Peanut highly enjoyed her tearing into her cake. She didn't eat too much of it but she sure messed it up good! And today at the grocery store she was reaching for all the cakes in the bakery!!

Peanut turns One!!

We can't believe it but our baby girl is one year old. That year just flew by. Before she even turned a year she started walking. And boy if we thought our life was crazy before it's even worse now!! Her check up is next week so I'll post her stats then. :)

Peanut goes to the beach!

We had a great vacation in Myrtle Beach as well as my family reunion in Virginia. Peanut just LOVED the water and the sand. Fortunately she didn't eat any of it. :) I think I'm in trouble with this one and water, she crawled towards the waves!!

An 11 month old and a professional sporting event..

Franklin had to go to Columbus for a meeting with the Crew so the three of us headed down and took in a Columbus Crew professional soccer game. Fortunately we were in the VIP area so there was room for Peanut to get around and for us to walk her around. We also had a hospitality suite with food, beverages and bathrooms. That part was definitely awesome. Peanut LOVED the mascot too! I think we'll wait a little while before we take her to another pro sports game but for the most part she did great!

Happy Father's Day Franklin!!

I wanted to take this time to recognize Franklin as an AWESOME dad. Peanut loves spending time with him and is always way better behaved with him than me. I couldn't ask for a better husband or a better father for my child.

Happy 1st Father's Day!!

And Happy Father's Day to all the other first time Dads as well as the seasoned ones. :)

Congratulations Bob & Amanda!!

I'm happy to annouce my good friends Bob & Amanda welcomed a baby boy Ryan Robert on June 12th at 5:15pm. He weighed 8 lbs 3 oz and was 20 in long. Mommy and baby are both doing fine.

Congratulations to both of you!!

Good ole days

One of our grocery stores allows you to earn fuel rewards with grocery purchases. I've been earning them for quite some time but never redeemed them. I decided to go to their newly opened gas station in our town and use my rewards. I had $2.40/gal in rewards which meansI got gas for $.45 a gallon!!! It only took $9.56 to fill up my mini-van, over 20 gallons! It was just like the good ole days. Not that I ever experienced gas at that low of a price but I think it was $.97 my senior year in high school and I had a little car so putting $10 went a long way.

Off to buy more groceries!!

Sisterhood of the Holey Pants

This past weekend was my annual Girlfriend's Camping Weekend. We all had a great time, drank a little too much beer and ate too much junk...just as we planned. :) A few tidbits from the weekend: Inbreedsville, Meth Watch, Salve, Sue Drop, Navy boys, Pee spots and Tick Check.

But by far the fondest memory was the memorial for Bean's holey pants. She had them for 17 years and they went camping with us every year. Needless to say the holes left little to the imagination anymore. So we decided, some not willingly, that we would burn the pants. It took a little pushing (or attacking some might say) to get the pants off of her but we did. The four of us spoke about our memories of the pants and then piece by piece they went into the fire. It was sad, but the campsite will be a little more G-rated for it. :)

I had a blast girls, can't wait till next year!!

Best Day Ever!!

Franklin really spoiled me for my first Mother's Day. I had the "day off" from taking care of Maya. He woke me up with breakfast in bed and then I got presents!! A spa package and tickets to the Princess Diana exhibit from him, a tote bag with her picture on it from Peanut and flowers from Sophie. Then he made me a bubble bath, with candles!! I swear it was the longest I've spent in the bathroom in I don't know how long. And then we went to lunch at Red Lobster, got ice cream at Coldstone and then went to the park. He made dinner and gave Peanut her bath. It was pure bliss! He certainly set the bar for this holiday and I hope it repeats year after year!!

Thank you Franklin, it was truly one of the best days ever!!

Flying Duck

You know, kids toys are really dangerous especially when they're hidden in the blankets on your bed. Almost every night we give Peanut play time on our bed before she goes to sleep and we try and get all the toys back in the basket but sometimes one sneaks out. So the other night she played, I put her in her crib and then cleaned up the toys. Franklin then proceeded to get under the covers and sort of "fluffed" them up over him and WHAM!! he was hit right smack in the head by a flying plastic duck!! I immediately doubled over in quiet laughter, don't want to wake up the baby or anything. It hit his eye pretty good and I'm sure it hurt but it was pretty funny too! :) The duck looks so sweet and innocent.

I'm Hurty

So the other day I was putting Peanut down for a nap and I tried getting out of her room quickly and I busted my foot on the door frame. It hurt like hell but I couldn't yell out because I didn't want to wake her up. I went about my evening and by the end of the night my pinky toe was all swollen and purple. I was super excited because I don't normally bruise! Franklin insisted I call the doctor the next day and they had me come in and then sent me for x-rays. They were concerned that my foot could be broken. Fortunately it's not, just my 4th and 5th toe, but now I have to see a podiatrist. Even though it sucks and it hurts, I still love that I have a bruise!!!

And thanks to my friend Monica for the word Hurty! :)

Mom-Wagon

Well, it's official, we've gone out and got a mini-van! Yup, now I'm one of the many moms out there carting around their children and all of their belongings. I actually love it and I enjoy driving it. I'm looking forward to using it for our trips to Michigan too!!

Dirty Cowboys

We have a new country bar opening up soon in our town called Dirty Cowboys. We're pretty excited about it because we enjoy country music and it's always great people watching. Franklin and I were driving by where it'll be located and it's in a strip mall, guess what's right next door to it? Planned Parenthood! It makes it convenient to pick up some items for after the bar!! :)

Peanut's 9 Month Checkup

We just returned from Peanut's 9 month checkup and everything is great. She now weighs 19 lbs 4 oz (60%) and is 30 1/4 inches long which is above 95%. I knew she was gonna be a tall one!! She's nothing but trouble these days...crawling, pulling herself up, cruising around.

We also went to a Mom and Tot lunch today and had a great time with other moms and their kids. One of many upcoming social engagements on Peanut's calendar!!

Hallelujah!!!

Sanjaya is gone!! Sanjaya is gone!!! Ding dong the wicked hair is gone!!!

Disturbing

I just saw the commercial for the Itsy Bitsy Spiderman, is anyone else disturbed by this? I mean, this is a SUPERHERO and he's now singing Itsy Bitsy Spider???

It's official...we have a crawler!!

Peanut has been manuvering around for a couple weeks but not really crawling, but as of yesterday, we have a crawler. Although she doesn't crawl like normal, she's on her hands and one knee and then with the other leg she has her foot flat on the floor. It's pretty amusing to watch. But poor Sophie, right now she's faster than Peanut, but who knows how long that'll last. Baby proofing, here we come!!

And earlier in the week she started getting herself into a sitting position all on her own too!

Happy Easter Eve!!

Peanut visited the Easter Bunny!

Last Sunday Franklin and I took Peanut to see the Easter Bunny. The line wasn't long so we didn't have to worry about her getting antsy. I handed her off to the Bunny and she did just fine. Unlike Santa we didn't do a drop and run, she saw the Bunny before she sat down. Her teeth were bugging her so we didn't get a great smile, but she did smile!

TMNT

Okay, I'm just now getting into the world of Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, Noggin, etc. so can someone tell me when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles became popular again? Not that I don't love seeing all the old school things (Strawberry Shortcake, Puffalumps, My Little Pony, etc.) but can't they come up with anything original nowadays?

Happy Birthday Franklin!!

Just wanted to send out birthday wishes to my Franklin! Happy 36th Birthday!!!

Do what your mother tells you!

Recently my parents got hooked up with a cable modem and now they're all about the internet. It's really never too late. So today my Mom tells me that I need to post something on my blog. She's read everything and wants to see more. Well alrighty then, here you go!! :) Love you Mom!!

Hee hee hee

As you all may know Franklin does NOT enjoy changing diapers and many of you may have seen this example:

Well tonight a diaper changing experience will now make him leary to change even the cleanest diaper. Franklin opened up Peanut's diaper to find that she had pooped. Now he handles that a lot better than before so he was happily cleaning her up when all of a sudden she decided to empty her bladder. He was leaning down making sure he was wiping her well and BAM! pee pee right in the forehead, hair and shirt! He started calling for me to come and rescue him but I didn't hear him right away because I was loading the dishwasher!! By the time I got to him he was still paralized by the event and Peanut was still laying there in a dirty diaper. I took over and he quickly went to change his shirt. Now he's insisting he needs a shower. Such a rookie. :)

A bit too long

I don't know about you but I usually take down my Christmas tree sometime after New Year's Day. Any longer after that and it just seems silly. But for some they may want to enjoy it longer, and they should. Till January 15th, 30th, etc., but February 21st? Don't you think that's a bit too long? One of the houses in my neighborhood still have their tree up, still turn on the lights every night. Do you think they'll keep it up till Spring?

Stupid snow coverage

You know, I can look outside and see that it's snowing, see the wind blowing and I can assume the roads are crappy. All the schools are closed and I'm happy to watch the little ticker go by all day long on my local channels. What I can't understand is why they have to interrupt programming ALL morning long saying the same thing over and over. Showing the poor, low on the totem pole reporters freezing their butt off.

And as I write this post someone on the news just said that people have called in and said get off the air! Too funny. But alas, they say it's a dangerous event and they've been on since 4:00am and will continue on through the storm. Do you think the meterologists get off on this? I mean, normally they're only on the air for like 4 min during a news broadcast, but during this they get to sit in the center of the news desk and tell us all about wind chills, blowing and drifting and weather advisories all day long.

Okay, I'll stop now because obviously it won't make any difference!!

Congratulations Katie & Christian!!

Just wanted to give a great big CONGRATULATIONS to my friend Katie and her husband Christian on the birth of their son last Thursday. Welcome to the world baby Hunter!!

Da da

Last week Peanut started saying da da. Now we know she's just making the noise and not actually saying daddy, but Franklin is loving it! As he should. He does do his best to get her to say ma ma but she just likes da da. Da da. Da da. Over and over all day long!

Something to ponder...

Is it just me or does anyone else wonder why all the Chinese buffet restaurants always have blinds/curtains covering the windows and they're always closed? Do they not want people to see in? Do they have something to hide? I personally like to look inside to see how many people are in there or if it looks like a clean place, but with these stupid blinds/curtains you can't see in!! I think that's just bad business.

Peanut's 7 Months Old!

I can't believe it's already been 7 months. The time has just flown by which I'm pretty sure I've said every month. She's already wearing 9 month size clothes! Not pulling herself to sit up yet but she can sit up very well when we put her that way. Not crawling yet either but that's just fine with me!!

Colts win the Super Bowl!!!

Last night was an amazing game and my favorite team did awesome!! Well, after the first few minutes anyway. :) Peyton Manning rocked and led his team to win the championship and himself the MVP. Go Colts! Go Colts! Go Colts!

The most important appliance

So last Friday the most dreadful thing happened, our dishwasher broke down. Yes, that's right, the most important appliance in the kitchen is gone. One would think it's actually one of the appliances you could live without but they are wrong. Especially when you're dealing with baby bottles! But alas, the dishwasher fairy came today!! And we now have a beautiful new sparkly white dishwasher. It's so quiet and wonderful I'm almost speechless. Almost. :)

I guess winter has arrived!

Everyone was talking about how the weather was so warm it didn't feel like winter. I'm not sure why anyone was complaining, I was just fine with it. Well apparently Mother Nature heard the complaints and she decided to give us winter. Yuck!

Not a whole heck of a lot going on

Every day I check my friends blogs to see if they've posted something new. And a couple of them have posted some things and some have been silent for awhile. And then I think, I haven't really posted anything lately either. So here I am, posting without much to say. Peanut continues to grow and I just wish her tooth would come in so it could relieve some of her pain. I started a group for all my new mom friends to talk about baby stuff. That's been great. It's almost like having all of them in my living room. I really hate that I'm in Ohio at this time. I have not one, not two but five friends who became moms in 2006 and another any minute. I wish I could be near them and have our baby play dates and share our pains with each other. But I can't, so the group discussion thing does lessen the pain.

Wow, nothing to post but I sure can go on and on! Anyhow, I just hope everyone is doing well this dreary January and I hope to see all of you soon!

Peanut's 6 Months Old!

Can you believe it? Six months have passed by so quickly. We took Peanut to the doctor today and she weighs 16lbs 4oz (60%) and is 27.5" (95%)long. She's doing great and handled her shots beautifully. It was Franklin's first time witnessing the shots and he did beautifully as well. :)

She has two swollen spots on her lower gum so we're just waiting for those two teeth to pop through. That would be nice since she seems pretty uncomfortable nowadays. She's not sitting up completely on her own yet and isn't crawling, just swimming in place. :) I suppose it could happen anyday. My friend's daughter who was born a week before Peanut started crawling on Christmas Eve!! Not that I'm in any hurry to have her mobile. She already moves her legs constantly so when she gets up on her knees we're in trouble!

Our stay in Michigan

When I went to title the post I started to write visit but we were there for so long it was way longer than a visit! We arrived on the 21st and didn't leave until Jan. 2nd. We had a great time and got to see lots of people. We started the trip out with a visit to Greenfield Village and the Holiday Lights event. We went with my parents, my sister and her family and some cousins. It was nice to be together but the event was kind of a let down. I think we envisioned more lights. :) But the girls got one last visit with Santa.

We visited many friends of ours that we both hadn't seen in awhile and there were many more we didn't get a chance to see. Our Christmas with my sister and her family was delayed though because they got the stomach flu. We crossed our fingers the whole trip that we wouldn't get sick!

Our New Year's Eve was spent without Peanut. We left her with Nana and Papa and headed to a party in Sterling Heights with Franklin's brother and sister-in-law. The food was awesome, the drinks were weak but we definitely enjoyed people watching!!


Now we're home and back to reality. In other words back to getting Peanut on a schedule again!! I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful Christmas and New Year's!!

Peanut's First Christmas!!

We had a great Christmas this year. Peanut had a lot of fun opening presents. Her favorite part was chewing the wrapping paper!!