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!!

Kinda Worried

Sometimes I turn on the tv to Noggin or Nick Jr. just to have those noises going for Peanut. She pays attention to it sometimes but for the most part ignores it. But I'm facing an odd issue, I'm kind of into the shows!! I find myself singing along with the Backyardigans, figuring out Blue's Clues and learning spanish with Dora and Diego. Yup, I'm screwed. I'm already absorbing this stuff before I even have to!! But why can't I turn it off??

The spirit of Christmas?

Just for fun Franklin and I pretend to be each other's Santa at Christmas. Like when we need to go shopping we say we need to go meet Santa and so on. So the other night I was reading in bed and Franklin was complaining about the light being on. I said "Do you think Santa is bringing me a book light for Christmas?" He replies with, "Well, how much does one of those cost?" LOL Needless to say I told him not to bother.

Peanut visited Santa!!

Today Franklin and I took Peanut to see Santa at the mall. She waited very patiently in line as did Franklin. :) We got to see lots of cute little kids waiting and some that were not so cute. Including a boy dressed up like a Von Trapp kid whose butt was all wet right before he got on Santa's lap! Anyhow, Peanut did great. It was a drop and run situation and we didn't let her see who was holding her until she was back in Mommy's arms. She didn't smile for the picture, but she didn't cry either! We'll save that for next year. :)

Elfin Good Time

I just made a total elf of myself. Check me out by clicking the link below.
http://www.elfyourself.com/?userid=b67259ba1779c7e2b92d619G06121420

Peanut's First Snow!

Peanut and I spent the whole day yesterday in the house and in our pjs. The wonderful lake effect snow hit us yesterday and we watched out the window as 6 inches fell to the ground. Franklin was out of town and very happy that he missed it. I can't wait to get Peanut in a snowsuit and in the snow!

The Twinkies Have Arrived!!!

Congratulations to Barb and Paul on the birth of their twins!!!! Sarah Nicole and Jacob Theodore arrived on Saturday, November 25th.

Can't wait to see them!!

Black Friday

Another year, another start to the shopping season. Franklin and I didn't have a very productive day but still had fun. Franklin woke up not feeling well so we just headed into Adrian to start to see if he felt better. We arrived at Kohl's at 5am and got a lot of good deals. Because it was extremely foggy we decided to just stay in Adrian. We headed to Wal-Mart next, which is where the real fun was. First, the cops were there, stationed at the door, which we thought was hilarious. And then the people watching, oh the people watching. It's always entertaining to people watch at Wal-Mart. I'm not sure what was better, the guy who talked so much he annoyed the credit card application people and everyone around him, the 15 year old set of new parents who looked extremely confused in the Fisher Price aisle, or the girl who was wearing pajama pants that were WAY too tight! Didn't really find anything I was looking for but picked up a couple of dvds. As we were leaving they were checking receipts!! Between that and the cops I guess they were anticipating some thefts. But the kicker was one of the games on our way out. It was a crane game but instead of it being filled with stuffed animals it had a layer of wanna be bling. Seriously. Along the bottom of the machine was fake gold bracelets, rings, watches, etc. Like I said, Wal-Mart is entertaining. After that we headed to the mall but didn't pick up much. We left the house at 4:45am and were back in bed by 7:15am. Peanut hadn't even woke up yet!!

Back to reality

Franklin and I have returned from our 8 day cruise and what should welcome us on our first day home but snow. Gotta love traveling to warm weather during cold weather months. So, you may be wondering how our trip went, or you may not but I'm gonna tell you anyway. :) The trip was awesome!! Even though we missed Peanut immensely we had a great time. We met some great people who have become friends...shout out to table 34!!! We visited some beautiful islands, saw dolphins and whales, got tan and drank a lot of alcohol. :)

Unfortunately our travel day home was absolutely horrible and it made us forget about how much fun we had for awhile. We were the first group off the ship and didn't have any plans before our flight so got to the airport around 8:30am and our flight wasn't until 3:25pm. And then of course, our flight was delayed till 5:10pm. Making us miss our connecting flight in Atlanta and had to wait there until 9:45pm till the next one. We arrive into Detroit at midnight and do you think our luggage made it with us? Heck no! But of course you stand there waiting until every last bag has come down. So we start our long drive to Adrian and as anxious as we were to see Peanut Franklin put the pedal down. Until he got pulled over in Tecumseh. :) Thankfully the officer was very understanding of the horrible day we had endured and let Franklin off with a warning. But then we got to my parents house and got to see Peanut!! She had grown so much and she's rolling over all the time now.

And now Thanksgiving is almost here and we'll be headed back to MI in a couple of days. I hope all of you have a great holiday! And happy shopping to those of you going out on Friday!!

Peanut's 4 Months Old!

I can't believe 4 months have passed. It seems like I say that every month. Peanut had her check up on Friday and got 4 shots. :( She didn't like those and was pretty cranky through Saturday, but she's all better now. She now weighs 15 lbs, 13 oz and is 25" long!! I couldn't believe it. It seems like I'm always switching out her wardrobe. :) She started eating cereal today, boy was that fun! After she figured out why a spoon was coming at her face she got the hang of it. We got some funny pictures and video. We head off on vacation on Thursday, we'll miss Peanut A LOT, but we'll have fun and enjoy the relaxing time together. Lord knows it'll be the last time!! Our next vacation will probably be Disney in a couple of years!!

Quite a let down

I haven't posted about Detroit's loss in the World Series because of a few reasons. 1. I was really bummed, 2. I couldn't think of anything witty to say about it and 3., I fear my daughter had a part in their loss. Why you ask? Her favorite toy (before the world series and now) a cardinal. Yup, I said it, she was rooting for the other team! And I feel because she's so darn cute the Cardinals played better. Next year I'll make sure she has a tiger toy. :)

Peanut Update!

As we quickly approach Peanut's 4 month birthday I thought I would give everyone an update on what she's doing. She has been sleeping through the night for quite awhile now but now she sleeps in her room. She's doing her best to roll over but can't get that pesky arm out of the way! She smiles constantly and is now laughing, it's the most awesome sound. And one of the not so nice developments, she had her first poopy blowout that leaked out of the diaper and onto her clothes. That was a nice surprise. :)

My 30th Birthday!

This past Saturday was my 30th birthday. Franklin gave me my presents the night before because he had to leave early for a tournament and woke up at 12:01am to be the first to wish me a happy birthday. One of my best friends Susan was visiting me too which made the day awesome and Franklin had arranged for a party at our house with all of our neighbors. It was a great party! I don't really feel any different, Peanut doesn't give me any time to dwell on it. :) This day brought my birthday celebrations to an end. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes!

Tigers win the ALCS!!!!!!

Tonight is a HUGE night for Detroit fans, the Detroit Tigers won the American League Championship Series and are on their way to the World Series. A little factoid..it was 22 years ago tonight that they last won the World Series.

Franklin and I got so excited but we couldn't scream for joy. We did that during another game and it scared Peanut half to death and extreme crying followed.

Good luck Tigers!!

70 MPH...fastest car on the road???

Whenever I drove in Ohio, before I moved here, I made sure to always go the speed limit or just above, not even five over. The MI license plate was target enough. Now that I've moved here it's still the same, even without the shiny blue target. On my way to work today I was the fastest car on the highway at 70 mph!! The speed limit is 65. Now I go five over with great hesitation because the cops are everywhere but it blows my mind to be the fastest at only five over. I miss 94, 275 and 696 where at 70mph you would be sitting still. I realize that they seem to have fewer accidents here and that's probably why, but I could get to work so much faster if I could drive at a higher speed and didn't look like I was in a NASCAR race!

My Birthday Party!

Franklin and Dana organized a kick ass party for me this past weekend. They rented a limo which got upgraded to a limo bus and then come party time our limo bus was held up at a wedding so they sent a bigger bus!! It was huge and totally AWESOME!! We could've partied in there all night if it had a bathroom. :) We all had a lot of fun and some were paying for it in the morning. :)

If anyone who wasn't there wants to see the pictures, just let me know!

Nick Lachey...Happy Birthday to Me!!

Last night Franklin took me to the Nick Lachey concert in Cleveland. It was my birthday present and I LOVED it!!! That man is HOT! The concert was really good and Franklin was a good sport to be surrounded by all the girls. He loved it though. He made good friends with the girls next to us as we talked about the drama going on around us when someone wouldn't move down a seat! Too much alcohol and estrogen!! The concert was supposed to be Wednesday night but was rescheduled when Nick was booked to appear on Dancing with the Stars. So I really got to see him two nights in a row!!!

And Peanut did very well with her first non-family baby-sitter. I think Franklin was more worried about it then I was. He kept text messaging to check on her. :) Such a sweet daddy!

It's only begun..

While driving home from dinner last night Franklin was in the backseat keeping Peanut happy. She spit out her binky and all of a sudden it happened, Franklin said "Oopsie Poopsie." Had to be one of the funniest things ever to come out of a 35-year old's mouth. And sadly, it's only just begun. From now on everything has an 'ie' after it. I just love parenthood! :)

The new baby-sitter

While I was at work this past Tuesday Peanut was being fussy and Franklin put her in her bouncer to help calm her down. I guess it wasn't working until Dancing with the Stars came on. Suddenly she was mesmerized by the music and the lights! She calmed right down and fell asleep 1/2 hour into the show. Isn't television great?

Peanut is sleeping through the night!

Or is she? Just recently I found out that Franklin has been telling people at work that Peanut is sleeping through the night. I asked if he was joking and he said no! So I told him the only one who was sleeping through the night was him!! However, she has now proved him right. Last night he was on duty because I had to be at work at 7:30am and do you think that child got up during the night? Heck no, she happily slept through till 6:40am. Little booger!

Now scrapbooking is even more fun!

This past Monday I started my new job at one of the local scrapbook stores. It was a lot of fun but also a lot of work. I was busy the entire time I was there. And since I hadn't worked since February it was tiring! I think I'll really enjoy the job and Franklin has been very supportive with handling Peanut. Thanks Franklin!!

Congratulations Brian & Marisa!!

This past Saturday Franklin and I made the trek down to Columbus for the wedding of Brian & Marisa. Franklin knows Brian through soccer and they also caught the bouquet and garter at our wedding. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was so much fun! Franklin and I decided to take advantage of being childless and partied hard! We drank beer, champagne, wine and vodka. Pretty much anything they served us!! Fortunately neither one of us got sick. :) And having all that fun didn't give us any time to miss Peanut.

Congratulations to the newlyweds and have a great time in Cabo!!

Peanut had a rough day

Today Peanut went for her 2-month check up and had to get 4 shots!! She was a trooper though and didn't cry too much. That Tylenol sure helps! She's been cranky most of the afternoon and evening and wants to be held but it's the least I can do. Franklin couldn't go with us to the doctor because he didn't want to see Peanut in pain. It was good though, I could only hold one crying baby! As for her growth she's now 11 lbs, 3oz and 23 1/2 in long!

A Jen Moment

For those of you who know my sister Jen you'll understand the title of this blog. She has so many interesting adventures that I swear she needs her own reality show! Well, today, I had a Jen moment. I left the house to pick up Sophie from the groomer's. Peanut was sleeping peacefully and went right into the car seat without waking up, even though it was just past the time she would need to eat. I was going a half mile up the road to pick up Sophie and the trip would take a total of 10-15 minutes. Well, when I returned to the house with a beautifully groomed dog and a still sleeping baby I came to find out that I was locked out of the house. The key that I had on my key ring that I thought was a house key was not. Being locked out wasn't the best part, the fact that I had no bottle, no diaper bag and no binky were the angels on my christmas tree of terror. I had a dog that probably had to go the bathroom after being at the groomer's all morning (and of course, she's paper trained and hates grass) and a baby that could wake up at any moment with a wet diaper and HUNGRY! Thankfully I have a wonderful husband who doesn't work too far away and immediately left work to meet me with a key.

Now that I'm home and the dog has peed and the baby has been fed I can laugh about it, but it made for a very scary 45 minutes.

Peanut goes on the road

Today we returned from a short road trip to Cincinnati. Franklin had business down there so Peanut and I tagged along. She loved the hotel bed, but she could do without the long drive. Especially two days in a row. So with a trip to MI and a trip to Cincinnati under her belt who knows where she'll be off to next! :)

Gone....but not forgotten

Franklin is kind of funny about some things. For example, the sprayer attachment for the hose. To most people it has no comedic value, but to our household it is constantly amusing. First, Franklin can hardly remember if we even own a sprayer and usually goes out and buys one and then finds the old one. Well when we moved I knew we had at least one and when he first said we needed to buy one this summer I told him we already had one and low and behold he found it in the garage. It stayed attached to the hose on the reel in the front yard from then on. Perfect because that's where flowers and shrubs are to be watered. Well, this week when Franklin wanted to set up the sprinkler in the front yard he removed the sprayer. He had to of course to attach the sprinkler. One would think he would lay it on the ground next to the hose reel for reattachment. A day or so later he tells me, "I think I lost the sprayer attachment." How, I ask. Well, when he removed it he set it on the back of his Jeep and then vaguely remembers hearing a clunking noise when he left the subdivision later that day. Hmm...

Diet Liar

So Franklin went to the doctor on Monday and is supposed to be on a High Fiber, Low Fat diet. It's a very plain, bland diet and I do feel bad for him. However, lying about what you eat won't help you lose any weight, right? Franklin set out his breakfast last night, box of Shredded Wheat, banana, bowl, etc. This morning I noticed the sugar canister on the table and was so proud of him eating his breakfast. I never noticed that there wasn't a bowl in the sink. So at dinner tonight I asked if he enjoyed his shredded wheat and he caved. He said he didn't eat it. I asked about the banana, he did eat that. Very sad. I did however guilt him into taking his metamucil. :)

4 Weeks Old!

I can't get over the fact that Peanut is 4 weeks old. It still seems like it was yesterday we brought her home. Things are getting a little bit easier now, although they were never too bad. She's such a good baby. Our live in nanny has gone home and come back again, but left again yesterday. :( It's just so much easier when she's here! Franklin is a pro at diaper changing, no more gagging. :) I'm pretty much healed and doing well. I've lost a total of 40 pounds!! The majority of that was water, I can't believe how big I was!! And I've been given the go to get back in the pool, which makes me very happy.

In other news, can it get any hotter?? Yesterday we lost power for about an hour and a half. It was terrifying. The thought of packing up an infant to head to a hotel was very scary, but fortunately the power came back on before the house got too warm. :)

She's 2 Weeks Old!

Today is Peanut's 2 week birthday. In some ways it seems like yesterday and others it feels much longer. My live in nanny is going home tomorrow so reality sets in. :( The posts after this may be few and far between or they may be cries for help!

As for Peanut she's getting bigger and has a bunch of firsts, mainly shopping trips. :) Sam's, Target, JCPenney...she's enjoyed them all, with her eyes closed. :) As for me, things are good. I've already lost 33 lbs! I can't believe how much water I was retaining!

Baby Girl

As all of you know we brought our baby girl home a week ago today so I decided to rename our blog. The last 10 days have been quite the adventure. Franklin had an interesting encounter with a poopy diaper. It was quite unexpected and he accidentally put his finger in it! He was gagging uncontrollably and threw up a little bit in his mouth. I of course was laughing hysterically and had to rescue poor Peanut from rolling around in an open poopy diaper. Ever since then he's very leery about opening a dirty diaper. :)

Last day of freedom

It's now less than 24 hours before my induction and my last day of freedom. Last night we went out to dinner and to Coldstone. We figure we won't be going out for awhile and I'll be laying off the ice cream after the baby is born! So as I lay around on my final day of bed rest and contemplating labor I wish all of you a Happy 4th of July! :)

Baby Shopping!

Franklin and I went shopping on Monday to get the stuff we needed for the baby that we didn't receive from our showers. It was very exciting to actually buy the stuff instead of just look at it! Now we get to set everything up!

Adventures in Bed Rest

The fun continues on day 10 of bed rest. I've watched all four Harry Potter movies, read, wrote out thank yous, watched lots of t.v. and slept. Yup, you guessed it, I'm pretty bored. I know I should appreciate the rest because when the baby comes I won't get to rest, but I'm still bored. :) I have been able to get out some but each day spent in bed seems like an eternity.

I go back to the doctor tomorrow, woohoo I get to leave the house again!!

Pool Princess

The warm weather has allowed Franklin and I to enjoy our swimming pool. Our lovely dog Sophie doesn't like to be IN the pool, but as you can see she's found her new favorite place to relax. It takes a special kind of dog to be a pool lounger.

Lamaze Part Deux

So Franklin and I attended our final Lamaze class this past Saturday. Three of the 8 couples didn't return, including Mr. Living in the Dark Ages. The class wasn't nearly as exciting as the first week but we still learned some stuff.

At the end of the class the instructor decided to teach us a deep relaxation exercise. Not really for labor but just for life in general. We laid down with our pillows to relax, she shut off the lights and put on the relaxation cd. Well, all I can say is it worked because apparently I was snoring quite a bit. :) Franklin was quite amused and is enjoying telling everyone the story. He thinks that alone was totally worth the class fee.

Lamaze

Franklin and I had our first Lamaze class this past Saturday. The first thing I looked at was the "syllabus" of sorts that was given to us and I immediately felt like it was my first day of school. And it exhausted me. After I got over that we did find the class informative. Once I got to lay on the floor instead of sitting in a chair I was much happier too. There are 7 other couples in the class and one guy in particular is a whack job. The instructor asked us all to talk about our pain management plans at this time. He would prefer that his wife not have any pain meds and have the baby at home like the old days. He also referred to the doctor as HER doctor, not our doctor like the other husbands said. He was just a total ass. Fortunately there wasn't much more "talking" time so we didn't have to listen to him anymore.

Taking the tour of the birthing center certainly made things seem a lot more in the now rather than in the future. I'm 34 weeks now so in theory it could happen anytime.

We have one more lamaze class and then a new baby class next week. That's the one I'm looking most forward to. :) Watching Franklin change diapers on a doll is going to be awesome!! :)

Finally

So any of you that have known me for a long time will know how much I love swimming pools. Always have and I can't seem to get enough. I think it's one of the reasons I love hotels so much because they usually have a pool. My whole childhood I begged my parents to get a pool, but they never would.

Well, the day has finally come that I have a pool of my very own!!! I've actually had one since we moved to Ohio but I wasn't able to swim in it till yesterday. I'm in heaven, absolute heaven. When it's 90 degrees outside and all I want to do is cool off, I just climb in the pool. :) And even today when I knew it was hot outside but I was nice and cool inside, I still went in the pool. :) Not for very long though because it started storming.

So all of you who were thinking you might make it to Ohio for a visit someday, now know we have amenities. :)

Sick of the rain...

So I was just about to post something about how sick I am of all the rain lately and then I remembered I had a similar post back in November. Seriously, I feel like we're living in Seattle. It has been raining for the last 10 days and it sucks.

Our first baby shower!

Yesterday we had our first baby shower. Tom's Mom put this together for his friends and family. It was a good turn out and we had a great time. We got a lot of stuff too! This baby thing just keeps getting more real. :) Thanks to everyone who came and gave us wonderful presents.

Our progress

Six months down, three to go. Who do you think will be bigger? :) I love you Franklin!

Alpacas

I didn't know that much about alpacas, but I do now! Today I had an interview at an alpaca farm for an event planner position. Franklin can't get over that it's a farm and didn't even know what an alpaca was!! The job seems interesting so we'll see what happens. If you want to learn more about alpacas, visit their site www.alpacafarm.com

Fountain pop is AWESOME!!

You know, I always liked fountain pop better than straight from the can, but now it's possibly one of the greatest things EVER! Other than french fries all of my cravings have been for beverages and right now it's fountain pop! Franklin wouldn't leave the house last night at 11pm to get me one, isn't that awful?? Thankfully the craving passed gently, but he better be prepared to make some trips in the future!!

Franklin's 35th Birthday!

Franklin reminded me yesterday that I didn't post anything about his birthday this past Sunday. I'm terribly sorry Franklin. I was sure he wouldn't want anything posted since he was so distraught over turning 35. But none the less, here is his post. :) His birthday started off with my Dad making him his favorite breakfast. Then Mom and I returned home from a scrapbook weekend with his favorite type of cake. Plus he got presents!

All in all, it was a good birthday. Now he'll probably refocus on my turning 30 this year. :(

Back from Sin City

Believe it or not on our flight back we were with the same group of plumbers! Turns out they're an ice hockey team and went to Vegas for a tournament. They didn't drink quite as much on the way home and were actually quite entertaining.

Here are the pictures for those interested.

Viva Las Vegas!!

Our adventure in Vegas began on the flight here. There was a big group of guys (plumbers) on our flight along with a lot of NASCAR fans. They sold out of liquor!! In fact, they had to leave the seatbelt sign on even when it wasn't bumpy because they were trying to keep the drunks seated. We had an off duty pilot sitting next to us and he had to go and be a bouncer some times! The guys weren't too loud and really I was just jealous they could drink and I couldn't. :)

After checking into the Flamingo we headed to Margaritaville for lunch. It was just as good as I remembered. We gambled a little in our hotel and then rested till we had to meet some of Tom's co-workers for dinner. We headed down to Fremont St. to see the show and then we went to dinner at the Orleans.

The next day was quite the adventure, or marathon as Tom would call it. Now he's been here like 5 times and I have only been here once, but when I kept asking him if he's seen something he would say no. Turns out every time he came here, he pretty much stayed in the hotel that he was staying in. So I took him down the strip! We took the monorail so that it was a little easier on our legs but it was still a hike. We saw the lion exhibit at the MGM, went to New York, New York, Paris and the Aladdin. We went to the top of the Eiffel tower. It was neat, but very cold. The warmest day here was Thursday at 60-degrees. It was only 47 yesterday!! Tom decided he didn't like all the walking. :) But I did win $28 at Paris!!

Friday night we saw Celine Dion. It was an awesome show! I highly recommend it.

Saturday Tom had a meeting and I hung out in the room. I actually slept quite a bit. My pregnant body was trying to recover from all of the walking the day before! After his meeting we headed to Ceasar's Palace to have lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Then we went to the Conservatory at the Bellagio. Tom had to go to some stupid dinner last night so I hung out in the room again. Thank god for TBS and TNT.

So today we head home, to warmer weather! We're going to try and get on an earlier flight so that we don't get home so late. Haven't won anymore money since Paris, but we did try and spread our money out evenly. We gambled at every hotel we went into. :) I've also decided that I'm never coming here again when I can't drink. It's just cruel walking around seeing everyone with beer and margaritas and other frozen concoctions. I'll post a link with the photos when I get home.

On another note, I like NASCAR a lot and I have quite a few friends who do too. But seriously, it brings out the most interesting people. As my brother in law would say, white trash at its finest.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!!

Two things that happened on the way home...

Today Franklin and I were on our way home from the mall. We stopped at a drive thru car wash. As we pulled up we told the guy we wanted a basic wash and he told us we paid the people down the hall. We were like what?? You had to get out of your car and the attendant put your car thru the wash but then he got out. It went through without anyone in the drivers seat! It was just very odd.

The second thing was we drove by a Beverage center. This is basically a garage that you drive through and on the inside is a bunch of beverage coolers. Like you would see outside of a gas station. You pull through tell them you want a 20 oz. Coke, pay and you're on your way. We saw two of these!!! What happened to just stopping at a gas station? Or going through a fast food place? Kinda makes me wonder if this is a successful venture. Hmm....

Adventures in Houston...continued

So the rest of the trip has been pretty uneventful. There's not much to do around the hotel and we haven't been to many restaurants outside of the hotel. Like I said, kinda boring. We did go to a restaurant in a shady part of town that the concierge recommended. There was a group of us and it was actually pretty busy but there was a security guard out front. That was kind of funny.

Then this one guy that we know from Michigan told us that he went to Galveston to see the sunrise and hang out on the beach. While he was sitting there a dead body washed up on shore!! No lying!

One thing I did have fun with...there's a long red carpet separating the meeting rooms and the exhibitor show. I pretended like it was the red carpet of an awards show or a movie premiere. Tom even took a picture of me! :) Hey, I have to entertain myself someway.

We head home tomorrow, finally.

Adventures in Houston - Day 1

Yesterday Franklin and I headed to Houston, TX for a soccer conference. I wasn't that excited about going to Houston, but I was glad I could be with Franklin all week. Our first adventure was at the Detroit airport. When going through security we had to go through this Ion machine before going through the metal detector. You stand in it, it blows a bunch of air on you and then you wait til it's done processing. My guess is that the air would blow around any bomb making material you may have on your clothes and then it would detect it, but I'm not totally sure.

After a delayed flight we finally make it to Houston, get our bags and get a shuttle. The shuttle drive was very scary. When merging onto the expressway the shuttle driver almost ran into a car that she didn't see. Then we got off the expressway, she was in the right lane but needed to turn left so she went ahead and crossed two lanes of traffic. And what was this for you ask? Well she needed to get gas. So we're sitting at a gas station as she's pumping gas. She puts the nozzle in and walks away. Then she walks back and without even looking to see if the pump had stopped she pulls it out. Gas went everywhere! Then she tried to put it back in and get the $.05 she paid for but didn't get. We finally get back on the freeway and can see the downtown area, everyone in the shuttle feels better. But does she get off at downtown, nope, she gets onto another freeway headed away from downtown! And then finally gets off the freeway, goes under an overpass (which looked like a homemade shortcut) and heads back towards downtown. Franklin and I were happy that our hotel was first. We wished everyone else luck and got out of the van.

The last exciting thing of the evening was dinner. We went to the steakhouse in the hotel and started talking to our waiter. Because the NBA All Star game was just here this past Sunday I asked him about that. He served Kobe Bryant! That was just kind of cool.

So now today is much less exciting. Franklin has a meeting this afternoon and I'm just gonna hang out in the room. Hopefully there won't be too many more adventures to blog about!

Unemployment

Well, two days into my unemployment and things are going just fine. :) I've mostly been catching up on taped shows from when I was in Albuquerque. Today I slept in more than I would like but I figure I'm allowed to do this in the beginning.

We went to the doctor yesterday and everything is moving along just fine. We heard the baby's heartbeat again and it was moving around. I have an ultrasound in 3 weeks and we can't wait to see how much the baby has grown. And I learned that I've gained 5 pounds so far. I took Tom to Babies R Us this past weekend and he was overwhelmed with the amount of stuff. He also said all of the men in the store looked exhausted!

And I no longer have my same cell phone number. I'll be sending out my new number to everyone soon!

I felt the baby move!!!!

Today, in Albuquerque, I was sitting at our registration desk and I felt the baby move for the very first time!! It's so exciting and of course I called Tom right away. He was sorry he missed it, even if he couldn't feel anything himself. :)

Albuquerque...just as brown as expected

I'm in Albuquerque for my very last business trip with Internet2. It has been nice to see the sun and be able to be out without a coat sometimes, especially because we flew out right before the snow came in! But other than that, I'm not that impressed. It's a nice city, nice campus but it's just okay. It could also be that i'm pregnant, can't drink and everything interesting to see closes at 5. :) I would've like to have gotten up to Taos but it's 2 hours away and we don't have any free time.

So I'll continue with this being a downer of a post...I will miss my friends at work and I will miss the job. Sitting here thinking this is the last event I'll be at is just kind of weird. I don't think it's set in yet.

16 weeks and things are looking up

So now that I'm 16 weeks pregnant I haven't thrown up once, nausea has been kept at a minimum and I've had to get out of bed and get dressed in the morning 2 days in a row!! Thankfully this is allowed because my energy has been mostly returned.

Here's to a happy 2nd trimester!

Busy lives

I was sitting here feeling guilty that I haven't really posted much in awhile. But then I take a look at my friends blogs, and they really haven't either. I've always looked at January as kind of a blah month, but apparently it's a really busy month for people. :)

I guess I'll post a little update about myself. I'm almost 14 weeks pregnant. Feeling sick less than I did a few weeks ago but I still have days. And moments. And nightly indigestion. But that's the beauty of it, right? I'm headed to MI to work for a couple of days. This will be my last trip into the office, as an employee anyway. Kind of sad, but life goes on. For those of you who don't know, my company only gave me four months to work remotely and that is up on 2/10. So I am looking for another job, but haven't found anything yet. I'd like to find something before I'm obviously pregnant. Illegal to discriminate against me, yes, but doesn't mean they wouldn't.

Franklin has been busy at work too. Spring time is on the way which means the kiddies all want to play soccer!

Hope all is well with all of you. :)

Is the kiss of death hereditary?

So, it's a sad day in my house. I put on my brand new Peyton Manning jersey this morning with the thrill and hope that they would win their game today. It didn't work. I wore my Giants jersey last week and they lost too. My Mom says that whoever my Dad roots for loses because he is the Kiss of Death. I think I've inherited that from my Dad. :( Oh well, go Steelers!!!

Cute as a button!

I picked up Sophie from the groomers today and she had pigtails!!