I’m pretty sure my brother doesn’t read my blog, so I hope it’s safe to write this post here. He’s graduating from high school this year and his party is a week from today (which is why I’m still up here instead of back in Kansas).

I honestly have no idea what to get him for his graduation gift. He’s going to be going to college for something to do with computers…web design I think…or maybe software development. Anyway, I know nothing about that field so I’m not sure if there’s anything I could get him that he could use for school. He’ll still be living at home for at least the first year, so there’s nothing he would need for his dorm or anything.

I really want to get him something he’ll be able to use, not just a knick-knack that says, “Congratulations, Graduate!” or something. If all else fails, I’ll probably get him a gift card to somewhere (not sure where, though)….or maybe a prepaid Master Card (anyone know anything about those? I don’t, but then he could use it for buying school books or something).

As you can see, I need HELP!!!!!!!!! Any ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Posted: May 31st, 2009 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 4

I’m really not enjoying watching the price of gas leaping upwards right now. I imagine I’ll be even more upset once I’m at home having to drive around and fill up my gas tank again. I had hoped it would stay under $3 a gallon this summer, but right now I kind of doubt that will happen.

There are very few things we can do to save on powering our cars, but there are lots of options and strategies available for cutting down our indoor power bills! Here are just a few:

1. Invest in energy efficient light bulbs. Not only do they cost less to have on, they last longer, too. And of course, we can always save money by turning lights off when we’re not using them (although I admit I’m not very good at this LOL).

2. Make sure your windows and doors are well-sealed. This is a biggie! In the rental house we used to live in, it was so bad that we could see light through the cracks around the doors. Then we moved into a house twice as big as the rental house and our electricity and gas bills were exactly the same! That’s how big of a difference this makes!

3. Since it’s summer now (or close to it), try to limit how often the oven is on. Instead, eat cold meals like salads and sandwiches or fire up the grill or crock pot. This will save on how much the air conditioner has to run.

Even if you just try one of these strategies, I know it will save you big on your next electric bill! Then you can put all the money you saved towards your gas bill! LOL

Posted: May 31st, 2009 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 1

It is such a beautiful day here in Wisconsin today. We ended up taking the kids outside to play in the yard even before they got dressed this morning…and ended up staying out there until lunch and naptime! Ava still isn’t dressed and I just got showered and dressed a few minutes ago. I guess that’s what the weekend is for, right?

Ava is having a vocabulary-explosion lately. She’s saying so many new words (and she already knew 75-100+) and stringing them together in sentences. Last night, she wanted me to sit by her pack n play while she was falling asleep. Well, I’d already sat by her 5 times, so I told her, “No, I don’t want to again.” She looked at me and said, “Yes! You should!” LOL She also said something that surprised me this morning, but I can’t remember what it was.

She’s also proving how carefully she listens to adult conversations. The other day on our way to the zoo, I was talking to my grandma and asked her if the baby giraffe that had been born when I was little had died recently (I thought I remembered her saying something about that). My grandma said it had and Ava looked at me and said, “Baby giraffe die.” She definitely doesn’t need a memory upgrade either, since she was still talking about it the next day. I’m already careful about what I say around the kids, but I’m probably going to have to start being even more careful.

Kelvin is getting pretty close to crawling now. Today he got up on his hands and knees and rocked back and forth for a few minutes. I’m guessing he’ll take his first crawling-step in the next week or so. I kind of hope he’ll wait until we get home, though, so that Chad can see it.

Anyway, that’s about all the news right now. I hope everyone has a nice Day of Pentecost today!!

Posted: May 31st, 2009 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 1

As a lot of you know, the kids and I are staying in WI with my grandparents for a couple weeks and tonight we went out to dinner with them. When we were done eating, I picked up Kelvin, my grandma got Ava and my grandpa gathered up all our stuff (diaper bag, doggy bags, etc.). As we were walking out, my grandma commented to me on how nice my grandpa looked carrying a purse. When we got back to the house, my grandpa was parking the car in the garage and my grandma and I took the kids inside. She was carrying the stuff and handed me a purse and said, “Here’s your purse.” I was like, “That’s not my purse, that’s your purse!” She said, “No, it’s not!!” And then it clicked that my grandpa had walked off with some other woman’s purse from the restaurant, thinking it was my grandma’s!! LOL

He took it back to the restaurant right away and luckily the lady was still there and hadn’t even missed it. For some reason, he didn’t think it was as hilarious as my grandma and I did, though!!

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Posted: May 29th, 2009 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 1

I can’t believe it’s only a few days until we leave for Wisconsin for Sabrina’s wedding! This week is going to be so insane for us. Chad always has to work like crazy so he can take 3-4 work days off, so I have to do most of the shopping and packing myself (and Ava takes it upon herself to unpack nearly everything I pack). Plus, I have my final fitting for my bridesmaid dress on Tuesday (which, by the way, I fit into very well even though I’ve lost all but 2 pounds of my Kelvin weight…without weight loss products!). Even though we’re excited about the wedding and are very happy for Sabrina and Matt, it will be nice when this week is behind us. It’s going to be pretty stressful.

So if I’m not posting much, don’t worry….I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth and I’ll be back to regular posting in about a week and a half (got to leave time for unpacking, of course!).

Posted: May 17th, 2009 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 4

My comments are back!!!! A HUGE thanks to my Mom’s friend Magnus for fixing whatever was wrong! He’s definitely the hero of all blog-related disasters!!!

Other than that, though, it’s been a pretty stinky day. Kelvin slept awful last night, so on top of being sick with the bug Chad shared with me, I got very little sleep. On top of that, the kids both took super-short naps.

But even with that, I managed to get the landscaping in our back yard weeded today. It needed it so badly. Some of the weeds were as tall as Ava. Luckily, they were easy to pull out since it rained yesterday and the ground was still soft. Shh…don’t tell Chad! He thinks it must have taken hours, but really it only took about 30 minutes. LOL He didn’t ask, so I’m not telling!

Oh yes, one other great thing happened. I was so mad yesterday because a bath seat that I ordered for Kelvin arrived broken. But the company emailed me back today and said they’d fed-ex’d a replacement and it should be here by Saturday. I didn’t even have to mess with shipping the broken one back to them!

So I guess it wasn’t that bad of a day. I felt pretty yucky all day, but I definitely had a few good things happen and I got some big jobs accomplished!

P.S. Looking for a Medicare supplement? Check out this site!

Posted: May 13th, 2009 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 4

I think I know what the kids and I are buying Chad for Father’s Day!! Believe it or not, I didn’t even have to think too hard about it! LOL Looking at this picture, I’m sure you can see why!

I don’t really know how this happened to Chad’s computer chair. He says some metal thing on the bottom broke and now it’s just always at this angle. I’m pretty sure if he keeps sitting on it, it’s just going to collapse all of a sudden.

While I think that would be hilarious (and probably a little painful), I think we’ll go out either today or tomorrow and buy him an early Father’s Day gift.

Posted: May 13th, 2009 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 3

I hope all of you mommies had a nice Mother’s Day on Sunday! I did, even though we weren’t home for most of it. Chad said that the ipod shuffle he bought me a couple weeks ago was my Mother’s Day gift from him. LOL I’m pretty sure he wasn’t planning on it being a Mother’s Day gift when he bought it, but I really like it and use it a lot, so I was completely fine with it. Besides, I’m going to end up buying him his Father’s Day gift early, too (more on that later). The kids were too little to do anything about Mother’s Day of course, but Ava did tell me Happy Birthday. LOL

We ended up going up to Kim and Rob’s on Sunday so that Chad and Rob could order parts for Chad’s new computer that Rob’s building him. We got to see their new house for the first time and we really like it…it has a lot of space and it’s in a really nice neighborhood. Ava and Kelvin had a lot of fun with Myra, even though she didn’t want Kelvin to hug her. LOL Myra’s crawling all over the place now and her bear-crawl (when she’s on tile or wearing a dress) is so cute!! These are just a couple of the pictures I got of Myra and Kelvin playing and Myra and Ava checking out the door hardware. LOL The rest will be in my photobucket in the next few minutes!

Even though we spent a lot of it on the road, it was still a nice Mother’s Day. And Chad has made me lunch the last two days to make up for the fact that he didn’t cook for me on Mother’s Day like he normally does!

Posted: May 12th, 2009 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 1

Before I was a Mom -
I slept as late as I wanted and never worried about how late I got into bed. I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday.

Before I was a Mom -
I cleaned my house each day. I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby. I didn’t worry whether or not my plants were poisonous. I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom -
I had never been puked on – Pooped on – Spit on – Chewed on, or Peed on. I had complete control of my mind and My thoughts. I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom -
I never held down a screaming child so that doctors could do tests…or give shots. I never looked into teary eyes and cried. I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin. I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom -
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn’t want to put it down. I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn’t stop the hurt. I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much. I never knew that I could love someone so much. I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom -
I didn’t know the feeling of having my heart outside my body. I didn’t know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby. I didn’t know that bond between a mother and her child. I didn’t know that something so small could make me feel so important.

Before I was a Mom -
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay. I had never known The warmth, The joy, The love, The heartache, The wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom. I didn’t know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom.

Posted: May 10th, 2009 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 1

I got my mei tai baby carrier in the mail last week! I’m absolutely in love with it! It’s so much more comfortable than the Peanut Shell ever was and it’s so much faster to put on that the Moby Wrap is. It’s definitely my go-to carrier for when we’re out and about. The only drawback for using it when we’re out is that it’s a pain to make sure the straps aren’t dragging on the ground while I’m putting it on (yuck!).

In all, though, I would highly recommend the mei tai. I still think the Moby Wrap is more comfortable (I can’t imagine a carrier that’s more comfortable than the Moby), but this is the only carrier I’ve ever had that is both comfortable and quick to put on.

In case anyone wants to know, the one I bought is a Little Rubi and I thought it was really affordable. I didn’t want to pay $80 for one of the more expensive mei tai’s, but was a little wary about how nice a Little Rubi would be, since they were only $49. I shouldn’t have worried…it seems very high quality, the straps are padded and I have no complaints!

Other than that, there’s not much going on here. We’ve just been enjoying the nice weather before it gets too hot. Ava asks every day to go to the “slides”….luckily the park is right across the street, so it’s an easy walk!

I’ve also been making my own baby food! You can read about that here.

Posted: May 5th, 2009 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: none