Saturday, August 6, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Crack'n
Quick background: Ever since I can remember, my ankles make a clicking sound whenever I walk. Not sure what causes it, but there's no pain, so it doesn't bother me. I don't even notice it. Paul used to call me "Snap, Crackle and Pop".
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Thought for Thursday
I was thinking...I know, I know...ya'll are like "what the what? Danielle thinks?". Yeah, it happens. And sometimes I think I actually have a good idea.
When Ash first started school, her bus stop was literally right outside our door. I mean the school was like right next door to our house, so she only rode it for like 3 seconds to and from school anyway. Well down here, we live in a cul-de-sac. The bus is not permitted to actually enter our little subdivision, so we have to walk them out to the main road for the bus to pick them up. It's not a far walk, but none the less I still have to get them to the bus stop before it comes in the morning and also be there before they get dropped off in the afternoon. The school is in a different town, so the kids are riding the bus for about 15 to 20 minutes now.
Normally, the bus is right on time in the morning (8:10). During the afternoon it is a total toss up as to when the bus will get there. Usually it's 4:20, sometime 4:30, sometime 4:10. That means I could potentially be standing at the bus stop for at the least 30 minutes. Then are days where the bus breaks down, or a student missed their stop, and we are waiting even longer.
Can someone say Bus Tracker App? This has to be possible! With all the new and improved electronics and GPS stuff out there. Now, I am a total noob when it comes to technology. I mean even though I know I can figure out how to unplug the Wii when it needs it, I still wait for Paul to come home to do it. It just seems to complicated. So I need someone out there to develop an app for my cell phone that can track may children's school bus. It can make some sort of cool sound when the bus is like 5 minutes away and I can pull it up on GPS so I can see where they are whenever I want. Oh and if they break down or are in an accident, I should receive some sort of notification.
If you know of such a tool, please don't hold back. Tell me about it! If one doesn't exist, than can someone please get on it...I am way too hot standing at the bus stop...and not in a great looking hot way, more like a sweaty hot mess. Thanks
When Ash first started school, her bus stop was literally right outside our door. I mean the school was like right next door to our house, so she only rode it for like 3 seconds to and from school anyway. Well down here, we live in a cul-de-sac. The bus is not permitted to actually enter our little subdivision, so we have to walk them out to the main road for the bus to pick them up. It's not a far walk, but none the less I still have to get them to the bus stop before it comes in the morning and also be there before they get dropped off in the afternoon. The school is in a different town, so the kids are riding the bus for about 15 to 20 minutes now.
Normally, the bus is right on time in the morning (8:10). During the afternoon it is a total toss up as to when the bus will get there. Usually it's 4:20, sometime 4:30, sometime 4:10. That means I could potentially be standing at the bus stop for at the least 30 minutes. Then are days where the bus breaks down, or a student missed their stop, and we are waiting even longer.
Can someone say Bus Tracker App? This has to be possible! With all the new and improved electronics and GPS stuff out there. Now, I am a total noob when it comes to technology. I mean even though I know I can figure out how to unplug the Wii when it needs it, I still wait for Paul to come home to do it. It just seems to complicated. So I need someone out there to develop an app for my cell phone that can track may children's school bus. It can make some sort of cool sound when the bus is like 5 minutes away and I can pull it up on GPS so I can see where they are whenever I want. Oh and if they break down or are in an accident, I should receive some sort of notification.
If you know of such a tool, please don't hold back. Tell me about it! If one doesn't exist, than can someone please get on it...I am way too hot standing at the bus stop...and not in a great looking hot way, more like a sweaty hot mess. Thanks
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
My New Addiction
I love to browse the Internet for fun, exciting, and interesting things. The problem with this is after a while, I can't think of anything to search for on my own (I have very little imagination). While planning Genevieve's 1st Birthday, I came across a new site. Well, new to me that is. Pinterest.
It's basically a place to view all sorts of fun things that are out there on the Internet (craft projects, fun sayings, decor, food, etc) and you can also "pin" things you enjoy to your board so that you can go back to them at a later time. This is perfect for me since I usually write something down on a piece of paper or sticky note and then it gets lost is the clutter that is my life.
At first, I was like "this is cool". But now I am borderline obsessive! Check it out if you get the chance!
It's basically a place to view all sorts of fun things that are out there on the Internet (craft projects, fun sayings, decor, food, etc) and you can also "pin" things you enjoy to your board so that you can go back to them at a later time. This is perfect for me since I usually write something down on a piece of paper or sticky note and then it gets lost is the clutter that is my life.
At first, I was like "this is cool". But now I am borderline obsessive! Check it out if you get the chance!
Death by Laundry
Laundry, the bane of my existence, my arch-nemesis, but totally a non-fiction story of my life. It is the one constant in my life because I am unable to buy an outfit for everyday of the rest of our lives for the entire family.
Growing up, it was just me and my Mom. I have no memory of laundry being such an atrocious task. Then I moved out...
When Paul and I lived out in Chicago our first apartment didn't have a laundry room in the unit and their laundry room for the entire complex was suspect. Our only decent option was to take our laundry to the laundrymat. Nice because all of the laundry was done at once but stressful since all the laundrymats were always spanish speaking (getting some Bounce was not easy and I never understood what the TV shows were saying).
In our first house, our washer and dryer were literally right in the hall by our bedroom. It didn't matter. I would wash clothes and immediately forget that I washed them. I'm a "show me something shiny and I'm easily distracted" kinda girl. When I would realize that I forgot to put the clothes in the dryer (usually when I needed to wash more clothes), I would have to re-wash the forgotten load. Once I finally made it to actually getting the clothes dry, then came the folding. WORST. THING. EVER! Personally, I hate touching hot clothes out of the dryer. Once folded, they would be put away.
We bought a new house when I was pregnant with Ashleigh and the dryer was in the basement. Not an ideal set up for someone that has the out of sight, out of mind attitude. At this point, once finally washed and folded, clothes would just remain in the basket. We always had at least one basket of clothes in our bedroom. I would usually put Ashleigh's away but for some reason I didn't always put ours away. I could still do laundry about once a week, even with the new addition.
After Cooper was born, we bought a new house. Again the washer and dryer were downstairs...in the garage actually. Then Addison was born. Laundry was insane. I worked full time out of the house and laundry was always backed up. Pulling into the garage everyday was an awesome reminder since you could see the piles of clothes on the laundry table. Ugh...at this point, if the clothes got washed, they ended up in a basket. Period. No folding. No putting away. I would say laundry would get folded about once a month and put away quarterly.
We have since moved to NC and added another addition to our family. Our laundry is located in our second floor hallway, right outside the bedrooms. I am so thankful that most NC homes do not have basements ( I hate going all the way down to the basement to wash clothes). Even though the washer and dryer are in the most convienent location possible, I still have a ton of laundry. There are 6 of us and the kids change clothes at least twice a day. At one time, I did one load of laundry a week. Now I do one load of just bedding a week. I have to wash at least 2 loads of laundry (1 whites, 1 darks) a day to maintain and just when the basket is empty, somehow something becomes dirty and gets thrown into it. Folding is still a challenge and there are many times where we get dressed out of baskets full of clothes. I have been trying super hard to get into the habit of folding while taking out of the dryer, but sometimes it's just not possible. You might ask why I don't have the kids or Paul fold clothes. Well, they probably get less wrinkled by remaining in the basket than if they were to "help" fold them.
You also might be asking yourself "what about ironing?'. Yeah, that doesn't happen to often to really comment about it. Paul irons his clothes for work and if I need something ironed, I toss it in the dryer to get the wrinkles out. Not sure if it is a southern thing or not, but Paul is always talking about how the guys he works with all have wives that iron their clothes for them. Umm, yeah, he's lucky he has clean underwear at this point.
So, short of hiring someone to just come in and fold/put away our laundry, do you have any sure fire ways of doing laundry? Or do you just really enjoy it? If it's the latter, we are destined to not be friends. Then again maybe you want to come to my house and do my laundry for free ;)
Growth of a Bean
10 Months
At 10 months, Jenna is now crawling! She started crawling about a week and a half before turning 10 months old! Taking her 10 month pictures was quite the challenge since she takes off as soon as you put her down. She's kind of like a puppy...loves shoes and puts anything on the floor in her mouth. One plus, my downstairs has never been cleaner since everything always has to be picked up to keep it out of her hands.Since she began crawling, her nap schedule really isn't a schedule anymore but she is still sleeping through the night.
She recovered from her ear infection and her 4 front top teeth are all poking through. The incisors are more visible and she looks like a little vampire.
9 Months
At 9 months, she has started pulling herself up in her crib, at the coffee table, actually anywhere she can. Genevieve seems to refuse crawling. It appears she would rather roll or pivot to her desired destination. Her newest word(s) is "Nite Nite" and Uh Oh but she say "eh eh" . Whenever she is ready for her nap/bed she repeats "Nite Nite" over and over again. It's totally adorable!
She experienced her 1st ear infection and was put on her 1st antibiotic (amoxicillian). She has been teething (her top right incisor came in), which I think is the root cause for the infection. We were also traveling, which could have also added to her teething congestion. Her not being her usual happy self was the only clue that she wasn't feeling well.
8 Months
At 8 months, Genevieve looks like she could be starting to crawl at any moment. She doesn't particularly need to crawl though as she loves to roll all over the place. She will roll herself in circles if you let her! She has perfected sitting up from lying down, which is making diaper changing slightly more difficult. She now waves Hi and Bye and says "Hi" and "Bye". When the cat meow's, Jenna make a "meow" sound LOL She pays close attention to what you are saying and trys to repeat it.
7 Months
At 7 months, Genevieve is able to sit all by herself with no worry of her accidentally tipping over. She is beginning to eat very well and seems to love all foods. Her "ma ma's" and "da da's" are directed towards us for sure now. She asks for "da da" all day long, especially right after she wakes up. She gets so excited when she sees that he is home from work!
6 Months
At 6 months old,Genevieve is beginning to sit and roll all over the place. She is now saying
"da da" , which was way overdue for Paul LOL When she has a dirty diaper, she tells us by blowing raspberries! She also had her first trip to the ocean and loved it!
"da da" , which was way overdue for Paul LOL When she has a dirty diaper, she tells us by blowing raspberries! She also had her first trip to the ocean and loved it!
5 Months
At 5 months old,Genevieve cut her first teeth. The bottom 2 teeth came in within a few days apart. She has now officially started to say "Ma", "Ba" (bottle) and "Na"(Nuk). We started her on purees and she had Sweet Peas for the first time. Genevieve also caught her 1st cold, which turned out to be RSV, but she recovered quickly.
4 Months
At 4 months old, Genevieve is really getting good at rolling over. She loves to play with her toys and is always in a very happy mood...always smiling. She is now sleeping through the night from 8PM to 8AM!
3 Months
At 3 months old,Genevieve is starting to play around with the whole rolling over thing. She is very vocal and constantly "singing". She loves her sisters and brothers and they can always put a smile on her face.
2 Months
At 2 months old,Genevieve celebrating her 1st Christmas by taking her 1st trip to WV to surprise all her Grandma's and Gran since they dan't seen her yet. It was a great month and Santa even found us at Grandma's house!
1 Month
At 1 months old,Genevieve celebrated her 1st Thanksgiving. She began to sleep through the night at about 6 weeks (10-6) and was spleeing until 8AM by 8 weeks.
Birth
During Genevieve's first few weeks, she visited a pumpkin patch and celebrated her 1st Halloween! She already goes with the flow and it feels as though she has always been a part of the family. We love her so much!
Monday, August 1, 2011
The Function of Eyebrows
So this weekend was Ashleigh's first soccer practice of the season. Even though it was 104*, practice was still on and it was being held at the park at 11:00AM. We packed up the family and headed over to the park. Obviously, habits are hard to break because Paul parked in the parking lot where Ash used to play soccer, so we had to walk the entire length of the field to get to the last possible field where her practice was being held. Nice:)
Paul took Cooper, Addy and Genevieve to the playground to hang out in the shade and I stayed to watched Ashleigh practice. They had to take a water break every 5 min and everyone was red faced. I couldn't believe how hot it was. Even though I was just sitting there, the sweat was just pouring off of me. About 30 minutes in, my eyes started burning from the sweat. At 40 minutes, the coach called it quits...thank goodness. As we got up to walk back to the car I noticed Paul was already on his way ( the kids couldn't handle the heat even in the shade).
I told Paul how my eyes started burning and he laughed and said my eyebrows weren't doing their job. Their job? What job? To keep sweat from rolling into your eyes. Huh, really? Guess you learn something new every day. Personally I thought they were just aesthetically appealing. I mean, I doubt I would look cute sans eyebrows. So I guess my eyebrows just aren't ready to go up against this NC heat and I'll have to start wearing those sweat head bands...adorable,right?
Paul took Cooper, Addy and Genevieve to the playground to hang out in the shade and I stayed to watched Ashleigh practice. They had to take a water break every 5 min and everyone was red faced. I couldn't believe how hot it was. Even though I was just sitting there, the sweat was just pouring off of me. About 30 minutes in, my eyes started burning from the sweat. At 40 minutes, the coach called it quits...thank goodness. As we got up to walk back to the car I noticed Paul was already on his way ( the kids couldn't handle the heat even in the shade).
I told Paul how my eyes started burning and he laughed and said my eyebrows weren't doing their job. Their job? What job? To keep sweat from rolling into your eyes. Huh, really? Guess you learn something new every day. Personally I thought they were just aesthetically appealing. I mean, I doubt I would look cute sans eyebrows. So I guess my eyebrows just aren't ready to go up against this NC heat and I'll have to start wearing those sweat head bands...adorable,right?
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