sometimes its simply the best, the best is usually Simple

Melted cheese.........tortilla chips......mmm..............sour cream......................hot sauce..mmMMmmm..........I think im already for some more!

Simply dip in cream, then in sauce, absoultely an enjoyable snack!

*room temp cream cheese tastes even better!

*buy Macayo's Taco sauce..its guaranteed @ Fry's

All together now

Its been quite a variety in events lately.  Talk of pregnancies(including Mine), home furnishing and decoration, an engagement,  Brandon's Book signings, the Bill, Megan moving, Amy visiting, a playdate with Tiffanie.....uh im drawing blanks now...im sure there is more.  So Yes, I am pregnant!  Thats been one of the more exciting news around here.(along with the new house).  I am currently 7 weeks now and my body hasn't taken a vacay to all the symtoms that go along with it:

-anemia (lack of energy, fatigue, body temp drop"Cold!", sleep)
- mood swings (the biggest ones: Anger and Depression)
- tender growing "humps" :o)
-pooch( more like "fat" cause this ones got me eating all the time!!!)
-HUNGER! he follows me everywhere I go...
- upper back pain
-Jeans dont fit (boo, don't want to pay for preg ones already)
-VERY heightened sense of Smell (if you toot a few yards from me I'll know about it)
   and the most annoying important...
-Nausea

That nausea is a killer tho.  I found out that i was expecting about my 3rd week in, then sure enough by the 4th week nausea hit.  And it...hit...hard.  My best times were in the morning, actually.  I would wake up, go about my business, eat breakfast(the key) aaaand, then nausea.  I would purposefully hold out on eating breakfast just so i could enjoy my morning.  But of course if you have ever been pregnant, you'd know thats impossible, considering you're a RAGEing Tiger ready to devour any prey within a 30 seconds upon awakening.  But this is nausea like i have NEVER experienced before.  Like with my first, yeah..i felt quezzy at times...that was it!  This!...well, its the feeling you get in your mouth and jaw bones that something bad is about to exit yr mouth.  Its there, and hes there to stay like an unpleasant, unwanted aqcuantance.


At times while Im shopping at the Grocer I would literally know and mark where the trash cans where in the facility, Just-in-case, if the inevitable happened.  Even better, in my way in, i would grab a bag and carry that in the cart next to my daughter, just-in-case, i smelt something-saw something-etc. that i couldn't handle...it was that bad.  That continued on for over two weeks.  Constant crying, calling my mother, crying some more, wining, complaining...you know...the drill.  Then suddenly it stopped.  It was like the Sun shown down upon me and everything was in clear view.  I was Happy, i was relieved, I was free!... 

for like, a week and a half!

So I've just learned to keep my lifesaver peppermints with me AT ALL TIMES!  These puppies are like the "holy grail" to me.  I was told by someone that they help curb the nausea. That and ginger...but I found out by my first can of ginger ale that i felt pretty much the same but now my stomach hurt...i guess the baby doesn't like sugar too well either. Sad :o(.  Because I love sugar: cookies, baked goods, soda, juice, candy...but anything that has sugar in it...makes me feel sick later.  Even cereal for that matter!

Anyway, so you betcha im going to be documenting this pregnancy.  Probably annoying to you but then may i remind you that I blog for me and my family...so im sorry ahead of time. Im finding out that I am starting to remember things about pregnancy that I totally forgot..so help me...i will write them down.  That way, as a reference for when the next one comes along...it wont come as such a shock.

                      Welp, I'd best be off.  More to come>>>

Rain, Rain

Yup! its one of those days...

we sit..
and watch...
our shows.....

Im a big girl now

So as it turns out, my baby girl is no longer a baby. She has proved me otherwise and I am proud of her and would not have it any other way. Today marks the 3rd day of her letting-go-of-her-bottle routine. And she has been very successful...with the help of:

• many conversations(reiterations) about "babies have bottles, Big girls dont"
• acknowledgments of her sadness and understanding
• Popsicles...about 2 aday
• TONS of encouragement, love, and most of all...
• Praise

My expectations coming into this were high up there on the scale of "Horrific". I had expectations of her waking up in the middle of the night and wanting a bottle, about neither anyone in the household getting any sleep, perhaps hours and hours of screaming and crying, fighting going on between my husband and I...mainly arguing about whether or not to give in to the bottle, just all sorts of bad outcomes. But I actually never thought about the good outcomes...there was never any elbow room for a good "what if..?" Goes to show you that I am quite the negative thinker. Am not proud to admit that.

So...want to know how I did it? Well, it wasnt entirely thought up by me. I had help from this. And the hubs and i threw in a few other things to help tie it all in together. Like every time she wanted a bottle..reminding her that if she held true she could get a Popsicle later. My husband took the credit for that. He is the smart one! It all started with a countdown..in fact, I made a calender and called it "The countdown to "Im a Big GirL!!!". I gave her a weeks notice that we'd be counting down to the day where we throw away the bottles and start receiving treats. To the day, we woke up, I grabbed all the bottles, took her to the kitchen, had her place them into a small grocery bag, reminded her that this was the day, opened the trash can, and let her drop the bag of bottles into the trash. She thought that was a cool thing to be able to throw something away in the Big trash(i guess since she doesn't do that often).

(a popsicle for breakfast? i know, but only for a little while)

Then off we went to go about our day as usual. Constantly in the back of mind I kept dreading the afternoon nap, for she would surely "not be having a nap today" i thought. I let out a big sigh and just hoped for the best. I tried to be a little more busier than usual...hoping that she might tucker herself out. Well it must have worked. 2:30pm came rolling about and nap time was in que. Sure enough she went to the trash can where she remembered where she put her bottles(course by this time i'd already taken them out and hid them). I just got level with her and reiterated that she was a "big girl" now, that bottles were for babies and she no longer needed one. With understanding and hesitation she followed me into her room. I proceeded to comfort her and acknowledge her sadness but also emphasizing how yummy a Popsicle would taste after she woke up from her nap.

(zoned out)

"okay", she'd say aloud, but im pretty sure it was to comfort herself rather than acknowledging me. Like "okay, I can do this" I walked quietly out of her room and shut the door and waited.......................silence............................still silence.....................I was half expecting some crying or her at the door, but I got none. It was cool! Now bedtime i'd say was the worst. But still not as bad. Just mostly the same thing i was doing before. I'd say between my constant visits to her bed it took about 30minutes or so before she finally gave in to the fact that she wasn't getting a bottle and went to sleep. And she Slept!....through the entire night without getting up. Mission Completion! Of course, it also probably helped that we made sure to get some food in her tummy before going to bed each night.

so that does it I guess. Will keep updating.

Home Details-quick catch up

House Inspection- That went really well. Horrible day for me since i caught a worker puking near our home by a fence. GROSS!!!!!! And being me, that was the only vision repeating thru my head the rest of the day. (((gitters)))Gosh awful! Anywho, the house! yes the house, its in fantastic condition except for : the norm. Being, the house is settleling, but its fine. And There is water seeping under the concrete at the edge of the patio that caused a huge crack in the cement. Just a minor change in the watering system and no future problems will occur. Thats it! No termites either.

So...as it turns out, if we decided to stay with our current loaner(ha ha, sounds funny) we'd turn out getting denied by Them because it would take too long to close(45 days). That just won't do.

So as we speak, were getting hooked up with a better loan with a lower percent rate AND faster closing date(end of March). Yup, I think thats its for now...oh and signing the Papers today. Yay!

a b ball game! Feb 24th(relived)

Time keeps slipping and I keep slacking...nevertheless its time to journal this b/4 i really start to forget. as bluntly as possible: We had the shizzle of the Shizzle passes given to us for our ultimate Phx Suns Experience. And ...We...Soaked it! Allllllllllllll up.

In a nutshell:

1st: Well we figured eating before the game was a good idea. Here at Jason's Deli a first for me. And i highly recommend it! ("darn juicy sandwich") (definetly a handful) 2nd: Enjoy a comp Ice cream cone for the drive there. Sad i couldn't stay for more! 3rd: Arrive at US Airways with free $25 parking and 2 passes to the "Lexus Club". (i felt like i was undercover...pretending to be something im not...cuz i sure don't own a Lexus) 4th: Walk around Lexus Club only to have realized that the food there(catered i might add) was free! (D'Oh! oh well, bellys are full, i guess we'll survive. lol) 5th: Quickly take a picture in front of the Lexus Club b/c He thinks we look retared doing it. (he's probably right) boo, who cares! 6th: Take 10 minutes finding our "non-marked" seats. I guess when you sit so close, numbers are no longer a necessity. Who knew, who cares, Woo whoo! (c how clever i am at taking this shot. ;-P. im trying to show you how close we are by how "under" we are the Big Screen) 7th: Passes and phone in hand,(for babysitter) yup i think were gonna be okay. 8th: We are estatic! 9th: Still mezmorized. 10th: Go Amare! look how close we are to him. I can almost breath him! 11th: getting the party started and revving up the crowd!! 12th: Mr 1 over trying to block our point. boo! 13th: This is cool. we sat not just yonder from an X bball player just enjoying a good game. 14th: Im proud of this shot. The basektball was on FIRE!!! j/k another camera flash. 15th: Hi Hill! you need a break. Now however many times I tried i could not get a good picture of my favorite, Nash. However, I can testify that I got a sincere wink and a smile from no other then, Nash! Thats ...how close we were! Of course, I egged him on. During a time-out the players would wipe the sweat from their foreheads and look out at the crowd behind them, drink gatorade, ya da ya da...i figured if i just kept flashing a big smile his way that he'd see me. And whatta know! I got his attention....heheh it was so cool to know he looked right at me out of the entire audience to flash me a wink and a SMILE! cool huh?! 16th: so the game ended victoriously for the Suns. Thank heavens b/c it would have been sad thing knowing its my 1st game and they lost. Mr. F would never forgive me. I know, because he said he would never take me again because im bad luck. (walking away from this experience with happy hearts) <3<3<3 17th: Our $25 parking: Free! (ps. don't you just love his backing-the-car-out expression?)

18th:

However sometimes that great of parking doesn't mean you get out any faster. So we play...and wait.

19th: (this is supposed to be cheesy...not sure if that came across or not.)lol

20th:

Good times ...hand in hand.

Its better made, homemade

We made these this morning. for no apparent reason. It they are just as good as yr imagination holds.(not the box version)

Lelou Hereby deems these cookies; "gooood!"

And I Hereby deem another door into our lives...has opened.

...(no words)...

No words. no words. no words can describe how I feel when I look at this home... ...and know ITZ OURS!!!! After a six month wait(from 1st laying eyes on it-to acceptance) I have been slowing dying inside. Not wanting to jinx it by breathing a word, it has been so hard not to tell a soul.

(oh how i love the mature trees)

We were told over a month ago that we were pretty much A GO because the 1st mortgage already accepted our offer BUT its that darn nobody-cares-a-hoot-about-good-for-nothing-loser 2nd mortgage who's been taking there sweet time squeezing any last penny they could. Its MURDER i tell ya! Anywho, so let them sweet birds a-chirpin' begin because im movin' OUT!

oh btw, we move in by end of the month. HOORAY. Do the jig-gy dance, shake that thang.......uh huh, uh huh, uh huh!

Woot, woot!

Hallelujah!

THE END