Just Call Me A Slacker

I'm not sure why I've been such a slacker lately. I can say I've been real busy, which I am, but everybody is. I guess I've been in a blogging funk lately and haven't felt like I've had much to say. Just living life.

Let's see...the weather was real nice, in the 80s, for a few days. And now, it's icing outside and F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G!!! I hate this cold weather and look forward to the weekend when it's supposed to be back in the 60s.

Ashleigh made me take her picture the other night. In fact, she said I had to take 3 of them. Well, since they all looked alike, just different angles, here is one of them:



Ashleigh has been interesting lately. She's been making her bed without me even asking her to. I'll go in her room to check on her and she'll be cleaning without me even asking her to. She tells me "I'm doing my best, Mommy" with whatever it is we're doing. I think it comes down to her just trying to be more helpful and taking Mommy's advice to always try her best. So I am so proud of her. Oh, and she got her report card on Friday and did rather well. This semester they are also starting to take home leveled readers and Ash just finished her 1st one and now reads it like a charm. We just started reading a level 3 tonight, and so far so good.

Last Tuesday, Jilian Cate Rogers was born. She was 6 lbs 6 oz and she is so beautiful. This was Jessica's 3rd and final pregnancy and I think she is relieved that Jilian is finally here. This was probably her toughest pregnancy with some pretty bad back pain through it. It was well worth it, because now they have a precious little girl to add to their 2 boys. Here's a picture I took from visiting her on Thursday:

Congratulations, Rogers Family! You did good! Now Jessica just needs to blog to give us all the details!

Let's see, what else? Oh, I had a scrapbooking date with my scrapping girlfriends on Saturday. I went to Bedford to pick up Deena and then we went on to Sunnyvale to Alma's, as it was her turn to host. We always have a good time, but it is never long enough. I really needed this day. I really needed a break away from home. I didn't get near as much done as I had hoped, but that's okay, I enjoyed the day. If I would find the time to prepare and organize before the scrapping date, I'm sure I would get more done. Meredith and I are the notorious slow ones, but this time, Mer kicked a&&!! Alma is always the fastest and gets so much done. She is so organized and is always prepared. Deena is usually pretty fast, but she was a bit of a slacker this time. Welcome to my world, Deena! LOL! Speaking of Deena, did I tell you all that Deena is expecting her 2nd child? I can't remember if I already told you. She is due August 12th which is what my exact due date was with Ashleigh. Pray for a healthy pregnancy for Deena.

Addy has been in rare form. Just tonight while Ash and I were reading her book, Addy opened a drawer in our coffee table and within seconds was standing in it trying to climb onto the coffee table. She likes to try to climb onto the fireplace hearth as well. She is such a busy bee 100% of the time. We really have our work cut out for us with that one! Hence, Mommy needing the sanity checks away from home every once in a while since I am with her 24/7. Don't get me wrong, I L-O-V-E being home with Addy every day, but I need some time to myself here and there.

Addy had a speech evaluation last week. Her verbal score was an 87, with the normal range being between 115 to 85. So she was normal, but at the very bottom of normal. The Therapist recommends we start 6 months of therapy once a week for 30 minutes. But we decided to hold off for a month or so to see if Addy kicks it up a notch on her own. Meanwhile, the therapist ave me some pointers to work on her with. It seems like I can see it in her eyes that she wants to say something else, but "Mama" keeps coming out. She'll get it, she will get it.

Joy had a birthday...Happy birthday, Joy!

Tracy and Bria had a birthday back on the 11th...Happy birthday, Tracy & Bria!!

I know there is probably more to tell you, but I'm brain dead. I'm tired. Sleep Tight!

Congratulations, Mom!

My Mom received her new used kidney 1 year ago today. It was supposed to be the day I delivered Addy, but God had another schedule in mind. It's been quite a bumpy road for Mom over the last year trying to "fine tune" everything with that kidney. Many hospital stays is one thing we are hoping for less of in 2009. Mom has been quite the trooper over the past year, and for that Mom, I congratulate you for enduring everything you have had to endure. I am so thankful to the family who was willing to save the lives of others by donating their loved ones' organs.

This week seemed to go so slow. We started the week going to the doctor for Addy's 1-year check up. All is well for the most part. Addy has gotten pretty smart and she started crying the second she hit the paper on the exam table…and this was just to measure her. I knew I was in trouble!

Her stats are:

Weight: 23.3 lbs (83%) and very shocked!
Height: 31.7” (99%) and not surprised at all
Head: 18.8” (97-98%) and not at all surprised
BMI: 16.2 to 16.3

He was very pleased with her being long and lean! She received 3 shots (Hep A, Chickenpox, and MMR). Of course, since she was on the paper, she started crying before they even had the needles out. Poor baby, it breaks my heart every time.

He asked if I had any concerns about her development, so naturally I have to bring up her speech development. I told him how she will only say "Mama". He said at this age they are typically saying Mama, Dada, and 1 other word. So, in order to nip any possible problems in the bud, he wants her to go to the ENT to have a thorough hearing screening and we will receive a call from a private speech therapist (Our Children’s House at Grapevine) in the next couple of days to have a speech evaluation. How they do this with 1-year olds I have no idea. But you know, we didn’t catch Ashleigh’s problem until way too late so I am all for getting her evaluated for whatever as soon as possible. If it can prevent long-term speech therapy like Ash is having to endure, so be it. Do I think she has a problem? No. But I’m not a doctor, and I want to be sure. I think she is just lazy and will figure it all out soon enough. But we’ll see and time will tell. Ash was bigger at this age, so Addy just isn’t growing as fast right now even though she was bigger at birth. But really, Addy just doesn’t have a large appetite, so maybe that has something to do with it.

I took some pregnancy photos of Jessica this past Sunday. It's her 3rd and last pregnancy and she wanted some photos to help represent her life as a pregnant woman. Not to mention I begged her to let me do it, LOL! You can see a small representation of those photos by clicking here. That will take you to her blog and look for the one titled "Belly Shots", it's currently the most up to date post. We had a lot of fun doing it and coming up with different ideas and poses. All in all, I am pleased with how they came out. I'm going to ask my friend, Deena, if I can do the same for her. But her and her husband, Kevin, may want to do some themselves. I don't think I had mentioned on my blog, but Deena is pregnant with her 2nd child. She had her 1st OB appointment today and she is 10 1/2 weeks along and her due date is the exact due date that mine was with Ashleigh...August 12th, which is also Anna's (my step Mom) birthday. So that's all pretty cool. I'm very excited for them and Jack is going to make a GREAT big brother. Deena is wanting another boy because it is what she knows, but I am REALLY hoping for a girl for her. I know it's cliche', but what we all really want is for Baby Henry to be healthy.

Work has been extremely busy this week, I have been racing against deadlines all week. I have another deadline on Tuesday which will probably force me to work this weekend at some point AND on Monday, which is supposed to be a Holiday for me. We do what we've gotta do! Brian has been very busy too, which is good. This cold weather has really been making the phone ring and Brian hasn't been getting home until 8:00-9:00 at night. We'll take it while we can, but he misses the kids and vice versa. He should be able to spend some time with them this weekend.

Peyton is spending the night tonight. Ally brought me lunch today (thanks Ally!!) and I volunteered to keep PeyPey. Seriously, I haven't let anyone spend the night since Addy has been born. Mainly because when PeyPey spends the night, the Girls are EXTREMELY giggly when they should be sleeping...like HOURS of giggling. For 1) that wakes Addy up since they share a wall, 2) they don't get any sleep, and 3) since they don't any sleep, we don't get any sleep. Since it's been a whole year I've been feeling a bit guilty and thus invited her. The good news is I laid them down at 8:45 and they were asleep by 9:15. Believe me, Peyton tried to keep Ash up, but that girl is whooped by Friday and ready to sleep! The Girls love spending time together and they just don't get to NEAR as much anymore since Ash is in school. Seriously, like weeks will go by without them seeing each other. Now, I know RC is going to say something about Sydney not being invited too, but Ash and Syd see each other ALL the time. Plus, since Ash and PeyPey are closer in age, they get along better for extended periods of time. RC knows that Syd and Ash fight like it's going out of style, and part of it might be because they see each other so much. Poor PeyPey hardly ever gets to play with her cousins. Oh, and plus Syd had basketball practice tonight pretty late.

I have a date with some of my friends to scrapbook next weekend at Alma's house. I can't wait. We've been planning this one for quite some time but it's always tricky finding a day when we're all available. I NEED this get away. I haven't gotten much time away from the kids lately and I could really use a break. 24/7 with Addy starts to wear on you after a while when you're chasing her all over the place...all day long! I Love her to death, of course, but we all need a break every now and again. So I'll take my 6-7 hours and savor every minute! It's not a long break, but a break nonetheless.

Not much else going on this weekend. I do hope to sleep a bit. I've been very tired this week and not wanting to get up at my usual 6:15 to get myself ready before the rest of the family needs to be up. A few times this week I haven't gotten up until Ash needs to get up and start getting ready at about 6:55. Which means I don't get my shower until Addy's nap at about 10:00. Hopefully I can break the cycle this coming week. We shall see.

Okay, I'm tired...heading to bed! Sleep Tight!

Happy 1st Birthday Addyson Shealeigh

Dear Addy,

Our little Munchie Munch, you turned 1 year old today. You were born at nearly 10:00 pm 1 year ago today. What a day that was! You came 6 days earlier than expected, but when it was all said and done, I was so happy because that was just extra time I got to hold you in my arms. It's been a year of such happiness and joy; it was also a year of sleeplessness, getting to know each other, and figuring out each other's quirks. I can tell you one thing...you are so different from your Sissy! You are our little adventurer, our strong personality, our temperamental one; but I can tell you something else...we LOVE you both so dearly. You have completed our family, Addy. You have brought such energy to our lives, which is no easy task keeping up with at my age! At only one year old you are able to show so much love for your Sissy, Mommy, and Daddy. You have learned to roll over, crawl, clap, wave, blow kisses, you lean in when we say "Give Kiss", you are cruising all over the place which tells me you will be walking so soon, you have grown 12 teeth, you rub your lotion in on your belly after Mommy does it, in other words, in this year you have gone from completely helpless to completely on-the-go! Addy, we can't wait to see what the coming years bring but at the same time I am so emotional about my Baby growing up so fast. I am trying to hold on to every moment so I can enjoy your childhood as much as possible. You will always be my Baby Girl. I Love You SOOOO Much, Munchie, Happy Birthday!

Here are some photos from your Birthday Party today. You are so loved and there were so many friends and family here to wish you a Happy Birthday.

Here we are in the midst of opening all of your presents:



Poor, Little Austin hit his head on the tile during your party and got a big ol' goose egg on his forehead. Notice us opening your presents in the background:




Checking out some of your loot:



Your beautiful cakes, the one on the right is your "smash" cake ALL just for YOU!




Ummm, I'm sorry Addy, you were fine until I put that hat on your head. A little over-stimulated, were we?

Some of the damage you did to your cake. However, you didn't actually eat much of it.

Happy playing with your cake:

Aunt Katie was taking pictures, if there's a camera in her hand she WILL take a few dozen of herself, LOL!

Well, since you weren't too happy in your cute little hat, your Sissy took it over for you:

Enjoying the packaging of one of your presents:

Your Sissy striking a pose:

Mommy with the Birthday Girl and Sissy:

Happy Birthday, Addyson Shealeigh Linder, Have Sweet Birthday Dreams Tonight!

Spanx and More

Howdy, Howdy! It's been 1 week and 1 day since my last post and my 1st post of the New Year, I know, I'm a slacker. I go through these periods of writer's block where I really don't have much to say. And I still don't have anything interesting to share, but you keep coming back so I'll take some time to bore you today. ;)

As you can see from my title, I would like to talk about Spanx. Have you heard of these? Do you wear them? I've heard Oprah, Whoopie, and a host (excuse the pun, LOL) of others talk about Spanx and how they don't leave the house without them on. So I had a S.A.M.E. luncheon on Monday (more on this later) and I needed to buy a new outfit. Unfortunately, I have "outgrown" all of my decent clothes. So I go buy a nice outfit to wear but was not too happy with the way it looked...obviously because I have outgrown everything, I do not like the way I look in anything. So I go buy some Spanx...I wanted to give them shot. I knew they wouldn't make me look thin but if they could suck in a little here and there and smooth things out a bit, I would be happy. There are many types of Spanx you can buy, which I didn't know going in. But I settled on the high waisted ones that go down to your knees. I was concerned about them rolling up on the legs and rolling down on the belly, but the lady said if you buy the right size and not squeeze into a smaller size, it should be fine. So I buy the "right" size, which I will not share, and they were still difficult to get on, but they really did a nice job. These suckers were $36 and I would say well worth the money. Even though they were tight, they were not uncomfortable. And they did just as I had hoped...sucked in here and there and smoothed everything out. So, what is our opinion of Spanx? Ally said she tried them and they rolled on her so she returned them. I suggested she buy the next size up and see what she thinks, but she might already be turned off. I'd love to hear your opinion and experience with these.

On Monday my Boss' Boss came into town to go to the monthly S.A.M.E. meeting/luncheon (Society of American Military Engineers for those of you who don't habla) and she wanted me to go with her since there was going to be a speaker from the Corps of Engineers discussing upcoming 2009 contracts. So we arrange to meet at the meeting, which is at the Petroleum Club n downtown Fort Worth, at about 11:00. Well, she ended up missing her flight and asked me to go ahead and go to save some seats, get our name tags, and get all paid up ($25 each) and she would be there about 30 minutes late. **YIKES** I have to go to this thing with a bunch of Engineers by MYSELF!?!?! Keep in mind, I work in my little office...AT HOME...all by myself, so having to be social in a professional environment is something I haven't had to do in a long time and certainly not by myself. But I am a grown up and I did it. It ended up being fine...I got there WAY too early and had to socialize with a few people that came up to me to introduce themselves. I'm such a shy person, but when it's necessary, I can be outgoing and act confident about my presence. Anyway, it was freezing that day and raining with wintry mix so my Boss ended up being real late and I was there for an hour and a half without her. But the food sure was good!

Addyson's 1st birthday is on Saturday. We're having a small gathering at our house to celebrate. I have soooo much to do. I did get the cake ordered today...that was a butt whoopin'! Apparently, all of the bakeries take time off right after the holidays to get a breather. Ally always has a problem getting a birthday cake for PeyPey and now I understand the problem. Luckily, they all started opening this week and I got one ordered. My usual place changed their pricing and they now charge you for very little aspect of the decorating. I couldn't believe how much they wanted to charge me for a dang cake! I placed the order and ended up cancelling it later after talking to another Bakery that Jessica uses all the time. It saved me like almost half the price! Thank goodness, Brian would have killed me if I would have spent that much on a cake! But it's her 1st birthday and I want to get her a big ol' round cake plus a matching smash cake. I'll keep you posted if the taste and decorations are up to par with my original Baker. I'm sure it will be fine; Jessica is very picky so if she likes them , I'm sure I will. My Mom said she liked them too. Anyway, I still have to clean and purchase everything.

Speaking of cleaning, my usual day landed on New Year's Day and Lorena (the cleaning lady) took off that day so I got skipped. She's not coming until my next regularly scheduled day...that means 4 weeks, people, between cleanings. UGH, what's a girl to do? I've already had to vacuum twice, change sheets more than I care to myself, and much, much more. I'm so spoiled with the cleaning. I don't like doing it, but I sure do like my clean house!

Here are some pics. These first three were from today, I was just messing around. I will try to get Addy's 1-year photos myself since I'm dirt poor, but these are rejects and just practice. I was by myself and that is just impossible with a near 1-year old!

Clapping with Excitement:




With her new Rocking Horse:



Um, Mommy, I've had enough (after only 5 minutes!)



These are from the 3rd when it was 84 degrees outside. Ashleigh Shea climbing her rock wall:



Addy testing out her new swing from Santa for the 1st time:

Strike a pose beautiful girl:

That's all I've got for now. Thanks for checking back in with us! I'll try to post again on Saturday for Addyson's birthday. Sleep tight!