This weekend has been awful, aside from the visit with the Howard's and Fusco's which was great! We went to a great mall with them and got Lil's halloween costume. We watched movies and hung out, had GREAT food and visited a new church with them (they just moved there).

On the upside, I am still fat (that's not the upside, I'm getting to that), so I think this weekend has helped me to lose a little more weight, between not eating and puking. So we will see for sure tomorrow morning at scale time.

I have made some changes to the blog, as you will see outlined in the text above. I am sorry if you could not get to the blog in the meantime, but as you can see it is now invite only, please let anyone know who you know likes to read the blog. The changes will require a couple extra steps on your part, for which I am sorry, but it should make the blogging experience better in the long run. If you do not understand the new comment policy or how to make a comment without a blogger account, please email me at StaceyBrill@gmail.com.

You will also notice many posts missing. This is not an error, this was on purpose. The best posts are left for your re-reading enjoyment.

I probably will not be posting as much as I have been and I probably will not post for a while. I'm just not in the mood right now. But don't give up, the blog is still open and eventually I'm sure I will post again.

Personal Art Projector

I. NEED. THIS.
NOW.

Ugh, its Monday

This is my new favorite thing. Odd, since I don't like peanut butter or honey, but together and schmeared on an apple, it is marvelous.

I received three magazines in the mail today. That helped to make the day a little less Monday.

Kylie was back today, it was great to see her, and Brandon and Lindsey, after being apart for two weeks. However, it was not nice to wake up early again. Why couldn't I wake up bright eyed at 6am like I did all week in Iowa?

Lillian is sitting up like a pro!!! And a pro with good posture. She is also, much to my dismay, up on all fours, rocking back and forth. She is mere weeks (hopefully not days) away from crawling. Ugh, we've got lots of work to do, babyproofing. Specially since her favorite thing to do is pull on the tablecloth.

On a sad note, Lillian has peed twice while being changed in the last two days. Yesterday it was for Richard and he laughed. Today it was for me and I looked right at her and said "NO" loudly. She cried. Then I laughed.

She is sucking her thumb alot, we try to pull it out, but she is quicker than us. We could pull it out 100 times a day and she would put it back in 101.

She is eating anything and everything. She loves eating whatever is on our plates. And she cannot get enough vanilla yogurt.

I am excited to go see the Howards and Fuscos this weekend in North Carolina.

We are trying to find a weekend to go to Busch Gardens and use our free passes. Cyndi, you should come out and go with us.

I'm also tempted to go back to Great Wolf Lodge. They have fall specials and military specials going on now. Its $149 a room, but it includes sleeping for 6 and 6 passes to the water park. Cyndi? Come on, ya know ya wanna.

It looks like we are not going to have any overnight company for the rest of the year and I'm sad if you can't tell. I love having people here and hate it that we live so far away no one can make it for a long weekend.

I am loving watching the olympics. And am still amazed by the opening ceremony box act. I am in awe of the choreography skills of the Chinese.

6 month pictures

I uploaded Lillian's six month pictures to our Picasa site. I uploaded the full size photos, so they may take a minute to load (especially for those archaic dial-up users...Mom and Dad Brill) but they should print fine in any size you want.

Print on people!

Educational Placemats

Some of you may know of my obsession with educational placemats. (Thank you, Kerstin's mom.)

I have had a few people ask me which ones I currently have so that they can help me add to my collection without purchasing duplicates. So I am going to make a list here of placemats we already own, and I will make a link in the right sidebar to this post and keep it updated so you can always get the most current list.

We already have:
Cursive
Flags of the US
Weights & Measures
Print Alphabet
Colors
Numbers
Multiplication
Dinosaurs
Presidents
World Map
US Map
Shapes
Weather
Musical Instruments
Solar System
Subtraction
Sign Language Alphabet

Ones I have seen and love, but do not have: (get ready, the list is long)
Money
Time
Addition
Division
Fractions
World Flags
Human Body
Periodic Table
Place Setting
Roman Numerals
Constellations
Composers
Bugs
Phonics
Metric System
Transportation
Counting to 100
Pyramid
Maze
Road Signs
Zoo Animals
Rocks/Minerals
Ocean Life
Butterflies
Birds

We got back from Iowa, uneventfully, thankfully.

I had an ultrasound today to follow up with some problems from my c-section but my appointment to find out the results isn't til September 15th. Pray for patience.

R went back to work tonight and said lots of stuff is messed up. Pray for patience.

We received the rest of Lillian's six month pictures today via email and they are up at Becky's website. I love them, but still wish Lil would have been in a better, more smiley mood. We have all the rights to these photos, and anyone can save and print them. However, wait until they are up on our Picasa website, because these ones are imprinted with her name and are a low resolution for easy web viewing.

I went through our motherload of mail tonight and ended up with four magazines, three bills, two coupons and one certificate for a free month of Gymboree classes. Whee! I balanced the checkbook, did laundry and cleaned also. Yes, I know how to have a good time.

I'm going to upload pictures tomorrow of the rest of the Iowa pictures (yes mother, including the verse I painted on Gma's kitchen wall) and a couple we've taken since we got home.

Also tomorrow, R's brother, Kenny, is going to visit us for the first time.

I'm going to chop my hair off. There's no stopping me now, just debating how short and how to cut it. My favorite two options are:

Number One Front:


Number One Back (right):


Number Two:

Number Three:

However, I am going between this type of cut and one that is more plain but would allow me to still get my hair into a ponytail. Something like these:

Number Four:

Number Five:

Number Six:

Number Seven:

Thoughts? But make them pronto, or I'm liable to get over anxious and just hack it all off myself.

Saturday and Sunday

Saturday
We went out to breakfast at Village Inn then did a driving tour around all the new stuff in Ankeny. You wouldn't even belive it here, Julie, its insane. Then I went over to Doug and Cyndi's to help Cyndi with Katie's 12th birthday party. Richard and Lillian stayed at Gma's and hung out with Gma and Mom and Dad. We came back over to Gma's last night and watched the olympics and played games.

Sunday
Mom and Dad left this morning :-( Then we went to church with Cyndi and Doug and Gma came too. (She does attend church regularly, but at a different church.) We had lunch at Applebee's then I dropped R, L and Gma off at Gma's and I went to get Cyndi and we went to a few stores. Then I dropped her off and came back to Gma's to watch Lillian while R went out to see the Batman movie with Ashley. We just hung out here the rest of the night and watched the olympics. Bed now.

Friday

I worked on the verse for above Gma's kitchen cabinets.
Wal-mart for the rest of the paint supplies
Over to Doug and Cyndi's to paint Katie's room from yellow with a painted flower boarder at the top to 3 walls pink one wall brown.
Also painted her bulletin board frame and a bookshelf.
Moved furniture back in.
Went to Stella's Diner for dinner.
Came back to Gma's.
Watched the opening ceremonies.
Played Sequence.

Thursday

After getting up with Lillian four times between 2am (when I went to bed) and 6:30am (when I got up), I:

Balanced our checkbook
Put shelf paper on all of the bathroom shelves and drawers
Folded two loads of laundry
Had breakfast
Woke the troublemakers up
Fed the munchkin
Re stained the deck at Gma's (took forever and was HOT)
Took a shower
Ate lunch
Went to Drug Town (a great place, not what the name implies)
Went to Target to get Katie's new bedding, rug, and lamp
Went to Home Depot to do an exchange
Went to Menard's to do an exchange and get Katie's paint and cork board for Mom's craft room (more about that in December)
Then we went to Kaliediscoops, an ice cream place for Katie's birthday treat
Back to Gma's
Cleaned up our room downstairs
Did two more loads of laundry
Looked through a design book for Kid's bedrooms
Tried to find Cyndi a Papasan chair cushion cover (not possible for less than a whole cushion)
Looked up online to try to find a Bible verse wall decal for Gma's kitchen
Cyndi and Doug came for dinner
Jarrod came
Ashley came over
Got pizza
Watched Steven Curtis Chapman on Larry King
Bathed the munchkin (someone else fed her :-)
Tried to find something fun to do with the kids on Monday
Talked about playing a game (didn't)
Talked about going to Wal-Mart at 1 am to get Katie's curtains (didn't)
Decided to paint the verse on Gma's soffet
Played with different fonts on the computer
Mom and Dad went to their hotel
Richard and Lillian went to bed
Checked facebook
Read Google Reader
Started writing blog entry
Gma went to bed
Now I'm going to fold two loads of laundry and go to bed

Til tomorrow...

Tuesday and Wednesday

I'm posting from Iowa, but its just a short list of what we did each day to keep you updated but not take my time away from THE BEST WEEK EVER.

Tuesday:
Arrived at Omaha with all luggage and almost on time
Drove to Ankeny, IA
Had lunch at Maid Rite
Unpacked
Target for Diapers and Formula (and of course baby clothes)
SAW ASHLEY!!!
Hickory Park for dinner! Yum cheese curds and sundaes.


Wednesday:
Put the veneer on the cabinets in Gma's kitchen
Put shelf liner on all shelves and Drawers
Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe's, Michael's
Dinner at Cyndi & Dougs
Played Wii
Planned the rest of our time
Back to Gma's for sleep
Received preview of Lillian's six month shots in my email. It's below. Thanks Becky Breedlove!

Life is Magic

On a random whim, I decided to add a note to Kerstin on the "Vacation" post below.

We are flying into and out of Omaha Airport. Although we don't want to spend too much time in Omaha, basically just dropping the rental car off and checking in for our flight, I thought being in Omaha was too close not to at least ask Kerstin (my bestest friend from high school, and the ONLY one I still talk to, sad, with our class size) if on the off chance she had next Wednesday off and would want to drive to the Omaha Airport (a 45 minute drive if I remember correctly) to see us for a mere ten or fifteen minutes.

Ha. Yeah right.

Much to my joy and amusement, see Kerstin's comment on that post. She will not only be off work next Wednesday, she will be ....are you ready? ....are you sure? ....This is big...

SHE WILL BE AT THE OMAHA AIRPORT sending her Mom back home to Flint.

INSANE and PERFECT.

Yay!

And I can proudly say I am much more excited to see Kerstin than a million Paula Deen's anyday.

Poopy Pants

We originally planned on going to bed early since we had to get up at 4am to catch our flight.

Then we decided that since we typically don't go to bed until 1:30 am or later, we probably wouldn't be able to fall asleep earlier and therefore should just stay up all night rather than get 2+ hours of sleep.

Then, at 1:45, I was falling over and made the executive decision that, yes, we would sleep.

However in a move of supreme authority, at 2:30, Miss Lillian (aka Ruler of the World as we know it) decided to wake up crying because she pooped all over. When I say all over, I mean all over her diaper, all over her pjamas (which THANK GOODNESS were footed and zip up to her neck), all over her legs, back, stomach, arms (?!?!), and even a smudge on her face.

Needless to say it is 3:30 am and I am up, after having given her a bath and myself taking a shower to clean the poop off of us both, and she is sleeping peacefully again. I, on the other hand, am doing a load of laundry with exactly three items in it. This irks me mostly because I did a gigantor load at 1am, so that we would have all the laundry in the house clean and dry when we stepped out the door at 4am.

Now, not only am I doing another load at 3:30 am, but it is a load with a mere three things in it.

Yes, Master Lillian, whatever you say, your hiney.

Paula Deen

I know I said I was going away, and I am. But something unfortunate happened today and I just have to share.

If I wasn't leaving for Iowa in a couple hours I would have been able to be interviewed by Paula Deen for an "upcoming TV special" about Military wives. A producer of her's emailed me a week or so ago asking if I would be interested in being interviewed by Paula Deen, saying she had seen on my Facebook account that I was a Military wife in the Hampton Roads area. I replied sure and asked for more information, thinking it was surely a joke. But she emailed back and forth with me asking all about our marriage, his time in the Navy, etc. She emailed today and said she wanted me to come Wednesday at noon to be interviewed on camera by Paula Deen with only 2-3 other wives. However, we are leaving tomorrow morning. I am so BUMMED.

But she did ask if I had other military friends who might be interested. Of course I do so she said to call or email them and have them call her and she would maybe do one or some of them. So far I haven't heard anything, but I'm hoping she picks someone I know so I can at least know when its going to be on and everything.

Vacation

Sometimes I post 5 times a day, sometimes I post once a week. Get over it. :-)

We, and by we I mean I, am in a packing/cleaning/shutting up house frenzy. It is insane to me:
1. How early our flight is
2. How much stuff a 6 month old requires
3. How time consuming it is to finalize everything when everyone is going and no one is staying home (plants in the sink, laundry and dishes done, mail stopped, car keys given out, etc)

We are leaving bright and early (although I am sure it will definintly not be bright, it will still be dark, tomorrow morning to fly to Chicago O'Hare and then on to Omaha. We will be met there by someone from my family who will then drive us back to Ankeny, Iowa to visit my Grandma Shipp and my Aunt Cyndi and her family, as well as my parents who are joining us there for a few days. It was going to cost us $400 more, PER TICKET, to fly into Des Moines Airport. INSANE. So someone is picking us up and we will rent a car to drive back but it will still be way cheaper than flying into Des Moines.

Kerstin: I would love to see you but I'm not sure that we'll be arriving in Omaha any earlier than it will take us to turn the car in and board for our flight :-( Let me know if you are even possibly available next Wednesday the 15th around 5pm, wait I think our flight leaves at 5. I don't know. If you're not working next Wednesday afternoon let me know and I'll see if we can't meet for something super quick.

That's all folks. I'm off til next Thursday, or more likely, Friday. I am more excited about this trip than any in a long time. It will be so good for the three of us to get away, and not have it be Flint, where we're constantly running ragged trying to see everyone we know.

Ta ta!