Week in Review

Things I love:
1. The person who suggested filling plugs (pacifiers) with water and freezing them.
2. The frozen water filled plugs. Lillian will not chew on any teethers or wet washcloths or anything, but she LOVES the frozen plugs. We now store or arsenal in the freezer.
3. Our new water bottles. They are the On The Go bottles from Nalgene. Not only is it a Nalgene bottle, which I love, but it is slim enough to fit in most cupholders, including that of the stroller. But it also has a flip top nozzle lid. It is completely spill proof, yet you don't have to screw off the lid and be mammoth mouth to drink out of it.

4. That our daughter will eat anything. Including chicken, ribs and roll from Busch Gardens yesterday.
5. That R bought me flowers on Saturday "for no reason" and he took Jack's birthday present to the post office all by himself. PS-I think the roses were because I got up 5 MILLION TIMES in the night with Lillian over the last week and he didn't at all. But if he wants to call it "for no reason" thats fine with me. I'm just enjoying them.
6. TiVo
7. The Smart Shopping Cart by Leapfrog. Lillian loves it. And walks pushing it. INSANE. It was supposed to be a Christmas present but I'm pretty sure we're going to have to leave it out as she's learning to walk already.

8. My new reusable shopping/gift bags from Toys R Us. They are bigger than any others I've seen and they have many super cute designs, with just a small Toys R Us. This is so you don't feel like a retard walking into Kroger with a Target bag and vice versa. I have been using them for everything and will be using them to give gifts in as, at $1.49, they are no more than a regular, disposable gift bag. (Unfortunately Google could not show me a picture of the bags, I will try to take one with the next batch of uploaded Picasa pictures-but trust me, they are super cute!)
9. Lillian is not crawling yet. YAY!!! But she's really close unfortunately. We just bought some "crawler covers" aka leg warmers to help protect her sad little knees which are all rug burned up.
10. Lillian's Halloween costume. I won't say more now so I'll leave you in suspense.
12. The bright idea to use a pipe cleaner to clean out reusable straws. Excellent for sippy cups with straws.
13. The backyardigans. Could you get any cuter than Tyrone, Pablo and Uniqua? I don't think so. Although their theme song could use some work.
14. That the View is back in live production and Oprah is soon to follow.
15. My Pacifia. Everytime I use it or use another vehicle or see someone else struggling to get something in or out of a vehicle, I remember how much I LOVE MY PACIFICA and its automatic lift gate.
16. My new keychain. I love that its skinny enough to not be bulky in the diaper bag or R's pocket. However its big enough to find in the diaper bag without getting lost. Its also perfet to just slide the keychain in my pocket, letting the keys hang out but not fall out. It fits on my wrist! (Mine is like the picture but the ribbon is pink and orange polka dot...surprise!)
17. Busch Gardens. I swear each time I go, I love it more. Even with two babies, a 7 year old and a hot day.
18. My diaper bag. I went through a couple before I found "the one". It just works for us. I'm convince finding a diaper bag is like finding a spouse, there's one -and only one- for everyone. You might find a few duds before the real deal but then you will be so in love you can't see straight.
19. That the newest Mozilla Firefox will automatically (if you tell it to) save all of your tabs when your browser gets closed (by your husband) and open them up when you open Mozilla the next time.
20. That I have now purchased, written in, addressed, sealed and calendared all of my cards for the rest of the year (except for Christmas).
21. That I get to make digital Christmas Cards and Invites for Lillian's Birthday party (which will be Saturday, January 24th, 2009. Mark your calendars now and make plans to attend. I promise it will be a spectacular event).
22. Homemade Mozzarella Sticks. Thanks Megan!


Things I hate:
1. That our carseat has an expiration date of next July. That means we will need a new one for our next (if we have a next one) kid. Glad we got this one on craigslist since we used it for a whole 7 months.
2. That Lillian was 26 inches last month and is 25 inches now. Come on people, you are in the Navy, do you think you can measure a baby. Especially one who lays completely still while you do so. Is she or isn't she too long for her current carseat?
3. Baby washcloths. What a waste of material. I just bought at two 12 packs of white washcloths at Target, on sale from $2.49 to $1.69. I keep two boxes on my dryer, one inside the other. In the large box is all the clean white washcloths. In the smaller box, are all the wet/dirty washcloths, ready to be dumped into the washer. BEST THOUGHT EVER. And yes, we go through 24 washcloths in about three days, insane.
4. That to get a new cell phone (a smart one, with a keyboard and a calendar) I must: purchase the phone: $99, add an additional three years to our already obscenely long contract with Sprint, choose a new monthly plan. Which of course does not come in anything similar to what we have now (500 minutes shared between three people), but only much larger (1500 minutes), much more expensive plans. And that is all without any texting or web browsing. I LOVE SPRINT!!!!!
5. The fact that apparently Virginia doesn't get cold enough to require stores to sell hats for babies. Or maybe they're not just "cool" right now. I think they're adorable though, the more outrageous the better, and aim to find some, somewhere.

6. Barney, Dora (although she does try to teach Spanish), Little Einsteins, Elmo, Bratz, Blues Clues and all other over-used kid's cartoons. Even more, all the new cartoons that are so STUPID. We're all about the Bernstein Bears, Gerbert, Dennis the Menace, Inspector Gadget, Bobby's World, Looney Tunes, Garfield and Friends, Doug, Carmen Sandiago, Flintstones, Tom and Jerry, Road Runner, and Heathcliff.
7. That Army Wives hasn't been on for two weeks now.
8. The "service soon" light. If you can prompt the light to come on, you would think you can prompt the light to be more specific.
9. New Facebook, Vista, Office 2007. Nuff said.
10. That if I want to guarrantee R will be here for my next birth, I must get pregnant in/before October or not for three and a half years. YUCK!!!!!! (And NOT HAPPENING in/before October so y'all can just stop asking and petitioning unless you'd like to volunteer your womb.)


Things I need:
1. Ideas for great toys for 1 year olds for Lil's Christmas List
2. Same thing for DVD's (other than Veggie Tales and Baby Einstein)
3. Pink and Orange foods. Leave your comment with all you can think of.
4. Birthday party ideas for entertaining 2-3 year olds.
5. Visitors this fall. Come on people, come visit us.

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!

Today...

*R had to be at work at noon instead of 2:30 and the day is lagging on forever.
*B&L are just going to leave K here until they come over for Bible Study, which is fine, but is also making the day lag on forever.
*We took the girls to the playground (for only about 10 minutes since it was FREAKIN hot) and Lil got to swing for the first time.
*I am catching up on last week's episodes of the View. And I appreciate them coordinating their summer hiatus with my vacation to Iowa.
*I did 6 loads of laundry. And I did laundry on Monday. Sick.
*I put butt cream on Lil's face because she has a huge rash I want to go away before her pictures on Sunday. She looks like a ghost.
*I am annoyed that Oprah has been in reruns for about 8 years.
*I used our last Swiffer Duster. I love those things. Gotta get some more.
*I am going to make three ham and cheese loaves for Bible Study.
*I let R take some of the Dirt Cake to work before people had it tonight for Bible Study, now it has a huge hole in it.
*I fed Lil Mango for the first time. She loved it. (It was from Gerber, no, I did not make her Mango)
*I cleaned our toilet AGAIN (see yesterdays post).
*I made finger jello for tonight. I love finger jello. I don't like regular jello but finger jello is so much better.

Interesting Facts

1. The lifeguard (known to us as Helga, although I found out today her real name is Elena) is from Serbia. Which "most people in the military know where it is because you people bombed us back in '99."

2. If you mix baby food peas and baby food carrots, the outcome is still orange, not the expected puke brown.

3. Lillian's favorite bath toy is definitely the whale.

4. Our neighbors got "personally served" with a summons to go to Court for failure to pay a debt. They got served by a Sheriff rubberbanding a summons to their door knob, never even knocking on the door. Doesn't seem personal to me.

5. Apparently the July cockroaches are the biggest of the bunch.

6. Randy Pausch, the author of The Last Lecture died over the weekend and Diane Sawyer is doing a special on him tonight.
EDIT: Currently watching the show and it is amazing and inspiring. You tube it.

7. The Cheesecake Factory is having an anniversary and for tomorrow only all of their cheesecake is $1.50 a slice, if you dine in.

8. I just discovered Google Reader. If you have not yet discovered this, or Gmail even, you should definitely ask me about it. Amazing, wonderful things.

9. A week from now our entire family will be in Iowa!! A trip together!!

10. I have horrible toilet issues. I cleaned our toilets last night for Bible Study tomorrow night and yet they already have rust colored lines and rings. Ugh.

11. Effective Tuesday morning, Bennigan's Restaurants across the nation will be closed forever. I find the statement on their home page "Introducing our new Jamison BBQ grilled items...for a limited time only" ironic. I will forever miss their Monte Christo Sandwich.
EDIT: According to this article, not all of the Bennigan's are closing, maybe Va Beach or Flint will get lucky.
EDIT#2: Va Beach Bennigan's is closed for good. Sad.

12. I am thinking of joining the YMCA. Primarily because a friend wants to and they have childcare services. I am hoping they will repeat last September's "pay the day" enrollment fee and we can enroll on September 1st.

13. My brother is on his way to Iraq for the second time. He commemorates this by having his Google away message read "Leaving...on a jet plane." That is my brother for you. You can read updates of his adventure at www.kyleshipp.com. Please pray for him and his wife, Kristen, while he is away. Kyle- not that you read this, but be safe.

14. I made fabulous Blondies. Twice, now this week. Let me know if you want the recipe.

15. My new word is "Gravy".

16. If you make an online order with Children's Place, expect it to take NINE DAYS before they ship your order.

17. If you haven't noticed, I installed a Feedjit application in the bottom of the right column. This tool shows me that in the last 24 hours, aside from the friends and family in Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan we've had blog visitors from: Little Rock, Arkansas; New Orleans and Slidell, LA; Bangkok, Krung Thep; Surprise, AZ; Annandale, MN; Dallas, TX; and Mexico. Come on people, don't be shy, leave a comment and say "hi".

Cell Phone Capabilities

I received this as an email from Richard's mom the other day and was amazed at some of these things. I have not tried them, but thought I would pass them along. Let me know if you know that any of these work or don't work.

1. The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find Yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an Emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to Establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly, this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.

2. Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys In the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot From your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other 'remote' for your car, you can unlock th e doors (or the trunk).
EDIT: See Natalie's comment.

3. Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys * 3 370#. Your cell phone will restart with this reserve and t he instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell phone next time.


4. To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following Digits on your phone: *#06#. A 15-digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe.

If your phone gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If every bo dy does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.


5. Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don't have to. Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial: (800)FREE411, or (800) 373-3411 without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now.

(Or you could just dial 1-800-GOOG-411)

Not much went on today (Friday). I didn't have Kylie so I slept in while R got up with Lil. We laid low this morning, watched 21. I went to Target with Lil while R was at work and got a couple shirts for me, a couple pjs for her and some great finds in the dollar bins: lift the flap board books, great big puzzles and an educational placemat (thank you Kerstin's mom). Ask about the placemat thing if you don't know, its great.

I made chocolate cake today for tomorrow nights girls night at Kally's and blondies for Wednesday night Bible Study, if they last that long. They're SUPER fantastic.

Lil had lots of cheerios today and smushed bananas, twice. She didn't like the real bananas (as apposed to jarred stuff) yesterday, but today she gobbled them up.

Skwish

We just got this toy for Lillian at Babies R Us. (We had to go buy cheerios holders and sippy cups.) We love it and it was unmarked, so they gave it to us for $2.99!!!!!

6 Month Checkup

We had Lillian's six month checkup today and this is what we found out.

She is 13 pounds 6 ounces. (10%)
She is a whopping 26 inches long. (60%)
And her head is 50%.

She is doing all the milestones she's supposed to be doing and beyond except for getting teeth, which we're fine with.

The pedi said to start her on cheerios, a sippy cup, and table foods like potatoes, steamed carrots and green beans that she can pick up herself. I can't believe she's doing all this, she's so big!!

She only had to get two shots and one oral, less than before, so that was good. She hasn't had any reactions yet, but we're still on the lookout for that nasty fever.

The most exciting part is that, unless she gets sick, we don't have to take her in again until her 9 month well baby checkup!!! So far its been monthly or more, but she's finally at an ok weight, that they are going to let her go the full three months.

HABA Toys

These toys are amazing. I want each and every one for Lillian.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Guess what I found on e-bay today?!?!?! Not only a sheet set in this pattern, to make a duvet for Lillian's twin bed, but the actual duvet itself. I made it my afternoon/evening mission to win this auction (there was no buy it now option). I did okay up until going to Bible Study. I asked Tonya ahead of time if I could use her internet while there (the auction was ending while I was there) and she said yes but we didn't anticipate the storms knocking out all the internet/phones. So I whipped out my cell and called Dad Brill in a frenzy and he made a daring leap from a moving car to get out and run in the house and get online to save my auction. He ended up doing me a HUGE favor because if he had not gotten on, I would have missed it by $1.08 and I would have been SOOOOOOO annoyed. Anywho, I won it, thanks to him. And next week I will have the duvet of my dreams! No more searching.

This is gorgeous.

I feel that at only $20, I must have it. Yet I cannot figure a place for it that R would approve of.

Baby Cheapskate

Baby Cheapskate is giving away 12 free Bum Genius 3.0 cloth diapers. These are the diapers B&L use for Kylie. While I won't buy them, I would definitely use them if they were given to me. So this post is my entry for the contest.

Christmas in July

One of the blogs I read daily, Life as Mom, is having a special Christmas in July week. For me, Christmas being my favorite time of year, this is great fun. She has a Toolin up Tuesday post today asking for our favorite "tools" for Christmas time.

My favorite "tool" for the Christmas season is my Christmas music. It starts October 1st and doesn't end until January. Any genre, any group or single, any age. I love Christmas music. I'm guessing I have about 60+ Christmas CD's and that number grows each year. Only a couple months until October people, dust off those CD players.

Bible Study

I am hosting Bible Study next week and am in need of a great idea to make for dinner. There will be anywhere from 2-15 people attending. I am making cupcakes for dessert but that is all I know for sure. It needs to be something that can be at least partially made a day ahead of time. Comment and leave me your thoughts and/or recipes. I will pick the best idea and the winner will receive....
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my utmost gratitude!

Love Hate Tuesday

I am in a very bad mood today. Life is crappy. And to top it all off, I'm bored out of my mind and stuck at home cuz R took the Pacifica to work and won't be home til midnight. So I decided to write a list of the things I hate, hoping to get it all out and then list the things I love, to maybe put me in a better mood.

I hate:
Navy medical
Obstinate husbands
Cranky babies
Phone calls during naptime
Crying during naptime
Sick relatives
Vacations that are two whole weeks away
Being stuck at home
100 degree heat
Being fat
Not having an Office 2003 disk and having to pay $100 AND be forced to upgrade to 2007
Not knowing how to make DVDs from our video camera
R breaking the video program for the computer in the process of trying to figure it out
Laundry
Making bottles
Wrapping up the vacuum cord
That the Navy still isn't aware we have a daughter, despite her age of six months
We do not currently have wills, guardianship papers, or medical releases.
Getting the mail being the most exciting part of your day
Getting nothing but ads in the mail (and not even good ads at that)
Cleaning up from decorating cupcakes


I love:
The art for Lillian's room
My new coffee table
My sling
Diet Coke
Cheese-Its
Vacation being only two weeks away
Clean rugs
B&L picking K up early so I can (theoretically) get in an afternoon nap
That Big Brother is on again (3 hours a week I can be mindlessly entertained with stupid humans)
Army Wives-best show ever on TV
That Lillian can hold her own bottle
Decorating cupcakes

Navy Medical's "opinion"

Richard finally got in to see a doctor at the Naval Medical facility today. He took with him the written record from being at Chesapeake Hospital but they did not give him copies of the actual x-rays or EKG tests.

The doctor on base said that he definitely did not think it was pedicarditis. He did not think the heart was involved at all. He said R never needs to worry about having a heart attack. He said the EKG the hospital did showed no abnormality. He said the hospital is overusing this diagnosis. He did an x-ray of his own and showed R that there is currently no sign of pedicarditis.

He said it could take up to 9 months to figure it out totally. He did do bloodwork. But he thinks it is anxiety. He put R on Paxil for three months, but said he wants to see him again in one month. He did tell R to keep taking the medication the hospital prescribed him, saying they weren't only for inflammation, but also pain.

If you want my opinion and ranting, read on, if not, go ahead and stop now.

He did not have the x-rays and EKG reports from the hospital. He did his own x-ray today, four days after the pain started, when the pain has been gone for two complete days, and after R has been on medication for four days, the x-ray today showed no inflammation, not surprisingly.

It is odd to me that the two different places (hospital and base medical) have two completely different opinions. A third opinion is not an option, because the Navy is the Navy. Based upon this alone, I am more likely to believe the answer from the people who actually treated him while the pain was happening, not four days after the fact, without EKG results.

I'm not saying that anxiety is a real problem and that Paxil can help that. I'm not even necessarily saying that R doesn't have an anxiety problem. R does let himself get stressed out and that might have coupled with something else to cause this chest pain. But I don't think that with him never having had one before, having an anxiety attack out of the blue, when he is perfectly fine emotionally, is unlikely. I am saying that I think this dr. offered that without much basis and as an easy "solution".

It took 26 years for this to happen once, the likelyhood that it will happen again in the next month is slim. If it doesn't, this dr. can say "see, magic pill, take it forever, bye" and then when he has another one of these 1 or 5 years down the road, we will have no more information because no more testing will have been done.

I don't want R on the "magic pill" and then when it happens again, to say, "oh its just stress" and die from a heart attack.

Pericarditis

Richard was just (4pm Friday) discharged from Chesapeake General and diagnosed with Pericarditis, also called a "mini heart attack". He is to follow up with base medical on Monday for further testing including lung testing, as they feel there are possibly lung issues also. We are all glad to be home and have a few answers and not thrilled about more testing next week, on base no less.

Hospital

It is 1 am Friday and R is in the hospital. He had severe chest pains for 3 hours and decided to go into ER at 5pm (Thursday). They did a couple EKGs, took blood several times, did an exray, hooked him up to the heart monitor, used nitro on him, gave him asprin and torodol. They pretty much stopped about 11pm, but they are keeping him overnight to "monitor him for a heart attack". I have to go back up at 7am and take him stuff to do a stress test. They said everything they've done so far, checking the heart, is normal except for a "blip on the EKG", which they said is actually pretty normal. If the stress test is normal, he can come home tomorrow and follow up with base medical next week. They only checked for heart related things and if it is not that, then they will check for things related to the lung, the ribs, the muscle and reflux.

Thanks to Kallie, whose husband just deployed and was going to take me to a Kenny Chesney concert tonight but instead dropped me off at the hospital and turned right around and picked up the girls (mine and hers) from the sitter and took them home. I just called her (at midnight) and told her I needed her to watch her all day tomorrow and she said sure and is keeping her overnight. So at 1am, I just left her house, leaving her more clothes, formula and diapers. Thanks Kallie! You're literally a lifesaver!

Poll Time

EDIT: I've added pictures of the general style for each option. Pay no attention to the individual colors or things on the walls, or bedding specifically, just look at the style of the pictures as a whole. You don't have to have an account to leave a comment, just click on Name/URL and type your name in and leave your comment :-)

Okay people, its obvious I'm torn in two directions. I need your input. Leave a comment with your vote please.

Option 1-Garden/Cottage feel with more white than bright and flower bedding and rug. Think sheets pictured from Pottery Barn. A la...


Option 2-Bright Geometric (stripes, polka dots) feel with geometric bedding and rug. Think blanket with peacock. A la...




Leave a comment with your pick please, please, please.

Two more rugs

Two more rug possibilities from Anthropologie: Majestic Providence Rug and Dream Menagerie Rug. Again, this site wouldn't let me pull the pictures to put in the blog.

Here we go again...at 12:44am no less

More inspiration...

THE blanket. I want it. Way more than the super expensive one even. Although I don't think this will lay across the foot of the bed. And as much as I do love it, I don't want it cluttering up the white walls. I do want it for each color in it. I love the peacock. I love the dotted pattern. I'm thinking maybe paint above the beadboard orange and do that pattern sporadically (upper left corner-ish).


Another blanket that would work okay:
Pink and Orange Dot

Rugs that might work:
Dot with pink border
PBTeen Bubbles
PBTeen Stripe
PBTeen Big Dot
Nod Floral Rug

Comforters that might work at the end of the bed:
PBTeen Big Dot
PBTeen Dottie

Sheets that would work under a plain white duvet:
Bubble
Big Dot
These are sheets that I would love to have (I received one crib sheet from my registry) however, of course, everything but a bed skirt is no longer available.

Apparently its a bad day for sheet shopping at PBKids because the next two sheet sets I liked were also no longer available. This is another option that I think I like better than the dotted options.

Acessories:
This would be adorable.
This would be fun.
This or this would also be cute.


I finally found some pics of almost what I want to do with the shelf, like these, just higher up on the wall. I tried to past the pictures right here but the website wouldn't let me. Sorry! So here and here they are. Okay, nevermind those even, this is even better, its higher and there is more contrast between the walls and above the shelf.

Okay people, if you didn't know I'm neurotic by the household management binder then you surely do now. However, if you've travelled with me on this journey you can see that I love the damask wallpaper, the peacock blanket and the flowery sheets. Yes, this is why I have issues. I really think I do want the "cottagey, almost old fashioned in a modern way" look, but I can't seem to let go of the "modern, obnoxious geometric shapes and patterns". Thoughts..... tell me what you like, what you hate, and what would suck if it were in the same room together.

Lillian's Room

Yes, I've been a bit obsessive about this lately.

I feel I MUST HAVE this wallpaper.




And totally unlike me, I am loving this rug, even though it does not go with anything else other than the color pink.



If this quilt wasn't so retardedly expensive, I would want it for the foot of the bed, on top of a huge fluffy down comforter with a plain white duvet cover and some poppy pillows up top.



Unfortunately when you google 3/4 height shelf, you get shelves that are 3/4 inch thick or 3/4 foot long, etc. When you google beadboard or wainscotting and shelf you get small wall shelves made of wainscotting. This is as close as I could get to what I want, there is no shelf, but it is white beadboard on the bottom and a color on top. We're thinking beadboard 2/3 to 3/4 way up and then something up top with color, but not too much color to overshadow the cool stuff we plan on putting up there.




In the next week or so I hope to have all my art and frames done and I will photograph them

Links

The links are all corrected, organized, and added to. Careful, you can get off on tangents for hours!!!

Fantastic Fabric and Fanciful Finds

Whew, that took a lot of brain power.

Anywho, as you can tell, I've been spending a lot of time on the internet lately. I found this great site for fabric and other fun stuff. Their fabric is amazing and right up my alley.

Insanely adorable

These are perfectly impractical, horribly overpiced, yet insanely adorable shoes.

Design for Lillian's Room

NOTE: THE PURPLE TEXT ARE LINKS THAT YOU CAN CLICK ON.


I have been toying with the design for Lillian's new room (once we move and the guestbed is out) for a while. I want it to be fun and bright, but not obnoxious and childlike, but not baby.

I was doing some research online and came across a blog by Christine. She stated that you could email in your detailed questions with pictures and she would tell you her opinions. I did so, honestly not expecting anything, or at least in the next century. How surprised was I to get an email this morning telling me she answered my question on her blog this morning?

I think alot of her ideas are marvelous. My plan (as of now, without having any idea what type of room she will be in) is to:
Paint the walls white 3/4 of the way up
Put a shelf all the way around the room at that level (white)
Paint/wallpaper/something above the shelf in bright pink and/or orange
Place all the knick knacks on the shelf around the room
Paint the furniture (pictured above) hot pink
Yes, I said paint the furniture hot pink, isn't that just PERFECT?!?!
Get matching bedding for the twin bed and the crib as long as the crib is in her room
Get a nice bright rug, shag I'm thinking


Let me know your thoughts and ideas!!!!

Links

If any of you have tried the links on the right side, you will notice they are all messed up. I will fix this someday. Just wanted you to know I do know.

Great things

Great things...

1. Lillian is holding her own bottle.
2. Lillian is holding her own bottle.
3. Lillian is holding her own bottle. (Yes it is exciting enough to merit three spots.)
4. The new header on the blog, although its a little larger than I planned, but oh well, don't know how to change it.
5. My Binder!!!! I've already used it 8 or more times. I'd say it was definitely time I made one.
6. I put my wedding ring back on!! Its been off for about a year (not by choice) and it finally fit back on. Now it will be on forevermore, because I can't really get it off :-) But at least its on.
7. Diet coke. Nuff said.
8. We're starting the Five Love Languages study in Sunday School and I couldn't be more excited. Well maybe that my wedding ring fits, and maybe that Lil is holding her own bottle, but you get what I mean.
9. I have a gift purchased, wrapped and ready to go already for a bridal shower this next weekend.
10. I am going to a bridal shower next weekend and R is watching the monster.
11. I am going to a Kenny Chesney concert on Thursday (weather and babysitter-for the friend, permitting)
12. I got a nap today.
13. This...http://www.madebygirl.com/product.php?product=PR-13
14. And this...https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaXbih9XviP5cQLVOQANIrXypoLa5EN86FR0-Xjc1W2lFdgTuK2F2y1YFt1ItMoRk1gbkVCo0-mTmQSWZRxqzIZ9fh_6I24a82yMgWcy6HSPoMPa1nrOnEcRVHfXXqtsU06AQevsUjfF2l/s1600-h/A-+Z+flowers.jpg

I've been toying with Lil's new room (when we move this fall or next summer) and I can't get one specific theme I like, but I'm playing around with Art right now and liking lots of what I find. I even made some here at home this weekend and even R said it turned out really well. Now all we have to do is move and PAINT!!!

15. We're moving!!! This fall or next summer, depending on what orders he gets and if we stay here, how soon we find a house or admit we cannot afford one and move into a three bedroom apartment or rented house. Finally, Lil will have a room of her own and I CAN DECORATE!
16. Dark chocolate.
17. Our new ottoman. I really should post pictures, but I haven't taken any yet.
18. The print about furniture that I have on a breakfast tray on my new ottoman.
19. Lillian is holding her own bottle!
20. I have my wedding ring on!!!

Home Management Binder

I reasearched and researched online and found tons of different bloggers who described their binders. I took ideas from each one and this is the outline I came up with that works for our family. (Edited to add: UGGGHHHH Blogger won't show my tabs in the post so I've color coded the list. Orange is the Categories/Dividers. Blue are the sections within that category. Purple are things within the blue sections.

Emergency Contact Info
Calendars
Birthday & Anniversary Calendar
Monthly/Yearly to do calendar

Cleaning
Stain Removal Guide
Monthly Cleaning Chores
Contact Info
People
Places
Emergency
Emergency Contact Info
Evacuation Checklist
Safe Box
Inventory
Contents
R Wallet
Inventory
Contents
S Wallet
Inventory
Contents
R Will
S Will
L Guardianship
Financial
Bank Accounts
Stocks, IRAs
Bills
Credit Cards
Food
Meal Options List
Freezer Recipes List
Angel Food Ministries Info
Health
R Medical History
S Medical History
Doctor and Hospital Information
L Medical History
L Immunization Record
L Measurement Chart
L Medical Authorization Form
Holiday
Christmas Card List
Christmas Traditions List
Birthday Traditions List
Other Traditions List
Gift Ideas List
Wish Lists
Home
Warranty Info & Big Purchases
Tax Information
Projects to do
Favorite Internet Sites
Lillian
Babysitter Info Sheet
Age Appropriate Chores
First Year Book
Travel
Summer Packing Checklist
Winter Packing Checklist
Upcoming Travel Tickets & Reservations
Vacation Wishlist
Vehicle
Truck
License & VIN
Purchase Info
Maintenance History
Military Base Sticker Info
Pacifica
License & VIN
Purchase Info
Maintenance History
Military Base Sticker Info
Inspection Info
Insurance Info

Now that is my Table Of Contents, I'll list it again and describe what each section/page is...

Emergency Contact Info - Anything anyone would need to get any one of us to the doctor or hosptial, or direct them to our house. Directions to our house, local hospitals, doctors offices, family contact info, local friends contact info, pharmacy and insurance info.
Calendars - I opted not to do a regular calendar in the binder at this time, I might add it later, but for now, our wall calendar works just fine. Another thing some put in here is a daily to do list but I prefer my white board for that.
Birthday & Anniversary Calendar -Birthdays and Anniversaries (with years) of anyone we want to send a card or gift to arranged by month. Addresses not included.
Monthly/Yearly to do calendar - Broken up into 12 lists of monthly to dos with one list at the bottom for things in upcoming years. Lists a couple specific large cleaning jobs a month, that only need to be done once or twice a year, as well as yearly doctors appointments, dentist, optical, car maintenance, tag and registration renewal, passport expiration, etc.
Cleaning - Several people mentioned that they put a weekly chart in here, with tasks to do each day. I find that I clean when I have time, sometimes all in one day, sometimes a little each day, so I opted not to add this section.
Stain Removal Guide -Becoming more and more necessary.
Monthly Cleaning Chores - A list of cleaning chores that need to be done once a month. I printed off several and labeled what month they were for so we could mark off what had been done already in that month.
Contact Info
People - A list arranged alphabetically, by last name, of anyone we correspond with or need to have information for. Lists: names, childrens' names, addresses, house phone number, wife cell phone number, husband cell phone number. Thought about adding email addresses, but didn't take the time.
Places - Doctor's offices, insurance companies, take out restaurants, car repair places, etc, anywhere that you would have to look up on Google more than once every two months. Mostly this is just name and phone number, but some listed working hours or a specific person to talk to.
Emergency
Emergency Contact Info - Same sheet as above, in both places for easiest reference in an emergency.
Evacuation Checklist - A list of everything we need to do and take with us in the event of an evacuation. The location of everything is also listed so there is no hunting for stuff.
Safe Box
Inventory - A list of everything that is in our fire/water safe box. Also tells where it is located, where the keys are located and what number the keys are in the event we need to get them re-cut.
Contents - A color copy of everything in the safe box.
R Wallet
Inventory -A list of everything in R's wallet
Contents - A color copy of everything in R's wallet, front and back of each card.
S Wallet
Inventory
Contents
R Will
S Will
L Guardianship - Legal document of who we want to take care of Lillian in the event we are both uncapable.
Financial Some people put a budget and their checkbook register in the binder. We don't use a budget per say and my checkbook register and savings account info is all stored on the computer and changes daily so I chose not to include that.
Bank Accounts - A list of the banks we have accounts at, and whether they are joint or single, savings or checking. The balances of the accounts that do not change daily. Account numbers for all accounts. User IDs and passwords for all online accounts. Phone numbers for each bank. Numbers of any cards issued by that bank: debit or credit.
Stocks, IRAs - A list of the different accounts we have, the account type and number, and balance as of today. The name and contact information of our financial planner.
Bills A list of the bills we pay monthly with the typical amount, website (id's & passwords also), phone number, account number, etc.
Credit Cards - A list of the credit cards we have, the phone number, website (ids and passwords), credit limit, balance. Thankfully for us, the balance is ZERO!!!
Food
Meal Options List A list of any meal we've made and liked, so we have options to choose from when we don't know what's for dinner. Helpful to look ahead when you're shopping and pick 5 meals for that week to shop for too.
Freezer Recipes List A list of recipes that can be made ahead of time and frozen.
Angel Food Ministries Info - Information on a ministry that provides food. Includes menu, distribution dates, contact info, etc.
Health
R Medical History
S Medical History
Doctor and Hospital Information
L Medical History
L Immunization Record
L Measurement Chart A chart of Height, Weight, & Head circumfrence any time they measure it. Percentages are also listed.
L Medical Authorization Form - An authorization form for someone other than R or S to authorize medical care for L.
Holiday
Christmas Card List A spreadsheet of our christmas card list. With checkboxes for the next five years of if we sent a card to them and if we received a card from them. Includes addresses for easy reference.
Christmas Traditions List - A list of Christmas Traditions our family has.
Birthday Traditions List - Ditto
Other Traditions List - All other traditions our family has.
Gift Ideas List - I am always listening for people to mention things they collect, like or want. When I hear something, it goes in this list and almost always, come Christmas or Birthdays, I have a ready made shopping list.
Wish Lists - Anything each of the three of us want, small things we've been wanting, large things we want "someday", as well as places we like gift cards to.
Home
Warranty Info & Big Purchases - List of Item, Purchse date, where we purchased it from (store, city, state and salesperson if known), price of purchase, type of warranty (if available), length of warranty, who to call for warranty repair or replacement.
Tax Information For us this is a folder which has three envelopes which house receipts: 1. uniform expenses, 2. health expenses, 3. donations
Projects to do - Any projects we want to do but haven't done yet. Obviously this list will grow immensely as soon as we move into a house.
Favorite Internet Sites - Addresses, login information and passwords.
Lillian
Babysitter Info Sheet - All the information any babysitter will ever need to know (and much more I'm sure)
Age Appropriate Chores - An amazing resource I found that lists age appropriate chores from 9m to 15 years.
First Year Book - I am doing a book for Lillian of her first year week by week. The book is online with a few paragraphs and a few pictures for each week. I have all the weeks of text printed out here for double safekeeping. And if I'm away from the computer, I can add a week in and type it later.
Travel
Summer Packing Checklist - A list of the typical things our family needs to travel in the summer. Columns for: Carry on, things L needs in a suitcase, things I need in a suitcase, things r needs in a suitcase, things we collectively need in a suitcase, things other people are bringing, things we will purchase there. If R is not going, we just delete his column and everything I need is still in my column or the collective column.
Winter Packing Checklist
Upcoming Travel Tickets & Reservations - Another folder to hold information about upcoming trips (tourist info, etc), reservation info, and tickets.
Vacation Wishlist - A list of places we wish to go on vacation.
Vehicle
Truck
License & VIN License plate #, VIN #, Registration renewal date and contact information (since its in Florida)
Purchase Info - Purchase information including dealer contact info, date, price, mileage and tax information.
Maintenance History - A history of all repairs. Listed with: date, repair or maintenance, place work was done at, cost, mileage.
Military Base Sticker Info -When our stickers expire
Pacifica
License & VIN
Purchase Info
Maintenance History
Military Base Sticker Info
Inspection Info - Virginia requires yearly state inspections. Expiration info.
Insurance Info - All car insurance information.

There you have it, my brain in a book. If you have comments, please leave them. If any of this spurred thoughts of other things that could/should be included, by all means, please share.

Home Management Binder

I have read lots recently about Home Management Binders. Lots of places sell kits you can either on CD to type and print off or paper that you fill in. However, none of these kits fit my (extremely anal) personality, so I decided to take ideas from all over and make my own. This is my project for this weekend, including Thursday and Friday when I don't have Kylie. I'm planning on typing it all on the computer and then printing it off for my binder and also keeping a copy on DVD in our fire box.

I went to Target and bought a pretty 3 ring binder and dividers. I'm starting by listing categories I want to include and pages I want to include within each category. So far, my categories are:
Emergency
Grocerys, Menus, and Meals
Financial
Health
Vehicle
Travel
Holiday
Cleaning

I'm sure I will have more when I am done, but that is my starting point. I had to stop myself to even come write this entry because I'm just itching to get to it. Now if only Lil would actually take a nap, it would help tremendously.

Long weekend

R had class on Wednesday, during the day, so he was able to be home in time for Bible Study here Wednesday night, and he doesn't have to go back to work until Monday night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whoo hooo!!!!! We've been loving the time off and time together.

Thursday we did some errands and got Lilly some new toys, we also got her a sign language DVD that's supposed to miraculously teach her sign language....we'll see. We also purchased a new "coffee table" its actually a Leather Storage Ottoman. Its still rectangle but the corners are covered with padding and leather. Should be much better for a meeting with Lillian's forehead.

Yesterday Richard helped a friend move a hot tub in the morning and I stayed back with Lillian because she hadn't slept at all the night before and was cranky and I wasn't feeling the best. It cleared up a little by the afternoon and we had dinner with Brandon and Lindsey (and amazing food) and then tried to see the fireworks. However, they cancelled them because of weather. And then it took us an hour and a half to get the 6 miles home. NICE.

This morning we had a pleasant surprise in that, Lillian slept 12 hours straight last night, not waking up once, which has become a problem lately. Lindsey gave us a different kind of mummy blanket last night that we tried so I don't know if that was it or if it was just a qwinky-dinky. Only future nights will tell I guess. Anywho, whatever the reason, we were thrilled to get a full nights' sleep!!

Today and tomorrow bring........NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Isn't it glorious????????

Back from Michigan

After a long and horrible flight from Detroit to Norfolk on Friday, we are safely back home. It was so good to get home to see Richard again and try to get back into a routine. Lil was a little devil Saturday but a little better on Sunday so hopefully it will go up from here. Its great to have Kylie over again, she's changed so much just in two weeks, as Lillian has too.

Michigan was good. The wedding went off without a hitch and was beautiful. We spent some time with R's family and even went up to see his sister Kim and her new house. We went to a "homemade" zoo which was quite an experience. With my parents we went swimming, visited with friends and family and did some shopping, Ikea even. Kristen and I made great plans for our time together at Christmas time.

Lillian got tons of new clothes, of course. She even has two outfits for Fourth of July (knowing how she goes through clothes).

Saturday brought tons of grocery shopping. Our receipt was almost two feet long!! Then we came home, put everything away, divided up and put away the meats and cheeses, and made several meals for the freezer.

Sunday after church, Lillian and I took a nap then we unpacked, folded four loads of laundry, and cleaned the house. Exciting stuff.

This week is supposed to be a really short working week for R, that will be nice if it works out.

We're (Lillian and Stacey) in Michigan until Friday the 29th. And we're crazy busy: Brian's wedding, seeing my family, hanging out with Richard's family, seeing old friends (well friends from before, but they're not OLD). Anywho, we're going to be busy and I'm not gonna update until I get back home probably. And then probably not over that weekend, because we'll be bonding with Daddy again. Maybe Monday.

Saturday and Father's Day

Saturday

Richard had to go into work for a little while in the morning, but got home around 11. Which was perfect, because I left then to get my hair done. We played some games together and cleaned a bit before leaving for the Tides game. We got tickets from Lindsey because she got four free tickets at work. We had a good time, even though the Tides royally suck. We got nachos and pretzels. We had to watch the game closely though because we were in the foul section. A couple balls came our way, which had us diving over the babies to cover them. The only one that came close to us though was one that a little boy caught in his popcorn bucket. It was supposed to be a fireworks night but because of a little wind and the fact that there are two wildfires nearby, the fire marshall said no go. The smoke was really bad all day all over town because of the fires, it smelled like campfire, even in the car and house. When we got home and were putting Lil to bed, while she was on the changing table she was in such a good mood, and I was tickling her tummy and laughing and she laughed! I screamed for Richard and he came in and we even got it on video once. The video is great and we posted it here - pardon our stupid antics trying to get her to laugh again.

Sunday - Richard's First Father's Day

We went to church and then went to Joe's Crab Shack for lunch. R has been wanting to go there for a while, but I've put it off since I don't like seafood. But we had a good time. Then we returned some pants to Old Navy and stopped back home to pick up the stroller we forgot. Then we went north, over the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel (with fairly little backup even) and went into Hampton to the Virgina Air and Space Center. They have a Jellybelly exhibit R saw on TV and wanted to go to. The Jellybelly exhibit was large but kind of lacking. But the Air and Space Center itself was really great. 10-15 full size planes and tons of interactive displays and videos. Well worth our time. And money, since it was only $9 to get in and we had a buy one get one free coupon. We got Dairy Queen Blizzards on the way home and they were YUMMY. Now I'm trying to pack for Tuesday because tomorrow we're going to the zoo.

Laughing Lillian

ABCs 123s

Air and Space Museum - Where we're going for R's Father's Day present. ITS A SECRET - DON'T TELL!! Yes,its an odd gift, but he will love it, I guarantee it.
Bumbo- I COULD NOT live without it.
Craptacular - Upon closer inspection, that is the kind of job they did on our shower. But oh well, it'll last a year prolly and that's all we'll need it for.
Drool - Lilly is a super soaker.
Efficient - We were this and more this week.
Fireworks - They were awesome last Saturday.
Gaming - R is trying to teach me how to nerd it up. Not that I wanna learn mind you, but that doesn't seem to matter.
Homemade Sweet Tea - Our first time making it.
Insufficient - As in our funds.
Jello Pudding - Mmmm, cheesecake flavor.
Kylie - She's so much fun.
Lillian - She is perfecting her devil cry to show all the family next week.
Marriage - I'm coming to MI next week for Brian's wedding.
Nipples - Get your mind out of the gutter!! Lillian just graduated to size 3!
Organizing - We cleaned every closet we own!
Pool - My new favorite thing, especially the kiddie one.
Quick - Lillian is quick to scream.
Richard - He gets off work early tonight!!!!!!
Sloppy Joes - It's what's for dinner.
Tides - The baseball game we're going to tomorrow night.
Underestimate - We underestimated the time it would take to organize the closets.
Vista - As in Windows Vista. I HATE IT.
Worried - That Lillian will banshee scream all the way to Michigan.
X-ray - Gpa Harris had to get one after he dived off of a ladder.
Yolk - I give R the yolk's of all my hard boiled eggs. (We had them today).
Zoo- I'm hoping to go on Monday with the moms and babies from Sunday School.

1 We got Moe's last night and had a buy one get one free coupon!
2 Tea bags in the jug.
3 Hours it took to clean the downstairs storage room.
4 New tubs I bought at Wal-Mart.
5 Hours Lillian was with Brandon and Lindsey!!! (THANK YOU)
6 Bowls of cheesecake pudding, I just made.
7 How many gas stations I tried before I found one that wasn't out of gas.
8 How many diapers we use a day.
9 Hairs on Lilly's head...kidding. Kind of.
10 How many burp cloths we go through a day.

WHEE HE HEEEEEEEEEEE

We finally took everything out of almost every closet we own and started from scratch and cleaned, tossed, gave, and reorganized. You can see what a big accomplishment it was if you look at the before pics here.