End of October update continued...

So back to the updates :) I am sure if you are reading this, you understand how the time goes when you are living with a toddler. There are no other events that can really go on productively when you have a toddler on the loose. Not that I will ever complain about my responsibilities of being a parent, but it has to be understood that it is very hard to get anything else done around the house when they are in "that" stage of their development. Sometimes it makes me feel like a failure of my other life "duties". Most days I feel like I am the failing at wife duties, household duties, and work duties. The only thing that I usually want to do is devote every ounce of attention to her and that means that cooking, cleaning, and many other things are thrown to the side. Well when they can. Sydney has to eat too so the cooking thing comes through. I find myself getting very tense though and I probably should find some type of creative outlet that is affordable to do but will let me keep my hands busy during the little bit of downtime that I have. Probably wouldn't hurt. I totally wasn't planning on going in that direction during this update, but since my last update thats what has transpired (in about 4 hours time) so I felt the need to vent. That is what a blog is about right?

So rumor has it that most, if not all, young families struggle with finances. I really hope that this is true. Not that I will whine about specific things here and there but we pinch pennies sometimes and I would really hope that this is fairly normal. One thing that I actually have found a little bit of an outlet in is the ability to find a deal at any point in time. I LOVE finding a steal. Coupons or yard sales....love them both. Last Saturday we went out and about looking for yard sales. We had the paper so we definitely branched out and found some and let me tell you---I was so excited. I spent $15 that day and this is all that I got:

I just have to say it...saying that I spent $15 and even just seeing 2 books in the picture is pretty lucky, am I right? Books are so expensive! and Sydney LOVES them. I LOVE that she LOVES books (I was a killer nerd for some books as a kid), but this can be an expensive thing to keep up with. Luckily, you can really find the deals and that way Sydney doesn't have to miss out on a single thing because Mommy is really tight with our finances.

Anyways, on to lighter notes :) If you know my husband...you know that he is very 'specific' about the foods that he eats. Ever since we first met I have been trying to get him to try Pierce's BBQ in Williamsburg, VA. They have the BEST BBQ I have ever had in my life. Well, Cory is from Texas so he begs to differ on that fact. And he also says that he eats BBQ in Texas but I have NEVER seen him eat it ever---in the entire time that I have known him. Long story short, I got him to try it finally. And he loved every minute of it. And I loved every minute of the experience as well. As weird as it is to say, it was some of the best comic relief that we have had in a really long time. This is his first bite...look at how scared he was!!! But he loved it so that is the only part that matters.

So as it is the end of October we are now in full swing getting ready for our Thanksgiving trip to Dallas. Last year we went for Christmas and this year we are going for Turkey Day. It is really important that we get down there to see Cory's family. We miss them so much during the year and wish that we could go down there a LOT more. But with finances and everything that goes into it, it gets tough. But we are very very very excited for this trip. We are going for one of the longest trips we have been on yet so its going to be some good quality time. I am still waiting for some of the time off of work, but I am thinking that with the way things are going that I should not have much difficulty. But we are planning on catching some great sports events while we are there if everything works out. First up would be the Thanksgiving day Cowboys game between the 'Boys and the Lions. That is like monumental right!? We are hoping so. We are also going to check out a Dallas Stars game on Black Friday. Very exciting. But overall, its going to be a very exciting November. Cory is going to a Carolina Hurricane game with the "guys" on the 12th and then all of the Thanksgiving month activities. So it should be a good month! Hope it is for all of you as well!

End of October already?!?!

I am in absolute shock that tomorrow is the last day of October. With that being said, it seems like a good time to update the blog because I have (once again) been slacking on my postings...

I don't even know where to start here! I guess the first thing to mention is that I have been in my new rotational position at work for about a month now and I am LOVING it so far. No one situation is alike so you are always learning something different or new. This has kept things exciting and I have definitely been on my toes for the last few weeks. It is also an extremely long training process, with no set time line, so my type A personality is really have to adjust to the way that things are in there. But it's great. I cannot complain one bit. Friday was our Fall Fest at work and to say that we get into the costume part of the day is an under-statement. Here is the proof:

Sydney has been a full two hands full lately, but in the most amazing way possible. She is too funny. She is learning so much that it is hard to keep up. She tries to pronounce things like hockey, thank you (which she signs very well now), please, milk, papa, down, up, trick or treat (for Halloween of course), and the numbers 1-10. When it comes to counting and the numbers she will repeat what you say so I am not sure that there is any true understand or comprehension but maybe a little bit. Or at least we are getting there, so I think that for 16 months she is doing pretty well. She is turning into such the little nurturer and she is always trying to take care of Elmo, Tad her Leapfrog, or her Baby. She changes their diapers and tries to feed them. She also puts them in their pajamas and puts them night-night.

She is also becoming such a little ham! She understands the concept of the camera and that she is supposed to do something sweet or funny for the camera:

She is also constantly doing the funniest things, like the modern day version of "mouse"kercise:

And then of course there is her helping Mommy clean the house. I am hoping to help this continue as long as she would like:

So we are absolutely loving our little angel. I will have to update more later :) The little princess just decided that she isnt going down for her second nap and that means Mommy isn't allowed to touch anything else but her! Isn't that what that means?!?!?

ABC's of Me!

So I am borrowing this post from a friend of mine that I went to high school with and see from time to time because our families have season tickets right near each other for the Admirals games. I think that she is a great girl and I am so excited that she is doing so well. Her and her husband are expecting their first little miracle on Feb 1, 2012 and that is extremely exciting. I get excited for ANYONE that I know that is getting ready to head into this amazing journey called motherhood. It is always a learning process, but it is the most exciting learning process! Anyways...you can check out her blog HERE. It is much more interesting than mine...I can promise you that. But here is my post for the day :)

ABC's of ME!

A. Age: 25 and I know that is not old, but I feel like that should say 30 with everything we have been through! Although, I will admit that most of it is self inflicted.

B. Bed size: Queen--We have slept in a full though for a time period when we were living with my mom. Until I was about 5 months pregnant, Couldn't have ended at a better time!
C. Chore that you hate: I think that EVERY woman would say Folding Laundry! But its followed closely behind by cleaning bathrooms, doing dishes, washing bottles, must I go on?
D. Dogs: Not ours specifically but right now we are living with my Dad and his long-time girlfriend so we have 2 dogs right now. 2 jack russells Izzy and Henry. They are only here when Christy is here and not in Florida at their second house. We miss them a bunch when they are gone and they are Sydney's little buddies when they want to be ;)
E. Essential start to your day: Running to the shower to get my shower in QUICK! I am not known for my punctuality and having to get a toddler ready too only compounds that problem.

F. Favorite color: This shouldnt be such a hard question but I really have many. My favorite combinations are pink and brown or brown and turquoise. They just go so well together.

G. Gold or Silver: Silver, all day long!
H. Height: 5'8" ... I still wish I was shorter...
I. Instruments you play: I was never one for instruments, but I did chorus and show choir for the most part in school (quit in 11th grade---stupidest choice I ever made)
J. Job title: I guess my title is Sr. Client Service Representative and tomorrow starts Customer Service Appreciation Week!! Thank all of the customer service reps you speak with this week if they provide you with great service! You may be a pleasure to speak with, but not everyone is like you so you can make someone's day by just thanking them and being patient with us too!

K. Kids: 15 month old Sydney Ann, and maybe another one in a few years, but we want to be able to put full attention to Sydney through all the years that she needs us the most! Plus they are expensive!

L. Live: Virginia Beach, VA
M. Mother’s name: Melinda, but if you call her that she will choke you...so call her Mindy
N. Nicknames: Em (real creative, I know)
O. Overnight hospital stays: Maybe when I was 6 and had tubes in my ears? Also, when Sydney was born we had a 2 night stay after my C-section. But I should have stayed longer, I was so anxious to get home and should have used the hospital time to my advantage to get more comfortable.
P. Pet peeves: People who don't say words right or say them "weird": Examples, INTformation, FUStrated, Biness (for business), benefisheraries
Q. Quote from a movie: I don't really remember them

R. Right or left handed: Right
S. Siblings: Oh brother, 2 half brothers: Billy (15) and Brett (29). 2 step sisters: Kara (27) and Megan (26). 3 brother in laws: Colton, Chad, and Philip and 2 sisters in law: Leslie and Lisa
T. Time you wake up: I should wake up at 6, but historically I wake up (late) at 6:45. Sydney also wakes up at 6:45 on the weekend.

U. Underwear: no comment...my parents read this blog!

V. Vegetable you hate: green peppers...they give me SUCH bad heartburn!
W. What makes you run late: Life...we have had this conversation already.

X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth, wrist, back, chest, should have had my nose because it was definitely broken. Now with an MRI I have the proof (its still crooked).
Y. Yummy food that you make: I am not very good at cooking. But my husband loves my pizzas.
Z. Zoo animal: Ummmm..... I think the Tigers are pretty. :)

Sydney's 15 month check up!

So my little angel had her 15 month check up today! We had a perfect appointment with the doctor. She weighs 24 lbs 14 oz and stands at a whopping 30 3/4 inches. We got a brand new book that has lots of bunnies and kittens and puppies in it. The doctor seemed to be impressed at the wide range of vocabulary she is working on so we are happy about that. He also eased my fears about the eating issues that I have thought we were having. He reassured me that she is eating just fine and she has the magical ability that most of us adults battle with...she eats until she is full and that is it. And he said technically she is 50% percentile for height and 75% for weight and they should actually be even. So she is a tad bit more than she should weigh if I am concerned about it, BUT its not something that you worry about right now. So all my fears are brushed to the side. We were very happy with our healthy report from the Doc!

Happy Tuesday!

All About Sydney...

Lets be honest with ourselves...everything is all about Sydney in some way, shape, or form. But now this blog is really all about Sydney. I am just amazed everyday at how much love she brings into my heart. You almost can't even stand it, ha ha.

Our little smarty pants is learning so much these days. It has made me sooooooo happy and reassured that we moved her from our in-home daycare to Great Bridge Kids Academy. I love that we had that experience though and we do feel that the nurturing that she got there was amazing for her development. Babies need something different at every age and she needed the in-home care. I would not change for a second the way that we did things. We were a bit concerned after we experienced a repeated biting offender in our first few weeks at GBKA. But after the third bite, the child was expelled from the center. Expelled from daycare at the age of 1?! I know...horrifying. I will not say anything about the little boy or his family because I have no idea the situation so I cannot comment on a single thing. We have all moved past.

The important and exciting thing is that our little bug is blossoming into a full fledged toddler. We are in FULL walking mode. Some attempts at running and MANY attempts at climbing. We are even successfully climbing sometimes. Our favorite toys are books.... I remember there was a time when I was so frustrated that Sydney would not even remotely sit still to read a book. Now she is constantly playing with them and saying "boo! boo!" which is her form of "book" right now. We are having fun with lots of different words right now. "boo" (book), "bye" (which is accompanied by a wave and a shake of the baby gate after dragging her Little Gym bag to it), "daw" (dog), "ma-ma", "da-da", "caaaaaa" (cat). She will try more words as well so we are also working on "lellow" (yellow) and "pur-pa" (purple) and many other words that I can't think of right now. We are also signing "more" "gym" (for little gym) "all done" and now "eat". She learned "eat" from one of the wonderful teachers at GBKA. Sydney started to do the sign for it yesterday at the house and we were trying to figure out what she meant by it. Then today we were talking about it and the teacher said well I said it to her a few times last week and there it was...she just learns so quick! It is amazing. We work on animal sounds too so Sydney barks, roars, hoos (like an owl), moos, and even quacks!

I have mentioned Little Gym a couple of times up there and if you haven't heard of it you are MISSING OUT! It is amazing. They start parent and child classes at 4 months and we have been going since Sydney was 10 months. They work on a lot of the benchmark development classes and it is a ton of fun. They get to play on a bunch of gymnastics equipment and it helps with all of their development. Once the children are older they have dance, gymnastics, karate, and sports classes. I am sure that, if we are still in the area, we will take advantage of them for the beginning of Sydney's extracurriculars. If we are out of this area, we will try to find a Little Gym in our new area or we will find something just like it. They also have the smallest and cutest little leotards...aren't they cute? ha ha

Oh and the eating habits of a toddler...drive me crazy. I have read that the more active the toddler, the less calories they will take in. Although it doesn't make any sense to me, it would prove to be right if my daughter is "normal". She just has such sporadic eating habits. Last night she ate the chicken that I made for dinner. I was AMAZED. Tonight, she didn't want anything to do with it. There was a time period where she would eat green beans with no problem. Now she wont touch them. But I offer them every night. But I waste a lot of food due to the indecisive nature of my sunshine. It will work itself out though, I just have to have patience and keep offering the good stuff. She will eat when she is hungry. Hopefully I can get her to be hungry for the healthy :)

And I leave you tonight with her "no more pictures mommy" pose. It was rainy this day and she was not in a really great mood...can you tell??? Have a great week!!



Weight Loss Struggles...

I don't know how many people relate to me when I say... Man oh Man is losing weight and staying motivated a tough act to keep up.

Eating healthy is not so hard for me. I feel that I have this one pretty well controlled. But my issue is the snacky feeling. This should hopefully be helped when I move into my new position. I tend to get snacky when things are...for a lack of a better word...boring. The middle of the weekday snacking is a killer.

Working out is the hardest thing to get motivated to do. My bestie Bridget and I have recently started to use our groupon for Jim White Fitness that we are cashing in for mostly Zumba classes. They are SO MUCH fun. This love for Zumba actually has me considering a membership to a local gym. Figure with the price that I would pay for just classes, I can just get a membership and have more than enough benefits and access. But working out is sooooooo hard to get into for me. Especially right now when the mere thought about how I look working out repulses me. Isn't that a double edged sword? I am disgusted by what I have allowed myself to look like. When I was a teenager, I kid you not, I thought I was HUGE. If that teenager could look forward to this 25 year old...she would cherish and maintain the look she had then. And I do WANT with everything I have to be athletic again. Who doesn't? But I finally get the struggle. It's EMBARRASSING. Who wants to be the fat girl in a fitness class? But at the same time...you cannot get from point A to point B. And its amazingly humbling. So everyday is a step in the journey. Every day a choice has to be made. I will admit that the choices are insanely difficult. Especially because the second 8PM hits and Sydney goes to bed...this mommy is beat!

Does anyone else find that the more someone tries to help you with something that you are challenged with, the more frustrated with it that you get? I have learned that I have to be patient and not be offended when people are only trying to help me. Those of us who are independent hate that we might need help or that someone may think that they need to help us. I may need to accept help every now and then but its hard. Plus I feel that with something like this, you need to take care of yourself because no one else can actually take care of you. So I am working, and its an everyday process.

P.S. I should say a special Happy Anniversary today to my wonderful Hubby of 2 years. It has not been an easy road and we are still working every day at our "system" but I love you even more everyday. Even though you don't like taking pictures with me anymore ;)

So Many Updates...So Little Time

Hope this post finds you all happy, healthy, and ready for fall. I know I sure am! Where is fall? It was here for a few days and then disappeared. And what we have been left with is this horrible humidity and rain. It is miserable! And would you believe that they say the wildfire in the Dismal Swamp is still burning after all of the rain that we have had? I don't believe them. But I digress.

Anyone up for a random Sydney picture? She looks like such a big girl in this picture:

I don't even know where to start here, so much has happened in the last month or so since my last post. Cory started school at St Leo. "Just Cory?" you may ask. Yes, just Cory. We (I) made the tough decision to postpone my graduate school. I was a lot more upset about it than I let on, but there were quite a few factors leading up to it but the biggest factor was money. Isn't it always? I was insanely worried about the time factor. I have so much respect for women who juggle multiple children and still have time to fit in school. I have a hard time finding the energy for my 40 hour workweek and the one beautiful daughter that I have. Anything that does not have to do with her already has to wait until 8. But the biggest factor being the money was where the decision truly lied. I know that when I go back to school, it will be well worth the effort and the cost. However, at this time, it is impossible for us to pay for my school without putting ourselves in debt. I should say more debt. We are working so hard these days to set ourselves up for the future. I cannot put ourselves in jeopardy of our final goals to rush into this. But my day will come. And when it does I will know that I am going into it at the right time.

Another random Sydney picture from today. We are having a problem with dinner time that I will touch on later so we got this to hopefully alleviate some of the problems:

Speaking of work though, I do have an exciting announcement related to work. I applied for and was chosen for a 2 year rotation in a different area of the department that I work in. Basically I will be doing my regular job 2 days of the week and the other 3 days I will be doing a whole host of different job tasks that I have not been exposed to before. SO EXCITING. For those of you who do not know too much about my work. I am a Shareholder Account Representative for a mutual fund company. One of the best mutual fund companies in the world, I should add. But there has been a ton of reorganization and changes in my company since 2008 when I joined the company. The company completely changed its outlook. The outlook on development has been transformed 180 degrees. What that means is that for someone like me who came in in the 11th hour before all you know what broke loose, the "extra" opportunities are very rare and therefore very selective. Don't get me wrong, I love my job. I feel blessed every single day to wake up and know that I am going to a steady and dependable job. But this opportunity is an amazing chance for me to jump in, head first to something completely different. It is more than exciting for me so I will take every blessing that I can get. Not to mention the excitement that I am feeling about getting to explore a new challenge. Can you tell I am excited? So I do agree that when one door closes (for a moment), another one opens. Whoooo hoooooo!!!