The Life Of A New Mommy!

4th of July pics

2009-07-11T11:20:00.002-05:00

She looks like she is sick from eating so much watermelon! This is my niece...

And my crazy nephew!

This is me wakeboarding...it was so much fun! I can't wait to go again!

Marlee, the cousins, and me! (this is why I need to wear makeup!)

Mike, Marlee and myself. I didn't realize just how old I looked til I saw these pictures! :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Done...

2009-07-10T21:49:00.002-05:00

I am done traveling for long periods of time for the summer. I am going to be getting certified to have a home daycare in the coming weeks. Therefore I have to stay home. I have to get my bathroom finished. I peeled all the old wall paper off today. (If you ahve to do this, take water and fabric softener and mix then spray it onto your wall, then scrape). It came off so easily. I will be so happy when I get it completely finished!

I had a fantastic week at home again. Mike had the week off so we went camping, and then spent some time with my mom and her honey. I learned how to play spades...and got to spend some time with my mom so that was nice! We also went to a rodeo last night, and Gav and Brooklyn did the calf scramble...

*calf scramble is where all the kids get into the arena, and run after 2 calves that have ribbons on them. They chase them until all the ribbons are off, and who ever gets the ribbons gets a prize. It is very fun for the little ones!

I am also done having Marlee sleep in our room. Mike got the crib up today, so tomorrow night will be her first night in her crib. She would sleep in it tonight but I need to get the bedding washed. It is bittersweet.

It will be nice to get back onto a schedule with her, and to have her be non-sleep deprived.

I will be catching up on blogs this weekend, and I will be posting very frequently again! Have a fabulous weekend!

4th of July

2009-07-06T20:26:00.002-05:00

We had the best 4th this year. We went camping, which is turning out to be one of Marlee's favorite things (or at least I like to think so!). She got to put her feet in the sand for the first time over the weekend which she enjoyed, and I put her feet in the cold cold cold water, which she didn't seem to mind either. The lake is a run off lake, so most of the new water comes from the melting snow. It was cold! But Toni (my sister) and I both got in. We both did a little wake boarding and I only wish I could wakeboard every day for 30 minutes...talk about a total body workout!

We went to town for the fireworks, and we were right under them. Marlee didn't get watch them this year, since she was sleeping peacefully in the truck.

Now i get to spend a few more days with my family before we head home.

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th! I will be posting pics later in the week when I get home to put them on my computer.

Aloha Friday

2009-07-03T10:52:00.002-05:00

This is probably a wierd question...but I don't want to do anything about the 4th of July just cause. :)

Marlee is 5 months old now, and she has been having her two bottom teeth float up and down for a while now. But for the past two days she has been very sad and her nose has been running a little. I am not sure if it is teething or if it is a cold, since I am new at this mom thing. I have felt a bump on her gums, but I have also had that bump go away a few times.

SO my question is:

What was your tried and true thing to do during the teething years?

I am trying not to give her much medicine. Not that I am totally against it, but if there is some other thing I can do that is easy, cheap and non medicated, I am all up for the advice!

For more Aloha Fridays go to An Island Life. And leave a quick response here, then ask a quick question on your blog and go link up to join the fun! Also don't forget to visit other people's blogs to make new friends!

On top of the world!

2009-06-30T13:52:00.003-05:00

These are the pictures from our hike. I am bummed I didn't get more, but the mosqitoes were about to pick us up and carry us off. We didn't even get to rest once we got up there. It was kind of a bummer! But it is so pretty up there and it only took us about 45 minutes to get there hiking with 3 kids.

The tallest mountains are kinda washed out. They all have snow on them. We also ran into snow on our hike. It was kinda cool. The kids were so excited!

Some little bits from the kids while I was away...

2009-06-30T09:50:00.002-05:00

Ry (who is an almost 7 year old girl)
Gav (5 year old boy)
Zack (4 year old boy)
Brooklynn (2 1/2 girl)
Marlee (5 months)

This is while they were sitting at the table eating pizza and we were in the living room listening to their conversation :)
Somehow they started talking about marriage:
Gav: I'm going to marry my aunt Brandi.
Ry: You can't marry her, she'll be a Grandma by then!
Gav: No she won't, she's my aunt Brandi!

Then the next day:
Gav: I can't wait til I am a daddy. They are the most awesome! And Daddy's are the bosses!
Mike (my hubby): Actually mommy's are the bosses.
Gav: Well, Daddy's are the bosses sometimes!

He also informed me that soon Marlee was going to be a mommy. I told him that she has a lot of years before that happens! :)

5 month pictures

2009-06-30T09:21:00.003-05:00

Marlee is 5 months 4 days old in these pictures. I have some more I will post when blogger will stop telling me that it's not working! :) I love her little sundress!

Marlee is now:

starting to be able to sit up...she obviously fell over in some of these pictures.
grabbing things
teething
scooting backwards, and she can move in a 360 on her belly
still very close to rolling over, but not quite (her arm is so in the way!)
laughing a lot
smiling all the time
learned how to screech in a very loud, girly way!

I am sure she is doing other things, but I just cant think of them right now. Have a fabulous day!

I'm back!

2009-06-29T23:08:00.002-05:00

It was a fabulous week away! It was sorta nice not being on the computer all the time. I love visiting your blogs, and reading all about your lives, but it was kinda nice to feel like I was actually living mine! Sometimes being at home with a 5 month old is tough. I love it, don't get me wrong, but she still sleeps alot (no complaining here!!!) and so we are in the house or at the house alot. Also a lot of my friends work so sometimes I get a little lonley!

Anyhow, onto the rest of my trip! After Wednesday the rest of the trip went like this:

Wed. we went to the lake and had a picnic. It was fun, but the water is still freezing so we didn't go swimming, especially since it was only low 70's.
Then we went to my moms, to have a fantastic steak dinner!
Thursday, we went for a hike up to the "top of the world" as my niece would say! (photos to come tomorrow, when I actually want to be up for them to load!)
Then we went to my mom's and saddled up a horse and took all the kids for a little mini ride around the field. It was fun for them!
Friday we hung out at home. It rained. I took the boys to the swimming pool while the girls took naps and the oldest niece was sick. :(
Toni, Carrie and I went out Friday night and danced our tooshies off. It was fun. But am reminded why I don't really drink any more! The party girl should stay hidden away unless Mike is there. Let me just say I don't like it when guys play the grabby game and I get a little not nice...when Mike is there, I obviously don't have guys trying to grab me!
Saturday, Mike and JR went golfing, and the girls and kids took naps. It is a lot to have 5 kids in a house with 5 adults! I know some of you have 5 kids at home and after last week I really don't know how you do it!
We took the kids back to the pool since everyone was feeling good Saturday, and we all took turns going down the big slide!
Sunday it was time for everyone to go back home. It was kinda a bummer!
Today, Carrie (my sister from Wisconsin) called to see if I missed her yet. She said it was wierd not having Toni make us breakfast, and not having all the noise! I totally agree!

I hope you all have had a fabulous week! I will post pictures tomorrow, I already have them on my computer, I just dont want to wait for them to upload on here tonight. I am going to go crawl in bed with my hubby to try to catch up on some sleep!

Just a little update on our trip!

2009-06-25T08:03:00.002-05:00

So far we have:

went hiking around a lake
played in the pool/sprinkler
jumped on the tramp
talked and talked
had one of my sisters kick our asses in working out (she's a health nut and we are not!)
started running again
had a day at the beach at a different lake
had a BBQ
spent time with my mom

What is still on our list:

hiking to see some huge mountains today
cleaning up this crazy house
having Mike and my sisters husband watch 5 kids while my two sisters and I go out on Friday night
This will be the first time I have really went out since before I had Marlee, I am a little nurvous cause I am not really a big drinker any more (well not at all really since i breast feed, and how obnoxious is it to have to pump just to have a beer!)
But this is our tradition when we all get together,we have one big hurrah on night of our trip together, and the boys always watch the kids.
I am nervous for Saturday morning! It's a good thing that Mike will be here to help with Marlee!

And no, I am not a lush, and I hardly ever drink, but that will mean that 2 might be enough for me to be feeling good! LOL

Then it's going home on Sunday, I can't believe this week is already almost over!

Have a fabulous rest of your week!

Just wanted to leave you with something...

2009-06-18T16:03:00.003-05:00

I will be gone for the next week. I will try to post, but my sister is coming all the way from Wisconsin to visit on Sunday. So I am going home (where I grew up) tonight. I am so excited! I haven't seen my oldest sister for 2 years. And I always love going home to see my other sister and her kids. They love Marlee so much! And this is the first time that my other niece and nephew as well as my sister get to meet her. It should be fun!

So here are some pictures that will hopefully last a few days...I will try to do Aloha Friday tomorrow, but sometimes being around all the kids and my sis it gets crazy and I don't even think about blogging...

Yesterday on our walk, we were on the bike path and we got to see some miniature horses, goats and some geese that were all pinned up. The horses were very friendly! And oh so cute! I didn't have my camera or I would have taken pictures of them!

See you next week sometime!

I was tagged...

2009-06-18T15:33:00.003-05:00

My friend Kbreints at a little crazy and a lot of love (I am not sure why it put in her address instead of doing the link...but I don't have time to fix it!) http://alittlecrazyalotoflove.blogspot.com/ tagged me for this one. You have to open your first photo folder, go down to the 10th picture and post it...lets see what we come up with!

This isn't the 10th it's the 8th but that is how many pics I had in that folder. Oh man if my hubby sees this he isn't going to be impressed! I was taking pictures of his horns...do you see them? And if I didn't know him better I would think he was stoned, but he is not...I promise!

Now I have to tag 5 people...so here goes...

And you if you want to join in! Hope you love the picture of my hubby...I think it is so funny...although again please don't tell him I put this picture of him on here! He won't be as thrilled as I am! ;)

Wordless Wednesday

2009-06-17T09:35:00.003-05:00

Quilting...I just need to put the border on this quilt and the top will be finished. My mom is coming today so hopefully she can help me, because one corner is off...one out of the whole thing which is pretty amazing to me since this is my first (almost) finished quilt top!

In the above picture on the far left is my table...but that is where the other set of horses is going to go (about 6 inches)

I hope you have a fantastic Wordless Wednesday!

I won!

2009-06-16T21:09:00.005-05:00

I won an award today! Mummyof5monsters gave me this award!

I am very excited! The rules are:

Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

15 will be hard but here goes nothing! ;)

kbreints @ A little Crazy and Lot of Love
Karen @ Junebug
Kim @ http://lifeofamodernmom.blogspot.com/
Anissa @ Our Chaotic Life
Swoozie @ Mommy Kingdom
Becca @ Becca's Backyard
Stef @ http://alittlepieceofperfect.blogspot.com/
Messy Mommy
Brandie @ Come Via Our House
Miranda @ Sippycups and Fingerprints
Cassie @ Southern Domestic Goddess
Ali @ http://www.alithelazydog.com/

Okay I think I am done...I would love to post more, but I'm just done! I hope you guys like the list and go visit the other bloggers! Have a fabulous day!

An eventful weekend...

2009-06-14T13:03:00.002-05:00

Or not.

We hung out around our house all weekend, with the exception of going out to eat for Mike's grandmas birthday.

We also tore out our toilet, and the floor in our guest bathroom. We are going to refinish the bathtub, and then tile the surroundings of the tub, and the floor. I am hoping its going to look very updated, and fabulous when we are done! :)

We have to leave our house for a week after we refinish our tub because of the fumes, so while my sister is visiting from Wisconsin Mike is going to be here painting the tub with this stuff. My sister and her kids are going to my hometown to my other sisters house, so Marlee and I will be there for the week starting on Friday. I am very excited cause I haven't seen my oldest sister for 2 years. AND I GET MY BATH TUB FINISHED WHILE I AM GONE!

It couldn't be better! When I get back I may have to help tile, but I am kinda looking forward to learning how to tile so that part won't be bad! And now that we ripped out the toilet in the bathroom I think it is even more motivation for Mike to finish this project! :)

What did you do over the weekend? I hope it was a fun filled one!

Aloha Friday...

2009-06-12T09:08:00.003-05:00

My daughter has recently started sucking her thumb. Not all the time, but especially when she is sleepy. I asked the doctor about this because for a while she wouldn't take a passifier at all...

The doctor said that it is hereditary...if you are a thumb sucker, finger sucker, pacifier taker, or if you do some other type of thing to sooth yourself. So my question is:

Were you a thumb sucker or a paci taker or did you do something else when you were little?
And (If you have kids) do they take on your childhood trait?

We are still trying to figure out where Marlee got the thumb sucking cause I didn't suck my thumb, and apparently Mike didn't either.

Have a fabulous Friday! Oh and to play along go to an Island Life and answer her question, answer my question then post and link up your own question!

Rain...

2009-06-11T12:44:00.003-05:00

While I love the rain...I am ready for sunshine! The best part so far about having it rain everyday for a couple of weeks now is that we haven't had to water our lawn, and it is a very beautiful green!

Last year we didn't really have a lawn... although we had tried, it just didn't come back very well last year. But let me tell you with some more grass seed, and a lot of manuar and now the rain it has came back very nicely! When we bought our house 2 summers ago, the people who had it before us didn't take care of it...at all. They had let their dogs pee and poop all over the floors, so we had to put all new flooring down before we could move in.

So for now, I say Rain Rain Go Away! Come again another day!

Getting ready for Caiden's Party!

2009-06-11T09:57:00.003-05:00

We were getting ready to go to meet our new friend Caden at his party. He is just a couple months younger than Marlee.

Doesn't she look so pretty in her little dress! It was chilly that day so I put her in a long sleeve dress instead of her short sleeved dresses I got her.

It feels good to have some pictures up on here of Marlee and myself that I actually look good...ya know with makeup on and my own clothes instead of one of Mike's old T-shirts!

Have a fabulous Thursday!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-06-10T10:42:00.001-05:00

Marlee practicing sitting with her boppy pillow...

For more Wordless Wednesdays go to 5 minutes for mom.

I have to show you...!!!!

2009-06-09T17:27:00.003-05:00

I thought I was posting these the oposite order...so they are backwards...but I finally figured out how to use my macro on my camera!!!

This is the finished block...the grey has sparkles in it.

This is the part that I am working on now...getting all of these 1/2 pieces into the finished square...

And this is what I had started out with...just one little tiny square!

And this is my precious little thumb sucker. This is what Marlee was doing while I was sewing!!! Have a fantastic day!

Finally...

2009-06-09T17:07:00.003-05:00

Here are the pictures of Marlee on her 4 month birthday. I always manage to get her when she is in her pj's cause I never remember til it's almost time for her to go to bed! :)

Tackle It Tuesday...

2009-06-09T12:17:00.003-05:00

Today I am going to put all of the pics that I recently had printed into frames, and or a photo album. Marlee is 4 and a 1/2 months old and I just last week got pictures of her off my computer and into my hands! I have taken lots of pictures, I just havent taken the time to get them off of Shutterfly. So now I have a ton of pictures of her (which I love!) and I am going to get them into frames and into a safe place!

I am also going to tackle getting the rest of my prints onto shutterfly, and also my nieces quilt! It should be a fun day of projects! Ya know the fun ones, instead of the dreaded house work!!!!

Happy Tackling! And if you want to participate go on over to 5 minutes for mom!

Sorry I don't have pictures on this one!

2009-06-08T20:05:00.003-05:00

I have been having a hard time lately. I feel a little discombobulated and I haven't quite figured out why. I do know that I feel like I have a million and one things going on, but then at times I feel like I don't have anything going on and feel deflated I guess would be the word.

So I haven't been posting much (or as much as I want to) because I don't really feel like I have much to say. The things I want to write about aren't my stories to tell, and so I don't think I should write them on here.

But here are a few snippets of what is going on in my own little world:

Mike and I went out for the first time by ourselves on Saturday night. It was a lot of fun! Mike's mom watched Marlee for us. It was the first time she has watched her. My mom has watched her a few times, but we have to go to my hometown for that to happen. So it wasn't the first time we had left her, just the first time we both went out and had a couple of drinks. We went to a wedding reception and it was a lot of fun!
After I get off here, I am going to work on my niece's quilt.
I have 2 weeks to get it finished.
On the 21st my oldest sister and her kids are coming to visit for a week from Wisconsin.
I am very excited to see them! It will be the first time they have met Marlee, and we haven't seen eachother in 2 years.
As soon as I get Ry's quilt done, then I get to start on Marlee's! I am very excited about that, I have had her material since before she was born. I just didn't find the time to make it. It's going to be a bigger one, so she should be able to use it when she gets her big girl bed. (Yes I am thinking that far ahead!)
Marlee is 18 weeks old today. Oh how the time has flown!
She is starting to want to sit up by herself now, which is fun. She can't yet, but she is trying!
I haven't been running lately. I am going to try to go tonight after dinner.
I miss it, and I think it will make me feel better! It will help get some of these crazy feelings I have out of me! That's the best part of running for me! It's my time to think, and to get anger, hurt, happiness any emotion I happen to be feeling out and then when I come home I am usually better!

Have a happy Monday!

some more crossed off my list!

2009-06-06T09:16:00.002-05:00

I made my husband breakfast in bed today. So I guess I get to cross off that one on my 101 things list!

I am going to have to try later in life for the 2 weeks with no pop...I just can't seem to do it right now. We went to a BBQ last night and it was either beer (which we didn't take any) or pop. I don't know the people very well to ask if I could go into their house to get water...

But in my effort to not drink pop I have lost 5 pounds in the past 2-3 weeks. I know part of it is probably cause I was sick and couldn't eat very much, but I think part of it was not drinking all the sugar! There's a lot of calories to consume in just one pop. And if I went out to a restraunt it would be multiple pops along with whatever unhealthy calorie filled dish I was eating!

No this is not going to turn into a weight loss blog. I am just excited that I am almost back to my pre-preggo weight! About 5 more pounds to go! Marlee is only 4.5 months old. I mean, that isn't too bad is it!?!

I am also working on my nieces quilt. I finally got my sewing machine to start working right again, and they are coming out in 2 weeks. That is my deadline! So maybe this afternoon since Mike is home that will be my project! I will def. take pictures when I get more done. Right now it's just a bunch of silly squares...:)

Anyhow, I have to get ready for a brunch. It says carry in, so I am hoping that means we are supposed to bring something...cause otherwise I will look silly!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Aloha Friday

2009-06-05T08:30:00.002-05:00

Over at an Island Life Kailani has Aloha Friday's. I will post a question and you answer it, then put a question on your blog, and link up!

I have a couple of questions this week...this has been a topic of discussion among my friends lately...so I want your intake!

How many kids do you have?
How far apart are they?
Do you like having them this specific amount of time apart or do you wish they were closer or farther apart?

Thanks for participating! Have a fabulous Friday!

My race time...

2009-06-04T22:07:00.003-05:00

I went for a fantastic walk today. I am sad to say that I haven't really been running lately. I need to. I just haven't gotten myself out the door.

I finally looked up my race time...and I did 3.1 miles in 40 minutes 15 seconds.

I didn't think that was too horrible! I now have a goal in mind for my next one...I was planning on doing one here in July, but we will see. It depends on when it is. And if we are here.

My sister is coming all the way from Wisconsin in two more weeks. I am pretty excited! I haven't seen her for two years. She came out for our wedding and that has been the last time. It is hard when we live so far away from eachother!

Maybe Toni (my sister who lives in my hometown) and I can get Carrie to start running with us. She wants to lose some weight (who doesn't!!!) and when we all get together we have a tendency to hang out and eat a lot of junk! So this time she wants us to stay active while she is here...I think we can handle that!

What do you do to be active? Are your kids involved or is it your alone time?

I always take Marlee for walks, but I usually have Mike watch her when I go running. It is hard to run pushing a stroller! It's amazing what happens when you can't use your arms to run! I know there are women out there who run pushing stollers, and for that I commend you! I like listening to my ipod, and getting out of the house without anyone else talking to me and I get to be alone with my own thoughts. Cause really, even when it's just me and Marlee at home, and she takes a nap, I usually get on the computer or get sucked into some silly tv show. Alright, have a fantastic night!