E-Mail of the Year!

Below is an e-mail I recieved from my aunt Lisa about a dinner conversation she had with her daughters and the results that came of it. This is just too good not to share! Enjoy!

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"So the topic at dinner last night was tattoos. Becca who is extremely afraid of needles and Rachel who let her new earring holes grow shut because it hurt too much both expressed no desire to ever get a tattoo. Nora, however, let everyone know that she was going to get one on her cheek because that is where she has had them before. Becca tried to explain to Nora that we were talking about permant tattoos, the kind that doesn't wash off. Obviously, that went in one ear and out the other because this is what we woke up to this morning...."

Your Baby Can Read!

I made a purchase this weekend….Actually I made an investment! I bought the Your Baby Can Read program! I am really excited about this! There are some mixed reviews, but if this program only offers half of what they are advertising then I would call it a success. Here is some information from their website. Here is a link to their website as well (click here)!

“A baby’s brain thrives on stimulation and develops at a phenomenal pace…nearly 90% during the first five years of life! The best and easiest time to learn a language is during the infant and toddler years, when the brain is creating thousands of synapses every second – allowing a child to learn both the written word and spoken word simultaneously, and with much more ease.

Dr. Titzer says the current practice of starting to teach reading skills in school is too late and children benefit greatly from getting a much earlier start since a child basically has only one natural window for learning language -- from about birth to about age four. During this period it is easier for a child to learn any type of language including spoken, receptive, foreign and written language. The earlier the child is taught to read the better they will read and the more likely they will enjoy it.

Studies prove that the earlier a child learns to read, the better they perform in school and later in life. Early readers have more self-esteem and are more likely to stay in school. Meanwhile, a national panel of reading specialists and educators determined that most of the nation’s reading problems could be eliminated if children began reading earlier. "

Maybe the correct question is…Why should parent delay teaching a child to read when the most natural time to learn language is during the infant and toddler years?”

What does everyone else think of this program. I am sure you have seen the infomercials on TV and that is what sold me.

Weekend Recap!

Friday I had a half a day of work for Hunter and I do go to our doctor’s appointments. Andy came along with us before he had to go to work. It was Hunter’s 6 month appointment and he weighed in at 18lbs 13oz (75%), 25.75 inches long (50%) and his head was 46.1(97%). So he is on the continuing trend of being a short, chubby little boy with a big head! The doctor is still concerned about him wheezing, and has increase the number of times a day that we give him a breathing treatment. I asked if he could have some air-born allergies and she said it was not impossible, but highly unlikely at his age. She said we will continue to keep an eye on it, and if he doesn’t grow out of it with in the next 3-6months, then she may look into seeing if he has asthma. I can’t believe my little boy is 6 months old!

Afterwards was my appointment and since Andy had to go to work, Holly was nice enough to watch Hunter in the waiting room. Hunter slept the whole time, and Holly was on the verge of falling asleep herself considering she had been up for nearly 24hours. Then Hunter and I went to Wal-Mart, and he did such a good job and looked around most of the time. After returning home and putting away groceries, we went down to Donnie and Shanda’s for a fish fry. When we finally got home for the night, I went to give Hunter a bath and as I was drying him off I noticed he got his first tooth! Yay!!! We have been waiting on this for a couple of months! I had to text Andy at work and tell him!

Saturday I had to work so Andy stayed home and watched Hunter. Which wasn’t a big deal considering it was raining like crazy all day. That night we went over to Darryl and Paula’s house for a surprise birthday and anniversary party for Andy’s aunt and uncle. And Boy were they surprised!!!! It is rare that a surprise party really works, but this one went on without a hitch!!! There was a lot of food and they even hired in a DJ. We had a great time and Hunter spent most of the evening swaying back-n-forth to the music.

Sunday Hunter refused to sleep in considering he didn’t go to bed until late. So I was a walking zombie. We did make it over to my mom’s for a couple of hours to hang out. But afterwards Hunter and I cuddled up on the recliner and took a much needed nap! We did give Hunter his first taste of baby food. We tried the green beans and he loved them!!!

Oh I about forgot to mention some great news…..ANDY IS BACK ON DAY SHIFT!!!! Yay, that means he will be home in the evenings…well, after dark! The bummer part is I have to cook supper again and get up earlier in the mornings to get Hunter and I ready for the day. But it all worth having Andy home more!!!

Ants...Ants...and More Ants!

I got to work this morning to find hundreds of ants crawling all over my desk!!! I was pissed. When I am in Vienna on Tuesdays, there is another lady that uses my desk here in Rolla. I don’t know what she ate in here yesterday, but the ants are loving it! This is ridiculous! Another lady I work with here helped me completely clear off my desk and we sprayed it down and cleaned it, but the jerks are everywhere. I can’t figure out where they are coming from. I am now itching like crazy because I feel as if they are crawling all over me…which they are because one is crawling across the sleeve of my jacked as I type! AAAAHHHHHH!!!! I can’t stand this. I have a can of Lysol that I am using to kill them but they keep appearing.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Another lady here had previously read online that sprinkling pepper helps because it keeps them away for some reason. So now I have pepper sprinkled all over my desk, on the floor, in the window seal on the chairs and in the trash. It looks like someone spilt potting soil all over my desk. We’ll see if it works or not. They seem to be slowing down, but I think it is because of my Lysol skills!

Weekend Recap!

Friday evening Hunter and I headed down to the Schwartze’s for a fish fry. Hunter spent the evening cruising around the shed in his walker as I stuffed my face.

Saturday I had to work, so Andy was to have baby duty. But a little before 9am, he called me to tell me he was taking him down to his mom’s so he could go work on the farm. So much for the father/son bonding time. After I got off, I went and picked Hunter up so we could go over to my mom’s to see my brother who was in town. But by the time we got there, he had already left because he had an appointment to get fitted for a tux. Bummer! Later on we returned home and anxiously waited for the Mizzou basketball game to come on. They were playing for the Big 12 Championship! And they WON!

Come on say it with me: M-I-Z….Z-O-U!

Sunday I headed to the Lake of the Ozarks to do a little shopping. I mainly went to go to Target to get a bridal shower gift, but I had to make my way to the Outlet Mall to hit up Carter’s. I love that store, and yet I don’t go there very much. This is probably a good thing. They had a great sale going on. It makes me hesitate to buy Carter’s clothes anywhere else when I know I can get them for cheap at the Outlet Mall.

I regrettably went and tried on a couple of swim suits for our Mexico trip. Wow…having a baby really does a number on the body…not to mention the 10-15 extra pounds I have yet to loose after having him. Needless to say I left the Lake extremely depressed despite the awesome deals I got at Carters!

Hunter's New Trick

Hunter is big into standing these days, he can do it for a long period of time. Granted he doesn't have any balance so he needs to be holding on to something. But he is doing such a good job!

Forget crawling....lets go straight to walking! NOT!

Curls!

Hunter's hair is so crazy! Here is a shot of what it looks like after he takes a bath. It is not a very good picture, but you get the idea.

Delayed Weekend Recap!

On Friday it was absolutely beautiful and figures that Andy called into work and took a personal day. I should have known when I heard both his dad and brother were off. There for Andy got babysitting duty for the night while I went to a bridal shower. It was so much fun! We did a scavenger hunt! We got second place, but was only beat by the first team by a minute or so. It was so close. We had a great time speeding through town trying to find everything on our list.

Saturday: We didn’t do much. Andy worked on the farm, so Hunter and I went over to my mom’s house for awhile to hang out. That evening Andy and I watched the movie “Taken,” it was so good! I recommend it to everyone!

Sunday: The weather was nice, but it was so windy. Hunter and I made a trip to the grocery store. Afterwards I was going to take him on a trip in the jogging stroller, but I decided the wind was too crazy to push him around in it. So we drove down the road to Andy’s parents for awhile (which ended up being the rest of the day). Since Andy and Kevin caught a lot of fish on Friday, they decided to have a fish fry. Why do the weekends go by so fast?

Welcome Brooke!

Congratulations to my co-worker Adam and his wife Kelly on their new baby girl!
Brooke Lauren
Born today at 10:06 am
8lbs
20 ½ inches long

Here is a link to their blog (Click Here)

Back to the Doc!

Well once again we had to take Hunter back to the doctor. For over three weeks now he has continued to have a really deep cough and occasionally he will even wheeze. So finally after the babysitter voiced her concern I called the doctor’s office to see what they thought. They decided that wanted to see him again. So yesterday Andy, Hunter and I headed back up to the doctor. Well this time of coarse he wasn’t coughing nor wheezing when she checked him out. This may have been because we gave him a breathing treatment before we headed there. Anyway, she decided to add a liquid steroid to his breathing treatments. So we’ll see what that does. Knock on wood, but he hasn’t coughed as much since. We are to call her again on Monday and give her an update on his status and decide where to go from there. Geeze…this is never going to end!

What the Hell?

I received a phone call yesterday that when our accountant E-Filed our taxes it was returned back by the IRS because apparently they can’t verify that Hunter exist. Are you kidding me! I am the one who delivered him, I am the who wakes up with him in the middle of the night when he has blown his pacifier, I am the one who wipes his butt and dries his tears…believe me…He Exist!

How is this even possible and what do you even do to resolve the issue? We re-verified all of his information including social security number, birthday, and the spelling of his name and it was all correct. I am completely puzzled on what to do at this point. The accountant was going to try to re-send it thru again and see what happens. Keep your fingers crossed.

Weekend Recap!

Friday after work I headed over to finalize our taxes. I can I hear a “Hell Ya” to finally getting a refund back! That evening Hunter and I went to the boy’s last home basketball game. The crowd was pretty scarce and we pretty well got our butts whooped. Hunter had a good time watching the boys run back and forth.

Saturday I had to work. By the time I left work the snow had already been coming down and boy was the roads slick. I slid and fish-tailed a couple of times. Andy had stayed home with Hunter for the morning and was more than eager to head to the farm once I got home. That evening we went to a reception/dance for a girl I went to high school with. I had a good time dancing and learning some new ones. I don’t know what the dance it called, but it is similar to the electric-slide but it is not a country song.

On Sunday, Andy, Me, Hunter and my mom headed to Jeff City for a Hollis-Get-Together. We ate at a restaurant at the airport called Nicks. I never realized there was even a restaurant there. It was a family style fried chicken meal. Not bad. I on the other hand was delayed on getting to eat because Hunter decided to throw himself. I knew he was hungry but would take his bottle. I ended up walking him around and going into the bathroom and holding his bottle under hot water to warm it up. That ended up working, because as soon as it was at a warmer temperature he chugged it down. Afterwards we headed to my aunt and uncles house for dessert. This was really hard for me considering I gave up desserts for Lent.

Hunter has officially hit the hard-core teething stage. His pacifier is no longer enough for him, he likes to have something hard to chew on. We have a little blanket someone gave us as a shower gift and it has rubber edges on the corners. He loves this because it is pretty easy for him to put in his mouth. Hopefully he will cut them pretty soon, but I know this will be an issue for many months to come. Wish me luck!

Enough Said!

5 Months Old on Ash Wednesday!

That's right my baby boy turned 5 months old yesterday! Here is a picture of Hunter and I after mass supporting the ashes on our foreheads! You can't see his as well, but you can tell it was past his bedtime!

Greetings!

After arriving to work this morning I was informed that I was to be on the radio within the hour. WHAT! Me and another agent were sent to a local radio station to promote the insurance portion of the bank. I was so nervous! Maybe if I had more time to prepare I would have been OK, but it was sprung on me at the last minute. Anyway, it all went fine but it was the longest 20 minutes ever!

Today is Ash Wednesday! Meaning Lent has begun for us Catholics. I have decided to give up soda and sweets for the long 6 weeks! I figured this would really help me with my diet! This could be interesting. Andy has decided to give up soda as well! So that makes it better that he is not chugging down on a soda as I sit back and drool! Also with Lent comes with fish on Fridays! This means for a lot of fish fries in the weeks to come. You know I never really crave meat, but somehow when I am told not to eat meat on a certain day, then that is all I can think of! I’m sure I am not the only one.

Hunter and I are going to attempt to go to Mass tonight. But if he is anything like he was last night, it is not going happen. I don’t know what his problem was, but he fussed and cried nearly all evening until he finally gave it up and slept for the night! I was really missing Andy last night during all the madness!

That is all I have for now! Have a good one!

Slim Fast Debate!

Now that Andy is on second shift I no longer have to cook supper in the evenings. So I figured this is my prime opportunity to try to lose my baby fat. I am going to try the Slim Fast Diet. Drink a shake for breakfast and supper and have a sensible meal for lunch. I figured this is do-able. But my main concern is what is really in a slim fast? I remember hearing that you might as well eat a Snickers bar because they have about the same nutritional value. If that is true, I don’t want to be drinking on the fat. Does anyone else know anything about Slim Fast? Would you or would you not recommend me trying it?

Weekend Recap!

Friday after work Andy and I headed to go get our taxes done. I am anxious to find out what we get back. It sucks having to pay in when you are constantly paying taxes every pay check anyway. Knock on wood, but having a dependent should help us out!

Afterwards, we dropped the boy off at Andy’s parents and headed to CoMo to HuHots for our postponed Valentine’s dinner! It was wonderful! HuHots is totally worth the drive!

On Saturday we went to Andy’s uncle’s 50th Birthday party in Jeff City. It was a good time with lots of food, chatting, and Nerts games.

On Sunday Andy got up early to go fishing again. They didn’t have much luck. The rest of the day was pretty boring and uneventful!

I Hate Hateful People!

You know there are certain people in the world that constantly have a stick up their butt! There is no pleasing them what-so-ever! I believe myself to be a pretty chipper person, especially when it comes to my customers. But you know what, there is only so much one person can take. It is extremely hard for my to bite my tongue when people want to lash out at me for their own mistakes. But in the end I know I just have to nod and smile because it is not worth losing my job over, even though it eats at me as a person and bothers me for weeks to come. These people just are who they are, and even if Publishers Clearing House presented them with a $1,000,000 check they would still have something to complain about! Damn!

Ok, I feel slightly better!

Have a Great Weekend!

I'm Coming Out!

That’s Right….I am coming out of the closet! I secretly watch The Real Housewives or Orange County! Guilty! I don’t even know what has drawn me to this show, but I can’t get enough of it. Tuesday night was the season finale and I am bummed.

To fill you in on what it is about, it obviously is a reality show following around 5 housewives who live lavish lifestyles. There are a couple of the women who actually hold down jobs, while the others pretty well just live it up and enjoy the riches that I guess their husbands bring in.

Vicki Guncalson is pretty well crazy! She is a work-obsessed insurance agent who can’t go any where without her laptop. She is very controlling of everything in her life including her husband and children. I feel so bad for her husband, she is so mean to him!

Tamra Barney is a stay at home mother. She is by far the most childish one of them all. She seems to be very jealous of one of the new housewives Gretchen. She talks bad about everyone behind their backs and pouts that someone got a pink hat when she wanted one. Give me a break!

Jeana Keough is one of my favorites. She seems so wholesome! She is a real estate agent who lives a lavish life that she created but requires her children to have their own jobs and pay for their own stuff. Which is good because she isn’t completely spoiling her children like the rest of the wives.

Gretchen Rossi is very young and outgoing and always wants to be the center of attention. I like her as well. Because while the other wives get all catty and caught up in drama, Gretchen is good at looking past it all and not holding grudges. She is engaged to a much older man, Jeff who was diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia. Some of the other wives accuse her of being a gold digger, but I believe she sincerely loves him.

Lynn ??? is brand new to the show. I don’t really know what to think of her. She pretty well spends her whole life trying to be super young and catering to her spoiled children’s every need. There is a point where you need to step up and act like a parent and not telling the maid not to vacuum at 10am because it will wake her unemployed 18(?)yr old daughter.

Anyway last night was the season finale. It was a sad one. Gretchen’s fiancé lost his battle with Leukemia. Which made me tear up. I am anxious to watch the “Reunion” show next week when all of the wives get together and talk about the season. It looks to be really intense, and as if they start bashing Gretchen for her relationship with Jeff. Which is completely wrong since he had passed away. But some of these women are just cruel. I am curious to see who will be on next season.

Apparently I am not the only one who watches this show since it has been on for 4 seasons. I will “secretly” be anxiously waiting for the next season.

A Question for All you Moms!

Recently we started Hunter on cereal, he had been doing really good with eating it until he got sick. He didn't want a thing to do with it. Well...now that he is doing a lot better we've decided to give it a try again. Not only does he refuse to eat it, he develops a rash on his chin after attempting to feed it to him. Does this mean he has an allergy to it? I read online that there could be a delayed reaction to an allergy. As in...he did good for a little while eating it but just now is developing a rash. What do you all think?