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?

Weekend Recap!

Friday Night: Nothing….Not even sleep! Hunter was so fussy and refused to sleep! I was about to pull my hair out. I believe we tried everything. Finally at about 4:30am he gave in! Just in time for me to get two hours of sleep before I had to get up and get ready for work!

Saturday: I worked until noon. Then I headed home to relieve Andy of baby duty so he could go to the farm. The pictures I have posted are of Hunter giving Andy a Valentine’s card and the other one is of Hunter with his Valentine’s gift from Andy and I. That afternoon my mom and brother came over to hang out for awhile, it was good to catch up on things with my bro. That evening we grilled some steaks and watched T.V. for the rest of the evening.

Sunday: Andy went fishing with Kevin there for I got to drag Hunter along with me to Wal-Mart. Not a good idea when he still isn’t feeling 100%. He was so fussy that I gave up shopping after only completing about half of my list. After returning home, we both took a much needed nap.

Monday: I was off because of President’s Day! Sweet! But Andy still had to work. The baby sitter was off as well so Hunter and I hung out at home and I got a lot of cleaning done and even made some cookies. I could tell Hunter was feeling a lot better, because he would play on the floor by himself for the longest time. That evening I cooked a “Taco Bake.” It was really good! I got it out of a local cookbook!

All in all, it was pretty much a boring weekend! Hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day!

Love is in the Air!

This shout out goes to these two lovely and deserving ladies (Kara and Kacey) who both got engaged on Valentine's Day! How Romantical!!!

CONGRATULATIONS

KARA and KACEY!!!

PROOF!

Here is some proof that Hunter is beginning to look more and more like his mommy!

This is a picture of me when I was nearly 5 months old!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My Poor Baby is Sick!

Hunter has been battling a stuffy nose for over a week, that was until Monday. He suddenly developed a really bad cough, along with congestion and even began to wheeze. So on Tuesday I called the doctor and they told me to bring him up to the office because they wanted to check him out since he is only 4 months old. I was afraid we would go all the way there and then he would be all smiles and not even show a sign of hacking at all. Luckily he laid it all out for the doctor. He coughed non-stop, even thru in some sneezes all while wheezing every time he took a breath. His diagnoses = Bronchiolitis (RSV) AND croup!!!! WTF! Good thing I took him there when I did. So while we were at the doctor's office we gave him a breathing treatment to see if it helped with the wheezing (and it did) and then he was given a steroid shot for his heart and lungs so he doesn't go into respiratory distress...which is scary to think about. We were then sent home with a breathing machine of our own. We are to give him 4 treatments a day and to continue the humidifier and Vicks.

I stayed home with him on Wednesday. And let me tell you, he was really testing my patients. Nothing seemed to soothe him. He seemed most content when he was in his swing. So that is where he stayed and slept most of the day. Whatever works...right? That evening he began to run a fever. Nothing too high, so I have been giving him Tylenol to keep it down. This seems to work.

My mom watched him yesterday as well as today. And this morning he seems to be doing better and in a much better mood. Thank goodness. So hopefully he has turned a corner. It is hard when a baby is that young and sick because they can't tell you what is wrong and you are very limited on what you can do for them (as in medications).

I am off of work on Monday for Presidents day, so hopefully Hunter will be better and could return to daycare come Tuesday!

Shopping Trip Recap!

This past Saturday is when I went to Springfield to go to some used baby clothes stores. Boy am I glad I did! I loaded up on baby clothes. I found so many things that were 12mo-18mo. Everything was practically brand new and dirt cheap. My only complaint is that I couldn’t find any 9 month clothes. Someone must have shown up just before me and bought everything out. Darn it! I ended up buying 38 articles of clothing. Everything from shirts, pants, shorts, hats and shoes and spent around $100 bucks! Not bad at all! Afterwards I couldn’t resist going to Gordman’s. I went to the baby section and quickly decided I wouldn’t be buying anything from them. I couldn’t spend $16 on an outfit when I was just paying $3 at the used stores! I did buy a shirt for me as well as some diffusers.

All is all it was a successful trip, that I will be doing again in a couple of months.

Here We Go Again!

ABB to announce 90 jobs cuts next week.

Monday, February 09, 2009 at 5:29 p.m.

JEFFERSON CITY -- The ABB plant in Jefferson City is laying off more workers. Second-shift employees found out late Monday afternoon that 90 employees will be out of a job in two weeks. ABB management said the individuals affected won't be named until next week. Of the 90 cuts, 75 will be hourly employees and 15 will be salaried positions. Most will get severance pay, along with 90 days of paid health insurance, ABB management told KRCG News.ABB makes electrical distribution transformers used in new construction. The company says orders have been on a steady decrease in last fall. ABB has already laid off 120 workers earlier this year, and will still employ 640 even after the latest cuts.


Luckily, Andy isn't being laid off. But they have spoke of reducing the plant to only 2 shifts. This would more than likely push Andy to working 2nd shift (3:30pm-11:30pm). All that matters is that Andy still has a job, but it sucks that Hunter and I will hardly ever get to see him. It will make those times we are together even more special.

Its Finally Friday!

The weekdays seem to slowly creep by anymore and of course the weekends go by super fast. With the temperature being over 60 degrees today I am eager to get the hell out of here. Crazy thing is, since I have come back from maternity leave they are making me work in Rolla 4 days a week now (like I am today), but because of the shortage of people in Vienna I am still on their Friday night rotations. So I have to leave Rolla early to get back to Vienna to work the drive-up with Tina until 5:30pm. While I think it is ignorant, I look forward to anytime they let me work in Vienna even if that means starting off the day in Rolla first.

As far as I know I don’t have any plans for this evening. Andy wants to go to a gun auction, which I rather him not do because he has enough guns and we could spend the money elsewhere. But he is afraid of what Obama is going to do about gun control. Andy heard that they may increase gun taxes as much as 500%. That is crazy! But I don’t want him going out and stock piling guns he is never going to use. But he is a man and loves his toys!

Saturday I am heading to Springfield. I am really addicted to the used baby shops and they have tons of them down there. Why pay full price for baby clothes or toys when you can buy them practically brand new for pennies on the dollar. I have mapped out all the baby stores I plan on hitting up, and if time allows…Gordman’s here I come!

Sunday I hope to do some scrapbooking. After years of stuff piling up, I finally am excited to get back up and going. I find myself to be a perfectionist which can be very time consuming. But I am learning to design my layouts in advance so all I have to do is practically cut and paste. No more of the…”should it go here or there.”

Anyway, everyone have an excellent weekend!

Hunter's 4 Month Appt

On Monday I took Hunter to his 4 month check up. He weighed in at 16lbs exactly and was 25 inches long. I asked about what we could do to help with his spit-up and she said since he doesn’t do it all the time then it sounds as if he is just a spitter. It is never projectile or anything like that, it is just an annoyance more than anything. She said he should grow out of it within the next few months.

He also got more shots. Boo! He did really good! It was a complete delayed reaction from when they poked him to when he started crying. But as soon as I picked him up he was over it. Then he pretty well slept the rest of the day. The picture to the left is of his battle wounds. You can see the band-aids on each leg.

She did say we could go ahead and start giving him cereal. I have held off doing this for some time even though a lot of parents have told me they started when their kid was just a few weeks old. That just didn’t feel right to me. Every parent is different.

So that evening we fed Hunter his first taste of cereal. He didn’t seem to care for it by the reaction on his face. But as we kept going he began to really enjoy chewing on the spoon.

Hey…whatever works!

I'M BACK!

Or at least I am going to try!!! Wow, I don’t even know where to begin. I haven’t posted anything in four months. And obviously there has been a lot going on. I gave birth to my first child nearly 3 weeks early in September, which was an overwhelming experience in itself. I don’t think there is anything that can prepare you for the emotional roller coaster. Having a child is the most amazing challenge I have ever faced and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Time has flown by so fast. Starting off at 5 lbs 7oz (dipping down to as small as 4 lbs 14 oz), Hunter has flourished and caught up with where he should be…at 16 lbs. The first day we brought him home, I remember holding him thinking, “Wow…I’m a Mom! This little baby is mine and he is dependent on me to survive.” I took off 3 months of work to stay home with him. And I have to say; returning to work was a lot harder than I could have known. It just didn’t seem right to pay someone to watch my child while I went to work, even though the lady is excellent. But after a few tears, I knew in the end, the best interest for him is to spend time with other kids. I want him to be social able. I don’t want him to be a complete mama’s boy!

Hunter has had so many of his “First.” First smile, laugh, rolling over, Halloween, Deer Shack party, Thanksgiving, Christmas, trip across the Missouri border to Nebraska and Iowa, and his first trip to HuHots! Of course there are a lot more, but it is just crazy to see how many things I have already filled-in in his baby book. Before I know it, he is going to be heading to Kindergarten and meeting his first girlfriend who may/or may not become his future wife. Am I jumping too far ahead?

Also, seeing Andy as a father was everything I expected and more. He loves his little boy! His evenings now consist of playing of the floor with Hunter making funny faces and stupid noises in hopes of getting a smile and/or giggle. All up until Hunter is completely beat and then Andy will rock him to sleep. Andy is ready for Hunter to be big enough for him to take him on the farm. But I tell him this will be here soon enough.

All in all becoming a parent is wonderful and breathtaking despite all of the chaos and sacrifices it entails. It is crazy to think that I am no longer just Kelly- Andy’s wife...I am Kelly- Hunter’s mom.