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Twenty-six

I've really had the urge to blog lately. Our life is so steady and solid and it's made me appreciate simpler things around me rather than stressing.

Lucy is growing exponentially! She's realized that when she does something funny we laugh, which makes her do it over and over, which in itself is funny so we keep laughing. Her hair is getting long, but not long enough to do anything with. She's in a size 4 diaper now and is walking so good. When we go to Wal-Mart we let her "run" and once she gets going she stumbles. A few weeks ago she was teething with 3 molars coming in and she was a completely different baby--fussy, whiny, obnoxious. Now that they've poked through, she's my Lucy again--making jokes, singing and dancing, hitting the dog and laughing hysterically.

Tomorrow Adam turns 28. I'm so excited! He's going to pick up a prime piece of meat from Idaho Market to BBQ and I'm going to sauté mushrooms and asparagus and bake crescent rolls. And the highlight of my day will be making a lemon meringue pie from scratch. I made him the same recipe last year and it was SO good. The meringue took some practice but it was worth it and I have a better "plan of attack" this year. Our friend Matt will be joining us as well as his out-of-town girlfriend Donna.

Next Tuesday, I turn 26. I feel so old. And I'm not just saying this to make the people who are older than me even older than they are. 26 is "late" 20's to me. It's the "over the hill" of 20's. I'm not depressed that I thought I'd have more accomplished by this age, or that I'd be in a "different place," but rather that I didn't treat my early 20's the way they should have been treated. I should have played more, I should have laughed more, I shouldn't have been so serious, I should have... But rather than wallow in my own self-pity, I'm going to make 26 my best year! Here are a few things I have planned:

1. DRESS like I'm 26--I'm young and I only have a few more years to dress that way before I start looking silly.
2. Lose 30 lbs (I'm 1/5 of the way there)--After getting married I let myself go and other than wanting to LOOK good, I want to feel better. I've felt like the last few years that my body was older than I was--my knees pop, my back aches. I've lot all my baby weight and then some and now is the time to loose my "newlywed weight."
3. Have another baby. Yes, that is the goal. NOT today, but this year sometime. MY "ready" point is losing the 30 lbs. If I can lose them, then that's my indicator that I'm ready. My body will be healthier and more equipped for baby-making and the ultimate goal is a VBAC. Too much information? Sorry.
4. Love more! There's no explanation needed--we could all give and receive more love in our life.

Twenty-six will be a good year for me.

Perks

I my line of work, we don't always get recognized for our hard work. A lot of buyers and sellers don't realize the work that goes on "behind the scenes" in Real Estate. I happen to be an agent AND the office receptionist AND marketing coordinator. I have to make executive decisions and often hire and fire companies we use. It's nice to have the power trip, but telling someone "no" isn't' always easy. Today I received a wonderful surprize from an ad company we recently created a business relationship with. These were delivered to me:

I know that my paycheck is my recognition of my work, but it's nice to have a little extra perk here and there.

St. Patty's Day

Today is Saint Patrick's Day. This day always reminds me of my late Grandma Elizabeth. I don't even think she was Irish, but she always had "Kiss me, I'm Irish" stickers.

We had our corned beef brisket last week, so tonight we're having Stroganoff.

Lucy's been EXCEPTIONALLY fussy for about 2-3 weeks. It wasn't until after a high fever (103) this past weekend that I decided to take her to the doctor. I assumed that if she didn't have other symptoms (runny nose, fever, cough) there wasn't anything wrong. Then with the fever I assumed she had an ear infection. Then waiting at the doctor's office, she broke out in a rash that started behind her ears and made it's way down to her diaper line. Yeah, so when the doctor saw her, she had no fever, clear ears, and essentially nothing wrong. THEN tomorrow, she was throwing a mini tantrum and I could see in her mouth. SHE'S GETTING 3 MOLARS! I didn't think she'd get molars this young. But they are sharp and no wonder she's been so fussy. Adam's getting in a wisdom tooth and it makes him grumpy too :)

I'm having a Pampered Chef party this weekend. The theme is Senoritas and Margaritas! It'll be our first gathering in our house since the Superbowl (which is the weekend we moved in). I'm very excited. Melinda (my friend and co-worker) picked up some margarita glasses from the dollar store to serve in and then let the guests take home. The dish we'll be making is a Chipotle Chili Cornbread. Yummy. It should be a lot of fun!

Adam (and his friend Matt) just took me out to lunch at Primo. Good food.

Tomorrow night my mom and Aunt Lori are visiting to paint my house--the inside that is. Jared our painter should be painting the outside tomorrow. Finally it's above 40 degrees here. Yesterday got up to 66, and so far today it's 52.

Well, I hope you're wearing green so the leprechauns don't pinch you! Have a safe and happy St. Patty's Day!

Musings on Motherhood

Just a few thoughts from a mom... perhaps you can relate.

I just got my white jacket dry cleaned so that I don’t look like a bum when I’m out and about, however I left the house this morning with spilled milk on my shirt and hard-boiled-egg-yolk-handprints all over my pants at knee-level.

I bought a frame at IKEA that has 2 sides so I could put a picture of Lucy on one side and a photo of me and Adam on the other. It’s sat on my desk for 2 weeks—empty.

Lucy’s clothes came out of the dryer smelling like fish but I dressed her in them anyways so then I sprayed her with Febreze.

Photos...

I am SO sorry that my last post was SO long ago.
Well... We bought a house. Yep, we are the proud owners of a 2 bedroom, 1 bath in Susanville! Here are the listing photos:




Ugly, right? Yep, well, much has changed... and the changes will keep coming. The house is now purple... Trust me, it was an accident. But once we have better weather (it's been snowing off and on for a couple months), we'll have it repainted a gray color like wet cement. The trim will be white and come summer we'll put on a new Black roof. Oh, and we'll have the feng-shui red front door.

We've since had the bathroom remodeled with tile and a pedestal sink (yet to be installed). We put a hearth and wood stove in the living room. The room you see with a fireplace is currently our "office" and where all the boxes that have yet to be unpacked are kept. That is our big project for this weekend--finish the interior! I'll post more photos of the interior next week after we've got it all straightened up this weekend.

As for Lucy (she's the star of this show, right?) She's walking and "talking." Here's a video of her walking.


For more photos please visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2035459&id=30900776&l=089b3bd150