Bye, Bye, Bye
I actually do have a good excuse for not blogging in so long this time. Last Wednesday, I was rushing and I turned off my laptop with the button instead of the start menu and I found out, you should never, ever, ever do this. A file got corrupted and I lost EVERYTHING. Included in that everything were over 3 months of pictures. Pictures that can never be replaced. Christmas, New Years, Thanksgiving, Birthday…it’s just heartbreaking to me. I am thankful that I have this blog as I’ve put some pictures out there but the last few months I’ve been pretty bad at blogging so it doesn’t even touch the amount of pictures I lost. And, I have been so good at taking pictures of Lilla every week since she’s been alive and all those photos are just gone. I wonder in some way if the Lord was teaching me to be humble because I was really proud of that. And, I defintiely believe that pride comes before a fall. It certainly did in this case.
It kills me to think about it. Fortunately I figured out I had videorecorded Christmas morning here when Lilla first came down the stairs and opening some presents. That was the part that really killed me to lose because I put no Christmas pictures on my blog and it was our first christmas in our house. I was just devestated so figuring out about the camcorder really gave me some peace.
For those who are wondering about recovery, we tried. It didn’t work. We could have paid Best Buy $500 to try a different way but it wasn’t a guarentee and we honestly couldn’t have afforded it even if it was a guarentee. So, we had to wipe the drives clean. It took Michael a couple of days to wipe it and then put the stuff I needed back on it but here I am again, blogging. With a heavy heart though, with a very heavy heart.
Here’s more of an update on everything else:
Sickies: It’s finally over for our family. Everyone is healthy again and it is beyond wonderful to say that. It’s hard to want to leave the house now knowing how many other people are still sick. I can just feel the germs a crawling.
Photos: Friday I went to get the peanut’s two year picture taken. It didn’t go well. So unwell that I refused to even look at them. Today we went to try again. It was about the same. We did get a couple of good ones in this time. Unfortunately they were in her play outfit, not the lovely dress that I couldn’t wait to get her picture taken in. I will post them once I get a hold of them next week.
Time Away: Michael and I did get to have a one night getaway last week. Full paid for at a really nice hotel and restraunt downtown and breakfast in our room in the morning. It was really a lovely time and a good time of refreshing. Besides, of course, being the night I lost all my info, it was really perfect.
Spreading the Word: We are starting a new Sunday night evangalism course at our church and it is really good. We are so excited about it and how it is already lighting a fire under our tooshes. I’m not sure why but I sure get energized when I let God work through me.
So that’s the news from this end, I will be trying to visit sometime soon. Drop me a line and let me know how you are doing too!
February 25, 2008 
Sick and tired of being sicked and tired
February 23, 2008 
So, I am posting from the hospital right now. Fortunately, not laid up in some hard little bed with rails like a trapped animal, but from the waiting room. Which, I might point out, is quite appropriately named in this case. I have been here for hours, and, there is no sign of movement anytime soon. Although, there are only a couple of more people in here with me. What seems to be the problem? Not a clue! I think they just like to see how long people wait before they decide all their problems really can be solved with a bottle of aspirin, some alcohol and a band-aid.
My personal problem is a cough, which, I believe has led to a sore throat. Which, has led to sore ears. Actually, I am beginning to believe it is post nasal drip that started the whole matter. I know, that might be a little bit of TMI, but it is the truth in technical terms. I’ve got some serious sinus issues going on and I think the grody stuff in the back of my throat may be the actual root of all evil. My husband has been trying to get me to go to the doctor for days but I have refused as I didn’t want to bring the peanut in to the biggest germ fest in town. Now, they have me sitting here with a surgical mask and 10 month old magazines to pass the time. I’m not kidding, there is an US with Nicole Richie on the cover stating she’s prego. Unless she is again, that is one OLD magazine!
Fortunately I brought along my rusty trusty old laptop and fortunately, they have internet access. Which, is amazing in itself since I live in small town USA. I have no idea how secure this internet, but fortunately I do absolutely no banking or business on here so there are no secrets out. Besides getting in to my blah blah blogging spot. OK, so if suddenly you all have spam from me that states YOU CAN HAVE AN ERECTION FOR LONGER THAN ANY PERSON EVER SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO, you know what happened. This, is why I have finally been able to make it over to visiting so many of your sites. Just thank the HC Hospital!
Now, my husband has a stomach flu and the peanut is the only non-sicky in the house. God love antibiotics for that! I just wish it would warm up so we could open the doors and get out the bugs! Unfortunately, it’s like 3 degrees out there. It’s supposed to get up in the 30’s this week. Woo hoo, clearly, spring is on it’s way. LOL
Oh, and here’s your funny for the day. We were sitting down to dinner and Michael said to the peanut, “Do you want to come and sit over here?” Here answer? “No way!”
That’s good stuff!
Happy 2nd Birthday Baby!
It’s her party
Whew, it has been a busy week for me. The peanut is turning two tomorrow (How is that possible???) and she is getting her first real birthday party. As you may remember from a previous post month’s ago we were going to do a Little Einstein’s theme, however, she lost interest in them so we decided against it. Well, about a month ago I was at the Dollar store, which I love by the way, and saw they had birthday party stuff for $1 each. Cups, plates, loot bags, napkins, decorations…on and on. One of the themes was butterflies, which Lilla loves, so I was sold. I mean seriously, what a bargain! I even got her a butterfly shirt there!! So, our house is now turning into butterflyville. It is seriously cute, in my humble opinion. of course! I may be a little biased on the butterflies though as I even have one tatooed on my back! LOL
I went to JoAnn’s and got a butterfly cake pan, which is seriously cute. My mother-in-law, who is an awesome baker is making the cake. It should be yummy! Of course I’ve got mint chocolate chip ice cream and vanilla to go alongside it. I am making chili, with chips and salad, cheese, onions, sour cream. I’m also making chicken wings and peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches cut into butterfly shapes. Maybe a fruit salad and a pasta salad to go alongside should finish that off. Oh, and for the older kids I’m going to let them hang in the loft where I’ll have popcorn and pizza rolls and a movie. Because seriously, when you were 9, did you want to hang at a 2 year old’s birthday?
I’m not having any games as the kids are just too young, but we did get Lilla this Cranium fort thing on black Friday that we will set up so they can play in it. It’s pretty big so I’ll have to rearrange the furniture and take it down after the party. I think we’ll use it outside in the summer mostly. It’s got all these carnival games on it, I think it’s a little advanced for Lilla but she’ll still have fun I’m sure.
Oh, and the shower went very well. The cake turned out way cute! I made it lemon with lemon frosting and it was fabulous! I haven’t downloaded pictures yet but I will soon!
Besides that I’ve just been keeping busy running around, working every day, cleaning like a mad woman and spending some time with friends. It’s been a good, although crazy week. Lilla is kind of under the weather today so I think we are going to take it easy, get lots of Vitamin C and just try to get better before her party.
I hope you are all well and I hope to visit you all soon!
Talk to me baby
January 22, 2008
Filed under The peanut
Tags: Baby, girls, growing up, Life, The peanut, words
Everyday I am blown away with the new words the peanut is saying. I have no idea where she is getting it all from. For instance, she realized there was a moon in the sky for the first time last night and she pointed up at it and said, “Sun.” I said, “No, that’s the moon.” She replied, “Moon, moon, moon.”Then today, she was looking at her placemat that has Sesame Street all over it and said, “Cookie Monster.” Completely correct too, by the way. Which is interesting since all of Sesame Street she wants to see is Elmo. I haven’t a clue how she knew that. The even more hilarious part is that she insisted on ‘feeding’ Cookie Monster her bacon.
Then, there was a sun on the placemat and she insisted on putting her cup on it saying, “Sun, Sun!”
So yeah, this has been a week of new words. It’s like that sometimes, she will come out with a ton of new words several days in a row and then suddenly it seems to dry up for awhile and then out of nowhere she does it again. This is definitely a fun week for words though! I constantly find myself trying to decipher something new as her little utterances turn into syllables, words and now sentences!
She’s working on colors now. She knows blue and yellow usually. The other colors she likes to say the name of but doesn’t usually pick them out herself. Pu-pa is a personal favorite. It’s a work in progress.
We are also working on counting. She’s only said, “One”, a couple of times. She usually likes to start with two. And she’s usually right when she’s counting her blocks. “Two, three, five, eight, nine…” She could count like that all day. She really enjoys it.
The other thing she has been saying lately is “Cheese” when I go to take a picture. She’s showing you cheese in the picture where she’s wearing my blue crocs. Oh, that’s her other big thing, wearing mommy’s shoes. Yeah, she’s ALL girl!
You know, there have been a lot of hard days with the peanut lately. She’s is becoming more independent. Constantly asserting it with us and letting us know she wants to be in charge. She gets fussy and hates to go to bed at night. She’s screaming in bed as I write this to let us know she does not want to go to bed right now! She loves water and will fight you to let her wash her hands for long periods of time in the middle of food establishments yelling, “SOAP, SOAP!!”, she still won’t eat anything new, I could go on…and on…and on…
However, the positives are far outweighing those hardships. I just know these days are precious and few as I watch my little peanut grow into a beautiful little girl. She’s learning so much, developing her own thoughts and feelings, showing love in new ways all the time. I just have such a feeling of gratitude for the time I get to spend with her. And, it’s all too fast, just too, too fast.
Friday’s Feast
Appetizer
What is your favorite beverage?
At the moment, Welch’s grape juice. I know it’s high in sugar but I love the stuff!
Soup
Name 3 things that are on your computer desk at home or work.
I actually don’t have one, I use a laptop wherever I am. My husband does though so I guess I could use that. There is the checkbook, some star wars rubik’s cube head thing and a basket with receipts in it.
Salad
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how honest do you think you are?
11. A little too honest sometimes.
Main Course
If you could change the name of one city in the world, what would you rename it and why?
Transylvania in Romania. People thing there are vampires there. There’s not! I don’t know what I’d name it, something normal, like Lombard.
Dessert
What stresses you out? What calms you down?
Stressors include a lot of people around me, having to shake hands during church (I’m not kidding! I really am shy and don’t like that!), babies crying, listening to people chew anything or pop gum while I’m listening…oh, the list can go on people. Baths calm me down, relaxing music too!
We’ve only just begun
The peanut is a comedian. I’m not kidding. She’s a 23 month old entertainer.
I tell you though, I think the most adorable thing that has come out of this child’s mouth happened about a month ago. We went to pick up my husband at work I saw him coming toward the car. The peanut apparently did too because she called out, “Daddy.” Then, in the sweetest little voice I hear, “Cuuuute”. Is that not precious?
House of Pain
So as you may remember from a few weeks ago, we lost our minds and got a puppy. Buddy, the 
wondermutt. That’s him in the pic, clearly. He actually is a total lover and sweet. Besides the occasional pee pee on my carpet, this dog has really turned out to be a good one.
However, Buddy has not been without his problems. What I’m about to tell you, all I could think at the time was, “Oh why, oh why do these random things happen to me?”
So, last week I had a friend over for a visit. We were going along our merry ways when she said, “Um Amy, is there something wrong with your dog?” I looked back in the general direction where she was pointing and noticed his, um, thingy sticking out to what could only be described at an extremely abnormal extent. A good three inches I tell you. Yeah, I’ve NEVER seen anything like that in my life. It was obviously bothering the poor mutt as he licked it helplessly. Yeah, it was a lovely moment in our lives.
Anyway, we decided to call the vet who told us to get some KY Jelly and try to rub…yes, I said RUB…it back inward. Now, let me tell you that the thought of that to me just gives me the shivers. My lovely friend, Claudia, and God love Claudia, who just had a boy this past summer, (and so said she’s used to looking at and touching the male anatomy) took the KY and really tried to work it back in. To no avail I tell you.
Fortunately, my husband was just arriving home so I sent him packing out the door with the dog in tow to the midnight doggy hospital where they proceeded to charge us $233.66 to get IT back in.
As can be expected, my friend looked at me and said, “Amy, why is it that whenever I’m with you weird things like that are always happening?”
Good question Claudia, good question.
