Miss You!

Josie has started to tell Brent and I "miss you." It just breaks my heart when she tells me this. Lately, she has become very attached to Brent and I. Before Brent or I leave for work, she will state "no work, stay home." She has been stating this for a little while now. She wants us to hang out with her at home and not go to work. I have to state to her that I wish I could stay home, but can not. I assure her that I will be home shortly. We talk about where we are going and why we have to go. It is darling the conversation that we have.

Here is an example conversation we have.

Mommy: "Where is Daddy going?"
Josie: "Work."
Mommy: "Why does Daddy have to go to work?"
Josie: "Need money."
Mommy: "Why do we need money?"
Josie: "Buy milk!"

I just laugh at this each time she states it.

Starting the other day, before I left for work she gave me a big hug and kiss and she stated "miss you." It just made my heart melt. Then upon returning home, I was greeted by a very enthusiastic child stating "Mommy home!" followed by a large hug, kiss, and the sad words "miss you." Of course, my response was "I missed you too."

Everyone says that it is hard to leave a child when they are young, and that is completely true. But as they get older and they can voice their emotions, feelings, and frustrations, I think it gets a little harder to leave them. They know what is happening and they can voice to you not to go.

If only I played the Lotty or someone gave me lots of money that way I could stay at home with my little girl. She grows older by the minute and those minutes that I miss, saddens me.


I mean who would not miss this face?

Leaves

Josie and her I am so done with this photo.

There is always a plus and minus to having large trees in ones yard. They make your yard look nice in the summer and provide you with much shade and such, however when fall comes around they are one big pain in the behind. Being where we live, we have lots of large adult trees, which makes our yard looks really nice. However, when fall comes around they provide a disaster area. My father loves to work out in the yard and have his yard manicured just right (at least he used to really bad when I was younger). From seeing how nice his yards were always kept, I became like him. I love having a clean yard! Every year, I try to decorate and manicure my yard to look even nicer. For example, this year I added some landscaping boulders, rock, and moon flowers. Next summer, we have more possible lines lined up such as a split rail fence, new garage, and of course new flowers.

So, since Fall is here a few weeks ago, we took advantage of the warm weather and did some much needed yard work. Josie and I raked up the leaves just around the house and came up with 2 large piles. Josie did not like much of playing in them, mostly because she was tired but did not want to take a nap. Imagine that! Then we lit one of the piles on fire and let me tell you since the pile was so big the flames were huge and at one point I was like crap I am going to catch the pine tree on fire because the wind was slightly blowing my large flames.

Here are some photos of our day in the yard.








This pile is just from 1 tree.







This pile is just from 1 tree. Dear Lord, I know.

Attitude

I was talking to someone the other day about the funny things that Josie does and it dawned on me that I have not posted this hillarious story about Josie. It has been a few weeks ago now, but Brent, Josie, and I went to Steak-n-Shake after dance class for dinner. Brent had finished eating his meal and I just finished my meal, when the incident occured. Brent for some reason eats super fast, so he was waiting on Josie and I to finish. When I was done, he was like thank goodness. Josie had 2 french fries left on her plate and in the hurry for some reason that he was took her plate away from her. I thought to myself "oh dear god." Josie LOVES french fries and I knew it was coming. She turned to Brent who took her fries away from her and with an angry face, teeth clenched together, turned and pointed to Brent. She started yelling at the top of her lungs "Don't take my fries." Everyone in the resteraunt turned and looked at us. It was really embarassing,but really funny at the same time. I started to laugh uncontrollably because I knew she was going to do something. She loves her fries and taking them away from her I knew was a bad idea. She kept starting at him. I told Brent to give her back her plate and let her finish her supper like he and I finished ours. Once, she had her plate back she ate her 2 fries, then put a smile on her face and was good as gold. I could not stop laughing over the situation that I was crying. Let's just say Brent learned his lesson on that day not to touch her food ever again.

...Put a Ring on It...

Tonight, we ventured into town to purchase Brent a new wedding ring since he lost his. At least that is the story that he is telling me. We had forgotten the difference in jewelry stores. At one store a ring a one price and the exact same ring meaning size, fit, width, and carat was a completely different price. I mean like a difference of like $150 dollars. Why is that? Oh well, we still got him a new one. Hopefully, he does not loose this one anytime soon.

Well, we did come home with a new ring for him and some ideas for me for a new ring. No, I did not loose mine, however I was told that if I would like a new ring to start looking. Well, I will get a new one, once I find the exact one that I want, but no go so far. I am not in any hurry because I know this one will probably be the last one that I get.

Josie even tried on some jewelry herself. It was so cute. The sales person was talking and showing Josie some kids jewelry that was in the case and she placed out her hand for the lady to place a ring on her finger. I started to laugh as she sat on the counter. The lady pulled out a pair of ear rings and she stated "no this" while pointing to the ring and putting her hand back out. This is a girl that know exactly what she wants. Josie doesn't even have her ears pierced. So, the lady obeyed her request and got the ring out for her to try on. Josie loved it! "Pretty" she told me. The ring was just a little big on her ring finger, but would have probably fit on a different finger. It was just to cute. Perhaps someday she will get a ring of her own I told her.

In the Dog House

We all do things in our lives that land us in the "Dog House" at some point. Well, Brent is offically in that place. This afternoon Brent came upstairs from being in the basement for a while playing on the computer and stated "um, I was just in the basement and we have a problem." My first thought was something involving mice since we have already caught three. No, it did not involve mice. Brent lost his wedding ring. Yes, his WEDDING RING! He remember having it on this morning when he ate breakfast, but after playing outside with his brother and father shooting guns, he realized it was gone. He spent the afternoon searching the yard with his medal detector and house and nothing showed up. He has no idea as to where it could be. He said he had to of lost it when he was shooting his brother's new gun because it shakes your hands so much, but was not able to find it. It is hard telling where it is if it fell off outside.

I had to of course give Brent a lot of greif over the situation. Because you know if I lost mine he would be outraged and he agreed with that statement. He said "oh, yeah you would be in a world of trouble."

Tomorrow, he is going to go shopping to purchase a new one, but the point of the matter is he lost his.

Halloween Through the Years

My has Josie grown up quickly. I was looking through some old postings and thought it was amazing how each year at Halloween (this was the time frame that I was looking at) she grew up. Josie celebrated her very first Halloween when she was just shy of 2 months old. Man does the time fly. She dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood and won at the Halloween costume contest in town. My grandmother had to make her costume because she was to small to fit in any other costumes. Last year, she dressed up as a witch and was able to actually Trick or Treat. And this year was a Munchkin from the Wizard of Oz and was actually allowed to eat her Halloween candy instead of Mommy and Daddy eating all of it. What will next year bring? I know it is a long ways off, but I am always thinking of what could she be next year. Who knows?

23 Week Doctor Appointment

On Tuesday, November 10th I had my 23 week appointment. Everything looked great as usual. The baby was all over the place. The poor nurse had to chase him or her around to get the heart beat. It was pretty funny! One second the baby was to the left and two seconds later it was to the right. We were both laughing pretty good.

My blood pressure measured low as usual 86 over 50.

I gained 3 1/2 pounds! The only time in a woman's life when it is ok to gain that much weight in a short amount of time. The doctor at first asked me if I was eating or if I was sick because my overall weight at 23 weeks pregnant and being 25 years old was only 114 pounds. I explained to him that I gained the 3 1/2 pounds in only 3weeks. He is not worried about it by any means, just that at this time with Josie I had gained a whole lot more. I mean with Josie by the end of my pregnancy I had gained 2/3 of my pre-pregnant weight. Ouch I know, but it all came off with little to no work. This puts me at gaining 17 pounds so far this time around with baby #2 at 23 weeks.

They measured me today, which they have not been doing for a while. I measured in at being about 21 weeks and I am actually 23 weeks along. I have been telling Brent that I am not as big this time around and sometime he agrees with me and other times he does not. This means that size wise I am measuring 2 weeks smaller than what most women measure at at 23 weeks. Still nothing to worry about, it just might mean that baby #2 will not be as big as Josie at birth, but who knows at this point.

I will go back to the doctor's office on December 8th and will also be getting the nasty glucose testing done. I am not looking forward to that visit. Last time, I failed the 1 hour test and had to take the 3 hour test. It was pure torture. I hate needles, so I hope I pass the 1 hour this time around, but we will see in December.

Here are some photos at 23 weeks pregnant.

Computer Issues

Man, I love technology when it is working. I have not had the internet here at home for a week. It has been a long week without it. Meaning no school work got done, no postings, and no internet shopping. Man, what a long week. The telephone company had to come out to replace a router box and without that box we were out of service. So, now with a new box we are back in business. Thank goodness!

Halloween Parade

On Halloween, we venutured up to town for the annual Halloween parade. Josie loved being able to see all of the little ghosts and goblins in their costume. She thought she was pretty cool to be walking in the parade herself showing off her costume. She kept going "Mommy look" and pointing at other kids costumes.

Josie did not win the costume contest this year. I know what were they thinking?! I was talking to a few other parents up there and we were very disappointed. Not that our child did not win, but that we did not see a judge walk by. It was very disorganized. I saw some pretty cool costumes and they did not win. It makes me think that perhaps not every child got viewed. Which is sad for those that have really cool costumes and spent a lot of time perparing for the contest. They just had everyone in clusters by ages. They should have everyone lined up in a single file line, so that every child gets a fair chance. I do not even know who won, that is how disorganized it was.

After the parade and costume contest, we ventured up to the local church where they were having a Trunk or Treat. I had never heard of this before this year, but now I hear it all the time. This is where kids walk from trunk to trunk and get candy. The church had about a dozen cars lined up with trunks filled with candy. Each trunk was decorated with a theme. For instance, my favorite was an old co-worker of mine who made her trunk like a baby crib. It was decked out with stuffed animals, a mobile hanging from the top, and she herself was dressed like a baby laying in the trunk. It was pretty funny. I do not know who came up with the trunk or treat, but it was a really good idea. I hope they continue to do this in the future.

Here are some photos from the parade.

The Mouse Catcher is on Patrol

A few weeks ago I made a post about being a Mouse Catcher, well it is that time of year and they are back. This is the first year that I have actually seen mice in my house and am not liking it. So, anyways Sunday night I was sitting downstairs in front of a warm fire watching TV after Josie had gone to bed and I kept hearing a noise. I would mute the TV and the noise would stop. Turn on the volume, I would hear it again and so on. I thought to myself crap, here we go again. On Monday night, I told Brent about my evening Sunday and went to place my drink on top of the entertainment center so that Josie would not get into it. It was then that I discovered what I had heard the night before. I had placed a back of crackers on top of the entertainment center to keep Josie's little hands from eating the entire bag and that is what the little pest was getting into. From the looks of it, he had been coming back for days. I told Brent to get the traps we were going to catch the pesky thing that night when he comes back to get the snack and the snack is no longer there the trap can get him instead. Brent thought it was a great plan and ventured over to his friends house who had some traps. Since we did not. You would have thought that after the last episode we would have some on hand, but no. Let me just say that I should have went and picked up the traps because he was gone for hours. I should have known. While he was gone (since he was gone FOREVER) the pest came back. I was on the computer getting ready to make a post and checking my email and I could hear something like in the wall or something. Next thing I know the mouse is running across the table next to me. I am lucky that my water did not break early because I was hyperventilating at that point. I mean it was right by me. I was so mad at this point that Brent was not back with the traps we could have caught the dang thing. I high tailed it out of the basement and on the phone I got. Oh, course Brent did not answer his cell phone but boy did I leave a nasty voicemail full of cuss words to get home immediately with the traps. I soon got ahold of him and his response was "crap, we missed it!" Well, duh.

Monday night, Brent set out 6 glue traps to catch our unwanted house visitor. When I got up Tuesday, I made him go check the traps before I went to work for piece of mind. He came upstairs with a smile on his face. Yeah I thought, but his response was don't get to happy yet. We had indeed caught the friend, but somehow had managed to get loose off the extremely sticky trap carry it a little ways and then get loose. How in the world?!

Tuesday, Brent purchased more traps while in town and set them out. So, now we have 10 traps set to caught our unwanted friend and it was a success. Tuesday night our friend was no longer in our house. Thank god! We have had the traps set all week and still no more unwanted visitors have came to visit. I am hoping that was the only one that we had and will be the last one. I know that is probably not the case living in the country, but for this year I have had enough.

We will keep the 10 traps set and ready to go for a while just to make sure, but like I told Brent I do not think 10 traps is enough with my fear and all. Josie has been cooped up playing upstairs all week, because I do not want her to get into a trap, so soon I hope we can venture back downstairs and play again near the fire.

So, if you have been wondering why I did not post this week, it was because the computer is located near the sighting of the mouse and I was like on pins and needles each time I would get near the computer thinking there was one close by.

Trick or Treat

Josie loves the art of Trick or Treating. On Sunday, November 1st, we ventured to Trick or Treat at Aunt Jamie, Uncle Jason, Cousin Jacob, and Cousin Presley's house. We were unable to see them on Halloween, so we extended our great Halloween fun onto Sunday. We did a little Trick or Treating at Great Grandpa Dave's house and then headed to see them. Josie loved wearing her costume for a second day in a row. I think she thought she hit the jackpot with it. Jacob was a tiger and Presley was a kitty. Josie loved seeing them in costume as they loved to see her. Here are some photos of our Trick or Treating adventure from Sunday. Enjoy!

Not a Cold!

For about a week now, Josie has had a runny nose. Yuck, I know. She loves seeing her cousin however they will not let her get close to her in fear of Josie passing on what we thought was a cold. Well, Josie doesn't have a cold! She is teething! There is no fear of passing on that.

We thought Josie had just a cold, since I myself have one already. You know I work in a petri dish for germs, so we just thought that since I came down with a cold that I passed it on to her. You know since we give each other lots of kisses, share drinks, etc. She has been chewing on her pacifier and always has her hands in her mouth. So, at first I thought she might be teething, but nothing. That was until today. Tonight, when Josie was brushing her teeth before bed she went "gross Mommy" as she pulled a bloody toothbrush out of her mouth. I investigated and noticed that she has not one, but 2 new teeth coming through. They were just breaking the skin and causing her gums to bleed. Poor girl. Oh course, Mommy being the doctor that she is gave her some meds to make it all better. I have been checking her mouth daily since she is always chewing on her fingers or pacifier and her nose has been running, but nothing. Tonight, they finally broke the skin. These teeth are her second molars on the bottom. This makes Josie have a total of 18 teeth. If you have young children, you know the symptoms of teething include the nasty runny nose, sometimes a fever (which Josie doesn't have and has never had with teething), chewing on everything, and nasty pants.

I am just so happy that it is just teething and not this cold thing like I have.

Happy Halloween

On Halloween, we had a very busy day. The day started out early Trick or Treating and ended with a very sugar highed child. Josie went to Grandma Grace's house Trick-or-Treating in the morning and we attempted to go to Grandpa Dave's and Grandma Lorraine's house, but they were not home. She loved every minute of it. She would knock on the door and wait patiently until you answered the door and then would say the famous line "Trick or Treat." It was adorable! She was so excited to go out Trick or Treating all day, that we could only get her to take a 45 minute nap all day and she got up at 6 AM. So, lets just say it was a long day with an overly excited tired 2 year old. However, overall it was great.

We ventured over to the neighbors house to do a little Trick or Treating before heading out to see Papa Dave. The neighbors love to see her. Vickie, our neighbor, used to watch Josie, so when we went over to do a little treating she felt very comfortable running around her house chasing her kitty peanut. Josie just loves that kitty or as I should say full size cat. The cat remembered who Josie was and would run in the opposite direction. I did not blame the cat either, if I was peanut I would probably do the exact same thing. Josie chased that cat all over the place. It was funny

We then ventured into town to see Papa Dave who got her of course lots of candy, including her very own large bag of marshmallows in which Josie loves. In her big pumpkin was 2 little boxes of stickers. She pulled them out saw what they were and stated "poop." I died laughing. You see when Josie goes poopy on the potty like a big girl she gets a sticker. That is the only time now that she gets stickers. When she was younger she loved them, so we thought it would be an excellent reward if she wanted her pretty sticker she would do her business where she was suppose to. It works like a charm. Anyways, so she would show the box to my Dad state "poop" and went and placed the box on the kitchen counter. I had to explain what she was doing and why she was saying those words to my Dad. She was putting them on the counter that way when she got her reward they were there. That is where we keep them at home. He thought it was really funny as did we.

Next, came time to Trick or Treat at Grandma Debbie's and Grandpa Terry's. Josie loved showing off her costume and of course the butt loads of candy she got. They walked with us in the parade in town. I will post more on that later.

It was Uncle Eddie's birthday, so after the Trick or Treating we ventured over to his house for a costume party. It was so much fun! Since, Josie went as a Munchkin from the Wizard of Oz, you know one of the Lollipop Kids, Brent and I also decided to go as Munchkins. So, we were a family of Munchkins. I had to make Brent's shoes and my hat, dress, and shoes. Let me just tell you I should have thought well in advance and made the costumes earlier. I was up late Friday night putting the finishing touches on the costumes. Brent's was rather easy, I just had to do some shopping, but you know how it is when you are looking for something very specific you can never find it and when you are not looking for it is when you find things. Well, that is what I encountered.

Most of the family dressed up as members of the Addams family. Lets just say they rocked the party and Cousins It's hair was out of control! They looked really good and was just like the real Addams Family. If there is a costume party next year, I can not wait to see what they all go as. This will be hard to beat.

Here are a few photos of our Halloween fun!



Munchkin Family


Cute as can be. Yes, I made my hat! Doesn't it look ausome. I am very proud of it.


Daddy and his little Munchkin Josie


"We represent the Lollipop Kids, the Lollipop Kids, the Lollipop Kids, we represent the Lollipop Kids and we welcome you to Munchkin Land!" Lets just say "Real Men" wear tights. If you did not notice those are not socks Brent is wearing, oh no they are tights baby!


the costume I had to made and in my opinion did an excellent job. Go me!


"Got Lollipop?!"


Hey Y'all!


I love Halloween!


I absoultely love this photo. Don't you?


Mommy and her jumping bean Munchkin


Cute as can be!


Don't you just love Halloween!


Josie in her Munchkin costume


Trick or Treat


Can we go Trick or Treating yet? I've been good!

Happy Pumpkin Carving Time!

Everyone celebrates Halloween in all different ways. However, who could not forget the art of Pumpkin Carving. On Friday afternoon, when I got home from work, but before Brent went to work we decided we needed to carve our pumpkins. Josie had a blast. At first she was kind of skeptical. She put her hand in the pumpkin to scrap out the seeds and stated "eww...yucky" and tried to get all of the seeds off of her little hand. However, after that moment she was a pumpkin seed maniac. She kept pulling up her sleeved and going in both hands at the same time to retrieve all of the seeds. She was really good at getting out the pumpkin snot as I call it. The really slimy stringy stuff. She would pull out a handful and then shake her hand to get all of the guts off of it. Lets just say carving pumpkins in the house is not a very good idea. I had pumpkin seeds all over the kitchen floor and somehow I ended up finding one in the basement yesterday. How that happened is beyond me. It must have got transferred downstairs on the bottom of someones sock. Overall, we had a blast carving our pumpkins this year. Josie being a year older was more into the entire process and hilarious.

She is really into sharing. So, as we were carving our pumpkins and getting out the guts she would kindly say "Mommy's turn" meaning my turn to stick my hand in the pumpkin then after I did she would state "Josie's turn." It was so cute!

When we were finished, I had no other choice but to put Josie in the bathtub. She had pumpkin guts everywhere and when I say everywhere I mean everywhere. She had it in her hair, all over her clothes and we even had her sleeves pulled all of the way up, all over her face, lets just say by the looks of it she had a blast. Putting her in the tub was gross, as soon as she sat down you could see pumpkin guts floating in the water. The tub was tinted orange by the time we were finished.

What a blast we had! So, how do you think they turned out!








Trick or Treat


"Eww...gross" as she tries to get all of the pumpkin guts off of her





Look at that face. It is one of those "come on Mommy no more pictures" type of face








I'll get all of them Mommy, don't worry. I am getting really good at this.

>








Finished products


My little pumpkins!