Happy Easter!

We took lots of pictures since we didn’t get to be with ya’ll. Derek’s family came down yesterday and helped us put up a fence for our back yard. It was poor luck that it snowed all day, but bless their hearts, Derek, Josh and Dave stayed out there and finished the whole thing in 30 degree weather.  They had very red noses afterwards. The ladies of the family stayed inside and kept the Dr. Mario game busy.

  Today I made the horrible mistake of showing up to  church just 5 minutes before it started. This is *especially dangerous* to Catholics on Easter and Christmas because the rest of the Catholic world that doesn’t regularly attend mass finally lets their guilt get the best of them and shows up to only these two services.  Even five minutes before the service, it was standing room only. Now for those who managed to drag themselves in almost ten minutes late, it was shoulder to shoulder  room.

Here’s pictures!

I’ve only posted a few since  there’s 16 new photos up. There’s more at the photobucket website: http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j48/Life_by_us/

Easter Pic #1

My Jr. High glasses flashback:

She just licked me all across the cheek:

There’s also 3 new videos. Here’s one of them:

Anyhow, the home inspection the other day went fabulously. She complimented my decorating style and said that a large part of a parent feeling comfortable in leaving their child in your home all day is how well things are decorated. Basically, aesthetics are key in pleasing the potential customer. She said as soon as a parent walks into my house, they’ll be sold. I don’t often have guests outside of family at our house, so it was nice to have a stranger come in and start randomly dropping compliments.  It made my day. =)On the optimistic side, my lisence (sp?) should come in on Wednesday of this upcoming week.  She’s already given my name and phone number to several folks and given me a very high recommendation.

I really can’t wait! I’ve been shamelessly plugging my name and business into everyone’s conversation on base. Anytime we talk to anyone, I specifically ask what they do so they can ask me. Just like in most businesses, word of mouth is the single most effective advertising.

 I know this isn’t something I’ll do for the rest of my life, but I take a deep pride in knowing that any job I take on, I put myself into it one hundred percent. I suppose that’s why I enjoy working, to be completely involved . And in this instance, it’s all *mine*. I can take whatever decorating approach, creative approach, advertising approach I want to. It’s almost like having my own little shop. =) I’m probably having more fun with this than the kids will.

Love to you all!

Amanda

ALS Graduation

Derek’s been taking ALS class for the last six weeks to become a stronger Air Force leader.  Last night was his graduation and we got to get fancy and eat a nice dinner. Since it was also his birthday, it was a nice excuse to get a sitter for Caitlyn and have a nice night out just the two of us.

Here’s a couple of pictures:

Also, Caitlyn has officially said her 2nd word and it’s not.. mama….. *sighs* I spend all day with the kid and her second word is “doggie” and first word is “dada” neither of whom change her diapers. Doesn’t matter how many times I say it throughout the day she just laughs at me like “Whatever mom….”.

Here’s a video of her eventful second word:

Not Mama. No Mommy… It’s doggie. *sighs* I quit.

Update

Well, tomorrow is my first home inspection. It’ll be for safety, fire and health. The FCC ladies will be here at 9 am  to crticize and critique the cleanliness and safety aspects of the house. I’m nervous because I want it to go well… They’ll come back  for a re-check to make sure I’ve fixed whatever problems and on Wednesday we’ll have a family meeting. They do that with all the families to make sure a member of your family isn’t a psycho. The process to getting my license is slower than I’d hoped but then again, I’m highly impatient right now.

I spent all weekend working in my yard and I officially have built myself a flower bed.

There’s no flowers in it, but it’s got potential and looks pretty right now. I ordered a bench online and bought a birdbath and dug out all the grass. I replaced the grass with mulch and now the front part of the house smells like a pig judging competition.  I also did weed and feed on the lawn so we will no longer have the *worst* curb appeal on the block. (it was even worse than the vacant houses that no one maintains…)  I feel like such an over achiever. *beams*

 For the collectors: A pic of Caity in her new dress.

I still don’t know who all is going to be here for Caity’s first Easter. There’s talk that Grandpa and Uncle Josh might come down and help us build a fence. Hopefully they’ll stay long enough to eat a cadbury or two.  I don’t think we’ll do an easter egg hunt this year seeing as how she really can’t walk but I intend to buy her some cutie little eggs and let her play with them while I take shameless amounts of pictures.

New baby facts for week 8: 

Now almost half an inch long — roughly the size of a raspberry

You can’t feel his gyrations yet, but your baby is like a little jumping bean, moving in fits and starts around his watery home.

Baby Weighs 0.04 ounces or 1 gram; 0.64 inches or 1.6 cm in length.

Love to all! 

PS, Fargin hilarious new jibjab cartoon entitled “What We Call the News” http://www.jibjab.com/what_we_call_the_news

 I found this interesting:

 Every tuesday racks up another week of my pregnancy. This is week seven from LMP and the baby is only a quarter of an inch long. Here’s what Thor is currently going through.

Cells of the liver, pancreas, stomach, and lungs begin to take shape.

Elbows form.

Fingers start to develop.

Feet start to appear with tiny notches for the toes.

Ears eyes and nose start to appear.

Intestines start to form in the umbilical cord – Did you know that initially the intestines are not formed inside your baby’s body?

Teeth begin to develop under the gums.

We’ve been thinking about names. If it’s another girl, we kinda like Colleen. If it’s a boy, Colin. I want the first boy we have to take one of the names of our fathers and Derek says his family has a tradition of two middle names so the second middle name would be his great grandpa’s name. So brent for my Daddy’s middle name and Arthur for his great grandpa.

Colin Brent Arthur Williams.  Kinda makes him sound like a king, no?  We’ve also been looking at what the different names mean. If Colleen’s middle name was Erin, it would mean “Girl from Ireland.”

We’re still not decided, but it’s fun to think about. Got any names inputs?

My funniness for today

 Watch this for a smile. Also, anything else that this creator makes is a guaranteed laugh fest.  Go to youtube.com and check out anything from ” guywiththeglasses “.

Love to you all!

Cuteness Overload

I now need to make up for lost time. I’ve been slacking in the picture department for the last week so here’s the chance for catch up.

Caitlyn crawling/buffing our floors:

 Since today was one of the first warm days of the season (a whopping 71 degrees!!!) Caity finally got to wear her cutie shorts:

Also, Mom bought the baby her first pair of bunny ears. (It was for easter, not because my name was Bunny.  Derek almost had a heart attack about that… )

And my revolutionairy new invention. You’ve seen the punks wearing fingerless gloves? Introducing toe-less socks! Allows movement without the binding feeling of toe socks:

Or I could  just mend my socks. But isn’t that just what you wanted to see? I humongous picture of my foot? I’m telling you, this’ll be a trend setter idea… I oughta copyright it.

Love to you all!

Amanda

PS, I’d had a TON more stuff written but someone’s WoW game took up all the bandwicth and shut down the server when I hit “submit.” So enjoy the abridged version. =)

A time for corruption

Okay, I’ve officially completed the  FCC (Family Child Care)courses and will be up for review for my license in two weeks or less. I still have a fire, health, safety  etc screening of my house to do and this afternoon is my health assessment to make sure I can handle  up to 5 kids going nuts around me. I’m in the middle of putting those tiny locks on the cabinetry so the kids can’t get into them. I think it might safely keep my hubby out of them too. =)  I now know why some people hire a handy man to come install these stupid things… I’m a relatively handy person but even I’m finding a few choice words come out of my mouth. Anyhow, Caitlyn spent the week at her Grandma’s house and I took my week’s worth of courses. I missed her so badly… But I swear I could hear her in the house. I heard her laughter, her squeals and even heard her pulling on the blinds. (She must’ve been thinking about doing it… She knows that’s a no-no.)

 Derek’s already frustrated about this new FCC job. It’s causing a couple changes around the house and he finds it frustrating. Every bookshelf, every desk every ledge that is 3 feet or shorter has had it’s contents replaced with non-breakable items and baby books.  Plus, now during daycare hours  I can only feed the kids USDA approved meal plans. This includes Caitlyn… Her daddy thinks it’s stupid that we can’t feed our own child what we want to feed her in our own house. Oh well, he’ll get over it.

 I’m quickly getting excited. I’d thought about only watching one or two kids just so Caity could have a playmate, but now I’m thinking about having a few more. I can watch up to 5 kids not including my own and it’s just like a tiny daycare. =) They take naps, we sing, we have dance time, go for walks play with blocks and so on. This is gonna be fun! They have super strict regulations and I get several suprise visits from the state each month but so long as there’s no strychnine in the applesauce, I think I can pass. Plus, my supervisor has this huge room FULL of fun toys and kids furniture that I can sign out and keep as long as I want. Teeny tiny chairs, a teeny little table set and itty bitty cubby holes! I wonder if the kids will have half as much fun as I will with all of this..?

 Brandino and Wendeho, I’ve put you down as references (since we worked together) so if they feel like calling you don’t be alarmed and be sure to tell them what a horrible person I am!

I’ll send pictures once I start getting kids.

Love to you all!

We’re PREGNANT!!!!!!

WOOHOO! I know it’s only been two months of trying but it feels like an eternity when you have to wait. Geez, even the two weeks from fertile time to testing time is an eon.(don’t get me started on the lifetime of three minutes it took to show the test positive.) Anyhow, Derek’s new mantra is “Boy, boy,boy. Very tall boy.” I’ve already gone to the lab to have my blood tested and it also came back positive so it wasn’t a fluke. My first doctor’s appointment is in April on Friday the 13th (I scoff at bad omens. HA!) and I should be due around November 16th-ish.

Michy, you weren’t the only one that said “Already?” I didn’t understand it before I had Caitlyn either. When you have a baby and want a big family, the next one can’t come fast enough.  My empty arms have been aching for long enough now and Derek’s been pushing me since Caitlyn was 2 months old. As it stands, Caity will be a year and a half old when the new baby is born and old enough to understand that she gets to be mommy’s big helper with our new baby. She’s so funny with baby’s already. Anyone her age or younger she sees, she starts clapping and waving at them and as I whisper, “See the baby?” she starts giggling. I need a tiny snuggle peanut and now God has blessed me with another one. Chel-Belle called this morning and said, “But you *just* got back to your goal weight!” I know, I know… Funny the things we do for those whom we love.

 The best part about this one is how close I’ll be to family. Derek’s family has been a lifesaver in the way of “Me =  no friends and lonely.” Every other weekend I get to BS and make fun of my gal pals (his mom and sisters) and they give it right back to me. I *love* it. I can’t wait till they start patting my tummy and asking me why I’ve gotten so fat lately.  (Don’t worry Mom, the third snuggle peanut will happen when I’m in Texas with you and Daddy can make lame jokes about me swallowing watermelon seeds.)

Allrighty folks, you know the drill. For far away friends and family we take monthly pictures. Here’s month one in all of it’s blindingly white glory:

I love you all!

Desperation

As you can see on the video, we’re so freaking close to ‘Dada’ and ‘Mama’ it’s unreal. We spend all day talking to her, I guess it’s finally taking effect.

     Good news on the Memaw front: It was exactly a month from yesterday that she fell.(no, that’s not the good news…) She went to the doctor yesterday and was going to ask if she could soon go to the cane instead of the walker. But he told her she might not even *need* the cane. He said she was walking pretty well without a limp and might be off help completely by the end of the month! WOO HOO! It’s just in time for me to come down in July and wrestle with her. ( I think I can take her.)

 Next week is my classes to become a professional family child care provider. (for future reference, it’s called FCC) It’ll be about a week long and instead of spending two hundred dollars to pay someone to watch Caitlyn while I’m in class, she might get to spend the week at Grandma’s house in Indiana. (it just depends on her work schedule.) It’ll be crazy hard to be without my Lovebug for a whole week but I know it’ll be for the best. Derek’s on daytime classes next week too so he can keep me busy in the evening when I’d normally be playing with my girl.

In other (slightly TMI) news, we’re trying for baby #2. We saw a 3 week old baby girl in church on Sunday and my heart nearly broke. I need a new snuggle peanut. Caity doesn’t let me snuggle anymore, she’s reached an independant stage where she wants to do everything by herself and doesn’t want me holding onto her anymore. (Mom says I did the same thing so it’s my bittersweet justice.) During my first pregnancy I swore I was going to adopt all the rest but now I’m actually crazy enough to go through it all again. What is WRONG with my HEAD?!?

  Love to all!

“I have achieved that goal.” (Props to “baby” Ryan Shawker)

Yes folks, today is the day. I’ve finally achieved my weight loss goal. I officially weigh 155 pounds. I wanted to go down to 150 just for extra good measure but Derek told me it’s time to stop. (he doesn’t like breakable women.) I spent all of my highschool, college and IHOP years at this weight and it’s hard to believe I’m finally there. GOD BLESS SLIM FAST! (go to www.slim-fast.com )

 I know this might sound silly to you but I actually got hit on at the grocery store on Monday and my head was so inflated, I almost didn’t fit through the bread aisle. I weighed in at 196 after I had the baby and have officially lost 41 pounds.  I probably could’ve done it faster if I’d actually exercised every day. Funny thing is, I lost more weight with Slim Fast (and light minimal exercise) than I did with daily Tae Bo. (although Billy Blanks was a blast) 

  Even better: I can fit into my skinny pants again! WOOT! The coolest part is that the slimfast website taught me how to keep it off and loads of information  on how to stay healthy. (yes I’ll send them a thank you letter)

 In news *not* related to me, Caitlyn is getting in her third tooth!! It’s her upper left tooth and it’s only taken 4 months to do so. (I was afraid she’d have to gum down jello for the rest of her life.) It’s barely peeking through so once it grows a little more I’ll take pictures. Also, we got Caity her first “big girl” dresser. It’s a tall 5 drawer dresser in dark wood and is most definitely *NOT* the tupperware bins we’d been using up until now. (tacky, I know. I’m just a cheapo.)

  For the next few weeks Derek will be going to leadership classes to become a supervisor so I actually get to have him home in the evenins. Plus, I’ll be starting my child care classes on March 15th so I can do home care child sitting.  It’s an extra 500 bucks a month per child. I really only want one, maybe two kids around for Caitlyn’s interaction. I’m really not that interested in the cash but it’ll be a nice bonus. Since it’s only during the week day mornings, I’ll have evenings to myself and weekends for the inlaws.

 Love to you all!