Wednesday, April 30, 2008

check these out

You've got to see these adorable pictures that Nena took of Elsie the other night. Thanks, Nena!

My weekend getaway

Aaron had a CLE he had to go to up in Winthrop, WA this past weekend. I went up with him while Elsie hung out with Grandma and GiGi. I had never driven through that part of WA, and it was absolutely gorgeous. We had to go through Wenatchee and then go up north. The town of Winthrop is tiny and really cute. The main street looks like an old western town. I am so mad that I forgot to take my camera! Anyway, Aaron and I drove up Friday morning and I dropped him off at the lodge where his conference was. I just drove around the area for a little bit and then went back to our hotel and read and slept. It was really nice to relax and do absolutely nothing! After I picked Aaron up, we went out to eat and got a treat for later that night. We hung out at our hotel and played Ticket to Ride (just for the record...I dominated!). It was a wonderful, relaxing day. Saturday morning we ate breakfast and I took him to his morning session. Then, I got a massage! It was fabulous. After he was done, we ate some lunch at a great deli there and walked around a bit. The weather was really nice on Saturday, so it was great to be out.


We drove down to Chelan (where my mom, angie, and elsie were) that afternoon to meet up with them. Aaron took Elsie back to Moses Lake while I stayed there to hang out with the girls. Angie had invited a few of her friends to come up to this timeshare my mom had for the weekend. You'll have to look at Angie's blog for a great recap!


I really enjoyed having this weekend as a little vacation from everyday life. I appreciate so much that Aaron was more than willing to take Elsie overnight so that I could stay up in Chelan with the girls. I feel like I got spoiled...as usual!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Summer Lovin'

I can't wait to see the sun every day. I can't wait to see Elsie in her new summer clothes and cute swimsuit. I can't wait to swim with Elsie every day. I can't wait to wear flip-flops every day. I can't wait to get tan!!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

I can tell it's time for a vacation

I couldn't even think about what to title this post because it really is not that exciting.

- We went to the doctor again last week for Elsie's 15-month check-up. She is a whopping 18 lbs. and is 27 1/2 in. long. I don't think she's grown in height since her 12 month check. The doctor was not very pleased with her minimal weight gain, so he wants me to really work on getting her to eat more. NO KIDDING! I wish everyone could really see how much I try to get her to eat things. She just won't. There are always a few things that she likes, but they change fairly consistently. She nevers adds to the list of acceptable foods...she only replaces things. I will have to say that her appetite is way better now that she is finally feeling well. We just have to keep plenty of toast around. That should fatten her up, right?! It's worked for me all these years. Elsie's not walking yet, but she really has fun holding on to us and walking around. It's pretty cute to see her short, little legs trying to take steps.

- Aaron and I spent this past Saturday helping my mom clean out and organize her garage. She bought some shelves at Home Depot that we put together and got everything cleaned up. It looks so much better. I don't mind so much doing that kind of stuff...it is so satisfying when it's all done. We're going to have a garage sale in a few weeks to get rid of some stuff that she doesn't need anymore. I discovered that I still had a couple bins of childhood/high school memorabilia out there. I still have my drill poms! Maybe Elsie will play with them someday. Or maybe I should get rid of them...they are pretty dirty. And, yes, Angie and I still have our Barbies out there. As soon as I get back into a house, I'll have to take that stuff out of there to keep it looking clean. Although my few bins is nothing compared to Mitch's 10+ bins of who knows what!

- I had this weird shoulder problem for several days last week. I woke up Wednesday morning feeling fine, but I bent over to pick up a bag for Aaron and got this shooting pain up my neck. It kind of froze up on me for a minute and then my neck and left shoulder were completely stiff. It took a few days for it to feel good enough to move around and sleep on. I think I'm getting old.

- I think Elsie is finally getting ready to give up her morning nap. I'm not too thrilled about this. She skipped it on Sunday and today. I'm not sure what to do. She took a two hour morning nap yesterday (usually it's only an hour). I guess I'll just keep trying to put her down for a power nap in the morning. The only good part about ditching the morning nap is that I can go to my aerobics class at the gym since it's right when she normally naps.

- The house is still not sold. It is slowly driving Aaron and I insane.

Life is good, but I need a vacation!!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Happy Birthday, Piper!

Just had to say happy birthday to our special aunt and sister-in-law. We love you so much and hope you have a great day. We'll be there in a month to celebrate!

Here's more Elsie!

This past month hasn't been so great. It started with Elsie going to the hospital with a UTI. Then we all got sick with stomach stuff. Then Elsie got another UTI and she is now getting over a cold. We are sick of being sick! So, here are a few more pictures of Elsie over the last couple weeks as we've been hanging around the house.
Elsie LOVES helping me empty the dishwasher. Whenever I have it open she likes to pull out the silverware and bang it on the dishwasher door. Like I've said before, Elsie loves to sit on her daddy's lap while he's working. I love this picture, though, because she is making one of her funny faces. She always has her tongue out, lips curled in, and eyebrows down.
Elsie loves to sit on the counter and play with cups, silverware, or whatever else she can get her hands on.
Look at those gorgeous eyelashes! Even though she was so sick, I managed to get a smile out of her. Nice hair, huh?!
Another Elsie face! She's trying to get the camera.

I love how her eyes smile when she's happy!
Elsie has a little hippo that she can ride on and she has just recently discovered it. She was laughing so hard, but as soon as she saw the camera she got all quiet. Aaron tried hiding the camera while I pushed her, so you can kind of hear her laugh.

Easter pics...a little late :)

Elsie's favorite part of her Easter basket was shaking the plastic eggs full of jelly beans. The Easter Bunny brought Elsie a few treats, but she didn't really care. Oh well! Elsie and her cousin, Kaiya, had matching dresses. They were so cute! Yes, we were a matching family for Easter. I know the picture is actually pretty bad of all of us, but I had to show you all how cute we were. I got Elsie dressed and then Aaron put on his purple shirt to be springy. So, of course, I had to wear my green shirt to be perfectly coordinated.Elsie was still not feeling so well on Easter (it was just a couple days after the hospital experience) but we took her out to see if she would try going after an egg. Can you tell it was so cold outside?!
Once we remembered to take her hand covers off, she actually wanted to hold one. Here she's trying to give it to me. How sweet!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

deep breath

Wow, I need to settle down! I have a tendency to get down easily, and I really need to stop that. I can say that I'm feeling better about things already because we got the EOB from our insurance and the hospital (because of their provider's contract) has adjust the charge BIG TIME!! That helps us out so much! Our deductible is high, which was our choice, so we should only have to pay that amount. Seriously, I feel so much better.

bad attitude

I've got a bad attitude! I haven't blogged because I didn't want to spread it around. But I just need to vent.

Elsie got sick with diarrhea/vomiting last Saturday. Then it spread to Aaron and I. We're better, but Elsie is still getting over it. She absolutely refuses to drink liquids (maybe a sip here and there). I do think it's getting better, though. See, I'm trying to be positive.

We got our bill from the hospital. $14000!! What the heck?! Granted, they haven't been paid by our insurance yet, and, with the fabulous coverage that we have, we might only get stuck paying half of it. Well, there goes our plans to get a house or have another child. OK, I'm being dramatic...we're not that bad off. I'm just disgusted that the hospital can charge that much for what little they did for Elsie. It just stinks!!

Then there is the house. Why won't it sell? Nobody is even looking at it. We went around town looking at houses last week for fun and realized the market here is still really good and we really can't do anything until that house sells. I guess we can rent it. I just don't get it.

Phew, that made me feel better.

The good news is...(I'm trying)...it's sunny today. I know I have a lot to be grateful for, and I am. I've just been holed up in this house for the past 4 days, and I'm starting to go crazy. I'll be back later with a big smile on my face. :)