Happy Holidays

From our little family,

Russell, Lisa and Chloe Jo

I didn't take a picture of our Christmas card, but these are the pictures that were sent out with them.

Bag o' Change Time!

Every year my Granny Tiger and Grand Pappy save their change up to give to their grandkids and great grandkids. We each get to get 1 handful of change from the bag. While this doesn't sound so hard, it is! My Granny loves to wiggle the bag around and do everything she can to make it hard to get a good handful of change! It's hilarious. Since we aren't able to be home for Christmas this year, my Granny sent Chloe Jo her own bag of change!

And just for fun, here is another video that I took of Chloe Jo recently.

Resolutions from 2010

I'm very happy with the way my 2010 goals came out. I didn't get 100%, but I still did get most of them done! Here is the update for 2010. I will do a separate post on my new goals for 2011.

1. Be a better mother to Chloe Jo. CHECK! Always room for improvement, though. I think this goal and the next goal are going to be taken off of my list for next year because these are things that are continuous through my life.

2. Be a better wife to Russ. CHECK! or so he says.
3. Read the Bible through out loud to Chloe Jo. Almost CHECK! I have a few more days left to read to her, but I am so close that I am going to get it done.
4. Lose the 10 pounds I gained during the holidays and keep the weight off during the year. Um, not a CHECK at all. I have actually gained about 10 more pounds. Sigh. It's an ongoing battle for me.
5. Work out a few times a week and eat right to be healthier overall. CHECK! Okay...half-CHECK. I am healthier overall, but I am not good at working out every week. I'm pretty hit and miss with that.
6. Pay off the car and credit card. Half-CHECK! We paid off the car, but we didn't get the credit card. That is going to take us a little longer than a year, I'm afraid.
7. Be better with our money. CHECK! Even though I didn't get the credit card paid off, I have done really good with budgeting and sticking to it this year.
8. Have a better attitude about moving and about being part of a preacher's family. CHECK! I am loving South Carolina so much!
9. Be a better support to my husband. CHECK! I do get down about not living around my family, but I love being a preacher's wife and I love most things that are associated with being a preacher's wife.

I'm excited to have started my list of resolutions for 2011! I will share those with you after the New Year.

In the end, the party was a success.

So yesterday had a bit of a rough start, but, at the end, Russ and I successfully pulled off a great party.

When we got up, the first thing we did was clean the house. Chloe Jo loves to help clean. She did a great job dusting the doors, her bed and the couch. Ha! After she got bored with that, she decided to get into everything and bug me to the point of me wanting to scream. Silly thing. She knew something was up.

Since I was cleaning, I went ahead and started the washing machine. 20 minutes later, I realized that I didn't put the pile of clothes in it. It had been washing with nothing in it! That was strike #1 for me.

Strike #2 came when I was making puppy chow for the desert table. Puppy chow is Crispex covered with melted chocolate and peanut butter, covered with powdered sugar. It is yummy! I had put the powdered sugar in a ziploc with the Crispex and started shaking it up to make the powdered sugar coat the Crispex. While I was shaking my bag burst open and made an enormous mess in the kitchen that I had just finished cleaning! It's pretty funny now that I'm typing about it, but it was so frustrating at the time.

Strike #3 was the fact that I completely burned the bottom of the pigs in a blanket. Russ said they were just a little burnt. He's too kind. They were completely black on the bottoms.

Even though I got 3 strikes during the day, the party was tons of fun. We had lots of good food, fellowship and fun!

Yummy. I love finger foods.

I ended up making pigs in a blanket, puppy chow, chocolate covered pretzels, cheesecake cupcakes, sausage balls, homemade apple cider and homemade hot chocolate. The apple cider turned out awesome! It was a new recipe and I loved it. The hot chocolate was also a new recipe, but I didn't like it at all. It was way too chocolatey...if that is even possible!

The ornament exchange was hilariously fun. I had everyone write down a fact about themselves that the others might not know. I handed out the note cards to write on before we ate so they would have time to think about what they wanted to write down. I picked up the cards and read each one out loud one at a time. The person who guessed who the note card was written by got to choose an ornament from the pile. Since I had made the game completely up, it went really well and I think everyone else had a good time playing.

All in all, the party turned out great...even if I did coat the kitchen with powdered sugar beforehand.

20 Months!!!

Chloe Jo is 20 months old today. There is something about seeing a 2 there that is a little surreal. Could it really have been 20 months ago that I our beautiful daughter? In 4 short months she will be turning 2. Oh my. I'm going to have a 2 year old.

So what has Chloe Jo been up to lately?

She is wearing size 18 months and 24 months clothes. She can get away with 24 months in dresses and shirts and is just starting to fit into a few pairs of the pants.

She is completely day time potty trained which has been awesome. Yes, she still has accidents now and then, but it is not very often at all. She is still wearing a pull-up for nap time and night time. She usually wakes up from nap time dry, but she has only woken up in the morning dry once. Hey, for her only being 20 months old, I think that is awesome!

She is still not interested in talking much. She does say a few things here and there, but for the most part she refuses to repeat after me or learn new words. Although, I think she is learning them, she just doesn't want me to know about it. She loves to say "thank you" after I give her something or help her with something. It comes out more like "danka" for her. This is not something that I have really worked on with her. She started doing this on her own. She babbles a lot, but I can't understand her most of the time.

She is really great about helping to pick up her toys and she loves to help me clean. Her favorite thing is to help put the pillows on the bed in the morning when we make it and to dust. She should be the face of Swiffer Dusters. She loves them!

She still will cry when we put her down for nap or bedtime. Luckily, it's not for 30 minutes like she used to. She will cry for a minute or 2 and then go right to sleep. This has been a very welcome change. Some nights I had to leave so I didn't have to listen to her cry for so long. She always wakes up cranky from nap, though. I don't understand it. She takes great naps - usually at least 1 hour, sometimes close to 3. It doesn't matter how long it is, she has to cry and boo hoo for at least 30 minutes after. Some days I make her get back in bed until she can calm down enough to come back out. If I do that, she is usually fine afterwards.

Her favorite toys are a set of dishes I had put in her toybox in the closet. She found them about a week ago and has loved playing with them ever since. She also loves dolls and can't get enough of pushing them around in her kiddie stroller. Her favorite dolls to play with are 2 of mine from when I was little. They are hard plastic and I think they are a bit ugly. She has much more snuggly dolls, but she wants my ugly, hard ones. She has finally started playing with her puzzles. I have been trying to get her to like puzzles for a long time and she just never cared about them. The other day she got one down and put it together almost by herself. I had to help a very little bit. Now she loves to do them with me and she is pretty good at them.

Her favorite thing in the world is reading. She will bring me book after book after book to read to her. She loves to point at pictures and have me tell her what they are. She refuses to repeat the words, but I know she is learning because she understands when I tell her to bring me this or that. I do wish she would talk more, but that will come with time.

Her hair is finally starting to look better. Her bangs are growing back out and I'm happy about that. Shortly after I trimmed them I decided that I hated it. I think little girls with bangs and a bob are so cute, but I just don't care for it on Chloe Jo. I'm going to let them grow out and let her hair grow long. It still is a mullet, but I'm just going to let it grow until I can't stand it anymore. Her hair is looking cuter and cuter when I put it in pigtails since it is getting so long in the back.

October and November were big growth spurt months. All Chloe Jo wanted to do was eat. Now she is the opposite. I think the growth spurts are done for now and now she is not wanting to eat very much at all. She used to be such a good eater and now she's so not. If she doesn't like the way something looks, it's not going into her mouth. Silly thing. I hope she gets over that and starts eating everything again.

She weighs 24 pounds which put her closer to the 25th percentile again. She almost got to the 50th, but went back down. She is just skinny...

and tall. She is currently measuring 32 1/4 inches putting her on the higher side of the 50th percentile. She went down in percentile in weight and up in height. I hope she stays tall and skinny. I don't want her to have the weight problems her daddy and I have.

That's all the update I have right now. I still can't believe she is already 20 months old. I think I hear her playing with ornaments on the tree so I must run. See you guys around!

Let me run an idea by you.

On Saturday evening we are having a Christmas party. I have asked everyone to bring an ornament for a gift exchange. I hate the game where you can steal gifts so I'm not going to do that one. I've been trying to think of a game we could play and I came up with an idea that I wanted to run by you all. I think it might be fun, but let me know what you think. And don't be afraid to be honest about it!

My idea is this: The people that we have invited are from church and we are a pretty close knit group. Besides Russ and I, everyone knows everyone else very well. When they come in, the first thing I want to do is give them each a note card to write down one thing about themselves that the others might not know. I'm going to take the note cards and I won't let anyone else look at them. When it comes time for the game, I'm going to read a note card and everyone else can guess who the item goes with. If they guess right, they will get to pick a gift to open.

So what do you all think? Also, if you have a different idea, feel free to comment. I have also looked at doing a Yankee Swap and a Right or Left game.

My little Ramona Quimby

Last night Russ received a code for a free movie rental from Blockbuster Express. Since I was grocery shopping, he sent it to me to stop by on my way home. I chose the movie Ramona and Beezus. If you are unfamiliar with Ramona Geraldine Quimby, you are missing out! Beverly Cleary wrote several Ramona books and I read them when I was a child. Beverly Cleary is one of the best children's authors and I have always loved everything she has written.

Ramona and Beezus did not disappoint! It was the cutest movie and it was very close to the book. The actors were perfect. The script was perfect. Everything was perfect and I loved it. It made me reminisce about when I read the books when I was little.

The thing I love most about Ramona is that she has a heart of gold, but a mischievous streak that often gets her in trouble. She loves fairy tales and daydreaming. She hates spelling.

One of the biggest things that struck me while watching this movie is that I have a little Ramona Quimby. Chloe Jo's personality is already so much like Ramona's. She is such a little sweetie with a mischievous streak the size of the Mississippi. I can't wait to color the longest picture in the world with her like Ramona and her father did!

I had to add these last couple of pictures. Her little tights are so cute!

How cute are these!?!

Russ and I were in the mall on Friday and passed a store called Crazy 8. I had seen the store several times before, but it looked like a Gymboree so I never went it because I'm not willing to pay Gymboree prices. They had a sale sign in the window so we went in. The clothes were very much like Gymboree, but with great prices! I even commented to Russ that it was Gymboree, but cheaper. A few minutes later a sales clerk brought out a box of merchandise with the name Gymboree on it. I guess it is owned by Gymboree. They have super cute stuff at prices I am willing to pay and we bought Chloe Jo's whole outfit (except shoes) there.

Geesh, my blog has become an advertisement lately. I'll try to remedy that!

Books, books and more books!!!

I few months ago I heard about Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. This is a program that Dolly Parton started to give books to pre-school age children. I was so excited about the program because any child under the age of 5 can enroll and will receive a free book every single month until they turn 5. I tried to enroll Chloe Jo online, but was not able to so I asked about the program at our local library. I was able to sign Chloe Jo up for it, but was told that there is a very long waiting list and to not expect to get anything for some time. A few weeks after I had enrolled Chloe in the program I read in our local newspaper that our library had received funds for the Imagination Library. The sum wasn't huge so I didn't think we would be on the list yet. Imagine my surprise when I went to get the mail today and there was a book from The Imagination Library nestled between the heap of junk mail!?!? I was so excited. I ran back into the house and gave Chloe Jo her new book.

You can't tell, but Chloe Jo was excited about her new book, too....on the inside.

She did get a little more excited when she realized that it is a big girl book not a board book. Seriously, though, the girl loves books. One afternoon she kept bringing me books and I just kept reading them to her. An hour later, I had read every single board book that we own to her. 36 books. Seriously, the girl has a reading addiction. I. Love. It. If you have a child under the age of 5, I highly recommend enrolling them in this program. It is completely free and the books are mailed right to your house so absolutely no effort on your part after signing them up initially.

This is another free book that we got in the mail about a week ago. Gilt Groupe did an offer for new customers a month or so ago and I signed up. Because I was a new customer they gave me a $20.00 store credit and I found this super cute book that was....I don't remember how much it was, but it was under $20.00 and I ended up paying nary a cent.

This is an adorable book all about fashions through the ages. I love fashion (even though I don't follow many of the trends or spend the money to wear "fashion" myself) and I love looking a pictures of stars and models in magazines or online. If I was going to buy something high-end and fashionable it would be either a Prada bag or Christian Louboutin pumps. I love the red soles! Anyway, if you have a fashionista or girly girl in your house, this book would make a great gift!

I had a comment from a reader that is experiencing difficulty opening my blog. Is anyone else having issues? She said it will only load halfway and mine is the only one that is doing that for her. It loads fine for me so I was wondering if anyone else is having the problem?

Chloe Jo's awesome mohawk

My Diet - Month 1

So maybe starting a new fertility diet during the holiday season wasn't my best idea ever. Although, it's not like we have a lot of holiday parties or dinners to go to around here. I digress. This post isn't about my lack of good judgement. This is about Month 1 of my new fertility diet. I have to say I did pretty lousy. For real. Here is a basic list of what I am supposed to be doing:

1. Taking these vitamins and herbs:

a. Prenatal vitamin - I am trying to use up my multi's before starting the prenatal. The book said to find a prenatal that you take 3 times per day, but I have not found one over the counter and I'm not going to get a script for one. They are expensive enough as it is.

b. Folic Acid - I added this one for personal reasons

c. Calcium - another one I added because my fertility type is supposed to stay away from dairy products.

d. Vitamin B1 - Another I added because a B1 deficiency has been linked to anovulation (my infertility problem).

e. Royal Jelly - I take this 3 times a day.

f. Wheatgrass - I take 5 of these in the morning.

g. Chromium

h. L-Arginine

i. Chaste Tree Berry - I am taking this in capsule form 3 times a day, but it also comes as a tincture. I don't know if there is a big difference and my book didn't specify which to use.

j. False Unicorn Root - This is a tincture that I stir into a small amount of water and drink.

I know that I take a lot of supplements every day, but this is a list that I am very comfortable with. Also, I didn't start them all on 1 day, though I was taking them all on November 1st. I took my time so I didn't inadvertently send my system into shock. I am very religious about taking all of my supplements every day. And I want to think I can tell a difference, but I just don't know. I have spent so much time analyzing every single feeling and twinge that I don't trust myself.

Another thing I do is drink hot tea 3 times a day. I mix my tea myself from a recipe in my book. The bad thing about it is that I can't find tea leaves that aren't in individual packets. I've looked at several stores including a health food store. So I've been getting the boxes with the packets, opening them all and mixing it in a plastic container. At first I didn't like the tea much. It's grown on me and I've been enjoying it much more.

I've also been eating flaxseeds. Flaxseeds are known to balance hormones and boost fertility. I eat 2 tablespoons every day. I just mix them up with my oatmeal in the morning. I buy them at the health food store and grind them up in my blender.

So I've done very good with everything that I've listed so far. The part that I'm not so good about is exercising and changing the way I eat. I didn't expect to be able to go into this 100%, but I really haven't done very good at all. I did good with the exercise the first week and then....well....not so much. I would give you a list of excuses, but the real reason is that I'm just lazy.

As for the other part of that, the changing the way I eat, I didn't do that bad until last week when I got sick. Since then it's kind of gone out the window. I am supposed to be eating 50% complex carbs, 30% vegetables and fruit and 20% proteins. It is so hard to judge that every day! I have been buying fruits and vegetables from the Farmer's Market and trying to find healthier recipes to use. There is also a list of things to try to stay away from including dairy and wheat. This is so much harder than I thought it would be. I am fine with not drinking milk or eating yogurt, but the cheese! Oh the cheese! I'm having a hard time living without cheese. And honestly, I'm not. I've ate enough cheese this week to kill my whole diet. Sigh. I'm going to be better about this.

Month 1 is over and I'm heading into Month 2 of the fertility diet. My number 1 goal for this month is to not go too crazy at our holiday party or on Christmas. I have to also start exercising and do better with what I'm eating. I know I can do this and my goal is to try the whole diet for 6 months. If things don't work out by then, Russ and I will re-evaluate and go from there. Here's to hoping for good things!!!

Junk Heap

*Still not feeling well. Today my nose is no longer stuffed up, though. It's now runny and I am sneezing constantly. Oh, the joys of having a cold. I even stayed home from Bible class last night which is virtually unheard of for me. Russ is at the office today and I am back to watching the munchkin.

*She is really testing boundaries lately. I thought the terrible two's had started a month ago. I think that was just the preliminaries. This week she has started sitting down on the ground if she doesn't get her way. It's not quite throwing herself on the ground, but it is so close to a tantrum that discipline is needed. I guess I'm lucky that she hasn't done this before. What she doesn't realize is that I'll win. Period.

*4 years ago I started making Christmas cards to send out to family and select friends. I started making this years cards a couple of days ago. I have to say that I'm not loving them. The problem is that I outdid myself last year and I will never be able to top the cards last year. I loved them. I love my paper this year. I'm just having a creative block. They are okay, but not great like I like.

*I have finished Christmas for everyone except for Russ and one other. I know what I am going to get to finish Russ', but the other is a little more complicated. I started something. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to finish it. So the problem is whether I wait and see if I can finish it or go and buy something or I could even create something smaller. I'm not sure and I need to decide.

*I finished a couple more books that were on my top 100 list. And then I checked out War and Peace. Because having a book that is over 1200 pages to read during the busy holidays is really smart. I may just take it back and get something smaller.

*Russ and I sent out invitations to a holiday party we are going to have next Saturday. I'm excited about it and I already have decided what I'm going to make for it. We do need to go get a couple of ornaments for the ornament exchange. I also need to figure out what game to play. I really hate the Dirty Santa games. Someone always goes home with something they don't like because what they did like was stolen. It's such a great tool in teaching people not to be greedy and to love each other. Bah!

*I love that Chloe Jo is potty trained. She still has days that she has accidents, but they are getting fewer and further between. As in at least a week between. I'm not spending so much on diapers now. I still get pull-ups for night and nap time. If she wakes up dry from nap (which she usually does) then I just put the pull-up back in the diaper caddy to use for night time. It has really cut down on money spent on diapers. I never paid more than 5 or 6 dollars for packages of diapers because of coupons and sales, but I can still tell a difference in our budgeting.

*I think that is all for now. I am going to try to finish up the Christmas cards today if I can. Well, the outside anyway. We are still trying to get a good Christmas photo for the cards and I need to get color ink for our printer for the insides. Better get back to it! See you around, Blogworld!

I am sick.

I am the lucky recipient of Chloe Jo's cough. Mine came with a complimentary stuffed up nose and sore throat. I feel awful! I woke up with a tickle in my throat Sunday morning and by Sunday evening I was coughing. It has just gotten worse. Today Russ is home to take care of Chloe while I down Dayquil and orange juice, trying to get over this thing. Usually, in my case, a cold lingers for a couple of weeks at least. I hope it doesn't decide to stay. It is hard to take care of a little one and feel bad. My nerves are frazzled and Chloe Jo doesn't understand. Hopefully, today will be good for me because Russ is going to be working out of town tomorrow. Sigh.