So, where was I, oh yeah, last week I was in Baltimore for work, now I am home, next week we leave for our vacation, this week I am presenting a four day training seminar for the new Empire account reps and Leah has her Early Intervention Evaluation tomorrow and her Pre-Op physical on Wednesday. We still need to pack to do a dry run of packing the car to make sure everything fits in the car. Plus, my boss has asked me to organize a surprise wedding shower for one of my co-workers tomorrow, so I need to shop for that gift. I am so stressed out I feel like crawling under my desk and crying, but I will forge on. I will simply sit back and dream about this:

The view from the patio of the vacation home we rented:



And then I will turn on my Flip and watch this video for the 100th time because I think it is the funniest thing I have ever seen.

Joey playing with the hose

In other news, I have decided to join the gym at my work. My goal is 30 minutes 3 days a week to start, but eventually I need to do more. I am so pitifully out of shape. Over the weekend, we went to Kohls to pick up some new sleepers for Leah, and I forgot my $10 off coupon in the car. I had to "run" and go get it. Well, I was out of breath at a mere gallop. I guess 3 years of being mostly sedentary plus the stretched out ab muscles has resulted in a very sadly out of shape me. Not only that but this morning, I was emailed this picture from my trip last week. Poor girl probably thinks that if I have room left after my crab cakes I might move on to her.



Okay - So let the countdown begin 6 days until I am sitting at the beach sipping a margarita....

Business Trip - Day 3

Okay, Day three, I am totally exhausted and not even half way done with my project with only a day and a half left to go. I am so sick of eating out. I miss my babies so much I could cry. I brought my Flip with me so that I can watch little video clips of them, so that helps, but I can't wait to get home and get some big hugs. That's all for now. Boring week for blog posts I guess.

Business Trip - Day 1 - Bloody Nose

Yesterday, I headed off for a business trip and left the boys and baby girl to fend for themselves. This is in my email box this morning:



Don't call CPS just yet, these things happen when boys are being boys. My JoJo has a tendency to tackle the Ty guy every now and again. This is not our first bloody nose and chances are it won't be our last.

I can't wait to get home and give this little guy a big hug and kiss. I hate when I'm not there to take care of their boo boos.

That said, there is something magical about having a king size bed all to yourself and no one crying in the middle of the night. There is something amazing about a 2 minute drive to the office and free coffee in the hotel lobby.

Lifes Twists and Turns

Sometime life takes turns. Sometimes they are gradual turns that you barely even feel yourself making and sometimes they are abrupt last minute turns that give you whiplash and leave you wondering if you are still going the right direction. Sometimes the turns are planned out on a very detailed map, and sometimes they are detours that you did not expect and change your entire route. And sometimes one detour leads to another and next thing you know you feel completely lost. Even though you know that if you follow the signs you know that you'll probably eventually get back on track.

There is no GPS, for life. You have only your intuition and vague guidance that comes from differing sources who each have their own agenda and opinions.

I feel a little bit lost right now, like maybe I took a wrong turn somewhere and I need to find my way back. It's nothing major, just a few things that aren't working out the way I had planned. A few things that have gotten away from me. I just need to refocus, reenergize and regroup.

Anyway, on to more exciting topics – last weekend we went to Bloomington to celebrate my nieces SIXTH birthday. I can't believe how grown up she is. She is so sweet and gorgeous. It is so cliché, but time really does fly and they really do grow up fast.

My brother and sister in law recently bought a new house and I'd be lying if I didn't say that I am more than just a little jealous. Their new place is like the ultimate family home and I am so happy for them. I hope that someday Scott and I will be able to get out of our little house and into something more spacious. Unfortunately, we live in an expensive town and houses are really unaffordable here. We also live in one of the best school districts in the state and they have an amazing early intervention and special education program, so now with Leah in the mix, walking away from that would be really hard to do.

While we were in Bloomington, we went and watched little Ashley riding a BIG horse. It was hotter than hell, and the barns smelled like, well shit. Plus, I dropped Joey's sippy cup in some manure and managed to get shit all over my hands. I wanted to take a bath in Purell before I left, but it was fun to watch her and I think she got a kick out of having an audience. That said, if none of my kids ever show interest in horseback riding, I do not think I'd be too disappointed.

Here are some pics of our day at the barns. Fun times.

Ashley on her horse:


Random Horse Pic:


This is Joey's Blue Steel Look:


Ty spent most of the time running away from us and being dragged back:


And yes, the kid loves some corn on the cob:


Sundays highlights included a kick ass breakfast:



A Ham dinner - I didn't capture this fine meal, but I'll recap - The beans were undercooked, the spinach salad sat too long and was wilted and watery. The ham was scrumptious, and my mom makes the best mashed potatoes in the world.

Other than that we cleaned, did laundry, and tried to psyche ourselves up for the week ahead. Well, it's Thursday already and I feel like a blog failure, but there you have it. My weekend review. I'll probably post a bunch of randomness in the next 24 hours to catch up on my week, but then again maybe I won't. I've been feeling all kinds of unmotivated lately.

Okay - last few pics and I'm out!

Scott's Birthday Celebration!

Thank god it's over. Back when Scott and I were young and without children, we used to do this thing called birthday week, which was just an excuse to turn ones birthday into a full week of fun. So, since last Sunday, Scott has been pulling the "it's my birthday week" card every chance he gets.

I had Scott's big birthday celebration planned for months. Back in March when Cubs tickets went on sale, I suggested to my parents that they get Scott tickets to a game for his birthday. So, they bought us two bleacher seats. Months go by and we don't even look at them. They sometime mid last week, my Mom calls all frantic, cause that's how she is, and I love her for it. Anyway, turns out the tickets are for Friday, not Saturday as I had thought. Well, we both had taken last Friday off for our garage sale, plus Hilary had already asked to leave early to pick up her new dog, so there was just no way that Friday was going to work for us.

We put the tickets out on Craigslist for face value, but only got one hit and they were offering less than half. Well somewhere during all this, my aunt Mary had gotten tickets to Friday's game and was coming to town for that and my parents were attending with her, so finally we end up sending the tickets down with them wear they unload them for $35 a piece. Sadly, the ticket originally cost about $65 a piece. Oh well, I guess, nothing we can do now.

So, Scott and I take our $70 and go down town on Saturday in hopes of finding tickets for around the same cost. We get down there about two hours early and the scalpers are asking for $80 a ticket – uh – no. We decide that if we can't get in for under $100 we will just go to a bar and watch the game.

As game time gets closer, ticket prices go down. $70 a ticket, $60 a ticket, and finally $40 a ticket, but as we were wandering the streets, Scott and I started talking about the roof tops and how I had never been up there and how great that would be. So, about 30 minutes prior to game time, we are standing outside one of the houses and this group of Cinci fans comes barreling in. I say – hey, you guys got any extras in your group?. The guy stops and say, actually yes. I offer $150 for two seats. And he takes it!! I should add here that the typical face value cost of a rooftop seat is between $150-$200, so this was quite a bargain.

Okay for perspective, in case you are unfamiliar with the roof top concept this is the deal:

Rooftops over look the field from the street as illustrated below:





So now you are thinking, WHAT? You paid more to sit outside of the stadium. Yes, and I will tell you I may never sit inside again. Here's why, Rooftops have free food, beer and wine. They also just generally rock. We had so much fun, more fun than I think we've ever had inside a game. We mostly hung out with each other and this guy who we met that we called Derek, but I think his name was Andy. Anyhow, here are some pictures of us celebrating Scott's big 3-6.

Here we are - all smiles:



This is me with Andy aka "Derek" and Adam - these are the guys we got tix from. They pretty much rocked:



View from our rooftop:



Rooftop Inside Bar - note the free pizza - this was a great touch



Okay - that's all I got. I just had the phone no camera, so sorry about poor photo quality, but it was so much fun.

Other news - I have my first appointment with Early Intervention tomorrow. They call this the intake meeting and have advised me that it will be filling out paperwork and hearing about the program, so no big deal.

Oh, and Scott got selected for a jury. Yep, he's been on jury duty all week. He isn't allowed to talk to me about, so I don't know any details, just that it's a criminal case and he will likely be there all week!

Raining on my Parade

Last night I shared my make over plans with Scott and he reminded me that we have three kids and that I am not allowed to buy myself new clothes and shoes all willy nilly just because I want a new wardrobe. Bummer.

He did however concede to letting me buy my boots as long as I wait until Macy's sends one of those 20% off coupons in the mail. You know the ones that exclude everything on the back. But, I think that the boots will be included because they are not brand name. So, now, I run home eagerly every day to check the mailbox, and so far have been disappointed. So, maybe I won't be a diva by December, but oh well, life goes on.

I am still going to get that haircut though. I have gift cards from my birthday stashed away somewhere. I will call today for the appointment.

Speaking of appointments, I complained last week about all the appointments that I need to schedule for Leah and how overwhelming it all was. Well, I finally called the Nuerosuergery Deptartment at Childrens to find out if they got all our tests, and they advised me that they had, the tests had been reviewed and that their recommendation was that Leah does not need an appointment, barring any unusual head growth. So, all that worry was for nothing. I wish I'd made that call about a month ago. Oh well, lesson learned. So now, I just need to get to Milwaukee for a blood draw. Still playing phone tag with Early Intervention. But I feel like things are on track and I can stop beating myself up over all this.

In other appointment news, apparently I have some sort of leak with my car and must schedule an appointment with the Honda Dealership.

Does anyone else feel like they spend way too much time scheduling appointments? It's now wonder I hate my phone.

Mama Needs a Make Over

Yesterday on my lunch hour, I went to the mall. I was there shopping for my gorgeous little nieces. But, as often happens, I ended up shopping for myself.

There was a time, and it actually wasn't that long ago, that I was in good physical shape and had a wardrobe that was, well – amazing. While I was pregnant with Leah, I had a little sit down with my self and decided that it was time to come to grips with the fact that I may never be a size 4 again. It was time to purge myself of the boxes of clothes that sat in the basement taunting me.

I was left with my transitional wardrobe, which consisted mostly of Eddie Bauer Chinos and Extra Large blouses that I bought off the clearance rack "just to get me by, just until I lost the weight". Yesterday, I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror. There I stood in faded brown cotton trousers that were frayed around the ankles, a brown tank, and an oversized short-sleeved sweater that gathered just below the bust leaving me looking around 4 months pregnant from the side. I hadn't dried my hair and it looked horrible. I wasn't wearing any make-up. The only redeeming quality of my entire look was the cute Sofft heals that I had bought on clearance at Macy's earlier in the season. I looked a hot mess. What happened to that cute stylish girl? Where did she go?

So, I decided, I am not going to let my size be what determines my sense of style. I deserve to wear cute clothes just as much as that bitchy size 2 sales clerk that looked me up and down as she put my items in the fitting room. So, today, I am buying a cute pair of boots, they will be the cornerstone of my new fall/winter wardrobe, which I will start to develop now. One piece a week.

I also made a vow that I will get up five minutes earlier and dry my hair and wear some make up. I am not going to let myself look like a frumpy mom.

I am eyeing these boots as my first purchase. I love the grey. I am sure that black would be more practical, but I like to go against the grain a little.



So, this morning, I woke up, I dried and styled my hair. I put on blush, eye shadow and mascara. With an extra boost of confidence, I headed for the door. Where I am greeted by a massive down pour. So, here I sit today, my hair a mess, but at least I have make up on!

Today I will call to make an appointment for a haircut and highlights. I will be cute again, damn it, I will!