We've been busy lil buggers

Wow.  July is totally slipping right past me!  It feels like it should still be the middle of June.  Did I miss a month somehow?  The summer goes by way to quickly!

Well, let's try to play a little catch up!  We've been traveling.  To Des Moines, Galesburg and home again and then I took a girl's trip to the Dells.  And next week Charlie and I will be heading back down to Des Moines.  Seems like we are gone more than we are home lately and that's okay b/c it means we are busy out having fun and making the most of the summer!

So what else have we been up to?  Well, in our free time we've been:

Coloring

Playing in our tunnel, popping out the end and saying "ta-da"!

Practicing our couch gymnastics

Snuggling up on Brayden

Napping

Enjoying the lake and boating

Perfecting our "tans"

Dancing

Celebrating

Playing in our new sandbox (thanks Dada!)

Making sidewalk art

And hanging w/ the neighbors

What could be better?  We've got it pretty damn good.

Cheers!
Kel

(I'll try to get back to more regular posting, but no promises.)

Our 1st Not Well Doctor Visit

Well, we made it nearly 6 full months without having to go to the doctor for a not well visit but Friday night all hell started to break loose. I was home with Charlie for the day and she was acting fine (although she had a cough and runny/stuffy nose) until 4:30 hit and then she was inconsolable.

I tried everything in my mommy mind. Rocking, bouncing, feeding, napping, burping, etc, etc, etc and nothing would get her to stop crying. Finally around 6:30 she had cried herself into exhaustion and fell asleep for 30 minutes during which Wade called the on call nurse line. They suggested Tylenol and saline nose drops to try to open up her airway better. So when Charlie woke at 7:00 and instantly went back to crying mode we promptly gave her Tylenol and saline drops and waited. Longest 20 minutes ever but she eventually calmed down enough to take a small bottle and fell asleep until midnight. We gave her more Tylenol at that time and a little more formula and she crashed until 6:00 when she woke up screaming again. Luckily we were able to get her into the doctor at 9:45 and it was determined that she has an ear infection that was most likely brought on by her cold. Also, the doc weighed her and she weighed in at a whopping 14 pounds 11 oz. I knew she was getting heavier b/c boy is she getting hard to carry in that car seat!

So poor Charlie monkey has her first (and hopefully not one of many to come) ear infection. She seems to be handling things like a champ now as she is on amoxicillin for 10 days. Although this morning she did gag when I gave her the medicine and she threw up about an ounce of formula all over herself (outfit change) and the car seat (that was fun to clean out) just before we left for daycare. So she is not a fan of bubble gum flavor it seems. Thankfully she's a trooper and is acting like her cheerful self again because Wade and I have been spoiled with an easy baby girl who rarely cries and so when she does cry we don't know how to handle it very well. It stresses me out plus it makes me nervous and worry about Charlie.

I'd say that going this long without her getting majorly sick was really lucky! Before now she's only had a minor cold and the flu which she also handled like a champ and only threw up once and otherwise just acted tired. So we must have one tough cookie on our hands!

For the rest of my news: bullet points.

* She still is not a huge fan of tummy time and eventually ends up like this or crying.

* I found a 2nd hand Bumbo at Once Upon A Child and bought it right before Charlie got sick on Friday and she LOVES it. We then went and got a tray for it and put her toys on it and she goes crazy having so much fun being able to sit and grab at all her toys. It's so fun to watch her.

* She definitely has her daddy's pretty blue eyes.

*She also has definitely found her thumb and we have a thumb sucker on our hands. It's kind of nice b/c she always has it with her so we don't have to worry about her crying about dropping a pacifier or whatever b/c she never took to those. It's really cute to see her sucking her thumb too I just hope it's not a too hard habit to break once she's older.

With Grandma B sucking her thumb

*Anything and EVERYTHING goes straight into her mouth. She's been like this for quite a while now but seriously it's ridiculous!

* She found her feet a few weeks back and now is constantly trying to eat them as well as everything else she touches.

Combining two of her loves: her bouncy chair and her feet

* This weekend we are getting our first family photos taken. It will be one day before Charlie's 6 month birthday so it's perfect timing and I'm really looking forward to how they turn out. Now I just have to figure out what we are all going to wear! I'll be sure to post some once we get them!

* She likes her new horsey. She already has another one for when she's bigger and can sit up on her own. She's mega spoiled.

Ride 'em Charlie!

*Other things she likes: being naked, smooches, tummy kisses, pulling my hair out, talking, sweet potatoes, bath time, peek-a-boo, farting and burping (at least I assume she likes farting and burping b/c she always does it), and standing up like a big girl.

I'm outty~

2010 Year Review

Since basically the entire year of 2010 I was pregnant we were a bit on the slow side for happenings in our family. That is until August 6th came around and we found ourselves w/ one more family member. Like years past I’ll do a quick little 2010 review.

January
I came out of the baby closet and shared my news with the interwebs that we were expecting little nugget late July.
Kara and Todd got engaged! Yippee!

February
We worked on getting the house ready for a baby. Painting, building and installing. Fun and exciting stuff!

March
Went wedding dress shopping with Kara and she found the perfect dress!
Found out nugget was a GIRL!
April
Finished up our garden in the back.
Celebrated E’s 30th birthday at Stellas.

My grandpa passed away. Miss you Paps. :(

May
Participated in the Des Moines MS Walk.

Family came up to celebrate Wade and his MBA graduation.

We remodeled our shower.
I got pregnant fat face and turned 31! Ahhh!!!
We went to our first Twins game at Target Field.
June
Drove to Indy to celebrate Shannon and Derik’s wedding where I raised the roof.July
Wade broke his wrist racing his motorcycles and had to have surgery to repair it. Todd broke his dancing at a wedding reception (numerous drinks were involved so we'll let it slide... I guess.)

We finally finished the nursery just in time!
Remodeled the rest of our bathroom (halleluiah!)
My due date came and went and no baby!

August
Nugget (aka Charlie) is here after 16+ hours of labor that would not progress and ended in a c-section!!!

The rest of August is a blur. :)

September
Road trips to Des Moines and Galesburg so that Charlie could meet more family and friends.

October
Charlie attended her first ISU game!

Kara had 2 bridal showers that Charlie and I went to.
My maternity leave ended and I went back to work part time.
Charlie’s first Halloween and she dressed as a cute bee.
November
Charlie started daycare.
Kara had her bachelorette party and I had a 2 day hangover.

Wade and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary.

December
We said goodbye to our wonderful neighbors, the Bormann’s, who moved back to Iowa (we miss you guys!)
Charlie learned how to roll over front to back like a champ and is SUPER close to going back to front.
We got 17.1 inches of snow in one day which was the 5th largest on record! We were stranded in!
We celebrated our 1st Christmas as a family of 3 (+ Kobe). (Now if only I had a picture of all of us together...)

All in all not a super eventful year unless you count the birth! But you can’t do much when you’re pregnant! And through the ups and downs of the year we realize we are very blessed. What a life we have!

Here’s to a happy and healthy 2011 to you all!

Cheers!

Tag, You're It!

My friend Jessica tagged me on her blog to do a photo tag. The rules are:

1. Open the 4th picture folder on your computer.
2. Open the 4th picture and post it on your blog.
3. Explain the picture.
4. Tag people to do the same

So here goes!

This was taken in April. We had just put out our new patio furniture and Wade is being a cheese ball as usual. I love that you can see Kobe in the background looking like WTF is he doing??? :) I tag whoever wants to do this who is having a lack of creativity like me!

Wade's 30th b-day party Sat night was a blast! Thanks to all who came out! I was hungover the majority of the day Sunday which just goes to show that the party was a success!!! :) I'll post some pics soon.

This is also a short week for us since we leave Wed night to drive to Sturgis! I can't wait! Sturgis is a blast! I'm sure when we get back I'll have some stories and pictures to share!

Happy Monday luv muffins!

Too funny not to share

Try to imagine...

It's 1982. Hawaiian prints, big tinted glasses, lots of plaid and moustaches are totally "in". You get your picture taken in a spur of the moment photo op. Twenty-seven years later, your daughter posts it on the internet for everyone to see.
Everyone, I'd like you to meet the parents. My dad is the one w/ the porno stash and my mom is the one rockin the palm print. Hotties? Oh yeah. Now you can totally see where I get my smashing good looks from right?


Happy Friday luvahs!

In the Still of the Night My Hair Held On Tight

Valley High School Prom 1997

I was tagged by K @ Blog Goggles and felt like this was actually a good one! Who doesn't want to see other's old prom photos and laugh at their bad hair and aged dresses!!?!? So this was me with my high school boyfriend, Adam, back in our hay day. I remember my hair was not only HUMONGOUS but it was SO hard. I seriously think the hair stylist used an entire can of Aqua Net on my head. It was brutal. Hurricane force winds didn't stand a chance against wrecking my head of hair. Prom was fun. I think I over hyped it in my head and was expecting more. Or maybe I just wasn't expecting Adam to get drunk off of wine coolers and puke under the pull out couch at our hotel room. Haha!!! (Not saying I haven't done way worse since then!) Either way. I still had a lot of fun. Until the next day when I tried to get my hair out of that updo!

So I tag the following:

Bon Don

LBluca

BWP

Lily

La Dolce Vita

Ladies, if you're up for it post your high school prom pics! We'd love to see them and get a good laugh at your expense!

Cheerio!

I Would Walk 500 Miles (Or Just 3, But You Get What I Mean)

As a follow up to my request for donations to my MS Walk I was really uplifted that so many of you donated and supported the cause! I was thinking I may get one or two donations but I got five! FIVE! I just want to shout it to the blogosphere that you, my friends, are the bees knees. Seriously, you rule. Not only are you helping me kick ass in donations but you are also helping to put an end to MS. So Kobe and I thank you for supporting us on the walk from the bottom of our hearts. We love you guys!

And for the rest of my dear readers, there is still time to donate, but if you don’t want to do that then at the very least check out some of the raddest bloggers ever. Serious good shit here peeps. Ch-ch-check it out, check it out. (And PLEASE let me know if I'm missing you, I'm not perfect, even though I'm damn near close). Haha... :)

A View From 5280ft
Lbluca
Drollgirl
Who Throws A Cupcake? Honestly.
Blog Goggles

Also, thanks to the above 5 bloggers generosity you all get to benefit via my embarrassment. So without further delay, I present to you my ugly photos. The sad thing is that I seriously found so many horrible ones it was actually hard to pick. I know I said I’d post one from junior high but I couldn’t find any that old. I’m assuming they are all back at my parents in their basement. So I’ll have to post one of those at a later date. Instead I will grace you w/ 2 obscene drunk photos of myself to make it up. Here goes:

This first one is coming straight at you from my bachelorette party. This is how I ended the night. That is my parents kitchen/family room floor which I graciously threw up on. Luckily I threw up on the wooden part so it was an easy clean up. I am out like a light. Notice the nice thong showing. Nothing but class here ladies and gents. My dad was so proud.

This next one is from The Garden in Des Moines. My old gay co-worker was bartending and really hooked me up with the shots. I love that my friends are taking photos of me and I have a slight smile, so you know I’m not completely passed out just yet even though my head is resting so nicely on Lindsay’s boobs like a pillow. And look at Adro! She’s such a good friend she is willing to let me puke in her hands. Now that is friendship! :)



So there you have it. Two extremely inebriated and embarrassing pics of me. Thanks again to my donators! You rock my world. You know you do.

Until next time America!
And one more for good measure. Hell, why not?

*Update*
Thank you also to Through The Looking Glass! Another fabulous blogger who donated and is opposed to terrorists, kicking babies, and all that jazz and in support of ending MS! You are totally rad!
**2nd Update**
You guys never cease to AMAZE me! Thank you, thank you, thank you Gabby, She Wrote! I have more than exceeded my goal thanks to my amazing BBF's! You guys are the cat's meow. MEOW!

November Recap: Picture overload

So since I was on vacay I've got a lot of stuff to tell you about but I'm going to try to keep it as short as possible. Be warned though, there are a TON of pictures coming up.

As promised a picture of Kobe as a little piggy for Halloween and me (getting my drink on as usual):















Here's a close up, seriously I don't think he could be ANY cuter:













Here is my new hair cut and color. It’s darker than it used to be although not as dark as I had originally planned to go. My stylist was afraid if I went too dark it would be too drastic and I wouldn’t like it, so we are going darker gradually instead. I like the subtle change though and am excited to try it even darker next time!


The weekend of the 15th we traveled to DeMo for my Dad's b-day. Happy birthday Dad! (the pic isn't very good since Kara and I were both a tad bit hungover...)












While there we also helped celebrate our friend Matt’s b-day at a little dive bar downtown. This place was the ultimate shit hole but for some reason Matt loves it. Just check out these pics if you don’t believe me.
Ade & Kara show off some kind of light that was tied up with the cord hanging down. Very elegant and I’m sure not a fire hazard in the least.




They also had ample seating choices; here is a very used and rotten barstool. Who wouldn't want to sit their ass down on that? I'm sure it is nice and comfy. (Oh and this wasn't the only one that looked this way, there were probably 2-3 others. Why would they even keep them???)




I did not get a picture of it but the women’s bathroom floor was soft, like the only thing holding you up was the linoleum b/c the wooden floor boards underneath it were rotten. I was so afraid I was going to fall through it and get stuck all night that I almost peed my pants instead of going in there.
And last but not least, the walls were beautifully done w/ art (ie: magic marker graphitti). Well, Leslie, you naughty girl, you. :)



But even though we were in a total crap hole we had a blast seeing everyone and helping Matt celebrate getting another year older! Happy B-day Matt!













The other night out in DeMo we went to a new country bar even though I hate country. Luckily this “country” bar didn’t play any country music (strange, but fine by me!). The only thing country about it was the mechanical bull. We convinced Wade to give it a go. Since he is a cowboy and he can ride a bucking horse we figured he should be able to ride a bull. And ride it he did.






I also got a great picture of him when he fell off. He looks like he’s doing a little jig. Too funny!

There was also a girl at this bar who was wearing something that women w/ cellulite should NEVER wear. Check out that thigh. Wow. She was dancing w/ a guy who kept picking her up and her ass was constantly falling out of that short little thing of a skirt. And I'm not even going to get started on those socks. Let’s also keep in mind that it was probably only about 20 degrees out that night. Some girls are so classy. I almost feel bad for criticizing her b/c I have my own fair share of cellulite, but you know what? I keep my ass covered up. She could learn a thing or two about that.



And I can't very well leave you with that picture b/c your eyes will likely erode and fall out, so instead I'll leave you with this thrilling house update/picture. Wade worked on putting the ceiling up in the garage so that he can insulate it and heat it and make it his 2nd home. Once he’s done I’m sure he’ll be living out there. He sure loves his garage time. Oh well, the TV control becomes all mine then!

Wow. I am finally caught up. Blog vacations suck. It takes FOREVER to get back into the swing of things. Glad you guys are still stopping by. Til next time!