Work

I have successfully completed 2 weeks of work since having Averee!! It was really not that hard to go back, not like it was with Chloee. And surprising, I did not forget that much. I have only asked 2 silly questions....yup only 2! I have been getting voter information scanned into the system, so we can start getting ready for the election in April. That one is for Village officials, school board officials. That will be my first election that I will have to work. Not worried about it....the ones I worry about are November, which I get off another year before I have to work it. Those are crazy times :)

Chloee turned 4 yrs old since I last wrote. We had a small party for her with a Barbie cake and ice cream. Averee will be 2 months old next week....wow where has that time gone??? I keep thinking where has the month of October gone? I remember I was off of work that whole month, but that seems like a blur, and it was only last month. Is there any way to slow time? If someone knows how to do that, PLEASE let me know. :)

Back to Work on Monday

I told my boss I would be coming back to work on Monday morning!! Now I am thinking "YIKES"!! It will be nice to have some other adult interaction, and of course a pay check :) However the tought of leaving Will home, by himself, with Chloee and Averee scares the heck out of me. I remember thinking the exact same thing after having Chloee. Here we are again, with those same feelings. He has been quick to yell at Chloee instead of talking to her when she wants something or demands things. Yes, it can and is frustrating with a almost 4 yr old, but I keep telling him that yelling at her will not solve anything. Which it doesn't...Chloee just lashes out even more. I just hope and pray that things will be "ok" for everyone.

Now granted, I am still only part time, but I will miss The Price Is Right and The Talk :( I tried not to get addicted to any shows while at home, but those two are ones that I have been watching quite a bit.

One Month Already

A certain someone has kindly mentioned that I should update my blog! In all actuality, I should...since my last post was entitled "No Baby" and currently that is not true. Averee was born September 24 and is now 6 weeks old!! Wow, that month has flown by with pretty much all sleep-less nights :) Yeah for me. Well, not really. It has been hard with a 3 yr old who is VERY active and she still wants to play and do things, which is good!! But when you have had NO sleep it makes it hard to function well.

Here are some pictures that I have taken within the last couple of weeks.

No Baby....Yet

I had yet another doctor appointment this morning. This child is very stubborn, I can tell already. If I don't go into labor on my own between now and this Friday (which is in 2 days) I have a scheduled induction for Friday morning. Little nervous about that, but I did not want to wait another week. Dr. said I could, or we could schedule something....obivously, I opted to schedule :) I have been so uncomfortable the last couple of weeks, that waiting seemed so far away.

Hopefully everything will go well and I will be able to touch my toes by Saturday :)

1 Month & Counting......

Where has the summer gone? Let alone almost 9 months??
I am down to about 1 month before having baby #2! With all this heat and humidity, I am beyond ready to have her. I think I have been doing well. Lately, my feet and ankles have been a little swollen, which makes walking a little sore sometimes. Of course, I am hoping I go early like I did with my daughter, but it's not in my hands to decide that! I will keep talking to her, and letting her know that early is "ok"! :)
My father is coming tomorrow evening (Monday) to help move furniture out of the spare room to the basement and I still need to find a cheap/reasonable dresser. Other than that, I think we have everything. Crib just needs to be put together at some point.

Oh goodess....Chloee starts Pre-School this Tuesday morning. I can not believe that it is already here! Good thing it is only 2 days a week for 2 1/2 hours. I have told myself to think of it like she is at Penny's house. (Penny is our daycare person). That MAY help me through it! Other mother's I have talked to that have children in the 4 yr old class, said that Erie Christian Pre-School takes alot of field trips, which is really neat. And they only allow 10 children in each class, so small class sizes right now, which is a plus. So the camera battery is all charged up ready for 1st day pictures on Tuesday morning!!

Where has time gone?

WOW~ my last post was in April?!?!?? Doesn't seem possible.

I would like to say that not much has been happening, but I know that is not the case. Now I have to think about things that have happened in the last 3 months to write about.

Been going monthly to the doctor for appointments. Everything is good. Finally gained some weight last month, I was not concerned and neither was my doctor, really. I hardly get to sit down with a 3 year old wanting this and that the minute I do sit down. It is exhausting, I can only imagine what it will be like with 2 children! This heat & humidity is exhausting as well!

Chloee will get to go to pre-school in August. We got her signed up at the Christian Pre-School. They only go 2 days a week from 8:30am-11:00am. The Elementary Pre-School goes every single day and I thought that was a bit much to suddenly charge Chloee's daily schedule. Although the Christian school charges monthly and the Elementary is free.

We are in the process of re-financing the house. This time with DHCU. With me only working part time the nice cushion of $$ is not there like it used to be. And this is one way which we can save some $ each month.

45 days ago, I said good-bye to my green Malibu :( It was a bitter/sweet deal. That car was my baby!! But when it decided to NOT start one super HOT afternoon when I had Chloee with me, Will said it was time to get something else. It was the ingination switch again, so I new how to re-set it, but sitting for 30 mins was not fun. A new car payment is not fun either, which we just made our first one. More money each month gone. Chloee screamed and cried when we left the Malibu at the dealership.....I kid you not!! She got in the back seat and was not coming out, she did not want to take the new car home, only the green one. It broke my heart, and I chalked it up to her being tired and having a change. Now is is ok with it....sometimes she will still ask, "Are we keeping this car forever?" :D

My job is going well. However, since the state of IL is broke, the County is broke, which means there has been talk about cut backs & lay offs :( NOT GOOD since I would be one of the first to go being part time. Keeping hoping they come up with a different idea!

Pre-School Screening---Yikes

This past Friday afternoon, Chloee had Pre-school screening!! Yes, that is right --- Pre-school .

She was thinking the school bus was going to come back and pick her up. Since the bus goes by our house in the morning and evenings. She was ok with Will and I taking her. When we first got their, they had stations and everyone sat the the big table and played with Play-Doh. However, Chloee was more interested in watching the other kids that where in the same time slot as us. That is her, she likes to sit and watch/ take in what everyone else is doing.

I feel she did good during her screening. We get results in a few weeks and I think she was the oldest in the group we attended, but that is ok.

I think we are going to have to take the leap this fall into Pre-school, which mom is NOT ready for! She is excited and talks about it ALL THE TIME! We shall see......

Cubs Game

Being the oldest of 4, I never had anyone to look up to, talk to, etc. However, over the years my brother Ryan and I have become quite close. He is 4 years younger than I am.

He happened to score FREE tickets to opening game day at Wrigley Field for the Cubs game, which is tomorrow -- Monday April 12! I was kind of excited when he was telling me...thinking he would ask me to come with him. But to my disbelief, he asks my husband, Will to go along :( Ryan tells me that I now work on Mondays ( yeah, but I can take days off and you work on Mondays to Ryan!! ) and the fact that he didn't think it would be any fun since being pregnant!! ( Really?? I can make that decision myself....the bars serve pop!! )

It will be a great time of bonding with Ryan and Will as they don't get to see much of each other! And with Will's schedule, does not allow much time for things like this. I am sure they both will have a fabulous time!

Easter Dinner

Hope everyone had a great Easter. I cooked a sprial ham, made mashed potatoes and gravey! However, as we where eating, I then thought I should have taken a picture to show how lovely everything turned out! But I did not :(

I was very proud of how it all turned out and it was very delicious!

Chloee hunted for easter eggs and had a blast doing it. Made it to church 20 mins late and had to sit in the very front row!! Grrr, I dislike sitting that close, but church was packed and pretty much our only option! THen of course, Chloee HAS to go to the bathroom!! really?? like we did not get enough looks by coming in late and now I have to walk down the middle of the aisle to take her to the bathroom.

I have been reassured by many mom's in the church that it is normal and they have all been through it as well. I hope one day I can really say that :)

So many thoughts.....

Last night, I was wiped out. I go to bed and immediately think of a million things. For one, like I did not pay my student loans last month!! I am far enough a ahead that it won't affect me, but for some strange reason it came to me. This morning I have logged in and made arrangements for the next few months to be automatically taken out.

Then the next thing that came to mind, was kind of a sad feeling. Again, for some reason, I thought of all the things Brittany used to say at work, that would make us all laugh! Maybe I need to hear something crazy, bizarre, ridiculous come out of her mouth. I think most days when we where recruiters, she would just sit and think of crazy things. I know I am good posting this, since she can not remember her log in, etc and does not check nor post to her blog. Boy that would be some great entertainment yet! To this day, I can not remember what strange animal she thought she could have as a pet....Llama, maybe?? But she asked us, if she could have it as a pet. Goodness, we told her NO! But she insisted that she really could.
Another time, she accidentally emailed a guy looking for a job, instead of someone else. She was talking about Grey's Anatomy and how shocked she had been with the episode that was on the night before. At least the guy replied with a " I know!!! I could not believe that either!"
Goodness, so MANY MORE things about Brittany :)

Then I thought of Brenda! Yes, I am going to talk about you now, as I know you read this. Brenda & I sat across from each other, yet divided by a cube wall. I really did not know much about her, just little bits here and there. Many of us where jealous of her desk at the time, back corner, boss never walked ALL the way back there, and if she did Brenda would have plenty of time to change her computer screen. I was jealous when I was at WIU....all the homework I could have been doing and multi-tasking at the same time all while at work! Then we recieved a new boss, who wanted to break us up from our cube mates we had grown to love. Brenda was moved to my side and right behind me! I will admit, losing Gretchen to obtain Dale and Brenda was a little heart breaking. However, I made the most of it and Brenda and I began to talk more and more. She is the one who influenced me to begin a blog, however she could not influence me to do the whole 1001 things in so many days. Maybe I will start my own smaller version.

Then Gretchen!!! Her and I began at Volt as recruiters the same time, sat right next to each other. She is the one I talked to about almost everything. When I wanted to complain about Will, she got to hear it. But then again, I got to hear about her and her husband at the time, so it was give and take :) If you would ever see Gretchen, you would NEVER think of her as a biology nerd!! haha, that is right. She was all about fashion, SHOES, purses.....never in a million years would I have even guessed she loved biology as much as she really does. She currently is back in her home state of Washington trying to get on at the University of Washington as a researcher, and that way she can go to school for free, to obtain her Master's.

Why was I thinking of my past co-workers?? I have no idea. It could possibly be that we where such a small group and we became such good friends, each of us having our own story but yet somehow connected to others with similiar situations and now I don't have that. Maybe now, I work with 2 ladies that are not around my age, where all of us at Volt where close in age. Maybe, Brittany, Brenda & Gretchen had some sort of impact and will stay in my heart forever.
So many maybe's..........................................

Easter Eggs

Chloee eating her hard boiled egg!

Today I did not work, and thought it would be a great day to dye easter eggs. Since this was our first attempt in doing this, I was not sure how the out come would turn out. Many situations ran through my mind, but in the long run, everything turned out well. I hard boiled 18 eggs, and Chloee wanted to do more. I kind of did to, since we had so much dye left, it seemed like such a waste to dump it down the drain.

After we where done, Chloee wanted a hard boiled egg, which I was pretty sure she would not eat. But to my surprise, she cracked it (with a little help) and ate the whole thing!!

Extra Patience laying around??

I am a person who lacks patience. My mom tells me I am like my dad, in the way that if something does not work the first time, it will NEVER work!! Well, parenting is not much better. All those sleepless nights when Chloee was a baby, some how I got through them. And now we are at age 3, and let me tell you, this child is draining what patience I have very quickly.

I have been told that it is just the age---3. Where children become independent, want to do everything themselves, becoming their own person. Well, we have developed a sassy mouth, making a ginormous mess in every room and then not even helping pick it up, becoming beyond helpless, such as "I can't pick up my shoes". This is the new terrible 2's just one year later, and I have been told this by MANY parents. 2's are not terrible it's the 3's and even 4's!! Wow, I can not agree more. And to think, we have another one on the way!!

Yes, you read right. Due in September. I now find myself thinking, how on earth will I make it through another child? I only hope that it is a good baby like Chloee was. Taking many deep breaths before acting upon her actions.

Wild Animals

The church we have been attending right across the street has been cutting down trees to make way for an expansion! Well, I truly believe that in the process, they are disturbing the wild animals. I was awaken this week by a hoot owl outside our bed room window, then the next night I was awaken my a coyote!! YES COYOTE! Now I did not actually see it, however heard it plain as day howling. No one else work up either night. I was telling our neighbor, Ray about it and he said that is son's have seen them in the field over by the church. Now it would not surprise me if I was living more in the country, but we are still in city limits. And I know what a coyote sounds like, as I have grown up living in the country where occassionally you would hear them, and my parents still do.

That was enough to make me not want to walk outside in the mornings before work. So I still do my Wii Fit workouts.

Buster

Wow, it's already March! And not just March, the middle of March to be exact!
Not reall much has been going on.
Our cat, Buster, passed away last Sunday/Monday. I did cry, but not as much as when I had to put Fluffy to sleep when I was 7 months preganant with Chloee :) Chloee actually cried to, just a little, which caught me off guard. She does not fully understand everything. I told her Buster is in Kitty Heaven.

Tuesday Will was able to bury Buster and Chloee was outside with him. When I get home from work, Chloee says to me " Mommy, do you know where Buster is at?"

I say "He is in Kitty Heaven"

She says "Nope, he is in the dirt, well actually the mud."

I had nothing to say, but kind of smile in the fact that she was technically right! Goodness, she is only 3, I think we are going to be in alot of trouble down the road as she does not forget ANYTHING that is said.

Big Box in Mail

Today, the mailman comes to the door and brings a Large Flat Rate box! At first I am like 'who sent us something?' Well, it was addressed to Chloee -- from her Grandma Jean! Of course Chloee was super excited that a huge box was for her. It had delicious cookies...I could really eat them all, as I have already told Will NOT to eat them all...haha. Her grandma spoiled her with fruit roll ups, gummy bands, milk straws that when you drink through them taste like Strawberry Milk ( I like those! ) Valentine's stickers, plates / napkins, M&Ms.

We are going to have to think of something and send back to Grandma Jean.... :)

2 Days Under My Belt

This past Monday I started my new Part Time job at Whiteside County! So far in the 2 days that I have worked, I strongly feel that I am going to love it and will stay forever :) I still have one more day this week, Friday, but it is casual/jeans day (every Friday) which is really nice!

There is so much to learn and remember, plus a whole new language to learn. With the court house stuff and legal stuff, I feel like I should take some class to refresh on the legal aspects. Never would have guessed there is so much with property taxes, especially when they are paid late! WOW! I shadowed a marriage license yesterday, which does not seem to hard.....until the time I have to actually do it.

I am crossing my fingers that I work out well, as my understanding the last lady did not, I feel a little intimated.

Part Time Job

While I was still working way back when I was keeping my eyes peeled for opportunities close to home. I had been driving about 35-45 mins each way for almost 5 yrs. 3 of those years to John Deere and the last almost 2 yrs to Davenport. I was surpassed the tired phase of all that driving, but also knew that anything that paid 'well' was in the Quad Cities area.

One webiste I checked almost twice a week was Whiteside County's. When they have openings, I believe they only post on their site unless they are not getting the candidates they are looking for. One position was posted entitled Part Time County Deputy Clerk. The candidate would be dealing with Marriage, Birth & Death Certificates; delinqueint property tax payments; and election counting! Not only did that all sound interesting, only 20 mins from home, but a opportunity with the County! Whiteside does not have a turn over rate, so when they post a position I felt I need to fine tune my resume to exactly what they where looking for and hope for the best! I had applied to numerous positions and heard nothing.

It was probably about 1-2 weeks after being laid off in October 2009, that I received a phone call from the manager at Whiteside County. I was estatic to have an interview! The first one in how many applications sent?!? I go to my interview, which only last 10 minutes! I knew right then I was not going to get the position. But then I thought...well there really is not much to question about this position, just get in and learn as you go. Well I was right about a week after my interview, I received a letter stating the position was filled. I was sad.

As time went on, I was picky about what I applied for. Not wanting any old job I wanted something, somewhere I could stay forever. I even went back to Volt and was submitted to John Deere jobs again.

About 2 weeks ago, I received another phone call from Whiteside County. The lady apolozied for not selecting me at the time, and chose her friend who she thought would fit in. Well, from what I was told she is not working out and is leaving and wondered if I was still available!! "I most certainly am" -- I told her. I was so excited that I think I probably sounded like a tard on the phone!

I start Feb. 8, working 3 days a week ( Monday, Tuesday & Friday) from 8:30-4:30. I will still get partial unemployment since it is a much lesser paying position, but a foot in at County!

Cabin Fever

I used to not mind winter and the snow...but since having Chloee I dread leaving the house especially if I have to travel somewhere. And now that she is 3yrs old, finding things in the house to keep her entertained can be a challenge at times. We have been able to get outside a few times so far! The very first time we went out, she did not know how to walk in the snow and stood on the sidewalk yelling for her dad!! I tried not to laugh, and told her to just walk....Chloee says "I can't move" !! haha! She felt much safer in her sled being pulled around the yard. And let me tell you, that is a huge workout! We built a snowman, which I forgot to get a picture of :( We played on the swing set and tried to throw snowballs at Will. We stayed outside tops 30 mins, but enough to just get some fresh air.

Santa brought Play-Doh which Chloee loves to play with! And her doll house and Princess dolls keep her entertained. However, she has been watching more movies than I would like her to, so we now have Bo & Luke from the Dukes of Hazzard at the house ALL THE TIME!! Princess Jasmine and the Genie. At least I don't have to pick up after them!!

It's been awhile

I know it has been quite a while since I last posted! I would love to say that I have been sooo busy, but I don't really think I can honestly say that. Being unemployed since October, one would think I would have plenty to write about---but I have been busy going through stuff in the house, taking donations to Goodwill, deciding to keep or throw away things. That is all very time consuming, plus the normal 'around the house' activities of Will and Chloee. I have really tried to limit my time on the computer since when I normally get on, I have all good intentions of 'just' checking my email, but that does not happen! I then get on to Facebook and then realize I have wasted 1 or maybe 2+ HOURS!! And having wireless internet does not help much since I can take the laptop anywhere in the house!

I do have some things I will post to catch up and pictures.......