home again

We traveled again this past weekend. It was Grandpa Hill's (Chris' grandpa) 80th birthday so the family was getting together to celebrate. We were really excited to see the extended family and Chris's brother Craig who was coming in from Denver.
It was a great visit but there were some major issues with Sam not wanting to sleep and not cooperating with the plans WE wanted to have. Sam is on a great schedule at home, it works perfect for us on a daily basis. She takes pretty good naps each afternoon, goes to bed early enough that Chris and I still have our evenings together and she wakes up early enough that I can get to work on time. However, this great schedule that we keep her on means that she doesn't react very well to major changes or adjustments to the schedule when we travel. This was the problem we ran into. She didn't sleep well Friday night because she didn't want to miss any of the family fun and then Saturday we wanted to put her down for a morning nap (which we never do at home) so that maybe she could enjoy the party at 11:00 am and not need an afternoon nap at noon. This DID NOT work. I had to take Sam and leave the party REALLY early so that she could get her nap in. Then when she did wake up she was still over tired and had some major meltdowns that evening as well. It was pretty disappointing that we couldn't spend the whole weekend with the family and had to tailor so much of it around Sam's schedule but I guess that is just part of being a parent.
Anyway, it was great to see all the family! Here are a few great shots from the weekend.






So, it is back to the work week now. Chris is in Madison; today marks one month that he has been working down there and we have been living apart during the week. It stinks. I am ready to be done. DONE. I want to move to Madison and we a whole family again. But not yet. I need to gain patience, be an adult and just get through this rough patch.

Easier said then done.

i swear she has two personalities

My daughter has a dark side. It is just starting to come out but MAN is it there. And she can turn it on and off so quickly.
Today I watched as Sam took a pretzel that she was having for a snack and set it on the floor. She then proceeded to squat over the pretzel, close to it, but not right over it. Then she just sat there.
Polly, about five feet away, also just sat there, watching the pretzel.
They both know the rules. Sam does not feed Polly her snacks and is not suppose to drop them on the floor for Polly to eat. Polly knows that she does not take food out of Sam's hands.
This situation that Sam had created didn't seem to break any of the rules but neither of them was budging. Sam sat there staring at Polly out of the corner of her eye with this look that said "I dare you to come and try to get my pretzel. Come on, its right here. Mom is not looking. Just take it." But Polly did not take the bait. Eventually Sam gave up and ate the pretzel. Seconds later, after teasing and torturing her poor dog she was giving Polly kisses and hugs.
Turns it on and off so quickly. I just hope she chooses to be nice to her little sister!

sometimes being domestic can be ...nice

Yesterday was one of those days where I was very domestic but for whatever reason instead of hating it I rather enjoyed it. I know I am not cut out to be a stay at home mom, I just don't have the patience and I am too selfish to give up doing what I love. I normally cannot find satisfaction from cleaning rooms, finishing laundry or cooking a nice dinner but, again, yesterday was somehow different.
I vacuumed. Not a big deal but actually noticing a difference on the carpets made me feel good that I had done it (and kind of gross that the dog hair had gotten that bad already!).
I FINISHED laundry. Most weeks this takes me several days but since Chris needed to pack I knew I had to stay on top of it and it actually got finished in ONE DAY!
I baked. There is just nothing better than the smell of a fresh baked pie and the anticipation for the after dinner delight. I hadn't made a peach pie in quite a while but we had so many good peaches right now that I just had to and it was delicious. Now, since Chris is gone I have almost a whole pie to eat myself...pie for breakfast anyone?
I cooked a good dinner. Besides the pie, I also made spinach and artichoke dip from scratch, breaded and baked chicken from scratch and then roasted garlic mashed potatoes (these were out of the box but come on people I can only make so many things from scratch in one day!).
We played with puzzles. Sam is really starting to become interested in her puzzles and whenever she gets the chance will sit at her little table with me next to her working on matching the pieces to the spot where they go. She finds the right spot and then I help her turn the piece and make it fit in the hole. I was so proud of her knowing where the pieces went and sometimes getting them almost lined up right herself. Proud parent moment.
As a family we also went to the dog park which was great exercise for all of us and tons of fun to see Sam with all the dogs. And we walked to the grocery store for a few things that we had forgotten.
So, I don't really know what it was that made the day so great but last night when I was laying in bed I felt like a good mom, a good wife and just felt good about the day. Sad that Chris was leaving this morning again, but really happy that we had a fun Sunday together.

sisters!

It's a GIRL! We had our first ultrasound on Thursday and found out that we are having a little girl. Sisters! I am really excited to have two little girls. I just don't think there is anything better than the bond and connection that sisters have going through life together. Of course I might be just a little biased on that point.
I was really wanting a boy because I thought having one of each would be so nice. And in a very selfish-live-vicariously-through-your-kid kind of way I really wanted a boy that would be a super star athlete, playing at a major university that I could cheer for as I watched him on TV! As if the odds of that happening JUST because I had a boy really increased all that much. So no boy...maybe women's sports will start to get more TV coverage! HA!
The little girl, on first look by the doctor, was perfect. "Everything looks great" was the statement that we got. It is so reassuring to hear that. We got to see two legs, two arms, little fingers and toes, the profile and LOTS of movement.
We are already excitedly talking about names, the nursery (which is certainly hard to imagine since we don't even know what our house will look like!) and how we are going to introduce Sam to the new baby. Thursday, seeing her and having Chris see her, really made the pregnancy so much more real.

Family visits

We took a week away from house selling life and went to visit both grandparents and Aunt Jojo, Uncle Chris, Bailey, Parker and Grayson. In theory it was a great idea and was perfect timing for me, however for all the families it was HORRIBLE timing! Now I don't imagine any of them would actually say that or even agree with me but I still feel like we invaded their space at a really unfortunate time. Nana and Grandpa were heading for a two week vacation to Hawaii just two days after we left them. I am sure they could have used the weekend we were there to clean, pack and get themselves organized. And my family arrived back in St. Louis less than 12 hours before we arrived in St. Louis from their week long vacation in Florida. They all had just a bit of catching up to do the week while we were there and I am sure they could have used more time to recooperate, do laundry and catch up on work. But both visits were wonderful and we are thankful that even with the bad timing we were welcome to come to both places.

So, family visit number one - Nana and Grandpa!
We went to a great live concert at a winery, went to the zoo, Chris and Grandpa played golf and we saw several parks.

Sam REALLY enjoyed the concert at the winery! HA!And the trip to the Bloomington Zoo was so fun until Sam got scared by the loud noises of the California Sea Lions.

This is me trying to get Sam to pet the pot-bellied pig.

She did enjoy petting the pygmy goats!

And wasn't at all afraid of the big goats.

Family visit number two - Grandma, Papa, Aunt Jojo, Uncle Chris and the cousins! Unfortunately with so many kids running around all the time I didn't get my camera out as much as I would have liked to. But here is the few that I did get.

A trip to the St. Louis Magic House.

Grayson playing at the water table. Bailey was the only one big enough to get to explore the climbing stuff.

She is a musical genius!

All four cousins!

And a trip with Grandma to the park. Just all the little girls.

This would have been such a great picture, if I were a better photographer!

And one last one of my nieces climbing. Okay, so there is the missing week when we were away from the blog! Not many pictures that are acually any good but at least I have something to show for our time away.

pity party

Today I wanted a pity party, okay really I wanted a pity festival complete with a parade! I wanted someone to hold my hand and feel sorry for me that my life is so hard, miserable and unfair right now. Sam has a fever, isn't sleeping, I'm nauseous with a headache, Chris left again this morning at 5:00am for the week, we still have not had anyone really interested in buying our house and I woke up this morning with a rash on my ring finger (when I was pregnant with Sam I became allergic to my wedding ring and apparently it is happening again! DAMN!). I want someone to think all of these things compiled together are as unfair and awful as I do.
But what I really need is a reality check. Normally I count on my sister to do this for me but today I was grown up enough to do it myself. Yes, Sam is sick with something. She has a fever, had an awful night last night and has been pretty fussy all day. But if it lasts one more night/day I will call the doctor and it will get better. I can handle a sick kid.
Of course I am nauseous and not feeling great...I AM PREGNANT! One bad day of pregnancy when most of the time I don't have any real symptoms that are that difficult is not something that I should be complaining about. Suck it up Abbie!
Chris left...well he will be back on Wednesday this week so it is a shorter week and while being apart is not fun I know we will survive this. Wednesday night will be here before I know it.
Our house has only really been listed for four weeks...that is not that long. We just need to be patient. It is hard but we just need to give this whole selling our house thing some time. It will happen.
And the ring thing...well, whatever, so I can't wear my wedding ring. There are certainly worse pregnant side effects that I could be having.

So, that is what is going on right now. I have been away for quite awhile because Sam, Chris and I went to visit family, both families! I have some pictures and stories to tell but that would require that I had found the camera, which would require me to have unpacked. I didn't make it that far today. I was too busy talking myself out of the woe-is-me mood that I was in. But I promise tomorrow I will get some pictures from our trip up.

Hope you had a better Monday than I did!

the things on my mind

I am not equipped to take care of our lawn.
I can do work, Sam, the house and all that goes with trying to sell this house but the lawn, nope. We are headed out of town this weekend and will be gone all next week which meant that I needed to cut the lawn today and then find someone that would cut it for me next week. Finding someone was not a problem but me cutting the lawn...good grief. I could barely get the stupid lawn mower started, couldn't remember what all the different bars, buttons and levers did, and you wouldn't believe the issues that I had once I got the thing started. I ran into the mailbox almost taking it out, pinched my finger (I may lose that finger nail!), scratched my legs up pretty good because I got a little too close to certain trees and shrubs, ran over several roots that made it seem like I was going to break the lawn mower and got the lawn mower stuck on a decorative stone of our neighbors. Not to mention that because I don't know how to make those nice lines like you see on golf courses (and in our front yard when my husband cuts the grass) I kept loosing track of where I was, cut the same grass over and over again and I am sure that there are spots I completely missed. So I have made the decision that the lawn is just not my job. Once I am back in town and Chris is coming here for the weekend he will be back to taking care of the lawn.

Someone needs to invent a delivery service that caters just to pregnant women. I was talking to my friend Traci tonight and she mentioned having a root beer float and MAN DID I SUDDENLY WANT ONE! When we got off the phone I ran down to the fridge to see if I had happened to not drink all of my root beer yet (I do keep it in the house when I am pregnant as a de-caf option) but of course there was none left. My mind began racing on how in the world I could get one root beer. With Chris not here and Sam already in bed I was screwed. No root beer float for me. But if there was a delivery company that I could call, send to the store and then have them deliver what I wanted that would be perfect. Maybe it doesn't even have to be for pregnant moms but single moms too! I am sure single moms run into this problem all the time. Seriously people, this could be a gold mind! My sister once had her pizza delivery guy (she has a very close connection to the pizza place that she loves!) buy and bring her milk! But for now I am stuck with no root beer. Darn.

out littel athlete goes to the zoo

Sam's introduction to one of the BEST sports ever...lacrosse! She was a natural.

Sunday we had an adventure. We headed about an hour away to the Marshfield Zoo. It is a small zoo of only WI native animals. Samantha was kind of crabby and since a lot of the animals were sleeping or inside their pens she wasn't all that amused. But we had a great time anyway.