Name Issues.

And here I thought we had all that settled! But no, Jay informes me last night that he really really loves Annagrace instead of Madeline. We'd call her Gracey. Now... I'm okay with Annagrace - but I don't like Anna Grace (seperated) as I don't care for the name Anna. Love the variations of the name, but I knew an Anna I didn't care for and that just ruins the name for me. Y'all know how that works. So anyways. Annagrace just looks kinda weird. Like... you have to stare at it for a minute to realize that it's really just two names squished together. And I'm not a weird name person... however.... I love Annagrace. I do. I just happen to like Madeline more. LOL And besides, she's been Maddy to me for several months now! I've been trying out Annagrace just for kicks all day and it feels like I'm talking about someone different - not my baby about to be born, no, that's Madeline. Annagrace is some new being to my brain.

*sigh*

So we'll be working through THAT fun obstacle in the next few weeks. I really prefer Madeline. However I admit, I like Gracey better than Maddy. Sounds more traditional... I can see having a Gracie (or Gracey - can't decide on the spelling) and a Lizzy. And I can see having a Maddy and a Lizzy.

My second thought is that I love how the girls names would flow. Elizabeth Joy and Madeline Grace. Both classic English names, but still not overused in today's society. Elizabeth Joy and Annagrace ______ just doesn't flow as well. Not to mention, from the blanks, we obviously can't decide on a middle name for Annagrace either... where I thought I'd already figured all this out! AHHH.

Okay, I'm done complaining. Name stuff is fun... but I don't like to dwell on it. I like to pick something I love and stick with it. I thought we'd done that... but I guess Jay is having second thoughts - He says he doesn't like that so many people will mispronounce her name (Line or Lyn) We're spelling it "line" but he always says "lyn" which I don't mind though I prefer "line"

Anyway. So that's that. Annagrace is back on the table.

Pregnancy Vent.

Tonight Linda offerred to watch Lizzy so Jay and I could go on a REAL date. (It's been a long time...) So I found something reasonably nice looking in my very limited wardrobe... black shirt and black pants - did my makeup (which is rare) and styled my hair, feeling slightly less "fat" and frumpy than normal we headed out. We decided on Applebee's in Summerville (not our favorite choice but we were running short on time since we were going to see a movie later). We split an app and I ordered a bowl of soup for dinner.

I finished the soup and put my bowl off to the side when our smart mouth college kid waiter sarcastically came to check on us and made this remark: "Gee, should I go get you another bowl?"

Huh? Why would I need another bowl?

Sarcastic Smirk says: "Well you sure seemed to enjoy this one."

Okay. I'm 7 months pregnant. That really was not a nice thing to say to any woman... but a PREGNANT woman? Ugh. Hormones kicked in and it took everything in me to hold it in until we left the restaurant about 2 minutes later as Jay could tell I had tears in my eyes... I bawled in the car for over an hour. That kid made me feel like CRAP. I mean, geesh... it's not like I ordered a huge meal or something... it was a freaking bowl of soup! What's so bad about finishing a bowl of soup? *sigh* It completely ruined our night. I was bawling my eyes out, red puffy face - no more make up - completely mad at myself for being so sensitive and even more mad at the kid for opening his big sarcastic mouth. Jay didn't know what to do with me so we just went back to my MIL's so I could wash my face and sit for a bit.

I swear... I do NOT ever want to be pregnant again. I'm so OVER it. The stupid hormones, losing control of my body... Over it i tell you... over it. :(

Black Friday!

I had good intentions of going out early... but no such luck, Jay had to be up early to go to work and no way was I shopping those crowds with a toddler in tow so we slept in instead. Linda (MIL) called around 8 and said she'd watch Liz while I shopped - awesome. So we got ready and headed out around 9:30, dropped my kiddo off and headed to Kohls first (no way was I fighting mall traffic yesterday). I'd scoured the BF ads and found some good deals at Kohls, so off I went. I found a parking space pretty easily as I had some help from some friends I caught up with in the parking lot - they flag waved the space down for me and so I was really close to the doors instead of the mile walk most people were making. LOL Thanks Abby and Sean! :D Also I figured carts would be scarse so I grabbed my stroller... very glad I did that. It came in handy in both stores when there were NO carts to be found. I knew what I wanted so I didn't take a lot of time browsing... looking back there were some good deals that I missed, but I had a budget and was determined to stick to it! First on my list, a new beard trimmer for Jay - he'd been wanting a good quality one and those things aren't cheap - well Kohls had a Remmington for 65% off.... and I managed to dig out the last one! :D Love that! On to the Kids clothes, I found Liz 2 new pairs of pants and 2 shirts to match, then I found my sister a shirt for her birthday in the maternity dept... those were all 65% off so I was able to find something more $$ than I had planned for the price I had budgeted! Then I got my MIL taken care of (I won't post what I got her as she reads my blog. LOL) anyway... I walked out of there saving over $100 and not spending anywhere close to that much! The line was long but not unbearable, about 20 minutes - they had it moving pretty quick. I ran into some friends so it wasn't a big deal... not to mention i was kidless so it was rather peaceful even amoung the chaos. :P

On to Target! (next door) Again, I knew what I was looking for so I didn't stray too much. I found a sweater for my BIL, 2 more shirts for Liz, some stocking stuffers for Jay and Lizzy and some PJ pants for Jay (our Christmas Eve tradition). I also found something for mom and my grandma while I was there, but again - i won't post what as they read this. LOL I wasn't there long but managed to get a lot done, all in all I made a good dent in our Christmas shopping, and didn't break our budget!

And... I got it ALL done in under an hour! By 10 am I was pulling out of my parking space with treasures in tow, headed back to my MIL's to pick up Liz. We all met for lunch about an hour and 1/2 later at my favorite Mexican place and then Liz and I came home and napped while Jay went back to work. We celebrated Beth's birthday last night, so Jay watched Liz so I could have some "me" time with my family. Jay and Liz went to Jay's favorite pizza place and ate Calazone's. (He's forever trying to talk me into going there but it's just not my thing.) So they had a good time, no worries. I on the other hand had a GREAT time. We went over to Mt. P to Fonduly Yours, this fun little Fondu place that looks like a hole in the wall on the outside but is actually a really neat low light restaurant inside. (we think it's low light to hide all the grease stains) Anyway, they started us out with a YUMMY beer cheese appetizer, followed by a fantastic chef's salad with my favorite sweet and sour dressing. I ordered the Terriyaki Steak though by the time it came I was nearly full from the salad and cheese dip app. I gave it an old college try and managed to eat about half of it. (No batter for mine thank you, saved about 500 calories there!) :D The thing that I like (when kidless) about this restaurant is that it takes a loooong time to eat so it's a relaxing enjoyable meal, and no matter how full you were when you entree came, but the time they get around to dessert - you always have room. So we got a milk chocolate fondue with a shot of Bailey's Irish Creme... *swoon* We dipped cherries, marshmellows, pineapple, apples, pretzels, and pound cake in the chocolate. OMG YUM! I walked out of there 5 lbs heavier I'm sure. It was all so yummy! Anyway, it was a lot of fun and a great way to celebrate Beth's special day. :)

So that was my Black Friday. Maddeline was pretty laid back yesterday, no kicking my bladder at inopportune moments or getting so rowdy I thought I might revisit my dinner... all in all she was wiggling around, but let me enjoy my day. :D

FUNNY!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9551517528

Need a laugh? Well here ya go. Priceless.

*bangs head*

I'm ready to kick my husbands BUTT. He just walked in, slammed the front door (on accident of course) went to the bathroom (right beside lizzy's room... where she's napping) shut the door hard and locked it, dropped the toilet seat, then opened it up loudly, forgetting to take off his work boots he "walked" (sounded much more like a stomp) back out of the bathroom... and woke Lizzy up. So now she's a sobbing mess, can't get back to sleep - screaming into her pillow. *siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh*

I've banned him from the house during all future nap times. Seriously. He did the same thing yesterday. He just can't possibly WALK SOFTLY down the hall, crack the bathroom door instead of shutting it and locking it... (who's going to walk in on him GEEZ?)

Anyway. I'm pissed. I was supposed to go to the store but now I have to go continue consoling my miserable teething toddler.

EDIT: Okay, I realize that was dramatic... he's not really banned from our house during nap times... but he is banned from wearing his boots in the house on the hard wood floor. On the other hand, Liz never fell back asleep and was miserable all afternoon... poor kiddo. Teething is tough business. Can't wake up a sleeping kid that isn't feeling too hot without paying the price... now we know. ;)

Details.

Okay, so much to say... let me condense it a bit.

Friday morning Jay had off so he watched Liz for me. They went to the jump castle together and had a blast! I on the other hand woke up at 7 to get my baked beans and sweet potatoes cooking. Why 7 you ask? Well we had a mommy's Thanksgiving luncheon at Kay's house... and I had to leave the house at 9. I met up with Ashley and Emery at the Tanger Outlets and off we went to Kays house. Except, I've never been to Kay's house, and Ash hasn't lived here long enough to really know her way around... so we got lost - really really lost... out in the boonies, no cell reception lost. LOL We went about 25 miles in the wrong direction before I finally turned around and so we were late to Kays, after promising to be early. Typical me. Anyway, after arriving at Kays and I stuck my sweet potatoes back in the oven to brown the marshmellow's... except... once again, I screwed that up too. I was talking to 5 different people at once, and Jacquie asked me to hold her adorable son Mitch (4 month old) so of course I did... and forgot all about my potatoes... when all of the sudden Jacquie looks up and says "I smell burnt... sugar." Oops. We open the oven and smoke comes pouring out... yeah, I'd left my marshmellow's under the high broiler for... 7 minutes... they only needed to be under there for about 30 seconds. Nice. So the smoke dectectors go off... scare every kid in the whole house, takes about 3 minutes to shut off - which in kid world is hours... smoked out the house... nice Jess, real nice. Fortunately for the sweet potatoes we were able to lift the burnt to a crisp marshmellows off with one spatula flick and the potatoes were unharmed, added more marshmellows and back in the oven they went to be carefully guarded. They actually turned out REALLY good... after all the drama. lol So that was a fun, albeit crazy morning. I got to meet a few new mom's, and chat with lots of the regulars. I love Charleston Mommies... I'm so glad I found that group - they've been a God send for my sanity these last few months. Just being able to vent and chat with other mom's who don't mind the noise of a screaming toddler, crying baby or just understanding that crap happens and kids get sick... it's so great.

So that all happened before 2 on Friday! LOL At 3 I had to be at the Flea Market to claim a table, as I decided I had a ton of extra inventory and wanted to sell some off for holiday money, aside from my regular orders. So I arrive at 3... sit in my car until 3:45 when they finally put the list out for available tables, go grab a table and head home - pass out for an hour before getting right back up to go to our small group. At this point I was missing my girl, I hadn't seen her all day other than the quick hug I got right after she woke up, Jay had her napping when I got home, and then I fell asleep - when I got up I had 15 minutes to get her to my mom's house so we could go to group! Poor kiddo, we were missing each other. Dropped her off at mom's... headed over to our small group, where I forgot that not only was I supposed to bring the garlic bread for spaghetti night... but I was also responsible for the noodles. Dang this pregnancy brain. Fortunately Abby had extra's, so it was okay. Shortly after dinner however I started feeling really crappy - being up so early (And not going to bed the night before until 1am) had taken it's toll and I still had to be up at 5 am on Saturday! So we didn't stay for Bible Study... yeah we were rude, we ate and then went home... except I still had to load up the car, finish wrapping some things up and STILL didn't get to bed until after midnight... *yawn*

Saturday morning came way too early... at 5 am I was up and ready, left the house at 5:30 and made it to the Flea Market (in the 40 degree weather... I had an outside booth) just in time to pay for it by the 6 am deadline. I brought my little space heater which managed to keep my feet from being completely frozen, but my fleece jacket just wasn't cutting it... I was FREEZING all morning... first customers didn't arrive until 8'ish which meant by 6:15 I was sitting there bored. Good thing I brought my book of the month for Charleston Mommies. LOL I was able to read a bit (thought it was hard to see past the cloud of my own breath on the early morning air) and eventually the customers started to arrive... except... they weren't buying, at least not at my booth... the Nike and Fubu (Sp?) booth next to me was selling out... as was the camo's and hunting gear across from me... however, I have a different market, mom's and grandma's... and uh yeah... I realized (a little too late) that these are not the people who shop at the flea market... I should have had camo bows and black with sparkly gold dollar signs bows - and I'd have sold a ton... cute boutique stuff? Yeah Right. I got 5 sales all morning... but fortunately those mom's knew what they were looking for and each bought a ton of stuff, stocking both their kid's bow supply and getting a few extras for stocking stuffers. So it ended up paying for itself, though not quite as well as I'd hoped. Jay showed up at 11 and sat with me (while liz sat in the car parked behind my booth and watched Shrek) until 1:45 when I left... to go to Charli's house for a party. Once again, I kiss my hubby and kiddo goodbye and head off to the party. I almost fell asleep on the way there, I definately should have just gone home and napped - but I wasn't going to let Charli down so off I went to her house, had a good time, almost fell asleep on the sofa (not that it wasn't a great party, I was just super pooped. LOL) placed and order and then drove home, passed out for an hour - and then woke up with a crazy desire to go find our Christmas Tree... No, I couldn't just take a night off and settle in with my family, no I was insistant on going out and tree hunting. Jay (who know is an old pro at dealing with me when I'm pregnant) smiles and nods and off we go... I wanted an artificial tree, he wanted a real tree... he nicely begged and pleaded until I finally gave in and told him that it was his job to water and take care of it though so that we didn't have a match stick come Christmas week. Well all of the sudden this tree hunting thing just got a lot harder... i was planning on visiting Lowes and Walmart to find a good deal on a pretty tree... but a real tree? The week before Thanksgiving? No where to be found. So we agree, Sunday after church we'll call around at some tree farms to see if we can go pick a tree early (as none of them officially open until Thanksgiving) and if we can't, then we get the artificial... but either way, by Sunday night we (as in I) were determined to have our tree up.

So we went to bed early on Saturday night, except I remembered that Ash wanted to borrow the book I was reading, and Sunday morning at church would be the last time i saw her before she left for the holidays... sooooo i read. And read. And read, and finally finished it around 1 am. Pass out for 6 hours, get up at 7 for church and for once we were only 5 minutes late! (A miracle for us) Stick my screaming kid in sunday school. (Who's fine less than 30 seconds after I walk away but does this major drama stuff every week) Church was great, the pastor spoke on "Our inner 2 year old" Definately applicable to my life. After church we went out to lunch with Ash, Seth and their cutie pie daughter Emery. Ashley finally got to see my b**** side at lunch. LOL She said she knew I had it in me but was just too nice to everyone all the time, she was waiting for me to be mean someday. Well she got her wish... the waitress forgot to put my order in, just mine. Old preggo was starving when they brought out all the food for the whole table when she realized she'd never even put in my order... so everyone was done eating when my burger finally arrived. I wasn't having any of that, by that time I'd filled up on bread and the rest of Lizzy's mashed potatoes. I'd been looking for our waitress (who conveniently disappeared) for about 10 minutes and finally asked another waitress to get her for us so I could just cancel the burger. (Up until now, I was frustrated, but completely understood the mistake... hey they happen) but I was getting frustrated when she hid in the kitchen instead of coming to our table... so when she finally brought out the burger (when everyone else was ready for the check) I told her I didn't want it and that I'd tried to tell her, well she looks at me and says.... "Just take it home with you" (From her voice implying that she wasn't about to take it off the check) Um... no. I don't want it now lady... we're ready to go - we have two kids who made it through the meal quietly but were not getting restless and I wasn't going to make a whole table wait for me to eat now that they've finished... so... No. I don't want the burger. She had the nerve to say "I don't understand, you ordered the burger... here it is." At that point my inner B came out and I looked at her and said "Get me your manager and No. I will not be paying for this burger because you screwed up my order." She turned bright red and scurried off to find the manager, looking worried when he walked up and she was standing behind him, tail between her legs... and she didn't even have the nerve to tell him what was going on! I smiled at the manager and informed him the waitress had forgot to put my order in, then when we tried to find her, ignored the other waitress we'd sent after her and hid out in the kitchen for 20 minutes until my food was finally ready, and when i told her I didn't want it and had tried to cancel it, she gave me lip about it instead of just taking it back. He looked over at her and she just rolled her eyes and shrugged... At this he kicked into high gear immediately taking it off the bill, apologizing over and over and all that drama... Anyway, Jay still made me tip her good as the rest of the meal had been great... *grrr* he's always too nice. Ash agreed with me, she shouldn't have gotten anything after that nasty display. But Jay pointed out, we'd just come from church where pastor talked about controlling our inner 2 year old... so I sucked it up and we left her a decent tip.

Anyway... moving on. LOL (this is getting long... gah!) We all took a nap when we got home and then I called around to some tree farms... the first one I called was the place Jay always got their tree's from when he was little, and they were really great... they said no problem, come on out and pick out a tree! I was super excited! So off we went! It's way out in the country, but we listened to Christmas music on the radio the whole way there to get us in the mood... it was great!!! It was dusk when we arrived so the guy gave us a flash light and a hand saw, pointed us in the right direction (we'd decided we wanted a Virginia Pine... long needles and YUMMY smell!) so off we went, this one's too high, this one's too short - this one's too fat, this one has too many holes, i was having a blast looking for just the right tree. Meanwhile Lizzy was looking under all the tree's for Pumpkins. LOL Apparently she thought this place resembled our pumpkin picking adventure so she kept walking around saying "Peeka punkin daddy? Peeka punkin?" (Pick a pumpkin?) We got a good giggle out of that. LOL Finally we found it... the perfect tree... it looked a bit tall to me, but was full and pretty and seemed like it would be a great fit in our home. So Jay cut it down and we dragged it back to the main house. The guy then hooked it up to a shaker (i'd never seen anything like this!) It shook out all the loose and dead needles and then he laid it on a big table and wrapped it up, then tied it to our car for us... it was so fun. I felt like I was in Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation. haha. The coolest part? It was cheaper than buying a precut one off one of those grocery store parking lots! $45 for any size!!! I was impressed. So off we go, stopping off for a quick dinner with Grammy and Uncle Bryan. When we got home I quickly realized.. the tree looked a lot smaller when surrounded by the great outdoors... in our living room on the other hand, it's fairly ginormous. LOL But I adore it. We picked the perfect height. Once we got it in the stand and put the star on - the star is less than a 1/2 inch from the ceiling. It's by far the biggest tree we've ever had, and it's super full which means I have over 2000 lights on it now. LOL We let Lizzy stay up until the lights where finished and when we finally turned them on, she *gasped* and said "Beeteefal mommy! Beeteefal!" It was sooo cute. She just loved all the lights.

Today we'll put on the ornaments and get the rest of the house depumpkinized and full of the christmas things. As I'm typing Lizzy's walking from light to light on the tree looking at each color and saying "Candle light pwetty!" for every. single. light. Too cute.

So that's my book. There were a few other interesting things that happened during this weekend, but these were the major points.

OH! One more thing! Liz is getting her bottom two, two year old molars. Poor kid has been chewing on EVERYTHING lately (usually her hands, a cup or something similar) but isn't running a fever or anything. She doesn't complain much but I can tell every now and then they're bothering her. So anyways, that's the news on our home front. :)

Sooo Tired.

Gosh this was a long and crazy weekend... I have tons to update but I'm too tired right now... I'll add more later. Just wanted to say that we got our tree tonight! My first time at a Christmas Tree Farm! :D It's real, 8 feet tall, and beautiful! More details later...
zzzzzzzzzzz..........

Rough Afternoon...

Just venting here... today was one of those "I hate being pregnant" days. It started out great, had a fun morning with some friends, great lunch, but it all went down hill on the way home. Lizzy fell asleep in the car and then didn't want to nap when we got home, so she's been MISERABLE all afternoon. So I stick her in bed (apparently just to play), Jay comes home to work on his truck so I head out to the fabric store, and lose my car. Yep. I was on the phone when I walked in and when I came out... I could not find my car. ANYWHERE. I was in tears. I walked every aisle, just miserable and angry with myself for having the worlds crappiest memory. That's when I started on the whole "GOD I HATE BEING PREGNANT" thing. Oh I love the end result, but my memory leaving? That is just way too hard to handle for me right now. I hate it. I seriously waundered around that dang parking lot for over 30 mintues completely miserable, knowing that it was there... and just not being able to FIND the stinking thing! I walked a mile out to the end and walked every single aisle... 3 times... I'm finally at my wits end and was getting ready to go back into the store and call the cops (at this point, though I knew better, i was convinced somebody stole my car because there was just no way I could be THAT stupid...) but alas. I am. I had parked in the very first parking space, about 10 feet from the door. Yep. That's me. Brainless, memoryless, MORONIC Jessica.

On a better note, My sister and her husband are having a boy. I'm glad somebody is. I was ready to start shopping for blue and since I keep getting pink after pink it's about time SOMEBODY in this family had a boy... I'm happy for them... So I officially have a nephew bakin... he's due April 15th! :) They're naming him Jack. I love that name.

Anyway, this is just one of those days. I feel like curling up in a ball and going to sleep at 5 pm... but alas, my grumpy, throwing a fit 2 year old is doing a lovely job of reminding me of the joys of motherhood.

AnnaTanna!

What in the world is AnnaTanna you ask? Well, when Hannah Montanna came on TV yesterday afternoon, that is what my darling child started saying excitedly... "AnnaTanna! Mommy! I watch AnnaTanna!" LOL I had no idea she even knew who that was! We don't watch a lot of TV, but often times while I'm making dinner Liz will sit and watch the Disney Channel. Sometimes it's Suite Life and others Hannah Montanna, but this cracked me up. It was a music video and she sang along to half the song!!! Crackin me up! This kid picks up on EVERYTHING! Scary... lol

Anyway, just had to update that, I know I'll love reading that someday when she's 12 and is grounded for sassing me... I'll think back to the days when the only things she knew how to say where sweet and precious to my ears. ;)

Bed Update.

This'll be quick. Just wanted to update on how Liz did last night. She slept like a dream... knocked out around 7:30 and didn't get up until 8:45. We didn't hear a peep out of her all night long! I checked on her every time I had to get up for my oh so tiny peanut size bladder and she stayed curled up in the middle of the bed under her covers all night long. I was worried that she might fall out since there were no rails like her toddler bed, but she did great! This morning I showed her how to make her bed and she did a pretty good job. All in all, I'd say it was a success! We'll see how the next few nights go. :)

Sunday Fun.

After church we went to Gilligans today for lunch. Yes I know this is a seafood restaurant but they had pasta on the kids menu... so here's a picture of Liz, she obviously quite enjoyed her pasta. ;)

When we got home Liz and Jay napped while I cleaned cleaned cleaned. I gave the kitchen a much needed scrub down and then drove over to Big Lots to pick up some storage bins for the sunroom... a couple hours later with 3 loads of laundry down the Sunroom was finally... FINALLY back to normal. I organized my sewing table and all my craft items (I realized I had a lot more inventory than I thought.) So everything is spotless now and we put together Lizzy's new bed! It looks *SO* cute! Check out these pics... she looks so tiny in it! But it'll be something she can grow with for years to come. :)

That was a lot of fun for me. :D And now I can start making Madeline's bumper and bedskirt. I'm going to make Lizzy's bedskirt match the crib's. I think it'll all turn out cute. :) So now I'm pretty much exhausted having not slept at all today and having been on my feet pretty much the whole day. I'm heading to bed early tonight... probably as soon as I finish this post. :D

24 Weeks Picture! :)

So here it is, the great white whale has a new picture! Sorry it took me so long to get around to it, I don't like having my picture taken right now... noooo definately not. LOL But I made a commitment to it, so even though I'm feeling like I must be rolled from room to room right about now, here you go. ;)

Crazy to think I'm now officially in my 6th month! WOW. This pregnancy goes SO slow sometimes, but then all the sudden I'll start thinking that I only have 3 months left and it feels like it's flown by! CRAZY! This is my last month in my second trimester! By the begining of December I'll be officially in the 3rd trimester and starting the grand countdown! :D

So tonight is Lizzy's last night in her toddler bed. *sniff* I want to start getting the crib put together, and I want Liz to get used to a twin before Maddy arrives. (I figure if we have to buy a new matress, I'm not going to get another crib mattress for the toddler bed so that Lizzy can grow out of it in the next year, so we're going to go ahead and get her a twin!) But, we found this really cool metal frame/box spring that doesn't require a seperate box spring so it's still low to the ground like her toddler bed. I like that she can get in and out of her bed so easy. So anyway, tomorrow we'll put her new bed together and then put the crib mattress back in the crib, pink fuzzy sheet on and I'm going to make Maddy's bumper to match the girls room. I think I decided to keep the girls together once Maddy's sleeping through the night. I figure during nap time if Lizzy has issues with getting up and bugging Madeline I'll just have Liz nap on my bed. Easy enough. :) That way we can still keep the playroom a seperate room and all will be well. The girls room is going to be packed once I put the other dresser in there, but at least we'll have plenty of storage for the kiddo's. Anyways, so I have Lizzy's new sheets in the wash right now... they're light pink with tiny rosebuds all over them, they match her Shabby Chic patchwork quilt that she already uses on her toddler bed... but now it'll look like a *real* bed!!! :D I'm super excited about that. I found a new'ish twin matress cover today at a yard sale for $2. I say newish b/c it wasn't in a package but it looked brand new, one good wash with some bleach and it'll be perfect to put on her bed! AND while we were out we ran into our small group leaders who were browsing another yard sale and they told us they have an extra twin matress that they had gotten for their twin boys but decided to use bunk beds instead and needed a double on the bottom, so it's just sitting in their garage waiting for a good home... so they gave it to us! YAY! And at another sale I got 4 pairs of really cute shorts for next summer for Lizzy... for .25 each. :D Gosh I love yard sales. Then Jay just had to stop by the flea market, and we found a doll house... for $2. Yep. $2. So that'll go in the playroom - it's a tall one that Liz can really play with and not have to get on her belly to see inside... so for Christmas we're going to get some more little dolls to put in it. Great stocking stuffers. :D

That's pretty much it for today, I've had a bad cramp in my right side all afternoon so I think I'm going to go lay down for a bit. Hopefully it goes away soon... I think Maddy must have her foot propped up on my kidney or something. ;)

It's 5 o'clock somewhere.

It's after 5. No call from the cop today. Suprise suprise. He's in for a very rude awakening if he thinks he's going to bully us into showing up in court for a bogus ticket. Not to mention, the more I've thought about it... though he'd never be convicted of course... a nice slap on the wrist for STEALING someone's plates without authority might be a nice course of action if we do end up wasting our day for that guy. *grrrrrrr*

Irritated.

Good Gracious, can I just say how much Goose Creek cops frustrate me?! All the sheriffs and corporals are great... educated, know the law, good with people etc. But the regular street cops? Oh dear LORD, I swear they're all touched in the head! AHHH.

So this is leading up to an explanation I promise. Jay got pulled over on Tuesday afternoon/night for a *flickering* headlight. (An hour before it was dark.) The officer wouldn't let him get out and screw the light back in tight... (Clearly a safety issue in broad daylight on a busy street... with Lizzy in the back seat. Yeah. Sure.) Instead the officer shone his flash light in Lizzy's face b/c the tint on our back windows was apparently too dark for him to look through... and it freaked Liz out... she started crying because of the bright light in her face and Jay asked the officer not to scare her anymore with the light. The officer replies "Sir do you want to make this worse?" WTH?! Make what worse? Worse for whom and concerning what?! You pulled him over for a freaking FLICKERING headlight you moron!!! To top it off, since we just bought our car and were transferring tags from our old car, we had to wait until the title came in. So when the cop ran the plates it had our old car (same person, same address, just different car) registered and when Jay showed the cop all our paperwork (which is legally all we had to have as we have 45 days BY THE LAW to transfer the plates) and the cop STOLE (I say stole because he removed it illegally) our license plate! He claimed jay stole it... FROM HIMSELF?! WTH AGAIN?! So he wrote Jay a $300 freaking ticket... MANDATORY that he goes to court, for an illegal plate... that he apparently stole... from himself. *siiiiiiigh* Idiot.

Uh. Hell no. So I call the cop as soon as Jay get's home and leave him a very respectful message stating that perhaps he didn't understand the law... but it's impossible to steal from one's self. And the law states we have 45 days to transfer the tags from the date of sale, which was less than 2 weeks ago. I asked him to kindly return my call and let me know if he would be dropping my license plate off at my house or if I needed to come pick it up, but either way to call me.

No return call. (Not that I was really expecting one.)
So I call him again yesterday, Same topic, same basic message - this time stating that I called back the previous evening and spoke to the dispatcher and asked her to contact the officer and let him know he had a voicemail that needed to be returned immediately. She said no problem as soon as you called in to leave him a message I let him know already. I let the officer know that not only had he NOT returned my call or returned my now STOLEN plate but that now I was making a second call, which I was also documenting.

So I know he got both messages. Still, no return call.

So I go up to the police department today and ask to speak to a supervisor, and the first thing the lady says is "Is this for a complaint against an officer?" Gee... if that's the first thing they suspect, ya think maybe the officers do a lot of this crap to people? She continued "Well all our supervisors are in training so you'll have to fill out some paper work and we can get back with you." Uh, No. I'll wait thanks. "Oh, well I guess I can find a corporal somewhere" As long as she has the power to go over the head of an officer I don't care who you get me. "Please have a seat ma'am."

5 minutes later the corporal shows up, she's a sweet no nonsense gal and I explain to her the situation... she goes and get's me my tag saying we were correct, we did have 45 days. I asked her to speak with the officer about his approach to families and not making small children cry, or threatening that childs father if the father asks the moron to stop putting his spot light in our daughters face. She said she'd review the tape and most definately speak with him about that.

However, the cop was there (of course too busy to face me himself) but the cop told the corporal that he had returned my call AND talked to me AND stopped by my house. To which I informed the corporal that NO, not only had he not called me, but it's impossible that he talked to me when he never even initiated a call... AND unless he decided to stop by the house at some ungodly hour of the night... we were home all evening after that, and NO he did not stop by. (3 lies all in one! How's that for honestly of the law?) *rollseyes*

So I have my tags now. Now I still have to wait for my title to come in... but we STILL have to go to court as our favorite law enforcement officer made it a mandatory court appearance... Nice guy huh? The corporal told me that she'd instructed the officer to get in touch with me before 5 pm this evening and if he didn't to call her back. I plan being very polite and asking that he change the court appearance request... if he chooses to be a bigger ass than he already is... I plan on showing up with enough paper work in the court room to make him look like the proper ass that he is, STEALING our license plate for no LEGAL reason whatsoever. He really... really... does not want a nearly 7 month pregnant woman showing up in the court room embarassing him in front of his friends in the way that I absolutely will if Jay has to take time off for work to show up for this stupid thing.

Hell hath seen no fury like a scorned hormonal pregnant woman. :P

Anyway... I'm hoping my blood pressure goes back down soon as I can tell it's skyrocketing because I was so irritated this morning.

*Vent over - steps off my soap box* :D

Mini Update

I figured I'd update since it's been almost a week since my last update... however, there's really nothing very interesting to report. Maddy seems to be clawing her way out, she's taken permanent residance in my lower abdomen and keeps me up all hours of the night... she's quite the wiggle worm and responds immediately to any music we play. Jay turned on the CMA awards tonight and the second the music came on, little miss started doing the two step... mixed with a little break dancing or so it felt. I keep asking Jay to change the channel when she really get's going... feels like I'm about to give birth on my sofa. *shakes head* As soon as we turn it to the news she settles back down. I'd laugh if it didn't hurt so dang bad.

Anyways. Other than a future career in break dancing (which we all know will have to match her degree in medicine. :P ) nothing much new in the world of Madeline. My sister finds out the sex of her baby next week! Can I just tell you how excited I am about that!!! They're having a boy. I just know it. I can feel it in my bones. (Though I admit to not being all that good at guessing, I figure 50/50 right?) :D I say they're having a boy... and we're having a girl... and next Christmas we'll dress them in opposite colored PJ's. What? Yeah we've been thinking ahead like that. LOL

Okay, so the weather has turned COLD here! GAH. Jay and I made a deal not to turn the furnace on for as long as possible this winter - the gas bills around here are INSANE. So instead we're using portable electric (safe) heaters around the house. We have one for each bedroom and then move them into the living room during the day. They're small and look nice enough, and they keep whatever room they're in nice and toasty.. the problem is when they've been in the living room all evening and it's time for bed... BRRRRR It's like 45 degree's in our bedroom! AH! I admit that I'm looking forward to possibly selling this house. After all the issues we've had with it, the fact that it's drafty as all get out is definately NOT a big winner with us. I hate drafty houses. But that conversation is for another day... for now, we're here and trying to make the most of this house.

And lastly, I've taken on a personal decision to start respecting my husband more. I've taken a long hard look at myself lately and don't really care for what I see. This pregnancy has brought on a slew of hormones and frankly, I don't know how he puts up with me some days. I can be SO grumpy! Poor guy leaves before Liz or I get up and comes back after it's dark... and all I do is give him lip about something or other that I'm frustrated with... like he really needs that you know? Idk... he hasn't said anything. He doesn't complain. But I can tell when I made this decision and really started sticking to it, he noticed. And it's making our relationship even better so that's good.

Ooooh and i got a HUGE deal on some winter maternity clothes! I found a girl on craigslist who was selling 10 pieces of maternity winter clothes for $15! I grabbed at that deal and now have a new pair of jeans, a cute black skirt and several long sleeve shirts that are perfect for this time of year! I do need to go get myself a jacket soon - I've been putting it off and wearing my old one's... unfortunately after Lizzy I'd lost enough weight that all my jackets are smalls and won't zip up around my belly now. So they're great for keeping my arms warm on these frigid mornings, but my belly and chest on the other hand tend to be a bit frigid most days. LOL

So that's it for now. I need to go do some laundry... yes you read that right. Me! Do laundry! Bahahaha. ;) Liz needs some clean clothes for school tomorrow. She only has 2 or 3 fall/winter outfits so we recycle alot around here. Today she found a turtle neck from last winter that I didn't pack up... she put it on, and it actually fit! Weird. I guess her little arms haven't grown that much over the last 8 or 9 months. Anyway, off to do some laundry and such.

It's Business Time!

Okay girls, the kinks are worked out... business name decided, website all prettied up, orders being filled and almost all the pictures in place. As I build up my inventory I'll keep taking pics and adding more but right now the only thing I'm missing is pics of the A-line dresses and pant-alls. The dresses are ADORABLE. Lizzy looks so cute in them. But I want to wait to get some professional pictures taken and then I'll add them to the site.

So... the official business name is Baby Chic. The website is www.TheBabyChicShop.com

Take a peek and let me know what y'all think! Thanks for all the tips and help y'all gave me. You guys are the best!

Exhausted.

I really should be in bed right now instead of writing this late at night. (Yes, I do realize that 11 at night isn't all that late for most of you... but for me, after the last few days I've had, I REALLY should have been in bed 2 hours ago.) But that's beside the point. I needed to update so here we go. WOW This was a crazy week... I thought I'd blogged a few times this week already, but no - not since Saturday. Okay... so we skipped church on Sunday. I woke up feeling like I needed to get another 10 hours of sleep... we spent the day chilling out from our previous crazy days. In fact, I just asked Jay what we did on Sunday and neither of us can recall anything. I'm sure we did something so I may update later. Anyways, Monday we took Lizzy to the aquarium together. We spent the morning downtown and walked around a bit. Good fun for all. Tuesday morning we had Lizzy's big dress up party at school.

She danced in her tutu through the parade for parents and then had tons of fun playing games. I made pumpkin butter cheesecake sandwiches for the kids along with individual sparkly pumpkins with name tags for the kids. Everyone had a great time and we were all exhausted afterwards. Wednesday we went over to the House of Bounce and met up with some great mom's. Our kids all had a great time playing around together. Liz did great for about 2 hours and then got a bit overwhelmed close to nap time.

So we headed out for a long nap. After she woke up we spent the afternoon with Nanny and then I went to decorate our trunk for Trunk or Treat! That was a great way to spend Halloween. We had so much fun, there was a story for kids about how God doesn't want us to be scared of anything. (Really cute and by the time the story was done the kids were really really into it.) then they had color time outside and after all that we Trunk or Treated. The girls had a blast going from car to car, and since it was mostly preschool kids the parents and grandparents REALLY stepped it up with the candy. Instead of all chocolate they gave out gummy bears, teddy grahms, suckers, all kinds of toddler friendly treats. We did get our fair share of chocolate - but Lizzy has PLENTY of treats to last the next few weeks that don't make me cringe when she eats them. Love love love that.

So that brings us to today. We didn't get in until late last night as we went over to Nanny's again after the ToT'ing and ended up staying until 9. She loved giving out candy to the trick or treaters... at one point my mom and I weren't paying close attention and Lizzy handed a little girl about her age a handful of candy - and then held her hand out... the little girl looked at lizzy, looked in her bag, looked back at lizzy and then picked out a treat and gave it back to Liz. LOL Mom saw it right as Lizzy was taking the little girls treat and we all busted up laughing... we gave Liz her own treat, the little girl some more treats and we all had a good laugh over that.

Fast forward to this morning, Lizzy wanted to sleep in but Rily needed a ride to school as her mom had a doctors appointment so she HAD to get her tush up and going. Rily arrived a few minutes after 8 and the girls ate breakfast and watched Pooh. (Usually we have a no TV rule for school mornings, but we don't normally have friends over before school so I made an exception.) The girls held hands the whole car ride to school and then walked right in without a backwards glance at me. *sniff* I love that Liz has a good buddy. Rily's so good for Lizzy. She talks like a 1st grader. No joke. She told me this morning that she had a pair of flip flops that looked like mine, but hers were red. Then she said she liked my shirt and it fit me nice. (A 2 YEAR OLD SAID THIS) I was dying. Lizzy just stares at her when she talks like that. Liz can't talk nearly as well so I'm hoping Rily rubs off on her a bit. (Rily has two older sisters - 13 and 18 so she's pretty well versed in fashion and learning how to get her point across. LOL)

Anyway, after school I came home and worked on my business stuff while Liz napped. I was able to get alot of things done - now all I need to do is get 2 more things from the fabric store tomorrow and then I'll officially share my new site with y'all. Once I get those last two things I can take some good pics and then I'll be ready to go! I finished 2 baby blankets today... SO soft and cozy. Liz claimed one of them as soon as I finished it so that one's not for sale. ;) But I'm loving all the color options, and let me tell you, the ribbon socks are SOO freakin cute. I'm exicted to add those to the site. I've had a ball making them and Liz has had a ball testing things as I go. She wore some ribbon socks to school today and I got 3 orders off of it. LOL Love that!

Okay. So I'm yawning my head off. I better go head to bed. Tomorrow's supposedly a chill day - we shall see. Nothing but small group planned for tomorrow night... I need a laid back day. I'll update again soon. Hopefully the next week or so will be a little slower... I'll get another preggo pic up soon. It's been almost 4 weeks!