2010 Review!

It's hard to believe the 2010 is over as of midnight tonight. This year has flown by. We have experienced so much in the last 12 months. Just some of my random thoughts about the last year.

Early 2010 started off with a bang as 2 days into the New Year we celebrated a 2nd birthday of our favorite little girl. It's hard to believe that this time last year we were getting ready to celebrate with a 2 yr old and in 2 days we will be ringing in the New Year with a 3 YR OLD!

The late spring/early summer brought us on our first out of the country trip for us as a family of 3. We visited Turks and Caicos. After a fiasco getting there due to a delayed flight we found out several things:

1) My child rocks and hung in there for a total of 20 hrs between getting up in Dallas and hitting the sack in Beaches.

2) Beaches is by far one of the best places to take children of young ages. Lexie had an absolute BLAST!

3) We hung out, ate and did whatever we wanted to do at our own place without cell phones, internet, computers or any other distractions for an entire week.

This was by far an experience we will never forget. We all 3 had a good time!

The middle of 2010 brought some major changes in our house. After several months of "discussions" I decided to quit my job and stay at home with Lexie. My heart was just no longer in my job. I went to work b/c that's what I DID not b/c that's what I wanted to do. This was a major decision as we were not only cutting back to one income in our household but Lexie was accustomed to being around tons of kids all day everyday. She and I both adjusted pretty easily and I wouldn't give the world for the last 6 months that I've had with her. We went in playdates, to movies, to the park, to zoos etc. You name it and we did it. Lexie and I grew to know each other in a way that I never would have imagined. We often napped together in her cool (dark!) room and as I laid there listening to her snoring (like her daddy) I thought to myself "Thank you God for allowing me this opportunity". We have had the best time together.

Towards the end of 2010 Ryan and I started discussing something that we have talked about on and off for about 8 yrs (since we graduated from college). I have always wanted to go back to school to become an RN. I briefly met someone at Tech one day and we discussed me doing this before we even got married. However, Ryan moved over here and then we got married and had Lexie and it just wasn't an option at that time. After reviewing all of our finances, daycare, etc and spending lots of time talking and praying about it, we decided that I would be able to return back to school this spring. I spent the last 1/2 of the summer/early fall getting all of my info together (shot records, transcripts etc). I have a couple of pre-requisite classes to take in the Spring and will hopefully be applying to Nursing school in the Fall 2010. Lexie will start back full time in preschool/daycare on Monday and as excited as I am about school I'm sad to see her go back. Of course on the days that I don't have late classes I will be picking her up early (you know right after naptime/snack) and hanging out with her. I want to be able to use my mornings for studying/classes and all the time I possibly can to devote to her in the afternoons. She is so excited to go back to daycare. All last week she talked and talked about how she was now going to get to see her friends "all day long" and not just in the mornings at preschool. I know she has missed her friends!

The end of 2010 has brought some sadness to our life. My mom's brother passed away on Christmas Eve and we attended the funeral this past Tuesday. While my brain knows that he is in a better place and not hurting, my heart doesn't feel the same way. My heart is broken for my Aunt, cousin and my "niece". On the way home from the funeral my mom was very emotional as this makes the 2nd sibling that she has lost in the last 2 1/2 yrs in addition to my grandmother that we lost 7 yrs ago. As we drove back and listened to her tell me how much she missed her mother and sister and would miss her brother my heart was literally breaking. I hated not being able to "fix" the pain that she was experiencing.

With the final day of 2010 drawing to a close I am thankful for so many things. I'm thankful for the wonderful friends and family that I have. I am thankful for the awesome husband that I have that constantly tells me that his one goal in life is to make sure that Lexie and I are happy. Human nature in general is selfish and I am proud to say that my husband is awesome and not selfish at all. I am so thankful that not only is my mom still with us but she is still thriving in a way I would have never imagined.

All 3 of us have grown so much in the last year. Lexie has gone from a toddler in diapers to a full grown 3 yr old that is in a constant state of learning. She continues to amaze us on a daily basis. I have discovered so much about myself and have made the time to take care of myself and my family and to actually sit down and enjoy life and those around me. Ryan has continued to amaze me with his never ending patience with a growing (sometimes disobedient and defiant) child and continues to love us unconditionally. He is also thriving at his job and I am so proud of all the hard work he does to provide for our family.

Today on the last day of the year and as we celebrate many ups and downs I look forward to what 2011 will bring us! I didn't include any pics in this post so I'll leave you with this cute picture. This is Lexie styling in her new present that Santa brought her!

Christmas PJ's!

Tuesday I took Lexie to preschool for "The Music Lady". When we got there she ran into one of her most favorite people in the world. Her Mrs. "Barba" as she calls her. Mrs. Barbara and Lexie exchanged their gifts before I left from dropping her off and let's just say that Mrs. Barbara knows her Lexie well. Her are her gifts from Mrs. Barbara.



Lexie fell instantly in love with her Minnie Mouse PJ's. This child loves clothes and ANYTHING with Minnie or Mickey on it is a hit. I was so glad that Mrs. Barbara gave her some Christmas PJ's b/c in the hustle and bustle of Christmas, I totally forgot to get her new PJ's. She was so excited about all of her gifts and kept saying "Hey! This book talks". I was able to pry it away from her before I left her for preschool that morning.

Showing her ornaments.


Let's open them!


This next picture cracks me UP! She was insistent on trying them on even though we had not had a bath yet. I finally compromised and told her she could try on the shirt portion over her clothes. Hey! That worked for her. She loved hanging her ornaments on the tree and assured me she needed no help AT ALL!



The final presentation!


Lexie got Mrs. Barbara a really cute scrub coat with frogs on it. She picked it out herself and was so proud of it! Mrs. Barbara jokingly said "Mommy wrapped this good. I wonder what it is". Lexie being the literal 3 yr old that she is busted out with "Hey! It's a shirt". We have laughed and laughed about that. She is so honest and I love it.

We are so thankful for Karen, Barbara, Pam, Loree, Liz, Tootie and all of the employees at Benton United Methodist Daycare that have played such a vital role in helping us to raise Lexie. She has learned so much and not a day goes by that she doesn't talk about her teachers, friends, Karen and Barbara from preschool. We feel so blessed to have such wonderful people taking such good care of our sweet girl. You will never know how much we truly appreciate each and every one of you!

Having fun on Christmas Break!

Yesterday was Lexie's first day on her "Christmas Break". I had decided a couple of weeks ago to make a quick trip into Monroe to eat lunch with my parents b/c we love to do that when we can. My cousin Kristi came by here a couple of weeks ago while she was in Shreveport for the day and we had lunch with her. I mentioned coming into Monroe and told her I would let her know so we could all meet up for lunch.

We left yesterday morning right after Ryan headed out to work and spent most of the drive either listening to her Bible Songs or singing Christmas songs. Fun times that I will cherish forever. Once we got there we met up with my dad and then met up with my step-mom, my aunt, my cousin and her daughter for lunch. We had a great time and it was so nice to be able to visit with our families.

After lunch we decided to go and visit my grandparents. Lexie had such a good time over there. My grandmother has a piano that Lexie loves to play on. She has such a good time and I only had to remind her about 1/2 dozen times to be "gentle" with it. At one point someone mentioned "Jesus Loves Me" b/c I wanted her to sing it for my grandmother. She looks at the piano and says "That song on here?". She was cracking us up. We had a great visit with my grandparents.

On the way back to my dad's we decided to stop and let her play at the Jungle Gym for a bit. She had a good time and dad and I were able to visit for a good amount of time. We then got some ice cream, dropped Papaw back off and headed home.

I had such a wonderful time with her. She is becoming such a grown little girl and as much as I miss those "baby days" I love the fact that she has such personality and can communicate so well with me. She told me last night that she loves us "gurls" doing stuff together. I love her so much and I'm so grateful to be able to be her mommy!

Here are a couple of comparison pictures. It's hard to believe that she will be 3 in just a couple of weeks!

Christmas 2009


Christmas 2010

Christmas is almost here!

I can't believe that it's less than a week away from Christmas. Time sure has flown yet again this year. CRAZY! What I have an even harder time believing is that exactly 2 weeks from today I will have a 3 yr old. Did I just type 3 YEAR OLD? Goodness gracious these last 3 yrs have flown by. This year was Lexie's first year to participate in her her preschool's Christmas Program. Can I tell you how proud I am of my little girl? She was a perfect angel and not only stayed in her place but also sang all of her songs. We were so proud of her!





After her program they did their class parties. Since I was not working this year at Christmas I was able to pick up Mimi and take her with me to see Lexie's party. Daddy also took the morning off so he could come to her performance and her party. I love being able to do these little things with her!













She is currently out on "Christmas break" for 2 weeks and I couldn't be more excited. Tomorrow we are going to spend the day with my parents and some other family and then do a gift exchange on Tues afternoon with my best friend and her daughters. Ryan only has to work 1/2 day on Wed so he will be off for 1/2 day Wed, all day Thurs and Friday. We are so excited!

After her Christmas break she will go back to daycare full time. I say full time b/c I will be going back to school but I fully intend on picking her up early on the days that I don't have afternoon/night classes. Right now I have 2 night classes so Ryan will be the one to pick her up, feed her, bathe her and get her ready for bed. We have spent alot of time talking about Daddy being the one to do things for her at night b/c she is so attached to mommy that sometimes she refuses to let Ryan do ANYTHING for her! It can get very frustrating. I am super excited about going back to school but so thankful to have been at home with her for the last 6 months. I love being with this little girl!

Weight loss

I mainly try and stick to blogging about our family and all the fun stuff that we do as a group. Today I wanted to blog about something that has been very important to me over the last 3 yrs. Weight loss. Oh how I hate that term. I just really don't like the term "weight" at all. Before I became pregnant with Lexie I was in the gym literally every day. I mean why not? I worked from 8-4:30pm and had plenty of time in the afternoons and on the weekends to work out so I took full advantage of that opportunity.

While I was pregnant with Lexie I was unable to function must less work out at any given time. I think I maybe went to the gym 3-4x over a 10 month period. If I was able to get through the day WITHOUT throwing up, I felt like a super star. Pregnancy was very hard on my body.

After I had Lexie I INTENDED to get back in the gym as soon as I was cleared from the Dr. Well that didn't quiet happen. Let's face it, I was nursing a newborn every 3-4 hours in the dead of winter and while she was an EXCELLENT baby by the time Ryan walked in the door at 6pm I just wanted to lay down and rest for a couple of hours. I know that people say you should "sleep when the baby sleeps" but I have NEVER been able to sleep during the middle of the day. I just can't do it!! Anyway, I slowly worked myself back into the gym around 10-12 weeks and I do mean slowly. It was hit or miss for me for several months. Between working, pumping (at least 3-4x a day), nursing at home and trying to keep up with life in general, the gym just wasn't happening. It didn't help that while I was breastfeeding I was starving (or so I thought) so not only did I gain all my weight back after delivery (roughly 12 lbs or so) but I gained an additional 10 pounds nursing. This put me at a weight I was NOT proud of. I stopped pumping at 10 1/2 months but I had enough breast milk stored up (b/c I was a nazi about breast milk) to keep giving her breastmilk until she turned a year old. For that I am VERY PROUD.

By the time that I stopped pumping at 10 1/2 months I was at my all time high of 165 pounds. It pains me to even THINK about it must let type it. I had reached an all time low in my self esteem because let's face it, 165 will work for someone who is 5"10 or so but not for someone who is barely 5'2. I was determined to get the weight off and got very serious about working out and eating better. This was still a struggle b/c when you work 9 hrs and come home to a toddler, you sometimes just want to say "forget it" to the healthy eating and load up on the carbs. Add working out to that and you are just tired thinking about it.

Over the last 2 yrs I have spent a good amount of time working out and attempting to eat healthy. Let's face it, I LOVE FOOD. There I said it. Eating healthy and not over eating is very hard for me and something I struggle with on a daily basis. A couple of months ago I was in the bathroom getting ready and I heard Lexie come in behind me. I look over and she is standing on the scale. I asked her what she was doing and she replied "I see my numbers mommy. Just like you". Can I tell you that it just broke my heart to hear her say that? My daughter is PERFECT and I realized at that moment that I don't want her to EVER think that "numbers on a scale" should determine your self worth. For me that was a turning point. I decided that I would continue to eat healthy and to go to the gym but I WOULD NOT weigh myself every day (4-5x a day) like I have done in the past. I would learn to love myself and see a beautiful person in the mirror in the mornings instead of someone I thought "could stand to lose 5-10 more pounds". I am proud to say that I have been successful with that venture. NEVER do I weigh myself when Lexie is around and I have gotten to where I weigh myself 1x a week and sometimes 1x every week and a half.

I am learning to love myself for who I am. Yeah, I may not look EXACTLY like I did before I got pregnant with Lexie but WHO CARES. I have a wonderful husband and a beautiful daughter to share life with. I want my daughter to grow up and love herself and not struggle with the right "weight". I guess my whole point in this post is that I don't normally put my thoughts on my blog and try and keep it a little more light. It amazing that a small sentence spoken by a child can change the way you look at yourself and life as a whole.

I am for my own reference going to post 2 pictures. One is in October 2008 right before I stopped pumping (the 1st one). The 2nd one was taken a couple of weeks ago before we went to church. I am learning to love my body now even though it's quite different AFTER I had Lexie and I wish I would have learned to love my body back when I was heavier. Oh well, life is all about learning.

October 2008


December 2010

Disney on Ice (Princess Wishes)

Last week I started looking at some free tickets that Ryan won off the radio for Disney's Princess Wishes on Ice. Turns out they were only good for one performance which was that Thursday night. I had already made plans to go to GNO with some of my old coworkers who I haven't seen in such a long time. Ryan said it was no big deal, he would take her. Therefore, she went on her first Daddy/Daughter date. She had such a good time. Of course as I was packing her snacks I asked her what she wanted. Her reply? "Nothing. My daddy buy me some cotton candy". Yep, he sure did! They had a great time and while I was sad to miss it with them, I enjoyed my "girl time" and I know they had a wonderful date!

Getting ready to go meet daddy!


She's a future programmer


She loves her daddy!


Her favorite people were there!




My all time favorite picture of her so far! I LOVE IT!

Thanksgiving 2010

I know this post is several weeks late but we have been busy around here. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. For the 1st time in about 8 yrs we have had lunch on TIME and nothing was messed up in the making. I think alot of that had to do with the fact that for the 1st time in 8 yrs I was HOME all day the Wednesday before Thanksgiving so I had plenty of time to do "food prep".

Ryan got up early Thursday morning and started cooking (yep, he's a good one!) while Lexie and I went to get Mimi and bring her to our house. Once we got back it was almost time for lunch. My parent's came over and brought my step-sister and her family. We had such a good time. It was so nice and breezy outside and Lexie LOVED playing with their little boy Nicholas. I'm so glad they were in town and able to come and enjoy Thanksgiving with us. :)

Thanksgiving Feast!

Today was Lexie's Thanksgiving program at preschool. She was so excited to go this morning and we were just as excited to see her perform. Last year she was a turkey and this year she was a pilgrim. The play was wonderful and the children did such a great job. It was very obvious that they had been working very hard on this program.

The cutest little Pilgrim!


Peeking out!


What a cute little girl!


The biggest blue eyes!


Mimi and her pilgrim. (Caught Mimi off guard)


After the play we had a wonderful "feast". Mrs. Barbara makes the BEST soup and we were so excited to be able to enjoy it again this year. I just love this preschool/daycare. Lexie has learned so much and they love her just like she is their own.

This is a comparison pic below.

Last year before her play:


This year before her play:

Birthday parties and updates!

What a busy weekend! Yesterday we celebrated my mom's 70th birthday at Texas Roadhouse. Mom originally was feeling slightly under the weather and wanted to "take a raincheck" on lunch but I told her it wasn't possible. I went ahead and told her that my sister and niece were coming for lunch. Imagine her surprise when she showed up and her 2 sisters, great niece, and my dad and stepmom were there to celebrate her birthday! She has such a wonderful time and we had a great time visiting with family we don't get to see often. I have said this before but I am so proud of my mom. She has adjusted so well over the last couple of years and is doing so good at her new home in Bossier.

Happy Birthday Mom! (Her actual birthday is Tues but we celebrated early!)


Mom and her girls


Mom and her sisters and great niece


We are getting ready for the holidays around here. Lexie's Thanksgiving play is on Thursday and she is so excited. She knows all the songs by heart and I can't wait to see her "perform". Let's hope she follows through with singing and doesn't "freeze up" on us!

On Friday I finalized my classes for the Spring Semester. I will be taking a Chemistry, Human Anatomy and Nursing History/Trends. I registered online but went ahead and met with an adviser to make sure I had what I needed. After talking in great length with her I feel very confident in the next semester. Hopefully I will have good enough grades to apply and get into clinicals in the fall. If so, I will be taking one or two Biology classes (Microbiology and Physiology) over the summer so that I only have actual nursing classes during clinicals. I am looking so forward to returning back to school. I can't wait!

Weekend fun with visits and parties!

Last weekend was a busy one for us. Okay, well when is the weekend NOT busy for us. Lexie didn't sleep all that great on Friday night. I have NO IDEA why but she just didn't. I was a little worried Saturday b/c I knew we had alot going on and I was scared that if she didn't get a nap she would be in complete meltdown mode by the end of the night. Surprisingly enough she wasn't. She had NO NAP at all on Saturday and did wonderful. She slept great on Saturday night.

Saturday we met my parents for lunch at Joe's Crabshack. It was the PERFECT day to sit outside and eat. Plus sitting outside meant that we were close to the little playground and Lexie could play until her little heart was content. She played so hard that by the time our food came, she was ready to eat.

Papaw, Kaki and Lexie (a great picture!)



Love the bib Dad!


Riding the carousel


After we left the Boardwalk we came back to our house and Cathy, Lexie and I chatted and dad and Ryan put the mailbox back where it goes (Long story there!). After they left we thought about putting her down for a nap but at that point it would have been an hour nap max and she tends to be grumpy if she doesn't get a long enough nap. So, we decided to head out and run some errands before we went to a double birthday party. One of the stops was a haircut for Lexie (picture below). After running a couple of errands we headed over to Jill's gymnastics for a birthday party for two of Lexie's friends. To say she had a blast was an understatement. This child LOVE the gymnastics place and would happily play on the trampoline for hours and hours and hours!

Jumping!


As you can see in the next picture, Lexie has NO FEAR. They have this bar that goes across the "foam pit". Lexie saw all the other boys doing it and thought she would give it a try. Of course she took daddy up there with her. I love this next picture b/c even though you can't see her FACE you can tell how high he threw her and she loved it. She repeated this several times!



Sunday morning was the usual. We got up and headed to church and then to LG Sunday night. As you can tell, we got a good bit cut off her hair. It was just so long and caused tears anytime I got NEAR it with a brush. Much easier to manage now.





We are loving this little girl so much. Some times are very trying but for the most part she is still very easygoing, loveable and super smart. This is one proud mommy and daddy!

Visit from the Grandparents. :)

We had visitors yesterday. My grandparents came over as they do every month to go to the base. They stopped by to see Lexie and she had a ton of fun. My grandmother brought her some books and let me tell you, we have read each one of them AT LEAST ten times. This baby is a reader.

Reading with Grandma Pat


Playing ball


My grandparents and Lexie