The Extra Advantages.

A front parking space at Earthfare? Why, thank you!

Once I was given more food at Bojangles because she could tell “I needed it” (and with my appetite, yes I did!). And in general, it seems like people offer more help in daily life with little things or caring how I feel physically.

It’s just nice to feel a little more valuable for a few months :-)

(And, I’m still enjoying my pregnant body at nearly 7 months along. Who wants to bet that will soon be changing as the 3rd trimester begins and this belly takes over the planet with it’s largeness?)

I realize it’s been a while since I’ve posted. It’s just been busy. Through in a vacation, midterm exams and papers due, and now we’re all sick–again. Well, you understand.

Since there isn’t anything here to read…why not hop over to Experiencing Motherhood where an oldy-but-goody post is being featured of mine?  It’s guaranteed to make you chuckle.

Things should settle down later this week and hopefully then I can update on all we’ve been up to. Until then, enjoy!

Today was the last day of finals for Mark and I. That deserves a big woo hoo! Tomorrow begins a month’s worth of doing nothing but spending time with family. Ahhh…

However, this day has not been so good for the technology in my life. 

Exhibit A: My car.

I’m driving the 45 to school, on the high way, with a speedometer that is stuck on 20. So, I don’t know how fast I’m going, just going with the flow and praying I don’t get pulled over. This problem I’ve had for a while which is why I choose not to drive my car if possible, today I had to though.  It’s a gray day, extremely foggy and misty so I’ve got my windshield whippers on medium to keep a clear view. And suddenly, the windshield wipper FLIES OFF! On the high way!  The on the drivers side, of course. I laugh, cry, and thank God at the same time. Ya know, cause things could have really been bad if it was raining harder than it was.  So, I spend the rest of drive leaning over to the passenger side making sure I can see. It looks like an amputated little arm now, my poor car is literally falling aprart. Oh.

Exhibit B: My Computer

I get home for my long day of finals, check my email really quick and accept a blog comment, then go to give Savannah a bath. Then? I come back a few minutes later and it’s stuck on a black screen doing circles of commands.  I immedietely call my personal Geek Squad (aka, my Dad) and he tells me that it sounds like my hard drive is dying. Great. So all my picture, files, personal writings, important emails, past papers, scrapbooking supplies, etc. Gone.  And what I’m really kicking myself about? I had an external hard drive. If I would have taken the time to unwrap the box and use it, my stuff would still be alive.  *kicks self*

So, today I will muster up a “woo hoo” but my heart is really sinking way down to my shoes.  My baby, my lap top, is gone.  And I can’t afford a new one. Let’s have a moment of silence while I cry. No, seriously, I just might cry.

21 has seemed to be the magic number for us adults in the O house.  It is apparently just as I thought, you turn 21 and you start feeling old.  And now, apparently my body thinks it’s time to get old too, and so does my husband’s. We’re both finding more and more gray hairs by the day!  Crazy.  And so, I was trying to figure out why now. Why at 21?

1. We’re stressed.

2. We became husband and wife and parents in the same year, at 19 years old.

3. We’re trying to balance the hectic life of finishing school and parenting a nearly 2 year old.

4. We’re just getting older. (I know older people are smirking right now, but I don’t feel 21!)

Of course there are plenty of people who start going gray even before they finish high school, with no kids around. I just thought it wouldn’t happen to me since both of my parents have hardly gone gray yet, I thought I’d luck out and have naturally brown hair for at least 20 more years. And really, I guess I could, but it just boggles my mind that the process has started already!

When did you start noticing those wisdom hairs?

(Now off to study for my three tests this week to gain even more wisdom hairs)

The blog is back up and working correctly, hallejueah!  Can I tell you how frustrating it is to wake up to a broken blog and have 3 companies and many (many) support people tell me nothing useful what so ever?  Some even told me my blog looked absolutely fine! Finally a guy at Cpanel told me something to try and it worked. Turns out it was something very minor and very easy to fix, thank goodness. Who would have thought something so little could affect all my blogs? Oy. I’m glad that stress if over.

Anyways, what’s new around here? Well, Savannah is obsessed with:

-Baby Dolls

-Listening/Watching “That’s How You Know” from Enchanted. (Over, and over, and over…)

-Anything with princesses

-Slides

-Shoes

-Thomas the Tank Engine (Gotta throw off all the girly stuff, ya know)

Prime example:

She is quite fun these days. I really think this age is a God-given in between resting stage between the tough infant year and the “terrible two’s” that will be arriving soon. Right now? She is a breathe of fresh air. Sleeping well, napping well, eating, makes up cute songs and games, laughs and smiles pretty much constantly, amazing us with all the words she is picking up.  Oh man, I love her. She is one wonderful little girl and right now she makes parenting look easy.  Thank you, God.

I mean, who couldn’t love and adore this little girl in all her girly ways?

I need to go study so I won’t get a C on my two tests tomorrow…but before I do that…I just had to share what my crazy girl did.  I’m laughing at how silly she is, so that I won’t break down in tears.

See, for the past 2 and half weeks we have been trying, unsuccessfully, to switch  her to the big girl bed.  We decided to make the move, even though she is just 18 months old, because she was extremely close to climbing out and we feared breakage of the neck.  The first night it took 2 hours to get her to sleep, but she did it and slept through the entire night. The next day, she took a nap in her new bed. I was hopeful, frustrated but hopeful.

Since then, she’s slept in her bed only a handful of times.  The second night she sobbed and sobbed so I bought back out the pack-n-play crib to ease her fears.  This process by far has been the most frustrating and hardest thing I’ve had to deal with as a parent. Some nights she screams bloody murder about going to bed, some nights she falls asleep without any problems, some nights she just plays and plays and plays until we just have to put her in the crib so we can go to bed ourselves.

We have seen improvement in that she knows now to stay in bed when we say to, but it’s still a battle pretty much every single time.  She chooses to sleep in her bed, but when she doesn’t listen and tries to get up, she’s warned that she will go into her crib.  Sometimes it works, mostly it doesn’t, and she just ends up in her pack-n-play crib because that’s pretty much the only place she’ll readily go to sleep now.  It takes anywhere from 45-2 hours to get her to sleep now and it’s wearing us thin.

We’ve tried everything. The girl is just the most hard headed thing (really, I don’t know where she gets it).  If we try to discipline her with “popping” her bottom or hand she just laughs at us and does it again.  Oh, we are doomed as we head into the terrible twos. Nothing works with her.

Our Dr. recommend just leaving her in her room (baby proofed) with a gate so she cannot get out. He said she may play, but eventually she should go to sleep.  Sounds good, right? Logically, that’s the only thing that worked when we were training her to sleep in her crib throughout the night as well. But, I don’t know if this will work. Today, after an hour of her playing alone I came into this:

What am I going to do with her?!  And seriously, please, please give me some advice on how to get her to sleep.  Once she lets herself fall asleep, she’s great and sleeps through the night. She just won’t let herself get to that point most nights unless she’s in her crib. She’s too distracted by her cool shutter doors, or her baby doll.

Perhaps that’s the answer right there. Take away all the fun stuff like toys and stuffed animals (and hide the dirty clothes….) so it’s less enticing to play. I want her to be bored and go to bed. It could work. Maybe?

HELP! How did you make the switch? How long did it take?

I have to say, I’m overwhelmed by all the birthday love I’ve been getting throughout the day. Thanks everyone! Comments, phone calls, and even presents in the MAIL! (Thanks Bre!) It’s turned out to be a simple, but good day. Nothing too exciting to tell, just another day at school and a lovely Spanish test to take, but I had a happy heart and smile on all day.

And while all the comments and presents are wonderful, by far the high light of my day was the simplest thing I could ask for: Hearing my Kaylee sing me happy birthday over the phone and then tell me about how she has “a lot of snot in her nose.” And knowing she asked to talk to me.

Melt my heart.

That said, we’re headed out tomorrow so you won’t be hearing much from me while I’m celebrating with friends, breathing in wonderful mountain air, and soaking in the gorgeous views.

I’m so blessed.

(P.S. Tomorrow another giveaway will be posted…worth $50! Come back tomorrow to see what it’s about.)

Photo Credit: Kwerner Design

I just realized that today marks the last “exciting” birthday that kids grow up looking forward to.

Exciting birthdays go something like this: I can’t wait to be 13, I’ll be a teenager! I can’t wait to be 16, I can drive then! I can’t wait to be 18, I’ll be a legal adult! And eventually: I can’t wait to be 21, I can buy alcohol! (Of course, hopefully 8 year old kids aren’t thinking that yet.) After 21 people tend to start dreading birthdays.

Birthdays are always a bittersweet thing for me. I’m excited to start another year with a bigger age attached to me in hopes that it’ll gain more respect. It’s another year gone by where I’ve learned and experienced more things that continue to make me who I am. But at the same time, it’s sad to know that each year that flips by is another one that pulls me away from my simpler childhood (which could actually be a good thing, but still).

Growing up is a weird, weird thing. Happy Birthday to me.

(P.S. Dad, I’ll eat a peice of turtle pie for you!)

I’m disappointed that Pillsbury’s Toaster Strudel Boston Creme Pie does not, in fact, have any chocolate in it. How then is it Boston Creme Pie? Without the chocolate? Surely they can mix some chocolate flavor in there some where.

Edit: I totally forgot to put the chocolate frosting on top. ha! I guess that’s what happens when you eat at 10pm after a 12 hour day a school. My brain must have been fried.

That said, I promise a real update tomorrow. Just know my week did get better despite things going just plain wrong. God gave me back my sense of humor to deal with things in a better mood. And, I really must thank a bunch of you who sent me sweet emails and comments with encouragement. It sure helps me get through the tough days knowing people support me and have been there, too!