So, Saturday we got up and played with the horses and got muddy and cold again:) Oh, but before we went outside that morning, Cole decided to walk off the end of a big marble step and cracked his head on the bottom step. His eye was pretty swollen and turned reddish purple. Good times. He now has a pretty nice black eye that Travis is diggin' because he says it makes him look tough. A tough 16 month old...uhhhh. Anyway, Sarah, Cole and I drove down to Chico and had lunch. Yes, the check engine light was still on:(
We stayed the night at Sarah's house in Gridley, had breakfast with my mom in the morning and went back to Sarah's, so Cole could take a nap. And as anti-climactic as it was, the check engine light turned off when we were driving back to Sarah's, but I was thrilled. I debated whether or not to put Cole down for a second nap because it would be cutting it a little close to us needing to leave for the airport. I decided to put him down anyway and just made sure that I would wake him by 2:30pm, so we could have some time to get there to drop off the rental car and catch the shuttle to the airport. He slept for an hour, I got him up, we said our goodbyes and we were on the road by 2:40pm. It had started raining that morning and the closer we got to Sacramento (where the airport is) it was coming down in sheets and there was some pretty thick fog. Despite the rain and fog, I made it to the car rental place in pretty good time and was dropping off my car by 3:45pm. Because it was raining so hard, I kept Cole in the car as long as I could. I unloaded the bags from the trunk and had to take Cole out of his carseat, so that I could attach the wheels to it. While I was doing that, Cole climbed into the front seat and was pretending to drive the car. I took his carseat out of the car and said, "ok buddy, let's go". I shut the back door and went to open the front door to get Cole out and I heard, beep beep. Yep, Cole locked the car!! In hindsight, I figured out that he pushed the lock button on the keys that were still hanging in the ignition (because the lady told me to leave them in). Before I shut the back door, I even looked to see that the car was unlocked and it WAS. Call it perfect, or terrible, timing but he locked the car right after I shut the back door. Needless to say, I started to freak. I actually kept my cool but my heart was seriously beating in my throat. I looked around and the lady who told me to leave the keys in the car sees me and asks, "Did you just lock your baby in the car??".
I reply, "NO! He locked himself in the car. Do you guys have a spare key?"
"No."
"Well, you need to help me because we have a plane to catch."
"How did you lock your baby in the car?"
"I didn't. Can you get someone to get him out??"
"I can try to find the mechanic."
"Do that now, please."
So, she walks away and this really nice lady comes out of the rental place and asks if he's alright. He is, of course, just fine:) In fact, he is honking the horn and turning the wheel making vroom vroom sounds. He's so stinkin' cute. Since I'm getting soaked by the second, I decide to see if I can get Cole to open the car. I knock on the window to get his attention and ask him to push the buttons to unlock the door. Amazingly, he starts to push various buttons (and if the car would have been turned on, he would have rolled down the window!) but unfortunately when he pushed on the lock button, he just kept locking it. I begged for him to push the other side but his understanding only went so far. Then I tried to get him to pull on the door handle to unlock it and again, amazingly, he pulled on the handle. But as hard as he could pull, it was just not enough to undo the lock. The same lady who yelled at me for locking him in the car came back after about 10 minutes with a Slim Jim to try and unlock the car. She had no idea how to use it and I offered to help because I've seen people use them before. But she said that if I hurt the car in any way, I would be held liable for the damages. So I had to watch her fumble and scrap the car up for a good 5 minutes before she gave up. After a few more minutes, the mechanic showed up. By this time, I am COMPLETELY soaked to the bone. There was not a single inch of me that wasn't wet. The mechanic pounded in a shim, inserted this metal thing between the door frame and the car and started to turn a knob that spread the top of the door open. He slid in a long metal wire, that Cole kept yanking on until I told him to stop (I think a part of him knew that it was important for him to listen to me and be good) and eventually the guy hook the lock and unlocked the door. I thanked him, yanked Cole out of the car, put him in his sopping wet car seat and we were off to the shuttle. I was running as fast as my legs could carry me, Cole, and three peices of luggage and as soon as I rounded the corner of the rental building I saw the shuttle sitting there. I ran down the sidewalk praying that the driver saw me and that he would wait. But dontcha know, he closed the doors and pulled away when I was about 15 feet from the shuttle. I was dumbfounded. I'm almost positive that he did see me coming but left anyway. By this time it was about 20 after 4pm. I was supposed to check my luggage in by 4:10 and my flight was leaving at 5:10pm and I was STILL at the car rental place. I called Sarah and told her what had happened and she couldn't even speak. She couldn't even find any words of encouragement because she was blown away by the way this whole trip had gone for us. The next shuttle showed up about 10 minutes later. We loaded up, with the help of a very nice man, and finally were on our way to the airport. Travis called me while I was in line to check my bags and he was really sweet about the whole thing. He told me to keep calm and if I did miss my flight, that it would be ok and I could just get on the next one. Yeah, easy for him to say whe he doesn't have to be the one chasing a crazy baby through the airport for possibly hours! What sucked was that, while I was explaining the whole thing to Travis on the phone, I know that the people in front of me heard that I might miss our flight and no one offered for us to go ahead of them. People suck. When I finally got up to check my bags, I explained the situation (very quickly) to the lady and she said that as long as security didn't hold me up for too long, I'd probably just be able to make my flight, even though we might be the last ones on the plane. I ran to the escalator (I wasn't about to wait for the stinkin' elevator) and akwardly balanced Cole all of the way up. When we got to the top, I saw the line for security. Yeah, that's right, it not only wound back and forth about ten times but then it also extended back over this bridge/walkway thing. There were easily 100+ people in line. I accepted my defeat and turned to walk to the end of the line when I heard a woman behind me saying, "excuse me...excuse me miss...excuse me...can you get her attention for me." I didn't think she was speaking to me but another woman that I was facing said, "that lady is talking to you". I turned around and saw a security woman jesturing for me to come to her. I walked over and she said..."you can use the family lane"!!!!! The clouds opened and the angels sang!!!! There was a line with about 3 small families waiting in a line next to her to go through security. FAMILY LANE!!!!!!! I almost started to cry. We whipped past security, ran to our gate and walked right on the plane. The plane ride home was pretty uneventful because I kept the dvd player with us and we watched Monster Inc. all the way home. I also had M&Ms and water to help with the crankiness and popping ears. I had never been so happy to come home in all of my life:) It was a fun trip and honestly we had near misses all over the place, so it wasn't that terrible. It was just one thing after another, after another, after another...you get the idea. Needless to say, I probably won't be going on any solo kid trips for awhile. Good times.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Our "vacation"
I'm going to try and finish this story before Cole wakes up from his nap but if I don't I'll just post it and finish it later. It's a long one:)
So...Travis decided about a month ago to plan a trip to Wyoming to go ride on the tram that he spent FIVE months building last year. I decided that since he'd be out of town, I'd take Cole to go visit my sister and my mom. No, I didn't think it would be easy going out of town alone with my boy but I had no idea that Murphy's Law would be following me the whole time. We got up the morning of Feb. 19th at 5 am and were at the airport by 5:45am to check in. I had two check on bags, one carry on, Cole's carseat, and Cole (in his carseat). Side note: if you don't have one of these, and you have kids, get one. It made my trip possible! Okay, so I walk up to check my bags and show my id and the lady asks me for proof of Cole's age. Yeah, that's right...I forgot his birth certificate. I explain that he is only 16 months old but she insists that it is policy and if I can't prove his age, I will have to buy another seat on the plane for him ($220). I blurt out that his brithday is 10/13/07 and that I couldn't make it up that fast if it wasn't really his birthday. She smiles and asks if I can have proof for the flight back home and I say 100% for sure. So she hands me my boarding ticket and tells me to have a nice flight (1st crisis averted). By this point, my heart is racing but I'm happy that she didn't charge me for the seat, so I mosy up to our gate and feed Cole bluberries until we board. On the plane, Cole is an angel...for the first hour. For the last 20 minutes of the flight, he was a raving lunatic. Screaming, flailing, snotting, drooling, punching and kicking. He was sick of being confined and his ears were hurting during the descent. I kept apologizing to the people around me but they were all very nice and kept telling me it wasn't my fault and they know how it is. After we finally landed, I got our bags and we headed over in a shuttle to the car rental place. I got the keys, found the car and loaded everything into the trunk. I went to put Cole and his carseat into the car and when I opened the door I was hit in the face with the disgusting smell over cigarette smoke!!! I blurted out, "oh hell no!". I left everything there, except Cole of course, and walked back over tto the main office to get us another car. They obliged and I had to unload, haul over and reload the other car with all of our stuff. I had brought our portable dvd player for Cole to watch in the car, so that he could watch his precious Monsters Inc. and would be happy on the hour and a half car ride to Chico. I had never set up our dvd player in the car before, so I had to read instructions and spend about 20 minutes getting everthing strapped into place and ready to watch. We finally left the car rental place and as we headed out toward the freeway, the dvd screen fell shut and Cole started to have a fit. I should have pulled over but I just reached back and set it up. While I was doing that though, I passed a sign for a freeway and I just assumed it was the one I was supposed to get on. WRONG! After about 5 minutes or so driving on this freeway and having nothing look familiar, I saw that I was on the 5 going north when I was supposed to be on 99. I didn't panick though and figured I would get off at the next exit and flip around. WRONG!! The next exit took me on this FOREVER road that ran parallel to the freeway, still going in the opposite direction! After about 10 minutes on this thing, I was starting to lose it. Finally, it bent back around and I was able to get going in the right direction on the right freeway.
We made it Chico pretty quick and met up with my mom. Then we started the trek up the mountain to her house in Forest Ranch. As we were climbing the hill, wouldn't you know it, the check engine light came on in the rental! We made it though and we figured it was just hard on the car going up the mountain. We had a really great time at my mom's (minus my step-dad's forever menacingly bad attitude). Cole LOVED playing with the horses and dogs and playing in the snow and mud mud mud. There was ALOT of mud and it was cold mud. But Cole was having a blast, so I didn't mind getting dirty right along with him. Unfortunately that night, it was extra cold in the other "wing" of the house (where Cole and I were sleeping) and they left their dog, Eeyore, out and he barked ALL NIGHT LONG. Needless to say, I didn't get any sleep and Cole woke up at 4 in the morning to take a massive dump, so that was fun. Friday afternoon my sister Sarah came up to see us and she stayed the night!! Cole had a blast with her and my mom:) We had a better night sleeping that night because I left Cole downstairs, where it was warm. Sarah and I slept upstairs with lots of blankets and they locked up Eeyore for the night!! The sleep was lovely:)...oh yeah there's more...
So...Travis decided about a month ago to plan a trip to Wyoming to go ride on the tram that he spent FIVE months building last year. I decided that since he'd be out of town, I'd take Cole to go visit my sister and my mom. No, I didn't think it would be easy going out of town alone with my boy but I had no idea that Murphy's Law would be following me the whole time. We got up the morning of Feb. 19th at 5 am and were at the airport by 5:45am to check in. I had two check on bags, one carry on, Cole's carseat, and Cole (in his carseat). Side note: if you don't have one of these, and you have kids, get one. It made my trip possible! Okay, so I walk up to check my bags and show my id and the lady asks me for proof of Cole's age. Yeah, that's right...I forgot his birth certificate. I explain that he is only 16 months old but she insists that it is policy and if I can't prove his age, I will have to buy another seat on the plane for him ($220). I blurt out that his brithday is 10/13/07 and that I couldn't make it up that fast if it wasn't really his birthday. She smiles and asks if I can have proof for the flight back home and I say 100% for sure. So she hands me my boarding ticket and tells me to have a nice flight (1st crisis averted). By this point, my heart is racing but I'm happy that she didn't charge me for the seat, so I mosy up to our gate and feed Cole bluberries until we board. On the plane, Cole is an angel...for the first hour. For the last 20 minutes of the flight, he was a raving lunatic. Screaming, flailing, snotting, drooling, punching and kicking. He was sick of being confined and his ears were hurting during the descent. I kept apologizing to the people around me but they were all very nice and kept telling me it wasn't my fault and they know how it is. After we finally landed, I got our bags and we headed over in a shuttle to the car rental place. I got the keys, found the car and loaded everything into the trunk. I went to put Cole and his carseat into the car and when I opened the door I was hit in the face with the disgusting smell over cigarette smoke!!! I blurted out, "oh hell no!". I left everything there, except Cole of course, and walked back over tto the main office to get us another car. They obliged and I had to unload, haul over and reload the other car with all of our stuff. I had brought our portable dvd player for Cole to watch in the car, so that he could watch his precious Monsters Inc. and would be happy on the hour and a half car ride to Chico. I had never set up our dvd player in the car before, so I had to read instructions and spend about 20 minutes getting everthing strapped into place and ready to watch. We finally left the car rental place and as we headed out toward the freeway, the dvd screen fell shut and Cole started to have a fit. I should have pulled over but I just reached back and set it up. While I was doing that though, I passed a sign for a freeway and I just assumed it was the one I was supposed to get on. WRONG! After about 5 minutes or so driving on this freeway and having nothing look familiar, I saw that I was on the 5 going north when I was supposed to be on 99. I didn't panick though and figured I would get off at the next exit and flip around. WRONG!! The next exit took me on this FOREVER road that ran parallel to the freeway, still going in the opposite direction! After about 10 minutes on this thing, I was starting to lose it. Finally, it bent back around and I was able to get going in the right direction on the right freeway.
We made it Chico pretty quick and met up with my mom. Then we started the trek up the mountain to her house in Forest Ranch. As we were climbing the hill, wouldn't you know it, the check engine light came on in the rental! We made it though and we figured it was just hard on the car going up the mountain. We had a really great time at my mom's (minus my step-dad's forever menacingly bad attitude). Cole LOVED playing with the horses and dogs and playing in the snow and mud mud mud. There was ALOT of mud and it was cold mud. But Cole was having a blast, so I didn't mind getting dirty right along with him. Unfortunately that night, it was extra cold in the other "wing" of the house (where Cole and I were sleeping) and they left their dog, Eeyore, out and he barked ALL NIGHT LONG. Needless to say, I didn't get any sleep and Cole woke up at 4 in the morning to take a massive dump, so that was fun. Friday afternoon my sister Sarah came up to see us and she stayed the night!! Cole had a blast with her and my mom:) We had a better night sleeping that night because I left Cole downstairs, where it was warm. Sarah and I slept upstairs with lots of blankets and they locked up Eeyore for the night!! The sleep was lovely:)...oh yeah there's more...
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
I think we've made it!
The horrible teething has passed. The early morning wake up calls have ceased. My boy is a smiling ball of silliness. For now:) He pushed out teeth #s 10, 11 and 12 in one long drawn out miserable process!! Only 8 more teeth to go:) Hopefully there will be a little lull of happiness before it starts up again. I'm enjoying the moment. Enough about teething...
So, I lost 12 pounds in January. I would normally be thrilled about this but at this rate I will definitely NOT be winning the Barlows' Biggest Loser competition. Believe me, I'm trying to stay positive but most people are shooting for a 20%+ weight loss and I don't think that is possible for me in 3 short months!! Oh well, at least I'm feeling better about myself, right?! After the weigh in on April 15th, I plan to go back to my fertility doctor and get the ball rolling on getting preggers again. I'm not getting any younger and although I got pregnant pretty quickly with Cole, there is no guarantee with PCOS that it will work so easily this next time. I was going to try to get down to my goal weight before I had another kid but that would probably take a few years AND my little sis is getting married in Oct. of 2010, so I want to have my baby early next year and drop a few pounds for the wedding. I will NOT gain another 80 POUNDS with this next pregnancy and I also plan to work out (safely) the whole time:) For now I am focusing on eating better and I exercise everyday. I have definitely been putting on muscle, so I know that is effecting how much I am "losing" as well. It's too bad we aren't competing in inches lost. I just might win that one:) I can already buy a size smaller in jeans:) Focusing on the positive...
So, I lost 12 pounds in January. I would normally be thrilled about this but at this rate I will definitely NOT be winning the Barlows' Biggest Loser competition. Believe me, I'm trying to stay positive but most people are shooting for a 20%+ weight loss and I don't think that is possible for me in 3 short months!! Oh well, at least I'm feeling better about myself, right?! After the weigh in on April 15th, I plan to go back to my fertility doctor and get the ball rolling on getting preggers again. I'm not getting any younger and although I got pregnant pretty quickly with Cole, there is no guarantee with PCOS that it will work so easily this next time. I was going to try to get down to my goal weight before I had another kid but that would probably take a few years AND my little sis is getting married in Oct. of 2010, so I want to have my baby early next year and drop a few pounds for the wedding. I will NOT gain another 80 POUNDS with this next pregnancy and I also plan to work out (safely) the whole time:) For now I am focusing on eating better and I exercise everyday. I have definitely been putting on muscle, so I know that is effecting how much I am "losing" as well. It's too bad we aren't competing in inches lost. I just might win that one:) I can already buy a size smaller in jeans:) Focusing on the positive...
Friday, January 23, 2009
The EVIL canine...
Don't worry, all of my posts will not be about teething. I just have to say that this canine is an SOB!! Not only is it making Coley's gums sore but it is also pushing against the surrounding teeth and making him even MORE miserable!!! Last night Travis went in to calm him down so that he could fall asleep and he just kept asking for me:( So, I had to rock him to sleep and he kept lifting his head off of my shoulder and hitting himself in the mouth and sadly repeating, "teeth teeth teeth". How sad is that!! He's still cute as a button though:) I promise my next post will be a happy one:) Congratulations to Sarah and Anthony who just had a baby boy yesterday! Welcome to the world Conley:)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
So...
In an effort to keep true to my resolution, I am posting a little blurb about my boy. Cole is teething and it is nothing like the teething when he got his front eight. When those first teeth came in, he took 'em like a champ and hardly fussed at all. He busted out a huge one in the back about a month ago and it was a little tougher on him and he had one solid day of being a crank head. But nothing could have prepared me (or him) for the unending boo hoo fest that is occuring with these TWO HUGE teeth that are coming in in the back on the top. Oh my word!!!! He is as miserable as I have ever seen him and I feel so bad for he little butt. Luckily, he has been sleeping through the night (knock on wood) but he does wake up EARLIER at about 530 am!! I am having the utmost patience with him because I know it must hurt like heck but everyone else is having a pretty short fuse with his attitude. He is unhappy doing EVERYTHING, except for when I'm holding him, which is lovely when I have a bunch of work to get done:) He'll chew and chew on frozen teething rings but they can only help for so long. Yesterday, he was puching himself in the sides of his cheeks and gnawing on his index fingers. I keep him happy most of the time by running around outside with him but again, not so convenient when I have work to do. He is always such a happy go lucky kiddo and it just kills me to see him SO miserable. I can see the points of the teeth now, so I'm hoping that an end is in sight. Up until now, it has been five days of red swollen gums. So, I'm looking forward to the day when I get my goofy smiley boy back:) Until then, I will entertain him as best I can, to keep his mind off of his poor little mouth:( And I'll try and look on the bright side...only 9 more teeth to go!! Oh lordy...
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years...in a nutshell
My New Year's Resolution is to write little blogs more often than write big ones not so often. But before I start that...I need to recap end of the year stuff.
Thanksgiving was weird this year. Don't get me wrong, my mom and older sister came to town and that was AWESOME! But we didn't see Travis' family at all and as much as I didn't miss the driving from one end of town to the other and having to eat TWO Thanksgiving meals, I still missed seeing them. SO to any of the Stanleys reading this, I missed you. Silly, I know, especially because we see them a few times a month anyway but it still got to me a bit. Anyway, we had about 20 people at my dad's house and ate some YUMMY food!! I made my first turkey ever and it was dang good. I also made my homemade mac n' cheese (from scratch), which is super yum. Oh yeah, I also made some tasty deviled eggs. We had three turkeys and TONS of stuffing. I was so grateful to have my mom and big sister there. They are so wonderful and Cole loves them so much, so it's also nice to get a break while they play with him. My Aunt Libby was here with her husband and two kids and just before she arrived at my dad's she competed in a triathlon in Arizona. She is amazing. She just took up running a few years ago and now is a triathlete!! Crazy cool. Oh yeah and she's also like 50 (or somewhere around there). My Uncle Neil came down from Oregon and it was nice to spend some time with him too. Travis, Cole and I took him to see the dolphins and tigers. I'm not sure who was more excited...Cole or Neil:) Cole LOVED seeing the tigers. He growled at them constantly and cried whenever we moved to see another enclosure, until he saw another animal in it:) He was a bit confused by the dolphins until he really got a good look at one, then he was in love. He screamed wildly every time they swam by. Everyone thought he was adorable and hilarious...of course:) Travis, Cole, my mom, Sarah and I went to see Louisa be an elf at the Springs Preserve. She was also in a little play there. Cole got his picture taken with Santa and from there on he was obsessed with Santa. He started to say Santa over and over again. It pretty much became his favorite word, other than snowman. Louisa was one of Santa's helpers and she was great in the play:)
After the craziness of Thanksgiving was over, it was on to Christmas, which proved to be one of the most stressful Christmases I have ever had. I planned ahead, did all of my shopping relatively early and even started my crafty projects early and it still came down to the wire. I finished a bean bag for my BIL, Josh, CHRISTMAS MORNING! It was a 50" beanbag and it was pretty dang rad, if I do say so myself. I also made 3 32" bags for a fellow blogger named Stephanie. She even put pictures of them up on her blog. I think things on Christmas were so hectic for me because on Christmas eve as I was finishing the sewing of the beanbag, Travis was SUPPOSED to be wrapping all of the presents and stuffin ghte inner liner for the bag. He, uinfortunately neglected to do any of this and fell asleep on the couch. I checked on him twice and reminded him of all of the things that needed to get done and he fell asleep afetr each time and did NOTHING!! So, needless to say, we were running around like mad men in the morning trying to get everything finished, so that we could leave for Travis' parents house. Once Travis accepted that it was all his fault, we stopped stressing and just laughed at how lame we were:) Cole got lots of clothes (which is exactly what I needed for him). He also got a dancing Brobee, which he LOVES and dances along with it daily:) He got a big bouncy castle from my dad and Gail. Some coloring books, cars, trains & tons of other stuff:) Travis got me a Nintendo DS, which is so much fun! He got me all of the brainy games, like spelling, crosswords, sight training, etc. My sister Lou got me GUITAR HERO for my Wii!!! It is one of the funest things I have ever played. Honestly, I'm addicted. I got a pressure cooker from my dad and it is the most amazing cooking apparatus I have ever used in my life. Cooking entire meals in one pot in half the time is my way of cooking. And so far we have cooked the best tasting food I think we've ever had. I've made about 5 meals in the thing since Christmas and have yet to not love it. We went to the Stanleys' for scones Christmas morning. Exchanged presents and got to talk to Travis' younger brother Josh, who's on his mission in Puerto Rico. Then it was off to my parents for more presents and an AMAZING dinner. We had veal shanks (sp?) and mushroom risotto. It was one of the best meals I've ever had.
New Years was uneventful and I rang it in by kissing Travis on the cheek while he was passed out in bed next to me. The best news came from Sarah Barlow in the form of an email!! She is having a Biggest Loser contest of her own and everyone who participates puts in $20 and whoever loses the largest percentage of weight loss will win all of the money. So far the winnings are up to $600 and it is SOOOOO mine!!! In early November my dad had a little scare and had to have surgery. After he was recovered, the doctors told him to start losing the weight. So, we decided to start up a gym in his home. Louisa, my dad and I are the only members and we call it "Fitness Club" and we meet every day of the week (minus a few days during the Christmas holidays, when things were INSANE!) and do some type of work out. So far we do a Taebo video, trampoline video, step video, yoga video, tai chi video, eliptical, spin bike, Bowflex machine, free weights and walking outside. So, we always have something fun to do and we don't get bored. Usually we do circuit training, which is 6 minutes each on at least 5 things and then we do the entire Taebo video. So, it's pretty convenient that I just entered Sarah's competition and I'm already working out everyday. I'm still working on the food part but so far, since the 1st, I have lost 8 pounds!!!! Where's my money??!!!!
Thanksgiving was weird this year. Don't get me wrong, my mom and older sister came to town and that was AWESOME! But we didn't see Travis' family at all and as much as I didn't miss the driving from one end of town to the other and having to eat TWO Thanksgiving meals, I still missed seeing them. SO to any of the Stanleys reading this, I missed you. Silly, I know, especially because we see them a few times a month anyway but it still got to me a bit. Anyway, we had about 20 people at my dad's house and ate some YUMMY food!! I made my first turkey ever and it was dang good. I also made my homemade mac n' cheese (from scratch), which is super yum. Oh yeah, I also made some tasty deviled eggs. We had three turkeys and TONS of stuffing. I was so grateful to have my mom and big sister there. They are so wonderful and Cole loves them so much, so it's also nice to get a break while they play with him. My Aunt Libby was here with her husband and two kids and just before she arrived at my dad's she competed in a triathlon in Arizona. She is amazing. She just took up running a few years ago and now is a triathlete!! Crazy cool. Oh yeah and she's also like 50 (or somewhere around there). My Uncle Neil came down from Oregon and it was nice to spend some time with him too. Travis, Cole and I took him to see the dolphins and tigers. I'm not sure who was more excited...Cole or Neil:) Cole LOVED seeing the tigers. He growled at them constantly and cried whenever we moved to see another enclosure, until he saw another animal in it:) He was a bit confused by the dolphins until he really got a good look at one, then he was in love. He screamed wildly every time they swam by. Everyone thought he was adorable and hilarious...of course:) Travis, Cole, my mom, Sarah and I went to see Louisa be an elf at the Springs Preserve. She was also in a little play there. Cole got his picture taken with Santa and from there on he was obsessed with Santa. He started to say Santa over and over again. It pretty much became his favorite word, other than snowman. Louisa was one of Santa's helpers and she was great in the play:)
After the craziness of Thanksgiving was over, it was on to Christmas, which proved to be one of the most stressful Christmases I have ever had. I planned ahead, did all of my shopping relatively early and even started my crafty projects early and it still came down to the wire. I finished a bean bag for my BIL, Josh, CHRISTMAS MORNING! It was a 50" beanbag and it was pretty dang rad, if I do say so myself. I also made 3 32" bags for a fellow blogger named Stephanie. She even put pictures of them up on her blog. I think things on Christmas were so hectic for me because on Christmas eve as I was finishing the sewing of the beanbag, Travis was SUPPOSED to be wrapping all of the presents and stuffin ghte inner liner for the bag. He, uinfortunately neglected to do any of this and fell asleep on the couch. I checked on him twice and reminded him of all of the things that needed to get done and he fell asleep afetr each time and did NOTHING!! So, needless to say, we were running around like mad men in the morning trying to get everything finished, so that we could leave for Travis' parents house. Once Travis accepted that it was all his fault, we stopped stressing and just laughed at how lame we were:) Cole got lots of clothes (which is exactly what I needed for him). He also got a dancing Brobee, which he LOVES and dances along with it daily:) He got a big bouncy castle from my dad and Gail. Some coloring books, cars, trains & tons of other stuff:) Travis got me a Nintendo DS, which is so much fun! He got me all of the brainy games, like spelling, crosswords, sight training, etc. My sister Lou got me GUITAR HERO for my Wii!!! It is one of the funest things I have ever played. Honestly, I'm addicted. I got a pressure cooker from my dad and it is the most amazing cooking apparatus I have ever used in my life. Cooking entire meals in one pot in half the time is my way of cooking. And so far we have cooked the best tasting food I think we've ever had. I've made about 5 meals in the thing since Christmas and have yet to not love it. We went to the Stanleys' for scones Christmas morning. Exchanged presents and got to talk to Travis' younger brother Josh, who's on his mission in Puerto Rico. Then it was off to my parents for more presents and an AMAZING dinner. We had veal shanks (sp?) and mushroom risotto. It was one of the best meals I've ever had.
New Years was uneventful and I rang it in by kissing Travis on the cheek while he was passed out in bed next to me. The best news came from Sarah Barlow in the form of an email!! She is having a Biggest Loser contest of her own and everyone who participates puts in $20 and whoever loses the largest percentage of weight loss will win all of the money. So far the winnings are up to $600 and it is SOOOOO mine!!! In early November my dad had a little scare and had to have surgery. After he was recovered, the doctors told him to start losing the weight. So, we decided to start up a gym in his home. Louisa, my dad and I are the only members and we call it "Fitness Club" and we meet every day of the week (minus a few days during the Christmas holidays, when things were INSANE!) and do some type of work out. So far we do a Taebo video, trampoline video, step video, yoga video, tai chi video, eliptical, spin bike, Bowflex machine, free weights and walking outside. So, we always have something fun to do and we don't get bored. Usually we do circuit training, which is 6 minutes each on at least 5 things and then we do the entire Taebo video. So, it's pretty convenient that I just entered Sarah's competition and I'm already working out everyday. I'm still working on the food part but so far, since the 1st, I have lost 8 pounds!!!! Where's my money??!!!!
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