Colds

Why is it that something seems to happen RIGHT before a vacation. I came down with a cold early this week and seem to be on the mend, but an still really stuffy. AND I have to get on a plane to Houston tomorrow. To make things worse, Hubby has now come down with a cold too. he feels bad enough that he is actually staying home from work today. He has to get well enough to fly on Tuesday. I have my fingers crossed that little girl doesn't get sick too!

I did it!!!!!

It took me 8 months, but I finally got my weight down to 170. That's still really heavy for my height and I have a LONG way to go until my goal weight, but I am really excited that I finally made it to my first milestone. I decided a long time ago that my reward for my first milestone would be a massage, but I'm not going to make my appointment until after Thanksgiving. I want to see if I can keep the weight off while on vacation for a week.
Milestone #2 is to get down to 160 pounds. I really hope that doesn't take another 8 months!! Ideally, I'd like to get down to 160 by the end of January, but it's going to take a lot of hard work to get there. I need to find some kind of exercise to replace my weekly walks that had to get canceled because of the weather turning cold.

So Frustrating

Last week, my sister-in-law sent out a list with ideas for her birthday and Christmas. Hubby and I talked about it and decided what to get her. I e-mailed MIL and BIL to let them know what we talked about and to make sure we weren't duplicating gifts. Friday morning, I ordered the gift and Friday afternoon I got an e-mail from MIL saying that SIL had gone out and bought the same gift for herself.
So, now I have to go to Kohls and return a perfectly good coffeemaker!

Stuff I never thought I'd do

When we bought our house, there were jobs that I never thought I'd do. Things like mowing the lawn, taking the trash out for trash day, going into the crawl space. Growing up, those were "Dad" jobs, so I just figured that they would be my husband's jobs. And that was pretty much true the first year we lived in our house, but that has changed since our daughter was born in March.
The first thing I started doing that I never had before was mowing the lawn. It was really nice during the summer, because I could get out at night after Hubby got home. He would take baby duty and I could tune out to my IPOD and just go. It was good exercise and a nice break to not worry about baby stuff.
The next thing to change was taking out the trash. My husband has had to work a lot of long hours lately, so I started taking the trash out so it could get done before dark and to give him a break.
The latest change was the crawl space.... I've actually been in there TWICE this week. The first time was to look in a box that I knew was inside the door. The second time was because I wanted a few things out of the crawl space and knew my husband didn't have time, so in I went. Not only did I get the stuff I needed, I found something that had been missing ever since we moved.
I really feel like I've grown a lot since I started staying home with my daughter. I'm a lot more capable than I realized.

Christmas Discussion Continues

Hubby and I finally figured out our plan for Christmas and we sent an e-mail to MIL and SIL to invite them to have Christmas Eve here and all spend the night, which is their family tradition. Of course, we didn't actually get a response. But, last night when Hubby called his parents to talk about something else, his Mom brought up Christmas. She asked if we really had room for everyone - yes, as long as our 2 nephews bring sleeping bags - and she said that we should "talk" about what to do. SHE suggested that maybe we would all just get together on Christmas Eve, but that everyone would go home to spend the night.
I have to admit that I did a little internal happy dance when I heard that. But, I want to do whatever will cause the LEAST drama and let my little girl have the best holiday possible.

Rough night

Last night was horrible! Little girl was restless from the time we put her down a little after 8 last night. We went to check on her on our way to bed and realized that she'd pooped in her diaper, so we got her up to change her and I really think that was a mistake. From that point on, she didn't sleep well and was up crying and screaming every couple of hours. Hopefully tonight is better.

Did we figure it out?

I think Hubby and I finally figured out the Christmas situation. We will pretty much be doing what his family has always done, but will be taking time early on Christmas Eve for just the three of us and to open presents from my family. This way we won't be creating any waves with his family and can still feel like we aren't shoving my family aside.
It wasn't the compromise we originally talked about, but I finally realized that my job as a parent is to make sure my little girl has the best holiday possible and that she has a good relationship with her grandparents - not to make sure I get have the Christmas I grew up with or part of it.

Tech Did it AGAIN

My Red Raiders pulled off another big win by pounding OSU on Saturday. We are still number 2 in the AP and BCS polls. I can't believe it!!

Small Luxuries

Before my daughter was born, I would never have gotten excited about being able to take a shower and get dressed. But, now that she's here I find myself being grateful for a nap long enough to let me do just that.
It's amazing to me how having a baby changes priorities and the definitions of things. Being able to accomplish a task without someone crying or demanding attention is now a luxury. And a toothless (well almost toothless, now) smile is the best reward and makes everything better.

Trivia

My American Spirit Magazine came last week from DAR and it included some fun trivia. Have you ever wondered where some of the phrases common in our language come from? To be honest, I hadn't either, but now I know...

"Mind your own beeswax"
In colonial times men and women would wear beeswax makeup to hid scars from smallpox. But, if they were near a fire or got to hot, the makeup would start to melt, so the phrase meant for people to fix their makeup!

"Crack a smile"
This one is related to the beeswax makeup too. In winter, when individuals wearing the beeswax makeup would smile, the makeup would crack! I wonder if that's why all the paintings of colonial individuals never show them smiling!

I thought these were fun little tidbits....... I hope you enjoyed them too!

History Has Been Made

The United States made history last night; We elected our first African American president. I think our president elect represents a sense that we are ready for change from what has been the status-quo in politics for so long. I really hope that the desire to be involved and participants in the process does not diminish just because the election is over. If we really want change, we can't expect one person to do it all, every single person has to get involved.

Election Day

Today is a big day in our nation's history... The first African American is on the ballot for President. I went to vote this morning on my way home from my weekly walk. I cast my vote, but I am still not sure I voted for the right person. I did all kinds of research and still couldn't really make up my mind. To be honest, what made the decision for me was the vice presidential candidates. It will be very interesting to see what happens tonight as the results come in.

Number 2????

I knew that my Red Raiders would jump in the ranking after beating Texas on Saturday night, but I never dreamed that they would jump all the way to number 2! I was excited when the AP Poll came out with us at number 2, but I was stunned when the BCS results came out and we were number 2 there too!
We just have to keep our fingers crossed that they can win against Oklahoma State next week! It would be SO amazing if we could make it to the BCS championship game.

Tech Wins

Last night I got to watch my Alma mater play the number 1 team in college football. AND WE WON with a last second touchdown.... the final score was 39-33 and it was awesome. The phenomenal Michael Crabtree caught a pass and managed to perform the perfect pivot to stay inbounds and score. It was an amazing game and I can't wait to see the new AP and BCS poll rankings.