The Maki Family

Decisions, Decisions

2011-11-22T23:23:00.002-06:00

Alex is now 2 months old...which means that my 12 week maternity leave is getting close to coming to an end and it's time to make the final decision on going back to work or not. I thought I had pretty much decided to stay home with the kids for good, however, the last 2 months at home with the girls has started making me realize I am NOT cut out to be a stay at home mom. I am extremely bored, I feel unproductive, and I definitely miss adult interaction throughout the day. Of course with deciding to go back to work we have to find good quality/affordable childcare...these things are hard to find together. Our previous daycare was great when we started there and the rates seemed reasonable, because let's face it childcare is expensive; over the last 3 years of being there the rates just keep going up & up and I don't feel like the quality of the care has gotten any better. There have been many times that things were overlooked with the girls, especially Chloe, as the teachers are ever changing, only 2 are left from when we first started there. So now starts the search for new childcare since we definitely cannot afford to send 3 kids to the previous daycare. I am sad that I won't be able to spend the entire day with my kids, however, for my personal well being, as well as theirs (they need the structure) it's what I need to do.

Long time no blog!!

2011-10-10T00:51:00.000-05:00

for the both of us really... well.. .since the last update, Shannon has had the baby already. He was in the NICU for a few days because of his blood sugar, but then was released and has been doing good. Although he does like to sleep all day and keep us up at night (well mostly Shannon). Thankfully she lets me sleep through the night with me having to work the next day and what not. Speaking of my job, now I am working Tues-Saturday. Feels weird working on Saturdays (and not working on Mondays), but being off on Mondays gives me time to do other things that I cant do on weekends. The girls have adjusted to baby Alex, but we feel that Chloe is starting to get jealous. Work at the Rangers has dwindled down and I think that today would have been my last day (unless they make it to the world series and they actually play on a Sunday). It was fun while it lasted, albeit a little more drama this year. Still undecided whether or not I will be back next year. Only time will tell (and the current situation with my kids). I just don't see how Shannon does it. I would have lost what little sanity I have left... but I guess senility is overrated nowadays.

I should start a cupcake business.... but so worried about the risk. Guess thats what it takes though. You cant really be successful without taking some risks. Would be awesome if I could start selling cupcakes at various places around the metroplex, then eventually moving into an actual building. Would be awesome indeed...because many people have informed me that my baked goods and cupcakes rock...

When people usually mention my baking skills, I always tell them that I don't believe that I am to the par of lets say the "cupcake wars" contestants. They think of the stuff from scratch (although I have made some things that I have never seen a recipe for and just thrown stuff together (and were a big hit too!)). Just maybe I would be able to make some sort of money selling them... just maybe. I definitely have the drive and the passion to do so.

Hmmm....

on that note....until next time!

Does it ever end????

2011-06-11T22:00:00.002-05:00

So after my latest midwife appointment on Friday it looks like the path to my VBAC may be going a tad off course. Thankfully at this point it doesn't look like I'll be completely averting a VBAC, just that it won't be at a birthing center. I've made a consultation with one of the best OB's in Texas, with the best VBAC rate. I have been keeping track of my blood pressure for the last month at home (between appointments) and throughout the day it obviously fluctuates. Everytime I go see the midwife it is almost at the point that she will have to "risk" me out, meaning transfer. We also found out after my 5 month sono that the fibroid I have is in an odd place, I knew about, as did my midwife, but no one told me where it was or the size. It turns out it's right next my cervix and around 7 cm, if it grows any larger it can possibly cover my cervix, which will mean automatic c-section. I have no problem doing a c-section if it is medically necessary. I'm sure that after my consultation with the OB I will be transferring to him, at least I'll know that I'm in great hands.

I guess this just adds to how things have been going lately :(

birthing & babies.....

2011-03-24T22:28:00.003-05:00

So we've recently (about 9 weeks ago) found out that we are expecting our 3rd child. While this wasn't a planned event, it's a happy event none-the-less. With this pregnancy has come the decision I never thought I'd get to make, trying for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). With Chloe I had to have a c-section due to her being breech after finding out I had preeclampsia. I found an OB that is supposedly VBAC friendly and seems willing to allow me the birth that I want, however, her exact words were "as long as you don't develop pre-e again & you can go into labor on your own. I will NOT induce you." Okay, so does that mean if I hit 40 weeks and haven't had a baby you are going to cut me open??? I don't think so :/ Then today I got a bill from the lab at my doctor's office....for $600 for a few tubes of blood & peeing in a cup. This was also only for my 1st visit, I haven't even gotten the bill for the follow up labwork they insisted on since I am anemic, which I told them was a problem I have during pregnancy. More & more my thoughts are driving me towards a midwife/birthing center birth. I figure either way it's going to cost me a small fortune to bring our "grand finale" into the world, so I might as well get the birth that I want :)

Epic!

2011-02-15T20:47:00.001-06:00

Finally got a new phone (big thanks to income tax return).. and me and Shannon got Samsung Epics and I have already put a slew of apps and customware on it... I'm actually typing this from the phone now... since they have. Blogger app I should make a phone photo blog or something.. if I see something interesting I should take a pic and blog it.. or... better yet.. take a pic of one thing that inspired or intrigued me for each day.. kinda late to do one pic a day thing. I think I will do that on my photography blog... so stay tuned for that!!! Maybe I should take one now and write something about it..

This is my cleaning wipe.. since I want this phone to look nice all the time I carry this around... I actually misplaced cleaning wipe #1 so this is the more compact, portable version! Isn't it wonderful!?

Stay tuned for tomorrows item.. I know that you all are bursting with anticipation.. steady now.. it will be here before we know it.

Gonna have to wait : (

2011-01-05T12:40:00.000-06:00

For a long long LONG time I have wanted to leave Texas. I have never liked it here nor will I. It is too warm for my tastes, doesn't get enough snow (if any), winters generally suck here. So me and Shannon were planning on moving to Arkansas (still too warm for my tastes but its a little cooler and generally snows in the winter), and we were shooting for March of this year. This time we were really trying to give it an effort (effort came too late though), and unfortunately our financial situation is impeding us from moving. So it looks like we will be here for another year (or almost another year), at least until I am done with the Rangers. Which I do plan on doing again.

The 2nd job will give us extra money and this time we will have to make a very very conscious effort not to spend ANY of the money from the 2nd job. Easier said than done, but I think it can be done. It will have to be done. I just hope the urge to spend the money isn't strong enough. I don't want to be here another year but I can't have it any other way.

This puts a damper on my mood every time I think about it.

Lets just hope that the stress doesn't kill me by the time we move. I never knew nor expected moving to another state would be so hard and stressful. Well, can't say that I didn't completely expect it because that would be just stupid of me to think that it would be easy as pie. Actually scratch that... I expected it, but never completely knew. That makes me sound like less of an idiot :)

This month will be my little girls 3rd birthday party. She is growing up too fast and so is my other baby girl who is on the brink of walking. Almost makes me want to have another baby (if only I would be guaranteed a boy!).

New years has come and gone, and what did we do... nada. Such is a life of a parent with no babysitters. New years resolutions that I have?.... not many.. basically lose this weight that I have slowly been gaining back, and tweet more... I realized that I have neglected tweeting for far too long... well no more neglect I say!

Hope everyone had a great Holiday and sorry for the scattered rambles I have here... Until next time.. Take care.

They grow too fast :(

2010-11-01T20:33:00.004-05:00

Most of my posting is completely random, which is sorta like me. Right now Robert & I are both on our laptops sitting across from each other at the kitchen table, Danika is running a muck around the house, and Chloe is asleep in her swing. The baseball game, World Series Game 5, is on in the background; a pretty typical night in the Maki household. Yesterday marked the last day of Robert working 2 jobs, which hopefully won't make any difference financially, and today marked the day I really wish I had a different job or could stay home with my children (if you know me well you know that I am not really cut out for staying home, but lately it's seemed like a wonderful idea). My girls are growing way too fast. It seems like Chloe was just born and in a little over a month my little Turkey will be 1 :( Right after that my little Munchkin will be 3 :( I feel like I'm missing so much while they are at daycare all day, but they are also learning so much that I don't think I could teach them. For not quite 3 yrs old, Danika is extremely well spoken & outgoing. She's extremely independent & wants to do everything on her own terms. We recently took away pull ups so that she would potty train, seems to be going well & she's decided that using the potty is a good thing. She can even climb up on the big potty all by herself. Chloe is slowly starting to try & pull up on everything, so I'm sure we'll have a cruiser soon enough. She's also as independent as an infant can be. You aren't allowed to hold her & feed her, she has to do it herself. I couldn't be happier that my babies are doing so well, but of course they won't be babies much longer & it makes me sad

More about work....Today we got an email announcing the promotion of a co-worker from our Home Office, it also mentioned that she would be relocating to Texas. While I think it's wonderful that they are recognizing her for her efforts & that she will be in our office to help out others, it hurts me a little because when I was "promoted" they didn't make an announcement to everyone. It was just assumed by everyone that I was always the "Senior Associate" in our office but it wasn't always official. In the last few weeks/months it is started to become more & more apparent that I'm not really needed in our office. I have always been the one that helped out with training, managed to meet my goals, etc. I am no longer asked to help out with training the new hires, I am not given files that can help me meet my goals & I just feel all around depressed when I'm at work. We're planning (hoping actually) to be able to move March 2011. While I always hoped that I would be able to take my job with me it doesn't look like that will happen. I'm hoping that I do have something to fall back on when the time comes, but I guess we can't always depend on these things.

Here's to hoping that the new year, which is fast approaching, brings new & wonderful things to our lives.

Rangers are in the Playoffs!

2010-10-20T22:51:00.000-05:00

Well as everyone already knows the Texas Rangers are in the playoffs and well on there way (hopefully) to their first World Series in franchise history. Which would be great, because they deserve to go, and I also would get to go to the games.. Working of course...but going to the games nonetheless. My 2nd job has been extended throughout October which is good. More hours = more money. More chances to work = more opportunities for tips. Not one bit have I complained about being there this post season, because usually right now (any other year) I would be sitting at home still making no extra money. The extra money is allowing us to be worry free for a few more weeks.

Everything at home seems to be going pretty well. I have been experimenting and somehow have found my niche in making creme filled cupcakes. Filled with just about anything, well mainly chocolate ganache or cool whip and a fruit. The more I think of stuff, the more I want to make it. There are a ton of combinations that you can make that can be put inside of a cupcake. Creme filled cupcakes are way better than normal cupcakes because you have that extra flavor in there, or consistency. I have also been getting alot of good reviews and feedback about my cupcakes, some which tell me I should sell my own cupcakes. But my question is.... do I have enough ability and expertise to actually sell these?? Meaning, am I as talented enough that I could actually keep people happy with the look, taste, and everything of my cupcakes?? That is the thing I am worried about. Alot of shows you see that people compete on have their own bakeries and such. Obviously I am not that good, I would like to be, but for now I am not. Maybe someday..

This past weekend allowed my wife to go to Arkansas yet again for the weekend. Without me once again. Unfortunately I had to work, and of course... get sick. It will be March soon enough and then I wont worry about having to wait a long time to go to Arkansas...because that is when we do plan on moving. Finally came to the conclusion that we are indeed going to move. I want to get out of Texas and since Shannon doesnt want to move much further north, we are settling with Arkansas because we get to hang out with her brother and his wife. Plus our kids will be able to play with their kids. Which is a nice thing.

Well until next time!

Summer is almost over!

2010-08-22T23:01:00.000-05:00

Thankfully the end of summer is upon us. I cannot wait for cooler weather. End of summer means the end of my 2nd job.. well, I guess I have a couple months until that (unless they make it into the playoffs).

Unfortunately, our pool did not make it more than a month. Guess it is because I rushed it. Just shows you what happens when you rush things. Hopefully I can fix it and put it up again next summer. Just got a new bed to replace, what according to the tag on the bed, was a 6 year old bed. Although I still wish it was a king sized bed, it is still bigger than our old full size bed.

Not much else has gone on in my life. Just the same ol same ol. Besides the pool and the bed. Will update more when I actually have more to talk about. Now.. back to my buzz lightyear.

More Progress!

2010-07-27T23:13:00.003-05:00

We have officially paid 3 debts in full! I'm freaking ecstatic! We are now down to $9,791.58 in debt, that's $60 paid on what I have actually included in our debt calculation...we've actually paid a little more than that since a new one came in for the same place, so it was paid too, but not included in the original amount.

Updates

2010-06-14T00:54:00.003-05:00

This last Saturday was my 10 yr high school reunion. It was definitely awkward. I haven't really kept up with anyone that I went to school with, other than through Facebook. My former best friend was there and we spoke, introduced significant others, and then pretty much avoided each other for the rest of the evening. That night made me realize how few true friends I had in high school. There were 4 of us total that spent all of our time together, the other 2 didn't show up. I'm hoping that once my girls start going to school they will develop life long friendships so they don't have those awkward moments when they go to their 10 yr high school reunion. I'm also hoping that when we go to Robert's this fall he doesn't have the same awkward moments that I had.

On another, much happier note, I paid off another debt! Also, we're 2/3rd's paid on one, just 1 more payment & we'll have it finished. Only 15 more to go for a total of $9,851.58. So far we've paid $348.15 towards our debt, not including the one I pay a monthly payment on, I'm not counting it in our countdown to being debt free.

I think we are doing well!

Also, my precious baby girl, Chloe just hit 6 months last week! We go tomorrow for her 6 month check up. I can't wait to see how much she has grown since April. Today she went swimming for the first time ever, she did really well & looked super cute in her pink/brown leopard print suit. Danika's 2 1/2 yrs old & acting every bit the part. She's also seemed to have a bit of delayed jealousy over having a sibling, this wasn't an issue when we first brought Chloe home, it's really started happening over the last 2-3 months. She wants me to hold her all of the time, potty training has come to a complete halt & she can't seem to get through an hour without having a major meltdown.

I think I've rambled enough about random family life & finances for today. I really need to get to bed since it's 1 am & I need to get up in 4 1/2 hours, but strangely I'm not tired after being on-the-go all day long. I'm sure I'll feel it when it comes time to go to the gym later.

Summer is upon us

2010-06-06T09:26:00.000-05:00

and I absolutely cannot stand it.

Every single year there is one time that I dread, and no it is not tax time (although that is one of my least favorites). It is summer time. All year I hear people chattering away saying 'I can't wait for summer, blah blah blah' and all I can say is that I can and will always be able to wait for summer. If I had my way there would be no summer at all. Summer for everyone else is swimming, hanging out at the lake, and stuff of that nature. Anything that involves being outside I suppose. Summer for me means working out in the heat, sweating all the time. I go to work and its 70 degrees in there and thats too hot for me. I go outside and its 100+ and that is way too much for me. Why oh why can't I just "hibernate" here at my house for the summer?

There is one good thing about summer though (and one more about the summer this year). I do get to do my 2nd job which takes place during the summer and earns us that extra cash that lets us splurge on unnecessary items, and most important of all... pay off debt! We recently paid off one and there are many more ahead of us, but the fact of the matter is that we are paying them off and this job is helping. Also, this summer and not any other summer, me and Shannon have been trying to lose some extra weight and so far that has been going well. Being outside in the heat for me and actually running from time to time is helping me as well. The fact that we are on this 'diet' type thing (I say 'diet' because its not really a diet.. more like a counting game I guess you could say), and the fact that we are trying to save money to pay off bills and go on vacation next month (mot making much headway into it but I am thinking we don't need a whole lot of money) is saving us from blowing money all the time at eating fast food or restaurants.

So thats that...

As for the home front. Everything here is going well. The girls are doing well. Chloe's eye is looking better and better all the time. We finally broke down and got a new lawn mower. We didn't NEED one but we got one anyways. It has a bag so maybe now we can start growing our new lawn and get the weeds thing in control.

Until next time. I hear someone has decided to wake up.. Good that she got to sleep in a little today (good for me).

Finally making some progress!

2010-05-31T19:35:00.002-05:00

We have officially paid off our first "old" debt. I paid off a credit card that I had with Target, so now that's one less person to call me & say you owe me money! I also paid 1/3 of another "old" debt

1 down....16 to go...that sure sounds like a lot, but I know we can do it!

Work, Work, and More Work

2010-05-24T13:12:00.000-05:00

You ever get the feeling that all you do is work? Well that's exactly the way I have been feeling lately. Mainly that's because that's all I have been doing. Just worked 7 straight days at the ballpark. Throughout those days I have been completely soaked (thankfully my shoes were not ruined) and pelted by the sun. The first one isn't that bad, at least not as bad as the 2nd one. I absolutely hate summer heat and the bad thing is... its not even summer!! I can already tell this is going to be a very very long summer. Back to the days where I go home with an extra layer of grimey-ness on me.

I was definitely not built for summer or heat in general. Which means that our electric bill will soon be increasing. Every day I work it's hard on me. I only see my daughters in the morning when I bring them to school, and that's for about 20 min or so. Then I don't see them again until the next morning, but this is supporting their habits/needs (more needs than habits)

I am hoping for a quick quick summer with not that many 100 degree days. That is truly asking for too much now. I know that will never happen... not while we live in Texas. Which maybe we can find a way to part ways with Texas in the next year, year and a half.

When I am not working at my regular job and at the ballpark, I am fixing computers. I got a few new customers (fellow coworkers from the ballpark), but I will gladly take what I can get. I am really hoping that they tell their friends and family about me, and hopefully I can pick up even more business. I just really wish I had a steady stream of customers coming in wanting me to fix their computers. It makes it so hard to stay up and fix peoples computers when I worked at my main job and the ballpark the same night... that's 3 jobs all in one day. I am not at all complaining. The older I get the more tired I feel. Is this what getting old feels like? That would explain why old old people go to sleep at 7 or 8pm.

I don't want this to become an ad for my side business (or do I???), but if you know of anyone that is having problems with their computers, please direct them to me. They can contact me via email (makiscomputersolutions@yahoo.com)

Lazy Sundays.....

2010-05-16T13:53:00.003-05:00

...or are they? Sundays seem to be the busiest day in our house. I usually do all of our laundry and most of the cleaning on Sunday. This week though, I did a lot of the laundry & cleaning on Saturday since I was having friends over for a Mary Kay party. Luckily I only have the girls stuff left to wash, but now my house is messier than it was when I started cleaning it yesterday, mostly due to the backyard being muddy, so Danika & Miley tracked in mud every time they went outside with my mom.

Last night Robert & I went out for his friends birthday, so I'm still trying to recover, more from not getting much sleep before Chloe woke up at 7:00 am to be fed, and then Danika burst into the room at 8:00 am. I'm now trying to get the motivation to go to the gym & then come home and finish cleaning, just not quite there yet.

In other news, we're finally getting on top of this budgeting thing. A big helper is the fact that Robert has a 2nd job and gets tips every night that he works. So we've been able to use that tip money to finance our splurge buys, which in turn keeps us from using the money we need for bills, groceries, etc. I've been able to put back $100 into saving and have actually paid off 1 debt! I worked out a plan to start getting our debts paid off, smallest first and then once we get to the larger ones I'll start negotiating lower amounts on those. I know they will be more likely to accept a lower amount if I can pay a lump sum rather than asking for a payment plan. I'm hoping within the next year we can start being more financially savvy and hopefully on our way to moving out of a rent house and possibly thinking about buying a house, it may be a stretch though, to think it could happen that soon, but we'll see.

Death to allergies!

2010-05-04T23:46:00.001-05:00

The title basically says it all. No need to explain and no need to beg for moral support because everyone knows what I am talking about, and I am sure that people would support the fight against allergies if one ever was to exist (or could exist).

Here we are again.. It's that time of the year. Allergy season. The season where anyone that is sensitive to allergies wakes up more than once unable to breathe and goes through the day with sort of a funk or blah feeling to them. I lost count on the amount of times I have sneezed today and lost count of the amount of tissues I used. I absolutely HATE it. Makes my day just miserable. I seem to have the worst allergies out of the family and have come to the conclusion that Alavert is utterly USELESS, but for some odd reason I keep taking it in the morning with the HOPES that it will magically decide to work. I guess I need to move on to the stronger stuff...but what exactly IS the stronger stuff? I am sure on a potent scale Alavert probably ranks at the absolute bottom.

Ughhh... How many more days of allergy season are left?

Travel, Sickness, and Car troubles...

2010-04-28T13:15:00.000-05:00

Quite a bit has happened since the last time I blogged. First and foremost, as you can tell by the previous post, Danika went on a vacation trip to Arkansas with her Mimi and Nana. The first day of the trip she threw up twice. We originally speculated it was the milk that was given to her in the morning but later found out it was a stomach bug. That stomach bug was then passed on to 6 people. First infecting 4 in Arkansas to finally succumbing to me and Shannon. Shannon is still sort of sick with it while I have recovered I would like to say fully. I spent the day in bed basically (or on the living room couch), while guzzling down lemon-lime Gatorade and eating practically nothing. One of the joys of having a kid (and by joy I am being sarcastic) is that you get every sickness that they pick up from daycare.

On Friday, the check engine light in Shannon's car had come on. So Saturday I took it over to Autozone to get it checked and found out it was the MAF sensor. Which then I replaced the air filter and everything was fine and dandy..until she drove it that is. So I had to find another part for the vehicle (which ended up costing me $64 from the dealer). Thankfully I get tips at the ballpark, because my tips basically covered that completely.

Chloe seems to be a trooper about everything, and thankfully has yet to get the stomach bug that we have (I hope it stays that way too). Through all of this I have missed and lost money from losing time at the ballpark, but alas, they were all things that were out of my control.

Hopefully I can make up the difference soon. We have finally caught ourselves up on bills, now its time to really budget. So we will and can, finally see if it will all work out. Here's to wishing us lots of luck!

Until next time, take care.

My baby girl is really becoming a big girl!

2010-04-18T12:18:00.002-05:00

Today I'm working on laundry, as I do every Sunday, but this week will be different. Danika is going on her first trip without Mommy & Daddy. She's going to spend next weekend in Arkansas with my mom. My nephew turns 3 this Tuesday (the 20th) so she is going up there for his birthday party. I think it will be harder on Robert & I than it will be on her. So for the weekend it will be just Chloe & I (Robert has to work), so I'm looking at it as a chance for us to continue bonding. Everyday seems to bring more independence for Danika & I am so grateful for that!

I will park your car for you.

2010-04-12T00:45:00.001-05:00

Well one week has passed of me being an ACTUAL valet driver at the ballpark for the Texas Rangers. Not a FULL week..but a week nonetheless. My thoughts about it right now aren't that bad.

The first day I was very nervous. After all, I was driving other people's cars. If I was to not see something, or misjudge something, or SOMEONE else not doing so, I could potentially damage the car. That was a lot of responsibility that I had to hold on my shoulders. After the first day, the worry of that happening faded away. Now I am just left with the joy of driving other peoples cars and potentially cars that I will never ever be able to own. The nice thing about doing valet is that I will hopefully walk away every game with cash in my hand (this is given that people actually DO tip me, because tipping I have learned, is not guaranteed), which is a good thing right now.

After talking to the other drivers it seems like everyone else is doing better than me. This is partially because of my luck (or I would assume..but we all know what assuming does...). I swear I have some of the worst luck ever. Today wasn't that bad. As long as I make at least $10, I am pretty content. Afterall... I only need $5 to make more than I did last year on carts. Yep... $5. I have also began to think that everybody that comes to the valet stand to pick up their car, already have in their mind how much they are going to give you. Going 50 mph all the way there wont change it, pulling directly up to them wont change it, nothing is going to change it. At least that is what I think. I could be wrong. Whatever helps you sleep at night..right?

So to sum it all up... Valeting is pretty nice. I just don't know what else to say about it. I just hope that I start to get better tips, but if not, then it's all fine as well.

In other parts of my life.. the wife and kiddos are doing good. I feel bad that Shannon gets stuck with the kids while I work. As much as everyone tells me, I do not have any patience for my kids. I guess that is one thing I never picked up. Shannon is a very talented person. She can take care of both kids, cook dinner, change diapers, pack lunch, and etc. All before I get home from work at the ballpark. She is truly one of the people I most admire. If I had to do that for any reason, I would be pulling my hair out. When one of the children is happy, generally the other one isn't. Well... I can't really say that. Maybe it just SEEMS like that.

Someone has defriended me on facebook and has yet to give me a reason. Oh well. The only thing I care about our friendship is getting my pc back. Is that bad?

That is basically it. I now would like to have you guys and girls direct your attention over to my other blog (which should be a part of this one), which houses my photography. Take a look, comment, and visit it frequently. I hope to add more and more and more. So stay tuned!

Until next time.

Busy times are ahead..

2010-04-01T12:27:00.000-05:00

I am in fact still here. It has been awhile since I have posted anything. Things at home have been pretty busy. Trying to get this whole budgeting thing together and set up. Opened a brand spanking new account for 'bills only' which hopefully this will help us sort things out and figure out exactly how much we have to spend on bills and exactly how much 'free' money we have.

I think this will end up doing us a lot of good. Only time will tell though. It is just something that I have to get used to physically and mentally. In the past I have been so blind to our spending, saving, bills, etc. All I knew was that things were getting paid but I didn't know exactly what we were paying and how much they were. My goal this time is to be more in tune with all our bills, savings, spending habits, etc. I must also try to force myself to not go after the frivolous things that I don't NEED. That is my main problem that I have always had. I think I NEED everything. Shannon will tell you first hand how horrible I am at this. This is something that WILL BE rectified!

My first day back at the ballpark for the Texas Rangers is tomorrow for their exhibition game. I am excited as I am nervous. I am excited because I will be getting extra money and that is what we need to keep things on track. I am nervous because this year, I will join the fellow valet drivers and be valet this time instead of the carts. Good thing is I will hopefully be getting tips every game. Bad thing is that I have more responsibility with the cars and the tips every game are not guaranteed, but the games that I DO get tips, will be good, because I will have extra money in my pocket.

Busy weekend ahead of me as well (other than the game tomorrow). I have to bake a giant cupcake for work (don't HAVE to but I am going to) then bake about 3 dozen Easter cupcakes for our annual Easter celebration at my aunt in law's house. Hope everyone has a good Easter. Until next time.

Debt....revisited

2010-03-24T21:45:00.002-05:00

So today I got an interesting email from my hubby, he finally decided to try and figure out our expenses for the month. He has never really paid much attention to what anything costs aside from rent & his car payment, those 2 things he actually knows about. He FINALLY realized how much money we are just blowing every month; whether it's on going out to eat, buying things we don't really need, or even bank fee's because something may have caused an overdraft on our account. He actually sat down and figured out what we need to save each month and allowed for spending money & everything! The thought of budgeting usually gives me a headache because he doesn't listen to what I have to say and always tells me he can't do without some (i.e. satellite radio) but now has a different outlook on things. If we ever want to buy a home or move anywhere else we have to get these things in order and start cleaning up our credit. I am so excited about this!

Work email...

2010-03-22T08:45:00.002-05:00

T. Not very encouraging to sleep on; but it's Empty and bitterly cold and wet. An open window explained why, and possibly the letter lying on the bureau
inscribed with her husband's name would explain the rest. But he stopped to read no letters now. "Show me the way to those falls," he cried, pocketing the letter as he rushed by the disheveled Anitra into the open hall. "I'm her husband, Roger Ransom. Who goes with me? He who does is my friend for life." The clerk and one or two others rushed for their coats and lanterns. He waited for nothing. The roar of the waterfall had told him

too many tales that day. And the will! Her will just signed! "Georgian!" They could hear his cry. "Georgian! Georgian!
Wait! wait! hear what I have to say!" thrilled back

through the mist as he stumbled on, followed by the men waving their lanterns and shouting words of warning he probably never heard. Then his cry further off and fainter. "Georgian! Georgian!" Then silence and the slow drizzle of rain on the soggy walk and
soaked roofs, with the far-off boom of the waterfall which Mrs.
Deo and the trembling maids
gazing at the wide-eyed Anitra shivering in the

center of her deserted room, tried to shut out by closing window and blind,
forgetting that she was deaf and only heard such echoes as were thundering in her
own mind. CHAPTER XIII WHERE THE MILL STREAM RUNS FIERCEST Two o'clock. Three o'clock. Two men were talking below their breaths in the otherwise
empty office. "That 'ere mill stream never gives up anything
it has once caught," muttered one into the ear of the other. "It's swift as fate and in certain places deep as hell. Dutch Jan's body was
five months at the bottom of it, before it came up at Clark's

pool." The man beside him shivered and his hand roamed nervously towards his breast. "Did Jan, the Dutchman you speak of, fall in by accident

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just find it funny the spam I get at my work email.. especially the ones that have stupid stories in them. Of course they have attachments and only an idiot would actually open the attachment.

Almost Monday...again....

2010-03-21T21:52:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow will be Monday and I would rather that we just skip straight to Friday. I remember being excited about going back to work, but of course that lasted until I actually went back to work. Now the days are filled with meetings, phone calls, and just actually doing work (who wants to do that all day???) As usual things change on a daily basis around our office and we have yet another manager. I've been with the same company for almost 9 years (will be 9 in May) and have seen so many people come & go, luckily I've been fortunate enough to be one of the few constants that has remained. I would like a change though, but I haven't really figured out what I want to be when I "grow up", probably something I should have figured out by now. Hopefully I can start taking classes this summer, but I really don't know when I'll have the time. You'd think since it's something important I should find the time, but it's definitely hard to do when you work 40+ hours a week, have 2 children, and your husband works 2 jobs (from April-October). I pretty much fell into the job that I have by pure luck and happened to be good at what I do, but it's definitely not something I want to do forever, but considering I've been there for so long you'd think it was my "career", but I sure hope not.

I guess that's enough randomness for now.

Family vs. accomplishments

2010-03-17T23:10:00.003-05:00

Soon we will probably be making a decision that will be very very hard for me. All my life I have tried to make my life better, to be in a better place, to feel accomplished. One cannot feel accomplished without actual accomplishments and something to show for it. What happens when all those accomplishments are taken away? Does the person still feel the same? Are they truly the same person? The decision that we will more than likely make will make me feel truly gutted. I will feel as if I have degraded myself and that all my work in life has been for nothing. I understand that it will only be a temporary thing, but that still doesn't change the way I will feel. Everything keeps running through my mind. What will my children think, what will be different, what will they not like, what will they do different, what will they HAVE to do different, what are the consequences, what do I need to look out for, will this really help, what are the dangers. One of the main thing that haunts my mind is the last one... what are the dangers. The decision will be for the better, but I can't help to think that doing so will put us in more harms way than we are now.

The only thing that I can think about right now and keep hearing, is that it is all my fault. I am the one that is unwilling to change. Unwilling to go along with it in hopes that it will magically fix everything. If you heard it all you would probably think that I am being stubborn, but you honestly don't know what is going through my head. I am so fixated with my pride and my accomplishments that doing anything that requires change in what I think is the opposite direction, would only make me feel more miserable. Or at least I think it would...

Maybe I am being too stubborn... too stupid..

Maybe I should just swallow my pride and think that this is for the greater good. I can't help but to look around and realize that this can all be gone and I don't want it to go. I fear change... because there is always a possibility that change could make things worse. I guess that is just life. You have to make sacrifices in order to live.

I guess we will see what happens. All I can do is hope that this does not leave me a bitter shell of a man, brought down by his own stubbornness and unwillingness to change.

2 days until I feel old again..

2010-03-17T13:22:00.003-05:00

The day is almost here. The day that everyone will eventually end up dreading. No not tax day (although that is still coming up and people always dread that). 2 more days until my birthday. Yep, one year older and closer to death. Yes I know that I am going to only be 28 but I still can't help to think that 28 IS old. At least that is what I am going to feel like on Friday. Where has the year gone? I have one more child and as you probably can tell from the last post by Shannon, we are even more in debt. How will I celebrate my birthday you may ask. Well, on Friday I get to spend it with the people at the Rangers ballpark. No no they are NOT holding a special birthday bash for me (nor would they ever), but I do have to be there for no other than training. Training that I do every year there, and in my opinion, is not really needed. At least they feed us so I can't complain. After all, I will never turn down free food.

Ready for another year at the ballpark. It is nice to work there but I feel as if I miss a lot of things at home. When Danika was little I missed a lot of stuff she did because I was at working at the ballpark. I am not saying that I don't want to do it, because it really is a fun job filled with fun people. I just wish that the things that happen at home would wait for me to be off that day. Plus the extra money is nice.

Reading the previous post makes me sort of depressed. I am constantly reminded that we could be living a lot better and more comfortably. I work 2 jobs sometimes, I work on computers on the side (not very often, not often enough), we both make good money at our jobs (could always use more money!), but bills seem to get the best of us. Actually not bills... its our insatiable urge to spend money on things we don't really need. Main thing being fast food and restaurants. That seems to be my weakness. I never want to cook, and when Shannon doesn't want to cook then I am more than willing to bring up eating out. We could live in a more affordable place if it wasn't for my unwillingness to live in an apartment. Seriously, who really wants to live in an apartment. House living has spoiled me. I feel more secure in the neighborhood that I am in than in any of the apartment complexes that I have lived in, I have my own parking spot that I know no one will ever take, we have 2 of the best land lords ever, and most importantly, there is NO ONE on the other side of the wall, which in turn equals more privacy. If I could only swallow my pride and move into an apartment, I know we would be better off (well other than the huge daycare cost). How exactly do you move with 2 kids. One which is accustomed to our house arrangement and everything. Same thing with removing her from this daycare to a cheaper daycare. How do you really do that?? They are too used to the way things are, and I feel like if I 'move the cheese' then all chaos will ensue.

For now it just seems like we are living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to survive, to live, and not having any room to breathe. This combined with the birthday thing really puts a damper on my mood. Sometimes I just wish I could go back to being a child, where I never had a care in the world. Those days are long gone, welcome to adult hood. Wonderful, wonderful adult hood.

Debt....

2010-03-16T22:19:00.005-05:00

That is probably the dirtiest word in the English language I can think of at this very moment. I have been looking through a stack of mail for probably a good 2 hours right now and I just can't seem to wrap my head around any of it. I have all of these people sending me letters saying you owe us money, which is obviously true, but I have no clue where to begin to start cleaning up the mess I made several years ago; not to mention the stuff that is now piling up since having a premature baby that spent 10 days in the NICU and spending 5 days in the hospital myself having countless tests run to come to the conclusion that I needed to have a baby ASAP and then continuing to run more tests after the fact to make sure things were looking better. Biggest issue of all is that I make decent money, and when you add in Robert's income we should be just fine...but we're not. Having rent on a decent home, 2 children in daycare, a car payment (thankfully we just got mine paid off 2 weeks ago so we're down to just Robert's), utilities, etc. there doesn't seem to be enough money to go around no matter how much extra time I put in at work. My poor husband works a 2nd job from April to October to help make ends meet and sometimes that's not even enough. I feel like I have no one to go to with this problem. I honestly wish someone else could take control of our finances and when we feel the urge to splurge just say no and not give in, since we can't seem to do that at all. We've been cutting expenses left & right, but it doesn't seem to matter what we do, just doesn't help anything.

I guess that's enough of a pity party for me, it's time to get ready for another day of work.

2010-03-09T16:18:00.002-06:00

I've lost 4 lbs! Tomorrow I'm finally going to start excersing after work, so hopefully I'll be able to pick up the pace on the weight loss. I've set my first goal at 15 lbs and I'm almost 1/3 of the way there!

Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter

Chloe Update - 3/8/10

2010-03-08T15:45:00.001-06:00

Today we went for Chloe's second appointment after starting her Propranolol, things are looking good so far. At her first appointment, last Monday, the doctor said he could tell a slight difference and she'd only been on the medication for about 5 days. Now a full week later even Robert & I can tell a difference. It's not quite as puffy as before, it isn't covering any of her eye, and the color is lighter (unless she gets mad). Next week we do another follow up and if all is well then we will start going every 2 weeks for a little while. Hopefully we can start going monthly within the next 2 months or so, going to an appointment every week is getting really hard to work my schedule around.

Surface table dreams and Chloe's hospital stay

2010-02-24T15:16:00.005-06:00

Recently I have become very very interested in building a surface table. Now I know that there are probably a lot of people who are wondering "What IS a surface table??". Basically a surface table is a big touch screen monitor/computer. It is sometimes referred to as a Multi-touch surface table. Microsoft was the first one to build one and it was cleverly named Microsoft Surface. It looks like this...

Now you are probably wondering how much it costs. Well, the big boys at Microsoft want to charge you $13,000 for that. That is WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much money. So I started searching around for alternatives or cheaper ways of possibly making something like this.

My search ended up at Maximum PC's website, which basically shows you how to create one from cheap parts. I believe they spent around $300 on theirs (given they HAD some of the expensive parts already). My ultimate goal was to build something like this..

and after researching this, unfortunately to make one this size (my ideal size), just for the top surface alone, would be $218. Looks like this project will have to wait.

All along Shannon keeps asking me "Why do you need one??"... Well.. why do I need anything I want. No real reason. Would give Danika a nice little drawing surface (they have drawing apps). Would be one big finger painting canvas for her. Plus I am a geek. I like this kind of stuff. My ultimate goal is to put a computer in every single room of the house. Even the bathroom! Mainly the kitchen and the living room.

Guess I can do that one day... when I somehow, magically inherit millions of dollars.

Today Chloe was admitted to the hospital. Nothing serious, just something we had to do while they started her on her medicine for the hemangioma. Had to be here at 9, didn't get here until about 9:45. Now I realized why I hate downtown again. Of course when we get here, we go to check in, and they have absolutely no idea why we are here! Great way of being prepared. This is who we are trusting to give our little girl medicine to make her better!! Actually, the people at the front desk aren't the people we are trusting, but your first contact in a building should give you a clear idea on how the whole operation of the place goes.

She was given her first dose around noon so the next one should be around 8 or 9pm. So far she is reacting well to her dose of medicine. Her blood pressure dropped slightly, but nothing to be concerned over. If all goes well, she should be out of here tomorrow evening. I unfortunately cannot stay here overnight for I have to take Danika to daycare tomorrow. Shannon of course will be staying here all night with Chloe.

Here is hoping for a great strong acceptance of the medicine and a speedy recovery :)

Hemangioma

2010-02-17T10:08:00.002-06:00

As you can, and probably already have, read from Shannon's post, Chloe has a Hemangioma on her right eye. It started off as a scratch sized mark and grew from there. I feel sorry for her... I really really do. I hate marks on the face. Mainly because I know that is what people generally stare at when they talk to someone that has something on their face, and I know that is the first thing people notice when they see her. I have a mark on my face from when our pet dog scratched me when I was a kid. It broke the skin obviously and left a scar that I have had since I was a kid. This possibly explains my deep deep hatred for dogs.

Over the years it has diminished and is hardly noticeable now, but the fact still stands that for alot of my childhood it was there. I know its there now and it bugs me every day. Now we have to give our daughter drugs in order for this thing to stop growing until it finally shrinks (which they say they generally do without any kind of medication) and disappears. The problem is... it takes time. Generally a lot of time. All I can think of is the many years that this is going to stay on her face. They say that by the age of 4 or 5 that 50% of them are gone or 50% of it is gone, or something like that. This is just something that I wish was a quick fix. Unfortunately it is not.

So our best bet is to start the medication and hope for the best. I don't necessarily want to do this, because she is a premie and all, but it is something that has to be done. If it isn't done now, then it could possibly affect her vision, causing her to develop a lazy eye or become cross eyed. So that is what we are going to do. Shannon is going to set up the EKG that has to be done before she gets put on the medication and we will go from there. This worries me. Worries me a lot. Never before had we had to do so much to our child. First she was born early and had to be on tubes and oxygen and etc. She moved by that quickly, and now this. I just hope that this will make everything better.

This helps fuel my decision to not have any more kids. Now keep in mind, that is not the ONLY reason. So don't go thinking that I am being narrow minded or that I haven't thought this through, because I have. I think to preserve the safety of Shannon's well being and our financial future, that it would be best for us to stop having kids. I think its time. I know that this incident with Chloe is a common one and it happens to children all over the world. It just saddens me. I absolutely DO NOT want my kid to be ridiculed for something that she had no control over whatsoever. I know that she probably will, and my heart will ache every single time it happens. I just want my kids' lives to be much much better than mine.

Chloe Update

2010-02-16T21:08:00.004-06:00

First off...what is a Hemangioma...well according to Wikipedia it is:
"a benign self-involuting tumor of endothelial cells (the cells that line blood vessels). In most cases it appears during the first days or weeks of life and will have resolved at the latest by age 10. In infancy, it is the most common tumor"

About 2-3 days after Chloe was born we noticed what looked like a small scratch under her right eye, considering how fidgety she was and the sensitivity of her skin we didn't think much about it. By the time she was a month old what was once a small "scratch" had turned into what looked like blood blister. Now at 2 months old it is starting to grow up over her bottom eyelid & even getting close to being on her upper lid. We were referred to a Pediatric Dermatologist by our Pediatrician, he confirmed that the place under her eye (well it's now growing up over her eye) is in fact a hemangioma. There are 3 treatment options, oral steriods (would make her chunk up, but too fast), a drug called propranolol (a beta-blocker which is actually for heart disease/high blood pressure, but also works in shrinking the hemangioma) and laser therapy (not done until it has started shrinking and they are older). He explained that he has been using the propranolol more frequently in his practice and has gotten great results. We have to start with an EKG to make sure she has no heart problems before starting the medication since it will slow her heart rate slightly. She will then have to be admitted to the hospital for 2 days to start the medicine due to her age, as of today she should actually only be 1 month old (her due date was 1/17/10), they have to be able to monitor her blood sugar, blood pressure, etc. to make sure that the medicine doesn't have an adverse affect on her. She will then be on the medicine for at least a year to help shrink the hemangioma.

Thankfully we have a pediatrician who took immediate action to get us to a dermatologist to get this looked at so we can hopefully keep it from affecting her vision.

I can breathe!

2010-02-11T08:38:00.005-06:00

Well.. I am beginning to. As far back as I could remember, I have been unable to breathe through both sides of my nose at one time. I wasn't sure of the reason, I just carried on with my day to day thing and tried not to worry about it. As I got older and older I began to hate it more and more. Recently I scheduled an appointment with my doctor to talk to him about it. Ended up taking the day off and going to see him on Tuesday the 9th. Turns out that it may be because of my allergies. Apparently I have worse allergies than Shannon. He ended up giving me an allergy shot and giving me a prescription for some nose spray (basically Flonase), so we took it to Target to get it filled.

Started using it yesterday and for the first time I could actually smell the food Shannon was cooking. It was a change from what I normally could smell (which is basically nothing). This allowed me to fully enjoy the meal other than hoping my taste buds and sense of taste, kicked into overdrive. I feel that me not being able to breathe correctly all these years affected the taste of my food. I still can say that I cannot breathe fully through both sides of my nose at one time, but at least I can smell a lot more. It still feels like one side is swollen or congested, or however you want to say it, but I am hoping that in time it starts to feel better (and less swollen).

Woke up this morning to snow. Beautiful beautiful snow. This has to be the BEST winter that I have ever had in Texas. I believe we have got snow at least 3-4 times this winter, including a white Christmas!! They say today is calling for at least 6 inches of snow. I just wish that I could have stayed home with Danika allowing her to be able to go outside and play in the snow. I, in now way whatsoever, want this winter to end. Be safe everyone. Especially if you have to drive in the slush :)

Noone is allowed to eat!!

2010-02-07T16:01:00.008-06:00

At least that is what my daughter thinks (Chloe). Seems like every time we sit down to have a nice family meal, she does nothing but fuss. We can't hold her while we eat, putting her in the swing does no good, putting her in her bouncy chair next to us works sometimes, but not always. I can't say we aren't used to this. Danika did the exact same thing when she was a baby. So with every single meal we get a nice dose of fussing and crying.

Today hasn't been one of the best days. I honestly can now say that I truly know why they call it the terrible 2's. Sometimes I want Danika to go to sleep and wake up when shes 4 (just in case the 3's are bad as well). Doing so would at least save us 10,000 worth of daycare. (actually 20,000 because it would be 2 years)

Taking a shower was a nice escape from it all. Although at that time, Danika was in bed for her nap (which hopefully she ends up taking) and Chloe was with mommy. Seems like that is the only way for her to NOT fuss, is to be held by one of us.

Superbowl is in about an hour, and the only person who said they would come to my house to watch the game, has flaked. Oh well. One less mouth to feed. Looks like its just the Maki family watching it by themselves. The same way we watch every football game that comes on. Let's hope that it is a good game, and that all the children decide to act properly. I think that's probably asking too much. At least I can say that I am not expecting all that I am asking. So it wont be a shock when it all doesn't go as planned.

P.S. I am trying this co-blogging thing between me and my wife. My posts will be in BLUE while her's will be in whatever color she chooses (right now it seems like its just the default color)

Not having a good day..........

2010-02-07T13:11:00.002-06:00

About an hour after getting up this morning things seemed to start going wrong...Chloe started fussing non-stop (unless being held), Danika was throwing waffles on the floor, and I was trying to wash the dishes. This has given me a horrible headache :( I thought taking a shower would help, it did until I was done and went back out into the fussing and getting into everything. I feel like doing nothing but crying right now and I don't even think that will make me feel better.

Ready to go back to work....

2010-01-26T12:04:00.002-06:00

So you'd think that being home for 8 weeks would be great....WRONG! I just don't think I'm cut out for this staying at home thing, I need to be around adults and doing something productive with my time. Not that taking care of Chloe isn't productive, but she sleeps alot so I get bored. Everyday I work on cleaning the house, then Danika comes home from daycare and destroys it, so it was a wasted day. Also, with being off for 8 weeks I haven't been getting paid, which really hurts the bank account. I'm looking forward to going back to work next week (which someone should remind me of when I start complaining after I go back). I wish I had the same arrangement as when I'd had Danika, but I know that Chloe will be in very good hands at the daycare, so I'm not worried.

Shedding the rest of the baby weight....

2010-01-25T08:25:00.003-06:00

....from Danika! I only gained 6 lbs with Chloe, so that was gone as soon as I had her.

I'm setting small goals, about 5 lbs every 2 weeks or so, my ultimate goal is 50 lbs.

My baby girl is now a big girl!

2010-01-17T00:46:00.003-06:00

Danika turned 2 on Jan 16th! We had a birthday party for her at home, everything was decked out in Tinker Bell (since she's obsessed). Her favorite teacher showed up, as well as her Mimi, Nana, Grandma, and her friend Miley. The rest of my family already had plans and couldn't make it since we planned everything last minute (it slipped my mind how close it was after having another baby). Anywho, she is now a big girl, no more baby. She also used the potty! She came in to the kitchen while our landlord's husband was here saying "Mommy, tee-tee. Mommy, tee-tee" I then asked if she had to go and she responded "Yes!" so we made the trip to the bathroom that we've made so many times, about our 4th trip that day. Her pull-up was soaked so I figured she would just sit there again and do nothing. She kept asking for her reindeer book, so I went in search of it, but she also kept trying to come out of the bathroom with no pants on, I kept having to make her go back since we had a visitor. Finally I found the book she wanted and took it to her. I then went back to the kitchen to help Robert with the cupcakes he was making when she came in the kitchen bottomless again saying "Mommy, tee-tee. Mommy, tee-tee" so I shooed her back to the bathroom and was trying to get her on the potty when she points and I also notice that it is full - she has pee-peed in the potty! WOOHOO!!!! I never thought I'd be excited about someone using the bathroom and then I would have to clean it up. It ws the perfect start to her birthday! She has gone twice that we are aware of at school, so we've been rewarding her. She gets a quarter ($0.25) to put in her "Potty Jar" that I decorated for her. She already knows how it works too.

Perfect day!

Is it really possible to die of boredom????

2010-01-12T11:27:00.002-06:00

I enjoy staying home and doing nothing, but not when I don't have a choice of anything else to do. It's amazing that when I am working I would rather be home, but right now, even though I love spending my time at home with Chloe, I'd rather be at work. Working is a part of who I am, it's something I need to do. I need the adult interaction, especially since a 1 month old can't talk. With Chloe still being so little we try not to take her out too much so she doesn't end up sick and there's not really much I can do during the day that wouldn't cause me to go shopping (which is my weakness), so staying home is what I need to do. The last few days have been nearly impossible (with the cold snap we got I was stuck in the house) and I'm getting cabin fever. I've found almost any excuse to get out of the house. I'm also sitting here wishing that I could find the time and mostly the money to go back to school. I feel like I have not accomplished much in my life and really would like to finish my degree, even if I never use it. We've been talking about wanting to move and if my job wouldn't let me work from home, I have no idea what I would do. I feel like I have no other skills anymore, other than going back to being an assistant, which doesn't pay as well as I get paid now. I also don't want to be telling my children that they need to pursue higher education when Robert & I didn't, that's being a hypocrite in my opinion. There are so many things I feel like we need to focus on and we don't know where to start. We need to get our credit straightened out/built up, save money for emergencies, we'd love to move...the list really goes on & on....I guess I've rambled enough for today.

Glad the holidays are over...

2010-01-04T12:04:00.001-06:00

I thoroughly enjoyed having my brother and his family come visit for New Year's, but boy was it exhausting have 3 toddlers and a newborn in the house for 4 days. My house usually takes a pretty good beating with just Danika here making a mess, but add in 2 more toddlers and it looked like an explosion of toys. Not to mention that we had our 2nd Christmas with them here and it looked like Walmart threw up in my living room. Then came Sunday when Robert & I couldn't even make it out of bed unless it was to run to the bathroom. Poor Danika had been sick on Friday, but we thought it was because she had eaten over half a container of some lipgloss, but it looks like it may have been the beginning of a stomach bug that Robert picked up while visiting a friends house earlier in the week. As of today we are all still suffering slightly, but the nausea and fevers have gone away. Chloe seems to be congested, so that may be the cold that Robert & I had at the beginning of the week, seems we can't catch a break this week. Hopefully tomorrow will bring better things and this year will bring great things!

Sleepless Nights

2009-12-29T21:19:00.000-06:00

We definitely have a newborn in the house, sleeping all day and staying awake all night...Since Miss Chloe hit 2 weeks old she has not slept at night at all...she will only sleep if I am holding her, so I have to prop myself up in the bed and keep her on my chest...Last night I got my first decent nights sleep, if you can call it that while having a newborn on your chest, but I felt soooooo much better today and was 1000% more productive!

Things are looking up!

2009-12-18T15:17:00.001-06:00

Chloe has been taken off of the oxygen completely for a few days now and has started bottle/breastfeeding and so far she is doing great! They told Robert today that they may start her on all bottle/breastfeeding as early as tomorrow and take out her feeding tube (it's just in case) by Sunday/Monday. At this rate, as long as she does well feeding and gaining weight, she could be home in time for Christmas!!! It has been extremely depressing being home after having a baby, but not having a baby to care for around the clock. Since I'm not supposed to be driving I can only see her once a day, after Robert gets home from work, but everyday they give us better news and great hope that she'll be home soon!

Chloe Elizabeth

2009-12-12T00:34:00.002-06:00

On Thursday, December 10, 2009 Chloe Elizabeth made her debut at 9:16 pm. She weighed 5 lbs and was 18 inches long, which is good for a baby that is only 34.5 weeks along. I ended up having a c-section, guess you could call it an emergency one, but we were able to get prepared for it, somewhat anyways. After going in for my 34 week appointment my doctor sent me to the hospital for monitoring, they then decided that after my blood pressure didn't go down and my labwork came back showing my kidney & liver functions were bad that I needed to be admitted to the hospital for more monitoring and bloodwork. After a few more hours they decided that even though they hadn't gotten new labwork done, it had just been ordered, we would be having a baby within the next 24 hours, however, after a quick sonogram showing Chloe was breech, that quickly changed to we'd be having a baby in the next 2 hours. This was all a lot to take in, but I managed to remain calm and matter of fact about needing a c-section, it has never been something I wanted to experience, since my first delivery was amazing (I slept through it, how could you not be happy with that???) I was perfectly fine doing the same thing again, but yelling and screaming or even crying wasn't going to change the fact that my baby was coming soon and I couldn't change it. Luckily the doctor explained everything to me so well that I was at peace with what would be happening. Robert was great, he talked to me through the whole thing and kept me from being too nervous, then our little girl cried, it was real and we were new parents again. He was able to snap a few pictures before they whisked her off to the NICU, she has to be in there for monitoring because she is on oxygen, but thankfully isn't in an incubator at this point. I have been able to start pumping so my milk can start coming in and I've been able to hold her twice. She's so tiny and precious. I can't wait until we can take her home to meet her big sister Danika and get in some good snuggles :)

Sitting & more sitting

2009-12-01T08:14:00.002-06:00

So today I am stuck at home, after yesterday's doctor's appointment I have to do more testing and possibly will end up on early leave from work. Thankfully they have said I can work from home until the baby comes, which is fantastic because 3 months without pay is not something we can afford. We will barely be able to make it the 6 weeks after the baby, but we managed last time and will again. The worst thing about my having high blood pressure is that I don't even feel bad, I didn't last time either. The medication they gave me made me feel worse, hopefully there won't be any of that this time around. Hoping for the best and trying to enjoy my day off.

My attempt at getting organized....again

2009-11-08T17:27:00.002-06:00

I used to be a super organized person, but ever since having a child and that child becoming a toddler it is impossible to keep anything in order. I've decided that I'm going back to a cleaning schedule for the week, to be done AFTER she goes to bed. I did this once before and it worked out well, I just stopped doing it all of a sudden. We also need to start getting things ready for the new baby, especially getting Danika to sleep in her new room/toddler bed. So we need to get it decorated and start doing her old room in new stuff for the baby. We have 10 weeks to go, if things go as planned, but I'd really like to have the majority done by Christmas. Hopefully I can get Robert to help me out and we can stick to a cleaning schedule, it should be easier since I can't work from home in the evenings anymore.

Longest....day...ever....

2009-11-04T22:02:00.000-06:00

Today seemed to be one of the longest days ever. I know that gaining an hour in the day is good, except now it makes for a longer day and it gets dark way too early. When I finally made it to the daycare to get Danika it was almost completely dark. Once we finally got home it was time to turn around and go eat dinner, Robert had me craving Red Robin...which I unfortunately didn't get to finish my burger because a sneak little girl decided she want the last half. She normally doesn't eat any of my burger, but decided she wanted a bite and then she wanted to eat all of it. She didn't finish the whole thing, but after it being slobbered on and pushed around on the table by her I definitely wasn't finishing it. Now I'm starving and can't decide what I want to snack on. Ice cream sounds good, but definitely not something I need. Thinking maybe a glass of milk and few oreos should do the trick and I can pass out. Hoping the call from the doctor today isn't horrible news, but the worst it could be is that I have Gestational Diabetes, which won't be the end of the world, but definitely the end of my poor eating habits :p

Here we go again....

2009-10-02T12:25:00.000-05:00

....we just got back from the doctor's office and the munchkin has ANOTHER double ear infection, this is number 5 since January. We were just in there on Monday for a well check and everything was fine, except her small cough. She rarely runs a fever when she's sick, so when she woke up yesterday with a 102 degree temp & then again today at almost 101 I knew she must be really sick. Thankfully this new doctor's office got us in and out in less than an hour! Our old doctor would have us waiting for over an hour just to see us for maybe 5 minutes. Hopefully these come to an end soon or they decide she needs tubes in her ears.

Cravings....

2009-09-01T22:22:00.001-05:00

I haven't had as many "cravings" with this pregnancy, but my husband seems to be having them very frequently. At least 2-3 times per week I hear "I'm craving suchandsuch" and I know it's not just him wanting to eat whatever/wherever it is because sometimes it's things we don't eat on a normal basis. He's probably also gained more than I have during this pregnancy, as of my last appointment I hadn't gained any weight yet! I only gained 20 lbs with my first, so hopefully that's all I gain this time.

Guess it's time to update...

2009-08-14T22:25:00.000-05:00

I fully intended on keeping this blog up to date, but obviously I haven't. I barely even get on my laptop anymore. This pregnancy has made me so much more tired than the first one, probably because I'm busy wrangling a toddler all of the time now. Anyway, I'm almost 18 weeks along and things seem to be going great. As of my last appointment I hadn't gained any weight yet, lost a few pounds, but that's because I could barely eat. The site of food made me nauseous or if I was able to eat I was full after only a few bites. That has since changed, now I can't get enough to eat. So my appointment next week should show a gain. We also go for our sonogram next week. I'm so excited! We're really hoping for a boy, but if it's a girl we will be just as happy (and 98% prepared.) We're planning to move Danika into the bigger of the 2 rooms and get her a toddler bed now, so she can get used to it before the baby comes. She has been wonderful about going to bed ever since we got back from our trip to MN. She may fuss a little after you put her down, but mostly she talks to herself for about 10 minutes until she dozes off. We are slowly working on an earlier bedtime. I feel like she isn't getting all of the sleep she needs during the week, since she will sometimes sleep past 9 am on the weekends, so she's getting over 12 hours. During the week it's between 9 & 10 hours, which is not enough for her.

Hello.

2009-06-13T04:04:00.000-05:00

So I'm usually not good at keeping these things updated, but I figured I'd give it a shot. I'm not even sure who will read, but oh well. I guess it's a place to get some of the thoughts out of my head when needed...