Some great news after a bad day

Today I am at 17 weeks!  I am so excited we get to find out if the little nugget is a boy or a girl in just 3 weeks!  We are pretty set on the name Ella Ann for a girl, still have no idea about a name for a boy yet though. 


I have been working at the day care still filling in where necessary this past week and am still having a blast with that.  I am certainly learning how I can best prepare my child for school, sharing and being a friend! Obviously, I'm also seeing things I don't want to do.  It's amazing how life at home so drastically affects the development of children.  Also, I have decided I despise the word "mine".  Of course I am trying to think of how I can not allow that word into the little ones vocabulary... Maybe that's drastic.


Yesterday I unexpectedly have to make a visit to my doctor for an awful sinus infection and luckily I am feeling better today. It hit me really fast and came on near the end of my day at the day care.  My doctor was nice enough to be able to squeeze me in instead of me having to go to urgent care.  The prescription helped almost immediately.  I do need to try one of those nasal rinse things, at least that's what my mom says! 


This morning before running some errands with Jonny I spoke with a lady who informed me the job I interviewed for earlier this week I was hired for!  I start Monday!  I am excited to have the opportunity to work with such a fun, growing company.  I'm sure I will have more details on the good news next week.  It is a home based position, which will be great for saving money on gas and hopefully that means I can continue after the baby comes.


Tonight we are going to a wedding shower for a couple in Greeley, can't say I love that town, but it's important to support your friends.  :) I hope my allergies keep quite so we can enjoy ourselves for a while!  Time to take a nap so I don't look sick when we see everyone.

Just another day, but not really

Despite the up's and down's we have had over the past couple months today was a good, no, great day.  I think (or hope rather) that I may have solved the single biggest threat to the happiness in this house - sloppiness!  Nikki, Jonny and I sat down this morning to talk about chores and helping one another in the house.  We created a list of weekly chores and daily reminders to help us all stay on track.  I laminated the sheet and we can check things off as we do them.  Before May arrived, don't ask why May was such an evil month, just know that it was, we did all of our household chores on Sunday's.  So we're going back to that.  Anything that doesn't get checked off during the week will be completed Sunday as a team.  Sounds fair right!?  Let's hope (or pray) that it works and Kelly can try to be less obsessed with cleaning.

This week I have been filling in at a daycare in town.  My first two days I felt scared and out of place.  Never did I think 2-3 year olds could do that to me.   Now that I'm not "uh, whats your name?" I feel like we've bonded.  Today I spent most of my time reading to whoever threw a book at me.  I had NO IDEA children that young could sit for that long.  Maybe I am just the most excellent Ms. Kelly, story teller extraordinare. Doubtful, but my ego could use the boost (I am getting fat and all).  I have come to love each of their distinct little personalities.  I could certainly do without the screaming though.  It's been such a blessing in disguise because here I am; 26, with a college education and kids - TWO YEAR OLDS - are teaching me!  We talk about how things make us feel if someone has been mean or taken our toy and we talk out our problems.  I must admit, it was caught off guard the first time a kid came up to me on the playground to tell me "Olivia hurt my feelings because she said she didn't want me to play with her."  How do you tell a child with tears in her eyes that while that really stinks Olivia wasn't considerate of her feelings, that's only going to get worse as she grows up.  Can you ever prepare a child for the rudeness of their peers?  I am scared now for my gummy bear.  I come home and enthusiastically tell my stories to my still half asleep husband, who bless his heart tries to act interested.  I don't blame him.  For one, he leaves for work in less than an hour.  He also can't comprehend the progress we have made in just 16 short hours.  Today above all though I was elated.  We celebrated a birthday of one of my favorites in the class.  This little guy is adorable.  Awfully shy, so when he talks you just end up laughing because you forget he can do it.  We sat on a retaining wall and flew an imaginary airplane, I had the main controls though - none of them have their drivers license.  I saw a shy little boy go from tears to smiles in seconds when he saw the size of the "cut" on my knee.  Why do kids always think it's funny when someone else gets hurt?  I came home today wishing I chose a career in child care/ human development.  To think of all the things I have been missing out on all this time!

I also finally got my life organized with my Kappa group.  We have made and will continue to make some real progress with the women who are involved.  I am glad to have the opportunity to work along side them.  It is very interesting to know how many diverse backgrounds there are and we're all united by one thing: Kappa.  Since I am no longer working in Greeley, I think I am going to devote time to a house or advisory board position.  I hope I don't regret that!  I would really love the chance to connect with some more ladies in the area and hope that our association continues down this path to enable that to happen.

Tomorrow I will be at 15 weeks into this pregnancy.  At times it seems like I just found out and others it's feels like I have been waiting forever.  My mom has already organized a baby shower for me back in Chicago!  I am thrilled about going back to catch up with some old friends I haven't seen in a while.  I also need to get my fix of Edward's Apple Orchard and Portillo's.  Can you tell I'm pregnant?! 

That's going to have to do it for me today.  My fingers are tired and my eyes are heavy, those kids sure can wear you out!  

Much love to all.

Back at this...

I guess it would only make sense to give you a chance to catch up on our lives.


We are expecting an addition to our family around February 3rd!  We are going to be those people who need to know the sex, so expect that news in about 7 weeks.  Yes, it was a surprise, but we are delighted!  Just still trying to wrap our heads around all of it.  Luckily we get some time!  


I am no longer working in Greeley for the IT company.  It was time for a change, unfortunately, that means I'm not doing much of anything right now.  Jonny is working nights on a Target remodel,   which means we don't see much of each other.  (Might be better for his sanity.)  


Summer seems to be going by rather quickly and I don't particularly mind!  The news of the NFL lockout finally being over made my week and it got me dreaming about fall.  I am already in love with just the thought of the cooler temps, chili and changing leaves.  It's obviously my favorite season given the time of year Halloween falls.  This got me wondering about how big my belly is going to be at the end of October, I think I might need to wait to plan my costume!


I am also embarking on a new adventure to create a cookbook.  I am going for something eclectic.  I guess I got the idea thinking about all the history to our family recipes.  I am always asking people for theirs and adding to my collection, so I figured why not include all the people I am close to!? We shall see how this goes...


I think thats about it for now.  Will try to be better at this.

Busy, busy!

WORK

On Monday I become a working woman! And thank God! I will be working for an IT company in Greeley as a client representative. I'm looking forward to working with a new group of people and learning ALL about the IT world...

WEDDING

I [finally] set up the room block and on Sunday we're meeting with a florist and officiant! Can't wait to get this all taken care and maybe start to enjoy it!!!

WINTER

Needs to be over. I'm so cold and feel like I should be hibernating!

♥

Post Holiday Happiness

Wow! So much going on!!

HOUSE

We got the house we put the offer in on with the huge backyard. And it's finished to a point where we can finally take a break and relax at the end of the day. The kitchen cabinets are in, the new appliances have been used, new carpet installed and all 3 bedrooms have been occupied! I have photos of the progress posted here:

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2019361009/a=49056585_49056585/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

We had Christmas dinner here with both of our families and it was a blast! We started a new "tradition" of a family ugly Christmas sweater portrait.

ALUMNI

I graduated December 19th and my family came from Chicago to witness it. Since my mom and dad had to work, Nikki and Mike stayed here during the week and we went snowboarding at Copper. It was fun to have them here! Nikki is now a Colorado resident and is staying with us while she goes to school at CSU.

WEDDING

Now that I am done with school I am going full steam ahead on wedding plans and finding a job. We have so much to do but can't wait for everyone to get together and celebrate!

More to come soon...

♥

Swetsville Zoo anyone?

HOUSE

So...  We put an offer in on yet another house...  Looks like everything is going to work out just fine this time.  (Still keeping my fingers crossed.)  Nothing major on the inspection!  It has 3 bedrooms, 1 and 3/4 baths, fireplaces in the family room and living room, 2 car garage and a large and well maintained yard.  So exciting.  Only problem is EVERYTHING is pink and blue.  So weird.  But nothing a little paint can't fix.  I would have taken photos, but the sweet little lady that lives there has been collecting "prized possessions" since 1969...  It's better for all of us to not see that.

JOB

Still jobless, filled out more applications and sent more resumes this week than I know what to do with.  I lost track!  I applied for a couple on campus, which would be nice because I could go straight from class to work in like 10 minutes.  Ugh... Too much going on at once.

RANDOM

On a totally random note, there is this really cool metal sculpture "zoo" down the road, called Swetsville Zoo..  This man just welds all these little creatures together and you can walk around his property and read stories about them.  For a small donation this ended up being more fun than I thought.  Also, all the little kids there seemed to LOVE it!

♥

It's Monday, but I'm not at work

SIGN OF THE TIMES

I guess it's a sign of the times that more companies are closing and more people are getting laid off, so it would be fitting that I was laid off last week.  My boss came from Florida to close us down without any warning.  It was interesting to say the least.  Now I am looking for part time work that will hopefully get me through the school year.  I was thinking a shoe store, but I may NEVER get a paycheck.  We'll see what happens. 

SCHOOL

School starts the 24th.  My last semester as an undergrad at CSU, holy cow!  I can't wait for that and my internship.  For my internship I will be doing 10-15 hours a week at Odell Brewing.  They are adding on to the building because they are brewing at capacity.  It's exciting to be joining such fun and hardworking team.  And, they're doing well! 

Levity - best beer made in town!

MIKE

My brother was recently in a skateboarding accident and hurt his head awfully bad. No football or any other crazy stuff for a LONG time.  We are still saying prayers that he makes a full recovery.  So Jonny and I are trying to make it back to see him and Nikki (yes Nikki, we'll bring the dogs!) before school starts.

TOUR DE FAT

Still trying to figure out what to do as far as costumes.  Hilary and JW should be coming!  Getting ready for the excitement!  Hopefully we have a house by then so we don't have to ride bikes from Timnath...

♥