April 18-24

The majority of the week was mostly uneventful. Fortunately, Todd had Good Friday off from work, so he and Aubrey came to visit me at work. Its nice to have a break from the mundane world of my job. Even though I go out to eat every Friday as a way of treating myself, it just seemed a lot more fun to have my family with me.

Along with stalking the video monitor to keep an eye on the now free to roam toddler in her new bed, Todd and I got back into our movie and pizza routine after several months of not watching any movies and that was nice. Its kind of hard for us to go out on real dates so that's our way of getting a date while at home. Saturday was really a bum around the house day. Our only venture out was to Target for a few groceries and that was fine by me. We spent the afternoon playing outside and enjoying the return of the gorgeous weather.

Sunday brought the Easter bunny's visit. Aubrey was so excited to see her basket. She was even more excited when she opened the eggs to see some marshmallows. She tried to cram as many in her mouth as she possibly could. I even let her try some M&M's, which she absolutely loved. We went to eat dinner with Todd's parents and they bought her a few Easter presents as well, including a hilarious set of toddler golf clubs. They also did a little Easter egg hunt with them, which she loved. She also let us take a few more pictures in her dress that I was a little bit happier with than last week's, so I'll consider them a success.

I didn't do as well with running last week. The motivation has just not been there, but I did force 2 runs. However, I did accomplish a few more tasks towards reaching my New Year's Resolutions. I finished 2 more books over the weekend (Something Borrowed and Something Blue, both by Emily Giffin. Great chick lit). That made up for 0 reading in March. I also cooked 2 new recipes, including lasagna in a bun and fried pork chops with homemade gravy. I was darn proud of myself for making that gravy because I've never been able to make good gravy before and this was good stuff. So all in all, not a bad week but I am hoping this week brings more energy and more motivation to get stuff done.

She loves playing in the mulch and making us "birthday cakes"

Her mouth was full of marshmallows.

Big girl bed

Another milestone that proves my baby girl really isn't a baby anymore. She's been scaring me for the past couple months by throwing her leg over the edge of her crib and I knew it was just a matter of time before she figured out she could get out. I finally had to get over my sadness and fear and convert her bed to the toddler bed. Todd and I took care of the conversion and then I spent 30 minutes clearing out all potential for climbing (bookcase, ottoman, nightstand). It looks so bare in her room but once she shows she is good with the bed, we'll but the stuff back in. I'm glad we bought a convertible crib so when it was time to change, it still sort of looked like her crib. She wasn't quite sure what to think at first, but she quickly realized she could get in and out by herself and she was sold. We read our stories while she sat in the bed and then spent a few minutes convincing her to stay in the bed. Finally, I decided I just needed to leave and let her be. She got down once to get Mickey and Minnie off the floor, but then immediately got right back in. She did her usual talking/singing for 20-ish minutes and then fell asleep. I kept checking the video monitor and she didn't move an inch. I heard her moving around about 7:00 AM today and took a quick look and she was still in the bed, so we'll consider it a successful first night. I've heard the first few nights can be easy until they learn they can play at night, so we won't consider task accomplished for a while.

Her big girl bed

She loved it

All ready for bed

In a funk

For the past month or so, I have just been in a funk. I am not sure of any real reason, but I just feel blah. Nothing is really seeming to make me happy and I just stay annoyed. The first place I can usually tell a change in my mood is with food and it is pretty obvious. I was doing so well with eating right and running in March. While I am still running, the eating is not great. I can make it work Monday through Thursday, but Friday through Saturday has been awful. Fried food, pizza, and sweets just call my name. I fully understand I am using bad food to comfort myself and as usual, its not working.

My next blah feeling is with our house, or more specifically my neighborhood. I am so frustrated that it is being overtaken with rentals and foreclosures. The house next to us in on its 3rd set of renters since we've lived there. The newest family now has smokers that come over and it blows into our backyard, making sitting on the porch hazardous to our health. They are also unaware of how thin the walls are in subdivisions and they play their music so loud. And they come in all hours of the night blaring music and slamming doors. So, they are not too high on our happy list. We also are annoyed the house across the street was foreclosed on and now it is being sold for dirt cheap. The property values are declining so it makes our idea of only being in our house for 5 years only a dream. We cannot afford to sell our house and take a big hit, so we are stuck in a neighborhood filled with people who don't care about their homes and it shows in how unkept the houses are. So, we are now looking at least 2-3 more years minimum before we can hope to move. Until then, we are wanting to do some work to the inside and porch so hopefully when the time comes, we can at least break even. But, our funds are pretty limited so trying to do the things we want to do is tough.

I'm also in a photography funk right now. I thought I was making progress with it until the spring and I started doing more outside. I really feel like I have started all over again because my exposure is all over the place. I realize the lighting is different, but I thought I had a good handle on exposure until now. I'm also in a rut with finding new pictures to take. I love taking pictures of Aubrey, but there are only so many pictures of her on her bike or building block towers that are interesting. So, I find myself taking less pictures of her and that makes me sad. Even when I tried to do Easter pictures over the weekend, they were a big fat fail. Not only was she not cooperative, I just didn't get great pictures to work with. I took over 150 pictures and only 3 were slightly appealing to me and that is sad. I am so hard on myself with pictures because I see all of the technical problems with them so it is hard for me to accept any praise for them. I will admit, the pictures today are better than even a year ago, but not where I want to be and that frustrates me. I keep comparing my pictures to others and beating myself up because they aren't as good and that just keeps me in the funk.

I stay frustrated with Aubrey's daycare and I have no solutions for it, which makes me feel hopeless. The director and assistance director are not helpful and at times appear completely incompetent to run a day care. The teachers are rude and can't follow directions. Aubrey continues to come home nasty with food and wearing diapers that aren't hers. They bounce the kids from room to room because they don't have enough 2-year olds to fill the classrooms and so we never know which classroom or which teacher we will see at the end of the day. They don't communicate with us about anything and we are pretty sure they have given up on potty training her. The kids in Aubrey's class are just mean, including one little girl I'd love to spank just about everyday. She bit Aubrey on the arm hard enough to leave a nasty bruise because Aubrey wouldn't give up a bike. If this little girl wants something you have, she has no problems hitting, biting, or other mean gesture of expressing her dislike of you. And, it is well documented about her bad behaviors but yet she is still in the center. None of the teachers even like her (overheard that straight from a staff) and it doesn't appear the other kids like her too much. But, like I said, we don't really have any other options for daycares at this point that works into our schedules and funds. So, we just keep dealing with the daily crap and can't wait for the time I can stay home and not have to deal with it.

Wow, I didn't realize this would become a mini novel when I sat down to type. I just needed a good venting session so I think I got it all out. Hopefully, I can find something to end the funk soon because this feeling blah is getting really old.

April 11-17

All in all, it was a good week. Despite a few days of yucky weather and some sleepless nights from Aubrey waking up in the middle of the night, things were pretty good.

I got my 3 runs in and even matched my fastest 5k time of 34:02. I think I am going to be in ok shape for my race on 4.30 but we'll see. I'm trying to keep that pace up for the next 2 weeks in hopes that on race day, adrenaline will help me go a bit faster so I can hit a new personal record. Its tough for me, especially on those really tired nights, but I am motivated to do better at the race this year than last and that keeps me going.

I realized I hadn't cooked any new recipes in a while, so I actually read some of the recipe suggestion e-mails I got last week and printed off 3 new recipes to try. We've gotten back into a food rut, so hopefully we'll crawl back out this week.

We spent the weekend hanging out as a family. We took Aubrey to the mall play area on Saturday and she had a blast. I, on the other hand, did not. I get so mad at the parents who let their too old or too big kids run around and terrorize the little kids and don't say anything to the kids. This one particular charmer of a kid kept running up the slide every time Aubrey tried to slide down and wouldn't even say excuse me as he did it. Finally, I stepped in and told him he needed to share with the other kids. He gave me this blank look like I spoke Chinese and proceeded to keep on being a brat. I hope I can teach Aubrey to act better than that so some other toddler mom doesn't have to do my job for me. We also too Aubrey to the park with our community group Sunday night and we all enjoyed that. It was so nice outside and the playground was designed more for toddles so Aubrey could do more independently than she can on our neighborhood playground. She pitched a fit when it was time to go and she kept asking to slide as we left. We will definitely be going back to that park more this spring and summer.

We also attempted Aubrey's Easter pictures this weekend. But, she decided to show her 2-year old attitude and be pretty non-cooperative, so I am not too thrilled with any of them. Hopefully, we can try again next weekend and see if Ms. Sunshine will come to visit or Ms. Stormy decides to play instead.

Editing to add my pics now that SmugMug is back up.

Aubrey has become obsessed with brushing her teeth. I can't complain too much about it, but it is annoying when we are trying to leave in the morning and she won't quit brushing her teeth.

Full on 2-year old attitude here.

A little more cooperative.

Not the greatest picture, but I love the hat and this was the best of the hat I could get.

But, I hope everyone has a good week!

April 4-10

I think our whole family had a much better week this week. Todd and I have kicked into spring mode, which means more energy for both of us and lots of house work. Todd spent a lot of time outside over the weekend working on the yard and then we started spring cleaning inside. It's sad that we've been in our house 4 years and never washed the windows. So, he started on that while I went on a junk purge upstairs. We have so much unnecessary stuff in our house, especially in our upstairs and garage and its driving me insane. Hopefully, we can spend the next few weeks purging out the junk just in time to start painting and moving furniture upstairs.

With the beautiful weather came my running motivation. I managed to get 4 runs in plus a family walk on Friday. I've already dropped 2 minutes off my 5k time in the past few months, but I'd really like drop 2 more. I also signed up for my first 5k of the season on April 30th so I have 3 weeks to prepare for it. I am sad that I will be running this race by myself because I usually always run with Todd. But, he will be out of town, so I am on my own. But, fees are paid and there is no backing out now. Plus, I bought a new pair of shoes that are begging me to get out and break them in.

We also got Aubrey outside to enjoy the warm weather over the weekend. We went to visit Todd's parents on Sunday and took her walking around their neighborhood. Despite the fact they live in the city limits of Mooresville, there happens to be an assortment of interesting animals near their house for Aubrey to check out. The live behind a farm that has several goats and a few horses and Aubrey loved to stare at the goats. I don't think she had ever seen one before so she was fascinated. Then, their next door neighbors keep chickens in their backyard for eggs so we went over to check them out. Aubrey wasn't sure what to think about them flocking around her at first, but once she figured out she could help feed them, she was obsessed. She was none too happy when it was time to go home to eat so I am sure we will be checking out the animals more over the next few months.

How she entertained herself why we cleaned. I called her name so I could take a picture and this is her mid-"HUH." I hate that word, but the face was too cute.

Checking out the chickens with Todd.

Playing outside at Todd's parents. More pictures with these lovely flowers next weekend.

March 28-April 3

Another week gone. And I am glad this one is over. The weather was crummy most of the week and that just made things drag. I only got 2 runs squeezed in because of the crappy cold weather. Todd and I took a few days to recover from our sickness, so the weather fit our mood perfectly. To add to the dreariness, Aubrey has had a rash on her bottom for a month that is not making anyone too happy. She's been a pretty healthy child so we rarely go to her doctor for anything, but after a month of dealing with the stubborn thing, it was time to pay of a visit to the doctor. Her doctor is not sure if the rash is yeast infection from her antibiotic in January or if its a staph infection. So, we started the with nystatin cream for yeast infection first and it seemed to only get worse. So, now we are doing the nystatin along with another round of antibiotics for a possible staph infection. We are also feeding her lots of yogurt, filling her up with probiotics, and cleaning like crazy. I've heard staph infections can be hard to get rid of so we are doing everything possible to get rid of it. I missed work on Wednesday to take her to the doctor, but I made up for it by working some extra time on Saturday. Our weekends are so precious to us because that's the only time we really get to spend more than an hour with Aubrey, so working on a Saturday was not a happy choice. But, we were given the opportunity to make some extra cash, so off I went to bring it home. The week ended on a much better note, though. Todd's Masonic lodge had a fish fry Saturday night and so Aubrey and I met Todd's parents and my dad at the lodge for some yummy fish. Today was spent catching up on chores and playing outside and then we went to eat dinner with my sister for her birthday. So, a much better ending to a crappy week.

Aubrey posing for me. 

She kept turning around to make sure I was watching her ride her bike.

Aubrey and the birthday girl.

My sister and I posing for a rare picture.