Friday, November 30, 2012

I know, I know!!

I haven't blogged in we'll over a week but I have a valid excuse!! Our old Gateway desktop we bought back in 2005 died!! We're going out tonight to buy our first ever laptop computer!! Ooooo, finally entering 2012 :-)

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Thankful Days 14-20...I Suck

So if you haven't noticed around the 14th last week I stopped blogging.  Another funk.  I think it was a combination of my dad's birthday (which would have been the 12th), my parents wedding anniversary (which would have been the 15th), my period (which I realized my endometriosis is back and is horrible and I felt like I was dying), along with being sad that Josh and the girls wouldn't be coming to see me finish the half marathon (it's too hard to wake them both up at 4:30am and make them sit in the cold outside for hours and not run away).  Too many things all in one week.  Last Thursday and Friday night I was actually in bed before 9pm which is not like me.  I like to aim for 9:30-10:30pm time range for getting into bed but I'm sure that one night I was in bed and sleeping by like 8:30pm.

Funk.

Now I'm fine but not without Josh worried that I need to talk to "someone" or maybe get on some sort of medication which for me personally I am against.  I don't take medications and I don't like talking to "someone".  I've been researching Sam-E which is a natural alternative to medications for depression and anxiety since I will admit I have anxiety that gets pretty bad.  Because of my endometriosis I'm supposed to take birth control pills but I can't because that makes my anxiety/depression/craziness 100 times worse and I get ocular migraines from taking them.  They make me feel like I'm looking through broken glass, it happened  twice so I had to stop taking them.

So on top of researching Sam-E I'm looking for natural alternatives to treat my endometriosis (probably diet although I don't eat any red meat and that seems to be a big thing they don't want you eating).  I'm just so anti-medications because of all the years of watching my mom (and a few years watching my dad) take different things for depression and anxiety that I will never ever do it too.

I'm hoping for a nice, relaxing 4 day Thanksgiving weekend complete with an easy catered Thanksgiving dinner and a drive to see Josh's brother who is visiting this weekend.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Half Marathon!!

Yep so first off I suck at the whole 30 days of "Thankful" posts.....ummmm...I'll write more about that later!

Sunday I did my half marathon, it was my 3rd half marathon and my 1st one since having Annabel.

This course was actually the same one I did for my first time, my time was 2 hours and 47 minutes.

The second half marathon I did was 5 months after that (Annika was 16 months old) and I did it in 2 hours and 27 minutes.

Yesterday I ran the half marathon in 2 hours and 21 minutes!!!  I was so thrilled with my time!

I woke up at 4:30am to get ready.


Yes I am wearing a skirt. I've had two relatives on Facebook comment on me wearing a skirt.  I buy them from runningskirts.com.  I have two, this chevron one that I have on in the picture and a black and white hounds-tooth one.  They're pricey so I figured if I stuck with black and white prints that I could wear any shirt I want with them.  I like them because they don't ride up like shorts do and since it's so hot here it's better than wearing capris or those little short shorts.  I don't always feel comfortable wearing really short spandex-y shorts.  The skirt is perfect!

I got to St. Pete around 5am and sat in my car for about an hour.  I played on Facebook, ate a banana, filled up my Gatorade in my fuel belt packs and just tried to relax.  Around 6am I decided to go out toward the starting line so I could use the port-o-potty (which I hate using!!) because the lines are always super long for those.

After that I ate another banana, a Wasa toast with sunflower seed butter (I prefer it to peanut butter) and drank a few sips of Gatorade.  I ended up talking to two other girls that came alone to the race and we were freezing!!!  The race starts right on Tampa Bay and it felt like the winds were around 40 degrees and I had a skirt on!

At the starting line I said good-bye to the two girls I was talking to and met up with another girl who came alone and had a Garmin GPS watch like me. It was my first race with the watch and I was excited to keep track of my pace on my own.  I wanted to keep all my miles under 11 minutes in order to beat my previous time.

I felt extremely good the first 8 or so miles.  Around that time I saw my cousin who came out and I had no idea she was coming!

After that I realized that my shoes were a bit warn out and that I should have probably gotten new shoes months ago.  I would figure that $150 shoes would last me longer than 8 months but I've been running so much lately that the cushion by the ball of my feet was just gone.  I ended up with two HUGE blisters on the inside/bottom part of the balls of both my feet.  I also have the 3rd toe on each foot that had the toenails turn totally black.  Sooooo painful!  I ripped my shoes off my feet when I got home and I plan on going to a running store down the street to buy new shoes on Black Friday!

My cousin got a picture of me crossing the finish line!


I look so angry when I run!  The pictures the actual photographers on the course got of me are awful!!  I look like an angry bitch! 

Afterwards my cousin took me out to breakfast which was wonderful because I was starving!!  It was such good food too and I'm still so glad she came out to watch me :-)

Now a day later I'm trying to figure out what to do to my poor toes so that these nails don't hurt in shoes (the actual toe nails are raised because I have blood blisters underneath them, yeah...it's awful).  I've already soaked them in epsom salts like three times and some of the soreness is going away.

I was going to train for the half marathon here in Sarasota but it's going to be right around the time we close on our house and I don't want the stress of both things at the same time.  I'm considering the Rock N Roll half marathon which I think is in February and it's also in St. Pete.  We'll see what I'm feeling up for!!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Thankful Day 13

Today I am thankful that we canceled our cable.

I honestly can't remember when we canceled our cable.  I think it was back in May??  It was a $50 bill that we just didn't need to pay anymore.  Neither one of us were watching anything on TV between not being home and just plain not having the time to watch anything.  Annika only likes to watch certain shows (Curious George, Angelina Ballerina and Wonder Pets) and we couldn't even find TV channels with the shows she watches.  Instead I looked into streaming Netflix on our Blu Ray player and realized that we could just do that instead of wasting money on cable TV that sometimes we wouldn't want for 2 or 3 weeks at a time.

Plus it's nicer on the weekends to spend time together talking or playing instead of around the TV.  People spent way too much time hooked on TV shows.  So while most of my friends on Facebook have status updates about the latest episodes of their favorite TV shows I honestly don't even know what any of them are about.  And you know what?  I don't even care :-)

Monday, November 12, 2012

Thankful Day 12

Today I am thankful for the dad that I had.

Today would have been my dad's 59th birthday.  Just 2 years ago today he celebrated his last birthday, his 57th, in the ICU unaware of what the day was until I told him.

Me and dad at Disneyland when I was 4.

I believe I'm around 4 years old in this picture too, this is when we moved into our house, the same house my parents lived in before they died.

I'm around 3 years old in this one with dad because we're in the backyard of the duplex we lived in. 

Me as a newborn with dad.

Me around age 2 with dad.  We had professional pictures taken this day. 

Me and dad in front of his old vending truck.  He used to fill soda and candy machines.

On his 32nd birthday. 

At a local park going down a big slide!

Dad with Annika the day she was born.

Dad reading one of my old favorite books to Annika.

Since my mother never had a job my dad worked hard at his job when I was growing up.  We always had money for food, clothes and our nice, new house (my parents bought their house in 1987 and lived in it until they died).

My dad always made it a point to not to talk to me as a child but as an equal.  I never had many rules from him growing up yet I managed to never get myself into trouble.  There was an understanding between us that as long as there were few rules that I would be a respectable person and not do anything to get myself into trouble or embarrass my parents.  And guess what?  I rarely did anything bad.  I never did drugs and didn't drink alcohol until I was over 18.

My dad and I always had long talks about life and just random stuff.  He was thrilled when we found out we were having a girl because he said "I wouldn't know what to do with a boy, all I know are My Little Ponies and Barbies and ballet".  I am so sad that he isn't here to see his two little grand-girls.  I know he would have loved to have the two of them.

Dad had his hard times.  When I was in 8th grade he had to quit his job filling vending machines because of a slipped disk in his neck and needed surgery.  He didn't work for almost 6 months.  Afterwards he jumped around working as a handyman, as a maintenance man for a company that had rental houses and at Wal-Mart were he worked before he died.  He had issues with vehicles and couldn't afford his Jeep which I took over the payments for and kept as my own.  At times he had to walk to work because he didn't have a car.  I had to buy him a pick up truck once because I hated seeing him walk to work and a few times I had to have his car towed when it broke down.  I was there for him since he was there for me for so long.

Dad repaid me for everything though after he died even though I never expected it.  Without me knowing he had a 401K and life insurance set up which we received during the time Josh was laid off from work.  We were able to pay cash for a new car and move into the townhouse we live in now and thanks to that money were were able to pay off all our debt which meant we were able to afford even considering having another baby.  Without that money we'd still be living in our old 2 bedroom apartment probably with just Annika.

So today I am thankful for my dad even though he's gone.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Thankful Day 11

Today I am thankful for my job.

Sometimes I dread going to work.  Sometimes it's not so bad and sometimes I even like it.

I have worked for the same company for over 7 years now.  I started at the bottom of our department and I am now in a senior position.  The pay is great (more than I'd make anywhere else without a college degree) and the benefits are really great (dental, health, 401K that they match, 3 weeks vacation a year..).

I'm even saying I'm thankful for my job when I've just come off of a 6 day, almost 50 hour work week and I have another 6 day week this week.  Yep, OT is nice to have when you have bills to pay!

This job is also helping us to buy a house.  I have steady, reliable income.  You can't beat that.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Thankful Day 10

Today I am thankful for family.

Let me clarify, two people in my family mostly.  I sat back a few days ago and thought about Annika's birthday parties over the last 3 years.  Josh's sister's family came the first year but haven't been to any other parties.  No one else in Josh's family even RSVPs that they can't attend (which is a huge pet peeve of mine). But who has attended every single birthday party??  And who are Annika's (and soon to be Annabel's) favorite people?

My aunt.



And my cousin.



They have both been so good to the girls and even Josh says that these are his two favorite family members too.  So thankful for both of them! :-)

Friday, November 9, 2012

Thankful Day 9

Today I am thankful for a good pair of running shoes!  I'm going to go for a run this afternoon all by myself!  It's been a long week and this daylight savings change is really messing up my running schedule.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Thankful Day 8

Today I am thankful for my headphones to listen to Pandora radio while at work.

I like to wear them when my horny, middle aged, female coworkers start talking about "hot" guys they've seen lately.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

3 Years Old!

Time flies!

At 12:30pm 3 years ago Annika was forced into this world!



Stubborn girl didn't want to be born!  She was trying to exit via my left hip bone and was supposed to be around 12 pounds.  She was 9 pounds instead!

From the very beginning Annika was alert and extremely observant.


People we're friends with that don't have kids and don't usually like kids like Annika.  We've been told a few times that she's different.  She's like a little adult.

First birthday cake smash!



2nd birthday party dancing.


3rd birthday at her party!  Look, she's a little girl now!! (she was happy, just not with the camera)


We had a blast at Annika's 3rd birthday party.  We had it out on Sarasota Bay at the same location we've had her party for the past 3 years.  Year one a freak cold front came through that night before and it was around 50 degrees and super windy out!  Year two it wasn't as cold but the wind was so bad we had to leave.  Year 3, PERFECT!!  Not too hot, not too cold and NO WIND!

Our view!


We were surprised that two people actually brought Annabel presents.  I guess they didn't want her to feel left out.  I honestly don't think she would have noticed but she loves that she has two things that are her own.  Most of her toys, actually I think all but like 2 or 3 toys, are hand me downs from Annika and sometimes Annika likes to claim them as her own again.  This baby doll and stuffed dog belong 100% to Annabel!


Here is the birthday cake that I made and it turned out!  It's a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting with chocolate chips in between the layers.  The frosting is buttercream with M&Ms around it and ballerinas on top!  It turned out way better than I thought it would and everyone thought it tasted great.


Annika was not in the mood for pictures that day.  She just wanted to play on the playground and drink fruit punch.  Oh and eat cake and Cheetos.  I'm pretty sure that's all she ate while we were out there.


Here we are with some of the group opening presents.  Annika got a lot of art supplies, clothes, glow in the dark beads, pajamas, some ballet skirts and tutus and a few other things.  She was very polite while opening gifts and thanked everyone. (I'm always worried that she might be rude and say she doesn't like something but so far she's been great!)


We had a really great time and it was nice getting to spend time with all our friends, family and Annika's friends!


Thankful Day 7

Today I am thankful for the birthday girl, Annika!!!

Annika turns 3 today, separate post on her birthday to follow in a few hours!


I don't know what I would have done without Annika when my parents died or when my dad was in the hospital.  Annika lights up a room when she enters.  She knows how to console people when they're sad.  She knows how to make people laugh.  Annika is a performer.  She sings along to the radio in the car with me and dances in the house while I cook dinner.  When Annabel gets upset she tries to make her laugh or tickles her.  Sometimes she pets Annabel's head and says "its okay babys, it's okay".  Whenever she's seen me cry she comes to cuddle with me and asks "what's wrong".

I am just so thankful to have our crazy, loving, healthy daughter!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Thankful Day 6

Today I am thankful for our sweet, healthy, happy and very persistent baby Annabel.

I'm pretty sure Annabel will always be our baby.  Annika calls her baby, some of our family calls her "the baby".  She actually looks when you call her baby!  Poor girl :-)

Annabel wasn't in our original plans after Annika was born.  We had talked about waiting until Annika was 4 or 5 before we even thought or tried for a 2nd baby.  After my parents dying and me having to deal with everything on my own as an only child I told Josh that we really needed to have a sibling for Annika.  I never wanted her to deal with anything like what I had to deal with.

The timing was right for us anyway.  My doctor found pre-cancerous cells on my cervix (I always have abnormal paps) and wanted to do a LEEP but wouldn't do one until we had another baby because he was afraid of weakening my cervix since I've had a cone biopsy in the past.  He suggested we try to get pregnant within 4 months and he would repeat the pap smear and colopscopy and then discuss where we would go from there.

Luckily the last month possible we got pregnant with Annabel!  I had a repeat pap at my next visit, another around 16 weeks and another postpartum and they've all actually been normal.

This little girl was our Christmas gift born just 3 days before Christmas!


Our sweet Annabel Alicia (her middle name was my mom's first name).


She has wild hair!


She was my sweet little kitty for Halloween.


She's actually laughing here!


She's just so cute!



Monday, November 5, 2012

Thankful Day 5

Today I am thankful for gift receipts and people who actually give them to you!

Sounds silly but I'm always glad when someone gives Annika a gift with a gift recepit, especially if that gift makes noise!!

For Annika's birthday she got a Baby Alive doll and another doll that sang and played music.  I was pretty sure that the Baby Alive doll was going to attack and kill me in my sleep.  The other doll sang to us on the way home from the party and to Target where it was returned.  The cashier was even annoyed with it.

I am thankful that we have good friends that buy Annika birthday presents but I hate when toys make noise!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Thankful Day 4

Today I am thankful that I am healthy enough to go out and run!!

9 mile run on the schedule today, only 2 more weeks till my half marathon!!

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Thankful Day 3

Today I am thankful for new friends.


Me with Annabel, our neighbor's daughter with Annika and our neighbor.  They are currently with Josh at Annika's birthday party site helping him set up and keeping him company along with our neighbor's son and ex-husband.  We're so glad to have a friend that is willing to babysit the girls for us and hang out drinking some wine on the weekends :-)

Friday, November 2, 2012

Thankful Day 2

Today I am thankful that we can afford to go to the grocery store and buy all of the things that we need for our family.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Thankful Day 1

Every year I say I'm going to do it and every year I don't so here I go!!  30 posts in 30 days each having to do with one thing I'm thankful for.

Today I am thankful for bedtimes at 8pm and for two little girls who actually both fell asleep at 8pm!!

I missed what happened to Annika during ballet because I was on the phone with our soon to be mortgage company but she came home with a black eye!  She was crying in class when I glanced up but no one, including the teacher and helper saw what happened.  I'm not sure if it was an accident or if someone hit her. When I asked her what happened she says "I stepped on her foot and my eye was ouchie".  There are some rough girls in that class so it could have been on purpose or an accident, just not sure!

Then we got home and Annika was playing with a toy tractor.  Next thing I know Annabel is screaming and blood is coming out of her mouth!  Annika told me "I hit baby in head with tractor".  Uggghh.....she got here right where an upper front tooth should be and it's just a little gash.  So I took away the tractor and decided that Annika doesn't get any more Halloween candy because she's ended up with a black eye and Annabel has a hurt mouth all after she had two pieces of candy today.  It makes Annika a bit too wild and she's not used to eating so much sugar!