Liebster Bloggy questions

Here's some questions that my friend Chelsea posed in her blog: The Life We Love!

1. What is something you've always wanted to do but never have? Why not?
    Well, for the past 5 or so years I've always wanted to run for an elected office.  I have been involved in campaigns and follow politics with sick infatuation.  I haven't done this yet because I'm pretty young still and not quite established in a more permanant community.  Once we put our roots somewhere, I'll consider starting out on school boards or working for a city council person to see what's up.

2. Fill in the blanks. People sometimes think I'm ___ but really, I'm ___.
    Well, that's a toughie...but I was told when I first met some of Josh's (hubby) friends they thought I was snobby before actually talking to me.  So that was strange. Snobby to me is a rich, stuck up, full of themselves person with no sense of humor, so I think I'm opposite of that.  Also, I know what it's like to feel left out, so I try to include people in conversations and activities...and I don't think a snobby person cares about other's feelings.

3. What are your favorite kinds of gifts to receive?
    I can think of a few gifts that really made me smile, ones that I didn't put on a list or ask for.  My mom once made a calendar for me of my dog Shelby.  Each month's picture matched the season or holiday.  I think the thoughtfulness and creativity really made me happy.  Plus I'm obsessed with Shelby dog.
   
4. What is something someone has done for you that really touched you?
    I had many many friends and aquaintences come by and help me when I was chest deep in PPD after Claire was born.  It was amazing and helpful and I couldn't have gotten through the fog of those 3 months without them. Most of them had new babies of their own, but the level of compassion they had for my situation was unfathomable, and I hope to one day pay it forward to other new moms who feel as I did.

5. What are three things you really like about yourself?
   I like making others laugh and being silly.  I got this from my Dad.  He's so ridiculously goofy and knows it!  It's infectious. Ne'ry a dull moment.... oh 3! Hmm...I like my eyes.  I like that I don't procrastinate.

6. If you have kids, what are three attributes you hope to instill in them?
    I hope Claire (and future babies) has high self esteem, a giving nature, and a love for Jesus.

7. What is something you struggle with?
    I still struggle with the fact that I've been staying at home, not earning money.  It's such a huge change after you've been working for over 10 years in the real world.  Being home, *trying* to be domestic when you really aren't very domestic is very very hard.  I'm happy that I've had the chance to though, and Claire bear is a joy.

8. What are you really good at?
    I'm pretty good at finding bargains and deals, like on electronics, toys, furniture....  Not couponing or anything, but I'm really good at researching items before I buy and finding the place with the best bang for your buck.

9. What do you wish you could be better at?
     MEAL PLANNING. COOKING.  KITCHEN KNOWLEDGE.  I SUCK at COOKING!!

10. Tell a funny joke.
Obama won a 2nd term. .... . . ... . oh wait

11. How many hours do you sleep per night, on average?
     Probably 6hrs average.

Technology Fail - FWP

So, do any of y'all (the 5 people that read this) have cell phone who turns voicemails into text?  My Sprint phone, a Samsung Galaxy S2 gave me a free trial of this supposed mind-blowing advanced technology.

Let me demonstrate the fail that is Sprint's Voice to Text.  A recent voicemail from Chelsea Sal.

Here is the text I recieved:

"...hey I was calling the...if you do you any event flash else bye bye do early or whatever well there's just 1 on mary jane. j.a.n.e. that I just like started subscribing to hey I need here so I need to check it out like they had the you did you girls calling."

So, I thought, either she's wasted on a weekday at 1:30pm... or this new phone feature is ridic.   Here is what her voicemail said when I listened to it...

"Hey I was calling to see if you do any of those flash sales sites like Zulily or whatever. Well there's this one called Very Jane, j.a.n.e., that I just started subscribing to and you seriously need to check it out. They have the cutest cutest girl's clothes."

Exhibit B:  My dad's voicemail.  Sprint tries to make head or tails of what he says

" ...I hope it went well with the little baby burger, little baby, the baby burger. Ok I'll talk to you later boo boo, byebye." - actual voicemail

Sprint interpretation, the computer thought, he couldn't possibly be saying baby burger, that's just crazy:

"hope it went well and a little baby mover, healing baby,  baby okay, I'll talk to you later, byebye"

Exhibit C:  A voicemail from Karen C.  The cuss word!  Part of the text I recieved:

"...I don't know if you're to certain shop you wanted @#$% head up for any if you wanna get the points that I I cannot find on"

Apparently the app thought Karen was cursing at me LOL!!  I laughed so hard, this technology is SO STUPID and I can't turn it off.  HEY SPRINT, HEY SAMSUNG.... get back to work!!! Fail. fail fail.

What Karen actually said:

"I don't know if there's a certain shop you wanted to hit up, or if you wanted to go to the pool instead I totally understand."

Bear Cave pt2

Her bear cave, she hides toys in it and goes back and forth in it! So freaking cute.  Perfect for a crawler who loves to find small spots to hide.

A Blessed Weekend!

We were in San Antonio last weekend for Claire's baptism!

 

Here's Lisa and I decorating the cake, my mom took on this project instead of buying, it was so worth it and so much fun to do!

The flowers were royal icing, leaves were gum paste and I did the lettering.

Here is the cake we saw online and tried to do.  Of course I had to change the color scheme to Claire Purple. 

 

Claire was impressed!

Sunday at Coker Methodist Church!  My little family.

Waiting in the quiet room.

Her big moment with Pastor Susan!

 Saying hi to her new Christian family! She did great! No crying, but not too much smiling either, til they gave her a teddy bear from the church.

 Josh's side.

 My side.

We had fajitas at my parent's house afterwards and she got lots of thoughtful gifts, like books, prayer signs for her room, and a James Avery charm bracelet with charms to start her collection! 

 

Claire, ready for some cake!  Haha.

 Lisa took a lot of great pics for me. So glad her and Kendra game, Clifton and Adam too.

Love thisAngel Baby

 She's her Daddy's girl, though.... Mmm beer!

We're very blessed to have her and our family support.  It was a great weekend!

NonBaby Related

Time for a ME topic.  An UN-fun one. But looking for answers.

Ever since High School I have had terrible stomach issues.  My friends thought I was bulimic because I'd rush off to the bathroom in the restaurants after every meal.  Well...it's like 15 years later and I'm STILL doing it.  Irritable Bowel Syndrome as it's called (IBS).

I've tried it all... gluten free diet, no dairy, medications...nothing seems to work but simply NOT eating anything from a restaurant or anything heavy.  OH and don't be stressed. Those are the triggers.

For heaven's sake, I missed nearly ALL of my friend Liz's wedding because I was so SICK from all her delicious food.  But how can I not eat out?? Josh says if we have girl's night out, to eat before then just have a few drinks and hang out with them.  I get his point, but eating out with friends is fun to me and I NEVER get to do it anymore, or have date night for that matter.  But he's right, I spend so many fun nights out tearing up in the bathroom in cramps, pain, and uuughhhhhh.  It happens RIGHT away.

Especially after having a baby, my stomach is even MORE not used to eating out, so when we do, I end up sick everytime, then Josh is mad that we waste money going out to eat.

I don't have an answer, I've had 2 endoscopies and 1 colonoscopy, nothing.  I know that it's very much stress induced as well, but I am really sick and tired of this digestive track.  I hate it. I hate IBS.  My friend Melissa is going to look into stomach transplants.

This post was set off by spending 3 hours last night sick after Josh brought home some food from his work dinner, my favorite place, Taste of Texas.

I guess turkey sandwiches at home are going to be my life now, and that just makes me depressed.  At least we'll save money.

Ok rant over.

Baby Antics

It's kinda hard to figure out things to keep baby busy and engaged until the next nap.  I love going to Baby Boot Camp class every morning, but that's over at 10:30.... Josh gets home at 6:15.  That's a lot of baby time!

TuTu Day at Baby Boot Camp

Sometimes we go to the store, the Children's Museum, or play dates at other mom's houses, but those are usually once a week type things.  Normally I have to figure out what the heck to do around the house when I'm not feeding/diapering, and she's not into watching video/tv yet, believe me I've tried.

Baby workout/crawling:

Reading and playing:

New game:  What's in that bowl?

  This worked for only 15 minutes. 

Other game, run around the house grabbing diapers and chasing Shelby dog.  What a sneak! That is probably like 30 minutes. It's so funny that she throws them everywhere, then looks so guilty.

Did I do thhhaaaaat?

I do love being with Claire all day, but it's really hard. I've had the itch to earn money again.  Josh shot down my dog walking idea last night.  Rude. 

Run Shelby!

Then my friend Shannon said that her company will be hiring in a few months... it's really temping to go back to pharma sales.  It's so hard to know what to do and if it'd be worth it, money wise and time away from her. MEH.

But I feel kinda silly sometimes... still paying those student loans and not even working. It sucks, wish those payments would disappear. Ha. Hey Obama get on that.

It's just been weighing on my mind.  When or If I will go back to work.  What I will do.  Full time/part time?  I wish I could find something worthwhile to do from home..not a pyramid scam, a legit job.

But anyways, love when my parents, Grammie and Papa come to visit!

And in case you would like to help little Claire be the Gerber baby, voting will start Sept 4th! 

She's under "Sitters"  even though she's a crawler, she wasn't quite crawling when I entered her. ooooops!

Here's some videos of her new skillz.

Clapping
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tUY5ZEHGXM&feature=plcp
Waving
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWhIyTnhs7M&feature=plcp

It's already August, crazy!  Hope you had a great July!

Red , White and Baby!

The 4th of July was funny because it was in middle of the week, but I love it like that!  I got to have Josh home on a Wednesday and it broke the week up, yay!

We had a fun little pool day at my friend Karen's.  She lives in a highrise downtown, so the pool is on top of the building, and you're surrounded by the skyscrapers, very cool view.

Reading is reading!  And it says "Baby Time" on the cover.

She really does like Mel

After pool we came home to cook out and snap some festive photos!

 I swear she's getting thinner just from all the walking and rolling she's been doing lately.  Those arm rolls are getting smaller...noooo!!  But to make up for it, her hair is getting bigger.

 Her 7 month photo shoot was harder than all the others, she would NOT smile big.  Usually I can get her to do it, but man she's making me work hard these days.  She's a little person now.

I will chunk this in your face!

   There's your smile, hehe, that's all u get.

Claire is eating all sorts of things, rolling, rocking on all fours, even kicking in the pool (fake swimming).  I think in a month or so she may be crawling, how crazy!!

She has no teeth yet and is an estimated 21.5lbs.  There's no check up til 9 months, so I guess we'll be surprised then by her height!

I really may have to consider a haircut soon LOL no lie!  It's all crazy and I love it.  I'll probably just scrunch it with water, it's SO LONG now, all the babies want to pull it.

It's been a great week and I'm looking forward to more fun things this weekend!

Baby free vacay

Josh wears sunglasses on vacation. What what.

Off we went with out the baby to Fredericksberg, TX!  We went last year too...lots of fun.

Wineries!

It was so hard leaving baby Claire at Grammies, but we sucked it up and followed this truck around...

Ha Ha.  But seriously, there's a secret Shiner in a lot of these pics.

Went hiking at Shreiner State Park in Kerrville

Purple flowers!  Reminded me of my beeebeee

Cooled off in the Guadelupe River

 Get away!

Went to have a nice dinner at Alamo Springs Cafe on a cliff...

 Great views!  The place was closed on Tuesdays.  Whomp whomp.

 This was actually a little BAT sanctuary.  People come to watch the bats come out to feed...eek!

Bat Man!

Our Bed and Breakfast porch... it was called Queen Anne - Aspen room.

I liked last year's place better, the food was better and we had a private cottage as opposed to a wing of a house.  We could hear them cooking, so less sleeping in! The jacuzzi tub and robes were my fave.

After our 3 days of adult fun we couldn't wait to see our little bear back in San Antonio!

"OHi, miss me?"

My friend Janine brought Brooklyn to visit.  I love that she's a big girl too.  One month younger than Claire, and so cute!

My mom busted out this little gem of me at 6 months.  Claire thought she was looking at a mirror...well, a skinny mirror.

Claire is like 20lbs and my baby book said I hit 20 at 15 months.  Ooopsy!  Little bear loves her solids what can I say!?

I was SO happy to have Josh for a whole week!  Now back to the real world.