Apparently it's Wordless Wednesday

THEN

NOW

Weekend Getaway

This weekend was amazing! Trav, Bryanna and myself went up to Richmond, MN to his dad's cabin. It was extremely fun and deserved, that's for sure! We got up there on Saturday about 1:00P or so I was very exhausted and it was Bryanna's nap time soooo we both took a nap :) Travis mowed the lawn while we were snoozing. Both of us woke up refreshed and ready for the festivities. It was River Lake Days so we hit the parade at 7:00P. Bryanna loved it. And so did us adults. After the parade was finished we mozied on over to the little carnival they had. Ate some food. Walked around. Listened to the live music and got ready for the fireworks. Fireworks were not the best, but Bryanna liked them. She didn't show too much enthusiasm, but she actually watched them this time rather than play with the grass or daddy like she did at the Forest Lake fireworks a few weeks ago. By this time it was about 10:45P so all three of us were pooped out. The night was definitely over. We headed back to the cabin and hit the hay. Then today we were outside for most of the day. A couple of our friends came up to join the fun. We jetskiied and swam (a.k.a. got thrown off the jetski). Bryanna def enjoyed being out in the sunshine. Unfortunately, she has come down with some sort of illness. There is no shortage of snot in her nose, that's for sure. It has been running ever since Saturday morning. Poor girl. I'm pretty sure she'll make a full recovery though :) So all-in-all it was a VERY exciting weekend!

...................

The title to this post is exactly how I feel right now...................................... nothing. I'm tired. Cranky. Irritated. Angry. Frustrated. And all at the same time I feel absolutely nothing. Is that even possible?? Well apparently for me it is. This day could not have come to a worse close. Fighting with the boyfriend and a crabby baby. Two not so good combinations. PLUS I was super crabby myself. I worked until 2:00P as usual. Came home to a not so clean house which meant I had to clean it. Then all three of us went to a baseball game that I did NOT even want to go to, but for some reason just HAD to go. I was not happy about that. All I wanted to do was come home and do nothing. Was that going to happen? Nope. After the baseball game we went out to eat with some of the fam. I, for one, didn't want any food. I was being stubborn, yes, but even if I did want food, I wouldn't have been able to eat any of it. Bryanna was tired and hungry so I made several trips to the bathroom for water for the cereal, then water for a bottle, and then the spoon dropped on the floor so I had to go wash it, and then she pooped... twice... and, YEP, you guessed it. I had to change them both. It was not a pleasant evening that's for sure. And to top this whole thing off... Travis turns the big 2-1 in less than 2 hours - another not so good thing. I'm going to end the negativity now. I apologize for being a Debbie Downer.

Slacking

I am not doing a very good job of posting everyday. I need to get better at that. Man oh man, yesterday was a long day. I didn't even do anything! It was just l o n g . I worked from 8:00A to 2:00P which seemed to last FOREVER. Then I picked up Bryanna from daycare and headed home to watch movies. Since I've been staying at my mom's, it felt extremely nice to just hang out at my own house. Nothing too exciting though. Put the babe down to bed at about 7:30P and just relaxed. Today was pretty much the exact same thing. Work until 2:00P and then picked up Bryanna and went home. I, yet again, sat there and watched a movie. Got a few things done too. I finally took back the closet that was supposed to be mine. Trav has so many clothes that he takes up the entire closet in our room. So then I took the closet in the baby's room. The only problem was that we did not have a dresser for Bryanna so all of her clothes had to be hung up as well. She has so many clothes! She took up more of the closet than I did. All of that ended today. My mom was so kind to paint an old dresser of her's for me and I finally got a chance to bring it to the house. Bryanna's clothes are in the dresser and mine are in the closet. Success. As I was putting her clothes away, too, I realized that we are going to be needing some bigger outfits. Although she still fits into some 6 month stuff and 6-9 month stuff, she is definitely getting bigger every day. Sooooo you know what that means? GARAGE SALE - ING! I love going to garage sales. Good clothes for cheap. Doesn't get much better than that.

60th

As I predicted, today was indeed a very long day. It started at 7:30A when I woke up to shower and get ready for the lunch we were having with my grandparents today. It was their 60th wedding anniversary party so the entire family went. Uncles, Aunts, cousins... the whole shabang. Then Bryanna woke up shortly after so I fed her some breakfast. The usual cereal and fruit. Today was bananas. Travis then showed up at my mom's and we were on our way to SSP to meet up with my dad. From there it was a TWO hour or so drive down to La Crosse, WI. A super long trip especially when you are the one driving and the other is in the backseat s n o o z i n g ! Man was I jealous. Lunch was certainly delish though. I had the breakfast buffet, Travis had broasted chicken, and the baby had quite a few mashed potaters and bites of egg. After lunch, we drove another 45 minutes to my grandparents house for pictures. Then it was cake and chit-chat time. Found out my cousin is pregnant again. That was def some exciting news. Then it was another long car drive back to my mother's in Stillwater. About a half hour before we got to our destination, Bryanna decided to have Crying Fest 2009 in the backseat. I'm telling you screaming and tears and even more screaming. Turns out she just wanted to see her momma :-) As soon as me and Trav switched drivers and I sat in the back with her, she stopped crying. She was her cheerful little self again playing with dad's cell phone (as usual). She usually settles down when we give her something she isn't supposed to play with. I've noticed that lots of babies are like that, lol. When we finally got back to Stillwater it was time for Bryanna's dinner. After she finished eating she went back to Forest Lake with dad. I am missing her sooo much right now. I haven't spent the night without her in so long. It's weird. CRAZY MOMMA MOMENT: I actually drove all the way up to Forest Lake just to give Bryanna her puppy she sleeps with every night. What!? She's not used to sleeping without it! :) Anyhoo... I am now at my mom's... without my babe... and missing my own home. Can't wait for tomorrow to come.

Blaahhh

Man oh man was today a b-o-r-i-n-g day. I, for one, could not fall asleep for the life of me last night. I think it had something to do with the fact that I was not sleeping in my own bed at my own house. Bryanna decided to wake up at 7:30A so I ended up getting about 4 1/2 hours of sleep. Let me tell ya... that is NOT enough for me. I was very irritable and crabby all day long. Unfortunately, both Bryanna and my sister had to deal with it. (Sorry!) There wasn't much to do so it was pretty much a super lazy day. Me and the babe did take an hour and 45 min nap though. AAAAmazing!! It felt really nice to get a few more hours of sleep. It just seemed like this day was doomed from the beginning. First when I was making Bryanna's morning bottle I spilled the formula powder all over the counter. Then, at every feeding thereafter (and I mean EVERY), she was just sooo squirmy and easily distracted. Food ended up all over her face, clothes, and even on the floor. She managed to kick the bowl of oatmeal out of my hand and it landed face down on the floor. Oatmeal was aaall over the place. And lately, she has been really clingy. I've noticed that when she is getting tired or wants attention, she will just crawl over to me (or dad) and cling... literally cling. Arms around the neck or leg or arm. Whatever she manages to grab first I guess. It is sooo cute, but there are times when I need to get things done and I just don't have the time to play with her (at that moment). Other times I just don't have the energy. I have not been feeling like myself at all lately and it is making it very difficult to be a good mom to Bryanna. Thank goodness that my sister was here today. She helped me out a lot by playing with her when I just didn't have the patience. Now she is sleeping and, yet again, I am spending the night by myself watching some tube. We have a long day tomorrow so I better be able to get a little more shut eye than I did last night. Crossing my fingers on that one.

My goodness! I almost forgot! Today is/was Bryanna's 10-month birthday. I cannot believe how big she has gotten and how much she has learned already. The crawling thing has taken off. Although it is still only army crawling, she has definitely got it down. Due to the fact that she has mastered the crawl, she has also acquired some bumps and bruises on the forehead. She tends to just fall forward or to the side when she is sitting up and wants to get onto her tummy. Just like her momma, clumsy and not graceful at all. She's also still working on that one tooth. Not quite all the way in yet, but it is for sure making its way. I just can't believe that in 2 months - 2 months - she is going to be one year old! Like seriously... where the heck did time go!? It really just flew by. Seems like just yesterday I brought her home from the hospital weighing a whopping 4 lbs 5 oz. Now she's probably about 15 lbs. I was in such a hurry for her to start crawling and getting teeth... now I'm ready for her to slow down! :)

Beach Party!

Today was much more interesting than the last 2 days. It started off with little miss waking up at 9:30A. Awesome for mom! She's usually up and at 'em around 7:00A or so. I then fed Bryanna her morning bottle and cleaned the house before our guests arrived. Yes, that's right. Guests! My cousin, Lauren, and friend, Megan, came up to go to the beach with us. Trav's friend Chas and Nick came up too. It was super fun. Travis also brought the jetski out so everyone got to go out on that. The babe, of course, loved the water. She lasted about an hour and a half which is pretty good for her. I thought maybe she would get bored quicker than that. Ya know, babies have really short attention spans. And of course I was freaking out about Bryanna getting sunburn so I pretty much layered the SPF 50 all over her body. Every 20 mins or so I would reapply the lotion. She was absolutely not having it when I put her sun hat on. That led to me also lathering up her hair with sunscreen. I couldn't let her little head get burnt! About 3:00P we headed back to the house to grill some chicken and hot dogs. Weird combo I know. Us girls had hot dogs and the boys ate chicken. It was delish! Bryanna was a bit pooped out so we laid her down for a nap. Surprisingly she only slept for an hour and a half. I then gave her a bath - she still had sunscreen all over and in her hair. We are now at my mother's house. She is out of town for a couple weeks so for the next 5 days I will be staying here to watch the dogs (and 15 year old sister). Bryanna is tuckered out and sleeping, and I am watching some good ol' GSN. It's gunna be a lazy/boring night.

Dinner Party

Yesterday was a pretty uneventful day. So uneventful that it didn't even deserve it's own post. Here's the synopsis: Worked, jetskied, picked up Bryanna, went to dinner, came home. Done. Today was almost as uneventful except for one thing. Me and Bryanna went to Stef and Adam's to eat dinner. Tons-o-fun!! Probably more for me than Bryanna. It was pretty nice to get out of the house and be with friends. Plus, Stef just happens to make a really good roast. It was delish. Bryanna is starting to drool a lot more than usual, and threw up today for the first time in like 4 months. She never throws up. It was weird? And she is super squirmy. She constantly has to be playing with a something or on the floor so she can roam. I got a moody little girl on my hands now. Total drama queen too. I wonder where she gets that from? :)

Beachin'

It hasn't even been an entire week since I started my blog and I've already missed a day. Go figure. It's pretty hard for me to make something part of a daily routine. For example, exercising and working out. I have tried MANY times in the past to do a work out routine. X amount of crunches a day and x amount of squats a day and etc. It would last 2 days, 3 at the most. BUT I think I have finally found something that works for me: A DAILY WALK . I have taken a walk that past 3 out of 4 days since I started this routine. Not bad at all. The baby always goes with me too. On Saturday we walked home from the parade, Sunday we walked to Target and back, and then today we walked to the beach and back. My legs are beginning to feel like jello. I'm hoping I can keep it up. Makes me feel not so lazy - which is what I typically am. Today I worked til 2:00P and then on my way home I picked Bryanna up from daycare. I fed her when we got home and then got ourselves ready to walk to the beach. I didn't want to have to haul a diaper bag with me so I started throwing things in the bottom of the stroller that I thought I would need. An extra Huggies swimmer diaper, 2 extra regular diapers (just in case), baby sunscreen, a nook, the baby's beach robe and hat ----- this is when I realized that I might as well take the whole damn diaper bag! I figured I would end up forgetting something anyways so bringing the whole thing was a better idea. The walk was... well... tiring. Felt good, but tiring. The beach was so much fun. Bryanna just absolutely L O V E S to play in the water. She was splashing me like crazy! She would not keep her sun hat on though so I ended up having to put sunscreen on her head. This, in turn, led to a bath when we got back home where she, yet again, was splashing me like crazy. I suppose we will see what tomorrow holds for us. Possibly another trip to the beach.

Teething

Today was quite uneventful actually. It has been a super long day though! I did not get to sleep in as I thought I would. You know the Valleyfair commercial where the kid says, "Mom! Dad! What are you doing? It's been morning for 6 whole hours!" If Bryanna could talk that is exactly what she would have said to me this morning. The little lady woke me up at 6:30A. I don't even know if she really fell back asleep, but after I fed her a 4 oz. bottle I laid her back in her crib. I then went back to bed for another 2 hours. At 8:30A I officially began my day. Me and the babe took a walk to Target to get a few things. Then it was pure laziness as soon as we got home. Her afternoon nap was not to my satisfaction. She woke up about 3-4 times and I had to go in there and sooth her. It was roughly an hour and a half long. That is a darn short nap for her. Now that it is the evening, she has been a cranky - and I mean CRANKY - butt since about 6:00P. At this moment she is still lying awake in her crib struggling to fall asleep. I've been trying for an hour now to get her to go to sleep. I don't care if there is another reason, but I am blaming it all on teething. She has that one bottom tooth still coming in and it must be hurtin pretty bad cuz she has not been herself at all today. I am crossing my fingers and hoping that tomorrow is not as bad. I am not used to handling an ornery baby.

It's Independence Day!

Bryanna's first 4th of July! Very exciting stuff today.... we began the day with the Forest Lake parade. She had a blast. She especially loved the guys on the motorcycles that were doing figure eights. Daddy then drove the car home and me and Bryanna walked all the way home. Driving distance its about 2 minutes, so it wasn't a far walk at all. Mom definitely needed the exercise that's for sure. Then it was nap time... for baby AND momma :) Travis did some jetskiing with the neighbors while me and Bryanna hung out at home after we woke up from our naps. We have this toy where you pull the string and it vibrates. She thinks it is the coolest thing. She'll go completely still whenever she feels the vibration. She's actually learned how to pull the string herself! It was absolutely adorable watching her play with it on the floor. For the evening festivities, we went to the carnival in town. It was tons of fun for sure. We walked around and she, yet again, stared at everything she possibly could. Dad won her a couple stuffed animals and took her down a really cool slide. My computer is super messed up so I can't put the pictures on here, but they will for surely be on Facebook as soon as I get a chance to put them up. Oh and then came the fireworks. Although they were super bright and high in the sky and should have been totally awesome for her to watch... she was not very interested. LOL. She would look up every once in a while and see what was going on, but she did not have the attention span for it. We definitely had a pretty sweet day! The crawling is getting better. No hands and knees yet, but she pretty much scoots herself to wherever she wants to go. It was a very late night so she is one tired out baby. I see a very refreshed momma in the morning due to the fact that Bryanna will be sleeping in a lot later than usual. Oh my goodness! I almost forgot the best part! As we were walking to the park to watch the fireworks I had the luxury of stepping in a very large pile of horse poo. Yes, that's correct. HORSE POO! I was pretty damn crabby after that incident. Thankfully I was able to get most of it out of the grooves on the bottom, but that specific shoe is spending the night outside our back door. No need to drag the potential lingering stinkiness into the house. Very eventful day, and a very tired out fam at the end of it.

The Taste

Well, today was a pretty eventful day. I, myself, worked until 2:00P. Not a bad day at work I must say, but my day always, always, ALWAYS gets better when I come home to my baby girl. She spent the whole day with daddy until I got home. During this 8 hour window from the time I left for work to the time I got home, she had practiced her crawling skills. It is THE cutest thing that I have EVER seen! She struggles soooo much, but she's getting it! Her legs go stick straight, her feet push off the ground, and her arms pull her body forward. Once that phase is done, her arms are then stuck under her tummy. LOL! So she then needs to get her arms out and repeat the process again and again until she has reached her destination (most of the time being a cell phone or remote. Never ever is it a toy). Occasionally she will fall on her side and have to roll back over to her tummy. As I said before, I give it less than a week before her new skills are perfected. Soon enough it'll be hands and knees crawling, standing, walking, talking.... ok I'm getting waaay ahead of myself. No need for me to speed things up, right? Oh! And then there is that one little tooth, making its way out of the gums. It isn't visible yet just looking at her, but if you manage to move her tongue out of the way (not an easy task) and get reaallly close you can definitely see that it is there. The little grooves of the top of the tooth just barely sticking out. Very cute :)

As for this evening, me and Travis took her on a trip to the Taste of Minnesota. It was pretty darn fun. Me and him got some food and we walked all the way around Harriet Island until we reached the entrance/exit gate again. Bryanna was pretty funny. She would just STARE at people as we walked by. She's kind of a creeper LOL! But she's a cute one so it makes up for it! I think she had a ton of fun as well. She didn't do much, but there was plenty of stimulation for her with hundreds and hundreds of people walking around and lots of different stands of stuff to look at. She definitely got her fill of excitement for the day. Of course, she fell asleep in the car on the way home. Our babe was pretty pooped out. All in all - a pretty AWESOME day! :)

No Longer Toothless

Today was actually a very nice day. I did some jetskiing with Travis and ran some errands. Bryanna was at day care all day. I picked her up about 5:30P and when we got home I immediately went to work on her scootin' skills. I showed off the cell phone then laid it about a foot or so away from her and watched her make her way towards it. Every time she did it, she did it with success. Very talented, I know.

Along with the scoot she has also acquired her very first tooth! I was soooooo excited! I have been wondering when the heck they were going to come in, and now the time has come. The story behind the discovery: She was screaming - not out of anger, just cuz she can - and Travis put his finger in her mouth and said "None of that!" (Jokingly of course) Well, Bryanna was not having the attitude from dad so she took it upon herself to bite his finger. That's when he realized that there was a tooth. Of course, then I had to check it out for myself. Oh yes. I rubbed over that little tooth about 10 times before I let her be. Only a matter of time before the others come in.

So there's TWO - woops!! make that THREE - milestones reached in the last three days. First word, army crawl, and the very first tooth. Man oh man! Things happen so quick!

Army Crawlin'

About two weeks ago or so, Bryanna figured out that it was possible to use your hands to pull yourself forward. Now, she wasn't actually able to crawl at this point, but she knew the concept. She could maybe pull herself a 1/4 of an inch, but that was it. Then she would get frustrated and start crying. It's been like that up until today. She has officially figured out the army crawl. She is very much like her mom and gets tired out easily so she gets about maybe a foot and then starts crying of frustration again. She's going to have it down in no time though. I'm thinking it is time for us to invest in some gates. Well, I suppose we should just baby-proof the entire house.

And another side note: the first word occured yesterday. No it was not "mommy." Whether she said it consciously or not, she still said.......... "Daddy." Yes, I was upset that I was not her first word, BUT it is still a word so I was still a very proud momma! :)

This may sound bad, but as I am typing she is very much struggling to reach a water bottle she wants to play with. Yes, she is crying. But she is also getting so frustrated (as usual) that she is pulling herself closer and closer to said water bottle. It's kind of cute actually. Ok ok ok. I'll get her now.