Vacation 2012

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I'm so excited because vacation season is coming up. This year me and Maddy are blessed to take two trips down to Florida. My mom and step dad are vacationing in Panama City Beach, FL the week of May 18. They found this amazing condo down there 3-4 years ago at Treasure Island. I recently found out that they wanted to share the first weekend there with me and Maddy. I don't know a whole lot of details about the trip other then when we leave and when I will be coming back. We are tentatively leaving around 4:00 a.m. Saturday morning. My step dad is all about the food on vacation so we will be stopping at Shoney's along the way to enjoy the yummy breakfast bar I'm sure. I'm thinking we will arrive in Panama around 1 or 2 p.m. and since we can't check in until 3 or 4 p.m. I think we might be hitting up the water park first. I've taken Maddy to Florida once before and she really did quite well on the drive down there. Since she is a year older and at that stage where long car rides get more difficult I am going to be getting her a portable dvd player and bring along all her movies. Her friends at school must really love Barney because out of nowhere she has been wanting everything Barney. I have a few Veggie Tales music cd's for the car, but I also want to get some Barney music as well. I've been working with Maddy on sharing the music because she is so used to getting whatever she wants when it comes to music. Once I found out we would be traveling to Florida and the fact that my sanity could not handle "bob" or "barney" music for 7 hours, I decided to work on her sharing the radio. On the way home now we listen to mommy's music for half the trip and then switch over to Maddy's music the rest of the way. She didn't like that in the beginning but here lately she's learned to ask, "We listen to Bob in a minute?" Our second trip is my real vacation. We will be hitting up Panama City Beach for a second time to enjoy some mommy and Maddy time. We will be staying at the Holiday Inn Resort on the beach. I posted pics of this last year here. This hotel has everything including it's own little mini mart that is no more overpriced than a gas station. Need a late night snack? They got ya covered. Need diapers or floats...no problem. They also have the fun little water park for the kids even if the water is freezing cold lol. I just love the fact that really I wouldn't HAVE to leave the hotel for anything unless I just wanted to. There are two restaurants in the hotel, but we will be going out to eat some because I'm one that loves to explore the town.We are leaving for our vacation on June 17th and will be staying 6-7 days.

Sweet Frog

It's amazing how fast the weekends go and how slow the week goes. My weekend started rough and ended ok. I received a call from Maddy's school Friday around 2:30 p.m. telling me I had to come pick her up because she was having bathroom issues. That stomach virus seriously leaves you messed up for a long time. Last week I could keep her issue under control by limiting her diet to potatoes and saltines. We tried bread and chocolate milk Friday morning and I knew better than to do that because I myself could not tolerate bread. Maddy ate her school lunch all week and managed to not use the bathroom until she got home. My work is not very forgiving when you are sick or have a family member sick, even if you are a single parent. If I could get a job where I am not an hourly employee it'd be a lot different and I just completely disagree with that method. I can't tell you the number of times I have worked even though I was sick. I was actually going to work the night I got sick before the phenagrin (I don't know how to spell that lol) kicked in, but I decided it really wasn't worth it. I said all that to say that I panicked a little because I was already supposed to work between a 13-14 hour day Friday and going to get Maddy takes an hour and a half there and back. Maddy doesn't understand that mommy still has to work even if she's home, so I get no work done because I'm constantly logging in and out. I have learned to tell myself that if I lose my job over taking care of my child, then I'm ok with that because no matter what my daughter will ALWAYS come first. Once I remind myself of that I can calm down and just go with the flow. Maddy did act out quite a bit once we got home, but I realized it was because she wanted my attention so I spent a little time with her and talked with her and things got better. I made the mistake of telling Maddy that on Saturday I wouldn't have to work and could spend all day with her. I ended up having to work but thank goodness it was just for 50 minutes. I don't like working even a minute on Saturday because I spend all week giving them everything plus some and Saturday is for me and Maddy. After I worked on Saturday we got ready and headed to the mall. Maddy was still asleep when we got there. I got a little worried because the clouds looked real mean...

She woke up soon after and we were ready to hopefully find her some shoes. I have had a real hard time finding shoes for her that are cute since she has moved up to size 8. In the past I had success at Rack Room Shoes, but the past two times they had nothing in her size...not what we were looking for anyways. We ended up going to shoe carnival and I didn't like the options we had, but I decided to settle on some because she really needed them. I'll have to try to get a pic of her in them. Shoe carnival always has BOGO sales so I also got her some shoes that I think are so cute...not so much the shoe itself, but what it does lol...

The colors are really so pretty...it's hard to tell in the video. They are blue and pink and Maddy just loves to watch her shoes as she walks...which can really be kinda bad in a way haha.

One of Maddy's books she got in the mail (for free thanks to dollywood's imagination library) is called Llama Llama Mad at Mama. It's about going shopping and is perfect for us. I try to remind her of the book...luckily we had just read it recently so it was fresh on her mind. If she listens to mommy while we are shopping then when we are done she can get a treat. She wanted ice cream Saturday. She did fantastic with me on Saturday. I usually dread shoe shopping and tend to rope someone in to go with me to help with the fits, but she did not pitch one fit nor did she try to take all the shoes off the shelf. When it was time to go she said ok and we left peacefully. I let her know how proud of her I was and happy that made mommy. I think she was still really tired because she just looked at me but I'll take what I can get. We got her ice cream and headed home. Because I still cannot eat I have been craving soft serve. I told my mom of a new place I was wanting to try, so we loaded up and headed out. We went to Sweet Frog, which is a self serve frozen yogurt shop with tons of toppings. The store itself is really cute. Here is what me and Maddy got...

Maddy got Cookies and Cream with lots of chocolate chips and mini m&m's. I got NY Cheesecake with strawberries, pineapple, mango, and a few sour gummy worms. When I started to eat I knew right away I could not tolerate the candy so I gave those to Maddy. The yogurt was amazing! I wish I had just gotten strawberries and maybe some graham cracker crumbles on mine because the mango and pineapple were not good at all.

Today we stayed home all day. I have felt very weak today on top of bits of nauseousness and being extremely sleepy. I caught up on mine and Maddy's laundry and Maddy played. Hopefully this virus is almost ready to be done with us and we can be 100% going into this week.

Mommy Ok??

I tried writing this last night, but I had an unexpected event happen that prevented me from doing so. That event is part of what I am writing about tonight. 2011 was a decent year for me. I had my ups and downs but I had more ups than anything. When 2012 came around it seems to be a never ending battle. I just thought my birthday was the only thing that was going to go wrong this week...boy was I wrong. I talked about keeping my uncle's granddaughter the day we celebrated my birthday, but didn't really give a reason as it was irrelevant. It's relevant now...both my aunt and uncle both got hit with a stomach bug at the same time that was causing them to be sick every 30 minutes. The virus entails other things that I will NOT talk about because we all know what happens with stomach viruses lol. To help my aunt and uncle out we kept my cousin for them because who in their right mind could care for a two year old when you're constantly hovering over a garbage can and running for the bathroom. I was worried about Maddy getting sick but what can ya do...not much. Sunday rolled around and Maddy was just fine. I wake up Monday morning...a little later than usual but not that late. Before I actually got up I had heard Maddy awake earlier but it was her normal I'm up stuff so there was no need to go rushing in there. I finally roll out of bed and when I go to wake her up I see stuff on her bed. I originally thought at first that she must have gone to bed with a piece of pizza in her hand that I missed and it just smeared in her bed. I knew that wasn't the case because it's kinda hard missing a piece of pizza lol. I just keep staring trying to figure out what in the world was on her bed because it wasn't on her and it didn't really smell. I get up to turn her light on and I hear her doing something and I turned around to see her getting sick. It hit me that she had that yucky virus that I just really hoped she wouldn't have gotten. I took her temp and it was only 99. She got sick a couple other times throughout the day but it was very minimal and as soon as she was done she wanted to play. I felt so bad for her because it was obvious she was hungry, but her belly said you better not so didn't eat at all Monday. I thought by Tuesday she could go to school, but when I woke her up Tuesday she looked sick and I took her temp and it was 100.4 and she had some diapering issues. She tried eating Tuesday, but it ended up not settling very well and after that she didn't eat anymore. She mainly played all day Tuesday. By the end of Tuesday I knew she would be ok to go back to school on Wednesday. By the end of Tuesday...4:30 ish to be semi exact I came down with the same thing. I felt so bad because Maddy saw me get sick and the first time she asked if mommy choked. The second time she asked if mommy was ok. That virus is no joke....it takes all your energy within the first round and it just keeps going and going and going. I've been dehydrated before and I started to panic thinking I'd get dehydrated again, but I didn't. I tried eating a piece of toast Wednesday night, but it messed up my stomach so today I have only eaten a few saltines. Maddy is still having problems with food. She eats lunch at school, but once she comes home the consequences of her lunch appear. Last night on my way to write this I smelled something that was not good. I was hoping it was my dog, but I found out poor Maddy had gotten sick all over herself and her bed and she had fallen asleep in it. I got so worried because I had a hard time waking her up. She doesn't make any noises at all when she gets sick...she doesn't really even cry. She just stands there and once she's done she says she feels all better. I got her up and undressed and we took a bath at 10:30 p.m. and got back in bed by 11. I slept in her room until 2:40 a.m. and then decided to go ahead and go to my bed to try to get back up at 4...yeah...that didn't happen lol. I am only feeding her a soft diet at home right now, so hopefully she won't have any problems tonight. I refuse to try food right other than bread and crackers because I still don't feel right and I do not want to relive that experience. I haven't been all that hungry except for tonight and I really want some pizza or some soft serve ice cream, but for now I'll stick to my saltines, gatorade, and chocolate milk.

 This was the first time Maddy has done anything to the walls. She took her chalk and decided to make the wall her easel lol. She did this on Tuesday

This was on the way to Baskin Robbins. I felt so bad for her but was thankful she got some good sleep. I hope you all have stayed clear from this virus because it just doesn't seem to want to leave. I'm exhausted and have a 13-14 hour day ahead of me tomorrow. Time for me to jump in bed!

St. Patty's Day Zoo

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! I don't normally get all that excited about st. patrick's day, but today was a little different. We celebrated my birthday tonight since we wouldn't get a chance tomorrow, when my actual birthday is. First thing this morning our house became similar to a zoo...no joke. My sister dropped off her three kids at 8:30 this morning. I tried using my two niece's as a type of surprise for Maddy, but she guessed right away what her surprise was. She loves to play with them! We had one more surprise visitor and that's Maddy's cousin Aria. We had a total of five kids and it became very overwhelming at first. The ages were: 8 months, 22 months, 2.5 yrs, 7 yrs, and 10 yrs. We played inside, took naps, then we took the herd outside.

After a full day of playing we rushed out the door to get my birthday celebration started. My favorite place to eat is Olive Garden, so every year my mom and step dad take me out to eat for a yummy dinner. With this being Saint Patrick's Day we had to dress in green. I was very surprised more people did not wear green today...I guess I'm just a festive person. In a perfect world I would have gotten pictures of Maddy in her cute outfit and then some of me and her before we left, but that's just not how things turned out. I almost forgot to even put her in her cute outfit and we ended up changing in the truck. I didn't get her hair brushed or fixed at all, but surprisingly it wasn't a total wreck lol. Me and Maddy both ordered the same thing. She changes what she eats at Olive Garden and tonight she wanted chicken alfredo, which is what I had also. My mom made my cake, as she does every year, and I loved it. I am a huge fan of hearts and of coarse Maddy is my world so she has to incorporate both of those into my cakes, per my request lol. This year she spent time gathering pictures and sizing them and pasting them on a piece of paper and then took it to a local cake decorating shop and had them turn it into an edible image. It is filled with pictures of Maddy and I just absolutely love it. I almost missed a special part of my cake because I was too busy looking at all the pictures. She made Maddy's hand print from fondant and put it on the top of my cake and one cake said Happy birthday mommy and the other said happy birthday heather. I absoloutely loved it and of coarse it tasted soooo good. All my working out just went down the drain because it was so good but that's ok lol. I am turning 29 this year, so I am going to enjoy this last year in my 20's even though it has just been one more stressful year for me. Here are more pictures...I'm definitely a picture person hehe.

The last photo you can see Maddy's "mad" face. She really was mad here because it was past 9:00 p.m. and she is always in bed by 7:30 p.m. even on the weekend, plus she seriously played so hard today with all the kids in our house that she had no time to sit down. Soon after the last picture was taken I put her to bed. I let her finish watching the last part of her Bob Easter movie on my phone and then we cuddled/rocked for a while. When she got to her bed she was out in a flash, which is not like her at all. She normally will lay in her bed and just talk to herself for a while before falling asleep. Today was very chaotic and nothing went as planned, but all in all it was a good day. I have to say a special thank you to my mom because she made it all happen and everything turned out really good in the end :)

Walk A Day In My Shoes

Yesterday I made videos throughout the day to talk about our normal week day routine. I thought I would show more doing instead of just me talking, but because I filmed mostly on my phone I wasn't able to capture the whole process, such as getting Maddy ready (as in fixing her hair and that stuff), getting breakfast, getting out the door and that kind of stuff. Once I can find my video camera I may try to do another post like this that shows what we go through on a typical day. I was able to combine all the videos thanks to youtube's video editor so here it is:

Please forgive the awkwardness and the video quality. I can't even begin to stress just how weird I felt talking to myself on a camera, and then seeing myself as I'm talking was just a nightmare lol.

I made an end of the day update, however, I didn't get to add it on because it would have made the video too long. Once Maddy went to bed I went back to work and worked until 10:00 p.m. Once I'm done with work I try to give myself a little me time because I am not one that can go straight to sleep. I also don't like just going from work to sleep to work to sleep. I stayed up way too late last night. I didn't fall asleep until 2 a.m. and then my alarm went off at 4 a.m. and I obviously did NOT get up lol. I have stressed myself out to the max because this is a very hard week for me so please say some prayers if you think about it because I def need them :)

Slow Weekend

I'm waiting on my work, so I thought I would do a quick post over mine and Maddy's weekend. We didn't do anything spectacular or anything. Friday nights are just like any other week night for us because I am usually scrambling trying to get the rest of my time done so I don't have to work on Saturday. I am actually going to attempt to do a "day in the life" post soon. I'm going to do one for a week day and then the weekend. I have managed to lose my video camera, so I may just have to use my phone for now to send to youtube and then take some pictures along the way. I'm not sure how this will turn out but I'm very excited to try it. Anyways, back to our weekend. I've been trying to find time to go to the gym to get a good workout in. With my work schedule the way it is Saturday's are really the ONLY day I can go. We went either last Saturday or the Saturday before that and it was jammed pack. We went in and there was a line almost to the door. You can see the machines from the lobby and it didn't look like there was anything open and everybody on the machines seemed as if they would be staying for a while. We decided to leave and try again. We tried this past Saturday and it was pretty empty. We go to the kids area and there is only a birthday party. We finally got a schedule of when childcare is available and of coarse on Saturday it is only from 8:15-noon. So hopefully the third time really is a charm and I will get to work out. Maddy was very excited to see the play area though. She wanted to go play, but more than anything she wanted to go in the gym and play basketball. She doesn't know just yet that when she does get to play, mommy will be leaving her so she can workout. I know once Maddy gets playing she will be fine but I'm hoping the initial reaction isn't real bad. After failing at the gym lol, we did a little shopping. We headed to the mall to get Maddy an Easter dress. She wanted a blue dress...everything she wants must be blue...blue drink, blue food, blue cake, blue paci, blue everything...I also let her pick out her bathing suit and then I got her the suit I liked. We went with a tankini this year. I warmed up to the idea this year because the one piece's that I saw I did not like and then I realized that a tankini would be easier for diaper changes. It was not very easy last year putting on a soaking wet bathing suit. I won't be showing a picture of her dress until she is wearing it, but I am going to try to get pics of her bathing suits. I took one with my phone, but the colors were not right and it looked horrible. After the mall we headed to Sams and then to Wal-Mart. When we got home Maddy played outside for a little bit and had a ball. Sunday we mostly stayed home and Maddy played outside again...it was such a beautiful day outside. I attempted to clean but got distracted and only cleaned off my nightstand and a section of my bed. Here are some random pics:

Maddy seems to like these. I tasted the banana and it was not so good. It tasted like banana, but it was just kinda gross. She seems to like the Strawberry the best, but I think more than anything she likes to hold the bottle and they are the perfect size for her hands. I won't be buying these again unless I can do a coupon deal because for 12 of them it cost $4.68 plus tax. I really need to do more couponing.

Maddy Randomness

I've known for some time now that Maddy has a really sweet heart, but I was finally able to capture a little of it on camera. She takes such good care of her baby. If her baby gets a boo boo she will talk to her and kiss her to make sure she is ok. She feeds baby, gives baby drinks, changes baby's diapers, and most importantly loves on her. When we play outside she has to have baby with her. If she needs to take her car out for a spin...she will never forget her baby. It's just one of those things that really makes you go AWWWW!!! You can't see it too much on the videos I am going to post but you can kinda get the idea :)

As you already know I am a huge fan of Zulily! I was looking through the brands and happened to notice this one:

The brand is "Madison Paige." I thought that was so neat, because that's Maddy's name, that I HAD to buy me a shirt. I know I'm weird but whatever makes us happy lol. I actually think it's neat because from the time Maddy could interact at all with the world around her she has always had a fashion sense about her. Even now she seems to really like her clothes and loves to pick them out. When we get ready I let her pick out her outfit. She doesn't always pick things that match, so I try to steer her in the right direction by picking out two things that will match the shirt or pants she picked. She picked out her own Easter dress this year as well as her bathing suit. The bathing suit she went for they did not have in her size so she had to go to an alternate. Mommy picked out her favorite bathing suit for Maddy as well...a girl needs options lol. Maddy also has a love for shoes. She much prefers to buy shoes over clothes.

The other night Maddy had her first run with eating corn on the cob. She didn't really understand how to eat it and kept trying to eat the end of it.

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend :)