Vacation 2013

I am still trying to figure out the whole video editing software thing. I thought what I was using was a 30 day free trial, but it wasn't lol. I'm going to have to learn the software before I can really use it, which could take forever, so I thought I better go ahead and write about vacation.

The week of vacation was so hard on me...not because anything went wrong per say, but more-so my level excitement was out the roof! Friday afternoon was a bit rough on me. It was the day I took Manny to the vets to get his shots and drop him off. He never yelps when they give him shots, but he yelped so loudly this time I almost intervened and made them stop. I was already emotional having to leave him...I didn't want him in that kind of pain. I really feel like it's because they normally let me hold him while he is on the table and they didn't that day so he was scared on top of the injections hurting. Poor buddy thought he was going right back home after the shots and exam because we had to go back to the lobby for them to take him back. He was quite disappointed when he realized he wasn't leaving...in fact, the only way they got him back to his "doggy hotel" was me walking him back there. That was even harder on me because the workers grabbed him by his neck to try to keep him in the kennel...that is NOT how I treat him!!! After I got him dropped off it was time to go get my rental car. The Lord worked it out and let a 2012 Camry be available. It's what I drove last year and it's an awesome car! If I weren't so devoted to Honda I would most certainly buy one of those lol.

It's a sharp looking car AND it's FOUR door!!! Talk about NOT wanting to give it back lol. I am VERY thankful for the car I have, but after driving a car in great condition it made me do some car searching and provided I keep my current job, in 2016 I plan on buying a 2013 Honda Accord. That's another post though lol. Once I got my car I had to go get Maddy and run to Target and Kohl's for sunglasses and leggings. I got up at 4 a.m. to get my work done, so by the time I left to take Manny I was done for the day. We celebrated my cousin's 2nd birthday at our church. Me and Maddy were a tad bit late, but luckily not many people noticed lol. I didn't get any pictures from the party, but Elmo made an appearance and we all had a great time. Maddy was scared of Elmo and frankly I was too lol. After the birthday party it was time to go home and pack, or finish packing. I packed as much as I could the weekend of Mother's Day because I knew if I didn't I would forget something and I would never get any sleep the night before we left. As I've mentioned before I have learned I cannot sleep when Manny is not here...when any of my kids aren't here for that fact, so as soon as we got packed up we headed for "Nana's." I was supposed to have taken Manny his (my blanket I got for Christmas that he has claimed as his own) blanket because I didn't know they could have stuff like that, after Aria's party. With everything going on I completely forgot. My mom texted me and told me to bring it to her house and my uncle would take it to him for me. I was SO thankful for my uncle because I knew that would help Manny out and all they give them to lay on is a little towel. I think I got maybe 4 hours sleep before it was time to roll on out. I can tell Maddy is my daughter because she is NOT a morning person at all and it takes her a good while to wake up. It didn't help that she didn't sleep until I got to sleep and so she only had four hours too. She was so cranky and wouldn't let me get her dressed for anything.I think it was around 6 a.m. when we finally left. We were meeting my step brother and his girlfriend in Georgia along the way. It was an interesting drive on the way there. We had to stop twice for me to catch up because I couldn't switch lanes in time to be where I needed to be. On the way there I realized I grabbed the wrong cord for my GPS so I had nothing to go off of...my step dad let me use his iPad and I felt MUCH better :) We ate at Shoney's for breakfast. We got to Panama City Beach, FL around 1 p.m. their time. Of coarse the first thing we do is get our stuff in...look around the condo for a bit...then just stare at the ocean in disbelief that we are actually there. Maddy of coarse was ready to go to the beach the minute she walked through the door. I have mostly pictures to share of our trip, but want to write out where we ate each day for memory's sake...I will do that at the end. I do have videos that I will more than likely be sharing, but I want to edit them first and make it a little more enjoyable for everybody to watch :) All in all we had a great trip and were so very thankful to get to go. Me and Maddy are still having a hard time adjusting back to normal life and we MUCH prefer vacation life where we actually get to spend time together and sleep in the same bed and all that fun stuff you do on vacation :)

 The week we were in Florida, TN got some severe weather. We ran into some of that heavy rain on our way. It made me a nervous wreck because it was raining so hard I couldn't see. Maddy was exhausted and she FINALLY gave in before we stopped for breakfast...or maybe it was after...I can't remember.

This is when we were getting checked into the condo...she was in mid sentence saying beach

We progressed from just staring at the beach to getting Maddy's bathing suit on

This year we tried out a new game...it was lots of fun, but Maddy had a little trouble with it :)

I am ALWAYS proud of Maddy, but I was so proud of her for conquering her fear of the water. She was scared initally like she has always been, but after being held for a little bit and seeing it was okay to getting down and holding hands and trying to jump over the waves to eventually just running towards the water whether an adult was there or not, she got over her fear. Sure she was still unsure of it, but she would walk in it and before we left walked out far enough that her stomach got hit by the waves...I was shocked.

For dinner we did our traditional Scampy's run. It's right across the street from our condo and we just walk there. It is some of THE best food in Panama for a decent price. If you go you have to get the fried pickles :) Maddy was so tired that we had some meltdowns on our hands lol. I got my usual popcorn shrimp and fries and Maddy got chicken fingers.

It wouldn't be vacation without playing computer in bed. We actually got to bed pretty early every night. After dinner we did go back to the "circle" pool and let her play in the water a little bit. That was the bribe I gave her to get out of the pool the first time. It worked like a charm the first time lol. I don't remember the exact time we got to bed but it was around 8:45-ish or 9 p.m. For me that is super early because I'm used to going to bed no earlier than 11, but more like midnight. I slept so good on vacation. Rarely woke up and actually woke up before Maddy, which NEVER happens at home. I would wake up around 7 but snoozed off and on until Maddy woke up. She generally woke up between 8:30 and 8:45 a.m. When we woke up it was always straight to the patio outside. We would give my step dad our breakfast orders and he would go get breakfast at a place called the Omelet house. Maddy always got bacon, eggs, toast, and grits. I didn't eat breakfast until the last day and got an omelet that had ham, cheese, and jalapeno...it was very yummy!

I had to get some pictures of us together too...I had a mini photo shoot in bed.

Breakfast time with Pops and Nana

The big thing this year was not making a sand castle, but making a sand snowman...she would get so mad at the water though for taking away her hole or her sandman

For lunch on Sunday we walked down the beach to eat at Schooner's. I've never eaten their food other than Key Lime Pie, which is out of this world, so I can't really speak to it. Maddy got a cheeseburger and barely ate it. She was so tired the entire trip. We played hard in the sun for 7 hours or so...give or take 2 hours for her nap.

My hair would not curl for anything down there...it was super soft though...I am loving my new hair cut...I'm not sure I've shared those pictures with you guys yet.

I love this picture of Maddy and my step dad...she loves him with everything she has and he does the same. Clearly I got a little burnt...I'm trying to remember where we were eating...I don't think all these pictures are from the same day. The picture looks like it's at Scampy's, but I don't remember eating there twice this trip. I do remember my step dad asking Maddy where she kept getting all her cute shirts...this has to be Scampy's...actually it is Scampy's...we did eat there twice.

Of coarse Maddy adores her Nana too and her Nana beyond adores Maddy. As you can see Maddy got real brave and would jump off the side of the pool. She didn't care if you were ready or not...she always was under the impression you'd be there to catch her. Definitely had to be on guard at all times lol.

Yep, Maddy was even brave enough to feed the animals on her own. The zoo is the only place away from the condo we went.  Most of these are just from my phone...I still have some on camera but I will not post every picture I have or every picture I may want to. I will have to come back and add a picture of the 6-7 foot hammerhead shark we saw approximately 10 feet from the shore. Never in all my life have I ever seen a shark just go swimming by. It happened Tuesday...the day we went to the zoo. Everybody was screaming SHARK!!! I was in disbelief. My mom was able to get a picture of it. Once I post the picture if you have the ability to zoom in, you should do so because you can really see it pretty good when you do. Another shark was spotted a little further out sometime through the week. I was ok and thought it was neat because all of us were still at the condo, but had we been swimming I would have gone through all the what if's. OH!! One more picture I want to share...

Ok, this isn't one picture and this isn't even the picture I was looking for. I wanted to share the picture of the aqua cycle we rode out in the ocean, but for whatever reason it isn't in my photo stream album. Me, my mom and Maddy rode it out to the sandbar. It would have been more fun if I didn't think we were going to flip over because we couldn't keep it straight at the waves. Maddy didn't like it at all and had a death grip on me and my mom. The sunset there is so pretty and this one night the colors were so beautiful. There is nothing like a Florida sunset. There are tons more pictures but I better stop here. Here is where we ate:
Saturday-Scampy's
Sunday-Triple J's Steakhouse
Monday-I think we went back to Scampy's
Tuesday-Scampy's
Wednesday-Pineapple Willy's
Thursday-Captain Andersons

It's hard to tell from this picture, but if you look closely you can see the hammerhead shark we saw

Monday Madness

The title actually has nothing to do with what I am going to talk about, but it's what came to my mind as I was working out lol. Speaking of working out, I am having to reintroduce myself to that. As I talked about in previous posts, prior to leaving for vacation I was getting my workout on. While I was on vacation there was no working out for me, other than chasing Maddy around in the sun. I'm quite sure I did burn some calories while on vacation, but it was not done in a gym or with a workout video. I really don't mind working out while on vacation if I have access to a workout room. I also am a bit sad to say that I cheated on my soft drink consumption cut down. That's a horrible sentence, but it will have to do for now lol. I started out great, but ended bad. While being home I have done even worse because we had nothing to eat or drink. We got back late and there was no going to the store for anything. It was hard enough getting up to go to work the next day, so I can only imagine how much worse it would have been had I gone to the store. No need to worry though...I did not starve or thirst Maddy to death...we just lived off gas station drinks (thanks to the .25 roo cup refills) and dollar store food. I actually told my mom that I would be so thankful for Saturday to roll around not just because I am off work, but mainly so I can go to the store and get us some real food and drinks lol. I do still have to do our vacation post. I am actually exploring the world of video editing. As I thought it's a lot more time consuming than blogging, but the results are much better in my opinion. When I first got my video camera I contemplated starting to vlog...yeah...I might post that first little clip I did to show you how painful that would be lol. I don't really want to post our vacation until I can get a video put together. I think I have found the software I want to use, but I gotta wait until I can pay for it. I'm trying to get the video put together before my 30 day free trial is up :) I'm having fun learning about editing and can't wait until I become a pro so it isn't as time consuming. I will post one video from our vacation, but if you are on my Facebook it's nothing you haven't already seen.

I wish we were back there...we had such a nice time. Maddy is STILL trying to get back into the swing of her routine...she is about there though.

The main point of this post was going to be an update on Manny. I realized I hadn't really updated on how he was doing and for my records I would like to have it as a keepsake. Normally when we go on vacation, I leave him at my mom's and either my mom or my uncle will take care of him. Since he is in kidney failure, it was best to board him at the vet's. If I could have taken him I sure would have, but traveling alone with a toddler AND a dog...that's a recipe for disaster. Once Maddy is older he will definitely be going with us...no matter what the cost. Anyways, in order to be boarded he had to be up to date on his shots as well as get a boarding cough shot...I forgot the name lol. I hadn't kept him up to date on his shots because they are quite costly and then you add the kidney disease and it was just not a priority. Technically, I should be taking him to the vet's every month for a kidney panel check...yeah..well...that ain't happenin either because it's quite costly and isn't needed...right now anyways. Thankfully his vet didn't try to get me to let him check his kidney panel, he just took information. We hadn't been to the vet since February...oops! In that time frame he has managed to keep most of his weight...he had lost about a pound or pound and a half since we last had him checked, but the vet was very pleased. His only real issue right now is his itchiness is coming back and getting worse and worse. He received some kind of shot that had received back in December that is supposed to last up to two weeks and then we are trying his original itchy medicine every day..two times a day...for a month. If this doesn't work the vet MAY give him a steroid shot. He really does not want to do that because it's so harsh on the kidney's and we've come a long way from where we were in December...I honestly don't know if I would allow him to get the steroid shot because I want him around as long as possible. His itching may be so very annoying and maybe even miserable, but it's not something worth dying over. Other alternatives is to bathe him often with some kind of allergenic shampoo I think. Since I have had him home I do not see any improvements in his itching. I'm a bit worried that maybe he has become immune to his medicine, but it almost seems like it took it almost the entire month last time before he had quit itching. He is my little buddy...my firstborn child. I'm not sure many people understand how attached I am to him and how much I want him to live for a long time. I love the fact that he literally hugs me when I hug on him. He will put his head on my shoulder and move his head towards my neck/head as if he were embracing me. I love the fact that when we are in bed, he HAS to be touching me. I love waking up to him right next to me. I love that he wants to protect me if he thinks someone is trying to harm me. I love how patient he is with Maddy and how he seems to protect her as well. I love seeing him lay with her on days she is sick. I love that he loves being in her room and often times will jump in her bed with her and look at me as if to say, "Okay mom...goodnight...see ya in the morning." I love how playful he can be. I love how he will talk to my mom by shaking his head yes or no. You can think I'm crazy all you want but it's an adamant yes or no. For example while waiting on his diagnosis back in December my mom asked him if he was okay...he shook his head no every time she asked. She asked if his numbers were going to be good and he would say no. Another month she asked him if he felt good and he shook his head yes and that was the time his numbers came up even since he had left the hospital. She can ask him if he knows she loves him and he will shake his head yes. They have a very strong connection. Now I just get her to ask him questions for me in yes or no answers if I need to know something lol. There are many things I love about Manny...he is very special and is truly just like one of my children. This week I have woken up and thought about what life would be like without him and it's just unbearable to think about. I can't imagine waking up without him pushed up against me. I can't imagine getting through work without him under my desk, laying on part of my blanket sound asleep. I can't imagine me and Maddy coming home to an empty house day in and day out. I think I think about these things because I went for 11 or 12 days straight without him around. I know his time is shortened due to his kidney disease and we are coming up on a year since he was diagnosed....he was only given up to three years to live max. That's not to say that God can't keep him around longer cause I know he can. I know that it's only the amount of prayers that went up when he was in the hospital that has allowed us to be where are now with his numbers and health...he really is doing really well. Anything is possible with God! I will continue to pray that God will help his itching and keep thanking Him for how well Manny has done so far. I hope you all are having a great start to your week :)

Sporadic Memory

It seems like a whirlwind of events have occurred here lately. One that is still heavy on my mind is the passing of my old pastor and founder of my church...Brother Bob Stitts. I was on vacation when I saw on Facebook that he had passed on Wednesday. My heart broke for the family because even though they all know where he is and that they will see him again, as humans we still miss those that have passed. Several people started writing out their memories of him. What came to my mind is the night I decided to walk down the aisle to let the church know I had invited Jesus into my heart and I wanted to be baptized. That is a moment I will never ever forget. I don't remember the date, but I do know it was a Sunday night. I had been trying to work my nerve up to walk in front of everybody. My mom knew I was wanting to go forward and told me to just let her know when and she would be right there. I don't remember specifically how I told her but I found myself that Sunday night walking down the aisle. Brother Bob had the biggest smile on his face and knew exactly why I was coming forward. Without saying a word he ushered me over to meet a counselor. I was shocked he knew why I was coming forward, even though I recently just figured out how he knew lol. He had been trying for a few weeks to get me to come forward....I know because he would always find me and look right at me during the invitation and then of coarse it was one of those things I just knew. I told my mom I felt like he was waiting on me to come forward and she just said he probably discerns it. He was a great leader, pastor, role model, and encourager. I attended one of his bible study classes and he had a heart that was sure on fire for the Lord. I will miss him dearly. 

For my memories sake I want to write about a dream I had. I had a strange dream while I was on vacation and I didn't really think about the meaning until I saw Brother Bob's funeral service. During the service my pastor, his son, talked about when his dad was first in the hospital he told him God had spoke to him and put the number 96 on his heart. He was hoping it meant he would live until he was 96 years old, but it wasn't. It wasn't until he passed away on Wednesday that they understood what that number meant...From the time he was in the hospital until the time he passed away it was exactly 96 days. My dream...or the main jest of the dream focused on me being pregnant. I have had dreams of being pregnant before and it is never what it seems. In my dream I took a pregnancy test and it came back positive. I counted when my due date would be and found it would be in April, which meant I became pregnant in July. If you look up what giving birth means, it means new life is about to begin. I don't know if it really means anything but I wanted to document the dream in case it did. I have been praying for certain things in my life and I am thinking it might have to do with that. Time will tell...that's for sure :)

I want to write about our vacation, but I'm not quite ready for that yet. I can say we went to Panama City Beach, FL and we didn't do a whole whole lot of things away from the condo. We did have an amazing time though and really had a rough time coming back to reality. Maddy is still trying to recover as a matter of fact. She got so used to us sleeping together and not having to go to school and things like that. We have been on major fit mode since returning home. Manny on the other hand is so very thankful we are back. He hasn't left my side since he came home and he seemed so happy to spend the night in bed with me last night lol. I missed him just as much as he missed me!

I am starting a year long fitness goal. I can't think of the word I'm looking for lol. I started making time to work out about a month to leaving for our vacation. I did make progress but I tend to get sick every time I start a session. I think I need to get some vitamins to prevent this. I did make some progress, but I basically lost it all two weeks before we left. I've seen what a year can do to some people who really put forth the effort and I'm convinced and determined I can change my body in a year too. I do struggle with wanting results right then, but it doesn't work that way. I plan on using Jillian Michaels workout because getting to a gym is just impossible for me, plus I feel so intimidated. I prefer working out in my home. I would love to get an elliptical, but it's just not possible this year. 

I do not have any pictures for this post, so sorry for the boring post lol. I hope everybody has had a wonderful week so far :)

MIA

I think I am about ready to come back to blogging. I am still torn on whether or not to make this private. Not too much has happened since I last wrote. A few weeks ago I started Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 DVD and it has not let me down. I am on day two of the third week. They are tough workouts, but very doable. That does not mean that I have no problems doing all of the exercise or that I can do every single rep. I can complete the workout session though unlike her other DVD's. Week 2 was the hardest for me. I do not do well with planks and mountain climbers and those type of exercises. Week 3 burns your legs so bad, but it's been one of my favorite weeks. Again, I cannot do every rep. I doubt I will be beach body ready at all this summer, but I am going to continue working out and hopefully next year I won't have to hide in layers of clothes or cover ups :)

Maddy is doing really well. She has given me plenty of laughs lately. She has also been a total sweetheart. When we get home she will be playing and then say, "Oh, I forgot to give you a hug!" and will come over to me and give me the biggest hug and sometimes will even give me a kiss. Talk about making your bad day go away. The other day she decided to rip up an entire roll of toilet paper and put in the toilet. I was working and all of a sudden it hit me that she was real quiet and never came out of the bathroom. I asked her what she was doing and she yelled, "It's ok!!!" As I was getting up I asked her again and knew exactly what she doing lol. I walk in to the toilet full of paper. Luckily I caught her this time because she has done this two other times and then flushed the toilet and we had a major overflow in the bathroom. I think I may have learned my lesson not to let her wipe by herself lol. She has an eager to please spirit about her and does not like to mess up. She likes to be silly and laugh, but she is also very serious too. She is a tv addict and unfortunately I think I may have helped her form a movie addiction as well. I do monitor the amount of tv she watches and keep her attitude on watch. I continue to find her in odd sleeping positions.

In case you couldn't tell from this picture she likes to get up and bring things to her bed. I've never had a problem with this because it's usually just books that she is reading in bed and maybe some stuffed animals. I guess in the middle of getting up she just got so tired she fell asleep and fell over lol.

She had Spring pictures on April 3 at school. This is the first year they brought in the bunnies. I absolutely LOVE this picture. I will never forget picking her up that day because she came running to me saying, "Mommy mommy, I smiled for my picture and you weren't even there!!" This was a big deal to her and to me. She had been taking pictures without smiling. Everytime I asked her why she didn't smile she always said, "Cause mommy wasn't there." For this session I had talked about it all week long and asked if she would smile. She had been telling me no, but on picture day she finally said yes. She was so proud of herself and of coarse I was too...not that I wouldn't be proud of her even if she didn't smile.

I can't remember if I posted this picture already or not but here is another odd sleeping position lol.

She is a mother hen. She loves sitting on "the big couch" and she got her baby and was just a pattin her back. I love to see her being such a good mommy :)

This picture messed up...this is a picture of a picture. They took this for an art show her school had a while back. I was so upset because we couldn't go due to the day it was on. It was a fundraiser to help raise money for the school. These were available for purchase and I thought this was another good picture. I see this pictures and just can't believe how grown up she looks. She doesn't just look grown up, she acts it too.  Sure she has the normal toddler fits, but the things that come out of her mouth and her knowledge is just so mature for her age.

Believe it or not that is all the pictures I have taken since I last posted. I feel bad because I have not used my real camera in so long and I have failed at taking a lot of pictures this year. I normally have tons of pictures to go through for her yearly slideshow, but this year I will be doing good to complete a slideshow. Luckily it's not even mid year yet so I still have time. I'm in the market for a new video camera because mine is broke. I can't rely on my phone because I keep running out of storage. The ones on the market today are either way too expensive or just aren't worth it.

I have a very busy month ahead of me so I may be missing in action again until after May. I have a lot to do and very little time. I am very excited because I think I may be beginning to get a more clear picture of the direction God wants me to go. It will be a HUGE leap of faith but He always has a plan to take care of us. Right now I do think I am supposed to be still and know. I am doing that but I am starting to see that light shine and it's just very exciting to think about.

After posting this I have decided to leave my blog public for now. I'm done going back and forth...for now lol

The Longest Post Ever ;)

I seem to have gone from blogging all the time to rarely blogging these days. My heart hasn't been in it lately because apparently my life is so entertaining people want to stoop to "stalking" ways. It's really sad to me to think that some people think you can control other people...you can't. It's not cool to be obsessive or possessive either, so you may as well give it up. After this post my blog will be kept as private. If you are interested in keeping up with me and Maddy...in a healthy way lol...then you will need to "follow" us on here.  Blogging is a great tool to record memories and I have already not been able to write all of our memories on here due to this one person, but that all changes. Anyways, I am done with my stalker rant now and will continue on to better things :)

I never posted Easter on here. I do not have many pictures from Easter due to a couple of reasons. I got to bed Saturday (Sunday) night around 12:30 a.m. I woke up Sunday morning at 2:43 a.m. feeling horrible. I could tell I was running a fever and really just felt horrible. I stayed up the rest of the morning wondering what in the world I was going to do. My entire family was coming to my church because my youngest niece wanted to get baptized on Easter. I couldn't miss that. I couldn't go to church but not play in the orchestra without my family wondering what was wrong with me. I couldn't not go to church for reasons I cannot say on here. I had no idea how I would make it through church because I had no strength and had no idea how I would even play my flute. I decided I would take some Tylenol and that would get me through until after church. Before I go on, let me say that I honestly thought all that was wrong with me was I had a cold or even just allergies. I figured out later that was not the case. I woke Maddy up around 5:45 a.m. so she could see her Easter basket and have a little candy before we had to get ready. We had to be at church by 7:15 a.m. (we normally have to be there by 8:15) to practice before the first service started. The orchestra played in both services, which is not something we typically do, so Easter was just very busy. Maddy has not been up that early since she was a baby. Trying to get her out of bed was worse than pulling teeth lol. I felt so bad having to wake her up so early. At first she wasn't interested in her Easter basket...she just stared at it. I sat down by it and she finally asked what it was. Funny story...a few days before Easter we were laying in my bed and she was looking around my room. I thought everything Easter was put up, but she pointed at a bag and said, "Look! my surprise!" I look at what she sees and there is her Easter basket that you can see through the bag. My heart sank. I jumped up and said, "Hurry!!! Close your eyes and lets go!" I know I totally did the wrong thing but I panicked. I almost bought her a new basket, but I decided throwing away money was not a smart idea. When she kept staring at her basket I couldn't help but wonder if she had remembered seeing it in my room. Oh well!  I was not thinking straight due to feeling so bad and only having 2 hours sleep and it didn't register to me to grab my actual camera to take pictures. I tried taking pictures on my phone, but right as I pulled the camera up my battery died. We made it to church which surprised me to be honest lol. Maddy looked so adorable! I was not impressed with the dress selections this year. I'm actually not impressed with any of the new fashion this year for Maddy. I found two dresses that were ok, but nothing gave me that "aha!" moment. I went with a peach colored dress and got her a little white cardigan to go over it. Maddy made the dress look so beautiful. I am now in love with her dress. Maddy was not cooperative in taking pictures this year. I snapped a couple. I'm hoping her spring pictures from school will showcase her dress better than what I was able to get. We spent the day at my mom's with my family and then had an Easter egg hunt.

Maddy was starting to shut down during both of these pictures. She was starting to pitch fits. After she ate her oranges she got mad and came running to me, crawled into my lap and next thing I know she is fast asleep. I treasure the moments she falls asleep in my arms because one day she is going to be all grown up and won't want to cuddle with mommy.

She kept rolling around on me and ended up all sprawled out lol. I could sit and watch her sleep for hours.

She woke up right as the easter egg hunt was about to begin. I was so thankful she got a good nap in! As the week went on I began to wonder what kind of cold I had. I mean I know there is only one cold, but this cold was knocking me dead on my feet. I was beyond exhausted. I felt like I had been given drowsy medicine around the clock. I had no appetite, but thought maybe my sinuses were draining into my stomach because I also felt a little nauseous. What scared me is my hands tingled something awful and I would feel like I was going to pass out and if I had not laid down I probably would have. I thought my blood pressure was elevated and I was about to stroke out because my lips went numb as well. Mind you this entire time I am working plus working my OT. The problem is I am on production so I was not meeting because I couldn't keep up and if you call in you get a mark against you and it affects your year end performance rating. I decided to call in on Thursday because there was no doing anything. I literally slept all day with the exception of taking Maddy to and from school and my mom dropping some soup off.I ended up calling her Friday night for help. She got hold of a blood pressure machine and my blood pressure was fine. Another symptom I had was the sweaty/clammy feeling all over. I told myself it felt like I had the flu or something, but I didn't think it was the flu. I didn't feel better until the following Sunday. I decided I probably did have the flu and was very thankful when it was all said and done.

My mom and step-dad got chickens so they could have all natural eggs and know they did not come from any kind of growth hormones. My mom took us down to see their new baby chickens and to let Maddy feed them.

I'm excited to say I am well on my way to getting back into shape. I fell off the weight watcher bandwagon with my back to back illnesses and realized I hadn't noticed any real change from the first week I started. I may have lost weight, but I don't keep a scale in my house and my stomach was not slimming down. I was still drinking at least two mello yello's a day and I felt like all the processed foods were not good for my body. I have definitely noticed how much my body has changed since I've had Maddy. It holds on to everything and weight doesn't fall off as easily as it used to. I am still an advocate of weight watchers, but I can't afford to buy all their foods ( not that you have to, it was just more convenient for me) and I felt like what I did eat, my body was just holding on to. I've read so many people that have cut out a lot of processed foods and everybody states it works. This last week I decided to do my own version of dieting and it has really helped. I am so happy to say I am down to only ONE mello yello a day and I've noticed that I could probably go all day without one. I don't drink enough water and I'm sure once I increase my water intake I will notice another difference as well. I do drink a lot of sweet tea, which I know is not all healthy but it is better than soft drinks and juices. I do drink some water. My diet consists of mostly salad. I know my body needs other nutrients as well so I usually have just a salad for lunch and then I make sure to eat some kind of protein for dinner. Most of the time I add protein to my salad because I just love salad. I don't put cheese on my salad, but do eat regular ranch salad dressing and put as much as I want on there. My stomach is loosing inches and I notice I am feeling better about myself. I got an unexpected mini vacation starting Friday of last week. I woke up Friday morning to my work computer not working. Windows just went kaput on it so they had to build me a new one. It is supposed to be here tomorrow. Yesterday I was able to do TWO Jillian Michaels DVD's. I did the six week six pack (I actually only did about 20 minutes) and then did Ripped in 30. I have several of her DVD's and honestly the Ripped in 30 is one of the best ones. It does work most of your muscles altogether. I am feeling the burn today in my stomach and other places lol. Once I get back into working nonstop I'm sure I won't be working out as often, but if I could keep up this routine then I would definitely be beach ready by July.

This is a really good white chicken chili recipe if you need one. I only put in a quarter of a teaspoon of red pepper so Maddy could eat it and it wasn't too hot.

Two weeks ago our pastor started church with these two bible verses. I was fighting back tears because it was as if God came down right in front of me and spoke to me. The music we sang that Sunday was everything I needed and I soaked in the words. That church service I felt as if it was just me and the Lord and I was so thankful that God cared enough about me and how I was feeling that day to give me just what I needed. God is good all the time! I think these verses are very fitting for the tragedy that happened in Boston. My heart breaks for the people that were injured and killed. One thing I know for sure is that God did not cause that to happen.

We had another severe thunderstorm risk last Thursday, and are expected to have another one this Thursday but I am not sure it will happen this Thursday...we will see. I snapped a picture of the storms rolling in. It wasn't too bad where I was, but my mom said it was pretty strong where she was at the time. I did end up losing power sometime after 12:30 a.m. last Friday morning so the winds must have gotten strong once I went to bed.

I snapped this picture yesterday of Manny. He loves to climb on Maddy's trampoline. He just stands on it most of the time. I'm glad I could entertain both of my children with just one toy lol.

One of the things I've been able to do while waiting for my computer to be shipped is clean up like normal people do. Maddy plays in her closet a lot. She pulls everything out to make room for her and her toys. I decided to make room for her play area in her closet. It was also a great place to store some of her toys because she is running out of room in her room. She has yet to play in there since I've set it up and didn't seem to thrilled to have her own space in there. Oh well...at least I tried lol.

 We went shopping Saturday. Our first stop was Old Navy. Maddy did so good for that trip. She let me put her in her stroller and we took her computer...she was entertained the entire time. The people in the store, however, were rude and every time I tried looking at something someone would plow me over to try to look at the same thing. I finally got tired of trying and decided to call it a day. We had two other stores to go to, but we got a late start and I wanted to give her time to play outside so I thought we would break it up. I decided to go to one of the stores to get our fruit bowl and then we could go home. Maddy stayed awake all the way until maybe a minute before we got to the store. We spent an hour and a half just sitting in the parking lot before we got our fruit :)

We did make it outside. I've enjoyed being able to spend more time with her while I've been off. I say this every time I have any time off, but I am very envious of all you stay at home moms. I know being a stay at home mom is hard...I really do understand that. Life is hard no matter what kind of walk you are in. I would rather my stress level be from staying home with my child, than to have it be from work. Again, I am very thankful to have my job...God has truly blessed us and proves time and time again He will take care of us. I do wish I was in a position to stay home with Maddy though.

I do believe this is a wrap for this post. I will be switching my blog to "private" so I can continue to record our special memories. I hope you all are having a great week so far and remember...only two more days until the weekend...if you read this on Wednesday :)