Rainbow Pirate

Early this morning I received an e-mail from the hubby that read, "Yarrrrrrrr! The rainbow pirate is lurking!" and this is the photo that accompanied the message:My husband loves pirates (or at least talking like a pirate) and I guess that's what Ally reminded him of this morning. Regardless, the picture made my day...she's so cute! Thanks, Bud, for the early morning giggle!

Are You Going to Take a Picture of That?

Our conversation tonight:

Me: Ok, Ally has her Halloween party tomorrow at daycare. Her costume is all ready to take and is hanging on the door.

Him (as he looks towards the door): Are you going to take a picture of THAT?? I guess I need to get used to this kind of stuff (he loves the pink that has invaded our home in the past year and a half).

Me: You know I am and yes, you do...


Happy Halloween!

Way Behind

I am WAY behind on posting to my blog lately and I apologize to those of you who check in on a regular basis. I have, as usual, taken on trying to do way too many things and this time of the year is crazy enough as is. I will be making an effort to get caught up some here and there in the next week or so, so please scroll through or check my archives for older posts I may have snuck in there that you missed.
Thanks for reading my little online journal and don't be afraid to leave me comments (nice ones, though, as I don't like meanies. :-))

Welcome Fall!

What a Life!

Here is a look at Ally's weekend through pictures. It really is great to be a (almost) 15 month old!

Saturday:

Dumping out every toy in the basket (and then later dragging the basket around the house for half the day)...

Staring contest with Riley (although I don't think he realized this is what was going on)...
Being silly with Mommy...
Playing in the clean, warm laundry that mommy just pulled out of the dryer...

Afternoon snack, picnic style and with toys (and note she is still in her pj's!)...

Sunday:

Late morning snack on her picnic table outside (still in pj's...again!)...

Whatcha talkin' 'bout Willis!?

Playing dress up in her big floppy sun hat...We eventually got dressed and dropped David at the office so he could put in a quick bid for a client, while Ally and I ran a few errands. We stopped for ice cream at McDonalds on the way back to pick him up, which Ally really enjoyed (so did mommy and daddy!). It was a lazy weekend (although we did manage to get a few things done around the house, including cleaning out the garage!!), but it was a great one!

My Little Prairie Girl

We were getting out some of the clothes that Ally received when she was first born and can now fit into and we came across this cute little bonnet. Isn't she just too cute in her duckie jammies and little hat? (Never mind the food caked to her face from dinner...it just adds to her character. We gave her a good scrub down before bedtime.).

Just for Fun

I found a fun little quiz today when I was checking out someone else's blog and the result of the quiz tells you what part of spring you are (I don't know, it was just fun). :-) Click on the link at the bottom of the post to take the quiz yourself (it's only 4 or 5 questions)! Here are my results (they are fairly accurate!)...

You Are Baseball Games

You like old fashioned things. You're one of those people who values tradition. You enjoy a slow pace of life. You believe that life is all about enjoying every moment. You love the changing of the seasons, and you look forward to what each season brings. You are smart and a bit obsessive. You become very immersed in your interests.

What Part of Spring Are You?

Spring! Spring! Spring!

Today is the first day of spring and although I would love to have a little warmer temperatures, so far it seems like a nice day. I can not begin to say how happy I am to finally see warmer days on the horizon. It has been a long, cold winter and I am not a fan!

HAPPY FIRST DAY of SPRING!!!

Lost: Me Time-If Found Please Call...

Please excuse me while I get my thoughts out for a minute...

I'm not completely lazy. Odd way to start out my blog entry today, I know, but it seems appropriate to clarify that. What am I talking about you ask? Working out. Yuck.

I used to be very active and therefore, physically fit, so I never really had to dedicate a specific time to "working out", because I was always practicing something, or going to some two-a-day or dance class or something. I was involved in about every sport you could imagine at some point in my early life, from softball and soccer to competitive dance and snow skiing. I love to be outdoors and I really get enjoyment out of going to sporting events. So what happened to me? Life happened. Don't get me wrong, I am not making excuses. I do need to get myself back into shape and be more healthy...I know that. It's just sometimes it's hard to fit that into the rest of my adult life duties and especially with the addition of motherhood and all of it's added responsibilities...where do people find the time?

It has been an ongoing "issue" (let's just keep it nice and neat) in our home about when I am going to be able to find time for myself, to take care of myself. David has a very demanding job (especially with today's market), one that requires him to often work long evening and weekend hours, and this usually leaves me to manage the other aspects of our life and work my "9-5" job at the same time. I really am not trying to get your sympathy, but I don't think some people really understand how much that really means and it is an on-going source of frustration for me. We know that all of David's time spent with his career is going to pay off and help our family in the long-run, so I am happy to assist him as much as possible and it is so exciting to be a part of the early stages of what I know will be a long a successful career for David, but it can be very tiring and demanding for me too.

When I went back to work after having Ally, I switched my hours to a 7:30-4:30 schedule, so I could get Ally picked up from the babysitter by 5:00 and avoid a lot of the traffic issues I had faced before. In order to make it to work by 7:30am, I have to leave my house NO LATER than 6:45am. That is pretty darn early folks (at least for me who has NEVER claimed, even for a minute, to be a morning person)! In order to leave my house by 6:45, I have to be up and out of the shower by 5:30 (and I probably should get up even earlier than this). I spend 45 minutes on myself (which is probably why I look the way I do some days, but another topic for another day) and then spend 1/2 hour to 45 minutes getting Ally ready, before waking David up to take over baby duty so I can head off to work. It's a pretty rushed hour to hour and a half most mornings and I feel bad for having to rush Ally, especially.

Why don't I take "me time" at night and work out then? Well, anyone who has ever had a child that never stops moving and takes very few naps, can answer that question. Between dinner and baths and bedtime routines and I don't know, maybe spending a few minutes of quality time with my child or trying to keep up with the house duties, the few hours I have at night before I need to get to bed, go by before I even know it and then it is time to start the same routine again. And, who wants to work out at 10:00 at night when they get up at 5:30?

I love my life, I have it VERY good...this I know, but if I could wish for something, I often think I would wish for more hours in the day. :-) I'm sure there are a ton of moms out there that often wish for the very same thing.

Well, to bring all of this back home...yesterday, David and I were once again having the "I don't have enough time to work out!" "discussion" and I mentioned that if David were to get up with Ally in the morning and get her started, I would workout when I got up at 5:30 and then finish getting ready during the time that I would have normally been getting Ally ready. Now, I should probably state that David is also not known for being "of the chipper morning variety" and it normally takes at least three rounds of me harassing him before he is actually out of the bed (not blaming him one bit, just saying). I didn't really think this whole "why don't you get up a half hour earlier so I can work out" thing would really go over very well with him, but to my surprise he agreed with pretty much no hesitation! We have two vacations planned this summer and we are both in a beach wedding for good friends of ours in October, so David knows how important it is to me to get in better shape before any of those events. It's important to him too, so he has been working out every morning with his dad, after he drops Ally off at the babysitter's, for the past couple months. I am so proud of him for his commitment to getting healthier, but I think David realizes I don't have the luxury of that kind of schedule or time, so maybe that's why he is so willing to get up extra early to help me out.
I don't know, but I hope he knows how much I really do appreciate it!
I started my new workout routine this morning and it was a little rough to go from nice cozy bed straight into lunges and crunches, but I feel really good about doing it. I have realized, once again, that I am no where near as young as I used to be and am not able to do what I used to be able to do, but I am hopeful that I will get there soon or at least closer. I am hopeful that this will help me to have more energy and feel better about myself and to set a good example for Allyson. OK, let's be honest, I am most hopeful that I will be able to continue to get my rear-tail moving that early in the morning and that my husband won't decide he was crazy for agreeing to this new routine...it has been only one day after all. :-)

To Bud, my wonderful hubby,
Thank you for helping me carve out some "me time"! It really does mean a lot to me and it has rejuvenated me more than you know!
I love you and your willingness to be so supportive!
Can't wait for our summer on the beach together!
-E

Wish me good luck and good use of my new 1/2 hour of "me time"!! I will keep you all posted on our quest to get in shape!

Wrestle Mania 2009: Ally vs. Daddy

Score: Ally 1, Daddy 0

Oh, Louuuu...Isn't the Mooooon Beeeeauuuutiful?

If you are a member of my family, you will probably get the humor in the title of this post and if not, then I will explain it to you someday (although you may not think it is as funny as I do). :-)
Anyway, David came home the other night rushing to find the camera because he was so impressed with the moon and wanted to see what kind of pictures he could get with our mega-zoom lens with stabilizer (fancy, right?). The moon was so big and full looking that he thought it was a full moon, but turns out it wasn't quite full yet. The pictures turned out neat though! In the one picture, it looks like the moon is almost on top of our house!

Little Dolly

Ally loves her little doll baby...

Thanks Amy, James, Ryan, Mitchell and Charlie!