Thursday, May 29, 2008

Updates and Birthday pics!

Hello :-) Just a few updates... I'm slacking with my blog as usual,I know.

I had Alyson's 1st birthday pictures taken at Sears last week.. just got them back today. Here is a slideshow of all the proofs! She fussed a little at first when she started getting her picture taken, but eventually that big toothy grin made an appearance :-)




I've been busy planning her first birthday party... I've decided to have it at our house, though Russ is trying to talk me into having it somewhere. I just want to have it at home so everyone can just hang out and we're not pressured to clean up and be out by a certain time, ya know?

Anyway, I'm doing the "1st cupcake" theme. It's cute... not girly, really, but I like it. I was going to do Strawberry Shortcake, but changed my mind at the last minute and decided to do a 1st birthday theme. Here's what the theme looks like...

Photobucket

I have streamers and a banner for the yard, along with lime green, purple, yellow and red balloons, and 1st birthday foil balloons.... also got a highchair decorating kit (bib, party hat, streamer for on highchair, and a mat for underneath the highchair). I bought pretty much every item offered in this theme...lol. I couldn't resist. I'm just so excited for the party! I'm sending all the invites out in the mail tomorrow... I was just waiting for her pics to come back so I could put them in the invites. Now I just have to figure out where I want to get the cake from, and get the food ordered. We're buying the big dinner stuff from a local restaurant Russ does business with (rigatoni, chicken, etc), I'm making a few things, and my mom and mother-in-law have offered to make some things too. So I have all the details down, just finalizing things :-)

When I'm not party planning (lol) I've just been TRYING to relax (is there such a thing with an almost-1-year-old?!). Russ and I were out on the boat most of Memorial Day weekend...it was a good time. Sunday was BEAUTIFUL... we took Alyson on the boat with us... she didn't know what to do at first and just stayed on my lap, then got a little more adventurous later and started crawling around. Monday my parents offered to watch Alyson for a little bit, so we went out on the boat with a few friends, then to my parents' house for a cookout.

That's about it for the excitement lately... just been enjoying the warm weather. I got all my flowers planted and things cleaned up around the house and on the deck. Today was a beautiful day too... mid 70's and a cloudless blue sky. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and around 80! I bought Aly a baby pool when we were out today, so I'm going to see if she'll go in it tomorrow. With as much as she loves splashing around in the bathtub, she should LOVE a baby pool! I'll be sure and have my camera ready :-)

Well, I can hardly keep my eyes open, so I'm gonna end this here and head to bed. It's so hard to believe that I used to stay up so late every night. Now, I feel like the furthest thing from a night owl. I'm now a "go to bed by 11pm because my daughter wakes me up by 8am" mommy. But I wouldn't have it any other way. For some reason, waking up early doesn't bother me when I'm greeted by Alyson with a big huge smile on her face, stretching her arms out for me and saying "ma ma ma ma!" :-)

Nighty night!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Random 'I'm so bored' post.

Well, I hope all you mommies out there had a WONDERFUL Mother's Day! Russ and I went to my Grandma's house on Mother's Day for a little family get-together... it was a good time. He was supposed to take me shopping that day ( I have been telling him about this mother's ring I LOVE), but we didn't have enough time before we left for my Grandma's house. He took me to the mall on Monday... I looked in a few jewelry stores, but didn't find the ring I wanted. I ended up getting some new sandals and some summer clothes. :-)

As for my being sick, I'm feeling ALOT better now. Almost totally back to my normal peppy self. Almost... I'd say I'm about 90%. 3 more days of Penicillin and I'm done with that.

On another note... is anyone else out there a Pittsburgh Penguins fan? They are doing AWESOME! I got away from watching hockey for awhile, but got back into it recently. Only 1 more game to win and they are up for the Stanley Cup! WOO HOOOOOOOO! :-)

Ok...just had to get that out.

Not much else to talk about. I'm just wishing I was back on a beach somewhere. This weather here SUCKS lately. It just doesn't want to warm up!! If it IS warm, it's all cloudy and rainy. Blah. Give me a nice sunny day, please! Preferably about 75 degrees! But maybe we WILL be on a beach again soon... we were supposed to go see Russ's brother and his wife in Alaska later in the summer, but it turns out that they are going to be in Costa Rica in June sometime, so we might just meet up with them there. Not sure what all is in Costa Rica, but heck, we'll try it. I'm up for anything!

Well, my little girl is making a mess of the house (which I DID have all nice and cleaned up) so I'd better get her before it looks like a tornado went through here. I already have to go out later and get us a new phone, because she's dropped it so much it doesn't work that well now. Our friends have informed us that it probably won't be the FIRST time we have to get a new phone...lol.

Alright... better get Aly now. Thank goodness it's almost nap time for her!!

Have a great day.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Punta Cana trip and my sick self

Well, Russ and I are back from our trip to Punta Cana :-) While it was great to get away for awhile, I was never so happy to get home. The first reason being that we didn't take Alyson with us so I COULD NOT wait to see her... the second being that I was SICK AS A DOG the day we came home. My sinuses started acting up during the trip, but I figured it was just the humidity, temperature change, blah blah blah. I was fine for 3/4 of the trip, then Monday morning before coming home, I woke up and just felt weird. My throat was feeling funny, I didn't have an appetite, and my eyes felt like they hurt.

We left the resort at 10am (long ride to airport) and our flight was scheduled to leave Punta Cana at 1:30pm. WELL... by the time we were ready to board the plane, I was feeling MISERABLE. My head was thumping and I felt like I was burning up, yet I was freezing. I had to be running a fever but didn't have a way to check. So THEN we find out that our flight was being delayed because the stupid computers crashed and the people who hadn't checked in yet had to get all their boarding passes and luggage tags done manually. UGH. So we boarded the plane at 1:40, only to wait on the plane another hour before taking off, waiting for all the people who got stuck in line when the computers crashed. I was NOT a happy camper. So there I was, stuck for 4 hours between Russ and some lady I didn't know. I covered up with a blanket the whole time, and Russ thought I was nuts because he was hot as heck. Once we got to our connection at JFK in NY, I was sweating bullets and felt like my head was in a sauna and the rest of me was in an igloo. I ended up finding a store that sold sinus medicine, so I took some, and thankfully it started working before we boarded the plane to come back to Pittsburgh.

So I figured I just had a sinus thing and it'd be better in the morning. WRONG. I woke up and could practically swallow, my nose was stuffed up, my eyes felt swelled shut, etc etc.... I looked in the mirror, opened my mouth...and.... strep throat. I was so TICKED. I haven't had this since I was a kid! Why now?! So I checked my temp and it was 102... and even though I felt crappy at the time, it was nothing like how I felt the day before, so God knows what my temperature was then.

I called the doc to get something called in, and left a message. THe nurse practitioner didn't call back until later in the afternoon, and she said there was nothing she could do until the next day (wednesday). So I suffered Tuesday, swallowing Ibuprofen and gargling salt water til I was about to yack. Wednesday morning I was MISERABLE, with a temp of 103.8...and thank GOD I got my prescription by early afternoon. I was about to suck it up and head to ER, though I was in no shape to sit there and wait all day.

So now I'm on Penicillin, and it seems to be working. My throat is still sore and I sound all nasally when I talk... I still ache.... my ears hurt.....my eyes hurt... my frickin TEETH feel like they hurt...and I still have white tonsils.... but at least I don't have a fever anymore. LOL. It gets a little better everyday. It just sucks because Tuesday morning is when we picked Alyson up from Russ's mom's house, and I couldn't wait to see her, but I felt so crappy because of being sick, and I hated to get HER sick. So Russ's mom came over Wednesday and a little bit of Thursday afternoon to help me out with Alyson... I tried not to get TOO close to her until the Penicillin kicked in. Supposedly things are no longer contagious, so I'm REALLY gonna feel bad if Alyson gets sick.

ANYWAY... that's the bad news of the trip. The trip itself was awesome.... the weather there was on and off rainy, but it was mostly cloudbursts. I guess people were right when they said it rains ALL THE TIME in Punta Cana... showers just come out of nowhere, and the sun will be out the whole time! Speaking of the sun... it is HOT down there. We were only on the beach not even 2 hours the first time, and Russ got burned pretty bad.... Mr. "I don't need sunblock because I'm already tan." LOL. He got fried the first day on the beach. Me, I put sunblock on, but every spot I missed ended up bright red, one being my forehead...lol.

ANother thing... LOTS of boobies and speedos on the beach. JEESH! And wouldn't you know, the first set of tatas that we saw belonged to a dark leathery looking old lady. She didn't give a darn either. I told Russ, "Hey, if she wants them hanging out, more power to her." Russ especially liked when 2 girls who looked to be in their 20's laid out close to us and let it all hang out. He smiled and goes, "See? That's when these sunglasses come in handy." Men. :-P

Dealing with the resort, it was beautiful! We stayed at the Riu Palace Punta Cana,an all-inclusive resort. I'll put a slideshow of pics at the end of this post :-)

Being that I'm feeling pretty crappy, I'd better get some sleep now. Alyson's been waking up earlier now. OH--- by the way-- my baby's WALKING! She's still wobbly and falls down alot, but she's been taking off on her own and will walk all across the living room, down the hall, through the kitchen, wherever she wants. I couldn't believe it! She had been taking a few steps on her own prior to us leaving on the trip, but not until yesterday did she start walking longer distances. :-)

Alright...more soon. Take care!