Pumpkin Patch Fun

Drew, Annelise, and I went to the Pumpkin Patch this afternoon!  It was a gorgeous fall day, and we knew we had to take advantage of what will probably be one of the last ones.  Annelise had a great time running around, and I really loved making the memories.  Doing the fall activities, like the apple orchard and pumpkin patch, is something that I always dreamed about doing with my kids.

Annelise loved being able to pet the goats.  We didn't have any change on us to get the pellet food, so Annelise made due with feeding them some leaves from the ground.

After we took our obligatory family pictures with the pumpkin, we grabbed something to eat.  After that, we took Annelise on her very first pony ride!  She had a blast!

See how excited she was!  She was not very happy about having to get off, and immediately started signing "more".  She quickly calmed down though when we told her we were going to look at some other things and that we'd be taking a wagon ride.

We walked around a little bit to check out what was left to see, and then we made our way over to where the wagon picks you up to go pick your own pumpkin.  We found three great pumpkins and, once we took the wagon ride back, put them in a wagon to go pay for them.  Annelise insisted on riding with them.

That girl absolutely loves to ride in the wagon.  I love days like today when we can make so many fun memories as a family.  I know that Annelise won't remember them, but she'll have pictures to look back at.

Eighteen Months

Dear Annelise,

How is it that another six months have flown by since your first birthday and you are now a year and a half old?!?  There are some days where each day feels about a week long and I count down the seconds until it is time for you to go to bed.  Then, there are days that fly by faster than my eyes can blink and I can't believe that I'm already getting you ready for bed again.  I am so amazed at the growing and learning that you have done in these past six months.

Whenever anyone asks about you, I always say that you are a toddler in every sense of the word.  You are sweet, lovable, smart, rambunctious, busy, so many words that it's hard to write them all down.  You also are a challenge some days.  I know that some of our disagreements are because you can't fully communicate to me yet.  Some are just because you want your own way and don't want to listen to what Mommy or Daddy has to say.

I love that I (or Daddy) can ask you for a kiss or a hug and you always turn to give me one.  You are so sweet and affectionate and it warms my heart.  You are also starting to warm up and give those hugs and kisses away willingly to other people too.  Auntie, Nana, GG, and Grandma usually get some love without too much coaxing.  You have started to warm up around others quicker.  You still tuck into me at first, but it doesn't take long for you to come out of your shell and interact with people.

You communicate to us primary through signing.  You know and consistently use "eat", "more", "water", "milk", "please", and "help".  I'm amazed at how quickly you pick up new signs when I teach them to you.  Verbally, you say "mama", "daddy", "bye-bye", and "up".  You say "kkkkki" for kitty.  You understand so much that I say to you, you just can't communicate it yet.  You know all about the animals, and many of their sounds, you just have a hard time mimicking those sounds.  However, you definitely have the growl down!  You growl almost more than any other noise.  It's adorable!  I know that you're trying to talk.  In the past month or two, you have really started to babble a lot.  You look at me and start this string of unrecognizable sounds and noises and I just go along with it and try to have a conversation with you.  You're trying to tell me something.  Eventually it'll be in English!  Ha!

You also know many body parts.  You can point out your head, hair, eyes, nose, ear, tongue, teeth, belly button, knees, and toes.  Some days you very willingly point them out, and other days you ignore me completely when I ask you.  Ahhhh toddlerhood!

You have sprouted all four of your first molars.  You ran a slight fever, but nothing too terrible.  You still just have the very middle bottom teeth; still haven't cut the lateral incisors.  So weird!

I can't believe how much you LOVE to dance!  You are constantly moving, constantly running, constantly on the go.  You will sway side to side, move your hips, wave your arms, turn in circles, and stomp your feet.  Everybody loves to watch you dance.  I hope that you continue loving to dance!

You have discovered that you can climb on top of your activity table and it will make you taller so that you can see things.  I would say that this is your new favorite activity.  You are constantly hauling that table around to different parts of the house so that you can use it to climb up and see things or get into things that you shouldn't.  It's safe to say that not much is safe from you anymore!  Most of the time you will leave things alone when I tell you.  However, you love to run into the bathroom and get into my drawer and pull all of my stuff out.  If I catch you, you flop onto your belly and start giggling.  It's kind of hard to be mad at you when you do that!

We are still going to Kindermusik classes and you absolutely love going.  This time, all the kids are right around your age, which I think you enjoy more.  I'm also happy that you've started to interact a lot more in class.  You run to grab the instruments and you will actually dance and move around now.  Sometimes, you'll even participate without me having to carry you.

We have had a sad milestone recently.  We stopped breastfeeding.  We went a little over 17 months.  I am seriously so happy, blessed, honored, humbled, and overjoyed that we were able to go so long and not have any issues.  I'm so proud of us!  At the time when we stopped, you were only nursing in the mornings, and it wasn't for very long at all.  Once I decided to stop, you still asked for it, but you were okay with not nursing as long as you were fed breakfast right away.  You only really cried once, but once I sat you down for breakfast, you forgot all about it.

Some friends of Mommy and Daddy's had a baby at the end of August and they came over to get her pictures done.  You absolutely loved that baby and insisted on holding her and being right next to her the whole time.  A couple of weeks later, we went to their house to drop off the pictures and hang out and you, again, loved being around the baby.  The baby wasn't so crazy about you, but her crying didn't seem to phase you.  You just wanted to hold her.  You cried once I took her away so that she could be comforted and stop crying.  I loved that you wanted to hold the baby and love on her.  I think that you'll be a great big sister.  You also didn't seem to mind when I had the baby.  Now, of course, I'm anxious to give you a sibling.  I know that that will come in time.  But, I think that you'll be a great big sister when the time comes.

You have started to express an interest in the potty.  You want to sit on the toilet, and you say "pee pee", but I don't know if you actually connect the two yet.  I let you sit on the toilet, but nothing has happened yet.  I'm not really expecting it to.  But, I am excited that you have started to express an interest.

You are 25 lbs 3 oz, and 32.5 inches tall.  You wore 18 month clothes this summer and will be wearing 24 month this fall/winter.  You wear a size 4 diaper.

Little lady, sometimes I can't believe how much love I have for you.   I always struggle with wanting you to grow up faster and slow down growing up.  I love looking forward to each with you and you always surprise me with something new.  I love you so much!

Love forever,
Mommy

Fabulous Fall Day

Drew and I took Annelise to Edward's Apple Orchard today.  The weather was absolutely amazing today!  Beautifully sunny and in the upper 70s!  You can't get much better than that.

When we first arrived, we let Annelise see some of the animals and run around the playground for a little bit. 

I tried to have her stand by height measuring photo board, but she was NOT having it!

That's about as good as we could get.  She really just wanted to run around. 

We went for a horse drawn wagon ride around the orchard.  Annelise really loved seeing the horses and she was even allowed to pet them afterwards!

Of course, no trip to the orchard is complete without buying some apple cider doughnuts and apples!  We stocked ourselves up and said farewell to the orchard.  I have a feeling that we'll make another trip back before the end of the season. 

Ready To Go

A few weeks ago, I called my RE's office because I had a couple of questions about the blood work that I needed to have done.  I found out that my doctor was leaving and going to teach at a college and that a new doctor was taking over the practice.  This new doctor was already seeing patients.  I never would have known this had it not been for my call!  (Would anybody else have been a little irritated about that?)  During my conversation with the nurse, I found out that he (sometimes) has a different protocol for the way he does things.  This worried me some because I had already set up a plan of action with my old RE, and I was concerned that there would be things added or not needed.  So, I scheduled a consultation with this new doctor so that we could meet him and go over the course of action for my treatment.

Drew and I went and met with Dr. D a few weeks ago.  He's such a nice guy.  He seems very intelligent, down to earth, and he's been through IVF himself.  Most importantly, he didn't want to screw around with what worked last time for us to have a healthy pregnancy and baby.  Great news!

Dr. D did inform me that I would have to update my blood work and that it was mandated by the government for the lab that we use.  Ok, fine, even though I was about 99.9% positive that I didn't have any STDs, I went and got the blood work done.  I don't have any STDs, but I did find out that I'm anemic.  Lovely.  A week after that, I had an ultrasound done to check my uterus and ovaries.  Ute looked good, but ovaries had some cysts.  He said that they looked exactly like endometriomas, which he would expect because of my endometriosis.  He said that since he was fairly confident that was what they would, he wouldn't have any problem moving forward with a FET whenever we were ready.  He said that if I was concerned about the cysts, that he could do some testing and surgery to remove them.  I basically said, "No thanks!" and we moved on.

So, everything is all set to go for a Frozen Embryo Transfer whenever we decide to go ahead with it.  Drew and I are still trying to discuss when the best time would be.  We keep tossing around different dates and scenarios and trying to pick the best one.

I'm feeling very lonely this time around.  I feel like I had more of a support system the last time we cycled.  I know that a lot of it has to do with the fact that we aren't even really telling people that we're cycling again, but even the people that do know seem a little distant.

I'm terrified going into this.  I'm so worried about something going wrong.  We only have two snowbabies and if something goes wrong, we're out of luck.  Drew and I have already decided that we probably won't ever do a fresh IVF cycle again.  There is so much riding on the thaw and transfer.  I'm scared of the embryo not surviving the thaw, or not implanting.  I'm scared of miscarrying again.  It's been a long time since my body did the pregnancy thing.  What if it screws it up again?  I know that I really need to calm down and relax, but that is so hard to do.

Fall Fest Parade

The weekend after Labor Day is when Roscoe puts on the annual Fall Festival.  It usually runs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with a parade Sunday morning.  I went many years when I was younger, and I was so excited to take Annelise this year.

Drew and I drove up there Friday night to walk around some, and so that Annelise could ride some rides.  She absolutely LOVES riding rides.  I usually start by taking her down the big slide, and then move to some of the other rides.  I think her favorite is the dragon roller coaster.  As soon as she sees it, she starts signing "more" and wants to run over to it.  While she's on the ride, she never once cracks a smile, or acts like she enjoys it.  She just sits there all content, enjoying the ride.  As soon as the ride stops, she hops up to get off, but then immediately starts signing "more" to go again.

Today, Rachel and I took Annelise to the parade in the morning.  I was excited to take her because I thought she would really enjoy seeing the bands and the local dance teams and cheerleaders.  She did enjoy it, but she also enjoyed collecting the candy that is thrown out.

It took her a little bit to get the hang of picking the candy up and putting it in the bag, but once she did, she was all over it.  She would run and pick up the candy, then toddle over to put it in the bag, then run back to me for me to pick her up.  When some more people came along and threw candy out, she would wiggle to get down, run grab the candy, and repeat the whole process.  And those Dum Dum suckers?  She absolutely loves them!

We're trying to entertain ourselves while waiting for the parade to start.

I went through her bag of stuff tonight and found a temporary tattoo and thought I'd put it on her.  Her mind is always blown whenever she gets a hand stamp at Kindermusik, so I knew she'd be amazed at the tattoo.

She just kept staring at it, and touching it.  It was so funny!

Photo Share

I recently upgraded my camera, so I've been snapping away more than usual.  My sister and I took Annelise outside to play this evening, and I practiced on my new camera while she ran around.

Why aren't there any adorable photos like this of me and my child?  Oh right, because I'm always behind the camera!  It warms my heart that I can capture moments like this though.

Annelise was having quite the conversation with Rachel.  Her face cracks me up!

Her new favorite activity is to use her activity table as a step stool.  She lugs that thing to wherever she wants to be to see, climbs on top of it, and then proceeds to do what she wanted to.  For the most part, I allow her to do it.  But then she decided that she wanted to stand in front of the gate at the top of the stairs and I quickly put my foot down on that one.

Second Shooting

When I first decided to take the plunge and start my photography business, I swore up and down and around in circles that I would never, ever, EVER shoot a wedding.  I was a bride once, and I remember how important those pictures were to me.  I remember that I didn't meet my wedding photographer until the day before the wedding, and Drew told me not to worry because "he shoots for Sports Illustrated and National Geographic".  I remember the panic that I had because those aren't even remotely close to wedding at all.  However, my fears were ridiculous and Brad did an even better job than I could have ever imagined.

But, I still know how important those images are.  I remember walking up the next morning and realizing that I could hardly remember the day before.  I wanted to see my pictures so badly so that I could try to arouse some of my memory of that day.  We received our pictures a few weeks later and I loved being able to walk through that day as I scrolled through the images.

I always said that I never wanted to be a wedding photographer.  A wedding photographer gets one chance to nail the shot.  The first kiss as husband and wife?  That only happens once!  The moment when they are announced as husband and wife and they beam with love and joy?  That only happens once!

What if I were their photographer and someone walked in front of me during one of those big moments?  What if I didn't meter correctly and my image was blown out or too dark?  What if my focus was off?  What if my camera suddenly decided it hated me and died?  What if I missed their big moment and they had no image to look back on and smile in joy and remembrance?

I just couldn't take that pressure!

So, I swore that I would never photograph weddings.  And I stand by that.

But then, I was talking to Kristen, the photographer who has done all of our photos since my maternity photos.  She asked me if I would ever be interested in second shooting with her.  I told her that I would entertain the idea, as long as I was not responsible for all the important images.  We discussed it a little bit and she asked me to second shoot with her at a wedding in the beginning of October.  I've been a little terrified thinking of it, but knew that it was still a ways off.

Then, she messaged me earlier this week.  She asked me if I was available to second shoot with her this weekend.  My heart leaped into my throat and I panicked.  I didn't have hardly any time to prepare, but she reassured me that she would take care of the hard stuff and that I was there for all the peripherals.  So, I agreed.

And that's how I second shot my first wedding yesterday.  I was so terrified as I drove there.  Of course, once I took out my camera and started shooting, all the anxiety started to melt away.  I know how to use my camera.  (The flash is a different story!)  I just relied on what I knew and gave my best effort.

I quickly skimmed through my images before I sent them over to Kristen and they weren't awful.  There were a bunch of pretty good ones.  There were also a bunch of pretty crappy ones, but hey, it was my first time shooting in that situation!  I definitely learned a lot and will need to work on improving.  I had such a great time second shooting and I actually really, really want to do many more. Of course, it was awesome to get out of the house for a while!

Now today, I have the biggest blisters on my feet from wearing brand new shoes and being on my feet more than I have in a long time.  Next time, I definitely won't be wearing new shoes!

Kid Mansion

I've been trying to take Annelise to the park at least once a week this summer.  I've noticed that she really, really enjoys going down slides.  She also likes the swings.  I started hunting for a slide for the backyard for her.  I'd like to have the option to take her in the yard to play if we're limited on time.  But, whenever I take her back there to play, she always just wants to climb on the deck stairs. I'm not a fan of that activity.

So, I began searching the internet for something to entertain her.  I first thought about just buying a new slide.  But, I knew that I wanted to get a decent sized slide so that we could enjoy it for longer than a week before she got bored with it.  The one that I found was around $100.  Not too shabby, but I felt like I could do better.

Then, I started looking at the outdoor playhouse type toys.  They were bigger, and definitely fit my requirement that they would keep her entertained for longer, but, of course, they also came at a price.  Those ran anywhere from $200-600, depending on the size and features.  I didn't really want to go that crazy either.

So, I took to Facebook to see if anyone was selling a slide.  No one was, but my aunt did suggest that I check out Craig's List.  I swear, I really do hope that one day I get my brain back, because I miss it.  I never even thought to look there.

I searched CL for a couple of days and found one that I liked.  I was able to talk the lady down in price a little bit, and we went and picked it up tonight.  As soon as we got home, we Drew assembled it.  Annelise could hardly wait for us to finish.

Behold, her new kid mansion!

It's a little faded from being out in the sun, but it's still in great shape!  I'm just going to let her play on it like this for the rest of this year, and then maybe fix it up and spray paint it some better colors next spring.

She had such a great time playing on it tonight!  I just love seeing the excitement on her face as she explores a new toy.  I'm excited to take her out there next time and see her face light up when she sees it again.  There really is nothing better than watching the world through the eyes of a child.

Cycle Games

I had mentioned previously that Drew and I have decided that we are ready to expand our family again, and add another child.  If you remember, we still have two frozen embryos waiting patiently for us.  We started trying on our own right around Annelise's first birthday.  I knew that I didn't want to get pregnant before she was a year old, and I honestly wasn't even really ready to think about it until around then.  Plus, the nurse practitioner at my OB's office said that it was best to give my body a year of time to heal.  And, if we're continuing on all the reasons why I really wanted to wait, it was important to me to breastfeed for at least a year and I didn't want to compromise that by getting pregnant again.

I have been charting my cycles since the beginning of the year, and I am beyond frustrated with my body at this point.  I'm not going super crazy charting like I did when I first started charting back in 2010.  Then, I tracked my temperature, used OPKs, and tried to make a note of my CM.  This time, I'm keeping an eye on my CM, and if the mood strikes me, I'll occasionally test an OPK.  Some months get more OPK action than others.  Mainly, I'm frustrated with the length of each cycle.  I keep bouncing around from 26 days to 30 days to 36 days back to 28 days, and everything in between!

This cycle?  26 days!  I never even felt a cramp or like I was going to get my period at all.  It just showed up out of the blue, completely ruining the plans that I had to go to the beach.  Like all, "Hey, let me ruin your life one more time".

How the heck can I expect to make a baby, if I can't even make a semi-educated guess as to when I'm going to ovulate?  And with a 26 day cycle, something is seriously messed up in the ovulation department.  Either I'm ovulating super early, or my luteal phase is all sorts of messed up.  If it's my luteal phase, that leads to a whole other level of problems that need to be addressed.

I keep wondering if I should call my RE and talk to him about my super wonky cycles.  I had a consultation with him back in June about getting the ball rolling on our next frozen transfer.  He told me that since it's been more than 18 months since I've been there, we have to redo all of our initial blood work, and I have to have a Saline Infusion Sonogram (SIS) done.  That is done to check my uterus for any polyps, parts of placenta that might be leftover, or any other crap that may have surfaced since my last pregnancy that would be bad news for a new pregnancy.  I'm not stoked about having to do all of that over again, but I can't argue.  And, I'm pretty sure that if I call him and talk to him about my cycles, that he's just going to say that there's nothing he can do without doing blood work first.

Drew and I have a high deductible insurance plan, so rather than having to pay the deductible twice, assuming that the thaw and transfer is successful, we just planned on waiting until January to start all of the testing.  Hence, us trying on our own.  I really don't put my hopes too high on it, because it didn't work for us for the year and a half that we tried before doing IVF.  But, I still pray about it.  And, I guess that I'm lying when I say that I don't get my hopes up too high, because I still cry every month when my period arrives, just like before.  Ahhhh, nothing like infertility to make you feel broken and worthless.

But, there is a small bit of good news in all of this.  I have been relatively pain free since my periods have returned after giving birth.  I consistently take pain meds in the morning and before bed for the first couple of days, and I always have the heating pad close by in case I start to feel bad.  But, it has been managed very well, and I haven't felt too hindered by it.  I do notice that they are usually pretty heavy, and that's also related to the endometriosis.  It's definitely a relief to not have the pain that I used to experience.

Parades and Homecomings

Today was a very exciting day for us!  This morning, my friend, Heather, and her daughter, Anya, came over to visit and play.  Heather and I met while we were both going through infertility treatments. Similarly, we both have snowbabies for daughters.  Heather and her family live in towards Chicago, but, we both did our IVF procedures at the same clinic.  (My doctor is located here in town, but we are sent into Chicago for the retrieval and transfer.)  Anya is 19 months, and Annelise just turned 16 months, so they are very close in age.

Anya and Annelise spent some time playing, and sharing some goldfish that Heather brought as a gift for Annelise.  After a little bit of playing, I thought I heard some bagpipes playing.  I went and looked out the window, and remembered that a parade would be going by.  Our little hick town had a corn boil today, and a parade always kicks off the festivities.  Before Annelise, I was either working, or just dragging my lazy butt out of bed.  Last year Annelise was still pretty young, so we didn't bother walking down to it.  Today though, I thought that both girls would love to see it.  And, it just so happened to be Anya's first parade too.

We quickly put some shoes on the girls and walked down to the end of the street.  The girls ran around in our neighbor's yard until the parade came by.

At first, everything was great and the girls really seemed to be enjoying it.  But then, the firetrucks came by and started blowing their horns.

Poor little Annelise was terrified!  She turned and grabbed onto Heather and Anya as tight as she could and just held on!  Notice how she didn't let go of the sucker though.  Haha!

The parade was over roughly five minutes after it started.  Our little hick town really knows how to throw a party!  Heather and I took the girls back inside the house and sat them on the couch to get their picture together.

Of course, they had their suckers.  Don't they look like they are gossiping with each other?  I hope that they can be good friends as they grow older.

Heather and Anya left around noon because both girls needed a nap.  I put Annelise down right away.  Once she woke up, she ate lunch, and then we only had about two hours to waste until it was time to go pick up Drew from the bus station!  That's right, Drew came home today!!!

Annelise and I were waiting for him at the bus station when the bus arrived.  We had made a "welcome home" sign for him.  Once Drew had gotten his bag, he walked over and Annelise almost acted like she couldn't believe he was really home.  A guy who had seen us and the sign tapped Drew on the shoulder and told him that he was "quite a lucky man".  I agree!  We got everything loaded in the car and stopped at the corn boil on the way home for some dinner.

After we ate, we came back to the house and Drew had gotten us girls some gifts from Portland.

Drew got Annelise her very first jewelry box.  She kept looking at it and turning it all around.  I really think she liked it.  Drew got me a Pandora bracelet with a charm from Portland and a charm with Annelise's birthstone.  He said that he thinks it will be fun to add charms from places that we travel together.  How adorable of him to think of that!

We are all so glad to finally be back together again.

Getting Crafty

I asked Rachel earlier today what she wanted to do today, and she said that she was feeling crafty and wanted to make something.  While Annelise was napping, she browsed through Pinterest and decided that she wanted to make one of those melted crayon art canvases.  I decided that I finally wanted to make something to hang all of Annelise's bows on.  (I didn't work on that project tonight, I was finishing up something else.)  I figured that today would be a good time to see if Annelise would like to do something crafty too.  

I remembered seeing on Pinterest a project for kids where you put some finger paint inside of a baggie and let the kids have some fun with it.  So, I decided to try that out.  I figured that it would be perfect for my child who must-put-all-things-in-her-mouth still, and it would be perfect for mom who gets-twitchy-when-messes-get-out-of-control-because-it's-bad-for-my-OCD.  

It held her attention for a little bit, but much shorter than I hoped for.  I think that it was a great project to use to introduce her to crafty art type things.  I'm hoping that in a couple more months, she'll like to do more art stuff.  I'm not artistic in the least, but she may be, and it'll be good to expose her to that stuff.

Being More

I always knew that I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom.  From very early on, even when I was going to college to get my degree, I knew that I probably wasn't going to use it much and that it would just be a piece of paper on the wall.  I've just always felt called to be a mom and to stay home with my children.

I have so enjoyed being able to be with Annelise and watch her grow and learn.  I have gotten to witness every single one of her firsts.  I love knowing that the skills that she is learning, and has learned, are because of the hard work and dedication that I have put in to teaching her.  My heart swells with joy as she points out the right body parts that I call out.  She uses the handful of sign language signs that she knows so well, and she understands that that is how she communicates.  I have spent so much time signing over and over for her to understand the meaning and repeat the sign back.  It is so rewarding to see her connect the two and use the sign properly.

As much as I love being home with her, I still feel like I'm missing something.  I have talked to Drew about this extensively and he keeps pushing me to go get a job.  I just don't feel like that will solve the feelings that I have.  I told him that I'm going to go from one small little dictator telling me what to do, to one big dictator telling me what to do.  I don't need another person to be a boss to be.  I'm sure that these feelings come from the past two jobs that I've held where my bosses have been women, and power tripping ones at that.  I would constantly be talked down to and berated for the way that I handled situations.  I handled them in a perfectly appropriate manner, they just may not have necessarily been exactly the way that my boss would have handled them, and for that, I was reprimanded.  I never felt appreciated either.  I worked very hard at both of my jobs, and very rarely did I ever receive a "thank you" or a pat on the back.  I strongly believe that bosses should do both for their employees.

As much as I love being home with Annelise, I need to spend some time away.  I spend practically every single second with her.  I don't think it's healthy for either of us.  I can see that Annelise is very clingy, and she gets anxious when she can't see me.  She has a definite preference for me most of the time.  And I never get a chance to miss her when I am with her all of the time.  I can feel my sanity waning.

Annelise is definitely a toddler in every sense of the word now.  She can be sweet and loving, rambunctious and playful, and trying and difficult.  Some days, the trying and difficult part feel like they consume the day.  I have been working so hard to maintain some patience, and to speak in a way that is positive rather than filling her day with "no".  But, when I never get a break away from her to collect myself and rejuvenate my sanity, it gets hard.

A couple of months ago, I went to an antique store with a girlfriend of mine.  We even brought the kids along.  I swear, I was on a high for the rest of the day.  Just the simple act of hanging out with another girl and having some chit chat and shopping, was amazing.  I could not wipe the smile off of my face.  And then, when we went to the zoo a couple of weeks ago, I turned to Drew as we were walking out and told him that I felt so happy and that we needed to do things like that more often.  Getting out of our routine, being in a new place, and seeing Annelise so happy and excited made me really enjoy life again.

Frankly, I haven't been enjoying life much.  I'm stuck in this rut of loneliness with a toddler who tests my patience on an hourly basis.  Drew leaving for Portland could not have come at a worse time.  I had made plans for me, and a couple for him and I, to get out and enjoy life.  Of course, they all had to be cancelled.  I needed these plans to maintain my sanity.  I needed to get out of my routine of everyday life and be more than just a mom.  I feel like that is the only label that I have.  It's not that I don't love being a mom, but I feel like there needs to be more to me.

Work Trips

Earlier this afternoon, Drew left for two weeks for a work trip in Portland.  I'm stressed and annoyed.  This work trip could not come at a worse time.  We were given four days notice and I had to cancel and rearrange a bunch of plans.  I'm trying really hard not to be bitter about how this trip came about, but it's difficult.  This is the kind of stuff that was pulled when Drew was with his old employer, except that it was even less notice.  It's one thing when it was just Drew and me, but we have a daughter now.  I know that lots of families have traveling spouses, and at the end of the day, two weeks really isn't that big of a deal. 

I'm praying that these two weeks fly by quickly.  Pray for me folks, I'm going to need it!

A New Basement Floor (Again)

A little over two years ago, Drew and I decided that it was time to do something with the hideous mess that was our basement, and give it a face lift.  I gave a little video tour of the before here.

I suck at follow up apparently, because I never did an after.  Honestly, we never completely finished it. It was done, and workable, but not completely.  My small studio is down there, and some workout equipment.

A couple of weeks ago, I was doing a video tour of our house to show some friends, and I included the basement.  As I was taping and walking across the basement floor, I noticed that it squished as I walked across it.  The boards also looked a little warped.  Not so good!

My first thought was that water had come in through the french doors and underneath the flooring.  We replaced the old door last summer when we were doing all of the exterior repairs, and put in a new door that opened on both sides.

I told Drew when we got home that evening about the squishy floors and he immediately went downstairs to investigate.  Much to our surprise, the water did not come from the door, but from our water heater.  I guess that the bottom decided to no longer hold the water that it was supposed to, and instead, leak it all over our floor.

Here you can see how warped the floor boards were.  If you walked closer to the door, which is behind me in the picture, you could actually squish water up between the boards.  My heart sort of broke when I realized how much damage had been done.

Drew got to work the next day calling the insurance company.  They immediately sent out a restoration company to start quoting us prices for clean up and repair.  The man that came determined that about the half of the large room and a small portion of the hallway had been damaged.  Thankfully, the water had not gotten into the drywall or underneath the bathroom floor.

Drew and his dad decided that they could do all of the clean up and repair themselves, and worked out all of the details with the insurance company.  We have replaced the water heater, and the floors are almost done now.

This is the current state of my basement.  But, the floors are down!  We've decided to run the floor boards in the other direction than what we originally laid them.  We thought that we could get away with not putting a break in the room.  We did notice, before we noticed the water damage, that some of the boards were separating.  We think that had to do with how large of an area we laid.  The company recommends that you not have an area greater than 16 feet, I think, without doing a break.  So, we decided to put a break in the floor this time.  Not ideal, but we think that it will keep the boards nicer for longer.

Drew also decided that he really wanted to create a tile entryway at the doors.

The transition pieces still need to be installed, but this is the tile.  It is the same tile that is on the bathroom floor.

Here is a close up of the new floor, which obviously still needs to be cleaned.  This new floor is the same one that we bought last time.  However, we noticed that the color is a little browner than the old stuff.  If you look at the damaged floor above, you can see that it's redder.  It wasn't that red in real life, some of it is crappy photo lighting, but it was definitely redder than this new stuff.  Strange.

It shouldn't be too much longer before we are finished.  We've already talked about buying some area rugs to warm the space up.  Drew's ultimate goal was to have a TV with surround sound and nice furniture.  I'm not sure if we're going to get that far, but I'll update as we go.

4th Of July Party

Today, we drove to Eric's parent's house in a small town that's a little over an hour from us for Wesley's birthday party.  We left around 11 so that Annelise would fall asleep and nap on the way there.  We were about 10 minutes away from the house when I realized that I forgot my camera.  We turned back around to go get it, and figured that, at the very least, it bought us an extra half hour of nap time.  I had hoped that I could put Annelise in the pack and play that Wes sleeps in with her sound machine and that she would nap longer, but she woke up as soon as I started taking her out of her carseat.  Usually, she'll fall right back to sleep once I put her in her crib, but this time everything was unfamiliar and she just wasn't having it.  She cried as soon as I laid her down.  I tried to rock her for a little bit, but she was awake.  I just prayed that she would be in a semi-decent mood for the rest of the day.

Jess did a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme for Wes' party and she had some amazing decorations.

This was the dessert table and the centerpieces.  Cute, right?

I bought this cute pillowcase dress at an antique store a couple of months ago.  It's really long on her right now, but I'm excited that she'll be able to wear it for a couple of years before she outgrows it.

Ahhhh, these two!  Melt my heart!  I can't wait to watch them grow up.

The kids seriously swarmed the cotton candy machine.  Jess walked out and said that you would have thought they were handing out $100 bills with how excited everyone was.  I'm sure that there would have been some more excited adults if they were handing out $100 bills!

Annelise tried some, against my better judgement, but she didn't really like it.  That was just fine with me!

Seriously though, I love that sweet face more than words can describe.

We decided not to stay with everyone to watch the fireworks and headed home.  I knew that Annelise wouldn't last too late given her crappy nap.  Drew was a little bummed that we weren't able to go to the fireworks.  I'm hoping that next year we can plan to take her.