Summer is Here!!

Abby has always loved the water. Grammy (my mother in law) has an above ground pool at her house, but I knew that I wouldn't want to have to load up and go there every time we wanted to take a dip in the pool. So, on a whim (that's how I shop), we bought an above ground pool. The day we got it, we were having family over to grill for supper, and all the guys ended up putting the pool together! That sure worked out well for me! :)

I clearly didn't realize the amount of work and expense that went into having a pool, but am still glad we purchased one. We've only swam a few times, but Abby loves it.

She wanted to wear her floaties....they didn't hold her up though!

She wouldn't let me take the floaties off!

She didn't want to stay in her panda float for very long, and wanted to be down in the water with mom. I have to use the float to get her in the water so that I can climb in. I don't trust myself carrying her on that ladder! She gets heavy quick holding her up in the water, so we bought her a swimsuit that has some foam or something built into to hold her up. The only problem is that she flops onto her back unless we're holding her upright, which she quickly decided she didn't like! Also, the foam part comes up around her neck when she's in the water. Her lifejacket does the same thing. It's still easier than just plain holding her and I feel a little safer with it on her. I thought about swimming lessons for her this summer, but think she would forget it all before next year. We'll just wait and do them them. In the meantime, we just take extra precautions with her in the pool and take the ladder out each time we get out.

Makeover

How do I get some cute little background on here? Mine is ugly and shabby looking. Are the templates they have all I can choose from?? Help!

Still alive...

When I'm lying in bed at night trying to fall asleep, I think of all kinds of things to post on here. During the day when I'm sitting at the computer, I can't think of a single interesting thing to type!
All of the other blogs I follow are so comical and interesting. Doubt that will happen here. Mostly all I do is ramble! :)
During the day I'm usually at the computer, but am working (or least trying to make myself work). While Abby's here, there's no chance of computer time. By the time she's put in bed, I don't care about the computer, I just want MY bed!!
I'm going to start doing better though, I promise. It's almost time for me to go get her now, but I'll post a few entries. :)

Updates Promised!

I promise I'm going to start updating this more regularly, hopefully a couple times a week.

In the meantime, I'm trying to get the page set up to be more pretty and customized. I can't seem to get it much better than it is now with their basic templates. Perhaps I'm webpage design illiterate? Any help would be appreciated!

New Year, New Me

I've got all these goals in mind for 2009, the main one of which is to become organized and simplify my life. I haven't even stopped long enough to write down all of my goals! I know that I won't remember them all right now, but I'd like to keep track of them and hopefully mark them off throughout the year. But, they're just goals. I'll strive to meet them, but won't stress if I don't.

1. Stay organized
2. Spend more time playing with Abby and do housework and all other chores when she's asleep, even if it means staying up late and being tired.
3. Become more patient - I'll be glad to take advice on how to accomplish this seemingly impossible feat!!!
4. Sit down every Sunday and log all expenses into Quicken for the previous week.
5. Keep my house clean and free of clutter.
6. Learn photography - mentors being accepted :)
7. Get back into scrapbooking
8. Try to journal more about Abby and what all she's doing so that I can look back years down the road and remember it all. Who am I kidding thinking I'll never forget any of it? I've already forgotten so much!!
9. Be a better friend
10. Organize some sort of family reunion - preferably the entire extended family, but if that's not doable, at least the immediate family - aunts, uncles, cousins. We're all so spread out now and never all get together anymore.
11. Figure out some sort of business of my own to establish/operate
12. Take a family vacation
13. Begin house plans
14. Build our savings account back up
15. Lose weight - my ideal weight is 40 pounds less than I am now. Right now, I'd be happy to lose 20.
16. Quit being slouchy and do my hair and makeup every day, or at least every weekday!
17. Quit watching so much tv!

That's all my tired brain can think of for now, but I will probably add more in the days to come!!!

New Pets!

I find it hilarious that there are hundreds, probably even thousands, crawfish mounds in our yard and on the adjoining land. This picture was not taken by me, but this is what a crawfish mound looks like for those who aren't familiar...

Two weeks ago, we had over 5" of rain in one afternoon. Our yard was a lake!!!! Thank goodness Grant gave me rubber boots for Christmas - I used them for a week to get to my car!

After the rain finally stopped, we ventured outside and found crawfish everywhere!!! They were just crawling around, playing in the water!! Grant made fun of me for taking pictures of them, but I thought it was hilarious. If only they'd been a little bigger, we could've had a crawfish boil!!!!

It won't be much longer and we'll be smelling that wonderful aroma of crawfish boiling!

Coyotes

Yep, coyotes. Ville Platte's got 'em. Right in my back yard.
My sister in law who lives just a couple houses down told us they can hear them howling in the woods behind us sometimes. Then some other neighbors told us every now and then they find a pile of feathers instead of their chickens. Abby and I were out looking for crawfish 2 days ago when I found some unusual footprints in the mud. They were too large to be a dog and not the right shape. I googled coyote footprint images that night and that's exactly what it is!! Super scary to have them walking around in my back yard!!! I felt better knowing they were in the woods where I can't see them. But to know they're coming up within 30-50 feet of my house is too much! I seriously doubt they would ever be out in the daylight and would more than likely be afraid of a human, but there are reports all over about coyotes attacking people, mostly kids. So, as if I wasn't paranoid enough about anything happening to Abby, now I can add coyotes to my list of worries. :/

Abby Update

We took Abby to the doctor sort of for her 18 month check up and because she was sick (another yucky ear infection). She was 31 pounds and 34" tall. Yay!!! She's finally getting taller!!!!!! She's still such a little chunk though and is still wearing 3T clothes, so we have to roll all her blue jeans up a couple times. This was a new doctor here in Ville Platte and he didn't really ask too many questions about her development and all like our old pediatrician would, but that's ok. I know she's right on track. Every day it is something new - usually a new word. Yesterday it was apple. Today it was dog. Who knows what tomorrow will bring!! So long as it isn't a "4 letter word"!!
She's at a stage where she's still trying to communicate what she wants to us and most of it ends with a point and grunt, but we'll get there eventually. We finally got her out of the daycare we didn't like and she's loving the new babysitter. Mom does too and my peace of mind goes quite a long way!
Abby loves to be outside - doesn't care if it's raining, snowing, 10 degrees or 100, she wants to be outside. There are horses in the pasture next to us and she likes to feed apples to them.
She's recently started liking her baby dolls and carries them around everywhere - always making sure they have their hat on though! Santa brought her a stroller for Christmas and she has fun pushing the dolls around the house. I think her favorite pasttime is still pulling things out, such as pulling every single block out of the box, then everything out of the wagon, etc. We're working on learning to put it all back up!!!
Everything else is going well and she's so much fun. She's really at an entertaining age!

Ok, here goes...

I'm irritated as shit lately by people who don't understand the concept of caller id. You call me, I see your number come up on caller id. If I feel like talking or am able to, I'll answer. If not, I don't answer. You have the option to leave a message or not. Either way, the id part is that it leaves your number on my phone so that I can see you called. There is no need to continue to call me every 20 minutes until I answer the phone. In fact, the more frequently you call, you're pretty much guaranteeing yourself that I won't answer at all. I don't like to talk on the phone. Everyone knows this. However, I understand some people just can't help it. No big deal. But don't call me incessantly to ask questions you already know the answer to or things that are pointless. And remember, you call me and I'm either busy, don't hear it or plain just don't wanna talk. You leave a message telling me what you want. When I get able or ready to, I'll call you back. No need to call me repeatedly. Doing so will result in no return call for you. Comprende?

Slacker

I can't seem to keep this thing updated for the life of me.
Things are going well for us all, trying to recuperate from the holidays. Abby was apparently very good this year. It's amazing the reindeer were able to pull the gift laden sleigh this far. We're now struggling with where to put all the loot. Doesn't help that we've just downgraded from a house to a trailer!!

Grant's still working with FedEx, just making an hour drive one way 5 days a week, including Saturdays. We aren't liking it one bit, but you gotta do what you gotta do. A local, M-F, 8-5 job with benefits equal to those of FedEx would be heavenly. He's enjoying being back in his hometown with ducks, golf and family close by and in that order!

Janna is still working from home for the time being, travelling back to Baton Rouge once a week to work. Also still trying to adjust to being in a town where she knows no one but family and used to being around SO much family all the time! I'm attempting to slowly unpack more boxes and find nooks and crannies to put our "stuff".

Abby is really enjoying being close to family and playing with her cousins all the time. She just started with a new "babysitter" today. The daycare she was in did not live up to our standards and we felt she was receiving no personal attention. She cried when we dropped her off and was crying when we picked her up. She's going to enjoy staying at Mrs. Rella's so much more and mommy's mind is at ease!! Can't put a price on peace of mind!

She's really become entertaining and fun. We spent the weekend with Pop Pop in Natchez and she had a blast. She's finally come to realize that he is Pop Pop. She followed him everywhere. When he would walk away, she would point and say Pop. You know he eats it up!! It's been so amazing to watch him with her. At the same time, it hurts my heart that my momma isn't here to see not only her, but to see dad with her.

Everything is going well for us, we're very blessed and couldn't ask for more!
Will post some pictures soon.