6 weeks + hair dye + cut

This morning I didn't even bother getting up until 1:30 pm. Mia was sleeping and Emily is at Grandma's. I talked to Erica this afternoon about cutting my hair myself. After I got off the phone, I tried it. Bend over, flip your hair over your head, put a pony tail in and then cut. I just cut about 1 inch just enough to trim the ends. Then I dug around in the medicine cabinet and found my hair dye. I mainly dyed the roots to a darke blonde to get rid of the grey.

Today Mia is 6 weeks old. She eats 6 oz every 4-5 hours no problem. I can't believe how big she is getting. She has a fat belly and is getting rolls of fat on her legs. Last night she slept from 3-7:30 and then until 11:30 am. Her new thing, is the baby carrier. She loves it. If she is the least bit fussy I put her in the carrier and she is out. She will sleep in 4 hour stretches. My problem is my shoulders ache. I guess I have to gain some muscle. Maybe it will get better, because I can sure get more done with my hands free.

7:47 pm. I'm feeling detached today, which is nice. Mia slept in her crib for over an hour while I dyed my hair. Now I'm actually in my studio catching up on my blog and added pictures, Emily is watching Scooby Doo and Mia is asleep in her swing. I really need to get and wash the dishes and make the taco meat. Rich will be home soon from the grocery store with the rest of the ingredients. Tomatoes and cheese.

9:15 pm. Aaah. The tacos were so good. I made taco meat, cut up tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and shredded cheese. The kitchen is not cleaned up. Oh well I least I washed all the dishes before I started. Emily is watching Thomas the Train and Mia is again sleeping in the swing.

Scrapbooking

Sophie, Tim and Grandma picked up Emily around 3 pm to spend the day with them. I put Mia in the baby carrier and went to work on her baby book. When Emily is gone, I don't even touch the house, because I can do that with Emily's help. I sneak off to my studio and scrapbook or print pictures. When Emily is here I can't even go near that room, she goes through every drawer and has it a mess. So yesterday I stayed glued in my studio, inbetween Mia feedings, from 3 pm-1:30 am. I got 2 pages done.

My 4th Greek Festival

The first festival I was pregnant with Emily. Rich worked the whole 3 days. I stayed at the festival the whole time. This is when I learned how to do the circle dance for the first time. I love it and thought that festival was way to short.

this is me with 3 of the nayfa girls the first festival

The second festival Emily was 7 months old. I brought the stroller over. It was different, because I couldn't spend that much time over there. It also rained one day. I just sat under the tent, with Emily in the stroller and listened to the music.

The third festival, was a couple of weeks after our wedding. Emily was 20 months old. She loved the music. We couldn't keep her off the dance floor. She danced away. We had to finally get her off the dance floor because she was red and overheating. That was meltdown time.

This festival (4th festival) I have Emily who is 2 1/2 and Mia who is 5 1/2 weeks. Rich didn't voleenteer for anytime there. Friday night, Rich was working, Rickey and Linda took us over to the festival. Linda and Rickey let Emily ride the enflatable jump thing (the first time for emily on the festival rides). I had brought Mia in her baby carrier. I just walked around looking for people I knew. We ate in the new hall. After eating I tried to dance with Mia in the carrier and holding Emily's hand.

Saturday it rained all day. Saturday night, Rich and I and the kids went over there. Rich worked the American Grill and caught up with his friends and I took Emily in side. Emily played in the middle of the hall with some other kids. She told me "these are all my sisters and babies" then later she said "these are all my friends." Rich took us home around 10:30 pm. He went back and stayed until around midnight.


Sunday, Evelyn came over and went with us. We got there about 4 pm. We ate chicken strips and fries and listened to the music. We went inside and I said Hi to Stephanie and looked at the Silent Auction. Emily played on the dance floor outside under the tent with the Gilman Girls then Emily said she was ready to go home. Rich brought us home. (6 pm) Rich went back to help clean up and didn't get home until around 12:30 am.

Its Raining, Its Pouring

Last night, Rickey and Linda came over and took Emily, Mia and I to the Greek Festival across the street. I put mia in the Snuggli carrier (so I wouldn't have to drag around the stroller). When we got there Emily wanted to get in the jumpy things. So Rickey and Linda got her tickets and she got to jump. I just wondered around, finding people I knew. We ate in the new hall. Then went outside, Emily wanted to dance. So Emily and I joined in on the dance for a few minutes. Then we came home. Rich couldn't go with us, because he was working at the hospital for the evening.

Well today we are ready to go, but its a wash out. Its pouring outside. So we are just chilling in the living room watching tv.

If I was Super Woman . . .

If I was Super Woman today . . .

• I would have got up at 8 am with only 2 hours of sleep the night before and cleaned the whole house.
• Made a cake for my husband's 37th birthday.
• Had supper made at 6 pm.

Today I didn't go to bed until 5:30 am because Mia had colic and gas. I got up around 1:30 pm to Emily crying and Rich trying to do dishes, answer work phone calls and trying to get ready for work. I vacummed the Living Room, Dining Room, Hall, Kitchen and pulled out meat to thaw for supper. I was so tired after vacumming. I laid down for a nap with Mia. Then around 6:30 pm made meatloaf, macroni and cheese and greenbeans. While the meatloaf was baking, I washed 3 loads of dishes. All this time Mia was in a Snuggli carrier. We ate supper around 9:30 pm. We had no dessert. Rich ate chocolate cream packaged cookies from the pantry. After supper, Emily fell asleep and we watched NCIS and Monk.

If I was Super Woman I wouldn't be this tired and would have got more done today.

A Blessing .

Today Mia got blessed at church. I got ready, got Emily ready then dressed Mia in a white dress, white bloomers, white shoes (that wouldn't stay on) and a white bonnet with a pink bow. Emily wore the same bonnet when she was blessed. Grandma, Tim, Sophie, Rickey, Linda, Jeff, Steff and Wylen were all there.

Wishlist

I wondered into Hobby Lobby today with Mia and was drooling at all the new products they have in the store. When I got home I put together a box of stuff to sell so I can save up some money to buy some new things.

I love this new punch. I saw Ali Edwards use it on one of her layouts. Right now I one sheet of paper with this edging that I use as a template. I have to manually punch every whole and cut out the scallops with scissors. So this would be a good time saver.

This is a gorgious new doily scallop punch from Martha Stewart. I looked everywhere for this punch a couple of months ago. I didn't find it. Now Hobby Lobby is carry it. I saw this used on a layout by Elizabeth Kartchner.

Now I just have to collect some 40% coupons and some $$ to purchase these. I listed about 8 Idea books on the For Sale message board at 2 peas in bucket. So I should be able to get these soon. :))

Belk Baby

I was pregnant and working for 8 months with Mia. I went to visit my friends at Belk today. This is a picture of Mia drinking her bottle on the Estate Collection Bedding in the Home Department. I was letting her eat while talking to Holly.

This is a picture of Doris holding Mia. She is one of my good friends. Doris hosted Mia's baby shower in July. This was her first time seeing Mia.

This is Evelyn. I met her after I broke my foot and came back to work. I was moved from the Home department to Men's Suits. Evelyn is 71 years old and has been working this department for years.

Loving this Life

Loving this picture of Mia.

Loving this picture of Emily.

Loving this website

http://aliedwards.typepad.com/

Loving this weather.

Loving this Digital Art File from Designer Digitals.

Loving this scrapbook page by Ali Edwards.

Loving this software.

Loving this life of carefee days.

Loving this life of simplicity.

My stuff has been taken

Emily: "Birdy Bird has taken all my stuff. I need to call Wow, Wow Wubzy"

Just A Lazy Day

Right now 6:12 p.m.

• Rich: Looking at a computer parts catalog laying on the air mattress
• Melissa: On the computer, editing pictures and planning Mia's baby book scrapbook layouts
• Emily: Sacked out on the couch
• Mia: In bouncy seat next to me with a pacifer in her mouth, looking at the chair and having hiccups.

Its just lazy day. I just heard rain falling on the air conditioner. The sun hasn't even popped out today. A good day to just relax.

Around Here

Around here Emily has been a couch potato. She lays on the couch and watches movie after movie. Today she is watching Scooby Doo and the Mummy. I think I have pushed play 4 times today. She just hollars 'Ma-mop or Da-doo" when she wants some food or milk. Her phrase today is "That's not a monster, its a hawk."

Around here Mia turned a month old yesterday. She weighs around 10 lbs and is growing like a week. She eats all day and all night. I cut back her formula to 4 oz every 3 hours, because she spits up so much. Babycenter.com said that alot of the spitup could be overflow. So Mia now uses her pacifer alot more now. Last night was a bad night, in which she was up and fussy with a stomach ache and gas until 5:30 am.

Around here Mia graduated from newborn diapers to level 1 diapers.

Around here Mia likes to be held all the time. Emily tells me to put her right here or to put her back in her bed. Mia's crying doesn't phase Emily at all.

Around here Rich has been making battery packs to sell the PI's. He delivered them today. He is wanting to put some on ebay. Work has been really slow, the phone has just stopped ringing. Today he is working in the office.

Around here we might be selling the brass out of the piano to pay bills.

Around here I been trying to process pictures to put in Mia's baby book. I've been going through magazine layouts and decided which layouts to scraplift and what photos to use on what layouts. Then I have to send the photos off to be developed.

Around here the house is a sort of mess. I conquered the kitchen today. There was 3 days worth of mess. Both sinks full of dishes, the counters covered, old food, empty cans, dirty bottle liners littered the counters. I put Mia in her bouncy, pulled the trash can over to the sick and just started cleaning. It took almost 2 hours to wash and then stop and dry to make room for more dishes. After the dishes were all clean, put away and the counters bleached, the trash went out in the kitchen, bathroom and dining room. Pheww. The house is feeling better already. I started the wash and need to fold one load of clothes. Now to the living room. Hmm. That will have to wait. I think I'm going to need another nap to make up for only 5 hours of sleep.

Around here I really need a sling to carry Mia in. Erica has a sling that she is going to mail me, except she decided instead of mailing it she would give it Bigdaddy to bring here. Well that didn't work out. So now the sling is sitting at my mom's house. So said sling went from Point A (Erica to Bigdaddy) Point B (Bigdaddy to Mama) Point C (Mama to Erica) Point D (Erica to post office) Point E (Postoffice to me). But apparently Erica hasn't seen Mama so it sits at Point B. I really could use it so I suggested to Erica today that maybe Seth could bring it. So that adds another point. Point C (Mama to Seth) Point D (Seth to Erica) Point E (Erica to POffice) Point F (POffice to Me). For real. You know she should have just mailed it when she told she had one she didn't need anymore. Then all points would have been avoided and I could be enjoying the sling. Oh well.

Around here I'm ready for a nice rainy day. Its been in the forcast for drinching rain. Except I think it passed us. I love a nice rainy day. I could really live in Seattle. I wouldn't mind if it rained everyday. I only need one nice pretty day with some wind every now and then.

Mt. Mitchell Day Trip

On the way to Mt. Mitchell.
Emily loved the mountains. She kept saying she wanted to walk right over there and that she wanted to go to house on the mountain.

Emily looking over the mountains on the Mt. Mitchell tower.

I saw this big rock and had Emily sit on it to take some pictures. She never would look at the camera.

I had to hand Rich the camara a couple of times so I could some pictures of me.

This picture was behind the restaurant. We went back to the restaurant after hiking to Mt. Mitchell.

• Lunch: Rich ate Grilled Trout, pinto beans, cornbread, french fries
• Emily: Cheese Sticks
• Melissa: Chef Salad
• Supper: Rich got coffee and sweet potato pie
• Melissa: Hot chocolate and cheesecake
• Left Home around 10:30 am.
• Got Home 10:11 pm
  
  
  
  
  
  

Queen Emily

Emily got a Burger King crown several months ago. It has long been worn out. So today I told her we would make a new crown. When she went shopping with Linda and Rickey, I found some ugly cardstock and taped together two pieces. Then drew the crown shape over the cardstock. There was enough room to draw 2 crowns. I found some old alphabet stickers for her decorate one crown. I printed out coloring book pages from noggin of wow, wow wubzy to put on the other crown. When she got home from shopping, she decorated the one with stickers and I taped wow wow wubzy cutouts on the other crown. She proudly wore her wow wow wubzy crown all night.

Growth Spurt + Exhaustion

Mia is 3 weeks old today and must be going through a growth spurt. Its like she can't be filled up. I make bottles all day and all night. Sometime she guzzles down 5 oz at a time. She is waking up every 2-3 hours to eat. I'm feeling exhausted. I can't get enough sleep. During the day I try and take naps. Today, I would lay down with Mia and close my eyes and Emily would start hoalering for chocolate milk, coke, scooby doo and winne the pooh. So I would have to lay Mia down in her bed and get chocolate milk or change the DVD to Scooby Doo. Then Mia would start crying ready to eat again. So then it would start all over. Get her bottle, get comfortable on the couch, Mia would fall alseep, I could close my eyes then Emily would start aggrevating me for something else.

This is my new life. Hopefully in the next month, Mia will be eating enough to sleep through the night. I'm waiting for the night to have at least a 6 hour chunk of time in pure sleep. :))

Phrase Today

Emily's quotes about Mia.

Put the baby down and let her play with toys!

Put the baby down and let her crawl.

We getting ready on Labor Day to go to her grandparents house. Emily said. "Put the baby back in the bed". She wanted Mia to stay at home.

1 year anniversary

Today was our 1 year wedding anniversary.

Wishful thoughts:
Going to the Biltmore house
Whitewater rafting
Beach Trip
Spending the night in a hotel
Going out to eat

Reality Check:
Negative Bank Account
Me sitting on the couch with a 2 1/2 week old sleeping
2 1/2 year old bouncing around on the couch
Eating food out of the freezer


So instead, Rich just went in the kitchen and made cheeseburgers. I ate my cheeseburger and drank my orange soda with one hand while feeding Mia a bottle with the other hand. Then we just relaxed. I read the Bible and Emily read Thomas the Train Book. Then I took a nap. Emily took a nap when I woke up. Rich and I watched TLC channel on morbid obese people. Rich ate soup for supper and I ate a whole cantaloupe.

Mia

2 week update

Mia was 2 weeks old yesterday. Time sure does fly. I can't believe it's been that long already.

Mia has increased her eating. She now drinks 3 oz of formula every 3-4 hours.

Fall Cleaning

• Washing Dishes
• Washing Clothes
• Drying Clothes
• Vacumming Dining Room
• Vacumming Kitchen
• Cleaned and put new water in kitty bowl
• Found a spot for 24 V8 cans
• Took out trash
• Took out cardboard
• Took 2 empty boxes to the basement
• Took small bicycle in box to the basement
• Dusted piano
• Put new computer books on the top of the piano with encyclopedias
• Picked up toys
• Picked up crayons and coloring books
• Picked up too many half-full sippy cups
• Washed off counters in kitchen
• Put away dishes
• Made 3 sippy cups of chocolate milk
• Made 4 bottles
• Fed Mia 4 times
• Fed Emily viannas
• Changed Mia's clothes
• Changed Mia's diapers
• Changed Emily's diapers
• Cleaned coke spilled off the floor
• Made up air mattress
• Got the mail
• Read mail
• Shredded mail
• Filed mail

For relaxation:

• Read Creating Keepsakes Magazine
• Watched 15 minutes of the news

Afternoon at the Park

Sophie, Tim and Grandma came over today to help around the house. They brought over chili dogs, cheetos and Dr. Pepper. We ate lunch. There wasn't much cleaning to do. So I suggested we go to the park. Emily rode with the grandparents and I took Mia in my car so we wouldn't have to put the little carseat in the other car. I haven't been behind the wheel in about 6 weeks. Oh it felt so good. I'm ready to drive and take a trip. Ok so the trip to the park was about 1/2 mile. We haven't been to the park in awhile, probally since last spring. So Emily at first was scared to climb and slide. She wanted to push me on the swing. We finally got her to go down the slide. So then she had to do it over and over. Then she made some new friends and just ran around and did what they did. After about an hour it was getting toasty hot (79*) and Emily was getting red. So I told her it was time to go and get a coke. She had quite the meltdown. I just picked her up and just started walking. Grandma took her to the bathroom and washed her hands and then bought her a coke in the vending machine. Once we got the coke and found a straw she was fine.

Mia just sat in carseat in the stroller and slept the entire time.

Sophie, Tim and Grandma left shortly after we got home. I tried to take a nap in between feeding Mia bottles. Emily didn't fall asleep until 8 pm and then promptly woke up at 9 pm to watch Wow, Wow, Wubzy.

Rich went to the store to catfood this evening and came home with 2 new puzzles and a wubzy stuffed toy that talks.

Feeling normal again .

Mia woke me up around 10 am this morning. I got up and fed her then decided to give her a bird bath. She like to spit up all over her clothes and herself. She smelled like a spit up bomb. I picked her out some new clothes and a bib, found the lotion, filled a bucket with hot soapy water and grabbed a towel. I laid the towl on the bathroom floor, put Mia on the towel, washed her down, dried her off, rubbed lotion all over her, and then dressed her. I walked her around the house watching Rich haul junk to the road. She fell asleep and I laid her in the crib. Emily got up and she told me she was wet. So in she went into the tub for a bath. Then I got her dressed. Then it was my turn. I even put on real clothes and makeup. I'm feeling finally better like normal. I felt like this since literaly last year when I wasn't pregnant.

Ok, so Rich has decided to finally clean out the basement. He has been living here for 15 years. That's alot of junk to collect and it all collects in the basement. I even have a little pile down there. We really need shelves to organize the good stuff and the old junk and the junk that doesn't work needs to go. Emily and Mia could ride bikes down there one day. Since we live in the city we have junk pickup every Wednesday. Rich has been piling junk in the back of the truck and then taking it to the sidewalk. Its fun watching to see who and what gets taken off the sidewalk. We are expecting most of it to be gone before trash pickup comes tomorrow. So far some printers and computers, broken small refrigerator, 2 chairs, plastic booster seat have all disappeared from the pile. We just watch in aww as this stuff disappears. I just like to see the look on people's faces when they take this stuff home and it doesn't work. Uhh, that's why its out there.

Emily has just been lazy this morning, which is fine with me. She is watching Curious George. She helped me wash some dishes after Price is Right. She is waiting for the granels (grandparents) to arrive. She is all dressed and ready to go bye-bye.