Thank you!!!

I just wanted to thank those of you who emailed me. I am feeling a lot better today than I did yesterday. I got a couple of my "issues" resolved and I am just going to have to pray on a couple of them and then the others...I just gotta let them go. (Easier said than done if you know me!)

Tomorrow is Brian's birthday, so I am making one of his favorite dishes (Shrimp and Pepper Pasta) and then my mom is going to baby sit Miss K so that we can go to a movie. Unfortunatly, I think Miss K is getting an ear infection, so we are going to have to probably work a doctor's visit into our errands tomorrow. Big fun!

Thanks again ladies!

Depression

I am not sure why it is back, but it hit me like a ton of bricks last night when I was getting ready for bed. It might be the move we are about to make. It might be the tension between me and my best friend. It might be me doubting my mothering skills. (I had someone tell me that I was the reason the Miss K was fat.) It might be my constant worrying about money. It could be stuff going on with my Mother. It could be a hundred other things.

I'm going to take a break for awhile. I've got a lot to do and I have a consignment sale to get ready for as well. Maybe doing some stuff will help me out.

Hope you all had a good holiday.

Miss K is 10 months old today

It doesn't seem possible, but she is! I can not believe that she is almost a year old. I see little tiny babies everywhere these days and I can't remember her being that small. And when I ask them how big their baby is, Miss K was smaller than that when she was their age. She just packed it on fast. The past couple of days I've had a number of people comment on her weight. I had to bite my tounge Tuesday when some freaked marched up to me and informed me that my child was extremely overweight and I needed to do whatever necessary to make sure that she doesn't put anymore weight on. She probably thought I was stupid because I just stared at her with my mouth wide open. I was taken back because we weren't having a conversation when this happened, she just walked up to me and blurted this out. When I finally composed myself enough to respond, I had to stop myself from saying what I really wanted to say. I had some choice names for this person. I won't refer to her as a lady because she was NOT a lady. Why do people find it so necessary to point out that Miss K is a big baby? I take her to the doctor regularly and he has told me every single time not to worry about her weight. And I'm not. Here is one of the photos from her 9 month portrait shoot. (I had these done 2 days before she turned 10 months. I'm really behind right now! This year has blown by us. I guess I need to start planning her party. I can't decide between a Baby Einstein or a Little People theme. I am leaning towards B.E.

OH! Look what I got today!!! I saw Ann's post on the Scrap It! blog and called Ann and told her I was coming in to get it. I've only had a few minutes to glance through it, but so far...I LOVE IT! I am hoping to get a chance to really sit down and bond with this book sometime this weekend. And how goofy am I? I didn't even realize until a couple of days ago that this was Memorial Day weekend. I need to find my calendar and get my organized again. Especially with all the stuff we have going on right now and all the stuff coming up!

Miss K's got a new word

Up until now, she has pretty much just said Mama, Dada and da. We've figured out that da means dog because she says it anytime she sees a dog. This evening when I was giving her a bath, she was standing up banging on the side of the tub saying 'Pawpaw'. That's what we call my dad. She kept saying it over and over again and then laughing. My dad tried to get her to say pawpaw the entire time he was here. She loves him. He kept her laughing pretty much the entire time they were here.

We stayed pretty busy the entire time my parents were here. We took Miss K to get her 9 month portraits done. She is usually full of smiles, but yesterday she was keeping them all to herself. The CD of the photo shoot is out in the car, so I will have to post them tomorrow. Once her daddy showed up, she smiled a couple of times, but it was a chore to get those out of her. Yesterday we took my parents to storytime at the library. Miss K loves storytime. I think she likes Mary Mary and the Professor more then she likes me sometimes. And when the puppets come out....watch out! My parents were really impressed with the storytime and how much stuff they do and how much the interact with the kids...even the ones as small as Miss K. That is one thing we are really going to miss if/when we temporarily relocate. I'll have to make sure I find another storytime for her somewhere. If not...I'll pull the puppets out at home and cue up the music! Lord knows we have enough books in our house to start our own children's library. I think I will have problems with the juggling though!

Okay...I just got done watching American Idol. I really like Taylor, but I don't think he was the right person to win. I think Katharine sings better. Oh well. I think they will both do well. I think Carrie Underwood sounded AWESOME. She sounds even better than she did when she won last year.

Well...tomorrow is a new day. I know that we probably need some 'downtime' to recover from my parent's visit, but Miss K has a playdate at the Zoo with her friend Miss A.

Busy! Busy! Busy!

My parents are here and we are having a blast. Here is some MAJOR news.... MISS K IS OVER HER SEPARATION ANXIETY!!!!!! I can not even begin to tell you how excited I am about this. I kind of noticed on Thursday night when Brian handed her over to a friend of mine that Miss K had never really been around before and she didn't freak out. Same thing the next day, but this time it was our neighbor that she sees at least 4 times a week and will usually cry when she tries to hold her. The big test was seeing my parents. Since they live in Texas, they haven't seen us since Christmas. Miss K was only 5 months old then, so I was prepared for the tears and screaming to start as soon as they touched her. She has been one happy child the entire time that they have been here. My parents can't get enough of her. My stepmom is constantly taking her photo and my Dad wants to show her off to anyone he can. My dad is one of those people who never met a stranger. It's been great because she isn't screaming for me and only me to hold her.

So, we had to stop at Target after lunch at Panera yesterday. I have to keep an eye on my dad. If we aren't careful, we would end up with half the toy department in our living room. We are standing in the baby section looking at clothes and here comes my Dad pulling Miss K in a wagon. It was too funny and she thought it was great. He really wanted to get it for her, but I am fairly certain that there is some kind of weight capacity on the little plastic wagon, and I bet ya $10 she exceeds that limit! (25.5 pounds at her 9 month check up!) So, even though we didn't end up with the wagon, I couldn't resist taking some photos. They turned out AWFUL. I showed them to Brian and told him they would have been awesome photos if I had been using a dRebel!

Tomorrow Miss K and I are taking Pawpaw and Nana to story time at the library. Then Miss K is going to get her 9 month portrait taken. I'm bad and haven't had it done yet. I still have time though! She won't be 10 months until the 25th!

We are keeping busy with our visitors and then starting this weekend we are going to start working on small projects around the house. Just things that we have been meaning to do, but haven't gotten around to yet. If we are thinking about selling the house, these things need to be done now! I also didn't get a chance to participate in the community yard sale this past weekend. I just waited until the last minute to try and get stuff together and when I finally started, Miss K wanted my full attention. So, I am going to participate in the one we are having in September and will be getting rid of a LOT of stuff. I am also working on finding a place to host a scrapbook garage sale. Brian already told me that I need to get rid of half of my stuff before we move. The majority of it will have to go into storage unless we find a place in Michigan that has an office or we end up with a 3 bedroom.

Okay...it's late! Night!

On her way...

Miss K has progressed to another stage...standing. She stands constantly. This morning I took her downstairs and sat her on the floor while I was getting her bottle ready. I heard banging on the sliding door and I looked over and saw her standing at the sliding door looking at the cat sitting on the deck. Guess she was trying to get Tabby's attention. Her favorite place to stand is at her Leap Frog table. That is where you will usually find her. She does tend to get a little mad if she gets standing up somewhere and she can't figure out what to do. As I type this, she is standing at the gate and she is mad because....well, I am not sure why she is mad, but she is yelling as she is standing there.

Yesterday when we went shopping, I got her a couple pair of sandals from TCP. Those are the only shoes that fit her feet right now. Well, unless I spend $30 at Stride Rite. My child has the chubbiest feet. I need to get a picture of those feet.

I think we are about to have some big changes here in the Cross household. Brian just found out today that he is going to start traveling to Michigan sooner than he originally thought. We are talking about Miss K and I going to stay in Michigan with him. We are also considering selling our house. As much as we love it, we both think that it is time to move. Some strange things are going on in our community. When the "program" job is over, we would come back to the Nashville area and buy a house in another area. Lots of stuff going to happen in the next 6 months. I hate the thought of Brian only being able to see Miss K once every other weekend.

My canvas.

So, my happy place, Scrap It! (www.scrapittn.com) had a class on Monday that was taught by Amber McDonald. (http://amberalicia.typepad.com/) She is a great teacher and she also designs her own line of paper. She's a super sweetie. So, her class was about scrapbooking on canvas. I went in with an idea of what I was going to do. Even picked out a couple of photos for it. Well, that all changed and I decided to do a photo from Miss K's swimming class. It turned out really great! At least, I think it did!

Today Miss K and I went shopping with some of our new friends. We headed out to Opry Mills. We hit some GOOD sales. The Children's Place is currently having their 50% off the marked down clothing. We got socks for 19 cents apiece. The cheapest pair were 9 cents apiece. I got some sleepers for $3.00 apiece. Pretty good. They had quite a bit of stuff on sale.Then we went to the Disney store. I got Kennedy a pair of fleece pj's for $1.50. They were also having 50% off some of their sale items.I probably could have done some more damage, but I need to clean Kennedy's closet out first and see what see needs. I also stopped at Scrap It! to get some of the new Basic Grey ribbon that they have out. I got the Hang Ten and Oh Baby! ribbons. I am planning on using some of them tonight on a page I am working on. The ribbons are beautiful.

We are having a community yard sale on Saturday and then my parents will be in town on Sunday morning, so I need to get busy and get some stuff done before they get here!

My favorite new picture

We went to member night at the Zoo with some friends on Saturday night. We had a great time. Miss K really likes the Zoo. It isn't the animals she likes....it's the PEOPLE. She is such a people watcher. So, we were getting ready to leave and she started getting fussy in her stroller, so Daddy popped her up in his shoulders and she thought that was the best thing in the world! I love the smiles that they both have on their faces. Makes my heart happy to see this picture.

Blame it on the dogs!

Maxie and Betty Boop, our cocker spaniels, are the reason that Kennedy started crawling. The first place she went when she figured the crawling thing out was the dog kennels. She really wanted to get in there with them. Now, the dogs will sit at the top of the stairs that lead to the bedrooms and watch her. They know that she can't get to them up there.....yet. Today she has decided to try and climb the stairs. She only got as far as standing up, but the dogs now know that they only safe place is outside or in the bed!

Okay...please go vote for my daughter

Jones Soda Co. is having a contest where you cansubmit photos and if you win, your photo will be on asoda bottle. So, I submitted two of Kennedy. So,please go take a look at them and vote for her!

This is my favorite one:http://www.jonessoda.com/gallery/card.php?113242-BDPN5QYX6J

This is the other one I submitted. This one was thewrong photo, but by the time I went back to change it,people had already started to vote for it.http://www.jonessoda.com/gallery/card.php?113243-AVX35MXVDT


Thanks!Hollye

I had the most awesome day!

**Before you say anything...YES, I do know that my boobs are huge.**

I got to meet THE Donna Downey. She totally rocks. She thinks I rock too. I have a t-shirt to prove it! She told me that I am going to be on her blog...so be sure to check it out! www.donnadowney.typepad.com. Got a chance to take a couple of classes from her at one the LSS. The classes were really small...like less than 15 people in both of them. So, we got to chat and even went on a quick field trip. She seriously has to be one of the coolest people I've met in a while. Since the classes were pretty small, we got to chat a lot and she it a riot! Especially went it comes to that Fiskar's Drill! Good Gravy!

I had an awesome weekend and got tons of stuff. Lil' Davis was WAY generous with their give away and the free class that they taught at Scrap It! was great. Michelle Hill was such a cutie and gave me class kits for two classes that she taught at CKC. I was working and didn't get a chance to take classes. I offered to pay for the but she wouldn't let me. So, between make & takes, shopping, give aways and classes...I am LOADED with stuff. I've GOT to get to all organzied!

Well, it is late and I got home late because I decided to take a second class after the first one. Brian has taken care of Miss K all alone for the second weekend in a row. I haven't even mentioned to him that I have my book club meeting tomorrow night, a couple of people over Friday night to scrapbook and that I am suppose to go to my happy place (Scrap It!) on Sunday for the final day of their NSD thingy. I am way too busy.

This woman ROCKS!!!

What can I say? I LOVE Cathy Z. She has probably got to be one of my favorite people right now. I've never been drawn to her before. I am not a fan of lecture classes, so I will admit that I wasn't excited when I found out she was teaching two lecture classes. I was so afraid I was going to sleep through them both. BOY WAS I WRONG! Cathy rocks!!! She has got to be the funniest person I've met. If she wasn't a scrapbooker, I think she would be a HUGE hit at stand up comedy. And her poor son. I am sure in 10 years he won't think his mom telling everyone about his 'pokin' stick' is all that funny. I just love her attitude about how to approach scrapbooking. Made me realize that it is okay that I have HUNDREDS of photos that are never going to see the inside of a scrapbook album and that is OKAY!

Note about the photo...first of all, I am awful about taking photos at these kind of events, but Cathy WAS pointing the lazer pointer at herself when I snapped this!!!

I'm home

I am home, but not caught up. Still working on getting things unpacked and keep on living life. Miss K actually crawled a little bit today. I think she will be crawling by the end of the week! Lost of fun things!!! I all off to bed! I'll post about my trip later.

Hollye

Blogger out!

Well, it is almost time to leave and I haven't done half of what I need to do. I've been running all over the place taking photos of things that inspire me. I wanted to get a photo of my camera, but that didn't happen. I need a second camera just to carry around in my purse. This one is a bit on the big side, but I LOVE it. I am VERY excited about my trip. I will probably be up all night trying to get stuff done, but oh well!

ARG! I have been working on my photos since 8. I checked the completion time when I was about half way done and it said 11am. When I finished about 5 minutes ago, the "ready time" was 3 pm! ARG! Good thing we are leaving later than we had originally planned!

Have a fab weekend!

I can't believe I am leaving my child...

First let me say that I am NOT worried about leaving her with my husband. He is her father and I always tell everyone that he takes better care of her than I do. He is an A++++ Daddy. I am worried about how I am going to handle it. But, I am hoping that all the fun I am planning on having will keep my mind off her miss her. I won't forget her, but I REALLY need this weekend.

Speaking of this weekend. I've not gotten ANYTHING done yet. Okay, I take that back. My awesome friend Tracie took my picture today for one of the projects we are doing. I hate having my photo taken. Reminds me of all the weight I need to lose.

Okay, I am going to bed. Miss K and I went to the Zoo today with a ton of other mommies and kiddos. I covered her head to toe in Baby Blanket sunblock. I even took sunblock for me. But did I put any on? NOPE. A red head in the sun. I've got a nice burn started. Not fun.

Don't ya just love those cheeks?!?!?

Don't have a lot of time to blog, but I took this photo of Miss K this morning when we were getting ready to leave for Storytime at the library. She is such a ham!

A whole new world...

Things are changing here at the home of Miss K. I've started giving her 'real' food. It started out with the puffs that Gerber has out. She went nuts over them. We did 'nilla wafers and ritz crackers. Then we went to Cheerios. Good gravy, she is a Cheerio hog! The minute I put her in her high chair, she reaches for the drink holder in the front of the tray because she knows that is where I usually put the Cheerios! If she could talk, I imagine she would say as Lola says, "they're my favorite and my best". (Can you tell I watch too much Disney? I've not seen a sopa opera in forever!) Then yesterday I gave her a slice of cheese and a piece of ham that I cut up into little pieces for her. It is so funny watching her trying to eat it. She doesn't want you to do it for her and she grabs a handful and aims it toward her face. Usually one or two pieces will end up near her mouth. She is real bad about feeding the dogs off the side of the high chair. She likes to do this because they lick her fingers. She's also had Ritz crackers which she likes to lick the tops of first and then eat them. This morning she had yogurt for the first time. She loved it. She was smacking her lips and I couldn't shovel it in fast enough for her. Brian hadn't gotten to see any of this yet because most of this is when he is at work, so I let him feed her some yogurt tonight. I think he might have eaten more of it than she did. He said it was really good. We are doing the Yo*baby brand. I also took this picture of her after her Gymboree class today. When I looked at it on the computer for the first time, I got tears in my eyes because she looks like a totally different baby than the little tiny baby that I brought home from the hospital almost 9 months ago. I've now got a little doll who doesn't let me cuddle her as much any more and wants to do everything for herself these days. She won't even let me feed her a bottle anymore. She wants to hold it herself. Next thing you know, she will be crawling and won't want me to hold her anymore. Okay...I think I am going to cry now.

I dislike Wally World

I am a Target girl. Always have been. But Wally World has these baskets that kellidarrsuperstar had on on blog that I decided I NEEDED. So, I trek out to WW. Get the baskets. Then decide I love them so much and I go back to get more. Decide I STILL need more and go back today. Decided while I was there to pick up a few other things. WW is one of the only places in my area that I can get Yo*baby Yogurt. Do you know that every person I made eye contact with asked me how old Miss K was and when I told them, the first words out of their mouth was "she sure is a big baby!" I KNOW THAT MY CHILD IS BIG. I do not need every stranger in Wally World to remind me of that! What is it about me that makes people want to say stuff to me about how big she is? I've had complete strangers say the rudest things about how big she is. My child is chubby, but listen up people...SHE IS A BABY. She isn't a 6 year old who weighs 100 pounds. She is an 8 month old bundle of joy and the light of my life who just happens to weigh 24 pounds. Yes, it looks like someone put rubberbands on her arms. Yes, she is rolie polie. I look at her about 18 hours a day. Do you think I need you to remind me how big she is? I carry her everywhere. I've developed some arm muscles...don't piss me off!

Anyway...just a bad shopping experience today made me realize why I don't like WW much. Carry on.

Here comes Peter Cottontail!

I went with some of the mommies from the meetup.com group to see the Easter bunny. I thought for sure that Miss K would freak out the minute I sat her down, so I was really surprised when she started giggling and flapping her arms around and squealing! She did so good! I am really pleased how this photo turned out!

Well, I don't have a lot of time to blog. I'm trying to get a million and one things done tonight and I have to be in court tomorrow morning to take care of a ticket I got back in January. I'll blog more tomorrow! Enjoy the photo of Miss K and Peter!

Cruddy mood and I hate it.

Have you ever just started your day of in a bad mood and it just got worse from there? Well, that was today for me and I am still in a bad mood, so if anyone is actually reading this, please excuse me while I rant and rave. 1) Why in the world is everything so freaking expensive? I got up this morning and the first thing I did was check my bank balance. BAD way to start of my day. Where did all the money go? Well, I spent it. On what? I have no freaking idea!!!! That just put me in a bad mood from the get go. 2) I told Brian two weeks ago that we had something planned for every weekend for the month of April, so please don't make any plans. My MIL calls and says that it is, and I quote, "killing her" that she can't see Miss K. So, Brian asks me what weekend I want to go. Easter weekend or the weekend before? NEITHER! I told you we have plans the entire month!! Plus, we don't have the extra money to spend on gas to get to Michigan! (Please refer to rant #1.) But, I have to change my plans for Easter weekend and miss my beloved Bunco so that we can trek on up to Michigan. 3) Why must my child scream and holler at me for no reason at all and then will not settle down no matter what I do? Trying to get ready to go to the Zoo....she wakes up from her nap and BOOM...she freaks. HUGE tears falling down her face and blood curling screams and there is nothing I can do to calm her down. So, I try to get her undressed to make sure nothing is wrong there. I take her diaper off and she pees all over my nice clean sheets. Gonna be late for the Zoo! 4) Maybe I am overreacting on this one.... So, I meet some people at the Zoo. We stroll around have a nice walk. One mommy leaves to take her kiddos home for a nap. The rest of us walk some more. Now...during this time, I was not with the group the entire time, so there was plenty of time for them to make plans without me knowing.... So, we are getting ready to leave and one mommy turns to the other and says, "Are you hungry?" Sure. You want to go get something to eat? Sure. Never once did they ever invite me. HELLO? I am standing right here! You know, I was not raised that way at all. I felt that was just downright rude. If you weren't going to include me, couldn't you had done it while I wasn't standing right there in front of you?

Okay...this post is going nowhere good. I need to take a break and veg out for a bit before I blow a gasket or something.