Two Words....CLOTH DIAPERS!

Yep...that's right. The dermatologist says that he is 99.9% sure that Miss K is allergic to disposable diapers. Oh Lord...help me! I've spent about the past 5 hours researching and I am just as confused as I was BEFORE I started reading about them. I call my wonderful mommy/scrapbooking friend Sherri this evening to see if she knew of a service or anything like that. She didn't, but she pointed me to the wonderful blog of Traci Turchin. Traci is a CDing mommy how seems to be a wealth of information. I emailed her earlier this evening and she was wonderful and offered to answer any questions that I have.

Okay...it is SUPER late and I need to get some sleep. I will try and blog later this weekend and actually post a photo! I am going to my happy place on Saturday for an all day crop, so I hope to get a couple of things completed. We shall see!

Nothing much....

So, I made the list of 5 things. I did manage a home cooked meal. I cleaned Miss K's room. I changed all the linens on the beds. I ran the dishwasher once, but messed the kitchen up when I was cooking...Brian cleaned the kitchen after Miss K went to bed. Those dang ferns didn't get repotted. In all fairness, it was pouring like crazy here yesterday.

I had planned to do all my errands today since Miss K and I were going to be out for a playdate. We ended up staying longer than I had originally planned, so by the time we left, we came straight home because she was beat. She went down for a nap and when she woke up, she screamed for 45 minutes straight. I can't tell if it the rash coming back, an ear infection or her teeth. I called Brian and told him to get his booty home because I was not feeling well and now I was dealing with a screaming child. 5 minutes before he got home, she stopped crying and was playing with her toys. WHAT?

Okay...I didn't make a list for tomorrow and I'm not going to. I am too tired and I have to go to bed before I drop.

And to my friend Jill....I will be praying for you and Miss Mattie tomorrow. I hope that the delivery goes smoothly and easy for you. I hope to see you soon!

Chicken Pot Pie, Banana Pudding and my list

Well, I've been saying for months now that I was going to really get some DEEP cleaning done on the house. I made this 'to do' list and it got WAY out of control. So, last night (or this morning since it was 2am when I decided this) I decided to toss out my current to do list and start over. I limit myself to FIVE things that must be done today. Here is my list...

1. Get the floor picked up in Miss K's room. (If you read yesterday, I have been working on getting her ready for the fall and that involves cleaning out her chest and her closet. That left a HUGE mess on the floor. I am not an organizer by ANY means!)

2. Change and wash linens on all beds.

3. A clean kitchen.

4. Re-pott front porch ferns.

5. Make a homecooked meal. (chicken pot pie!)

I know those sound easy, but if I put 20 items on my list...nothing gets done. I'll start one project and then get sidetracked and start on another. Before you know it, it is 6 pm and I am trying to decide what to make for dinner! Tomorrow's list will consist of errands since Miss K has a playdate at the mall. We might even end up with a Halloween costume while we are out tomorrow. I will post tomorrow and let you know if I got my 5 items on my list completed!

Here are the recipes for the stuff I made last night. We are actually having our pot pie tonight. My friend Stacy said that pot pie was great, so I am hoping that Miss K will eat this!

CHICKEN (or TURKEY) POT PIE
Filling: 1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 ½ cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
2 ½ - 3 cups shredded cooked chicken or turkey 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
1 package Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crusts (If you are going to make this for someone and take it to them, I suggest that you get the crusts that are in the pans already. You can invert one of them onto a cookie sheet and then use it to cover the pie. That way you don't have to worry about getting your pie pan back.)

1. Heat oven to 425F. Prepare pie crusts as directed on package for two-crust pie using 9” pie pan.
2. In a medium saucepan, melt margarine over medium heat. Add onion; cook 2 minutes or until tender. Stir in flour, salt and pepper until well blended. Gradually stir in broth and milk; cook, stirring constantly until bubbly and thickened.
3. Add chicken and mixed vegetables; remove from heat. Spoon chicken mixture into crust-lined pan. Top with second crust and flute; cut slits in several places.
4. Bake at 425F for 30-40 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Serves 6
(I cook a couple of whole chickens every couple of weeks. Then I debone and freeze the cooked chicken. That way I always have cooked chicken on hand. Sometimes I will freeze the broth, but I have limited freezer space, so I haven't lately.)


Hollye's Aunt Nancy's Banana Pudding

Ingreidents:
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
2 cups milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tub of extra cream cool whip topping
4 bananas - sliced
vanilla wafers

Combine pudding mix, milk and condensed milk. Mix with hand mixer. Slowly fold in cool whip.

In large bowl, layer the bottom with the wafers, then banana slices, then pour pudding in. Keep layering until you are done. Top the pudding mixture with crushed wafers. Chill for at least 1 hour before chilling. **This is the best banana pudding recipe I have ever tasted. It is easy to make and it turns out great. I've been asked the the recipe everytime I take this dish to a function.

Okay...I must go feed my child and work on the kitchen while we are hanging out downstairs.

Getting ready for fall...

Yes, you heard that right. Even though is has been wicked hot, I 've been working on getting stuff ready for fall. Fall is my favorite time of year. And right now it is consignment sale season. Miss K is pretty much ready for fall. Between everything I bought for her at the end of the season last year, what she has received as gifts, what has been handed down to her and what I've gotten at consignment sales, she is set. All I really need is shoes and socks. Shoes are going to be a battle because she will scream until she manages to get them off her feet. I bought her a pair of Nike Shox and I left them on the floor and let her play with them. I caught her earlier trying to put her foot into one. I am hoping that by letting her play with them she will be more open to having them on her feet.

So, today I've been washing clothes and putting them in the bottom drawer of her chest. I am pulling out her old fall stuff and getting it ready to either go to a consignment sale, our community yard sale or donating. I am sorting toys and moving some stuff to her room for her to play with in there. I am also changing batteries in some of the toys. They are starting to sound a little "watery".

Well, I just laid Miss K down for a nap. I've got chicken to finish. I am making homemade pot pie for dinner. I am actually making two of them. My friend Stacy that I mentioned who is having twins has been on bed rest this past week. She told me the other night that she has pretty much been eating soup and nothing else. I don't think her hubby knows how to cook. So, I am making her dinner. I made homemade banana pudding last night and split that so that they will also have dessert. Guess I better get cooking!

Hope that you are enjoying your weekend.

Future Bag Lady?

So, Miss K has a cart that she pushes all over the house. And she picks up stuff that she find on the floor along the way. As I type this, the cart has the following items in it:

*3 dog toys
*DVD case
*memory card case
*Little People Tiger
*2 large plastic coins
*Glo Worm
*head band
*dog nail clippers
*1 piece of play mail
*1 Old Navy hanger
*teething toy
*cup
*Baby Einstein birthday balloon tied to the handle of the cart

Every couple of minutes or so, she will stop the cart and take things out of it. Throw them on the floor and then pick up some of the stuff, put it back in the cart on go about her merry way. Then when she passes by the pile of stuff on her way back, she will pick it up and add it to the cart. This goes on for awhile. It is so fun to watch. She likes to make piles. It can be anything...hangers, clothes. toys...whatever!

My child is freaking me out

Okay...when she learned to crawl up the stairs, I was scared to death. I mean, she did it like a day after she started crawling. I looked up and she was already half way up the stairs. Now, she had taught herself to crawl down the stairs. She will only do it on the 'two stair' case that we have. I won't let her get near the big stair case anymore. But now she has taught herself how to get out of our bed. She will throw her stuff animals on the floor, turn around and then slide to the floor on her belly. As long as she does it on the side of the bed, that's fine. But if she moves to the end of the bed, that could be dangerous. The foot board could possibly trip her on her way down. She is FEARLESS! And it totally freaks me out because I am the biggest chicken in the world. Speaking of chickens...I think Miss K might be a chicken for Halloween. I found the cutest outfit at BRU yesterday.

Okay...here is a photo of my fearless child going down the stairs...backwards.

No big news...

Just to clarify...my mother in law is really wonderful. I love her like she was my own mother. She didn't do or say anything to me. She asked an innocent question, but when I went to answer it, I saw something ugly in myself. No bad mother in law!

I am still SICK, SICK, SICK. I promised Brian that if I wasn't better tomorrow that I would go to the walk-in clinic. I hate being sick. At least Miss K is all better, or so it seems. Going to be a busy week next week, so I hope that I am all better by then.

And, a couple of ladies in the neighborhood are having a yard sale next Saturday, so I have decided to join in. In addition to some household items, I am going to be selling some scrapbook supplies. TONS of Stampin' Up! stamps, monthly kit clubs that I bought, but never got around to using and just about everything else under the sun that you would possibly need to scrapbook!

Oh...if any of you know of anyone in the Franklin area that babysits, please email me. I am looking for someone to watch Miss K one Monday a week from 8:30am - 11:30am for about 8 weeks. I want to take a quilt class and it is in the morning, so I really need a sitter.

Okay...off to eat dinner, put Miss K to bed and finish reading my book for my Monday night book club meeting.

Less is more....

I've got to keep telling myself that because I made a decision tonight. Tomorrow starts the REAL purging. My life and my house have gotten out of control. I am not just purging stuff, I am also purging some "problems" I haven't been able to let go of. I realized about a week ago, I didn't like myself very much. Didn't like the person I was becoming. It got put right in my face this past weekend by my wonderful mother in law. I don't think she even realized that she did it. But there is was...right there in my face and I was shocked at what I saw. I hope to purge my house, my mind and my soul over the next couple of weeks.

Okay....update on Miss K and her visit to Vandy. Okay, first of all...have we descended into the depths of Hades and I missed the memo? Geesh! It was wicked hot. I thought for sure that we were going to have to wait quite awhile since it was the "clinic". The minute the lady checking me in saw "friend of Dr. Robb" on the chart, they were super nice to me and Miss K. I waited...5 minutes for my appointment! FIVE MINUTES. That was like a record. Last time we were at Vandy we had the first appointment of the day and they were 30 minutes late. So, they looked at the MANY tubes of meds that I brought in. 7 different tubes and tubs of stuff that we have been given. That didn't even include any liquid meds that she took orally. They gave me another tube bringing the total to 8. Since the rash was not "active" at the moment, they told me to try this out and if it flarred back up, call them and they would work me in THAT day. She screamed like someone was killing her when we took her diaper off. They even sent a nurse in to help me because she was freaking out so bad. Now...we are in the 'wait and see' mode. Say a prayer that this rash goes away and my little firecracker will be itch free!

Did you say August 4th?

I've got a list (in my head) a mile long of stuff I need to do. Miss K is going to see a specialist tomorrow about a skin rash she has been battling since February. Dr. Hottie finally said that he has no idea what else to try, so it is off to a dermatologist. So, I call the one that they told me to call. I tell them everything and she gives me my appointment. Mind you...we have been dealing with this rash in her diaper area for almost 6 months and it is still on going. Anyway, I was pretty sure that I misunderstood her. Nope...OCTOBER 4th! Hello? Are you crazy? My child will have clawed herself raw by then! Thank God that I have a friend whose husband is a dermatology resident at Vandy and he just happens to work in this VERY office two days a week. Miss K will be seen tomorrow at 1:15pm by the head of the dermatology department at Vandy. I owe my friend and her husband. BIG TIME.

Okay...got to get going. Don't know if Brian will be working all day tomorrow or not because TVA pulled power from the plant this morning at 10am. Don't know when they are going to start back up. So he went golfing with his boss. The thought of a power outage freaks me out. My friend said that she has lived here for 25 years and it has never happen before. But I think we are dealing with a whole different situation. 105 degrees in North Dakota? Those people don't have air conditioning. They don't needed it 11 months out of the year.

I thought I would leave you with another photo of Miss K and her cake. In this one you can actually see the "cake". Okay...I'll put two photos up. One of the cake 'pre Miss K' and one 'post Miss K". Enjoy!

Before Miss K........

After Miss K.....

My friend Stacy

My friend Stacy started out as my neighbor Stacy. I was the first person who went over to welcome her to the neighborhood when she moved in. She always reminds me of that. She is a beautiful person and a fellow red head. Although, her hair is that bright red that I had in my younger years. Anyway.... I mentioned to her awhile ago that I had some left over ovulation kits if she was interested in them. She said she would give me a call. She called many months later....I looked and they were expired. I called her back and she said not to worry about it...she didn't need them anymore. YEAH!

So, I see beautiful Stacy on a video that my niece took of Miss K riding around in her wagon this weekend. I am shocked when I see Stacy. She looks REALLY pregnant and she isn't even 3 months along yet. So, she calls me this evening and was asking me for some addresses. I ask her if everything is okay. She started this nervous laugh and proceeds to tell me a story. It ended this way.... the ultrasound tech saying "uh oh...there is a 2nd heartbeat. You are having twins!" I think Stacy's hubby almost passed out. I do know that he started crying. I think they are both in shock right now. Faternal twins.

Remember those bottles I mentioned several weeks ago? They found a new home tonight...Stacy's house. She was very thankful. I told her that I was getting rid of a bunch of baby stuff, so she might find stuff on her front porch from time to time. I could hear her hubby in the background...not sure if he was laughing or crying.....

Cake Monster

Well, we ended up canceling the party with her friends, but since the family was here, we went ahead and did a party with just us. We had a great time and Miss K did me proud with the cake.

One MAD Mommy

An open letter to the Mother who brought her SICK child to Mother's Day Out-

WHY? Why did you bring your sick child to a place that is FULL of children? The nursery no less! Now my child has whatever your child has. Why am I so mad? Other than the fact that my child had been throwing up in her sleep and crying constantly...this is her BIRTHDAY weekend! Her paternal grandparents are here and her maternal grandparents will be here tomorrow. They all FLEW in to attend her FIRST birthday party that will most likely be cancelled because she is CONTAGIOUS, so none of her little friends will be able to attend. Insteas of enjoying my beautiful daughter and celebrating with our families, I am doing load after load of laundry. Did I already mention the throwing up? I spent so much time planning every little part of this party and spent more money that I care to even admit to. I personalized a gift for every one of her little friends that was coming to her party. I am just sick to my stomach now. And my child cries constantly because she is SICK!!! And there isn't anything I can do!

So, to the Mother who brought her sick child to Mother's Day Out...next time I will be looking for you!

My child doesn't want me to blog about her!

So, I typed up this long post about how emotional Miss K turning 1 for me has been. In the middle of the post, my computer started acting strange. She hit the reset button. Dang kid. I just realized something today. She is a year old and this is the first time in her life she has been in my scrapbook room. Not a lot of scrapping going on in Miss K's house the first year. The fact that you couldn't even WALK in my scrapbook room is the major reason! But, Miss K's birthday party is this weekend, so we are working on getting everything organized. My scrapbook room is not organized by any means, but Brian put stuff into boxes and stacked them. I will start working on the cleaning when Miss K and I get back from our vacation to Texas. (Okay...I can hear my child, but I can't see her. All I see is her high chair moving across the dining room floor!)

So, Miss K is a year old. Very emotional for me. I did tell Brian last night that I wanted another baby and then I started bawling. I know that we won't have another one and it isn't because we don't want one! (Now the high chair is going the other way...) I know that I should be thankful for Miss K and the fact that she is healthy for the most part. I will be honest with you...I didn't really want children. And now I can't imagine my life without this little fireball in it. Today she stacked some books up in the scrapbook room and I looked over and she was sitting in the stack. I laughed and then started crying. She is growing up so fast! She said bye-bye and uh-oh last night. Today I've been trying to teach her to say "one". I should have started working on that a lot sooner than her actual birthday!

Well..not photo for this post, but I will make sure I take one of her on her birthday and maybe post it later.

I have tap class tonight and then our families start arriving tomorrow, so you probably won't hear much from me for the next two weeks. Miss K and I are leaving for vacation on Sunday and will be back a week later. Lots of fun!!!

No more

This is what happens when you run your poor child all over town without a nap. As I was getting ready to back out of my parking space at the mall, I look in my rear view mirror and this is what I saw. She had only be in that seat for less than 60 seconds. One more week and Miss K is going to be a year old! I can't believe it! We are getting ready for the family to be here. My inlaws are driving in next Wednesday and my parents will get here next Friday. I am picking my niece up in Atlanta in two days. My brother and his family are on their way back from Disneyland, so I am meeting them to pick her up. Maybe she can keep Miss K entertained next week so I can get some stuff done before I have a house full of people for a birthday party!

Still getting the hang of my camera. Went and got a UV filter for it this afternoon. I am pretty rough on my stuff, so I don't want the lense to get damaged. Trying to decide which lense I want next and how much it is going to cost.

READ THE MANUAL!

I just started taking pictures with it and Brian was asking me all the stuff it would do. I dunno. Read the manual Hollye! Right now he is doing a photo shoot with the dogs. Miss K is asleep, so she will get her turn tomorrow! We are going to the Bounce Factory tomorrow with some other kiddos. Maybe I'll get some good photos then. I want to read the manual and sit down and play with it. I can't wait!!!

The pool that Brian built

Okay...he didn't really BUILD it, but he did have to dig the ground up to make it level and then set the pool and the pump up. We got a GREAT deal on this pool at TRU Friday. Too good to pass up. Plus I had a coupon, so that made it even a better deal. (BTW...as I am typing this, it is 9:30pm and my child is still up!!! Dang teeth!) I wanted a pool last year when I was huge, pregnant and miserable, but Brian said no. This summer has been even hotter, so when we found one for the right price, I begged a little more and now it is in the backyard. We got in this afternoon while my mom was visiting. I think we will be seeing a bit more of my mom now that we have the pool. She works in a warehouse and thinks our pool is just what see needs after working all day! Brian is going to have to take the pool down on Wednesday while Kennedy and I make a trip to Atlanta to pick up my niece for a visit. He needs to level the ground out a little more and wants to do it before Miss K's birthday party. That reminds me...I have got to finish those invites!!! I am a bad mommy. Waiting until the last minute for everything!

SIT!!!

Miss K has been saying a word for the past two days and we couldn't figure out what it was. I seriously thought she was saying *hit. Where did she hear that? Then tonight Brian told the dog to sit and she was right next to him saying "SIT"! Thank you Jesus! The word is SIT! I am constantly telling the dogs to sit and now I am constantly telling her sit SIT on her bottom and not stand on her car like she is a stunt woman and to not stand on her rocking dog like she is a trick rider. I thought she wasn't listening, but apparently she was because she can say it...she just won't do it!

She is also cutting two new teeth on top, so she has been waking up every night about midnight crying. She just went back down...so I am off to bed too.

Today was an important day

Yesterday Brian cleaned out the "baby" cabinet in the kitchen. All the bottles are sitting in a box ready to go wherever they need to go. My job was to toss all the nipples. They sat on the stove all day. And then today, I just tossed them. Believe it or not...it wasn't an easy thing to do. We did keep two bottles "incase of emergency", but we are pretty much a sippy cup house now. Then tonight we were sitting upstairs, she was pushing her little car all over the house and laughing. I looked at her and my eyes just stared watering. I can not believe that she is going to be a year old in 16 days. It's sad because I know that I will never have another baby in my house. She was the first baby that came home and she is going to be the last. We said from the beginning that one child was what we wanted and I am still happy with that. And then there are times when I want another baby NOW. I just wish that the decision was mine to make.

Today has been a cleaning day in our house. We are working on our bedroom. I am the world's worst housekeeper. I am fairly certain I was born without a cleaning gene. I got an extra shopping gene instead. I really need to work on that....

Okay, my child is asleep and I have a meeting with my MOMS club in the morning. I've got a few things that need to be done before I head to bed.

Have a great evening!

My husband ROCKS!

So, I've been selling a bunch of old stamps to downsize and make some money. I've been wanting a new camera, but I couldn't justify spending the money on the camera I really wanted. Earlier today Brian asked me how much I had saved for my camera. When I told him he said, "well, you are almost there." Then tonight he bought me this.....

YEAH!!! I can not wait for this baby to come in! And it will be here in time for Miss K's birthday. Can you believe it? She is going to be 1 on the 25th. A year ago at this time I was finishing up the nursery, going to movies with my husband, reading and preparing to be a mommy. Now I am cleaning pasta out of a wild child's ears after she has dinner, spending my days watching the Doddle Bops, attending storytime at the library and buying milk 2 gallons at a time. And you know what? I wouldn't change one minute of it. This past week she has started waving bye-bye and today she actually said 'bye-bye'. And when I ask her "where is Maxie?", she will look for the dogs. When I ask her where Mommy is, she will bang on my chest. It is so neat watching her learn all this stuff. I am not sure if we are close to walking yet, but let me tell you, she is a crawling machine. She is super fast!

Oh, did I tell you I am getting a new camera? WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Info about Wave Country

I got a number of emails asking me about Wave Country. Here is the link to the Metro website that has all the information for the park as well as the $1 off coupon.

http://www.nashville.gov/parks/wave_country.htm

Another busy day at Miss K's house. We are suppose to be leaving tomorrow to go out of town. I am still on the fence about actually going. Long story... Needless to say, I am thinking of staying home and spending the entire two weeks just hanging out with my little family. Brian and I don't spend nearly enough time together anymore. Like last night...I went to a Longaberger party and he was standing at the door when I got home so that he could run out and play poker with the guys.

Okay...gotta run. I've got a million and one things to do today if we are going out of town. If I don't blog ya before...have a safe and happy 4th of July.