NCAA Tournament time!

I'm kind of into sports...I mean I grew up an athlete I get the dedication, the thrill, the goal, the teamwork, etc Although these days I watch sports more than I actually participate but it's still gives me a bit of an adreneline rush from my comfy spot on the couch, holding my breath waiting for the next goal! I don't really have a "team" except I'll stay true to the Broncos, typically at the beginning of a game I choose who I want to win and root for them. Makes it more fun that way, I usually like the underdogs too :)

March Madness is here again, one of my friend's favorite time of year okay who am I kidding probably 90% of males fav. time of year, we pull out the brackets and start selecting. My selection process goes like this, cool school name, recognize said school, underdog, ranking, record...most of the time for some unknown reason I am right much to my husbands dismay! Usually we end up with 2 or 3 brackets each and closely watch the games and give each other a hard time when the team they picked falls out of the tournament. It's all in good fun and quite an interesting, heart racing time :)

p.s so far I have a perfect bracket too...

Slings/Wraps/Carriers

Which way to carry a child, that's comfortable and safe for all? Having baby #2 on the way this is a big question of mine. I want to be able to comfortably carry him around, making sure he's secure and safe and still be able to actively keep up with my 2.5 yr old who will almost be 3 by the time her brother arrives!

I've heard wonderful things about a Moby Wrap and it's currently at the top of the list...everyone raves about it!

Get on board with the Moby Wrap!!

http://www.natalienortonphoto.com/2010/02/giveaway-gavins-favorite-things-moby.html

14 more weeks!

Until we add to our family...nervous, excited, scared, happy...all of the above! Not only are we adding to the family but it's a boy...wth do you do with a boy? LOL girls I know, I am one, I have one, I have two sisters...girls I get. Boys are a whole new universe! One I'm anxious to figure out but know I will in time :) It will be nice when I have a complete pain (in the butt) 15yr old daughter and cool as can be 12yr old son to look back at this post and say universe smuniverse boys are great...except for the whole sinky socks thing which this mama doesn't do!
We have everything (ahem almost everything) set for his arrival, clothing, bed, swing, all the bits and pieces needed. Thanks to my hubby who let me shop and my wonderful friend Courtney who gave me all her son's hand-me downs!
Now just to see how much longer my body can handle this baby...already feeling huge and sore, waddle is in full effect, back aches from my ever growing chest, hips are killing me and now sleeping has become a challenge...bubs is definitely up around 5am because he kicks me like crazy and I am now awake on and off from about 5am making the days loom ahead and the 2-4pm hours a struggle!

Back to the having "everything" ready for baby...all the materialistic stuff, only thing really missing which he might actually need is a NAME! We just cannot agree, everything I love he hates and vice versa! We both semi like one name but I just don't know if I want to settle, I'm still convinced there is the perfect name out there for our little man we just haven't stumbled across it yet. We need to wipe our slates clean and start over again, my mission this weekend is to find a HUGE book of baby boy names and go through and make a list of my top 10, excluding all prior suggestions...which is going to be a tough challenge.

Thank goodness we have 14 more weeks :)

Organization freak

I have learned over the years that I need to be organized or it stresses me out and I get aggitated. I need to know what's going on and when and how...take for example trips to Europe with my parents. Dad would love to just wonder around without any real direction seeing sights and exploring different attractions...I on the other hand get VERY annoyed when we have no plans and don't know where we are going! The cause for many fights btwn me and my parents during the teenage years! My newest stress factor is our living situation for the next 12-15months.
We made a plan to move to NE so I could be closer to the in-laws (good or bad idea I haven't yet decided) and get some help with the kiddos. Since Evan will be traveling 6-8 months a year we figured it would be smarter for family to be close by. Great plan set in stone, we'll leave Colorado in March to buy a new home and get all set up before baby boy is due in May...and FAIL. We cannot get a loan this year due to the newness of Evan's job and the fact that I will not be transfering to a new job or working at all come April.
So now what?
Plan B is stay in our current home, move to NE in July so Kaitlyn can get into a preschool in Sept. and then buy next Spring.
Problems...we don't have anywhere to set up for baby but our room
...we are going to have to go by trust and pictures to find a house to rent in NE for July 1st
...moving with a newborn and an almost 3yr old oh and a postpardum crazy lady (me)
...Being in a house for just a year then moving yet again this time with a 1yr old and 4 yr old.

SIGH

Not my idea of structure and organization....
plus looking a pictures of cute nursery's all set up for new babies is NOT helpful!

You may ask why don't we just move to NE in March as planned and rent...well Kaiser is my insurance company for delivery and of course they don't have coverage in NE, not even a sister company or something that would help me out. So we HAVE to stay in Colorado at least until baby is born.

As my friend Courtney said "it will work out" and I'm trying my very best to hold onto that thought!

Can't believe the year is almost over...

How is it almost 2010?? I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by...it's brought so many changes, challenges and blessing to our family. I started off the year with no job, Evan did too...sort of (he started a new job on the 5th of Jan.) we were unsure of what our plans were and the future looked a bit rough to say the least in the finacial department. But we made it and the year ended pretty great. We celebrated our first anniversairy in March with a fun stay at the hotel we got married in, I started a new job in May after 5 months of solid searching, Kaitlyn turned 2 in July and we were blessed with a positive pregnancy test in September. Evan started a fantastic new job in October that while tears him away from the family for a few months at a time he is loving it and making excellent money to the point where I will be able to stay home comfortably with our kiddos for at least the next 18 months, a dream I've had since Kaitlyn was born.
2009 had many ups and downs but I think we've ended on a fantastic note and am looking very much forward to 2010.
We have many things to look forward and will be faced with many a new challenge I'm sure! Our biggest challenge we are to face in the next few weeks, deciding what state we'd like to live in and buy a house in...at the moment we are leaning towards to Omaha but still have a few pro/cons to decipher through.
We are anxiously and excitedly awaiting the arrival of our baby boy on or around May 18th and I am looking forward to the challenge of an almost 3 yr old and newborn...praying hard my almost 3yr old will still enjoy her 1.5 to 2 hr daily naps!
Lots to relfect on and lots to look forward too, life is pretty grand ain't it!

Goals for 2010 include taking some cooking classes and sewing classes and making sure my gym membership is put to GOOD use! :)

Kaitlyn's Birthday Week!

Well 4 days really but who's counting...Her birthday celebrations started on the actual day, Wednesday the 29th donned in her cute "Birthday Girl" t-shirt she had yummy cupcakes and a little celebration at school, we had her favourite for dinner (the infamous mac and cheese) and then I headed out to pick up Aunty Andi from the airport and ice cream. Wednesday night we opened family presents....I think she made out pretty well!

Oh and don't forget the 55 gal fish tank, curtosey of Grandma and Grandpa!

Thursday the festivities continued with a trip to see The Wiggles, a team of 4 guys from Australia who are EXTREMELY talented and it's all for kiddos! We met up with Luca and Courtney and headed to Broomfield Event Center, taking a picnic dinner along. I was very impressed with the show, they kept it going seemed to do a little improv when it didn't completely work out and the show was colourfull and entertaining for kids and adults! It lasted an hour and a half and we didn't have any whinning or boredom, from 2 two year olds that's pretty impressive!

The kids had a blast dancing and attempting to sign along with all the songs! It was money well spent and I would go again :)

Friday I took off work and we headed to the mountains with my sister. It's about an hour and a half drive to Breckenridge, unfortunately it took us closer to 2 since we seemed to hit every traffic bump on the drive. We found ample parking though and it was nice to get out and stretch our legs, Kaitlyn was definitely happiest and I'm still riding on the fact that she may have inherited my car sickness since she seems to get very unhappy on a drive longer than 30mins. We found the BEST pizza place for lunch, a tiny little shop...something that started with a "G" and was very italian...it was delicious pizza and Kaitlyn ate half a slice of a huge slice! (I'm telling you anything with cheese for this kid) After lunch we wondered around, avoiding the rain in various tourist shops and stopped to partake in the free gold mining event going on...nothing turned up but it was fun to try and sift through all the sand and rocks!

It started to rain a bit harder so we headed up the mountain, took a few pics at the scienic view spot, got lost on the back gravel roads for about 30mins and then started the drive back home! This time, although I hate to admit, I turned her car seat around :( it was a much better drive for all of us and think that we'll just have to do that for the longer drives.

Arriving home around 4:30pm we met up with Evan and his parents and made plans for dinner at Champs that night.

My sis and I then let Kaitlyn have some time with grandparents while we snuck off to do some shopping at the Park Meadows mall.

Friday night we attempted to start the birthday cake...failed miserably the first time but after a quick run to the grocery store at 10pm we managed to produce two quality cakes ready for icing the next morning!

PARTY DAY!! Saturday was the actual party and it was a BLAST! we had about 20 people come over with 7 kids total. I served bacon wrapped stuffed jalepaneos, chicken dip, 7 layer dip, and homemade mac and cheese for the kids and for a side. Evan manned the grill and we had brawts and burgers for everyone else, coolers full of beer, soda and juice and of course the fantastic cake, decorated my me and Andi! The kids played in the blow up pool and with the water table and by about 1pm kids and maybe some adults where ready for a nap! Andrew and Kylee bought Kaitlyn a 6 week old little black kitten to play with who is VERY cute and very playfull! I sadly had to duck out and drop my sis at the airport (which we later found out her plane had been delayed!). When I got back Kaitlyn opened all her presents from our fabulous friends, took a brief nap and we headed out to dinner at Chili's. A very spolied little girl with a very festive few days! Thank goodness there is a year between birthdays:)

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY KAITLYN!! xoxo

where has the time gone?

And another month later and no posts from me...blogging just hasn't been a priority. I started my masters on June 29th with CSU Global and so far it's great. I initially thought about doing the organizational leadership program but have since changed to teaching and learning. The ultimate goal is to become a Director of program development for students in a K-12 setting, although that may quickly change to college level. I'm only in my first class so we'll see where the journey takes me. It's nice being back in school, of course juggling Kaitlyn, work, homework, being a wife, keeping the house in some sort of organized chaos can be tiring but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger right...right?

Kaitlyn's 2nd birthday is next Wednesday...I cannot believe my baby is going to be TWO! When did she get so big and where did two years go? Her Aunty Andrea (AA) is coming into town for the celebration and we are going to do a family dinner Wednesday night, Thursday night we're off to the Wiggles concert with Luca and Courtney, Friday we might go to the zoo or something fun with my sis and then Saturday is the party! We are doing a beach theme and I'm making the cake again, this year we'll do a sheet cakes with a beach scene (waves, sand, umbrella, towel and lots of fishes). I'm pretty excited to do it and hopefully the vision in my head is close to the vision we'll have at hand :) The IL's will be coming in as well, not sure on what day but I know my MIL is eager to help out, which we are grateful for...

Sleeping has become a nightmare again, I swear this kid will get it right one day! She did sleep through the night last night, but woke up GROUCHY! tonight is an early bedtime, that's for sure! Andrew has been offering his excellent culinary skills to us for the last two nights and supposedly the rest of the week since we watched their 205lb Mastif for 10 days while they were in Florida. It's amazing food, but we haven't been getting home until 9:30 and that's WAY late for miss Kait to get to bed. Tonight we might skip it, so she can get some sleep and I can get some homework done...plus he is potentially going to a concert.

Maybe one month updates will be easier for me to keep track of and remember:) although I think i'll post some birthday pics next week...just that memory of mine that needs some grease!