Stomp Rocket

If you are looking for a gift for a child age 3 or older I highly recommend the Stomp Rocket! This toy entertained 3 boys (ages 5,4,3) and 4 grown man (ages 65,38,35) for 3 whole hours! It absolutely amazed me! It is a real simple toy you just put the nerf-like rocket on the one end, point it to where you want it to go, and "Stomp" on the plastic pillow-like thing at the other end. Believe it or not the rockets launch pretty high! You can get them at The Learning Express store or I'm sure on-line. Just a suggestion.
But be careful not to shoot the rocket up on the roof. My 5 year old nephew did that, then decided to climb out of my sister's window and on to the roof to retrieve the rocket. He got back in the house safely, bent the screen when he tried to put it back in the window, and got in A LOT of trouble!

Loooong Day

Whoo what a day! I should have known when the little Princess got up at 6:30am that it was going to be a very long day!
Then at 7:45am I notice my neighbor across the street run across the street to my other neighbors house who has newborn twins. I see her and the one baby outside on the porch (the other baby is still in the hospital), I think were is her husband, and then I see the neighbor who ran across the street go into her house. What the heck. All of a sudden here come fire trucks and police cars up the road into her driveway. At that point I tell my husband watch the girl I'm going to see if everything is ok. Here her carbon monoxide detectors were going off. Today was the first day her husband went back to work. The poor girl was a mess.
At 8:10am I am finally headed out to go to work knowing that I'm going to be 10 minutes late. To top off my morning my coffee was cold!
Wednesday's at the office are always exhausting for me because I'm trying to work and at the same time keep an eye on my Princess, who by the way is not a princess at work. She just isn't herself at the office, she is a totally different child then how she is at home. I guess she is just out of her norm, but by the time I get home on Wednesday nights I'm ready for bed! But the day doesn't end there. Wednesday nights my hubby plays golf so then I have to be a single Mom for the night after chasing after the Princess all day. Tonight wasn't too bad except that I'm fighting a cold or have really bad allergies. I haven't figured out what it is. I am leaning toward a cold since the little one just got over croup but I hate to admit that my immune system failed me again!
So that was my loooong day in a nut shell. Tomorrow should be a whole lot better since it is suppose to be sunny and warm. Plus I'll be working from home so someone will be in a better mood.
Oh by the way I spoke to my neighbor tonight and asked if her day got any better after the whole carbon monoxide scare. The builder came out to check the detectors and to see if it was just a bad wire, here they don't even have carbon monoxide detectors in their house it was their smoke detectors that were going off. Whoops!

Time to Prep

I decided to do a BBQ at my house on Sunday for Memorial Day so now it's time to stress and prep! I love having get togethers once they are happening, I hate the prep and the clean up. But it is worth it because you get to see all your friends and family without having to leave your house!
I just got back from the good old dollar store. I got the plates, napkins, cups and plastic ware. That part is done!
All that is left is grocery shopping, Costco shopping, and cooking/baking! No problem! I still have 2 more days plus Sunday morning!
The only problem is I haven't heard back from anyone yet!

I wish I was here...

Blue Skies
Sunshine
Palm Trees
White Sandy Beaches
Clear Warm Water
Paradise

What else could you ask for?

"The Weather is Here, I Wish You Were Beautiful" - Jimmy Buffett

Snot Every Where

My little Sweet Pea has croup! Yuck! It is probably the sickest she has been since she was born. I feel so bad the poor little girl. She has snot every where. When she sneezes she coughs at the same time and snot is every where, coming out her nose and out of her mouth. I feel like I have snot all over me. That's all I did today was wipe snot. She is even vomiting snot. Did I mention there is snot every where! Gross!

On a happy note she had her 18 month check up today. She is weighing in at 24 pounds which is in the 50th percentile. She is also 50% in height at 31 1/4". The doctor said she wasn't even going to talk to me about developmental stuff because she is obviously ahead for her age! I'm so proud of her!

Date Night

So hubby and I went on a date on Friday night. It was wonderful. I can't tell you the last time just the two of us went out. Since having our daughter we haven't gone out by ourselves a lot or at all. I love being a mom and spending time as a family but I forgot how much fun it is to be the two of us. Let me tell you hubby was the perfect gentlemen opening doors and complimenting me. It actually felt like were dating again. We went out to dinner at our friend's restaurant. Fabulous! We shared calamari appetizer, then I got the lump crab meat and shrimp Alfredo pasta, and finished it off with some kind of cappuccino hazelnut chocolate cake! We got home just in time to kiss our little one good night. Then we crashed on the couch feeling very uncomfortable. It was probably the most I ate in one sitting for months. It was the perfect start to the weekend. I can't wait for our next date night!

Strike 3

Well my Remicade treatment didn't go too well yesterday. I had another reaction. So now I have 8 weeks to decide what to do. The doctor said she would be willing to try it one more time this time having the IV drip really slow. I have the reaction 30 minutes into the treatment, then they stop it and dose me with fluids and steroids, and start it up again and I'm fine. So we just have to find a way to get me past the 30 minute mark. So do I give it one more try or do I try a different treatment? The other treatment my doctor is thinking about is Humira. I would have to give myself injections every other week. Which is no big deal, that doesn't bother me a bit. But how do I know that will work as well as the Remicade. The Remicade isn't only helping the rheumatoid arthritis it is helping my ulcerative colitis. The Humira is suppose to help both too. Ughh I hate making decisions. On one hand the Humira sounds great because it will be a 15 second injection at home instead of a 4 hour infusion at the doctor's office. Plus the nurses won't have to worry about me coming in. I know it isn't my fault but I feel so bad that I put the two nurses through my reactions. I'm sure it isn't a bright spot in their day and I don't want them to see my name of the schedule and think Oh Great Trouble Patient is coming in. Believe me you do think that about certain patients, not in a mean way but in a pitiful way. But I know how the Remicade works and how great I feel after I get it. Should I just give it one more try? Or throw in the towel?

Baby Blues

Last night at 11:27pm I heard the local train rolling through town blowing it's horn. It is about 3 miles from my house but on a silent night I can hear it as clear as a bell. The theme from Disney's Choo Choo Soul came immediately to my head. "Chug-a-Chug-a-Choo, Chug-a-chug-a-Ahhh; Chug-a-Chug-a-Chooo, Chug-a-chug-a-Ahhh; All aboard the Choo Choo Train, All aboard the Choo Choo Train, All aboard the Choo Choo Train; All aboard, All aboard; CHOO CHOO" After that I couldn't fall asleep I just laid there trying to get comfortable then the thoughts came in to my mind.
My friend had a baby on Sunday, yeah. I am happy for her and I know she will be fine. But I guess I'm not as happy for her as I should be. She confessed to me that she was having a baby more for her husband and that right now it was the best time. She said she didn't know if she was ready or ever will be ready to have kids. Then I start think how unfair life is and how it really just screws with you. You see I have this other friend who would give up a body part to have a baby. She had a miscarriage earlier this year and now is stressfully trying to get pregnant again. I know it is going to happen for them and I know when it does it will be the happiest time ever, but why couldn't that have been her having a baby on Sunday instead of my other friend. Does this sound horrible? Am I a horrible friend?
Like I said I know it is going to happen for my other friend and when it does maybe I'll forget that I even felt this way.

Cycling Program #1

For those of you interested I finished my first cycling program. Check it out. Again if you have any songs suggestions let me know.

Warm Up - Just a Ride - Jem
Leg drills - Some Days You Gotta Dance - Dixie Chicks
Rolling Hills - Stop and Stare - One Republic
Running Up/Downs - I Run For Life - Melissa Etheridge
Long Steep Hill - Highway to Hell - AC/DC
Sprints - Somebody Told Me- The Killers
Pyramid Climbs - I Don't Want to Be in Love - Good Charlotte
Small Hill - Our Song - Taylor Swift
Long Hill - Keep Holding On - Avril Lavigne
Team Sprints - Foot Loose - Kenny Loggins (you have to have a fun song for team sprints)
Cool Down - Over the Rainbow/Beautiful World - Reggae Version

So what do you think? Could you do it?

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's out there!

I had a great 2nd Mother's Day or weekend. It started on Friday night when my husband went to blockbuster and got all chick flicks. He choose for my weekend 27 Dresses (cute movie, I can see myself watching it again), Juno (great movie but not as good as all the hype made it out to be), and P.S. I Love You (we haven't watched that one yet). Saturday we took my mother-in-law and sister-in-law out for Mother's Day dinner. We had a good time and our daughter finally sat through a 1 1/2 meal without getting antsy. Then again it was a buffet so she didn't have to wait for food. She gets very impatient when she is hungry. Then on Sunday I got to sleep in, hubby got up with the little one, and then made me breakfast. Then off I went to spend some long over due quality time with my sister. She is a Mom of 2 boys (5 yr old and 3 yr old). We went to get pedicures and manicures. It was wonderful! I have to do that more often. I love getting pampered. Afterwards we went to Rita's and just talked a bit more. For dinner we made big juicy cheeseburgers on the grill. To end a wonderful weekend the Flyer's are playing game 2 in Pitt, and Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters are on too. I'm going to sit back watch them all and have a big piece of Apple Cinnamon Cream Cake!

I need my juice...

I am a 33 year old who on certain days feels like a 93 year old. I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis this past year. My doctor said that I was too young to be in so much pain and she wanted to treat it aggressively. She started me on Remicade Infusions that I get every 8 weeks at the medical office. I don't mind the 3 hours that I have to sit there and do nothing while I get the infusion because of the results I get from the medicine. This stuff is amazing, it is my juice, my cocktail, my pain free life. Up until now the 7th week. This is the week I start getting pain again. I start feeling every move I make. I start waking up in the morning and I'm afraid to move because I know it is going to hurt but I don't know how much. This is when all housework stops until my next treatment. Daily activities become hard to do. My doctor suggested that we might have to move the treatment to every 6 or 7 weeks. She said since I'm young and my metabolism is still running strong that it pushes the medicine through my body to quickly. I am fine with this like I said before this is my pain free life. But that plan has been put on hold because I have been having trouble with the past 2 treatments. I have been experiencing allergic reactions. The reactions are horrible I start feeling hot, dizzy, then it gets difficult to breath and my chest gets tight. After stopping the infusion and pumping me up with steroids, benadryl and liquids I can usually start up the treatment again and finish it with no more problems. Well my doctor is giving me one more go at it. If I get any reactions at my next treatment, which is next week, she is stopping it for good and finding something else for me. I don't want to start something else what if it doesn't work as well. So cross your fingers for me, since it hurts too much for me to cross my own, that this next treatment goes smoothly! This time next Friday I will be feeling great and my house will be as clean as ever!

Wonderful Surprise

Today I got a nice surprise! The realtor for our development kept telling us that she has a house warming present for us. After 3 months I figured she just forgot. No biggie. Well today I got the present it was a hand sketched pencil drawing of our house that is matted and framed. Every little detail is on the sketch. It is absolutely beautiful! Now I have to find the perfect place to hang it! What a wonderful surprise!

Wild Life

I love seeing animals in their natural setting. I grow up on 3 acres surrounded by 3 farms. We had a lot of wild life running through our yard. We had everything; raccoons, groundhogs, fox, hawks nest, we even had an albino deer among a ton of regular deer. It was great growing up and seeing something new everyday. It was great knowing that every night at 7pm the two fox will cross through the back and not too far behind them was a herd of deer. So when I got married and moved to a townhouse development I missed the wild life. I missed waking up to the birds and going to bed with the crickets. Now that I moved back in to more of a somewhat country setting I'm starting to see wild life again. Just in the past 3 months I have seen a hawk (flying very low so I'm thinking a nest can't be too far away) and plenty of other birds, a fox, and just the other night 3 deer right in our back yard! How exciting!

Nothing Much

I really don't have much to say. I don't know if I'm suffering from writer's block already or what. The weekend was great and I'm sure there are plenty of stories to write about but I really just don't feel like it.
One thing I'm thinking about is how long do you send birthday cards to your friends children? Do you keep sending them every year even if they never send your child one? What if you didn't talk to your "friends" for about a year? Do you still send their child a card? I don't know what to do. I love sending cards because who doesn't like to get a nice card in the mail especially kids they love to get mail! I hate to be one of those people who don't do it anymore because they or their kids don't get one back in return, but I think I'm turning into one.

LOST

Is there anyone who watches this show that isn't "LOST"! I have such a love-hate relationship with this show. As soon as I think I know what is going on BAM a twist is thrown in. Every week I say I'm not watching it anymore because I'm tired of trying to figure it out. But there I am every Thursday glued to the TV getting more and more confused. At first I loved the flash forwards but now I don't know if I do. How far ahead are they going? One episode it seems like it is just a few years then the next episode it seems like it is just a few months. What's up with the time period stuff too? There are some many quesitons that need to be answered. I hope in the end it isn't a dream that someone is having like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. I heard that is how it is going to end from a couple of different people. I would be so pissed if I wasted all these years watching this show to find out it is all a dream! Ugghhhh! I hate this show!

Kids

I'm watching my 3 year old nephew today. I was suppose to work from home today but I called in sick an hour after he was dropped off. I think my daughter will be an only child after today. 2 kids are a lot of work. I couldn't imagine what John and Kate go through. You know the couple with a set of twins and a set of sextuplets. Could you imagine 8 kids all under the age of 6 years old. Geez! I'm just proud of myself that I got both down for a nap. So far it is going on 2 hours. Plus I have contractors upstairs putting in lights and fans so it is noisey up there. Whoop my nephew just got up he looks like he still could sleep for another hour or two. Well that is all for now...off to play.