What's wrong with this picture....

I tell you what...it never fails. Every time we are going somewhere as a fam. Ryan says, OK...are we ready!? I say yes, we get all bundles up, loaded up...and then he disappears!! What the heck?!? Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Usually the men are waiting in the car for the women to get around. Not in our household...Blake and I are always waiting for HIM!!

SO....what do we do!? Photo shoot!! Pictures always make the time go faster!!

OK....we're ready!!

Just sittin and waitin for daddy!
c'mon now...anytime!!

Little peanut :)

Don't mind the snotty nose...it is only about -15 outside..lol!

We are SO ready for the weekend! I cant wait for 5 o'clock to roll around! Ryan is heading to "Big Buck Night"...no jokes....so my mom, Blake, and I are heading to dinner and shopping! Blake comes with us for now...but I bet there will be a time when he would rather be at "Big Buck Night" too!!

Tomorrow we are heading up north with friends...cant wait!!

TGIF!

Now this is CHEESE-y....

Isnt he too young for this?!? Blake has a new cheesy smile. Every time that I get the camera out for a picture he smiles like this.....

What a little ham...
He thinks that he is SO clever....

He is only 13 months old....WHERE did he get this from?? I think that taking a good picture of this boy just got a LOT harder!! Bummer.

We're 1/2 way there............

...........to the weekend that is!!

Thank goodness the week is ½ over. Lately I have been living for the weekends! I think that I am worried about Blake during the week, so I am constantly watching the clock…but it is getting better. He had a good day at Creative Beginnings on Monday. Yesterday he got to stay at home with my mom all day because Michel was sick so he couldn’t go to Amy’s. He is at Creative Beginnings again today...and I just called and he is having another good day. Hopefully we have turned a corner and the rough days at daycare are a thing of the past :)

We went to the in-laws for dinner last night. Ryan dad usually works out of town all week, but he is home this week…so it was nice to get together as a fam. Blake had a good time playing with cousin Addy. I didn’t get any pics…

Tonight I am going to Weight Watchers...but I am freaking out about weighing in. I just ate a ginormus lunch at Max and Emily’s…WHAT is wrong with me?!?! Blah. I was starving at the time...and now I am STUFFED. I need to find a balance with my eating situation!

This weekend we are heading north to Tip-Up-Town with friends. It is going to be COLD. It is already in the single digits and negative 14 with wind-chill. Almost painful to be outside. Hopefully it warm up a bit, because we will probably be outside enjoying the brisk winter weather this weekend! BURRR.

These pics are from last Saturday. Blake had just woke up from a 3 hour nap...YES, 3 HOURS....he took a 3.5 hour nap yesterday....CRAZY!

He thinks I'm silly with all of the pics!

Look at that WILD hair. I am not quite sure what to do with it. I think that he needs a trim. Ryan says NO WAY. I think that Ry is a bit sensitive to the idea b/c he is loosing some of his hair (he does not read this so I can write that :))
Here we are with my mama. The lighting is bad...but we used the self timer...
so this is as good as we got!

Top 2 Tuesdays! Recipes

Taylor at Jimmy Choos and Baby too is trying something new this week! She has asked that we link up and share 2 of our favorite recipes. I am always looking at new recipes…so I thought that I would link up and share some of mine!

I have been trying to plan my week’s dinners in advance to save some hassle mid-week when I am not in the mood to think after work. Here are two that our family likes:

Spaghetti Bake….
Who doesn’t like spaghetti?!!? WELL...this spaghetti recipe is better that just plain old noodles and sauce….and you always have the ingredients at home. I sometimes substitute ground beef or turkey for the sausage…and it is just as good!! Find recipe here.

And

Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff
OK….if you would have told me a year ago that I would have eaten (and liked) this I would have told you NO WAY (beacuse of the name alone). BUT, I am trying to cook “outside of the box” for my hubs, since I didn’t use much meat (esp. red) before he was in the picture. AND I have been trying to use my crock pot…because that just makes things SO much easier. Ryan goes in to work at 6 a.m. and gets home at 4:45 p.m. I get home at 5, and needless to say, he is hungry like NOW…so the less work I have to do after 5 and before I get dinner on the table the better!

This recipe is super good and super easy b/c you use one of those slow cooker season packets…boil some egg noodles....and ta-da…dinner on the table! Find info on this recipe here.

My hubby!!

I blog about Blake ALL of the time. After our wedding I decided that I would devote my post on the 26th of each month (our anniversary) to my hubs. Well….today is our 4 month wedding anniversary…and this is only the 2nd post about Ryan! BUT, in my defense the 2nd month fell on Thanksgiving weekend…and the 3rd was the day after Christmas. SO…here we are 4 months later! My original plan was to write about one of the things that I LOVE about Ryan!

I LOVE that Ryan is so laid back. I know that is one of the reasons that we get along so well. He is so passive when it comes to so many things that get me so riled up!! I am NOT very laid back…I can be very uptight….I freak out about lots of things. Ryan freaks out about NOTHING! Sometimes when my blood is boiling, and I just want him to get riled up, he won’t! At the time it makes me upset….but when I cool down I am thankful that he can put everything into perspective for me.

Since meeting Ryan I have changed quite a bit when it comes to this. I used to be much more hot tempered, bitchy, and judgmental. Ryan has made me a better person. I am so thankful for him!!

Sleepy baby....

We have been pretty blessed when it comes to Blake's sleeping patterns. He has been a pretty good sleeper his whole life. We pretty much have his routine down now. We can lay him down at about 8 and within minutes he is sleeping sound.
He sleeps through the night, and typically wakes up at about 7 a.m. well rested and ready for the day. Of course, he does have his nights when he just cant get a good rest...but don't we all??

This morning he woke up at about 6:30 a.m and he was MAD! I mean like screaming mad. I am not sure if he was having a bad dream or what. It seriously took me about 45 minutes to get him to calm down. Nothing would work. By the time that he calmed down I know that he was tired again, but he would not go back down. Poor kid. That is no way to wake up....but I feel his pain on a Monday morning! Sometimes I feel like I could cry too :)

I hope that this morning was no indication of how today is going to go for him at daycare. I hate to think about it :(

Wedding pics

Another dose of wedding pictures:

My mom helping me into my dress...I hate that I am holding my boobies in this pic...but I wanted to make sure that the girls were nice adn perky for my big day :)

The background scenery is a bit ghetto...but we were in the basement of our church!

So excited to be getting married in a few minutes!!

Weight Loss

I haven’t posed about my weight loss or weight watchers in quite some time. However, I am still working on it. Mostly working on maintaining my weight loss….not losing any more. I weighed in at Weight Watchers last night and I was up 0.8 lbs. from my last weigh in. My last weigh in was before the holidays (over a month ago…yikes), so I knew that I would be up a bit. I am ok with the slight gain..but will try to get that off next week!! I was at my all time low when I weighed in on 12.16.09, so I would like to get to that and stay there!!

It stinks because I really don’t have any time to work out…so I just need to rely on my food plan and trying to “move more” when I can squeeze it in. I need to track my points this week because I always do SO much better when I write everything that I eat down!!
01.07.09: 1st weigh-in (about 3 weeks after having Blake)
01.14.09: -1.8
01.21.09: -1.6
01.28.09: -0.2
02.04.09: -2.2
02.11.09: -3.2
02.18.09: -1.6
02.26.09: -1.0
03.04.09: +2.0
03.11.09: -2.2
03.18.09: -3.0
03.25.09: -1.0
04.01.09: -0.6
04.08.09: -1.8
04.15.09: -2.4
04.23.09: -1.0
04.29.09: -2.0
05.06.09: -1.2
05.13.09: +0.8
05.20.09: -2.2
05.28.09: -1.4
06.04.09: -0.2
07.01.09: +0.2
07.08.09: -1.8 (reached my pre-bably weight...it seriously took me almost 7 months!)
07.15.09: -1.8
07.22.09: -0.6
07.30.09: -0.2
08.06.09: -1.8
08.14.09: -0.4
09.09.09: +1.0
09.18.09: -1.0
09.23.09: -0.2
10.14.09: -1.8
10.21.09: -1.8
10.28.09: +0.4
11.12.09: +0.6
12.02.09: -0.4
12.16.09: -0.6
01.20.10: +0.8

TOTAL: -37.2

Quite the little 'helper'...

Blake has been quite the little helper around the house...NOT! ha. He loves to get into ANYTHING that he can. It is such a struggle. There are so many cupboards and drawers that he cant get into...and he gets SO mad. He cam pitch a serious temper tantrum at the young age of 13 months!!
I have learned that it is easier for me to let him just get into the Tupperware drawer (one of the ONLY ones that is safe enough) than to fight him on the issue.
He gets in and totally empties it out. There are containers ALL over the kitchen when he is done. Oh well...at least it gives to a reason to have to arrange the contents of this one cupboard often. (BUT, every day IS a bit much)

Out hot water heater blew up yesterday. I got home from work and went to the basement to put something in the freezer. As I reached the bottom step I realized that the basement was flooding....awesome. Good thing I went down there when I did. I am not sure when we would have noticed if I didn't need go down there right away!! Anywho....Ryan and his brother replaced the hot water heater..and $350.00 later...we are all set!! blah.

Wishful Wednesday - Gown

'I wish' .... I could have worn the gown that Heidi Klum OR Penelope Cruz wore at the 67th Annual Golden Globes Awards!

I couldn't pick just one....I think that both Heidi and Penelope looked great! I must be into that mermaid style of dress right now....

How can she have babies and go back to looking like this in no time?

I think that she always looks so great. You cant go wrong with a black dress.
(google images)
I also like the off-the shoulder look I guess!

Check out more Wishful Wednesday posts at the Seattle Smiths!

An Award!!

Jamie over at the Young Mama Blog gave me two awards a week or so ago and I forgot to post them!! She gave me the Lemonade Stand award and the Happy 101. Thanks Jamie...you made my day :)

Lemonade Stand Award:- Put the Lemonade logo on your blog or within your post- Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude or gratitude- Link the nominees within your post- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Happy 101 Award:
1) List 10 things that make me happy
2) Try to do at least one of them today
3) Tag 10 bloggers that brighten my day
4) For those 10 bloggers who get the award, you then link back to my blog and create your own "makes you happy" list

The wife over at the Cobia fam gave me this award a bit back...you can check out my 10 happy things HERE..and the links to the 10 buddis that I passed it on too!!

Thanks again Jamie!!

Wedding Anticipation pics

I am posting MORE wedding pics. Surely a bore to anyone that is reading my blog...but I am posting them more for me...to look back and remember one day. I have only been posting 5 at a time here and there...but have labeled them all...so one day I can go back and look at them when the mood strikes me!!

More pics of my dress...

Buying my dress was a source of much anxiety! I needed to start looking for a dress right after Blake was born...and order it when he was only 2 months old. Needless to say, my bod was NOT what I had envisioned it would be in a wedding dress at that time. It was depressing trying on the dresses...SO I just needed to think about what I had always wanted...order it...

and pray that I could fit into it...and that it would look good.

(it did all work out...and my dress fit like a glove :))
This is a stained glass door in our church...from the inside looking out.

my mom and dad getting to the church with my dress!!

such an exciting day!!

Weekend Fun!

On Saturday night we went up to TC for our friend Erin's birthday. It was a lot of fun. There were about 20 of us there. We had dinner and then went out to the downtown bars.

Here are a few of the pics:

Ryan and one of his BFF's Erik

Kellianne (Eric's fiance) and I. We cant wait until August when Eric and Kellianne get married!! Ryan is in the wedding...
me, Melissa, Kellianne, and Erin (the b-day girl)

Ryan and I

me and Carson

All of the girls. We were at Erin's aunts house.

She still had her tree up..and it was still alive....crazy huh?

Blake stayed with Ryan's mom and dad. We contimplated not going because he was feeling ill...but we went anyway. Ryan's parents were really looking forward to having him...and his mom is a nurse...so we figured that she could handle a sick baby!

He wasn't any better on Sunday when we got home so we took him to Ready Care. He had an ear infection on top of the cold symptoms. He has been on antibiotics for less than 24 hours and seems to be SO much better already. Good thing we took him in. I think that he will be well enough to get back to day care tomorrow!