Hello Again!!

Well here I am again. I've spent all day reading OTHER people's blogs and figured the least I could do would be update my own. After all, it has been over a year!

I have been browsing online getting ideas for fall decorations and home improvement ideas. On my list of things to do are: make a new 6 seater table with the help from Knockoffwood.com, make an entertainment center for the living room, also from KOW. I will be starting these projects next week and I cannot wait!! I'll post progress pics as I go. :) I'm also planning to make a few fall wreaths and random decorations for the house.

We've had a super fun day today. We went to Northpark Mall to help Aunt Tracy find a dress to wear to her sisters LA wedding this weekend. We had zero luck there, but Gage thoroughly enjoyed running around, hiding in the racks of clothes, and sliding down the wall at the duck/turtle area. It's so fun to watch him grow up!! We eventually found Tracy a super cute dress at TJMaxx and she looks stunning in it!!

Both kids were so exhausted and fell asleep in the car on the way home. I contemplated just sitting in the car and snoozing myself, but brought them both inside. Inara stayed asleep, Gage woke up. But he's been playing quietly in his room, so I guess it's still okay. Uhoh...I spoke too soon. I hear soft whispers coming from downstairs asking to play...I better go! :)

Sleep Training...

Gage has been a great sleeper ever since he was 6 weeks old and sleeping through the night. A little after his first year birthday, he started waking up in the middle of the night. At first, I would go downstairs to get him back to sleep, and eventually, I just started bringing him back to bed with us. Daniel and I sleep terrible when he is in bed with us. Gage is a SPRAWLER, so I end up sleeping on the very edge of the bed, and constantly wake up to move him away from kicking Daniel. So on Wednesday, we decided that we were going to let him CIO and learn to sleep in his own bed. *sigh* He woke up at 2:00 in the morning, and we just let him cry. I checked on him to make sure everything was alright, but then came back upstairs. He cried for almost an hour before I noticed that his cries started to sound different...louder...closer. I got out of bed to see what was wrong, and found Gage...sitting on the STAIRS! He had climbed out of his crib, and was sitting in the dark half way up the stairs. *cry* He was holding his blanket, all his pacis, and his Little People farm. It broke my heart. Needless-to-say, I brought him to bed with us after that. So the next morning, I got serious about our little problem, and read another book on sleep training. This book was by Dr. Ferber, and does incremental CIO. We tried it that night, and it worked perfect! He didn't even wake up once! Then we did it again last night, and he woke up 4 times. *grrr* BUT...I never got past the 10 minute mark after going in to reassure him we were still there. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, but I can see that Gage is learning how to go back to sleep on his own. I know that within a week, he should be sleeping all night. I can't wait!!!! :)

What a fun, crafty day!!

I had such a fun day today! The day started out watching the inauguration of President Obama. I just HAD to watch history being made. I actually left my house RIGHT before he began his speech, went to fill up my car with gas, and turned around to come back home to watch it. I have to said, it was a good speech. I still have a lot of things that I will not agree with in his agenda, but I'm giving him a chance to do good things for our country. My favorite part was watching Rick Warren say the prayer, and show such reverence for the Lord. Good for him for standing up and not refusing to say "In the name of Jesus...".

After the speech, I went over to my friend Michelle's house, and we "got our craft on!" LOL We worked on making crosses today and just had a wonderful time of fellowship. It's always nice to hang out with friend that you can just be yourself around. I always feel completely at ease to be ME and just hang out. It was a nice break from my very real reality. I'll post pics of the cross I made soon. Off to go finish cleaning the house...

I just had to add this picture because it is one of my favorites. He looks like he is flying down the slide, but in reality, he was barely scooting down. Such a fun picture!

Lots of changes

Well, what better way to start off the new year than to change a few things? I decided, about a week into January, that I was ready to start dieting again. I am not proud to admit, that I weighed the most I had ever weighed (aside from being pregnant) and was no longer finding it an easy task to fit into my jeans. :( I started the South Beach Diet on January 9th , and I am already down almost 7 pounds!!! My goal was to lose 13 pounds, so I still have 6 more pounds to go before I reach my maintenance phase. I haven't cheated at all, so I'm pretty proud of myself!! Okay, okay. I take that back. I only cheated once, I ate 15 chips while at Chili's on a date with Daniel. But other than that, no cheating!! I love seeing results!!!

Another BIG change taking place this year is...I went back to school!! I started my Master's Degree at Amberton University last week. I am working on my Counseling degree, to become a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC). I am more overwhelmed than excited at this point. I am taking two classes: Multicultural Counseling & Theories and Methods of Counseling and Psychotherapy. They are INTENSE and I have a ton of work. I'm really praying that I am going to be able to balance everything. Only time will tell. I am officially a GRAD student!!! :)

A little more motivated now...

Part of the reason I haven't posted on here is because I never liked the way my page looked. Well, after viewing a friend's blog, I decided to play around with some templates to see if I could find one I liked. Sure enough...it worked! I couldn't wait to post on my "new and improved" blog!! My life is even more crazy now, so I don't know what I'm thinking. But I'll give it ANOTHER shot. ;)

I'm back....again!

This post is for Helen. :) I am sooooo bad about posting, which is more than obvious. I don't know why it is so hard for me to keep up with blogging...but it IS hard for me. Never-the-less, I'm giving it a shot again. Maybe I need to actually tell people about the blog instead of just Helen and my MIL. That's a start...

Here's the latest:

Gage is 14 months old and is a complete mess! He is so much fun and full of life. Daniel and I love watching the new things he learns and amazes us with his goofy personality. Just yesterday, he was following 2 step directions. I asked him to 1. "Go get your blanket and 2. bring it to me". He did it perfectly. We tried this several times with lots of different objects, and he did great each time. He has also shown us that he can find his shoes and try to put them on his feet. He can't quite get them on...so it's nice to know he still needs Mom to do some things! His new word of the day is "car". All we heard on the way home tonight was "car, car, car, car". It was adorable!!

Along with all the great things he is learning, Daniel and I are learning lots of things as parents, too. We learned this week, that Gage will copy anything we do. ANYTHING. We have gotten to where we will point at Gage to get his attention. Whether it is to say "No sir, we do not ______" or simply to point at him. Welllll.....Gage now points his little pointer finger at US when being scolded. Trying telling a cute baby NO when he is pointing at you and making you laugh. It's pretty hard to keep a straight face! I guess we are going to have to be a little more careful from now on.

Daniel and I have started going to the gym. We go on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and some Saturdays. We are beginning our third week of going and we have both seen results. I love going with him and feeling like we are taking care of ourselves while still getting to spend time together. Gage seems to LOVE the childcare. There is one girl, named Jessica, that says he is her FAVORITE. She always carries him around and his little face lights up when he sees her.

I am getting ready for a craft fair this weekend. I will be selling the clipboards I've been working on. I just heard about the fair yesterday, so I spent all day scrambling around trying to get as many made as possible. I was able to get 15 ready to sell. WOOHOO! But now...my hands are super sore and starting to get numb. I better cal it a night. I will try to post again soon!!