easter dress

isn't she just about the cutest thing you have seen today???

chicka chicka boom boom, i'll write again real soon...

a calling for one please...

i can't figure out what i need/want to do with my life (besides being a mom and a wife). my greenhouse secretary job will be up soon and i need something more permanent that i can do part-time. i need a calling! everyone of my friends has a definite career or does odds 'n' ends crafty things to help bring in some income but i have no niche. for instance my friend "t" does this or my friend "a" does this. are you listening up there?! since the rapture didn't happen i need you to give a sign!
any mommy friends out there that have any ideas????

on a more happy note. we are mostly moved in!



chicka chicka boom boom, i'll write again real soon...

wake-up call

hello all faithful bloggers-
i got my long overdue wake up call from one of my fav blogs. yes, i'm alive! new house, new job [sort of], new craziness. i'm sorry, don't hurt me. i will try to write when i have a sec. i promise! [no fingers crossed] here's a few pics to til i post again. [hopefully not that long]

chicka chicka boom boom, i'll write again real soon...

no news is good news, great g-parents & job hunting

nothing much new here to report. chicka is learning new things everyday [like an officially 11 mo old should]. she can sign "eat", "hot" and she points to her palms which I still have NO IDEA what it means. she does it all the time and looks me square in the eye as she does it to say "see?". i never taught her anything like it so i'm stumped. she must be modifying another sign! sorry chicka.

made some caramel corn for the first time... YUM

 

baby loves her bath

few pics of bubble fun

"wearing" momma's sunglasses

bath time in the sink at "neece's"

 

papa chicka's grandparents came to visit his aunt and uncle that live near hutch last weekend. i think they really enjoyed seeing chicka without everyone else hovering. we also went to the last day of the fair before it got too hot out. it was really nice to see them without traveling back 8 [with stops] hours to our native land. they also brought chicka's 1st bday present. eek. giving of the first bday present put it into reality. my thought was, if i wished it to go away or "forgot" about it, chicka would never EVER turn one. sigh. luckily, its still 1 month [-6 days] away...

money sucks. can't we go back to trading? i need to find a part-time gig. i've tried target, michaels, wal-mart, starbucks and dillions. nothing. i must be either overqualified or there aren't any openings. i can't find any evening/weekend jobs. i'm not willing to put chicka into a daycare because i literally had a meltdown [including panic attack + hyperventilation] when i thought of dropping her off somewhere... alone... without me. granted, she does need some momma-less time just as much as i need chicka-less time but we don't know anyone nor can i even bring the idea into my head of trusting anyone with her. i never thought i would feel this way about it. 

when i first found out i was pregnant i had FULL plans on going back to work but when my income just barely paid for daycare, it just didn't add up. why would i work just to pay someone to watch little chicka? since i wasn't even in my field of education it was pointless. after the decision was made for me to stay home. then expenses came... 

over halfway through my pregnancy 7 hospital stays with a $200 co-pay a day and at least 3-4 days per stay, bed rest at 32 weeks [meaning short-term leave WITHOUT pay because i hadn't been working there a year yet], a c-section, emergency kidney/ureter surgery (twice once to put ureter stints in and once to separate the fused ureter to my uterus), constant $40 co-pays to see the special urologist for follow-ups. when  it was all said and done little chicka and i had racked up quite a bill! 

we are slowly paying the hospital bills off and we have been trying to be good and stay on a tight budget but when those darn bills are due [and might i add why are they all due at the same time?] it just doesn't add up and for a week or two we can't even buy the essentials. i pray that chicka doesn't run out of diapers, or for us, toilet paper. if we do need something, out comes the credit card. granted we don't have a huge bill on that becuase we immediately pay it off when dada gets paid. infact, i don't own a credit card because i'm afraid of what i might do with it. cha-ching, cha-ching... it just really sucks when i see something i know chicka would love or the fact that my pre-pregnancy wardrobe still doesn't fit [i long for a shirt that doesn't show my muffin top] and i can't buy it. i know money can't buy love, thank goodness for that. i just really wish we would have to stop holding our breaths and crossing our fingers right before payday when the money runs out.

lemme know if any of you moms know anything legit or good because i need help! i'm a hard worker and will NOT let you down.

chicka chicka boom boom, i'll write again real soon...

dress-up, blowing kisses, self-feeding & teeth, where for art thou?

this last week we played dress-up with momma chicka's baby clothes! here is a few pics.

collage of the day

a few picniks

whew, pictures out of the way. chicka has FINALLY learned to blow a kiss! no video of it yet... weeks i have tried to get her to do it and my mom tries ONE time and BAM, she gets it. happy but grrrr... [its like when you try to get a lid off and then someone comes along and makes you look like a dumba**.

chicka has learned to self-feed, a little! i'm so proud. here's a video for you! WARNING: turn down you speakers! i tend to squeal right into the microphone, i'm sorry.

ps- [yes, blue's clues is in the background on netflix. normally, i don't let her watch tv but she was beyond tired, cranky and i needed her to eat] earlier, breakfast did not go over very well and couldn't get her to sit in her highchair for more than 3 minutes. meaning, a whole bowl of hard earned breast milk cereal went down the sink... sad day. i hate wasting breast milk since i work so hard to keep my supply up!

at 8.5 months i finally got my wish, chicka got her first tooth, followed by another a half a week later. then... nothing. where are you stubborn pearly whites? my chicka will be 1 year [yes, i'm in denial] next month and all she got for "christmas" was her two bottom teeth! she wants to eat what we eat but most of the time ends up spitting it out because she can't chew. i'm afraid underneath those volcanic gums is 4 or 5 hot lava teeth about ready to "blow" all at once and it BETTER NOT be around her birthday! what a sad day that would be if poor little pink pirate [that's her theme] chicka was a big mess of teething insanity!

chicka chicka boom boom, i'll write again real soon...

standing from crawling, bravery & procrastination

little chicka was naked in the bathtub trying to crawl around when she got her leg caught underneath her. not wanting to sit down but couldn't quite get crawling, she decided she would stand! i just stood there in awe. something i was hoping she would do for a long time and she just *poof*, did it. like it was no big deal. it never ceases to amaze me. now hopefully instead of falling on her butt and either crawling to the nearest object [usually me] or sitting there crying for me to help her up, she can stand up by herself. i'm starting to go from being explosively overjoyed that she is becoming more independent to being bittersweet, almost sad, that my little chicka is needing me less and less. never thought i say that. when chicka was a newborn i prayed and dreamed for when she could play for ten minutes by herself while i ate my breakfast. now sometimes i can eat my breakfast and drink my coffee, all in one sitting!

    

  running around after a bath,pjs strategically placed                getting caught messing with the blinds                                                                                       

i'm currently helping chicka's aunt with her cake business designing fliers, pamphlets, logos and stuff. she gave me the idea to put an add, either craigslist or newspaper or somewhere to help small businesses with their advertisements. since i majored in art, it got me thinking. i would LOVE, LOVE, [did i mention i would LOVE?] to do this. two problems: i have no idea how to do my own business & i can't muster up the courage to do it! send me bravery vibes!

giving me some raspberries

why am i the worst at procrastinating. i sat here tonight working on my two church websites i volunteer to update and think, "why didn't i do this last weekend when i had the time?". i reply to myself [scary, i know] "it's because you work well under a deadline, you would rather spend time with your family and its how you're programed." i have ALWAYS been a procrastinator. i've tried, without success, to do things ahead of schedule. i fall back into the old habits after a week or so. i've longed to have that crazy gene where you HAVE to do things early and don't put off things til tomorrow.  isn't there some daily pill or vaccine i can take? i already feel like my stomach is a walking pharmacy. what's another pill in the old breadbasket? maybe the people who working on the gene that causes procrastination are procrastinators themselves? irony at its best...

ps- did i mention chicka is a tornado? every time i clean up one mess, i turn around to find another!

chicka chicka boom boom, i'll write again real soon...

auntie momma chicka

i'm an aunt! (or i guess more of a aunt-in-law?). dada chicka's sister had her baby yesterday! dad, mom and baby are all doing great. she was in labor since 4 that morning and had him around 2:43pm that afternoon. YIKES! a c-section, for the short-term, sounds better to me although that incision still bothers me sometimes...

little "o" weighed 7lbs 1oz and was 20inches long. now we just have to wait till the weekend to make the 8 hourish trip there. this is torture sitting here waiting to see him. i am not looking forward to the drive. chicka is the worst in her car seat. she despises it. hopefully she will nap some and let me rest.

i get so nervous about that darn drive it almost makes me sick. i get stressed out. the packing, the planning and the entertaining. ugh. at least we get to see a our new nephew! that is what is keeping me strong and keeping my head up high. maybe i might even get to poke my camera in his face. i have been itching to try our "new" camera on a precious newborn since we got it.  

chicka chicka boom boom, i'll write again real soon...