Weekend Update

It doesn't take much for us to have a nice weekend..it usually includes friends and some much needed relaxation at home! The cherry on top was that I haven't worked since last Wednesday! It's been so nice to have so much time off but pretty pathetic of me considering I only work an average of three days a week to begin with!

Friday, Christopher was done with work around noon and we just hung out at home....my energy level as of late has been in the negatives so I'm pretty content laying in my spot on the couch! Friday evening we headed over to some friends house for a pool party and pizza! We thought maybe we would get rained out but the nice thing about Arizona rain is it comes and goes very fast! And the best part was it cooled down a bunch and we really enjoyed swimming! All the kids had a great time and I think we accomplished the goal of wearing them out!

Saturday morning was book club with the girls. Ever since we got banned from Relief Society we have started going to a resteraunt for our book club discussions. Saturday morning we went for brunch at this little cute place in Mesa. Good food too! I was afraid my morning sickness would get in the way of enjoying the food but it didn't and I was happy for that! We had a great little discussion and spent the rest of our time gabbing away! Our friend Tina (the one in purple) who just moved out of the ward was in town for the last time..she and her family are moving to Illinios on Wednesday and wanted one last trip to the valley before they left. We love Tina and will miss her in our little group....we will have to figure out some kind of webcam for book club now!

Saturday afternoon was lazy...we did venture out in the evening to go to Applebee's but after a few bites I was done! Very annoying! I'm grateful that I haven't been throwing up but I'm still in a funk..if I don't eat I'm sick, If I eat too fast I'm sick and if I stuff my face I'm sick..I usually have to leave my plate half full to keep from making myself want to throw up! Even if I'm still hungry!
With the exception of a few meetings on Sunday we spent our afternoon hanging out as a family! The End!

Paragon

Forgot to mention that last week Christopher was offered a job as an intern with a Structural Engineering Firm in Phoenix..it's actually in the same building as his other internship he did in the Spring....he's excited and I'm so proud of him. I'm hoping he really likes it and this can offer us some long term stability if they make an offer after he graduates. Atleast a little knowledge of where we can buy a house.

The only lame part is he has to wear dress pants and a dress shirt and tie to work everyday! It's gonna stink when school starts! Plus we have to go shopping for him! We had bought him some really nice dockers and lots of polo's when he was at C&B but for Paragon it's not dressy enough!

Christopher is really excited...he told the Schneider's yesterday and they were okay with it...trying not to burn any bridges because you never know!

He starts on August 6th..about 2 weeks before school starts!

Pregnancy Update Week 6

So in an attempt to keep a record of my pregnancy, I'm going to start a weekly update. I am half through the 6th week of my pregnancy. Sunday July 29th I'll be 7 weeks pregnant. The morning sickness is here but so far very different from Elodie's pregnancy. With Elodie it didn't matter..I could eat, not eat, throw up, lay down...it didn't matter..I was sick ALL THE TIME! With this pregnancy I'm mostly sick in the mornings and if I haven't eaten in a while...once I've eaten I start to feel alot better. The only bad part is I still don't feel like eating..nothing sounds good and so it's been really hard to eat something even though I know it will make me feel better. It's a bad cycle and I need to find something that will work for me.

It's also been really funny to see how eager my body has been to go into pregnancy mode. Already I am wanting to wear looser clothing and my belly is starting to poke out on it's own. Standing up straight and keeping my stomach in is getting alot more uncomfortable so I don't think it will be too much longer before I'm wearing my maternity clothes simply because they are more comfortable. It's scary too because with Elodie I don't think I bought my first maternity top until I was like 4 months pregnant! Yikes!

Overall I'm feeling pretty good. I haven't made my first doctor's appointment just yet. With Elodie I didn't get in until I was about 10 weeks so I have a few more weeks until my doctor even wants to see me. For now I'm just trying to take it easy and rest as much as I can....

Christopher has been a huge help already, letting me stay in bed in the mornings and getting things for me while I'm laying down. I love him and appreciate his support! Did you read that hun? Wink! Wink!

As for Elodie she understands but doesn't understand. The following are a few of the super cute things she has been saying about the baby....

- "Mommy, you got a baby in your tummy? Do you need a vitamin?"

- "Mommy, your not feeling well? You got a baby in your belly? You need some medicine? I'm not feeling well either...I need some medicine TOO!"

- "Mommy, you got a baby in your belly? Yes, Elodie. Mommy, you got a baby in your arm? NO! You got a baby in your face? NO! You got a baby in your leg? NO! You got a baby in your belly!!

- "Mommy, can I see the baby?" This is as she is lifting my shirt trying to see the baby!

- If the doorbell rings or someone knocks on the door or if Ginger starts to bark she sais "OH! My baby is here mommy!"

- This was today's as we were driving home from Wal-Mart..I called Chris to let him know we were going to stop at Wendy's for lunch because I wasn't feeling well, didn't want to cook anything, and Wendy's sounded good to me.....when we were on our way home Elodie sais "Mommy, you don't feel well? You got a baby in your tummy? I don't feel well either...I got a baby in my tummy TOO!" Oh dear!

She is such a hoot!

First Haircut

Elodie got her first haircut yesterday..yes I said FIRST! For so long I have been letting it grow out so that it would be long enough to pull up into pigtails...well, now that's all I can do with it. Because her hair is so fine and feathery, not to mention uneven...it's hard to make it look cute when it's down. And, I love making her bows so I was fine with the pigtails everyday.

But eventually we knew it would end and it has come to an end.....Elodie's hair needed a fresh start and a chance to actually grow out evenly (imagine that huh?) so after our weekend in Snowflake and family pictures ( I wanted to make sure she could wear her hairbows for the family pictures) I brought Elodie to our cousin Kristy (she's actually Chris' cousin's wife) who does my hair and we let her cut Elodie's! Elodie was a good sport and only faked one potty break during the cut. And I think she looks just fabulous! Plus it will be fun to do some cute things with her hair down. It's a nice change!

Pioneer Day Weekend...

We love going to Snowflake for Pioneer Day Weekend....It's a big deal in Snowflake and is better celebrated than the 4th of July! We left at 5am Friday morning so Chris could play in a golfing tournament with his dad and brother-in-law Heath. They didn't win and Christopher got a bad sunburn on his head, but overall they had a great time together! Friday night Christopher played ball with Amanda and Heath, Saturday we woke up early for the parade, and took family pictures Saturday afternoon followed up with another ball game and fireworks that night. We left before anyone was awake on Sunday morning and got home with enough time to relax before the start of another busy week.

We're Back!

So we made it back yesterday from the big Pioneer Day Celebration weekend up in Snowflake. I would have posted yesterday but we were all super tired and enjoyed relaxing! Today is catch up day and my pregnancy is definitely catching up with me! I've been pretty tired all day and since Elodie is sleeping and I have to work tonight, this post is going to be super short!

More to come on our weekend and today's first!

More about me..

My roommates and I once....man there are so many!! We had such a blast! The one thing that sticks out in my head was the one time we all thought it would be a great idea to stay in our apartment for Thanksgiving break. campus was a ghost town! Our parking lot was empty! We had some guy friends that knew we were staying so they put on mask, knocked on our door, threw stuff at our window..it was FREAKY!! We even called campus police who did their job in finding our FHE brothers!! We couldn't believe it! It was scary and to this day probably one of my most scray moments....

Never in my life have I....been to California..I know I'm so lame but that will all change after December when we go to Disneyland

High School was...fabulous- probably wouldn't do it again, won't go to my high school reunion either but it was great!

When I'm nervous...my heart beats really fast and my voice shakes

My hair is..brown

when I was 5..ugh....do I even remember anything from when I was 5?

When I turn to my left...I see a window

I should be...this is exactly what I should be doing! Laundry is done, sheets are clean, Elodie is sleeping, kitchen is clean..this is my time! I tell Chris that it's my lunch break! P.S- this post was finished on Monday!

By this time next year...We will have a new baby! We will be living in a different house...lots will have changed for our little family!

My favorite Aunt is...Oh no! Not doing this one...I'll keep her in my head!

I have a hard time understanding..Chris sometimes....

You know I like you if...this is a tough one...I pretty much like everyone....you know I DON'T like you if I don't even give you the time of day!

My ideal breakfast is...nothing....I'm not a big breakfast eater which I'm trying to do better at since I'm prego..

If you visit my home town...you'll find that it's much smaller than I remember...I never thought it was a small town but going back...I was wrong!

If you spend the night at my house...I'll treat you right!

My favorite blonde is..RANDA

My favorite brunette is...My momma!

The animal I would like to see fly besides birds is....this is a stupid questions!

I shouldn't have been...this is a hard one to answer...deep thought considering the last question was about flying animals! I'm drawing a blank here sorry folks!

Last night I...enjoyed spending time with Chris' parents who were in town for the weekend!

A better name for me would be...I like my name..

I've been told I look like...Reese Witherspoon but I just think it's the accent!

If I could have any car it would be...something bigger than what I have now...I'll let Chris handle the details!

Since it's been a few days..

Here are a few of my latest creations...








I'm getting really good at using up scraps by making cards..I have a million now but atleast I can feel good about not wasting anything! And I always have a card!










This was my original altered project for my submissions to M2Y but then I had completely forgotten I had to use one of their kits...DUH! It still turned out cute and it's in my living room now! Heidi..do you recognize this paper?!? I still have so many of your kits!! It's rediculous! I can't seem to get rid of any of it! And this particular kit, I've done a 2 page layout, this little accordian book and a few cards! It just won't go away!!






















I won't bore you with the a picture of each page...I think there are 8 pages in all. I'm not overly crazy about the purse and I'm not sure what I'm going to use it for...I just had to alter something and I had to use a M2Y kit....I ran out of paper,etc. If anyone wants it let me know and I'll send it to you! I'm not kidding!

The test doesn't lie!

Well, after only one month of trying, and 4 days of denial when I hadn't started my cycle yet ("I couldn't be pregnant, my body is playing tricks on me, don't get your hopes up, it doesn't happen this way for us..."), I went out on monday and got a pregnancy test. This time I got a digital read one so there was no doubt what the results would say. (When we found out we were pregnant with Elodie the 2 lines were SO faint we couldn't tell if I was pregnant or not...we were holding the tester up to the box to compair to the sample..it's funny to think about now!) And yes, I am indeed pregnant with number 2!!! We are SOOOO excited and in a complete state of shock with how quick it took us to get pregnant this time. With Elodie, it took us about 8 months to get pregnant so naturally we expected this time around to be similar..we certainly didn't expect to get pregnant on the first month!

It's still a little early and we can't predict the future but we are super excited and wanted to share the big news with everyone! My due date is March 15th, 2008...which I wanted a March baby..Christopher will be 3 months out of school and working steadily, we will be settled in a new place (where ever that may be..we still aren't sure) and we will have enjoyed a nice trip to Disneyland NOT 9 months pregnant! That was my hugest request is that we try and plan this pregnancy so I can still enjoy Disneyland. And I think I will.....

Just hoping I'm not too sick this time around like I was with Elodie!

I'm a BIG GIRL now!

I meant to post these on Saturday when we took Elodie out on her big date...but I just got lazy and decided not to. Because Elodie successfully filled her potty chart we took her on Saturday to lunch at Barro's (she used the potty there) then to Target to get her princess dress (she used the potty there too) and then we ended the afternoon at Coldstone for ice-cream (and you guessed it, she used the potty there too!)! We enjoyed our afternoon as a family and Elodie was thrilled to get her princess dress. She has been talking about Snow White for WEEKS! When we went down the princess aisle and got her dress, Elodie looked up at my and said "it's going to be wonderful mommy!" She is too cute!

As of now she is still amazing us with how well she has adjusted to using the potty. It's like she has been doing it forever! Kinda like when she started crawling, walking, talking..they have this sense of cockiness that they have been doing it forever! It's cute! Elodie is now talking about getting a Cinderella dress so I told her she might need a chart that can fill a month's worth of stickers..instead of just a week. I tell ya, she will break the bank if you let her..kinda like her momma!

These are the pictures I caught of Elodie in her proudest moment yet! Wearing her new princess dress holding her potty chart! I didn't get any pictures eating pizza, at target, or eating ice-cream...I was banned from bringing my camera..afterall, Chris can only take so much picture taking in public! ;)








Doesn't she look so proud of herself!!!??

Guest Designer!!

So I applied for a guest designer spot over at Memories2you and I got the spot for September! Just found out this morning and I'm super excited! I love their kits and can't wait to play! Go check out their website if your looking for cool monthly kits that are priced just right!

Shopping list....read VERY carefully!

Bread....because Elodie eats a slice a day and can go through a whole loaf by herself (wheat bread mind you!)......Eggs....because Elodie and Christopher love their hard boiled eggs..might have to start getting them at Costco...and a Pregnancy Test...because I'm officially 4 days late and my cycles are VERY predictable.....more to come after dance class!

4th of July 2007

Top 10

10. Christopher finally fixed my editing program! Pictures to come soon!

9. Guess who woke up this morning with a dry diaper and went straight to the bathroom! ELODIE! AND while we were at the library this morning Elodie told me she needed to go potty and used the bathroom at the library! We are noticing huge progress everyday and it's just fabulous! Her sticker chart is officially full and we are going tomorrow to buy her princess dress. She is overjoyed!

8. Started the book "The tenth circle" by Jodi Picoult. I'll let you know if it's worth your time!

7. Speaking of books..exactly 5 weeks until "Eclipse" the third book in the Stephenie Meyer Twilight series comes out! My friend Melissa and I have already planned our date to Barnes and Nobles...with no kids! Because it's not a date with kids!

6. This week we found out that Elodie loves hard boiled eggs. Christopher has been eating them as part of his excercise schedule and he has been making extra ones for her. It's funny to see them sitting side by side eating their hard boiled eggs. None for me thanks!

5. I don't work again until Tuesday! Woop! Woop! The Disneyland fund is coming along nicely. Only 5 months till we go! It seems so close but still so far away...how is that possible!

4. When we went to the Temple last night the zipper on my Temple dress broke..I cried..this is the dress I got married in and I love wearing it everytime we go to the Temple...it was also my gauge for weight. It was nice knowing that I still fit into the same dress I got married in! Go ahead, call me superficial! Hopefully the zipper can be fixed..Chris' mom is coming to town next week and I will have her take a look at it. If not, I'll have to buy a new one and that makes me sad! How long is a temple dress suppose to last..afterall I've had it for almost 6 years. Sigh....still sad just thinking about it!

3. Elodie's new favorite saying is "My mom said"....she even sais it to Chris which is kinda funny! "My mom said I could have this".....AND when you ask her to stop doing something she is starting to say "But I'm just..." which is like our number one NO NO! Where did she pick it up? Who knows! Evil nursery I'm sure! wink! wink!

2. Already half way through the summer..Chris will be back in school before we know it. I have mixed feelings. I'm ready for him to be done but I'm spoiled by his 8-5pm, home in 10 minutes, nothing to do when he gets home little life we are having. It will all come crashing down soon! Only for one more semester though and you can't help but smile about that. He should hear from Paragon this next week! Cross your fingers for him!

1. And you can keep your fingers crossed because Chris and I are trying for number 2..yes you heard right..Elodie needs a little friend and she isn't getting any younger! We shall see!

Pure Randomness

So because I can't post any pictures right now, the program I use to edit my pictures is acting funny and Chris needs to look at it, I don't have any 4th of July pictures to share just yet! BUMMER! To keep you in suspense...the pictures came out super cute! A combination of a cute girl, a cute outfit, 2 big bows, the perfect lighting outside, a tripod, and 2 great parents! I was pleased with how they came out and of course can't wait to scrapbook them!

We had a great 4th of July. Most all of our friends are out of town for the week so instead of buying all the stuff to barbeque at home (did I mention it was 116 degress outside yesterday- who would want to stand over a barbeque in that kind of heat!) we went to lunch at Logan's Steakhouse! I'm thinking that would make a great tradition! No messy clean up either! SCORE! After lunch we took Elodie swimming, which was fun for the whole family considering how hot it was (did I mention it was 116 degrees yesterday! wink! wink!). Came home and relaxed for a while, went by sonic for a treat and headed over to the local community college to watch fireworks. Elodie was super scared of fireworks last year...she clung on to Chris for dear life! It was cute because she wanted to watch them but only if she was in Chris' lap. This year was completely different. She loved all the pretty colors and instead of sitting on Chris' lap she just sat next to him. And yes, I have a picture of that too! At one point during the fireworks Elodie leaned over to me and said "It's magically Mommy!" So cute! Elodie was pooped by the time we left the fireworks and she fell asleep on the way home. Hope everyone else had a great fourth of July too! Pictures to post I promise!

Potty training is going spectacular...Elodie has pretty much mastered using the potty at home. Now we are just trying to figure out using the potty while we are out. Yesterday while we were eating lunch I kept reminding Elodie to let me know when she needed to go potty so I could take her to the bathroom. She told me "No thanks, my potty is at home Mommy!" Even after showing her where the potty was and all she still held it until we got home and could use her own potty. She could just turn out to be a potty snob like her mother and I guess that would be okay too! I totally understand Elodie! I never used the bathroom at school and hate porto potties! UGH! Oh, and last night, we put her in a diaper to go see the fireworks. Because we were going to be gone for a while we didn't want to chance her having an accident in a pull up...and since she isn't quite getting the public potty yet...anyway, she held it the whole time we were gone, fell asleep in the car, and still had a dry diaper when we got home. When we woke her up to get her out of the car, the first thing she said was "I got to go potty!" And potty she did!! I think she got a total of 10 stickers yesterday! She is doing a fantastic job! Her potty chart is just about full! She has all day tomorrow and then on Saturday we are going to take her to pick out her new princess dress. She keeps saying she wants Snow White so we will see if that's the one she actually picks out.

Chris and I are headed to the temple tonight. It's been a few months since Chris and I have been to the Temple together so this will come as a much needed, relaxing break from the outside world! It's so funny how much of a pain it is to get to the Temple..babysitter, time off work, etc. but once we are there we feel bad that we could have let all that silly stuff keep us from going. I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about!

Other than the fact that today feels like Monday because Chris had the day off yesterday, things are going great. Christopher still hasn't heard from Paragon but that was to be expected as they said he probably wouldn't hear from them until next week...with the holiday and all!

Check back later for pictures from yesterday!

And check out my new ticker in the left hand corner..it's Christopher's countdown to graduation! WooHoo! I don't know if it's a good thing or one more thing to torture me with!

Big Announcement #2..literally! ;)

So I won't go as far as putting Elodie on video to tell you all that she went #2 in the potty today!! HOLY COW! What a day for us! I knew she needed to go because she didn't go #2 at all yesterday....so all this morning and afternoon I've been reminding her to go in the potty. I was sitting at the computer just before her nap and I asked her if she needed to go #2..she said yes, and ran out to the potty. I stayed in the computer room to give her some privacy (heehee) and a few minutes later she came rushing in yelling "I did it mommy, come see what I did!!" Sure enough....we are so happy! We called daddy, Mammaw and Pawpaw Brumfield and left a message for Grama Barbie!

So guess who got their barbie! YEA Elodie!! Happy day for us! Like this day could get any better!

Potty Training Update #2

Potty training is going much better than I expected! It's like everyone said..as soon as she discovered it, it's like a lightbulb went off in her head!

All this weekend she has been in panties, with the exception of naps, bedtime, and any getting out that needs to be done. We have kept her potty in the living room and on her own she will go and sit down. A few times she has gone potty without saying anything to us! We only notice when we peak in! I know that's gross but from a mother's perspective this is the ultimate achievement in our house right now!

No accidents so far. We are still taking things slow and won't plan on letting her go out in panties until some time next week! We will see how the rest of the week goes!

I just couldn't be more happy! I am so proud of our little girl! It took a few drastic measures (no toys, tv, strawberry shortcake, etc.) but Elodie has figured out and is catching on quickly!

My only concern at this point is her figuring out that she can go potty outside of the house. We met Chris for lunch and while we were at Wendy's I asked Elodie if she needed to go potty (she was wearing a pullup) and she told me no because her potty was at home! LOL! One step at a time I guess! I'm still just so happy for her!

This morning I made Elodie a new chart. We told her everytime she uses the potty she gets a sticker on her chart. At the end of the week if she has filled up her chart and not had any accidents we will take her to get her princess dress. So far today she has 4 stickers on her chart! WOO HOO! We decided to save the barbie for when she goes #2 in the potty! We are still crossing our fingers for that one! Wink! Wink!



And yes, I have every intention of sticking this chart in her scrapbook...why else would it be on a 12x12 sheet of paper! DUH!?! ;)

Happy Monday ya'll!!!

Cake recap

So this weekends wedding cake went off without a hitch! Huge sigh of relief! It's usually the simple cakes that give me the most problems! But not this time! The bride was so easy to work with (which I needed since my last bride wasn't so much) and was really laid back about what I did. She kinda had to be considering she called me a week before the wedding and asked me to do her cake! Yes, I typed that right..a week before the wedding!!!

Apparently, she had asked another girl from her ward to do the wedding cake for her. The girl agreed but ever since then the bride couldn't get ahold of her!! The bride happens to be a cousin to my friend who I did the baby shower cake for just recently. She saw her cake, asked who did it, my friend gave her my number and that's all she wrote! I probably wouldn't have agreed to the cake with such short notice but the bride wanted an all fake cake with just a real top tier and side tier. And they were serving store bought sheet cakes (ugh!) at the reception so all I had to do was cover the fake cakes and bake the top and side tiers. Easy enough, until of course I burned myself! Plus the bride bought all the ribbon and brought it to me. I didn't really have to do much!

The cake turned out so cute!! I'm a fan of pink and green as those are the colors of Elodie's room....wasn't too sure about it for a wedding but the church looked so cute and the cake tied right in!! I'm thinking this might be Elodie's next birthday cake! Just smaller of course!