Murphy's Law

So David Ramsey mentioned that when you are starting to save money that Murphy comes knocking. He says that if you have money saved, Murphy goes right on by. Well, we are very much in the starting point so of course, Murphy is going to come visit. Today Michael went out with Allisyn to run to the store. I was working on my stuff. For those of you who don't know, I am doing an at home Medical Transcriptionsit program, I'll address that a little more later. So I was working away and didn't notice that I hadn't heard the dogs. They like to talk to all the other dogs in our neighborhood.



Well Michael came home with a sleeping Alli. She has been resisting her nap for mom lately and takes LATE naps for dad. Not a good thing for our night schedule. Anyway, he noticed that our fence had blown down. That is right, our fence blew down. Two panels and a post. Our dogs had of course taken advantage and took off to explore the neighborhood. Michael dropped Alli off, and then took off in the truck to find them. Our wonderful friends and neighbors, Brian and Kim, had noticed and had stopped by to tell us. Luckily I was outside and they did not have to get out. Right at that time Michael let me know that he had them. They had almost made into the next neighborhood! We have been really bad dog owners lately, and our dogs are not wearing collars. Shame on us. Max, our cocker spaniel, is microchipped, but we haven't updated his info for it. Again, bad us. Our lab has no microchip, but we are fairly certain that they would not take off from each other. Praise the Lord, they are home safely and that we did not have to call the shelters to try to find them. We are lucky enough to have a small fenced in area inside our yard so we can still let them out without having to worry. I don't know how I would walk them both with Allisyn!



My Medical Transcription program was started to give me something to do that was mentally stimulating, and to help give me something to work towards to be able to work at home when I am done. It is taking a little longer to get through than the school advertises. Which seems to be the normal for most of the students. I can do some of the work with Allisyn alone, but mostly I need Michael to be home to watch Allisyn. It is hard to listen to a dictation and pay close attention to Alli. It can be a little stressful at the times when I am trying to work, and Allisyn thinks she needs mom. Michael often just tries to give up and let her come bug me. It often ends up in some snapping at each other, but we are really trying to work on it.



Other things we are working on, THE BUDGET. The first go at it, was very scary and had me in tears, but it will get there! Thank you, Jessica, for your encouragement! It really means a lot. One thing, that has really overwhelmed me is that the reccomendation for transportation is 10-15% of your budget. Ours is a pitiful 23.8%. If anyone knows anyone in the market for a used 2004 4-Runner with under 36500 miles on it, let us know. Well, it is getting close to Allisyn's bedtime, and I am sure it is going to be a battle thanks to the late nap.

Overwhelmed

After tonight's FPU, this is how I feel. I almost cried on the way home. I mean, we sort of have a budget, but the idea of sitting down and figuring out where every single penny is going to go almost threw me into an attack of some sort. It is feeling that I cannot seem to shake either. Yuck, I am not looking forward to this at all. I know we need to it, and I know why we need to do it, but I just don't want to go into that much detail about how much we really owe on stuff.

Tonight we had to write down the amount of all our debt not counting our house on a note card. I wanted to cry when we wrote that down. It is not pretty. Granted the biggest chunk of that is Michael's student loan, but it is still a HUGE number and it scares me. I don't really know why either. We have never defaulted on any payments or anything, we live comfortably and are not overstretched, but the amount of our debt, really freaks me out.

Just had to get that out. I feel a little better now. Now if OSU can keep their lead in the B-ball game, then that would just rock!

I did it!

This is one of Allisyn's new phrases! She kept telling my brother "I did it," earlier when they were playing with some of her toys. It was really cute. Even when he did "it", she still claimed that it was her! My brother came by because we forgot his Christmas present here on Saturday when we went to go see them. Aren't we just wonderful? And yes, I meant Christmas present, it was something special he wanted that I had to order online and they just delivered it last week. Allisyn really enjoyed the box, but I am glad it is gone. She kept trying to pack it around, and it was not a good size for her to attempting such a task.

As I mentioned, Saturday we drove up to Stillwater to see my brother and sister-in-law. We ate at Eskimo Joe's, because Michael had never eaten there and wanted to try it out. It was pretty good, and I got some cheese fries!! Yumm! We had a really nice visit with them and Allisyn enjoyed spending time with them as always! She slept on the way up there, and we were pretty sure she would nap on they way back, but she lasted until we got into Edmond and the passed out. She woke up when we got home, so there was no nap for mom and dad.

We have continued our trend in making dinner! We are up to 6 days. Well, we made lunch yesterday and kind of forgot all about dinner. We were going to go to church, but Allisyn wasn't in a great mood so we knew it would be best not to take her. Michael left and went and played some basketball, and luckily she and I got along fine. She was all about Dad yesterday afternoon so I was a little apprehensive. I was catching up on some recorded shows. I have one left until I really feel the effects of the writer's strike. Anyway, she was sitting in my lap and looking at a book. Then she got down and got right back up. I was so absorbed in my show since she was in my lap. I mean really, how much trouble can she get in when she is sitting in my lap and looking at a book right? Well, I failed to notice she had gotten a crayon and was coloring in her book. Luckily it was a cheap book that she had gotten in her Halloween bucket, but still. It was not one of my finer parenting moments.

Then this morning she was going to hand me my glasses and broke them. They are still wearable, but one of my ear pieces is just barely hanging on. Hopefully they can hang on a while longer. Tonight is night 3 of FPU and Michael has been whining because he has had to turn down free dinner at Mickey Mantels and free tickets to the OSU/OU game. Well, Allisyn has her coat halfway on and is trying to convince me that we are going somewhere, and I must go convince her that we are not. Fun times.

A much needed MNO

Last night I got out for a much needed Mom's Night Out. Nine moms from my online mom's group got together at Starbucks. We got there about 730 and didn't leave until a little after 10! We just last track of time talking. It was nice to get out and relax. Allisyn gave her daddy a bit of a rough time and didn't go to sleep for him very easy. She was out by the time I got home though.

The past two days have been pretty good. Allisyn is saying more and more. Yesterday she told her daddy. "Cows go mooo." It was so precious! Right now she is pulling around her train all over the living room. It is cute. We are also watching the Goonies! It has been forever since I have seen it. It really cracks me up.

We have made it to 4 nights with making our own dinner! Go us!! It has all been pretty good too! Michael was supposed to get another check from William's today. A week's worth of vacation pay plus 2 hours they owed him that they left off his last check. Of course they conveniently forgot to cut his check this week and it will be there next week. Luckily we were not expecting to begin with so we aren't going to be hurting without it. Still it is very frustrating to know you are supposed to get a check and they don't follow through.

I forgot to mention another wonderful family event in my last post, but the 23rd also marked the 1 yr anniversary that my Aunt Lea and her family brought home their 2 beautiful boys from Russia. I can't believe it has been a year. We do not get to see them as often as we would like, but it is great to watch them grow!

Tomorrow we are heading up to Stillwater to see my brother and sister-in-law. They always stop by and see us, but we do not get up to see them very often. So it will be nice to go and see them for a change.

Aren't children so funny with their resilience. Allisyn just comes through running the living room, wipes out, cries for a second, daddy helps her up and she takes off again! I am cracking up over something I totally should not be laughing at. She was playing with my purse just fine on her own and Michael tries to get her to play with him. She was NOT wanting to do that, so she whacks him with my purse a couple of times! I know I should not laugh at that kind of behavior, but it was soooo funny.

Now she is happy with her daddy again and they are trying to find something to eat. They ended up with some ice. Well, I know that this has been really random so I will wrap it up because I am not any kind of focused today.

One of THOSE days.

It started off ok. Allisyn woke up in a good mood giving out hugs and kisses. She got to talk to Pap-paw on the phone before she even had to get out of bed. What a great way to start the day, right? I was able to get dressed and got her partially dressed (BIG mistake). I decided to leave her pants off and her onsie undone because I knew I was going to have to change her diaper before we left for my Bible study. Well I was in the bathroom with my glasses off and cleanser on my face and in she walks with her POOPY DIAPER!!! She had taken it off, and brought it to me. Not after getting poop all over the carpet and peeing on the floor twice. I wanted to scream. I manage to refrain while blindly cleaning up the carpet and Allisyn.

I finished washing my face and finished getting her dressed and we were off. Well, not before she turned the dogs loose in the living room before I could let them outside, but that was only a minor problem. Then about half way to the church, Alli sneezes. The kind of sneeze that requires a nose wiping. Sooo, here I was praying for a red light, and none came. She was finally able to wipe her own nose just in time to prevent the snot from going into her mouth. Finally I was able to pull into Sonic and wipe her nose. Of course she just thought she had to have a juice while we were there, so we got her an apple juice. She drank it until we got to the church and we left it in the car for later. I got my Dr Pepper and things were good for an hour while she was in the care of others.

Then back out and about. I somehow missed out on lunch, so we stopped at Chick-Fil-A, but on the way, she managed to put a whole in her apple juice cup and while I picked it up, I made trail all over the car. Just wonderful. Then at Chick-Fil-A I had to wait on our order as the 10 people who ordered behind me, got their food. At least 4 of them, ordered the same thing I did. What is up with that??? I am holding a 30lb child waiting on my food, WHY do I have to wait? So we finally got our food and she did pretty good at the restaurant until we were getting ready to leave and she wanted down. Then she threw a fit when I said no.

Then I had to drop some stuff off at a friend's and she fell asleep on the way! YAY! Only to wake up as soon as we got home. BOOO! No nap for mom today. Luckily she was in a good mood for the rest of the afternoon until dad got home.

We have set a record! We have cooked full meals two evenings in row! WooHoo!! How sad is that? But they have been good meals and we are excited about getting back into the groove of cooking. Last night Michael started some chicken tetrazini and I had to step in and take over to save it. It really came out good. His best friend came over to try to help with some stuff so he had dinner with us. There was not much left! Tonight we had tacos! Good stuff.

Some congratulations to some friends are in order. Some friends, of ours from church, JC and Courtney, had their beautiful baby boy yesterday!! Also taking place yesterday my friend, Kristen and her family, completed their adoption of their little girl! It was a good day for families yesterday!

Well after today I am ready for it to come to an end and I am off to bed! Actually my little girl just came to get me!

A loong day

We started out today at 630 am. UGH! I am NOT a morning person. I really don't do well when we wake up before Playhouse Disney comes on. For the first part of the morning Alli was cranky and irritable. It was one of those days you wish you could wiggle your nose and start the day all over again. Finally she got in a little better mood, but was still pretty moody. She finally went down for a nap about 230. Then when we got her up to get ready for Monday Night for the Master and our Financial Peace University, she just was not having it. So she and daddy and stayed home. I am hoping tomorrow goes better or else I might go a little crazy.

FPU was interesting tonight. He was talking about how men and women different in money matters. I have to say that I am very blessed to have a pretty responsible husband husband. Well, as I was typing that up he just started talking about buying a bigger projector and screen for down here. UMMMM, we don't even have this one close to being payed off. So usually, he is pretty responsible. And I can happily say that we are not like the majority of the population and we have very rarely had disagreements about our money management and I cannot recall any actual fighting over it.

He was also talking about how one person is a nerd and one person is a free spirit. I wish one of us had a bit more nerd in us. I have some in me, in that I like to have things down on paper and organized, but the follow through is just not there. Let's take our Home Depot account. It is the 12 months no interest plan. It is not due until June. We have just now started paying it back. I had it all planned to make a big payment on it, multiple times, but we just kept putting it off. I know that we will get it paid off in time, but I had better follow through, or more nerd in me, it would be farther along by now. Anyway, we are working on it and hopefully I can step it up and be more of a nerd.

I have to mention this because it has been on my mind all day. Today should have been my parents 30+ (1 or 2) wedding anniversary. I know it is sad that I don't know for sure, but they were on again and off again so much we did not hold much to them. Anyway today they seem to be having this competition about who can hold out the longest before talking to a divorce lawyer. I have told my dad many times that I am looking at how they did things with their marriage, and I am going to the opposite with mine. One of the major things, money management. I am excited to learn about Dave's tips for raising up children who are money smart. I want to be able to give that to my kids.

I am also trying to come up with ways to help boost our savings. The only thing I can really think of is to try to do more massages, but I'm too sure how well that will work out. We shall see. I did have one on Saturday that went really well! It was nice to actually bring in some $. I haven't done that in a looooong time. One thing we are supposed to do this week is to find accountability partners. People we can call when we are about to do something not smart to our budget. People to say, "don't be stupid, you don't need that." Soooo, I'm asking Dustin and Rachel (my brother and SIL) to be our peoples. They are pretty smart with their money and I think, between the 2 of them, they would be able to keep us in line.

Well my Alli-bug and my wonderful husband are putting the sheets back on the bed. They HAD to get washed today thanks to a little girl squatting and peeing all over my side of the bed. Thanks Allisyn. I think they are just about done and will be wanting mom to come to bed soon. We have so not been doing anything at all to try to get Allisyn in her own bed lately. NOT good, but hopefully soon.

A BOY PLEASE!!

So I have been really good at not caring what the gender of this baby is. I mean, yes we would like a boy, but a girl would be nice because we have so much stuff. BUT, I am now really really hoping for a boy. Why the sudden change of heart? Because I do not think I can take 2 little princesses packing my purse and shoes around the house or always having to put on "makeup" when I am getting ready, or having an obsession with my clothes. This morning it took us 5 minutes to find my shoes for church. Allisyn likes to wear them around the house. She is actually getting pretty good at it. Luckily they are just flats. I have to keep the heels out of reach or I am sure, with her inherited grace and coordination, we could have some serious injuries. I'm just not sure I could be patient enough for two girls. Not to mention the amount of effort it takes to get a little girl ready with her hair and everything. Of course, if we do end up having another princess, I will learn how to cope, but I'm really hoping for a boy.

We got a Life Group at church today! Well, we had on assigned to us and then I lost the contact information and so we didn't know for sure which one we were in. So some guys from our class were like, "Come join our Life Group." So we did. It was nice not having to come home and find something for lunch, and we got to fellowship with some great people. Allisyn actually did pretty good, other than the usual attempts at making the table her chair and all the fun stuff. Her white shirt is still more white than orange, which is a small miracle considering we had lasagna. We were hoping she would fall asleep on the way home for a nap, but no. She is still going strong.

So last night we went out for a little while to one a friend of Michael's who was turning 30. I have often told Michael that it is a good thing that I fell in love with him before I met his friends, or else things might have played out differently. I have come to like spending time with some of his friends more and more over the past few years, but we are still so different. For starters, we are the only ones with a child. They don't always think about that when they call us up, wanting us to do something. They also don't understand why we just don't "drop her off" somewhere and come out anyway. Ummmm, because our daughter comes first.

Anyway, so we went over for a little bit last night and they had rock band set up. I think I mentioned my first encounter with this game on New Year's Eve. Let's just say I am not good. I attempted singing a bit last night, but it kept telling me I was messy. At least I was never the first one to fail out. They kept saying their was something wrong with the calibrating or something, but I have no clue. I did tell Michael that we should probably never get one because I would become addicted. I would hook Alli up with the drum or guitar, which ever one I was not trying to master, and we would rock out. It is a good thing we do not have a gaming system of any kind. This means we are way less likely of getting one.

Well, I am supposed to helping Michael come up with our weekly menu, and instead, I am blogging. We are trying to come up with a menu so we can buy only what we need instead of impulse shopping. We are hoping this will help with out budget. We sat down yesterday and came up with our quick budget for FPU and boy do we need help!

A night out AND a night of sleep!

We went out on our date last night and it was really nice to have dinner without a toddler grabbing everything or getting upset when they can't get down and run around. We went to Othello's. We walked in about 730 on a Friday night, and guess what? There was NO wait!! The hostess was like, "you guys are lucky, lucky, lucky." We sat upstairs at a table that was kind of closed off by some dividers. It was cozy and nice. Well, it might have been more so, but the building was not set up to be a restaurant so the noise travelled throughout making it kind of noisy. We weren't complaining though, we still really enjoyed ourselves and the food was really good.

Allisyn also had a great time too. She was a little hesitant for her daddy to put her down at first, but once she got down and headed for the toys she was fine. She did not even know we had left! She also discovered a love for Honey Combs. Apparently she would not eat the pizza rolls, but she took right to the Honey Combs! She even went so far as to dump Jack's bowel into hers while he went to get his milk! Leave it to our greedy little monster! They said she did not miss us at all! Which is great because she has not spent a lot of time with the family.

We decided to just do dinner to try keep Allisyn close to her schedule. She and dad were out by a little after 10 and we slept in until 9!! It was nice. For some reason it has been taking me a while to shut down at night again, but last night was a lot better than the previous nights.

So far this morning we have moved the guest bed back up to the guest room. It has been in the nursery because it usually stays pretty cold in there. We had some friends stay with us during the storm who were without power and we moved the bed down for them. Now Michael just has to move about 5 boxes up stairs and the room will be just about cleared out! YAY!! The reason for the push today is I have a massage and there isn't enough room with the bed in there.

This will also make it near impossible for Michael to come up with excuses to get it primed! We are waiting to find out what this bean will be before we decide what color to paint it, but I want the color in there now covered up. I had originally picked out a yellow for the room, but thanks to some random thing I read on the Internet I cannot paint it yellow any more. Well, I'm off to get myself and my house ready for the massage.

Date Night

What is that? We are suppose to have one tonight, and we are not sure what exactly that consists of. It has been a while. My friend is repaying us for our last minute rescue for watching her son the other day. After dinner our last night that ended up with a cranky Alli-bug who did NOT want to stay in the booth while dad finished eating, we are pretty sure that dinner alone is going to be part of it. Other than that, we really don't know. We are not wanting to stay out too late because we want to keep Allisyn on her schedule, or pretty close. We won't be able to drop her off until 7 so dinner and a movie would be pushing it. Anyway we are excited about getting out alone. The last time we have been out on a date was back in August for our anniversary.

Michael is still liking his new job. The IV room is not his favorite, but I think once he gets back into the groove of it, he won't mind it so much. Our schedule has been working out for the most part that Michael is home when Allisyn wakes up from her nap. She really enjoys that. Some days it seems like she is trying to give up her nap, then she will try to nap about 430 or later. NOT a good thing for a 930 bed time! It is nice getting her to bed before 11 though.

Thanks for all the encouraging input about the car. I know it will work out for the best when the time is right. I just have that new-car-twitch, and I need to try to get over it for a while. I have to try to refrain from frequenting the Toyota website. hehehe--easier said than done.

I remember!

What I was going to blog about last night. It has to do with starting FPU. We want to van. Well, ok, I want a van and Michael has agreed to it. I REALLY want a NEW fully loaded with all the extras van. Well, thanks to starting FPU, that probably isn't going to happen. Now I am really bummed. I KNOW that to be practical, we should find a good used one, but finding a good used Toyota is HARD. We got lucky big time when we ran across the 4-Runner. Unfortunately, we are not the best at bargaining and we have really high payments. So maybe, just maybe, if we can sell the 4-Runner outright (we owe more than the trade-in value), then we get a new, un-loaded van for the same or less than what we are paying now. Just maybe. Our credit is pretty good, much better than what it was when we bought the 4-Runner. (Ok, MY credit has improved, Michael's has never been bad.) I cannot help thinking though, that if I had pushed a little more, then maybe I could have gotten that really nice fully-loaded van before we started FPU and then had said "maybe we should have held off." Shame on me, I know.

Other news, we had a good night of sleep last night! WooHoo! The only time I really woke up was to hear a cat loosing their dinner on our bedroom carpet. Thanks to which ever one did that. I was nice enough to wake up when Michael got up to warn him about it so he wouldn't step in it. Part of it was me being selfish and not wanting him to scream out in shock and disgust and to accidentally wake Allisyn. Part of it was my utter disgust for stepping in cold cat ick when I first wake up in the morning. Sometimes I wonder why we have so many fur babies, but I know we wouldn't really give any of them up. Though if you know anyone who could really use one.....

So today I went to lunch with some friends from church after our young mom's bible study. I decided, unwisely, to pay on the way out with Allisyn. Partially because there was a huge line ahead of me. So I get up there, and get my thing signed and am just walking away, and what does Allisyn do? She grabs the toothpick holder and dumps it on the floor. I wanted to die. Luckily the guy was really sweet and was not concerned by it at all. Of course I told her "no" we don't do that. So I got to hear "no" all the way home. She was doing the sign too. Cute, but a little annoying.

Financial Peace University

Well ,we started FPU this week. It is once a week for 13 weeks on Monday nights. We can go up and eat at church and then be right there for the class. Allisyn goes to the provided child care and all is good. Well, we had a bad night last night and we are hoping that it is not too much stimulation before bed. It is a bit chaotic in the child care room with no structure. If it continues to cause problems, we may look into trying to find someone to watch her at home. We shall see what the future holds.

We are really going to try to focus on changing our spending habits and following the steps. It is NOT going to be easy. We are extremely aware of that, but we are going to try.

I totally lost all thought as to what I was going to say. Right now I am enjoying the house to myself. Michael took Allisyn to Sam's with him. It isn't a long break, but it is much enjoyed. Well I seriously have no idea where else I was going so I guess I'll go.

SLEEP!!

We got some! All 3 of us! We were all in the same bed too! It was a fluke I am sure, but hey, we will take what we can get! It has been one of those, slow to get about mornings too, I really like those! Seriously I just had to take a small break in this to put Alli's clothes on. I have had them out, but she just now wanted them on. We still need to do her hair, but we aren't going anywhere right away.

Speaking of getting dressed, I hate it. I am in the period of time where my maternity clothes don't quite fit and my regular clothes are too tight. Ugh! I hate this phase, but it must be gone through. The more I think about it, the more and more I am glad that we have decided that 2 is the number of kids for us.

I got an A on my last assessment!! I was really nervous about it because I put it off until the just before it was due. It was the lowest A possible, but I really was not expecting it at all. It gave me a much needed boost in my confidence. Now I really need to get back in my groove and dedicate the appropriate amount of time to working on my practices.

Tonight we start the 13-week-course of Financial Peace University. Our church does what is called Monday Night for the Master. They do dinner at 6 and for us it is FPU at 630. They also do work around the church while the weather is cooler and it gets light early. When it warms up and stays light out longer, they go out into the community and do work. We are excited to be able to take part in it.

Last night Allisyn had a bad experience in the nursery. I think the main thing is she just didn't want to go. She sat on top of the slide the whole time. When we went to pick her up she was still sitting their crying. It was sad. I think part of the problem might have been the last couple of times she had gone, she knew some of the nursery workers. This time she did not know them.

Well, I think I am getting told that we are getting a start on our day! I am off to follow Alli-bug to see what the day holds!

Moooo!

We have hit the stage in Allisyn's development where we must really watch what we say around her. The other day I was having an early "I'm pregnant and fat" day. I told Allisyn that I felt like a fat cow. Her response, "Mooooo." Cute, right? Other things that are being said, "uh oh." It actually comes out like ahh oh, but it happens when anything falls or she drops or throws anything on purpose.

She also uses "NO" quite a bit. She even does the sign for it. Sometimes it is very hard not to laugh at her when she is suppose to be in trouble and she is trying to tell you "no." She is so serious about it. It is really comical when she is in another room and you here her saying "no." You can't help but go and see which cat is getting in trouble. Usually it is Tiger

She also likes saying "grape" before eating every grape. She likes saying "more," even when she doesn't really want more. She also like the word "mine." She really enjoys getting stuff that she knows is not hers and saying "mine," just for the reaction. She really doesn't like it when you have to take it away and tell her it isn't hers.

Life with Allisyn is always exciting and sometimes very tiring, but we wouldn't change much about it!

Isn't it sad...

when you have to go and read your previous post so you remember what you blogged about and where you left off? I usually have to do that, even if the unusual happens and I blog 2 days in a row! Anyway, Thursday night did not go as well as had hoped. I ended up getting up about 2 to sleep with them. Alli would not calm back down for her daddy, so I went back in and slept with them. I use the term "slept" loosely. Of course she wanted to be RIGHT on me or by me giving me very little room to move around. Which is not good because I really do have the need to roll around from side to side quite a bit. She prevents me from doing so and it causes and unhappy body most mornings. We are working on it though. Last night I slept with them and just shoved (not really shoved) her over when she got asleep enough. It gave me enough room to do a little more rolling around, but not much. At least we got to sleep in until about 9. Which is amazing because she was asleep by 930 last night!

The past 2 days have been pretty good. We had a lunch/playdate on Thursday. It was nice to get out and see some of my mom friends. One of them has 3 little girls and is due within the next week with her 4th. She is a super mom indeed. On our way back Allisyn and I picked up some stew meat to put in our stew. We took dinner to a couple in our class in our church who just had a baby. They now have 2. Their little boy is a few months older than Alli-bug.

Today, Allisyn and I just hung out around the house. We had a lazy start to our day, which was really nice for a lazy feeling mom. We had a lot of snuggle time. I love snuggle time. It makes me feel special! We took a later nap and were still asleep when Michael came home. Then he ran out to get milk. Allisyn wasn't too happy when he was not home when she got up, but he was home shortly after. It is so precious to see her get excited when he comes home!

His job has been going pretty well. He was told to just jump right in and start asking questions to start learning. He was a rover today, which meant he was out on the floor answering questions from doctors and nurses. I think he like it more than he let on. He got some scrubs from the hospital, but we don't think the pants are going to be long enough! We may have to go buy some this weekend for him. I think he is looking forward to being able to wearing scrubs.

He is off for the second weekend in a row which will be nice! Not sure what we will be doing, but that is ok! Well, I'm off to see where my family disappeared to. They left me in the living room alone.

A Good Night's Sleep!

Well, we tried something different last night. I slept in the guest bed by myself and Allisyn and dad slept in our bed. It went really well. She only woke up once to have her diaper changed then went right back to sleep for him. It must be a momma thing that she has to be on me or curled up right next to me all night. This morning when I got up to go to bed with her she did ok until Michael got into his noisy drawer. Then she fussed a little and found mom and stayed curled up right next to me until we woke up. We are going to try it again tonight.

Michael started his new job Monday. He seems to like it pretty well. He hasn't really done much. He went to orientation on Monday. It was long and boring, but it something that must be done. It was such a beautiful day on Monday that Allisyn and I made it to the zoo! We were there for about 2 hours and I was worn out. I was so looking forward to a nap, but no. Allisyn took a power nap on the way home and did not go back down. I wanted to cry because I was soo tired. I was so glad when Michael got home.

Tuesday was a good day. It turned cold again, so we stayed inside. It was kind of longer day because we woke up at 7. AAAACK!! I'm not a morning person, much less and early morning person. I was glad when she fell asleep in my lap in the chair around noon. We ended up napping in the chair, which was not real great. Luckily she was in a better mood when she woke up.

Today, I got a call from a friend, who was also our realtor. She was in a pickle and needed a short-term sitter for her little boy. He is 21-months-old. She said she would only take me up on it if we let her return the favor. Of course I was going to take her up on it. I couldn't leave her without a sitter, and having a return sitting is just great! It went really well! They got along really well. They had a few "mine" moments, but nothing too bad. It was a nice day. I had to battle Alli a little bit for a nap, but she finally went down. I did too!

Michael came home and we got some alone time to talk while Alli finished her nap. That doesn't happen too much! Then we got dinner ready (we actually made our own dinner!) and then we ate and went to Wednesday night class. Allisyn really loves her bible class and it is fun to see her excited when we go!

Michael should meet with his boss tomorrow and get an idea of what his schedule will be for the rest of the month. Hopefully he will learn some stuff so that he can actually do more than just check prescriptions. He is happier with his situation which is a big plus. I am soo happy he is excited about it.

Well that is our update for the past couple of days. It is kind of nice not having to wrap because Allisyn needs me! Right now she is playing a puzzle toy with her daddy. Priceless!

A night alone.

So the rest of Thursday went well. I think. My days all run together. We were very glad when Michael got home. Did I mention that it was his last 12-hour-day? Wooohooo! Friday he got up and went to work, did I mention that this was his last day with Williams? It was. We were all happy about it. His day was long, but he was glad to turn in his keys at the end of the day. That night I had a party with some friends. Michael and Allisyn went to Jenks to stay with some friends that we don't see very often. They stayed all night, which was really exciting because I got the whole house to myself! I slept sooo well. Michael said Allisyn slept really well too. We were excited because we thought it was the beginning of a trend.

Saturday morning they headed back this way and went to the OU basketball game with a friend. They didn't come home until almost 5 which meant they were away for home for about 22 hours. That is the longest Allisyn and I have ever been away from each other. I got our bills paid and our budget set up to cover the possible missing of a check as we switch over from a 1 to 2 week pay period. I also got some school stuff caught up. I had fallen behind. Thankfully we had gotten a weeks extension on our deadlines or else I would have been in trouble. I have my assessment almost finished. I just have to go over it a few more times.

So I got caught up on school stuff and by the time Michael and Allisyn came home, I was very happy to see them! Allisyn was pretty happy to see me too, but she still all about dad! She had gotten a shiner at the basketball game. She whacked her eye on a seat or something. It is pretty blue! Last night was not good for sleeping. We started out by trying to have her sleep in the guest bed, which is in the nursery right now, but it did not last as long as we had hoped. She ended up back in bed with us wanting to be attached to me. I do not sleep well at all when she does that. None of us got a lot of sleep last night.

But we did manage to get up and get ready for Sunday school. Our young marrieds class is really huge and we are about to out grow our classroom. They still had the heat on, so I kind of got a little sick. We did not make it for worship this morning. I was soo tired and sick that I knew that I would not make it. So we came home and I rested most of the afternoon. Allisyn and Michael went out for a bit and came back when she was asleep. Then we all napped together.

Then we got up and went to church tonight. I was feeling a lot better. Allisyn was being very restless so she went to the nursery. Her Wednesday night teacher was one of the attendant's tonight. Allisyn really likes her. She was blowing her kisses when we were leaving. We also got signed up for Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. We are both really excited about going through this and hope that we learn how to manage our money the way God wants us too.

Right now Michael is playing basketball with the guys and Allisyn and I are hanging out at home. Thankfully he got a ride home so we did not have to take 2 cars. Allisyn is getting a bit of an attitude so I will wrap this up. She was playing so well and snacking on some marshmallows, but now she is need of my attention. I love being a mom!

18-month checkup

Today was Allisyn's 18-month check up. After a long night of us not sleeping well at all, I had prepared myself for a bad appointment. Allisyn did NOT want to wake up and get dressed. She finally got woken up to start chattering and things started looking up. This was the first appointment Michael has had to miss so I was not looking forward to it all. I was very surprised and happy to find out there were NO immunizations today!! YAY!!! The appointment went really well! She weighs in at 30 lbs 1.5 ounces. Measures in at 35 1/3 inches. Her head is 48 3/4 cm. She is above 97% in all 3 categories. We got the go ahead to switch her over to 2% milk. She was quite the chatter box and talked with her ped and the nurse like she knew them very well. Her pediatrician is quite pleased with her developments. She agrees a visit to a pediatric dentist as soon as we get out dental insurance would be wise. She also agrees that it would be mean to put her into gymnastics. If she fell in love with it, she would outgrow it and not be able to carry on.

One of her newest words is moooo! She loves finding her cows and talking to them. She is really in love with her new kitchen she got for Christmas. It is so cute watching her work away. Right now she is "vacuuming" with her vacuum. I also think she is filling up a diaper. That tell-tale sign of squatting and grunting is going on. So I am off to change a diaper!! Have I ever mentioned how much I love being a mom!?

Happy Happy New Year!

Well, we did it! We (all 3!) stayed up until midnight and rang in the new year with our class from church! It was a great deal of fun, but of course very tiring. Michael and I are so glad that we have a group of friends who have kids that we can do stuff with. We are the only couple amongst his friends who have kids so we cannot do things with them very often. We have a wonderful group of people in our class. There are quite a few of us pregnant too! The next baby is due in Jan, then one in April. Then 2 in May. Then 1 at the end of July and then us! There may be a few more in there, but I'm still not familiar with everyone in our class. We just had a baby born on Dec 20th, two right around Thanksgiving, one in October. It is a great group of young families!

We are really praying that this year is much calmer than 2007. We should have no major moves, or separations. Michael will turn 30 and we will add a new bundle of to our family. Michael will start a new job next week (Praise the Lord!) Other than that we are hoping for a calmer less money consuming year! The only two things that we really need to do, is to pull up the carpet and have laminate installed in the main living area, and to upgrade our car to a minivan. The way Michael and I both sit so far back there is not enough room behind the driver' or passenger's seat for an infant carrier. Sitting the baby right next to Allisyn in the middle is not an option either, so we are going to go with a minivan. I think Michael is less than thrilled, but I will be the main driver, so it is ok. That an the whole expense of a new baby, but hey, we can deal with that!

So far this new year has been very productive. We have shampooed our carpets and picked up a lot of our stuff! The carpets still need to be replace badly, but they do look a LOT better! Michael did a great job. I didn't do to much with the shampooer thing. Right now Micheal, with the help of Allisyn, is trying to tinker with our recliner, but it really isn't getting anywhere. We got a crappy chair that sits too far forward. You have to throw your legs up and your body back to get the leg rest to come up. It is not as comfortable rocking as we thought it would be either. We just got a lemon of a chair.

Well, I should see if Michael needs any assistance. I'll try to update again soon.