We have Liftoff!

Amanda is finally starting to walk on her own!! This last weekend I bought some snacktraps (http://www.stacktrap.com/ - LOVE these things!) and gave some crunchies to Amanda in one. She was standing on the other side of the room with the trap in one hand, and a snack in the other looking at me. I gave her a smile and she obviously wanted to come to me, but couldn't crawl with stuff in her hands! So she took two hesitant steps, then fell to her knees and started walking on her knees (don't I have a brilliant child?!?!). Since then, she'll take 5-10 hesitant steps without holding on to anything. She's FINALLY gaining some confidence! Only took what... 4 months??? I'll try and get some pics tonight, but so far the camera hasn't been handy when she does it.

Mike's off work for the next two weeks (comp time for all the overtime he did at the end of the year), so his friend Tom came to visit. Perfect timing too, because it's been really warm (mid-70's to low 80's) yesterday and today. Yesterday they went to Knott's Berry Farm, and today they're at the beach. Tom called home last night and found out it was 15 degrees in Chicago yesterday!! He was in shorts and complaining it was hot here! Ha ha, I LOVE California :)

Productive President's Day weekend

First, some pictures of Amanda in her swing. At first she was a bit unsure, but by the end she was loving it. Now it's the first thing she walks to out back, and immediately wants in.

Had a good long weekend too. Saturday night we had a poker game, so we spent the day cleaning up the house. My sister also stopped by on her way up to my parents', so I enlisted her help in keeping Amanda occupied while I took all of Mike's loose change from the past 4 years to a CoinStar machine. I got over $300 out of two coffee cans!! Crazy!!

Sunday after Church we came home and saw the neighbors were having a garage sale. Meandered on by, and found they were selling some window air conditioners for $10 each!! STEAL! So we bought one for when we have another kid, so they can have an air conditioner in their room as well (Mike & I have one, and we installed one for Amanda this summer too). We also headed down to Sportmart to try out some cardio machines. Mike wants one to go with his bowflex so I can work out with him, and he can do some cardio on the nights I'm not there. We decided on an exercise bike as it's more practical and I'm more likely to use it long-term than an elliptical *lol*. We came home and Mike checked out Craig's List and found the one we wanted for $150 (on sale at Sportmart for $300) in Orange County. He e-mailed her, but didn't hear back.

Monday we headed up to my parents' to have lunch with them and my sisters. Got to see my nephew who is just too cute! I forgot my camera (as usual), so I didn't get any pics :( We ate at the Salt Creek Grill which was YUMMY! I hope they open one near us soon!

Then in the afternoon, Mike finally heard back from the lady selling the exercise bike that it was still for sale, and we could pick it up any time! So after Amanda woke up from her nap, we headed down. Used the cash from the CoinStar, and brought home a new exercise bike! Woohoo!

So productive weekend - got an air conditioner AND an exercise bike for $160! Score!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Not much planned for us. We both feel it's not worth it to go out on Valentine's day, so Mike said he'd cook me dinner :) We were supposed to go out this last Saturday for both our anniversary and V-day, but my mom ended up coming down with a cold so we chose not to go, lest Amanda get sick again.

Amanda's had a cough now for about a week. It doesn't seem to be getting any better, and last night she was having some wheezing right before bed. So if she's not better by tonight I may have to take her in to the doctor tomorrow morning.

I have some pics of Amanda in her new swing (compliments of Mimi) last weekend, but I haven't gotten them downloaded yet.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

One Year Pics

Amanda's One Year pics are available on-line now, so I downloaded a few for your enjoyment :) First are the standing ones. You can see my old gray sweatshirt I wish she had asked me to take off!

And here are the balloon pics (with naked Amanda).

(This is my favorite)

They had a fake cake that we posed her with her birthday "Princess" hat:

And by the end she had had enough. I couldn't get her to play with the letters or even smile for the last ones.

Superbowl Sunday fun

Since the Superbowl didn't start until 3pm (well, by the time they kicked off, it was more like 3:30pm!), I spent the morning cleaning up the house and getting laundry done, etc. When I tried to make our guest bed, Amanda wanted up and she began playing "peek-a-boo" with the sheets as I tried to lay them on the bed:





Then we watched the Superbowl, and I looked over at one point in the middle of the 2nd quarter to see this on the other couch:


Can you tell I didn't marry a sports fan?

Sorry

Sorry I haven't gotten another post in here this week. Mike's finally not working overtime anymore, so he's been demanding my full attention at home. I have some cute pictures of him cuddling with the cat on Sunday, and of Amanda playing "peek-a-boo" with the sheets when I was trying to make the bed. I'll get them up as soon as I can.

I had Amanda's 1 year pics taken on Saturday at JCPenney. They didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, so I'm going to try and make an appointment with Picture People and see if they can't get some better pictures. Amanda was very clingy and wouldn't leave my side, so the photographer had me hold her hand, but she didn't tell me to take my ugly old gray sweatshirt off, so the pictures of her standing have my ugly gray sweatshirt in the shot! Then she had me strip her down to her diaper and we got some really good shots of her playing with pink balloons. My only problem is I already have a gang of pictures of her naked for her 6 months shots! I'd like some with her clothes on!

I also spent last night attempting to do our taxes. We've been going to a tax guy that specializes in what Mike can write off for his work, but his fees have been going up and last year he charged $325! Plus he's located all the way out in Westlake (like a good 90 minute drive with no traffic). So this year we decided I would try and do them myself, and if it was waaaaaay too complicated, then we'd go back to him. I *think* I got it, but I need to go over everything again before I file the final version. Boy, when I used to do my taxes as a single person they were sooooooooo much easier! I would just file the 1040EZ (taking the standard deduction) and be on my way. Now we have so much more to write off. And these tax software packages aren't as "easy" as they make them out to be. I mean, I'm an accountant and I still don't understand all the jargon they use!

Anyway, glad it's Wednesday, almost to the end of the week!