Pictures!

Alright, so here are my latest pictures!
First, a couple of days ago I popped in one of Amanda's new videos she got for her birthday just to see if she'd watch it.  She ran right up to the TV and started clapping and swaying along with the music.  I snapped a pic of her staring up at the screen.  Her favorite is the "Old McDonald Had a Farm" song!

Next, this is from Easter. Amanda had *so* much fun bringing empty eggs we were trying to fill to my grandfather (her great grandfather). I tried to get some pics, and these were the best I got.

Here is also some pictures from the egg hunt. This first one shows us trying to get Andrew or Amanda to find the egg in the brick, and how Amanda finally found it.

I don't know if you can tell, but Amanda's outfit (that I picked out) matches from head to toe. Pink gingham shoes, pink gingham capris and a matching white with pink gingham trim top:


There were bows for her hair too, but they kept falling out, so I left them out. She was so cute :)

Happy Easter!

Sorry it's been a while since I posted, it's been major hectic around the house. We decided to have Easter at our house, so there was lots of cleaning and preparing to be done. We also changed Amanda to a forward facing carseat finally. Her infant carseat is rated up to 30 pounds, so she could have stayed in it longer, but she was growing out of the straps, so we decided it was time to move on.

I've been doing weight watchers for the last several weeks, and so far I'm down almost 9 pounds! My best friend and I have a bet and whoever loses the most weight in 6 months buys the other a spa treatment. I'm hoping I win that!

Pictures to follow, as I haven't had a moment to download them yet.

Friday Amanda and I both had the day off for Good Friday. So first thing we did was go down to Babies 'R Us. The weather has been getting warmer so I needed to get some light sleepers for her in 24 month size. Of course we stocked up on diapers, wipes and several other toys while we were there too :)

Then we came home and while Amanda napped I cleaned and had groceries delivered from Vons.com. This was my first time doing it, and I *loved* the convenience! They put all the groceries in my kitchen, I signed the paper and they were gone. No spending hours looking for stuff at the market!

Saturday was more cleaning. Amanda and I took a walk in the afternoon since the weather was so good. Mike fixed a couple of things around the house, and I decorated.

Sunday was Easter. Amanda got an Easter Basket this year, but didn't seem to really be interested. I decided not to do pictures with the Easter Bunny this year, as we did them last year. I spent an hour standing in line which wasn't bad when she was 3 months old. But now she's a toddler who wants to run around, so I wasn't about to risk that this time around!

My sister Erin called in the morning and told me they weren't coming - Andrew (my nephew) had been up in the middle of the night throwing up. So we went to Church where the sermon was about "new hope" and they had this video of a couple in the Church that had had twins born *really* early (27 weeks) and how faith got them through it. I had tears streaming down my face. Picked up Amanda and headed home. My parents were coming early to help Mike change the oil in his car, so they got there about noon. Amanda greeted them with "Bye-bye" (her new word) and RAN to my sister Ilene's arms. So much for my clingy little girl! She was running away from me all day to be with her aunt and grandma!

Anyway, they told me Erin might be coming, that Andrew was feeling better. So I re-set the table for them. We stuffed eggs for the hunt and my mom kept giving Amanda candy! Good Lord she was hyper from sugar! Erin called around 2:30 and said they WERE coming. They got to my house about the time the ham was ready, but then I realized I forgot the potato casserole! ack! So we did the egg hunt while the casserole cooked. Amanda actually showed more interest in egg hunting than I thought. She figured out that the eggs with jelly beans make noise if you shake them, so she went around looking for the eggs that made noise :) So cute!

Then I discovered Erin didn't bring the salad she was supposed to, so I quickly put together some steamed veggies, and sat down to dinner. But the kids had had so much candy by then, they weren't into sitting and eating, so I had a quick bite and then ran around with Amanda & Andrew until everyone else was done. Then they watched Amanda while I cleared the table. After they left, Amanda was still bouncing off the walls, so I was running around with her until bedtime. Then I finally got to sit down.

*whew*

Off and Running!

Ok, so 2 weeks ago, Amanda wouldn't take a step on her own to save her life.  And this weekend, she started practically running around without me!  It always seems like she makes progress in spurts, and this is no exception.  Once she decided she could walk, she has just taken off!

First, some pictures of the zoo from Thursday.  Here's a little zoo trivia I'm sure my zoo friends will know the answer to , but leave me a comment if you think you know:
What is the difference between Sea Lions and Seals?
Which... leads me into my first picture of Amanda watching the Sea Lions.  

This is the first exhibit when you walk in the zoo, and I *know* this wasn't there before.  It's pretty neat, with a glass side to the water so you can see them swimming under the water.

On to the flamingos, here's Mike holding her up to see them since the hedge was blocking her view.



And the last good shot I got was the giraffe, from Amanda's point of view.

Moving on... Saturday in the morning I caught Amanda and Sophie both trying to get out of the security gate on our front door.  Sophie kept running away, so I didn't get a good shot, so this is the closest I got.  Imagine them both with their hands (front paws) on the gate, like they are trying to get out.  I'm such a mean mom, I keep them all cooped up

In the afternoon, we headed to my parents' house to celebrate Mike's birthday (which was the 4th).  Everyone headed outside to play some basketball, of which Amanda had to partake.  I *love* this shot I got of her :)

And, carrying the ball to Daddy...



Here's a shot of my nephew playing on the computer.  He's so cute, he even knows how to use the mouse!  What a smartypants!

Andrew is also into kisses and hugs, which he felt Amanda needed a lot of.  Here's Amanda trying to climb the stairs and finding Andrew trying to give her a hug!

Growing up fast!

First of all, Happy Birthday Mike!  Today is his 32nd birthday.  We didn't do much, just went to Olive Garden for dinner.  He gets the whole week off though (lucky guy) and tomorrow he's going snowboarding.  Thursday we're going to take Amanda to the zoo, so I'll probably have more pics of that sooN!

Here is Amanda on Saturday (with snacktrap in hand)


Also this weekend, Mike was playing basketball and Amanda wanted to play too:


Finally, last night (Monday), she wanted to climb up on the couch and read a magazine with me.  She babbled like she was really "reading" and began pointing at things too.  She was just too cute to pass up the photo op:

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!