Murphy, will you please...

...go find someone else to bug?

I swear, since I have resolved to do two things before Firecracker's arrival, I have met probably every obstacle to getting them done. Why? Because, as everything else on this planet does, they cost money. I have decided that I want to start some sort of home-based business ;) and get new glasses/contacts.

Jessy has begun to attempt to pull my nearly-two-year-old glasses off my face several times, damn-near succeeding on several fronts already. They may just break in half, as did my last pair at the two-year mark. I swear the things have timers on them or something! Secondly, I need. my. contacts. back. These glasses, although I have worn them nearly two years straight, are starting to drive me batshit. Need I say more? Since I have been pregnant, my nose has become more like that dreaded, invisible oil slick we don't see on the road when it's lightly raining after a loooong drought. Translation? The things slide down like it's going out of style in the next five minutes, resulting in them being constantly dirty. As in, I just wiped off the lenses not five minutes ago and they're... muy sucio again. Yeah, no thanks.

And now, the other point: starting a business. Any way I go about this, it's gonna cost dough. Whether I go Mary Kay or I go craftiness, there is an upfront investment. The latter may have a lesser investment, but probably a little less profit as it would take time to fill one order. The former, however, may require parties, as my current housing situation severely limits my ability to entertain. (We Three Musketeers live on our own in a single-family home, but it's a bit tight. We need more s-q-f-t's!)

So what's the big deal? The fact that I have again had to miss work, this time twice in a week. As if Jessy's flu two weeks ago wasn't enough, the snowball caught a stomach bug, so I stayed home with her for a day. She was better by the next day so I went back to work, but that evening (same day Jessy was better) I started puking. Ick. Fortunately daddy made some arrangements so that I could stay home and rest and he took her to the sitter. Not a horrible deal, however I don't get paid for any time off at all, let alone sick time. The irony? I have been plotting taking a day off with Keith to tackle the house, maybe a Friday to send the babyjess to the sitter's house and we can hit it hard.

With this little cutey-monster leanring new tricks, cleaning house is hard work! But we don't mind. ;)

Summer's over.... already?

Really? How'd that happen? It seems like just yesterday... eh, nevermind. For some reason, actually, it feels like Labor Day was a looooooong time ago. The week after we had a visit from the nasty Tropical Storm Hermine, who spawned a few different tornadoes in the Dallas area, one of which went through Love Field Airport. Luckily, though, no planes or people were affected in teh airport, although an 18-wheeler was mangled a few blocks away. In the Fort Worth area, cars were literally underwater as severe flooding took over the area very quickly.

Then, the house caddy-corner went on and off the market. (which has ZERO curb appeal- no front garden and it looks like an Office Depot truck drove by and puked white out all over it. Well, almost. Well, a girl has to try to make her house look better than the rest, right??). We're back to scrambling around to get ours clean enough to be presentable. (yeah, right.)  Wish us luck- with my feeling wiped out after work
(mentally) and juggling normal, everyday house chores plus a near-eight-month-old it's nearly impossible to stay clutter-free. Perhaps a little Saran Wrap is in order here for the floors and countertops.

Jessica will be 8 months old next month. How did that happen?? It seems like just yesterday we brought her home from the hospital. *sigh* We are FINALLY getting her baptized a few days after her 8-month mark; then it's on to... *gulp* planning her first birthday party. :( Where has my baby gone??

OK, 'nuf with the mush. lol

Oops.

I have slacked. Again. Life here has been way too busy- I am barely keeping up here as a working mom but somehow I manage to do it. I think it is largely Keith's help that is getting my through this.

Even though I work 8-5 now and Jessy only spends 7 hours in daycare per day most days, I STILL have the lovely mommy guilt. Tonight I played with her a bit- placed her down for some tummy time on her mat and she totally went through the motions of crawling! Unfortunately I didn't get pics of it, but one day I will put her down and she will take off... and I will have to run after her! I'd better start training yesterday.

Saturday's Tummy Time pic...

Chillin' for her Saturday AM nap! She takes her ZZZ's seriously. And yes, that is a pacifier in her hair!

On another note, our home improvement projects are- well- coming along. We tore the wallpaper off of one of the kitchen walls and let me tell ya, it was scary! Of course, what should one expect when renovating/remodeling a 1972 house?! Pictures to come.

And last but definitely not least... happy belated Mothers' Day to all the mommies out there (Earth AND Angel mamas alike)!! Keith and Jessica bought me a beautiful bouquet of pink tulips, some chocolate and a couple of blouses. They know me well!

Oy.

I got the call yesterday reminding me of just how too-short my maternity leave is. I go back to work, as of now, four weeks from tomorrow. This means we need to hurrrrrry up and get our house market-ready ASAP!

Of course, as they say, when it rains it pours. Keith's car had issues again this morning that yielded an $865 repair bill. We just had the thing in the shop a couple of months ago. ARGH! And we do not need a car note right now, so a replacement car is out of the question.

In other news, our lovely red dog, Bernie, is now with the angels. My BIL had been keeping him while Keith and I adjusted to life with Jessica. However, his arthritis went downhill during the snowstorm. Apparently the poor thing couldn't even stand up, so off to the vet he went. RIP Bernie!

Twitch

Twitch. Thump. Thump. Thump. Wiggle wiggle. Squirm. Thump.

For the last couple of days, Jessica has (of course!) been slowly but surely running out of room in her little space. Her moves have trasformed over the past couple of weeks from firm kicks to more weiggly-like squirms and well, wiggles. Add the numb fingertips on the right hand to the mix and we're good to go! LOL At my appointment last Monday the PA said it's the lovely Carpal-Tunnel Syndrome which can often be experienced in pregnancy. Fortunately, right now, it's pretty mild, but if it gets too bad there's always these.

I have been periodically experiencing the tricky Braxton-Hicks contractions off and on. While my next comment owes a picture post, I'll go ahead and say it- I've dropped! I don't have a pic of me since I've dropped but I promise I'll get one up here so you guys can see :)

Since JessyNicole is apparently packing her bags and getting ready to join us here soon, her mommy and daddy must do the same. We started working on cleaning the house today; got most of the clutter out of the living room and cleared out the kitchen sink and cleaned off the countertops. It sounds like alot, but trust me, it's not!

We still have:
The Office (a Disaster Zone- the capitalized letters are so for a reason)
The Carpet (after we vacuum I shall try the new carpet gadget Keith got me for christmas)
The Bathrooms
Our Bedroom
To take down our Christmas stuff (so much for getting it done today.. lol at the rate we're going we'll be bringing Jessica home to a house with a Christmas tree still up in it!)
Pack bags for myself, Keith and Jessica, for the big day. Who knows how many more tick marks she's going to make on the walls in there? It could be one for all I know.

Get some last-minute goodies for the snowflake. She could probably use a few more receiving blankets, a few (WIDE-NIPPLE, please!) bottles (just in case they're needed. Mommy would like to breastfeed but what good is a stressed-out, sleep-deprived mommy if she ends up that way?), a Boppy pillow with a few slipcovers, and of course, diapers! She already has a stack at her grammy's house of the newborn size, but I have a funny feeling she'll outgrow them reeeeeally quickly. Grammy says she's getting close to a 10%-off sale day with Target, and combine that with my 10%-off coupon (okay, maybe not necessarily combine) I have to complete my Target registry, we should be ok! WOOT! Oh, yeah- we need some slipcovers for her changing pad.

We have quite a to-do list here and what am I doing but writing about it... lol my full-time job is making me lazy! lol But we're attacking this LIST, little by little... wish me luck!

Home Makeover, Part Two

So last weekend Keith and I finally finished up our living-room painting project, and let me just start by saying we have absolutely NO regrets, whatsoever! The difference is amazing, even on camera. Enjoy!

 

1 side down, 1 to go!

 

Whoops, out of paint.. off to the store!

 

Finished product... YEAH!!

Our own Home Makeover, continued...

...yup, we've started another project!
On Sunday Keith decided rip out our dark, dreary and boring paneling in our living room.

(That's Keith behind the panels.. nothing but drywall back there! YES! A blank canvas!)

*CRACK*

YEAH! SO much better already. I just got back from Home Depot when I took this shot.

You can't see it from here, but there's texture paint now on the formerly-paneled walls.

We plan to paint them the same color as the walls on the side (kind of a beige-tan color, looks good!).

More to come! We will probably buy the paint tomorrow or Friday to slap on there so we can move our furniture back into place. That TV is *!$%&#@ heavy!

We went to bed WAAAAY too late because we were painting but it was SO worth it...

P.S.
That ugly fan at the top of the pics is eventually being replaced. Eventually.